Archbishop John, standing firmly in the Holy Tradition of the Fathers, makes no attempt to “theologize” concerning Our Lady in the modernist fashion. Rather, dwelling securely in the facts of history and the Truth of the Faith, he brings to our attention in an easily read and yet in no way oversimplified style the true Orthodox teaching concerning Mary the Mother of God. The simplicity with which he speaks (and which the translators preserve) betrays no simple-mindedness—enters fully into the deepest problems which have arisen in the history of the Church’s understanding of the role of Mary.
The chapter on the Immaculate Conception, “Zeal not According to Knowledge,’ is of particular value to those who seek to understand the true teaching of the Church concerning Mary’s sinlessness, and the impropriety of the Western attempt to respond to it. Of particular importance to Westerners is Abp. John’s citation of the views of several Western luminaries (notably Bernard of Clairvaux) on the question.
The introduction by one of the fathers at St. Herman’s stands in its own right as a valuable gateway to perception of the proper balance of heart and mind in response to Holy Tradition—a badly needed corrective in a society in which “heart” has deteriorated almost entirely into emotionalism, and in which “mind” has in consequence deteriorated into arrogant rationalism. We court constantly the risk that “by thinking oneself wiser than the tradition one may end by losing the tradition.” (p. 7)
This book is perhaps the best single work on its subject we have seen. Its value is the greater for the spirit of understanding which it conveys a spirit which is truly Orthodox, and yet fully intelligible to anyone with ears to hear.
Living Orthodoxy, Volume 1, No. 1, Great Lent 1979, p. 27
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