From Orthodoxhistory.org...
Most of the time, on this website, we talk about the history of Orthodoxy in the Americas. But it’s important to remember that, especially in the 19th century, American Protestant missionaries were traveling in the other direction, going to places like Greece and Syria in an effort to convert Orthodox Christians to Protestantism.
I recently stumbled upon an interesting book, Fair Athens, written by Elizabeth Edmonds in 1881. Edmonds recounted a story that I suspect readers of this website will appreciate:
To send missionaries here [to Greece], with the intention of evangelizing, is futile, and the answer of a Greek peasant to some active Americans bent upon his conversion is quite to the point and conclusive. A copy of the Testament was offered to him, in modern Greek. On the title page he read, “Translated from the original Greek.”
“Thank you,” he said, giving it back; “we have the original.”
To send missionaries here [to Greece], with the intention of evangelizing, is futile, and the answer of a Greek peasant to some active Americans bent upon his conversion is quite to the point and conclusive. A copy of the Testament was offered to him, in modern Greek. On the title page he read, “Translated from the original Greek.”
“Thank you,” he said, giving it back; “we have the original.”
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Going to an Orthodox country to try to win people to evangelical Christianity can have unforeseen consequences....
ReplyDeleteIt would be very difficult for American Protestant missionaries to convert Orthodox Christians in Greece to Protestantism today -- just as it was in the 19th century -- because Greeks believe that Orthodoxy is the true Christian religion that dates back some 2,000 years. Remember Protestantism has only existed since 1517 -- or for less than 500 years.
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