By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
One should read the text by Father John Romanides with the title “The Redemptive Work of Christ on the Cross and in the Resurrection” (Τό Λυτρωτικόν Ἔργον τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν τῷ Σταυρῷ καί τῇ Ἀναστάσει), which is a model of theological discourse, and it is one of his most important theological texts, since in it he presents the Orthodox Patristic teaching on the assimilation of the theology of the Cross and the theology of Glory (Simul Theologia Crucis et Theologia Gloriae).
Andrew Sopko argues that this teaching constitutes “probably the greatest gift that Romanides gave to modern Orthodox theology and to all of Christianity." […]
In his presentation he raised serious theological issues, such as:
1) The distinction of the mystery of the physical Crucifixion and Resurrection of the incarnate Word of God from the participation in the mystery of the power of the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ before His sacrificial crucifixion on Golgotha by the Prophets and some Apostles;
2) The necessary prerequisite for understanding the teaching of the Fathers about the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ, which is the prerequisite of faith;
3) The relationship between Holy Scripture and the Church;
4) The mystery of the Cross and the Resurrection of Christ in relation to the Prophets, Apostles and Saints, but also the systems of the Franco-Latin Catholics and Protestants;
5) The reconciliation of people with God;
6) The deified Prophets, Apostles and Fathers as to the distinction between the uncreated energies of God and the created energies of creatures, including the energies of the devil;
7) The knowledge of God by the deified;
8) The apostolic tradition and apostolic succession and the interruption of the tradition of deification which entails the fall from the truth;
9) The first and second resurrection;
10) The two Testaments, Old and New, according to the Franco-Latin and Patristic tradition, etc.
Source: From the book Inter-Orthodox Theological Dialogue. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
