Preterism in Eastern Orthodox Christianity part 1 – Foreword

There is more to Preterism in Eastern Orthodoxy than what meets the eye. This is my story of how I became both, a Preterist and an Eastern Orthodox Christian.

I was raised an atheist in a communist country of non-Orthodox background. During my university years I realized that atheism was false. Shortly before coming to America, I had a God experience and once here I began my search. For over a decade I tested many different denominations, even entertained Eastern religions, baptized a Baptist, reversed back to agnosticism more than once, but when I found the Orthodox Church around 15 years ago, I felt home. Interestingly, at about the same time, in fact just about a year earlier, I had become a Preterist. Since I don’t come from tradition, but from search and experimentation, I guess this made this seemingly contradiction possible, on intellectual and sensory grounds.

During my last non-Christian period, I practiced other paths, which felt positive, but deep inside I yearned for the simple love that I had at times experienced from what I now know is the person of Christ. But my rational mind had rejected some of the dogmas the churches had taught me, namely the madness that so often surrounds End Time issues. When I got acquainted with Preterism, I knew immediately I had found a key for Christianity to make sense again. And I decided to become a practicing Christian again.

However, I soon realized that Preterism in itself is not the answer. Preterism, you could say, appeals primarily to the mind, it rationalizes an aspect of the faith, that of Eschatology, and helps to channel it appropriately, according to scripture. The principal tenets of Christianity, that of faith in and worship of the Trinity and the following of His commandments, they are unchanged and those the Church got them right, although not all churches do it equally. These tenets are the ones that lead to salvation, eschatology not being essential for it. To worship Christ is a matter of the heart first, then of the mind, although the balance may be almost equal. When I found the Orthodox church, I felt this was the place where the right balance of heart and mind was present. The structured worship appealed to the mind, the heavenly chanting to the heart, its ancient history clarified many questions.

As a historian I was surprised to find out that the Old Testament scriptures Christ and the apostles used were the Greek Septuagint and not the Hebrew Masoretic Text, that the New Testament aligns more with the Septuagint, and that the Masoretic Text can be used, and has been used, to try proving the New Testament wrong. During its first four centuries, the Church used the Septuagint exclusively. Today, the only denominations that base their Old Testament exclusively on the Septuagint are the Orthodox. Could selecting the “right” Old Testament have consequences?

Despite having satisfied my heart and most of my intellect with Orthodoxy, its conservatively Futurist position was still a thorn in the side of my mind. Then, overtime, I realized that there were elements of Preterism in Orthodoxy, that Preterism does not contradicts Orthodoxy, but rather makes it stronger. I will humbly try to prove that in the following articles.

I strongly believe there must be one church and that church unity is crucial. Doctrine must be discussed within the church, that schism and a new Reformation fragmentation, must be avoided. Not only I wish to preserve the unity of Orthodox Christians, but also to avoid further fragmentation of Christendom in general. We Christians in the West have lost the culture and our true enemies now are not the other denominations, but non-Christians who oppress us.

At the same time, I perceive that a substantial portion of traditional Christianity is not ready to accept Preterism yet. In great part this is due to the fact that Preterist doctrine is still maturing and many of its proponents deviate quite a bit from traditional dogma. The problem with Preterism is not really its core tenet of the Timing of the last things, or even formally the Nature of the last things in most cases, but other doctrinal issues that have grown around this paradigm shift, such as ecclesiology, soteriology, anthropology, Christology. However, not all Preterits deviate here, although I acknowledge that most do and that seems to be a problem. This is something I will humbly attempt to address or clarify as I write further, God willing.

Definition of terms and clarifications:

These articles presuppose a basic knowledge of eschatology in general, the branch of theology about the “end things,” namely the final destiny of the soul and humankind, as well as in particular, a basic understanding of the eschatological view of (full) Preterism, which asserts that all scripture prophecy has already been fulfilled. I will try keeping things simple, but you may need to consult certain terms outside. I will try to link externally as much as possible.

Orthodoxy, Orthodox: Would mean Eastern Orthodoxy as in the proper name meaning of the Christian Eastern Orthodox church, doctrine or people.

orthodoxy, orthodox: Would mean, “correct,” traditional, adhering to the Creeds, a term used usually by Protestants to refer to those traditional Christians who adhere to the Creeds.

Slavonic: In its original meaning it just means Slavic, but it is often used to refer to Liturgical Slavonic, as opposed to secular Slavic languages. I will always use the meaning Liturgical Slavonic, which is based in old Bulgarian and is the same for all Slavic Orthodox churches.