Despite modern critiques that dismiss piety as mere externalism and “super correctness,” our Holy Fathers and saints emphasize that piety is integral to living a life of godliness and authenticity. In an age when “piety” is often misunderstood and maligned, we must turn to the saints for a proper understanding, rather than relying on our own prideful interpretations.
Today, we encounter three distortions of Orthodox piety:
- Legalistic False Piety: reducing tradition to external observance
- Antinomian False Piety: replacing tradition with emotional sentiment
- Pietism/Moralism: a modern heresy that paradoxically combines both errors while claiming to be “balanced”
Each of these represents a departure from true Orthodox piety, though in different ways.
To truly understand true piety, we must navigate between these errors, maintaining faithful adherence to Orthodox tradition as taught by the saints.
I. The Patristic Understanding of True Piety
A. The Inseparable Elements of True Piety
- Keeping the Commandments
Similarly, true piety consists not in the possession of a single virtue alone, but in the keeping of all the commandments. In its Greek form, the term ‘true piety’ comes from a word meaning ‘to serve well’.
— The Philokalia, Volume 3
…true piety reverences the words and commandments of the Lord and does not violate them.
— St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Concerning Frequent Communion, Objection 3
- Godliness
The essence of the true Orthodox life is godliness or piety (blagochestiye), which is, in the definition of Elder Nektary, based on the etymology of the word, ‘holding what is God’s in honor.’
— Fr. Seraphim Rose, Not of This World
- Maintaining Strict Orthodoxy
‘Piety towards Christ’ is understood to mean strict orthodoxy, combined with a strict life…
— In the footnotes of “The Threshold” (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)
- Unity with Theology
In the Orthodox tradition, theology and piety are exactly the same thing. There is no difference at all. These two, piety and theology, are identical and inseparable in the Orthodox tradition.
— Fr. John Romanides, Empirical Dogmatics Vol. 1, pg. 308
- Reverence, Devotion, and Fear of God
One who has great faith and true devoutness is nurtured by something higher, spiritual, which cannot be readily described. But there are those who have an arid outward piety…
— St. Paisios the Athonite
B. The Interconnected Nature of True Piety
These elements are all connected to each other in essence:
- Keeping the commandments corresponds to strict Orthodoxy
- Reverence and Devotion cannot be separated from strict Orthodoxy
- Fear of God leads one to adherence of the commandments
- Etc. ALL of these elements are bound up together.
C. The Church’s Mandate to Teach Piety
The Orthodox Church takes the teaching of true piety so seriously that it’s enforced by canonical law:
If any Bishop or Priest neglects the Clergy or the laity, and neglects to instruct them in piety, let him be excommunicated.
— CANON LVIII (58) of the Apostolic Canons
It is required of the leaders of the Church on each day and especially on Sundays to instruct the clergy and the people in the words of piety out of Holy Scripture…
— St Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Handbook of Spiritual Counsel
D. Piety as Orthodox Identity
For example: If anyone has denied Christ and has become a Jew, or an idolater, or a Manichee, or anything else of this kind, and if he has done so of his own accord without being under any necessity or constrained by force to do so, that person, after returning again to piety (i.e., to the Orthodox religion)…
— St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, The Rudder
II. True Piety vs. False Piety: Essential Distinctions
A. Characteristics of True Piety
- Authentic adherence to Orthodox teachings
- Integration of internal faith with external practice
- Reverence for God’s commandments
- Inseparable from theology
B. Forms of False Piety
- Legalistic False Piety:
- External display without internal reality
- Substitution of rules for genuine repentance
- Disconnection from patristic teaching
- Pride masquerading as devotion
- Mistakes rigidity for faithfulness
- Antinomian False Piety:
- Rejects traditional practices while creating a sentimental alternative “piety”
- Uses “love” and “freedom” to justify abandoning Orthodox tradition
- Substitutes emotional experience for authentic spiritual life
- Creates individualistic interpretation of faith divorced from Church tradition
- Claims higher spiritual understanding while rejecting traditional practices
C. Marks of False Piety
Simply speaking, as many as have hypocritical rather than true piety, and all those who confine piety to external things and neglect the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith (Mt. 23:23), err in [the second] commandment.
— St. Nikodemos the Hagiorte, The Exomologetarion
One who has great faith and true devoutness is nurtured by something higher, spiritual, which cannot be readily described. But there are those who have an arid outward piety, who say dryly, “Now that I am entering the Church, I must sit carefully, I mustn’t move, I must bow my head, and this is how I must cross myself.”
— St. Paisios the Athonite
D. The Deadly Consequences of False Piety
The divine Cyril and John Zonaras sufficiently rebuke the supposed piety of those who are negligent, a piety which does not bear beneficial and salvific fruit. On the contrary, this piety brings about death to the soul and total deprivation of eternal life.
— St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite
For inevitably those who put on a show of holiness for the sake of self-display not only fail to achieve anything through their false piety, but also are wounded by their conscience.
— The Philokalia
III. The Twin Errors of Modern False Piety: Antinomianism and Legalism
Having established the characteristics of true and false piety, we must now examine how these manifest in our times through two prevalent errors that corrupt Orthodox tradition:
Antinomianism is expressed chiefly by Protestantism, which has discarded and is discarding the laws and Canons of the Church, the whole tradition of the Church, for the sake of ‘faith’.
— Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, The mind of the Orthodox Church
While appearing to reject piety entirely, antinomians actually create their own form of false piety. They would rather discard the teachings of the saints and the canons of the Church while establishing their own sentimental “piety” centered on “loving Christ and our neighbor” - divorced from the very framework through which this love is properly expressed.
These viewpoints reveal a clear advocacy of antinomianism, which manifests as false piety when it:
- Uses selective quotes from saints to justify rejection of tradition
- Creates an alternative “piety” based on emotional experience
- Claims a higher spiritual understanding while abandoning Orthodox practice
- Substitutes individualistic interpretations of “love” for authentic tradition
…in the Orthodox Church we do not accept either antinomianism or legalism in the spiritual life. We keep the law of God, but we aim at finding and living the spirit of the law…
— Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, The mind of the Orthodox Church
Rather than maintaining the Orthodox balance, many Orthodox Christians, influenced by Protestant thought, lean toward one of two forms of false piety:
- Antinomian false piety that replaces tradition with emotional sentiment
- Legalistic false piety that reduces tradition to external observance
Both extremes misuse the saints to justify their positions, revealing their own spiritual illness rather than defending authentic Orthodox practice.
True piety stands between mechanical rule-following and complete dismissal of tradition. Those who accuse the truly pious of “legalism” often enforce their own rigid system of “non-legalism,” revealing the contradiction in their position.
IV. Modern Challenges to True Piety
A. The Contemporary Crisis
- The antinomian tendency to:
- Replace tradition with emotional experience
- Reduce Orthodox life to vague notions of “love”
- Create a personalized “spirituality” divorced from Church tradition
- The legalistic tendency to:
- Reduce Orthodox life to mere external ethics
- Separate piety from authentic Orthodox tradition
- Replace genuine spiritual struggle with rigid rules
Both tendencies represent forms of false piety that ultimately depart from authentic Orthodox tradition, though in different ways
In place of the heavy hand of governmental bureaucracy, we see the far heavier hand of pseudo-Christian and pagan ways of life which are depriving Orthodox Christians of something which was almost untouched in the time of Blessed Paisius: Orthodox piety, the whole Christian way of life.
— Fr. Seraphim Rose, Blessed Paisius Velichcovsky, Introduction
B. False Accusations of Fanaticism (super-correctness).
Arrogance, contentiousness, and fanaticism are the basis of external piety and virtuous ethics.
— NOETIC PRAYER AS THE BASIS OF MISSION AND STRUGGLE AGAINST HERESY
Modern critics, especially those infected with moralism and pietism, often conflate true piety with fanaticism. This is not accidental - it is a direct attack on authentic Orthodox practice. Those who reduce Orthodoxy to mere external ethics will inevitably view true piety as “extreme” or “fanatical.”
No one who has seen will soon forget Vladika’s fierce look while lowering the pontifical candlesticks at the proclamation of the Anathemas against heretics on the Sunday of Orthodoxy… here he was one with the Church in excluding from her bosom all who reject the full and saving Orthodox faith. All this was not from any narrow-minded literalness or “fanaticism,” but from the same fear of God which Vladika preserved his whole life long.
— Blessed John the Wonderworker, pg. 56
The saints clearly distinguish between true piety and fanaticism, while modern moralists deliberately blur this distinction:
He did not have a mind set of religious fanaticism. He gave wise counsel and comprehensive teachings. He was profoundly pious. His services were done with piety.
— Miraculous Occurences And Counsels Of Elder Porphyrios
Their piety is a good thing, and their predisposition for good is also a good thing; however, a certain spiritual discernment and amplitude is required so that their piety is not accompanied by narrow-mindedness or strong-headedness (strong, as in “unturning”).
— St. Paisios the Athonite
C. The Misuse of “Super-Correctness”
Modern critics - both pietists and antinomianists - frequently weaponize Fr. Seraphim Rose’s term “super-correctness,” though each for their own agenda.
This term specifically addressed actual fanaticism, exemplified by the Matthewites (Old Calendarists) who engaged in such actions as:
- Violently denounced hierarchs over western-style icons
- Declared New Calendar mysteries “graceless”
- Re-baptized converts from New Calendar churches (because New Calendar churches are graceless)
- Pronounced New Calendar churches “non-churches”
- Condemned even those merely associated with New Calendar churches
- Harshly condemned faithful over the language of services and chanting styles
The term “super-correctness” specifically refers to actual fanaticism, exemplified by the Matthewites. This is distinct from legalistic false piety - while legalism maintains external forms without spirit, fanaticism actively attacks and condemns others over matters of tradition.
Both pietists and antinomianists misuse this term, though for different purposes…
The Pietist misuses it to:
- Promote their external, moralistic version of Orthodoxy
- Attack those maintaining genuine Orthodox strictness
- Replace traditional piety with their “virtuous ethics”
- Claim a false “middle ground” between extremes
The Antinomianist wields it to:
- Dismiss canonical and traditional requirements entirely
- Justify their departure from Orthodox practice
- Promote a faith divorced from Church discipline
- Attack any form of Orthodox strictness as “legalism”
Fr. Seraphim Rose himself exemplified and defended traditional Orthodox practice:is twhat
St. John of Kronstadt is an example of someone who was constantly waking people up. He loved to read Canons and stop to comment on them. Everything he did was living.
— Fr. Seraphim Rose, His Life and Works, Chapter 89, Across the Country
Far from condemning canonical adherence, Fr. Seraphim explicitly defended it:
To preserve the ancient traditions and canons of the Church is a good thing. And those who woefully and needlessly depart from them will be judged by God. Those who introduced the New Calendar into the Orthodox Church in the 1920s and later, and thereby brought division and modernism into the Church, will have much to answer for.
— Fr. Seraphim Rose, His Life and Works, Chapter 99, Hope
Both pietists and antinomianists employ the same deceptive strategy: selectively quote saints to promote their agenda while deliberately ignoring calls for authentic Orthodox strictness. This intellectual dishonesty:
- Misrepresents our Holy Fathers
- Distorts Orthodox tradition
- Promotes false dichotomies between love and strictness
- Betrays the memory of saints like Fr. Seraphim
True Orthodox piety stands against three modern distortions:
- The legalist who applies canons mechanically without discernment
- The pietist who reduces Orthodoxy to external moralism
- The antinomianist who dismisses canons entirely under pretense of “love”
The truly pious person, like the saints, seeks to apply all canons with spiritual wisdom, maintaining both the letter and spirit of Orthodox tradition.
Those who brandish “super-correctness” against faithful Orthodox striving for traditional piety reveal their own spiritual illness - whether pietistic moralism or antinomian laxity. They demonstrate either profound ignorance of Fr. Seraphim’s complete teachings or, worse, deliberate distortion of them to justify their own departure from Orthodox tradition.
D. The Need for Proper Understanding
The Holy Fathers teach us how to approach the Gospels, how to read them, how to properly understand them, and what helps and hinders such a proper understanding.
— St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, The Field, Chapter 3
E. The Modern Heresies of Moralism and Pietism
Modern pietism/moralism represents a particularly dangerous heresy because it:
- Claims to avoid both legalism and antinomianism while actually combining their errors
- Creates its own rigid system while claiming to transcend “rigid” Orthodoxy
- Preaches against “fundamentalism” while being fundamentalist about its supposed balance
- They attack “fundamentalism” while being fundamentalist about their “balance”
Modern “moralism” and “pietism” are particularly dangerous because they can manifest as both forms of false piety:
- As Legalistic False Piety, they:
- Reduce Orthodox life to mere ethical behavior
- Separate piety from authentic Orthodox tradition
- Replace genuine spiritual struggle with external rules
- Mistake rigidity for faithfulness
- As Antinomian False Piety, they:
- Use “love” and “tolerance” to undermine traditional practice
- Create autonomous religious groups divorced from Church authority
- Promote a false “balance” that compromises Orthodox tradition
- Substitute worldly wisdom for patristic understanding
In both cases, pietism and moralism:
- Present themselves as “moderate” while actually being extreme in their departure from Tradition
- Attack zealous Orthodox practice as either “fundamentalism” or “legalism”
- Create their own standards separate from authentic Church tradition
- Misuse the saints to justify their positions
Understanding these modern challenges is crucial for living true piety in our times. The saints not only warned us about these challenges but showed us how to face them.
V. Living True Piety in Our Times
Having identified these two forms of false piety - legalistic externalism and antinomian sentimentality - we must understand how to live true piety in our times.
A. Expecting Opposition
St. John of Kronstadt prophetically addressed the persecution that zealots of piety would face:
My brothers and sisters who are zealots of piety! You may hear, perhaps mostly from the members of your household more often than not, that you are a disagreeable, intolerable person. You will encounter serious dislike and enmity because of your piety, although those who are inimical to you would never admit that their enmity is directed against you because you are pious.
— St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
But have the deepest pity for those who mock the words and works of faith, piety, and righteousness.
— St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
If we have chosen for ourselves the path of piety, then we must remember and not forget the words of the Apostle: All that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution (II Tim., 3:12).
— St. Ambrose of Milan, Living without Hypocrisy
B. True Zeal vs. Compromise
The saints teach us that true Orthodox piety requires proper zeal. This zeal is neither fanaticism nor the false “moderation” of moralists:
On the basis of this Orthodox doctrine of our great mystical theologian [St. Gregory Palamas], three Councils in Constantinople (one in 1341 and two in 1351) denounced the enemies of Hesychasm and proclaimed the Saint “the defender of piety”.
— Geronda Ephraim of Arizona, A Call from the Holy Mountain
VI. The Call to Preserve True Piety
These connections show why the saints insist on maintaining the fullness of Orthodox piety:
- External practice flows from internal reality
- Theology guides authentic practice
- True fear of God produces genuine love
Conclusion: The Imperative of True Piety
Ultimately, this entire text can be summed up as follows:
In this lies piety: not doubting the God-bearing Fathers.
— St. Gregory Palamas, From Patricity to Post-Patricity: The Self-Destruction of the Orthodox Leadership
However, this definition is not enough. In our times where many believe themselves to be following the fathers, and others to not be, based on their own “interpretation”, let us strive to give the measure as directly stated by the fathers, and then to measure ourselves against this standard, so that we don’t interpret the fathers whichever way we wish.
As is shown earlier, our fathers, saints, and holy people were called zealots of piety. They avoided legalism, but they also did not interpret all zealotism and true piety, as false piety. This misinterpretation many moralists would have us believe, based on their carefully selected quotes from the saints. The quotes provided in this article should be more than enough evidence of their very clear bias.
In our times, we face two deadly errors - antinomianism and legalism. Though appearing opposite, both ultimately manifest as false piety when they use the saints to justify their departures from Orthodox truth.
This pattern is predictable:
- Antinomians reject traditional piety while creating their own sentimental “piety” centered on an individualistic understanding of “love” and “freedom”
- Legalists maintain external forms of piety while missing its spiritual essence, reducing it to moral improvement and rigid observance
- Both misuse patristic sources to defend their positions, substituting human opinion for authentic Orthodox tradition
The evidence from our tradition shows us the true path:
- Our canons mention piety repeatedly as essential to Orthodox life
- Our priests are commanded, under threat of excommunication, to teach true piety
- Our saints consistently praise holy people as “zealots of piety” while warning against both antinomian rejection of tradition and empty external devotion
- The entire Orthodox tradition upholds true piety as essential to salvation
Those who would either replace tradition with sentimental “love” or reduce it to external observance stand in opposition not to individual opinions, but to the fullness of Orthodox tradition. True piety, as taught by the saints, maintains faithful observance of God’s law while seeking its deeper spiritual reality - neither discarding tradition nor becoming enslaved to its letter.
…the holy Apostle Paul said that in his opinion there was nothing better on earth than piety and sufficiency (2nd Cor. 9:8, 1st Tim. 6:6)
— St. Seraphim of Sarov, An Extraordinary Peace
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers who were zealots of authentic piety, may we preserve this sacred inheritance against both those who would substitute emotional sentiment for tradition and those who would reduce it to mere external observance.
Amen.
