Book Review: Christianity or the Church? by Saint Ilarion Troitsky

Saint Ilarion Troitsky’s Christianity or the Church?, published by Holy Trinity Publications, is a must-read introduction to Orthodox ecclesiology—accessible, profound, and urgently relevant. It should be in every parish bookstore—not just for converts, but for cradle Orthodox as well, many of whom have unconsciously absorbed Protestant assumptions about the Church.

The New Hieromartyr Ilarion (Hilarion) Troitsky is perhaps the twentieth century’s most authoritative voice on the Orthodox doctrine of the Church. His writing is a needed voice in our own time. In republishing this work at a moment when waves of Evangelicals are inquiring into Orthodoxy, Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville has done the universal Church a tremendous service.

Let’s begin with the format. Like all HTP titles, the binding is excellent. Its compact, handheld size follows a format similar to the Popular Patristics Series from SVS Press. This makes it an ideal short read for inquirers and catechumens alike—portable and unintimidating, yet packed with theological depth.

The great strength of this volume is its clarity. Saint Ilarion writes with a simplicity that is never simplistic, and a directness that cuts through the dense fog of modern ecclesiological confusion.

He outlines the living continuity of the Church—from the Acts of the Apostles to the present—contrasting it with the disembodied, individualistic faith of Protestantism, which defines “Christianity” apart from the visible, sacramental, historical Body of Christ.

I was almost taken aback by how directly he speaks to the fashionable ecclesiology of today’s American Evangelicalism. It almost seems strange that an Orthodox theologian in Russia at the turn of the twentieth century would exert such energy against it—until we understand his context. As I read through the first section, I found my thoughts drifting to the first chapter of Nikolai Leskov’s On the Edge of the World, in which an elderly bishop sits silently at a Petersburg party, listening as well-to-do elites criticize the Orthodox clergy using Protestant arguments.

Though Leskov wrote fiction, his prose was grounded in reality. As Saint Ilarion notes on page 42, Peter the Great’s reforms and Westernizing tendencies opened the door for Russian society's fascination with Protestant models of Christianity. In Saint Ilarion’s time, the Petersburg Aristocracy was enamored with Western religious trends. British and American Evangelical preachers were invited to aristocratic salons to deliver fiery sermons to polite society, who viewed these guests as bearers of a more “enlightened” Christianity than that of their native clergy.

This context is crucial. Saint Ilarion’s argument is not merely a general meditation on the nature of the Church; it is a historically grounded critique of Protestant ecclesiology. In a time when many Evangelicals and Protestants are sincerely seeking Orthodoxy—and often coming from traditions that define “Christianity” apart from the historical Church—this book offers the right antidote.

It’s not only inquirers and catechumens who would benefit from this book.

Christianity or the Church? reminds us that the Orthodox Church is not merely “one version” of Christianity among many, but the very continuation of the Apostolic community founded by Christ Himself. It serves as both rebuttal and corrective—not only in theological terms, but in the realm of historical and narrative consciousness—to the distortions of “pop theology” that have taken hold over the last half-century.

Christianity or the Church? should be in every parish bookstore—not just for converts, but for cradle Orthodox as well, many of whom have unconsciously absorbed Protestant assumptions about the Church.

In conclusion, Saint Ilarion’s Christianity or the Church? is far more than an academic treatise. It is a pastoral and missionary text, a timeless witness to the truth that the Church is not an optional appendage to Christianity, but its very foundation. For anyone inquiring into Orthodoxy, this little book should be placed in their hands without hesitation.

Christianity or the Church can be purchased directly through the Holy Trinity Publications website, or your preferred Orthodox bookseller. 

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