It is interesting to me how much of those early characteristics of Eastern Orthodoxy we have preserved well to this day in our society, considering the widespread of other religions and a continuously evolving globalization. In particular, it sounded very familiar when in the book it talks about “intolerance toward other religions” and “fear of Islam” (Strayer, 2009).
Also, particularly enlightening in this chapter was the account of the differences between Eastern Orthodoxy and Latin Christianity, something I always had difficulty understanding where they came from. As to Orthodox churches, I had the amazing opportunity to visit Russia a couple of years ago and I visited different churches, in the Kremlin and in other places. I can attest to the “extensive use of icons” and the fact that one “does not know if we are on Heaven or Earth.” The churches I visited were absolutely covered with images, even the ceilings. I imagine that the gold in the images must have given them an eerie look (in the sense of not form this Earth) under candlelight.
Now, to the point I decided to elaborate a bit. Not that it was a surprise to me, but it is still kind of disturbing how many aspects of religion were fabricated, such as selecting the birth of Jesus on December 25 to match the winter solstice (at least for the northern hemisphere, anyway-for the southern hemisphere is the opposite season). Not just Christianity did it, other religions did the same, the disturbing part is that some people believe in these fabricated dates… some people actually believe it was absolutely true that Jesus was born on December 25.
In that section of the book it also talks about how churches were built near or on existing sacred places, as well as how festivals and other dates that honored different deities became holy days; which reminded me of the Christendom of the Americas, in particular this aspect of “blending” Christianity and existing religious practices and symbols. Note to Strayer: a better term to designate a “hybrid” religion is syncretism, there was no need to dumb it down. The period of conversion to Catholicism, particularly in what became Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking America, lasted centuries, it began with converting the natives, and it continued with the slaves. Let’s look at Caribbean countries for example, which received a heavier influx of African slaves than southern Spanish-speaking countries. African slaves brought with them the rituals they practiced in their own African regions, which were ethnically different from each other. For example, the Yoruba, the Fon, and the Ewe came from Dahomey (Benin, Togo, and parts of Ghana and Nigeria), while the Kongo came from the Kongo-Angola region. Each of these peoples worshipped different deities, and had assigned a complex set of rituals for each deity, which even included different drumming patterns (music is strictly tied to the rituals, most of the African religions that made it to the Americas are danced religions). Santeria is a clear example of syncretism; it mixes Catholicism with Yoruba spirituality. The Yoruba Orishas (ancestral spirits) ended up associated with Catholic saints, and Santeria rituals display a mix of icons and African music. Shango (also spelled Chango or Xango), the god of thunder in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria, ended up associated (and celebrated together with) Saint Barbara, who, what a coincidence (!) was the saint of the storms, and who also, oh! coincidence again! wears red and white, the traditional colors associated with Shango. They are both celebrated/honored on December 4. I guess my point is that several centuries later, the spreading Christian faith continued to use the same methods as it did in 1100, as described in the book: associating elements of the existing religion with those of Christianity, and if there were none, they got invented.
In the picture above, altar for Shango and Saint Barbara (and, yes, soetimes Shango is portrayed with three eyes)...
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/shango.html
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/yoruba.html
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