Column: Mortal Remains
Not Forgetting Beauty
by S. M. Hutchens
In a famous passage from the Russian Primary Chronicle, the a.d. 988 conversion of the pagan Vladimir I, Prince of Kievan Rus, is prefaced by the following explanation of events leading to his decision to choose eastern Christianity over Islam, Judaism, and the Roman Catholic West:
Vladimir summoned together his vassals and the city elders, and said to them: "Behold, the Bulgars [Muslims] came before me urging me to accept their religion. Then came the Germans [Catholics] and praised their own faith; and after them came the Jews. Finally the Greeks appeared, criticizing all other faiths but commending their own, and they spoke at length, telling the history of the whole world from its beginning. Their words were artful, and it was wondrous to listen and pleasant to hear them. They preach the existence of another world. 'Whoever adopts our religion and then dies shall arise and live forever. But whosoever embraces another faith, shall be consumed with fire in the next world.' What is your opinion on this subject, and what do you answer?"
The vassals and the elders replied: "You know, O Prince, that no man condemns his own possessions, but praises them instead. If you desire to make certain, you have servants at your disposal. Send them to inquire about the ritual of each and how he worships God." Their counsel pleased the prince and all the people, so that they chose good and wise men to the number of ten, and directed them to go first among the Bulgars and inspect their faith. The emissaries went their way, and when they arrived at their destination they beheld the disgraceful actions of the Bulgars and their worship in the mosque; then they returned to their own country. Vladimir then instructed them to go likewise among the Germans, and examine their faith, and finally to visit the Greeks. They thus went into Germany, and after viewing the German ceremonial, they proceeded to Constantinople where they appeared before the emperor. He inquired on what mission they had come, and they reported to him all that had occurred. When the emperor heard their words, he rejoiced, and did them great honor on that very day.
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On the morrow, the emperor sent a message to the patriarch to inform him that a Russian delegation had arrived to examine the Greek faith, and directed him to prepare the church and the clergy, and to array himself in his sacerdotal robes, so that the Russians might behold the glory of the God of the Greeks. When the patriarch received these commands, he bade the clergy assemble, and they performed the customary rites. They burned incense, and the choirs sang hymns. The emperor accompanied the Russians to the church, and placed them in a wide space, calling their attention to the beauty of the edifice, the chanting, and the offices of the archpriest and the ministry of the deacons, while he explained to them the worship of his God. The Russians were astonished, and in their wonder praised the Greek ceremonial. Then the Emperors Basil and Constantine invited the envoys to their presence, and said, "Go hence to your native country," and thus dismissed them with valuable presents and great honor. Thus they returned to their own country, and the prince called together his vassals and the elders. Vladimir then announced the return of the envoys who had been sent out, and suggested that their report be heard. He thus commanded them to speak out before his vassals. The envoys reported: "When we journeyed among the Bulgars, we beheld how they worship in their temple, called a mosque, while they stand ungirt. The Bulgarian bows, sits down, looks hither and thither like one possessed, and there is no happiness among them, but instead only sorrow and a dreadful stench. Their religion is not good. Then we went among the Germans, and saw them performing many ceremonies in their temples; but we beheld no glory there. Then we went on to Greece, and the Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendor or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty."
I first heard this account commended by converts to Orthodoxy from varieties of Christianity they found, and no doubt rightly, thin and drab. It can hardly be doubted that the faith, rightly known, is of inexhaustible depth and beauty, and the church that bears the best witness of this bears the best witness of the Truth.
Competing for the Best Show
The problem here, however, is in human perception of beauty in a faith centered upon a man of whom it was said, "he had no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." This does not mean that we should ever relinquish belief in the infinite beauty of the Son of God, but that we should be critical of our perceptions of beauty and their connections to our faith. Unless we also see in our present perception of divine beauty an offense to that perception, we are very likely dealing only with an appearance unacceptably divided from the reality, a reality anchored in a Christ who is also unacceptable, precisely because of his lack of beauty, to a world that "received him not," and to churches (part of the "we" of Isaiah 53) who are all too likely, unless they cordially believe the instruction they have received on the matter, to agree with that world.
While I can by no means deny the validity of the perceptions of Prince Vladimir's legates, or the wisdom of the prince's epochal decision that followed, the whole business also, I must say, looks painfully familiar: well-provisioned mega-churches competing for members, the winner being the one that puts on the best show and gives the best presents.
Since the dawn of the Constantinian age, the world has had competition for the "show" the churches have been able to put on, but that age is dying, and with it the churches' ability to compete with what is provided by secular media in its penetration to consciousness and influence over day-to-day life and thought. For centuries, the church was likely the best in town precisely because of its ability to appeal to the senses, including all those mentioned to the prince by his legates—and which I have too often heard uncritically appealed to as evidence of the church's devotion to the materiality of creation, or just as uncritically opposed by iconoclasts as idolatry. (Just which it may be cannot be decided by formula, but is spiritually discerned.) But it was not so in the earliest days any more that it is in other times and places where the church is not allowed to compete, nor, I believe, will it be in the age we are entering. And, in any event, it never could really beat the devil's best shows because it had to stay within rules that did not allow it to be, let us say, excessively sensual.
A Glory & a Comfort
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
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