Balt6: Orthodox or "Orthodox"? Pieper on Schabert misstatement; Lutheran Church not a "denomination"

      This concludes from Part 5 (Table of Contents in Part 1), a short series on the Communist persecution of the Baltic Lutheran pastors and teachers. — In reading Pastor Oskar Schabert's works, I began to wonder if he made any contact with the true Lutherans in America, with the Missourians.  So far I have not found any, but in 1929, Franz Pieper commented on a statement that Pastor Schabert made in a German language periodical.  Pieper had an eagle-eye for any confusion in theological terms, and Pieper spotted one made by the good pastor. 

    Before we address the specific question of what the term "Orthodox" means, we need a firm foundation on the Christian faith.  And Dr. Franz Pieper gives us a wonderful lesson in a short blurb on Luther's Small Catechism in 1929, Lehre und Wehre vol. 75 (April 1929), p. 127 (translation by BackToLuther): 

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In the News Bulletin (published 39 E. 35th St., New York), in the 21 March issue on Luther's Small Catechism, it says quite correctly: “It is not distinctly denominational, but it explains the fundamentals of our Christian religion in most simple, intelligible, and easily remembered language.” It is because the Lutheran Church is not at all a "denomination" in the common sense of the word, namely in the sense of “one sect among other sects”. The Lutheran Church is non-sectarian in its doctrine. It does not represent special doctrines, but in its confessions it teaches and confesses the doctrine which, according to God's will and order, all Christians are to teach and confess. She does not, of course, identify herself with the una sancta, but confesses that there are members of the una sancta also in such fellowships in which, in addition to human doctrines, so much of the Gospel is still being proclaimed that faith in Christianity in its satisfactio vicaria can arise. It confesses that there are more Christians than there are Orthodox Christians in all respects. This fact is also pointed out in the Lutheran Confessions. On the other hand, the Lutheran Church claims most emphatically that the doctrine of its confessions is in agreement with Holy Scripture in all its parts, that is, that it is the pure doctrine which God wants to have accepted and believed by all people. “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,” Matt. 28:20. In this sense, the Lutheran Church commits its teachers to their Lutheran confession not with quatenus, but with quia. Every teacher who allows himself to be committed to the Lutheran confession should be able to say with Luther that by the grace of God he has diligently considered all the articles and has drawn them from Scripture and again (XX, 1095). 

Now that we have a firm foundation of what pure Christian doctrine is, we are now able to make judgments on other theological writings.  A writing of the dear Pastor Oskar Schabert, chronicler of the Baltic Lutheran Martyrs, caught the attention of Dr. Pieper, and shows his discernment for distinguishing proper theology from that of confusing misstatements. From Lehre und Wehre vol. 75 (April 1929), p. 127-128:

Dr. Schabert-Riga in Faith and Home on Luther's Small Catechism: “You wonderful book! From you our German colonist children learn to read and think. You are our banner among Catholics and Orthodox. You remain our confessional and communion book. (page 128) We learn from you our whole life long, and yet you have only twelve small pages! Blessed are the hands that wrote you!’” That is very nicely put. But by the way, it sounds as if Catholics and “Orthodox” belonged to one class hostile to the Catechism. They must be strange “Orthodox” who do not like Luther's Catechism. Or is there a quid pro quo with Dr. Schabert?

Pieper first compliments this obvious confession of the Lutheran faith by its Confessions. Then he points out a weak statement by the dear Pastor Schabert when the isolated term "Orthodox" is used without qualification and is then grouped with Catholics as one class. Pieper shows why this can be confusing and should not be used. And indeed, I have been much confused by this term "Orthodox" in the past, always wondering who does this refer to — the Greek Orthodox Church or something else. In conclusion, Pieper wonders whether Schabert's use of this term is a "quid pro quo" or a position of "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours", and so could indicate a possible syncretistic theology. Could Schabert possibly be currying favor with the Greek/Russian Orthodox as a Lutheran? Did Schabert avoid contact with the Americans – the Missouri Synod and the Synodical Conference? It would seem so… — Pieper's judgment drew a response from a pastor/reader, and in the next month's issue he elaborated further why his concern over unionism cannot be ruled out. From Lehre und Wehre vol. 75 (May 1929), p. 160:

“Orthodox” in Russia. Pastor H. Willuweit writes from Buffalo, Nebr., to the editorial staff of L. u. W.: “In L. u. W., April 1929, p.127, we read from Dr. Schabert-Riga the statement: ‘You [Catechism] are our banner among Catholics and “Orthodox”.’ In Russia the members of the Greek Catholic Church are usually called ‘Orthodox’ and the Roman Catholics simply ‘Catholics’. That's how, it seems to me, we also have to understand Dr. Schabert.” In Germany up to now, “Orthodox” was generally understood to be the representatives of the “old Lutheran Orthodoxy”, of which one has to be careful. In recent times, a more favorable assessment of the old Lutheran Orthodox seems to be emerging in Germany. 

The Nebraska pastor wondered that Schabert's mixing of the terms "Catholic" and "Orthodox" could be properly correct by introducing the mixed term "Greek Catholic Church". That this grouping can be confusing is confirmed even today in the Wikipedia article on the "Russian Greek Catholic Church" where one could draw multiple conclusions on whether this church is "Catholic" or not.  In any event, the Nebraska pastor's point is irrelevant because the author, Pastor Schabert, wrote in German for German speaking readers.  And for Lutherans, as Schabert claimed to be, the term "Orthodox" did not mean "Greek Orthodox", but Lutheran Orthodoxy.  Whenever I hear the term "Orthodox" today, I assume the source is meaning "Greek Orthodox" and not "Lutheran Orthodoxy".  But I know in my heart that true Orthodoxy, i.e. true Christian teaching, is not "Greek Orthodox", but Lutheran.  Franz Pieper, in the first writing above, makes that very clear.  

==>> The Greek Orthodox (and Greek Catholics) are not orthodox, but Lutheran Orthodoxy… is.

[More information may be found on Pastor Oskar Schabert in my English (machine) translation of Stephan Bitter's essay on him here. — For the story of one of the Communists responsible for the murders and persecutions, see Jaan Anvelt. — For a example of the Baltic Martyrs see Paucker's story here in Wikipedia.]