Praxis (Eastern Orthodoxy) - Orthodox Praxis

Orthodox Praxis

Orthodox writers use the term "praxis" to refer to what others, using an English rather than a Greek word, call practice of the faith, especially with regard to ascetic and liturgical life.

Praxis is key to Eastern Orthodox understanding because it is the basis of faith and works and the understanding of not separating the two. The importance of praxis, in the sense of action, is indicated in the dictum of Saint Maximus the Confessor: "Theology without action is the theology of demons."

Union with God, to which Christians hold that Jesus invited man, requires not just faith, but correct practice of faith. This idea is found in the Scriptures (1 Cor 11:2, 2 Thes 2:14) and the Church Fathers, and is linked with the term praxis in Orthodox theology and vocabulary. In the context of Orthodoxy, praxis is mentioned opposite theology, in the sense of 'theory and practice'. Rather, it is a word that means, globally, all that Orthodox do. Praxis is 'living Orthodoxy'.

Praxis is perhaps most strongly associated with worship. "Orthopraxis" is said to mean "right glory" or "right worship"; only correct (or proper) practice, particularly correct worship, is understood as establishing the fulness glory given to God. This is one of the primary purposes of liturgy (divine labor), the work of the people. Some Orthodox sources maintain that in the West, Christianity has been reduced "to intellectual, ethical or social categories," whereas right worship is fundamentally important in our relationship to God, forming the faithful into the Body of Christ and providing the path to "true religious education." A "symbiosis of worship and work" is considered to be inherent in Orthodox praxis.

Fasting, another key part of the practice of the Christian faith, is mentioned as part of Orthodox praxis, in connection with the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6), and in comparison with the history and commemorations of Lenten fasts.

Praxis may also refer to proper religious etiquette.