modernist priest in Walker Percy’s novel: “So yon pray for therndead. Yon know, something has changed in you.”rnHe who is in the world does not understand, or rather understandsrnand hates such a scene as our little lamentationrnover Gennadios Scholarios in August 1994. The nuns and Irncould not both be in the right about the primacy of Rome, butrnwe were united by the truth which was in us, some aspect of itrnat least, and which was in the life of one man, and which by ourrnprayers stands ready to be revealed at the last day.rnIn the meantime, though, the thought of St. Thomas is a richrnand fruitful source of theological wisdom which I invite the Orthodoxrnto study as belonging to them as surely as it belonged tornGennadios Scholarios, Joseph Bryennios, and MakariosrnMakres. They will thus show that they understand that our differencesrnare truly dogmatic and divine in origin and not ideologicalrnor ethnic, and they will provide themselves with a surernbulwark against the theological modernism which has alreadyrndevastated the Latin church and has made great inroads in theirrnown.rnIn order to bear this point out, I offer the Orthodox the samernprophecy which Monsignor Romano Guardini addressed tornRoman Gatholics shortly after World War II in The End of thernModem World:rnThe cultural deposit preserved by the Church thus farrnwill not be able to endure against the general decay ofrntradition. Even when it does endure it will be shakenrnand threatened on all sides. Dogma in its very nature,rnhowever, surmounts the march of Hme because it is rootedrnin eternity, and we can surmise that the character andrnconduct of coming Christian life will reveal itself especiallyrnthrough its old dogmatic roots. Christianity willrnonce again need to prove itself as a faith which is not selfevident;rnit will be forced to distinguish itself more sharplyrnfrom a dominant non-Christian ethos. At that juncturernthe theological significance of dogma will begin a freshrnadvance; similarly will its practical and existential significancernincrease. I need not say that I imply no “modernization”rnhere, no weakening of the content and effectivenessrnof Christian dogma, rather I emphasize itsrnabsoluteness, its unconditional demands and affirmations.rnThese will be accentuated.rnIn the Summa contra gentiles, in chapter 42 of the first book,rnSt. Thomas demonstrates that there is only one God. At thernend of the chapter, as is his method, he indicates the errorsrnwhich the truth expounded contradicts. There he makes the illuminatingrnobservation that the truth that there is only one Godrnis not contradicted so much by polytheism as by dualism. Thernpolytheist, he says, usually holds that there is one supreme Godrnfrom whom the others derive, and with whom He shares Hisrnpower of wisdom, happiness, and the governance of the world.rnThis manner of speaking is found frequently in Sacred Scripture,rnThomas points out, where the holy angels and even menrnare called gods, since God does in fact share His knowledge, felicity,rnand power with His creatures. This is indeed the reasonrnwhy creatures point to the unique existence of God, becausernthey are secondary—but real —causes dependent on the firstrncause. The dualist holds the greater error: that there are firstrnprinciples which are irreducible. Later on in chapter 69 ofrnBook III, Aquinas uses an uncustomar)’ severit)’, characterizingrnas “ridiculous” the denial of the reality of secondary causality inrnorder to exalt the omnipotence of God. This insight into thernimportance of secondary causes is the key to an Orthodoxy ofrnthe concrete order, and it distinguishes it both from Islam andrnfrom Protestantism with their exaggerated monotheism, andrnfrom esoteric philosophical ideologies with their relativistic perpetualrndialectic of opposites. The sacraments; the liturgy of thernChurch; the ecclesiastical hierarchy; the veneration of iconsrnand relics; the invocation of the Mother of God, the angels, andrnsaints; and ascetical practices are all secondary causes wherebyrnthe divine grace and power of God are bestowed on the faithful.rnThis is why the controversies over the holy images, the sign ofrnthe cross, the azymes, and the calendar are not in themselvesrnabsurd. The Orthodox Christian is intensely aware of the efficacyrnof secondary causes in obtaining supernatural goods. Thernecumenism of the anti-ecumenical can continue on this level,rnby exalting the use of holy things, saving them from profanation,rnand sharing them with each other to the limited—but stillrnconsiderable — extent that doctrinal fidelity will allow. A popularrnsong sung by the enslaved Orthodox after the fall of Constantinoplernshows the “ecumenical” power of this Thomisticrninsight into secondary causality:rnThey took the City, they took her: they took Thessalonica:rnThey took even Saint Sophia, they took the greatrnmonaster)’,rnwhich had three hundred semantra and seventy-twornbells:rnEvery bell had a priest, and every priest a deacon.rnIn the Great Church where the holy gifts were revealed,rnthe King of all,rnthere came to them a voice from heaven, from thernmouth of the angels:rn”Leave off your psalter, put away the holy gifts.rnSend word to the land of the Franks to come and takernthem:rnLet them come and take the golden cross and the holyrngospel,rnand the holy table, lest it be profaned.”rnAnd when Our Lady heard this, the icons wept:rn”Be still dear Mistress, do not weep, do not cry:rnAgain with the years, with time, again this place will bernyours.”rnThe ultimate overcoming of the schism is an eschatologicalrnfact, but still an historical one. It will happen, nolumus, volumus,rnif what we believe is true. The lamenting icons do not lie,rnnot the ones in the Great Church, not even the one I bought onrnAthos, in spite of its ideological confusion. The use of holy persons,rntimes, places, and things leads us here and now to thatrnEternal Git)’ where the faithful departed of the Old and thernNew and the Third Rome hope to go, as we remember them.rnFrom their place they remind us in the words of the Purgatorio:rnQui sarai tu poco tempo silvano;rnE sarai meco, sanza fine, civernDi quella Roma onde Crista e romano. ” ^rn”Here you will be but a little while a dwellerrnAnd then with me you will be a citizen foreverrnOf that Rome where Christ Himself is Roman.rn18/CHRONICLESrnrnrn