On assimilation

...the assertion that Christianity is founded on the views of the ancient Greek philosophers constitutes a great error, unless we mean by "Christianity" a philosophical-theological system, like that of Thomas Aquinas or some other rationalistic Western theologian. As I emphasized at the beginning of my address, true, Orthodox Christianity is not a work of men and is not based on human conceptions, on human inventions; it is a work of God, a Divine revelation. It took many terms from the ancient philosophers, but assimilated them completely to the essence of the Gospel. These terms did not impede in the past, and do not impede us today, from comprehending this essence—on the contrary, they aid us. As in the past, so also today, the concepts and terms of ancient Greek philosophy assist theology, as well as every science, to express its special content.
Constantine Cavarnos

The five senses

Since in the crafts and the sciences there is a continuous development and perfection, they think that the same thing ought to happen in the Christian religion, that here too there should be a continuous revision, change, and replacement of the old by the new—in a word, "modernization." Looking at Christianity rationalistically, they misunderstand its revelatory character and demote it to the level of the systems which the mind of man has formed on the basis of reason and the observations of the five senses.

Constantine Cavarnos