Rethinking the ‘Liturgy After the Liturgy’ with Schmemann, Zizioulas, and Bulgakov

Contemporary Orthodox thinking about the role of church in society is fragmented. Is it possible to give an Orthodox theological justification for social action? What kind of actions or arrangements would it recommend? Today, Orthodox political theologies range from United Nations-style liberalism to militarist versions of neo-Byzantine symphonia, to reactionary pockets of apocalyptic sectarianism. Although there is no single approach for how Orthodox Christians should act in society, there is one concept that seems to comprise a promising theological starting point for Orthodox social action: the ‘liturgy after the liturgy.’ This concept, formulated in the twentieth century, represents an attempt to unite what Christians do outside the walls of the church with what the church does inside, in worship. Modern Orthodox theologians hold that the church is called to manifest the Kingdom of God in its liturgy. Can extra-liturgical Christian social action also manifest the Kingdom of God? The notion of the ‘liturgy after the liturgy’ answers in the affirmative. While maintaining that liturgical worship holds a place of primacy as the church’s chief act, it frames extra-liturgical action as an important and necessary aspect of the church’s mission in the world. But as this article argues, despite its promise, the concept is too imprecise and under-theorized to demarcate the boundaries of appropriate Christian social action, and thus can used to justify almost any extra-liturgical action, no matter how objectionable, if it is blessed by church authorities. A better way to think through Orthodox Christian engagement in society, this article holds, is to focus on the notion of the Kingdom of God, which the liturgy, and perhaps the ‘liturgy after the liturgy,’ are supposed to manifest. The Kingdom of God is of major theological concern for modern Orthodox thinkers, three of whom are brought into conversation here: Alexander Schmemann, John Zizioulas, and Sergius Bulgakov. Each of them locates the liturgy as the primary site of the manifestation of the Kingdom of God in history, but they differ on the extent to which extra-liturgical social action can also manifest the Kingdom. The conversation staged between these thinkers sharpens the questions at play in the discussion of the relationship between liturgy and social action in Orthodox theology.