The post-imperial socio-political reality has become a considerable challenge for the Orthodox Church. The world’s leading experts in Orthodox political theology are currently working on an appropriate response, seeking to reflect on the contemporary modes of existence of the Church, which has never conceived of itself outside the context of an empire – Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Russian, Soviet, etc. One of the attempts to create a comprehensive conceptual apology for the liberal-democratic state system characteristic of Western countries from the perspective of the Orthodox worldview is Aristotle Papanikolaou’s book, The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy, a work by the professor at Fordham University. The Russian translation of this research was published in 2021 by Duh i Litera.
In his study, Prof. Papanikolaou provides a comparative analysis of the Byzantine and Russian models of the infamous symphony between Church and state, criticises representatives of Russian emigrant theology for paying insufficient attention to the issue issues within the framework of political theology, highlights the problematic nature of human rights discourse in the light of traditional Orthodox anthropology, and offers his reflections on the theological and political ideas of Archpriest Sergei Bulgakov, Fr. Stanley S. Harakas, Vladimir Lossky, Vigen Guroian, Stanley Hauerwas, Nicholas Wolterstorff, John Milbank, William T. Cavanaugh, Graham Ward, and many other prominent thinkers of the past and present.
However, alongside its undeniable scholarly achievements, the book bears clear signs of panegyric, praising the actual political context. Considering some of the opinions and conclusions presented by the Fordham researcher, questions arise regarding the academic neutrality of Papanikolaou, who appears to be more of a populariser of the now significantly undermined postcolonial academic discourse of a radical leftist nature, which until recently has prevailed in many leading universities in the United States and Europe. All positive assessments and critical questions regarding Papanikolaou’s book The Mystical as Political are formulated in the review by Archpriest Andrii Shymanovych, which is available at this link:
