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Political Theology

ISSN: 1462-317X (Print) 1743-1719 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ypot20

Personhood, Relational Ontology, and the


Trinitarian Politics of Eastern Orthodox Thinker
Christos Yannaras

Jonathan Cole

To cite this article: Jonathan Cole (2017): Personhood, Relational Ontology, and the
Trinitarian Politics of Eastern Orthodox Thinker Christos Yannaras, Political Theology, DOI:
10.1080/1462317X.2017.1291127

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1462317X.2017.1291127

Published online: 22 Feb 2017.

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Download by: [The UC San Diego Library] Date: 22 March 2017, At: 13:49
political theology, 2017, 115

Personhood, Relational Ontology, and


the Trinitarian Politics of Eastern
Orthodox Thinker Christos Yannaras
Jonathan Cole
School of Theology, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia

Eastern Orthodox political theology has not received sufficient attention by the
largely Protestant- and Catholic-dominated field of political theology. One of
the Orthodox worlds most important thinkers, Christos Yannaras, who has
written extensively on politics, is relatively unknown amongst English-speaking
Protestant and Catholic theological circles because his substantive work on
politics is only available in Greek. This essay provides an introduction to one
of Yannaras most important works on political theology, The Inhumanity of
Right, which has not been translated into English. Yannaras approaches politics
through his person-centric anthropology and relational ontology, viewing the
purpose and goal of politics as authentic existence in communion with the
Trinitarian God. The essay seeks to demonstrate, via Yannaras political
thought, that Orthodox theologians bring a unique perspective to common
political problems and challenges and that the field of political theology
would be enriched from a deeper engagement with Orthodox political theology.

KEYWORDS christos yannaras, eastern orthodox, politics, personhood, relation-


ship, trinity, ontology

Introduction
A felicitous consequence of the ecumenical movement that emerged out of the dev-
astation of the Second World War has been the Western1 engagement with Eastern
Orthodox Theology. It is not uncommon these days for Protestant and Catholic
theologians to read the likes of John Zizioulas, Alexander Schmemann, and
David Bentley Hart, and to find their insights enriching for a theology that otherwise
remains committed to the Protestant and Catholic traditions respectively.
However, the field of political theology has remained peculiarly immune to this
development. English-speaking political theology is still largely dominated by

1
Western refers to Western Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) throughout this article, unless otherwise specified.

2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group DOI 10.1080/1462317X.2017.1291127
2 JONATHAN COLE

Catholic and Protestant perspectives.2 There are several reasons for this. Until
recently, there simply had not been a significant body of Orthodox work on political
theology in English with which to engage.3 Moreover, significant work in Orthodox
political theology still remains unavailable in English. Finally, Catholic and Protes-
tant political theologians have not shown as much interest in Orthodox political
thought as they could have.
This article seeks to help deepen Western-Eastern discourse on politics by exam-
ining the political theology of significant Orthodox lay theologian Christos Yan-
naras (b. Athens, 1935), whose political theology is relatively unknown in the
West.4 It will do so by providing an overview of one of Yannaras most important
untranslated works in political theology, The Inhumanity of Right.5

Christos Yannaras
Yannaras is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the Panteion University of Social
and Political Sciences in Athens. He is one of Greeces most prominent public intel-
lectuals. He has written more than sixty books in Greek, mainly in the areas of theol-
ogy, philosophy, and politics, and he has been a regular commentator on Greek
politics in the mainstream media (print, television, and radio) since the 1970s.6
He is best known in Greece for his weekly column in the major Greek newspaper
The Daily ( ).
Yannaras is a controversial figure within Greek Orthodox theology. His work in
theology has elicited surprisingly little engagement from Greek theologians in light
of his high profile and prolific output. Yannaras caustic criticism of the Greek Ortho-
dox Church and his sometimes inflammatory rhetoric has no doubt been a

2
The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology, for example, devotes one of 35 chapters to Eastern Orthodox
Thought by Michael Plekon. The theologians whose political thought is the focus of dedicated chapters are all Protes-
tant and Catholic. Scott and Cavanaugh, The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology. An Eerdmans Reader in Con-
temporary Political Theology, which contains 49 essays, has just one by an Orthodox theologian: the deceased
Alexander Schmemann. Cavanaugh, Bailey, Hovey, An Eerdmans Reader in Contemporary Political Theology. By
way of contrast, Key Theological Thinkers: From Modern to Postmodern contains an entry for Christos Yannaras
and other Orthodox theologians. Kristiansen and Rise, Key Theological Thinkers. Interestingly, in the preface, Kristian-
sen and Rise write that Compared to similar works on modern theology, the originality of this book lies in its broad
ecumenical perspective on the theology of the last century, and not least in the weight placed on Orthodox thinkers.
p. xv.
3
For two recent contributions to Orthodox political theology, see Papanikolaou, The Mystical as Political; Kalaitzidis,
Orthodoxy and Political Theology. Papanikolaou suggests that the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the Communist
revolution in Russia in 1917 hindered the development of Orthodox political theology for centuries, forcing Orthodox
political thought to concentrate on strategies for survival, 28, 43, 45, 53. One of Kalaitzidis goals is to understand
why prominent Orthodox theologians have underestimated, or even misunderstood, the meaning and content of politi-
cal theology, 10. See also publicorthodoxy.org., a curated blog produced by the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of
Fordham University.
4
Louth, Some Recent Works by Christos Yannaras, 329. Louth describes Yannaras as one of the most important
living Orthodox thinkers. Payne, The Revival of Political Hesychasm, 233. Payne writes that according to all
critics, the most important theologian in the Neo-Orthodox current of ideas is Emeritus Professor Christos Yannaras.
Papanikolaou, The Mystical as Political, 46. Papanikolaou identifies Yannaras and American-Armenian theologian
Vigen Guroian as providing the Orthodox worlds most notable and substantive political theologies before the fall
of Communism.
5
Yannaras, .
6
Yannaras, [Personal memories], 69. In Yannaras evocative language he says that he entered the dance
of journalism in the early 1970s. Personal memories is one of Yannaras two untranslated autobiographies. The other is
Yannaras, [Refuge of Ideas].
PERSONHOOD, RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY 3

contributing factor.7 His most controversial book, The Freedom of Morality,8 gener-
ated enormous hostility upon its publication in 1970, including public condemnation
on television.9 Yannaras completely rewrote the second edition, published in 1979,
mainly to adjust the rhetoric.10 Thus while he is undoubtedly Greeces highest
profile public theologian, he is not regarded as Greeces most influential theologian.11
Yannaras academic career in Greece has also not been without controversy.
Leftist faculty members and students attempted to prevent his appointment to Pan-
teion University in the early 1980s because his background in theology automati-
cally typecast him as a conservative in their eyes.12 They succeeded in delaying
the appointment for nearly two years, and the whole affair ended up front-page
news in the Greek press, with Yannaras journalistic colleagues pressing his case.
Remarkably, when the appointment was finally approved, Yannaras sat in his
office receiving a salary for a whole academic year without being allowed to teach
any courses or even participate in seminars.13
This all makes Yannaras a rather fascinating and unique personality in the world
of contemporary theology. He must rank as one of the most prolific living theolo-
gians writing in any language, and he may very well be one of the highest profile
public theologians in any country.

The Western reception of Yannaras work


Yannaras relative obscurity in Western theological circles can be attributed, at
least in part, to the fact that only a minority of his large corpus has thus far
been translated into English, and then only recently.14 Yannaras is also an unre-
lenting and scathing critic of Western Christianity and civilization, which has
probably diminished his appeal in the West.15 Notwithstanding these
7
By way of example, in a recent column in The Daily Yannaras launched a withering critique of the Orthodox Churchs
religious education lessons in state schools. He accused the church of not knowing the difference between a real cate-
chism and ideological propaganda. The article included inflammatory references to the wooden words of Bishops
and the dead ideology taught in church. Yannaras, [Study of Civilization]. The Daily. 2
October 2016. http://www.kathimerini.gr/877330/opinion/epikairothta/politikh/spoydh-politismoy.
8
Yannaras, The Freedom of Morality.
9
Yannaras, , 156 (Preface to the 3rd edn.); Yannaras, , 956.
10
Yannaras, , 17 (Preface to the 2nd edn.). Neither the 3rd nor the 2nd prefaces are available in
the English translation.
11
Papanikolaou, On the Absence and Unknowability of God, 302. Papanikolaou maintains that Yannaras is defi-
nitely not the most influential [Greek Orthodox theologian], but perhaps like with many great thinkers, it takes time and
translations before the unique importance of his thought is fittingly recognized. Mitralexis, Person, Eros, Critical
Ontology, 33. Mitralexis notes that Yannaras profile in Greece is on account of his political commentary rather
than his work in theology or philosophy.
12
Yannaras, , 163; Russell. Christos Yannaras, 726.
13
Yannaras, , 16073.
14
Eleven of Yannaras books have been translated into English: Yannaras, The Freedom of Morality; Yannaras,
Elements of Faith; Yannaras, Variations on the Song of Songs; Yannaras, Postmodern Metaphysics; Yannaras, On
the Absence and Unknowability of God; Yannaras, Orthodoxy and the West; Yannaras, Person and Eros; Yannaras,
Relational Ontology; Yannaras, The Enigma of Evil; Yannaras, Against Religion; Yannaras, The Schism in Philosophy;
Several of Yannaras books have also been translated into German, French, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Roma-
nian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, and Finnish. A collection of Yannaras essays is also available in English: Yannaras, The
Meaning of Reality.
15
Russell, The Enduring Significance of Christos Yannaras, 59. Marcus Plested aptly encapsulates the shortcomings
of Yannaras critique of the West when he says: Yannaras is a brilliant thinker whose penetrating and urgent vision is
not best served by the sweeping historical judgments and impossibly simple dichotomies with which he cloaks his grand
narrative. Plested, Light from the West, 63.
4 JONATHAN COLE

impediments, Yannaras books have generated surprisingly little interest among


Protestant and Catholic scholars in this age of ecumenism. There are several
useful, albeit short, introductions to Yannaras thought by Orthodox scholars,
which, given their introductory nature are understandably more expository than
critical.16 Rowan Williams 1972 essay The Theology of Personhood: A Study
of the Thought of Christos Yannaras published in Sobornost is still arguably
the most substantive critical engagement in English with Yannaras thought.17
Remarkably, Williams essay was a response to Yannaras doctoral thesis and
his remains the only Protestant engagement with Yannaras thought of any
kind. Catholic Priest and theologian Basilio Petr has done substantive work on
Yannaras thought in Italian, some of which has been translated into English.18
Kristina Stoeckl, also Catholic, has written on Yannaras political theology.19
But beyond these contributions little substantive work on Yannaras has been
done by Western scholars.
Yannaras political thought has received even less attention in the West than his
theology and philosophy. This is no doubt in large part due to the fact that none
of his substantive work on politics has been translated.20 Only two very short
essays of his on political theology are available in English: A Note on Political
Theology and Human Rights and the Orthodox Church.21 What has been
written in English on Yannaras political theology has either drawn exclusively
upon these two short essays, or has been in the context of thematic works not specifi-
cally dedicated to Yannaras political theology.22

Theological philosophy
There is an unusual unity to Yannaras work. Early books establish theological and
philosophical principles which then inform all of his subsequent work.23 As a con-
sequence, it is difficult to understand a book like The Inhumanity of Right without
firstly having a basic grasp of the theological and philosophical fundamentals that
govern Yannaras thought more generally. It is therefore necessary to firstly
provide an overview of the foundational philosophical and theological ideas that
inform Yannaras political theology before examining more closely The Inhumanity
of Right.

16
See, for example, Russell, The Enduring Significance of Christos Yannaras; Russell, Christos Yannaras; Louth,
Some Recent Works by Christos Yannaras; Mitralexis, Person, Eros, Critical Ontology.
17
Williams, The Theology of Personhood, 6.
18
Petr, Christos Yannaras; Petr, Personalist Thought in Greece, 50; Petr, Christos Yannaras and the Idea of
Dysis.
19
Stoeckl, The We in Normative Political Philosophical Debates.
20
In addition to The Inhumanity of Right, which forms the subject of this article, Yannaras has written the following
untranslated books on politics: Yannaras, [Chapters of Political Theology]; Yannaras,
[The Real and the Illusory in Political Economy]; Yannaras,
, [Civilization, the Central Problem of Politics]; Yannaras, -
: [Communo-centric Politics: Criteria]. Yannaras has also written a number of books that deal
specifically with Greek politics, none of which has been translated.
21
Yannaras, A Note on Political Theology, 27. Yannaras, Human Rights and the Orthodox Church.
22
See, for example, Stoeckl, The We in Normative Political Philosophical Debates; Payne, The Revival of Political
Hesychasm; Papanikolaou, The Mystical as Political; Kalaitzidis, Orthodoxy and Political Theology.
23
Russell, The Enduring Significance of Christos Yannaras, 59.
PERSONHOOD, RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY 5

It is difficult to know how to characterize Yannaras theology. Norman Russell,


who is responsible for the majority of the English translations of Yannaras
books, describes Yannaras method as theological philosophy.24 Yannaras
makes no real distinction in practice between philosophy and theology. His work
is driven by a preoccupation with ontological questions, which for him as a Chris-
tian are also theological questions. There is a single, unified reality that both theol-
ogy and philosophy investigate, using essentially the same methodology. Books, for
example, that deal with traditionally philosophical themes, such as ontology and
epistemology, involve discussion of Christian doctrine, the bible, the church
fathers, and ecclesiology.
Yannaras work draws freely from Christian Scripture, tradition, and history as
well as pagan and secular philosophy. He does not in practice recognize any dichot-
omy between the secular and the sacred. Secular does not form an important
category in his thought. He believes theological insight can be gained from the likes
of Sartre and Aristotle. Yannaras refers to the Eastern Christian tradition as
Helleno-Christianity or Christianized Hellenism in an indication of the pro-
ductive intellectual synthesis he perceives in Christianitys engagement with Greek
philosophy.25
A consequence of Yannaras method is that his theological philosophy is the
product of a set of influences that might strike some readers in the Western tra-
dition as unusual and eclectic. The thinkers who feature most prominently, and
most influentially, in his work are the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Heracli-
tus, Eastern theologians St Maximus the Confessor and Pseudo-Dionysius,
Russian Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky, and 20th century European phi-
losophers Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Karl
Marx.26
This all makes for a rather different frame of reference from that which
governs most Catholic and Protestant theological analysis of politics. Western
historical luminaries such as Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin, who
have profoundly shaped Western political theology, are only cited by Yannaras
(and very infrequently) as examples of error. Major twentieth century theolo-
gians who produced influential work in political theology, such as Abraham
Kuyper, Karl Barth, and John Howard Yoder, are never mentioned at all. Nor
does Yannaras mention or reference any contemporary Western theologians
and philosophers who are influential in the field of political theology, such as

24
Ibid. Russell writes that Yannaras style of theological philosophy does not sit easily with the predominant philoso-
phical traditions in the English-speaking world.
25
Yannaras, , 47, 71.
26
Marx is a significant interlocutor of Yannaras rather than one of the seminal influences on his thought. He is worth
mentioning, however, in the context of Yannaras political theology. Yannaras engages more deeply with Marx than any
other philosopher in his political work (albeit less so in The Inhumanity of Right). Marx is given a sympathetic, but criti-
cal reading by Yannaras. However, the influence of Marx on Yannaras political theology and Yannaras critique of
Marx are beyond the scope of this essay. Papanikolaou and Petr have both noted the profound influence of Lossky
on Yannaras thought. Papanikolaou, Orthodox Theology in the Twentieth Century, 59. Petr, Personalist
Thought in Greece, 14. However, it is interesting to observe that Yannaras cites Lossky infrequently and does not nomi-
nate him as one of his seminal influences. Notwithstanding, he does say in Personal Memories that the works of the
Russian Orthodox diaspora changed the course of my life, and he got to know Lossky personally while he was study-
ing in Paris, although he does not elaborate on the way that Lossky specifically influenced his thought. Yannaras,
, 901.
6 JONATHAN COLE

Oliver ODonovan, Stanley Hauerwas, John Milbank, Nicholas Wolterstorff, or


William Cavanaugh.

Person-centric anthropology and relational ontology


Yannaras theology is radically Trinitarian. This is the foundational truth that
unlocks answers to ontological, epistemological, theological, social, political, and
ecclesiological questions. The churchs insight that God is a free, loving community
of persons provides the framework for Christian faith, doctrine, and practice. Cre-
ation, imago Dei, the fall, redemption, the church, and the telos of history are all best
understood, according to Yannaras, as reflections of the Trinitarian origin and telos
of the universe.
Personhood27 is the ontological foundation of human existence and the truth of
human anthropology (person-centric anthropology). Personhood expresses the
ontological truth that each human is a unique, dissimilar, and unrepeatable
subject in dynamic relationship with God, other humans and the natural world.28
However, the absolute otherness of the subject can only emerge, exist, and ulti-
mately flourish in relationship.29 We know ourselves by knowing other people and
things. Thus individual and community are inextricably linked. Neither forms a coher-
ent concept without reference to the other. This is what Yannaras means by the
concept of relational ontology. Our relational ontology is ultimately a reflection
of the personal God, the ultimate origin of human personhood and the relational uni-
verse. Personhood expresses the Trinitarian prototype of our existence.30
Freedom and love are central concepts in Yannaras theology and in his pol-
itical theology. As he explains in Elements of Faith, the realization of life as com-
munion and relationship is nevertheless a fruit of freedom there is no necessary or
compulsory communion or relationship of love.31 Thus freedom and love are
integral elements in a functioning, authentic community modeled on the Trinity.
Yannaras defines love in terms of self-transcendence and self-offering.32 He
defines freedom as freedom from alienation, which is to say the freedom to be
ones true, authentic self the otherness of the personwhich is realized and
made known only in relationship.33 Authentic existence and alienation func-
tion as antonyms in Yannaras political thought.34
The fall in Yannaras theology constitutes humankinds rejection of, and alien-
ation from, the trinitarian model of existence and its replacement by a self-centered
existence unrelated to and independent of God.35 In other words, the fall
constitutes the rejection of personhood. Yannaras often talks about sin in terms of
existential failure, the failure to participate in the communal life of the triune
27
Personhood ( prosopo).
28
Yannaras, Person and Eros, 17.
29
Ibid., 178.
30
Yannaras, , 163. Trinitarian prototype (triadiko prototypo). Schram
translates this triadic prototype. Yannaras, Elements of Faith, 107.
31
Yannaras, Elements of Faith, 77.
32
Ibid., 801.
33
Yannaras, , 24, 171.
34
Ibid., 205.
35
Ibid., 24, 171.
PERSONHOOD, RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY 7

God.36 Redemption, through the incarnation of the person Jesus, and Jesuss
sacrifice the ultimate act of self-transcendent, self-offering love restores human-
kinds ability to participate in the trinitarian mode of existence. This participation
manifests principally in the life of the church, the gathering of restored persons
living in community in the image of the Trinity.37
Thus relationships define Gods mode of being, human anthropology, human
communion with God (redemption) and the church. Two succinct statements encap-
sulate the relational ethos of Yannaras theology: We know God by cultivating a
relationship, not by understanding a concept,38 and We draw near to God by
means of a way of life, not by means of a way of thinking.39
This introductory look at two key foundational principles underpinning
Yannaras theology and philosophy personhood and relational ontology
does not do justice to the rich, subtle, and elaborate treatment they receive in
book-length studies.40 Nor is it an exhaustive account of all of the concepts
central to Yannaras theology and philosophy. It will suffice, however, for explaining
Yannaras arguments about politics in The Inhumanity of Right.

Communo-centric politics
One of Yannaras most important works of political theology is his provocatively
titled book The Inhumanity of Right.41 The book is a critique of Western liberal pol-
itical order and culture,42 with particular focus on the concept of individual
right.43 Yannaras contention is that the Western politics of individual right is fun-
damentally incompatible with a Christian (Eastern) ontology and anthropology.44
He calls for a reorientation of politics such that relationships and community
36
Yannaras, Elements of Faith, 1512.
37
Yannaras, , 115.
38
Yannaras, Relational Ontology, 66.
39
Yannaras, Elements of Faith, 14.
40
See, for example, Yannaras, Person and Eros; and Yannaras, Relational Ontology.
41
It is interesting to note, apropos our introduction, that Yannaras single reference to political theology in The
Inhumanity of Right is to the so-called political theology that has developed in recent decades in a Roman Catholic
and principally Protestant environment. Yannaras, , 174. Both Payne and Papanikolaou
describe Yannaras political thought as a political theology. Payne, The Revival of Political Hesychasm, 240; Papani-
kolaou, The Mystical as Political, 46.
42
Yannaras does not actually use the terms order and culture, but this is what the collection of Greek terms he uses
amounts to in English.
43
It is common in the English literature on Yannaras political theology to translate as
The Inhuman Character of Human Rights, and to discuss Yannaras thought on human rights. However, a literal
translation of the book is The Inhumanity of Right, and the term human rights (anthropina dikaiomata) occurs
neither in the title nor in the text of the book. In the prolog to The Inhumanity of Right, Yannaras introduces the
subject of his book as individual rights (atomika dikaiomata), which he often shortens to just right (dikaioma)
throughout the book. Yannaras, , 7. We have followed this usage. While human
rights is certainly captured in Yannaras use of the term right (individual rights) he actually means something
with wider connotations. Human rights can connote in English those rights that are recognized in law. Yannaras
argues that right governs not only the legal system in the West, but conventions, customs, and culture more broadly.
44
The compatibility or otherwise of Eastern Orthodox theology and Western liberal political order is a matter of con-
tention among Orthodox theologians. For a countervailing Orthodox perspective to Yannaras, see Papanikolaou, The
Mystical as Political. Papanikolaou argues that

an Orthodox political theology, or a political theology grounded in the principle of divine-human communion,
must be one that unequivocally endorses a political community that is democratic in a way that structures itself
around the modern liberal principles of freedom of choice, religious freedom the protection of human rights
and church-state separation [my emphasis]. p. 12.
8 JONATHAN COLE

become the priority and governing principles. This would in turn facilitate a true and
authentic politics, characterized by communal life of love and freedom in the image
of the Trinity.
Yannaras believes politics is shaped principally by two things: necessities and
attribution of meaning.45 Political culture and order are the product of the way a
society orders its needs and the meaning it ascribes to its common life together, i.e.
how it interprets existence.46 In the case of Western liberal democracies it is the
concept of individual right that orders human needs and which provides the frame-
work for interpreting human co-existence. Yannaras defines individual right as the
authority to demand satisfaction of a particular private or public (collective) inter-
est.47 The authority of individual interest is vested in a system or body of laws,
the goal of which is the securing and guaranteeing of individual interest.48 In short,
a right is an authorized interest.49 So Western liberal political order and culture
are fundamentally a way of managing conflicting and competing individual interests.
The problem is that individual right is based on a false anthropology. The auton-
omous, independent, self-referential human unit posited by the concept of individual
right does not exist, according to Yannaras. As explained above, Yannaras holds to a
person-centric anthropology: the unique, dissimilar, and unrepeatable rela-
tional consciousness oriented towards community.50 Yannaras attributes the false
anthropology of individual right to naturalism, which he defines as a philosophy
that exhausts the interpretation of the existent and the real in the phenomenological
construal of nature as the unique experience of certainty.51 Naturalisms fatal flaw is
its rejection of the trinitarian ontology of human existence the existential fullness of
the divine Trinitarian community, which is the origin of the universe, the source of
the universes harmony and of its creative energy.52 Naturalism has grave political
consequences because Yannaras believes ontology and politics are inextricably
linked and mutually reinforcing.53 Consciously or unconsciously, ontological percep-
tions will shape political order and political practice.54

45
Yannaras, , 65. Necessities ( anangkes) and attribution of meaning (-
noimatodotisi). I am grateful to Norman Russell for these translations.
46
Ibid. Yannaras writes that differentiation in the hierarchy of needs distinguishes the formation and function of
societies. 75.
47
Ibid., 15. The Greek term Dikaio () features very prominently in The Inhumanity of Right and there is no
precise English equivalent. Yannaras defines Dikaio as a system of laws and rules of individual behavior and the organ-
isation of communal life. It covers, but is not limited to, the English concept of a legal system or body of law. Yan-
naras indicates that Dikaio can include written and unwritten laws and so the term therefore covers cultural conventions
in the English sense. It is the total sum of laws, rules, regulations, and social conventions that govern human behavior
and relationships in a particular society or community.
48
Ibid., 28.
49
Ibid., 15.
50
Ibid., 17, 203. Yannaras writes that demand-claim-authorization of interest presupposes human existence as units
of interest, autonomous and self-centered units 16. The terms translated autonomous and self-centered carry an
important nuance that cannot be captured in translation. The Greek terms are (autoteli) and (idioteli).
They literally mean the self as end and ones own as end. Yannaras writes them with a hyphen to emphasize the
etymological roots of the terms e.g. - and -.
51
Ibid., 76.
52
Ibid., 114.
53
Ibid., 41.
54
Ibid., 79. Yannaras says political challenges have an ontological basis which cannot be ignored without diminishing a
comprehensive understanding of political proposals and interpretations. He adds that ontological challenges are also
political challenges.
PERSONHOOD, RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY 9

One of Yannaras most interesting ideas is that Western politics, based on individ-
ual right, actually constitutes a return to what he calls a pre-political mode of
existence, which is to say that it is no politics at all. This idea stems from Yannaras
fundamentally Athenian conception of politics.55 In classical Greek political
thought, he argues, the terms polis (city-state), politis (citizen), politeia (polity), poli-
tismos (civilization), and politiki (politics) were inextricably linked and all related to
the idea of the organic and active participation of the citizen in the common struggle
of community and relationship.56
Yannaras contends that Byzantine civilization adopted this Greek conception of
politics and refined it with Trinitarian theology. Instead of politics aspiring to auth-
entic existence in accord with the impersonal rational order of the cosmos, the Chris-
tian East aspired to authentic existence in accord with the truth of the personal
otherness of a creative loving communion of persons which form the trinitarian
first principle of the existent.57
So the political consequence of the prevailing philosophy of naturalism is the dis-
connection of politics from the pursuit of authentic existence: relationships of com-
munity that constitute actual good, actual existence and life.58 The
individualization of politics that has emerged from naturalism has severed the
organic link between citizen and the polis and elevated in its place the impersonal
bearer of rights of self-defense against the community and authority.59 It is on this
basis that Yannaras believes that the Western model of politics based on individual
right (individual interest) is a retrograde step to a kind of pre-politics, the balan-
cing of interests rather than the pursuit of authentic existence.60
One of the principle negative consequences of the false anthropology at the heart
of Western political order is that it creates a set of false oppositions inimical to auth-
entic community. It pits, for example, the citizen against the state and the individual
against the community.61 Community and political authority are construed as
threats to individual rights, interests, and freedom.62 Citizens and institutions, par-
ticularly governments, operate autonomously and disconnected from one another. A
Politics of individual right thus presupposes, and in practice embeds, a politics of
contest and conflict. Political parties, lobbies, and unions, Yannaras contends, all
operate on the basis that community is a threat to individual interest. People with
common individual interests make common cause in order to protect and advance
their interests against the other interests that threaten them.63 This is all fundamen-
tally anti-community because the individual cannot be separated from the commu-
nity, according to Yannaras, as they reference each other.

55
Ibid., 47, 69.
56
Ibid., 6970. Yannaras argues that in the case of ancient Athenian democracy the terms city, polity, and poli-
tics related to the freedom and the dignity of the citizen, not as a claim of individualistic security, nor as the defense
of the individual against the power of the central authority, but as the organic result of the citizens participation in the
common struggle of a community of relationships. p. 69. Yannaras does not address the place of women or the exist-
ence of slavery in Athenian democracy and political thought.
57
Ibid., 712.
58
Ibid., 48.
59
Ibid., 47.
60
Ibid., 48.
61
Ibid., 52.
62
Ibid., 45.
63
Ibid., 2323.
10 JONATHAN COLE

Yannaras answer to the incoherence and material threat of a politics of individual


interest is what he calls communo-centric politics (koinoniokentriki politiki).64 A
communo-centric politics advocates reordering societys needs so that relation-
ship sits at the apex and not individual right. This idea is not based on a dichot-
omy of relationship and right. 65 The two are not theoretically incompatible,
according to Yannaras.66 In the prologue to the book he sets out as one of his objec-
tives the clarification of a communo-centric practice of individual right, as a
foundation for preserving the potential for relationships.67 There is nothing
wrong in principle with the concept of individual right. It can productively serve a
politics that prioritizes relationships and community. But it cannot do this so long
as individualism provides the criterion and framework for ordering societys needs
and interpreting its existence.68 The fundamental problem is that individual
right is the end of politics in Western liberal democracies, not a means to the end
of authentic relational community. Yannaras is willing to concede that the rise of
individual right marks an improvement on (Western) medieval political order
and is a welcome alternative to authoritarian orders of any kind. However, it falls
short of true, authentic, Christian political society (on Yannaras definition) and
breeds widespread alienation.69 Dispensing with naturalism and its impoverished
individualist anthropology and revitalizing a Christian (trinitarian) ontology with
its traditional person-centric anthropology could put right to productive use,
i.e. in defense against alienation.70
Alienation is a central concept in Yannaras political theology. It is the conse-
quence of the primordial sin and expresses the condition of humankinds fallen
condition. Selfish individualism is a symptom of the alienation wrought by human-
kinds rejection of communion with God. Alienation is thus the great and ever
present threat to personhood and relationships, and therefore to authentic politics.
In the political sphere, alienation is characterized by dependence, subjugation,
and conditions of necessity (the latter referring to the notion of humans lacking
the freedom to behave in any other way than in line with base instincts).71
Yannaras envisages his communo-centric politics as a bulwark against
alienation.
What would a modern Western political order that prioritized relationships rather
than individual right look like? Yannaras provides general principles rather than
specific policy proposals in this regard. He is very clear, for example, about what
is wrong with legal systems founded on the prioritization of individual right: they

64
Communo-centric politics ( koinoniokentriki politiki). It is worth noting at this juncture
that Communitarianism is not a part of Yannaras Greek Orthodox linguistic, religious, or political tradition. There is
nothing, for example, to indicate that Yannaras has read, let alone been influenced by, any of the major figures associated
with communitarianism in the West e.g. Alisdair MacIntyre or Charles Taylor. That said, it would be a worthwhile study
to investigate whether, in terms of Western political categories, Yannaras political theology is actually a species of com-
munitarianism, merely shares a degree of affinity with it, or is in fact an entirely different species with a similar name.
65
Ibid., 1823.
66
Ibid., 186.
67
Ibid., 9.
68
Ibid., 1856.
69
Ibid., 47.
70
Ibid., 1834, 186.
71
Ibid., 206, 214.
PERSONHOOD, RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY 11

ignore the otherness of the person.72 The problem is that legal relationships
do not refer to real human relationships, they are generic prescriptions of the con-
nection between abstract standardized individuals.73 He is clear that such a legal
system should be reoriented to prioritize relationships, which is to say that it
would prioritize the community rather than the individual: such a legal system
would define and judge interpersonal relationships and not impersonal individual
actions.74 But it is difficult to understand what this might look like in practice given
Yannaras belief that interpersonal relationship community cannot be trans-
formed into an object, one of the preconditions for a system of law on his own
account.75 The objective of a system of law that prioritized relationships would
be to facilitate and promote free interpersonal relationships and to avert alienation
of any kind.76 Yannaras would like to see legal systems focus on making determi-
nations about the justice of relationships. Relationships based on necessity and
dependence, i.e., exploitative and oppressive relationships, are non-
relationships because they lack the freedom that the unique, dissimilar, and
unrepeatable person requires to emerge and prosper. Thus authentic being
should be a central concern of any just legal system.77
Yannaras would also like to see a much more organic link between citizens and
political authority in the form of community controlled forms of authority,
where political authority functions as a litourgima, i.e., a public service, and
where citizens assume responsibility for the management of their own lives
rather than delegating it to a rights umpire (the government).78
Yannaras political vision sounds more radical than it is in practice. He is funda-
mentally a political realist and he eschews political utopianism of any kind. He says
he is interested in a politics of the tangible, and he certainly holds no naivet about
the difficulty of the task of reorienting political culture.79 His communo-centric
politics represents more a correction to the current political order than a revolu-
tionary change to it. Yannaras looks to culture as the organ for change rather
than political institutions. This is partly because his organic conception of politics
as authentic communal existence places responsibility and power in the hands of the
citizenry. Yannaras believes that the kind of cultural change he would like to see
cannot be brought into effect by governments, legislation, and policy.80 Take the
legal system, for example. Yannaras believes that laws reflect, rather than define,
a communitys prioritization and ordering of its needs.81 Therefore a legal system
that prioritizes individual right can only shift to a focus on relationship if societys

72
Ibid., 17. Interestingly, Yannaras argues that the contract posited by contractarianism constitutes the giving up of the
ontological otherness of every social participant, p. 19. A consequence of such a contract is that the term commu-
nity inevitably degenerates into a quantitative concept: the abstract total number of undifferentiated individuals
rather than the community of persons it should be. p. 20.
73
Ibid., 17.
74
Ibid., 37, 95.
75
Ibid., 167.
76
Ibid., 32.
77
Ibid., 36. Authentic existence is literally existential authenticity (yparktiki gnisiotita).
78
Ibid., 71, 217. It is important to note that Yannaras supports neither socialism nor anarchism because they are both, in
his view, just as individualistic as capitalism, and have the same flawed view of community, i.e. the aggregate of undif-
ferentiated individuals, p. 218.
79
Ibid., 71.
80
Ibid., 2045.
81
Ibid., 37.
12 JONATHAN COLE

priorities demand it.82 So what is required is a cultural change a new language,


mindset, and political praxis that transcends mere politics (on the Western
definition). If this were to happen then institutional change would inevitably follow.
This brings us to Yannaras most provocative idea: the call for the entanglement of
religion and politics.83 This is a phrase bound to cause heart palpitations in many a
Western reader, Christian and atheist alike, and is liable to misunderstanding. The entan-
glement in view has absolutely nothing to do with theocracy. In fact, the idea has nothing
to do with government or even political order per se. Yannaras claim is this: only the
church (in its Orthodox manifestation) has the theoretical and practical resources in
its theology, worship, and monastic life to be a catalyst for the kind of cultural
change required to reorient Western political culture away from individual right and
towards a politics of relationship.84 It is, after all, a Trinitarian relational ontology
and a person-centric anthropology that is required to underwrite an authentic politics.
It is important to note that Yannaras conceives the church as the gathering of
persons into an organic, living body, and not as an institution, governing hier-
archy or buildings and offices.85 The church, he writes, is not just another
religion or metaphysical ideology, but a community which paves the way in the
struggle of communal life, the realization of the trinitarian model of real exist-
ence.86 The Eucharist is central to this conception of the church:

In the Eucharist meal, the Church realizes an approach to life radically opposed to that
of those who were first formed. She takes nourishment not within the framework of the
individual demand for life, but in order to realize life as a reference to God and commu-
nion with him.87

There is more than a tinge of nostalgia about Yannaras account of the church. His
emphasis on the theology, worship, and monasticism of Orthodoxy is revealing. He
is actually quite pessimistic about the general state of contemporary Orthodoxy,
which has been infected with all of the political and theological pathologies of the
West in his view, e.g. the priority of ideology, moralism, and psychological
individualism.88 So if one were to look for the lived Trinitarian ontology so
central to restoring politics in the life of ordinary Orthodox clerics and worshipers
one would have to look long and hard according to Yannaras.89 Nonetheless, the
flame of authentic Christian ontology and anthropology is still burning in the
Easts theology, worship, and monastic life. Of course, one need not bother
looking for it in contemporary Western Christianity on Yannaras account.
This gives the Eastern Orthodox Church a critical, arguably the critical, role in
bringing about the cultural change Yannaras thinks is so urgently required in
82
Ibid.
83
Ibid., 224, 2512.
84
Ibid., 125. Yannaras considers the Orthodox monastic community as a socio-political example of authentic Trini-
tarian Christian life par excellence, though on his own admission this notion requires testing in a specialized study.
85
Yannaras, Elements of Faith, 1212.
86
Yannaras, , 114. Yannaras rejects the notion that Christianity is a religion, even though
that is the form it has taken for much of its history. The church is a community and its faith is a lived experience. See
Yannaras, Against Religion.
87
Yannaras, Elements of Faith, 125.
88
Yannaras, , 138.
89
Ibid., 1358.
PERSONHOOD, RELATIONAL ONTOLOGY 13

both the West and the Westernized East.90 However, the church itself is in danger of
losing this very precious gift, and therefore it must first revitalize and restore its own
trinitarian life in order to be a catalyst for wider cultural change.91 It is important to
note that while Yannaras political theology gives the church a key political role (on
Yannaras definition of politics), it does not presuppose any formal involvement in
political structures of power.92 Yannaras is very clear that the answer to the Wests
current political problems is not yet another ideology or theory, but rather a lived
resistance and the experience of practice.93 So the role of the church is to live,
teach, and preach an authentic politics based on its Trinitarian ontology and person-
centric anthropology.
In summation, Yannaras contends that Western politics, in imitation of the original
sin, has descended into a politics of alienation thanks to its perversion of a Christian
Trinitarian ontology (naturalism) and person-centric anthropology (individualism),
which form the basis of the Trinitarian model for which human persons were created
and toward which redeemed persons are called. The solution is to restore and revitalize
the true telos of politics, construed as authentic co-existence in harmony with the divine
order. Such a politics, a communo-centric politics, would prioritize relationships
rather than individual right, and communal interests rather than individual interests,
with the two guiding principles being love and freedom. The (Orthodox) church, for
all its faults, is the last bastion where this anthropology and authentic community
can be found. The church therefore has an urgent and vital role to play in catalyzing
the cultural shift required for a return to an authentic Trinitarian politics.

Acknowledgement
I am grateful to Dr. Norman Russell for valuable comments on an earlier draft.

ORCID
Jonathan Cole http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6302-7196

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Notes on contributor
Jonathan is a PhD candidate at the School of Theology, Charles Sturt University,
Canberra, Australia. His research is in political theology. He has a B.A. Hons in
Greek history and language from La Trobe University, Melbourne and is a fluent
Modern Greek speaker. He is Anglican.
Correspondence to: Jonathan Cole. Email: jonathancole331@gmail.com

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