theology as poetry

It is not accidental that the undivided Church of the first eight centuries and its historical continuity in Orthodoxy in the East based its catechesis of the faithful, that is the announcement and transmission of her truth, chiefly on the liturgy.  From the liturgical cycle of the Church’s services (vespers, matins, the Liturgy, the hours) theology became a poem and a song–experienced more than thought out by syllogistic inferences. Initiation into the truth of the Church is participation in her way of life, in a festive gathering of the faithful, in the visible actualization and revelation of the new humanity which has conquered death.

Elements of Faith, Christos Yannaras