Some Thoughts on Being an Eastern Orthodox Christian of Indigenous Traditions
I am unapologetically indigenous as an Eastern Orthodox Christian! I belong to the Montenegrin Njeguši tribe (my husband's tribe), various indigenous groups from Britain, Celtic lands and northern Europe, and last but not least, I have Iroquois blood. All of my British and European ancestors were originally Orthodox Christians until sometime around 1200, except for my Culdee ancestors, who, though supposedly no longer extant by Reformation times, actually stayed Orthodox and just went into hiding in the mountains and in the Hebrides. So, I practice the Orthodox faith with a generally indigenous approach that is mostly comprised of northern European traditions, in particular Celtic.
I had some zealous clergy in the past who tried to strip me of those indigenous aspects of my faith, but I reclaimed them and now practice my faith as a whole person, instead of as someone who has parts of me torn away. Fellow Orthodox Christians, do me a favour: kindly don't try to make indigenous people into modern Western Americans, nor try to make us into Greeks or Russians or any other people that we aren't. Especially don't try to do that in the Name of Christ, Who made each of us in His image as we are and who we are, and Who transforms and transfigures us in His own way and time, without asking us to pretend we're someone else. Nor should we be told that who we fundamentally are, in terms of our culture and basic personality, is bad or wrong. Orthodoxy doesn't accept the doctrine of total depravity, though I've run into people who forget that sometimes.
Each of us has a sacred personhood, a mini-hypostas with individual fullness like the full individuality of the Holy Three Persons of the Trinity. God made us each unique, and fundamentally good (Genesis 1:31), though we and all creation are victimized by the fall of man. We are imperfect and incomplete, and have a tendency towards sin, therefore rendering us in need of Christ and His uncreated Light and Grace. ("Uncreated" means that these aspects were always in and of Him, and a free gift to creation). Unlike the All-Holy Trinity, our sacred person--our individual selves--must be cleansed, redeemed and brought into Communion with God through baptism and living the sacramental life.
As an indigenous person, I can also tell you that communion with God's creation and remembering its sacredness also helps a lot with sanctification. This is something known and understood by the Celtic fathers and mothers of the Church. So, in my practice of my faith, you will see things like flowers, stones, herbs for a sweet savour to the Lord, used together with icons in my garden shrine of St. Brigid of Kildare, where I practice my prayer rule. You will also see my observance of seasonal celebrations such as harvests and turning points of the year, which in my faith often coincide with the feast days of saints and date back to the early times of the Celtic, Saxon and Norse branches of the Church. All of these are done within and through my Orthodox faith. Don't let anyone tell you that you can only be Orthodox if you practice it through the auspices of ____________ (insert ethnicity or national origin here), or that you're not truly Christian if you retain indigenous culture.
As an indigenous person, I'm a bit unique. Not very many people realise that Montenegro, the country of my husband's ancestors, is comprised of tribal peoples; nor are very many people aware that the very nature of several northern European cultures, of which Celtic is only one, is tribal. A lot of people think that you have to actually belong to one of the Native North American, South American or African tribes to be considered indigenous, but there are indigenous people of Europe as well as many other places in the world.
People have said to me before, "Why do you care so much about your indigenous traditions? Is not Christ more important than your culture?" But anyone who is honest will admit that all Christians practice their faith within some type of cultural context, and that often these cultural contexts add rich and beautiful small traditions to the rich tapestry of people in the Church. To say that one cultural context within the practice of the Faith is valid while another is not? This is patently wrong and unjust. And yet it's done quite often in my experience: things that don't quite fit into someone's cultural perception of how we should be gets labeled "heretical" or "erroneous" or "non-Christian." But I have cast off the negativity of critics, zealots and anyone else trying to remake me and mine in their own image. I practice my faith in creativity and love, in a way that hopefully honours my ancestors and brings me closer to Christ through their wisdom and that of the saints.
Cristos voskrese! Tha Crìosd air èiridh! Tá Críost ar éirigh! Atgyfododd Crist! Christ est ressuscité! Kristus är upstånden! Christus ist Auferstanden! Críst sé elléann! Allélúˇa! Christ Is Risen! Alleluia!
