Eastern Christians and Theology of the Body

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Christ is Among Us!

Hi All,
Hope this post finds you well and in God’s Holiness.

It’s been noted that JPII’s Theology of the Body is very Eastern, but that’s never been explained. If someone could kindly explain how ToB is compatible with Eastern Christian theology, I’d be much obliged.

I’m also interested in knowing what the Oriental Orthodox stand or thought is on the ToB.
Is the OO stance on marriage and sex closer to the some EO (called to live monastic calling even in marriage.marriage and sex seen as weaknesses that came into existence after the fall,so celibate marriages applauded or the RC(seperation between call to marriage-emphasis on frutifulness and abundance- and monastic calling?

I’m here to learn and have no particular interest in judging or condemning RCs, OOs or EOs.🙂

Triana
 
No takers? Can anyone suggest where I might find answers to my questions?

Blessings,
Triana
 
What do you mean by “celibate marriages” and are you talking about priests, lay people, both…?

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius:cool:
 
triana said:
It’s been noted that JPII’s Theology of the Body is very Eastern, but that’s never been explained. If someone could kindly explain how ToB is compatible with Eastern Christian theology, I’d be much obliged.
Triana
Click to expand...
Hi Triana,

I am not an Eastern Catholic myself, but I can tell you that Fr. Thomas Loya is a Byzantine Catholic priest and he’s a bigtime promoter of the Theology of the Body. He’s the resident TotB expert on Relevant Radio, and I know he does speaking engagements.

Just offhand, I definitely see some parallels in Eastern spirituality. TotB is basically about how we can find out God’s purpose for us as human beings, and ultimately get a glimpse into the nature of God Himself, in the human body. The Eastern concept of deification agrees with that…And the highly sacramental view of the physical world.

Do a Google search on Fr. Loya.
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!

Triana,

Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body is in many ways a meeting point between eastern and western theological anthropology:

TOB is actually the delivery system for the “Liturgical worldview” proposed by Eastern Christians. In TOB John Paul II reached into the mystical tradition of the Church. “Divinization” is a key concept in the TOB.

In his TOB, Pope John Paul II proposed an “adequate anthropology” a “total vision of man” in which the human person finds its identity as the image and likeness of God. JPII’s starting point is the Trinitarian God who is a “union and communion of persons” (See the Orthodox theologian, Paul Evdokimov.) This Trinitarian God entered into a Spousal relationship with His own creation, in particular the Church, the human race. It is precisely through our gendered bodies that human beings can love as God loves. The spousal meaning of our bodies becomes the “fundamental element of human existence.” Our sexuality becomes an icon of the interior life of the Holy Trinity. This theme is consistently picked up in the spousal imagery of Eastern Christian liturgy is such ways as when we sing on Pascha: “Christ emerges from the tomb like a bridegroom from the bridal chamber.”

“Liturgy,” JPII says, is “conjugal” and at the same time conjugal relations are in a sense “liturgical.”

JPII treats celibacy as a prelude to his treatment of marriage in TOB and he illlustrates how celibacy subsists in marriage. Both are ways of living “Spousally.”

TOB is a presentation of the human person, in particular of our human sexuality that reflects the genius of Eastern Christianity: integration and mystery. I like to call TOB the “answer to all of life’s questions.” This is simply because it is the correct worldview, the view that Eastern Christianity has a special gift for communicating to the western world: the Sacramental-Liturgical worldview. “Life is Liturgy and liturgy is life” is the message of Eastern liturgical theologians and it is the messsage of JPII’s theology of the body.

–Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB., MA.
Tabor Life Institute for education and formation in the
theoology of the body
TOBIA (Theology of the Body International Alliance)
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!

AC Claire,

Thanks for your message. I assume that by your use of the past tense “likED listening to you on the radio” that you mean the Thursday Morning Air segments on TOB that I did on Relevant Radio? They made a program change and decided to have me just do one minute meditations on TOB which are played throughout the week on the network. I still have my “Light of the East” program which can also be heard on our parish website:
www.byzantinecatholic.com. I have a very full public speaking schedule which I post on this same website on the Events page.
Soon all of this information will appear on the taborlife.org website which is underconstruction currently.

–Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB., MA.
 
Fr.Tom_Loya said:
Glory to Jesus Christ!

Triana,

Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body is in many ways a meeting point between eastern and western theological anthropology:

TOB is actually the delivery system for the “Liturgical worldview” proposed by Eastern Christians. In TOB John Paul II reached into the mystical tradition of the Church. “Divinization” is a key concept in the TOB.

In his TOB, Pope John Paul II proposed an “adequate anthropology” a “total vision of man” in which the human person finds its identity as the image and likeness of God. JPII’s starting point is the Trinitarian God who is a “union and communion of persons” (See the Orthodox theologian, Paul Evdokimov.) This Trinitarian God entered into a Spousal relationship with His own creation, in particular the Church, the human race. It is precisely through our gendered bodies that human beings can love as God loves. The spousal meaning of our bodies becomes the “fundamental element of human existence.” Our sexuality becomes an icon of the interior life of the Holy Trinity. This theme is consistently picked up in the spousal imagery of Eastern Christian liturgy is such ways as when we sing on Pascha: “Christ emerges from the tomb like a bridegroom from the bridal chamber.”

“Liturgy,” JPII says, is “conjugal” and at the same time conjugal relations are in a sense “liturgical.”

JPII treats celibacy as a prelude to his treatment of marriage in TOB and he illlustrates how celibacy subsists in marriage. Both are ways of living “Spousally.”

TOB is a presentation of the human person, in particular of our human sexuality that reflects the genius of Eastern Christianity: integration and mystery. I like to call TOB the “answer to all of life’s questions.” This is simply because it is the correct worldview, the view that Eastern Christianity has a special gift for communicating to the western world: the Sacramental-Liturgical worldview. “Life is Liturgy and liturgy is life” is the message of Eastern liturgical theologians and it is the messsage of JPII’s theology of the body.

–Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB., MA.
Tabor Life Institute for education and formation in the
theoology of the body
TOBIA (Theology of the Body International Alliance)
Click to expand...
If I may interject for a moment, I have found Being As Communion by John D. Zizioulas extremely helpful in explaining the Orthodox theology on matters pertinent to TOB.**
 
I looked up your RSS feed via the link that you showed. Great podcast. Thanks!

I miss JPII, good thing he’s a saint and is still around!

:angel1:
 
Hello Fr. Loya,

Can you explain what a liturgical worldview is?
Perhaps you described it in your first post, but I don’t know if I understand the term properly.

Thank you.
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!

Dan-Man,

The Liturgical Worldview is the view that Adam and Eve had before the Fall. It is based upon seeing life “sacaramentally,” as manifesting God and then responding to that by offering creation back to God, in sacrifice, including ourselves. The Liturgical worldview sees everything as revealing God, as part of the Divine Order of Creation and it celebrates that. This is why we do alot of blessing of nature in the Eastern Churches: flowers, water, oils, etc. etc.

The liturgical worldview sees everything in its mystical dimension.
We say in our Liturgy that the earthly Altar becomes the Heavenly Altar. An icon is a “window into eternity.” A flower is not just a flower but it puts us in touch with God. The emphasis is on sign, sacrament and symbol where the symbol actually participates in the reality that it points to. We can actually “touch” God through His created order–the invisible is made visible through the physical.

The Liturgical worldview recognizes the need we humans have for ritual because ritual helps put us in touch with transcendant realities. I often joke that the “best” and “biggest” “Liturgy” on Sundays in our culture are the tailgate parties that go on in football stadium parking lots for HOURS prior to the game: These “Liturgies” have certain, food, certain ritual, language, gesture, “vestments,” etc. just like “Liturgy.” This is because the liturgical worldview is hardwired into our very humaness. The human being is a priestly race–we “offer” through ritual, sign, symbol, etc.

The Liturgical worldview is how we can establish the “domestic church”–turn our households into little “snatches” of what goes on in Church. In every household there should be sacred family time, sacred family ritual, sacred family gesture, rhythm of life, behavior, language, sacred images, music, etc. just like at liturgy in Church. The Liturgical worldview is marked by offering and thanksgiving. The key word is “gift.”

In his theology of the body, JPII said that “Liturgy is conjugal and at the same time conjugal relations are in a sense liturgical.”
That phrase captures the liturgical worldview–gift, giving, receiving, offering, faithfully, freely, fully and fruitfully. The one flesh union of husband and wife finds its meaning in the Eucharist: “This is MY BODY given up for you.” This is the liturgical worldview and if the world adopted this view we would all be more authentically human. There would be no divorce, no environmental pollution, no wars, etc. All of these things have their source in an anti-liturgical worldview which sees the created order in terms of appropriation (lust) and not in terms of offering.

–Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB., MA
 
Fr. Tom,

Your post explains the marriage bed poetically by comparing it to the Eucharist. I can understand how those such as yourself who are celibate but who are priests able to offer the Eucharist itself are included in this explanation. How does this affect celibate laity or religious who are not priests?

I know it is debated whether or not being single is a vocation. With what you’ve said, it would seem that all people are called to religious life or marriage. Could you explain this please?
 
Father,

Wow! Thank you. That was very profound.
I have been to your parish a few times, as I don’t live very far from Homer Glen. I always enjoy attending Divine Liturgy there.

Bless you for your ministry!
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!

Woodstock,

Thank you for your message. In regard to single people:
There are only two “vocations:” celibacy and marriage. The reason is because these two things are ordered to permanence, which is a key component of vocation. We are talking here of vocation in its deepest meaning, not something like career or job.

Vocation is based upon the principle that all human beings, to live happily must live “spousally.” In other words, they must make a sincere, total, fruitful, free gift of themselves. This is precisely what a celibate or married person does but in their respective ways. But ALL human beings must live “spousally.” The definition of this is not restricted just to vowed celibates or married persons. Spousally essentially means, “gift of self.” This is stamped in the very language of our bodies (hence, the “theology” of the body.)

Singleness is not a vocation because by its nature it is not ordered to permanence. However, a single person can, and indeed must, live “spousally” even through their singleness.
I believe that in this day and age, for the most part, there is essentially no “good” reason why people remain single. But this is not their fault. People today are “victims” of the non-sacramental, non-liturgical worldview. This has left modern civilization with a host of impediments to good people getting married even though they desire it and deserve it.

So, in the meantime, single people can and must live spousally to find fulfillment in their single state. I realize that it is a popular notion today to speak of being single as a vocation. I have even been tempted myself to speak of it this way. But there is an inherent dishonesty in this in regard to what “vocation” truly means. If there is a dishonesty and if we persist in this we are going to do single people a disservice. We offer them an illusion rather than the truth and encouragement to live spousally although they might remain “victimized” by the culture for their entire life.

Remember, it is not always per se the single person’s “fault” as to why they remain single. In many cases it can be their fault but even this is explained by victimization: We are raised in a culture and time that does not see life sacramentallly and liturgically and this militates against the one thing needed for vocation: dying to self so as to make a sincere, total, free and fruitful gift of self.
These things are just not part of what we are raised with in our culture and in modern times. We are raised with things like individualism, secularism, relativism, narcissim, etc. which militate against the free gift of self spirituality, the “spousal mystery.” Hapiness for everyone, single celibate or married lies in making a sincere, total, free, faithful gift of self to someone or to a group or community.

–Fr. Thomas J. Loya, STB.,MA
 
Fr.Tom_Loya said:
Thanks for your message. I assume that by your use of the past tense “likED listening to you on the radio” that you mean the Thursday Morning Air segments on TOB that I did on Relevant Radio? They made a program change and decided to have me just do one minute meditations on TOB which are played throughout the week on the network. I still have my “Light of the East” program which can also be heard on our parish website:
www.byzantinecatholic.com. I have a very full public speaking schedule which I post on this same website on the Events page.
Soon all of this information will appear on the taborlife.org website which is underconstruction currently.
Click to expand...
OK…I’d been wondering where you went on Thursday mornings! I actually called in and asked you a question once, maybe a year ago. My Relevant Radio affiliate doesn’t get “Light of the East,” but I just bookmarked this message so I can go listen directly. 🙂 Thanks!
 
Dearest Father Loya,

I just want to thank you for your perspective. I have always wondered whether the theology of the body was just a Latin thing. I agree with HH JP2 (of thrice-blessed memory). I am glad to read validation from an Eastern Catholic, especially a priest.

Humbly,
Marduk
 
Thank you Father Loya. I am a Latin Rite Catholic, but your explanation is profound and important to the whole Church.

Again, thank you.
 
Father Tom,

I know you are extremely busy so I have just one more question. Where does this leave people with same-sex attractions? Would Josephite marriages be a valid option for them? Are they called to religious life? It seems like the church is saying they belong in neither place right now.
 
Christ is Among us!

My thanks to Fr. Loya and everyone who’s replied, this is real food for thought.I"ll have to chew on it a while before responding. I’d been advised once before to read Christopher West’s intro to the TOB and I’ll do just that.

He is and He shall be!
Triana
 
triana said:
Christ is Among us!

My thanks to Fr. Loya and everyone who’s replied, this is real food for thought.I"ll have to chew on it a while before responding. I’d been advised once before to read Christopher West’s intro to the TOB and I’ll do just that.

He is and He shall be!
Triana
Click to expand...
Good luck to you! I’ve been “chewing on” TOB since PJP2 was alive, and I still don’t feel I would give a good response! There just doesn’t seem to be an end to the infinite beauty and truth it holds.
 
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