The Rediscovery of Orthodoxy

This article is the transcript of two radio lectures broadcast by the BBC in 1957, in which Reverend Peter Hammond explores the theological significance of the rapprochement between Western Christianity and the Orthodox Church. Starting from a personal testimony — his discovery of Greek Orthodoxy during the Second World War and his reading of the Khomiakov-Palmer correspondence — Hammond develops the thesis that the reform movement running through all of Western Christendom in the twentieth century spontaneously leads to the rediscovery of doctrinal and liturgical positions that the Christian East has never abandoned. The article examines several areas — Eucharistic ecclesiology, Trinitarian spirituality, sacred art, the role of the laity — to show that the eleventh-century schism constitutes the true interpretive horizon of Western controversies. Its contribution lies in the re-reading of Western ecclesiastical history from the Orthodox perspective, notably that of Khomiakov and Lossky.