ROMANITY, THE CONCEPT OF ORTHODOXY AS A CULTURE

You could say Romanity  (Greek: Ρωμιοσύνη - Romiosini) is the cultural product of Christian Orthodoxy as it existed in the Eastern Roman Empire. The two thousand year old history of Romanity and its relation with the Papal and Protestant West can't be contained in a single post, or even in a podcast of two and a half hours. Father Peter's talk with Portuguese Orthodox scholar, Justino Carneiro has an enormous scope. We will limit our comments to a few eclectic points. Prepare for a few eye openers and perhaps a controversy or two. Father Peter and Carneiro are taking their time for the introduction. The talk gets on its way around the three quarter mark. The podcast ends on a positive note that may actually point the way out of the present predicament we find ourselves in. 

Sep. 30, 2025 Orthodox Ethos: Romanity and Post-Modernity: Interview with Justino Carneiro.

On the 1:36:14 mark the debate moves to the catechon (link) (from Greek κατέχω (catecho - to occupy) and κατοχή (catochi - possession, occupation). In the biblical sense, the word is referring to something or someone that must be removed before the arrival of the Antichrist (link).

In other words, it seems to refer to a worldly authority fighting against the forces of inequity, anomia, lawlessness which may be a Roman entity in the context of the first century AD. 

In 2 Thessalonians 2 states there will be signs. According to my Orthodox Study Bible, Saint Paul instructs the Thessalonians that one sign will be "the general falling away" (mass apostasy) and "the revealing of the man of sin", the Antichrist of 1 and 2 John, similar to the Dragon and the Beast of Revelation 13.

This "lawless one" is described in the Old Testament (in Daniel 7:25, 8:25, 11:36), he is mentioned by Christ (in Matthew 24:15) and is discussed by Saint Paul on his visit to Thessaloniki.

"The devil incites divisions among people so they will readily receive the Antichrist when he comes". As I read it this may refer to a situation of chaos or civil war, resulting in calls for a leader who is able to unite the factions. 

"He is a counterfeit Messiah with a counterfeit kingdom. He exalts himself above God, performs deceptive miracles through satanic power, will fool the unrighteous into following him and will be removed from power by Christ Himself at His Second Coming. Saint Paul instructs that when the world gets worse Christians must not be distressed or be deceived, but rather persevere as good stewards."

Regarding the Sabbateans (link) mentioned at the 1:37:37 mark, I may be connecting things that are not related, but the matter of conscious sinfulness reminds me of a recent podcast of Dr Patrick David Harry on Satanism in the Holy Land (link), which has made me wonder, what t-h was going on in the desert on Oct. 7, 2023 (link)?

Now if the Young Turks leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (link) from Thessaloniki was indeed a Sabbatean, this throws a different historical light on the Asia Minor Catastrophe which we just commemorated in Greece on Sep. 14 (link). 

In the conclusion of the talk the subject moves to the universal nature of Orthodoxy and the concept of Romanity in that it does not replace other identities, but is above and units them. 

Fittingly Father Peter and Carneiro warn against the pitfall of the dichotomy, the false choice between two possible options. Those presenting you with the false choice often do so to obscure that there is a third option, that more often than not is the best choice. 

We often refer to it as the dialectic of Hegel's rat wheel from which escapes seems impossible, except the realization that not one of two things are true. In reality truth is often and and, not or or. This offers the perfect way out, to rise above the present fray of dualism that keeps humanity in its grip. 

If you want to go deeper into the rabbit hole of the troubled relations of Romanity with the West, watch The Fall of the Papacy, a lecture of Patrick Craig Truglia on the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople IV (link) and St. Photios the Great: How the Eighth Council Challenged Rome (link). 

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