The Ineffable
Hallowed Be Thy Name: The Name-Glorifying Dispute in the Russian Orthodox Church and on Mt. Athos, 1912–1914
by Tom Dykstra
OCABS Press, 2013
(246 pages, $22.00, paperback)
reviewed by John Granger
One hundred years ago last summer, Russian sailors invaded Mount Athos to confront the monks at one monastery there, who asserted that "the Name of God is God," i.e., that to say the Lord's name is to be in his presence. After theological discussion and negotiation failed, some 800 monks were captured by force, taken to Odessa, and defrocked. More than a thousand more Athonite monastics eventually suffered the same fate, and the Russian Orthodox presence on the Holy Mountain has never been the same.This event and its underlying controversy were brought back to the public square at their centennial by a December 2012 article in The Economist, by a war of internet-post brick-throwing between different Orthodox traditionalist groups, and by a book, Tom Dykstra's Hallowed Be Thy Name: The Name-Glorifying Dispute in the Russian Orthodox Church and on Mt. Athos, 1912–1914.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
John Granger is an Orthodox Reader and the author of several books about Harry Potter, including How Harry Cast His Spell (SaltRiver, 2008) and The Deathly Hallows Lectures (Zossima Press, 2008). His website is HogwartsProfessor.com.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
21.6—July/August 2008
Benedict XVI on the Crisis of Faith & Reason by Samuel Gregg
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
