St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas are generally the two figures who loom large in the Western theological (and philosophical) mind of the Catholic Church.
Given the critical importance to the intellectual history of our Church, i’ve always wondered what exactly our Eastern Orthodox brethren thought of them. What i’ve encountered is a gigantic “bandwidth” of opinion ranging from rather conciliatory accounts to outright accusations of heresy and theological folly.
My mind is reeling, and i have to ask the question if anyone might clarify just what is found to be objectionable in the theological ponderings of either saint and to whom does the Orthodox Churches turn to in setting up their alternative theology?
I believe that the only work that someone should read by Augustine is his Retractions which he wrote later in life where he “retracted” some of what he’d written earlier as well as clarified some of what he’d written earlier in his life. Like Origen, some of what he wrote was Orthodox and some was not, like his teaching on Original Sin - that all the human race is guilty or to be blamed for the sinful actions of Adam and Eve.
As far as Thomas Aquinas some of his works reflected Orthodoxy, like his denial of Mary being Immaculately Conceived, and some was not. In this work against the Greek Church - the title escapes me at the moment, Thomas Aquinas relied heavily on documents which have proven to be complete frauds - so his conclusions based on those frauds could not possibly have been accurate.
The Orthodox Church has not “set up an alternative theology”, but has maintained the same Theology handed down to her.
Orthodox look to the 7 Ecumencial Councils and to the consensus of the entire Church Fathers and the Saints, not just 1 person from the 5th century and 1 person from the 13th century as you say that the West has done by relying on Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. We don’t find our Theologians in schools with head knowledge, but through out the centuries we find Theology in our Monasteries, particularly on Mt. Athos and in the deserts.
A famous quote, which I don’t recall word for word: “He who prays truly is a theologian. He is a theologian who prays truly.”
Orthodox Monastics speak/teach theology from what they have personally experienced by the uncreated grace of God. They have actually been visually transformed by the Light of Uncreated Grace. In Orthodoxy, we have been led in Orthodox (“Right Belief”) Theology by Saints like: St. Ignatius who literally was found by those who killed him with the Jesus Prayer written in gold on his heart, St. Mary of Egypt who even walked on water, St. John Klimakus who wrote the Ladder of Divine Ascent, Symeon the New Theologian, etc. Basically, the Orthodox Church’s theology based on prayerful experience of the whole Church.
