| Beginning in 1977, the Georgian Church has revived greatly under the leadership of Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia (Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili) II (b. 1933), sparked by his open critique of Soviet ideology. By 2003there were 550 parishes with 1100 clergy, along with 65 monasteries. In 2013about 80% of the population was Orthodox, with the Church still being led by Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia. As of 2013, the Church in Georgia had about 3.6 million members, who made up about 84% of the population, according to the 2002census. The Church has about 33dioceses, with some 550 parishes served by 730 priests. Finland In 1918 the Orthodox Church of Finland became the second “established” (State-supported) Church in Finland, after the Lutheran Church. Due to heavy pressure from the State, the Finnish Church is the only Orthodox Church that always celebrates Pascha on the same date as Western Easter. In 1923the Church in Finland was granted a fully autonomous status by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, although this was not accepted until 1957 by the Church of Russia, which had missionized the region in the Middle Ages. The local bishops of the Finnish Church are elected by the general assembly of clergy and laity; only the Archbishop’s election must be ratified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. After WWII, when eastern Finland (Karelia) was annexed by the Soviet Union, 75% of the Orthodox there fled to the western part of the country, where the government generously helped them restore normal church life. The New Valamo Monastery has become a place of pilgrimage for the whole nation, and in many other ways the small Orthodox Church contributes to the religious and cultural life of Finland. Archbishop Paavali (Paul) (Olmari) (r. 1960–1987) was an especially beloved primate of the Church of Finland. He was followed by Archbishop John (Rinne) (r. 1987–2001), who was a convert from Lutheranism. He was the first western convert to become the head of any Orthodox Church in the world. Upon his death, Archbishop John was followed by Archbishop Leo (Makkonen) (b. 1948). Archbishop Leo was still leading his Church in 2013. |
| Oxford, Feast of SS Cyril and Methodius, 1980. Andrew Louth Preface to the Second Edition The text of the second edition is virtually the same as the first. All I have done is to take the opportunity to correct a few misprints. To do more would have been to embark on rewriting a book now a quarter-of-a-century old and, as the afterword makes clear, this would have resulted in a very different book, and not a second edition at all. One change I would have introduced in a more extensive revision would have been the use of more gender-inclusive language, but in my experience this involves more than an introduction of changes to ‘man’ and ‘mankind’ and would, I think, have led into deeper waters of revision that I have neither the time nor the inclination to embark on. I beg those offended by these usages to be indulgent. Durham Feast of St. Nicolas Kavasilas, 2006. Andrew Louth Acknowledgements The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce the following copyright translations: John Burnaby: Extracts from De Trinitate, Books VIII–X, XIV and XV from Augustine: Later Works, vol. VIII, The Library of Christian Classics (1955). Reprinted by permission of SCM Press Ltd., London, and The Westminster Press, U.S.A. F. H. Colson et al: Extracts from Philo’s Works (10 vols. 1929–1962). Reprinted by permission of The Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press: William Heinemann). F. M. Cornford: Extracts from The Republic of Plato, translated by F. M. Cornford (1941), by permission of Oxford University Press. R. P. Lawson: Extracts from Origen: The Song of Songs, Commentary and Homilies, (Vol. 26, Ancient Christian Writers Series, 1957). Reprinted by permission of the Paulist Press, New York. Stephen Mackenna: Extracts from Plotinus: The Enneads (1969). Reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd., and Pantheon Books, a Division of Random House, Inc. Extracts from From Glory to Glory by Jean Danielou, translated by Herbert Musurillo. Copyright © 1961 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. |
| Chapter 11. How it is impossible for one who trusts to his own judgment to escape being deceived by the devil " s illusions. For often it has been proved that what the Apostle says really takes place. For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light, 2Corinthians 11:14 so that he deceitfully sheds abroad a confusing and foul obscuration of the thoughts instead of the true light of knowledge. And unless these thoughts are received in a humble and gentle heart, and kept for the consideration of some more experienced brother or approved Elder, and when thoroughly sifted by their judgment, either rejected or admitted by us, we shall be sure to venerate in our thoughts an angel of darkness instead of an angel of light, and be smitten with a grievous destruction: an injury which it is impossible for any one to avoid who trusts in his own judgment, unless he becomes a lover and follower of true humility and with all contrition of heart fulfils what the Apostle chiefly prays for: If then there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any bowels of compassion, fulfil my joy, that you be of one mind, having the same love, being of one accord, doing nothing by contention, neither by vainglory; but in humility each esteeming others better than themselves; and this: in honour preferring one another, that each may think more of the knowledge and holiness of his partner, and hold that the better part of true discretion is to be found in the judgment of another rather than in his own. Chapter 12. Why inferiors should not be despised in Conference. For it often happens either by an illusion of the devil or by the occurrence of a human mistake (by which every man in this life is liable to be deceived) that sometimes one who is keener in intellect and more learned, gets some wrong notion in his head, while he who is duller in wits and of less worth, conceives the matter better and more truly. And therefore no one, however learned he may be, should persuade himself in his empty vanity that he cannot require conference with another. For even if no deception of the devil blinds his judgment, yet he cannot avoid the noxious snares of pride and conceit. For who can arrogate this to himself without great danger, when the chosen vessel in whom, as he maintained, Christ Himself spoke, declares that he went up to Jerusalem simply and solely for this reason, that he might in a secret discussion confer with his fellow-Apostles on the gospel which he preached to the gentiles by the revelation and co-operation of the Lord? By which fact we are shown that we ought not only by these precepts to preserve unanimity and harmony, but that we need not fear any crafts of the devil opposing us, or snares of his illusions. Chapter 13. How love does not only belong to God but is God. |
| Divine Liturgy of St. Joh n Chrysostom. Abridged and arranged for use of the faithful by the Most Reverend Theodotus. NY: Archdiocesan Office of the Holy Orthodox Church in America, 1952? 26 p. “Authorized for use by the Holy Synod, Holy Orthodox Church in America (Eastern Catholic and Apostolic).” The Divine Liturgy of St. Joh n Chrysostom. Wallasey, Wirral: Anargyroi Press, 1994. 128 p. The Greek text with a rendering in English. Divine Liturgy of Saint Joh n Chrysostom: With Transliteration. He Theia Leitourgia tou Hagiou Ioannou tou Chrysostomou. A new translation by members of the Faculty of Hellenic College, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1992. Greek and English texts on opposite pages. Divine Prayers and Services of the Catholic Orthodox Church of Christ. Compiled and arranged by Seraphim Nassar. 3d ed. Englewood, NJ: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, 1979. 1123 p. Euchologion. Book of Needs [abridged]. Compiled and edited by a Monk of St. Tikhon’s Monastery. South Canaan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 1987. iv, 408 p. Euchologion. Book of Needs of the Holy Orthodox Church, With an Appendix Containing Offices for the Laying on of Hands. Done into English by G. V. Shann. NY: AMS Press, 1969. xxxix, viii, 260, 28 p. “A translation, with some omissions, of the Slavonic service book entitled Trebnik, printed in Moscow, 1882.” Reprinted from the 1894 London ed. Feast of Palms: The Services of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday. Prepared by David Anderson and Joh n Erickson. Introduction by Paul Lazor. Syosset, NY: Department of Religious Education, Orthodox Church in America, 1981. 99 p. Festal Menaion; or, The Book of Services for the Twelve Great Festivals and the New-Year’s Day. Translated from a Slavonian ed. of last century . . . by Nicholas Orloff. NY: AMS Press, 1969. 330 p. Reprint: London: J. Davy, 1900. Festal Menaion. Translated from the original Greek by Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware; with an introduction by Georges Florovsky. London: Faber, 1969. 564 p. (The Service books of the Orthodox Church.) |
| Chapter 24.– That in that Virtue in Which Regulus Excels Cato, Christians are Pre-Eminently Distinguished. Our opponents are offended at our preferring to Cato the saintly Job, who endured dreadful evils in his body rather than deliver himself from all torment by self-inflicted death; or other saints, of whom it is recorded in our authoritative and trustworthy books that they bore captivity and the oppression of their enemies rather than commit suicide. But their own books authorize us to prefer to Marcus Cato, Marcus Regulus. For Cato had never conquered Cæsar; and when conquered by him, disdained to submit himself to him, and that he might escape this submission put himself to death. Regulus, on the contrary, had formerly conquered the Carthaginians, and in command of the army of Rome had won for the Roman republic a victory which no citizen could bewail, and which the enemy himself was constrained to admire; yet afterwards, when he in his turn was defeated by them, he preferred to be their captive rather than to put himself beyond their reach by suicide. Patient under the domination of the Carthaginians, and constant in his love of the Romans, he neither deprived the one of his conquered body, nor the other of his unconquered spirit. Neither was it love of life that prevented him from killing himself. This was plainly enough indicated by his unhesitatingly returning, on account of his promise and oath, to the same enemies whom he had more grievously provoked by his words in the senate than even by his arms in battle. Having such a contempt of life, and preferring to end it by whatever torments excited enemies might contrive, rather than terminate it by his own hand, he could not more distinctly have declared how great a crime he judged suicide to be. Among all their famous and remarkable citizens, the Romans have no better man to boast of than this, who was neither corrupted by prosperity, for he remained a very poor man after winning such victories; nor broken by adversity, for he returned intrepidly to the most miserable end. |
| When the Lord was speaking with Abraham about the future (a point which you did not ask about) we find that He did not enumerate seven nations, but ten, whose land He promised to give to his seed. Genesis 15:18–21 And this number is plainly made up by adding idolatry, and blasphemy, to whose dominion, before the knowledge of God and the grace of Baptism, both the irreligious hosts of the Gentiles and blasphemous ones of the Jews were subject, while they dwelt in a spiritual Egypt. But when a man has made his renunciation and come forth from thence, and having by God " s graceconquered gluttony, has come into the spiritual wilderness, then he is free from the attacks of these three, and will only have to wage war against those seven which Moses enumerates. Chapter 23. How it is useful for us to take possession of their lands. But the fact that we are bidden for our good to take possession of the countries of those most wicked nations, may be understood in this way. Each fault has its own special corner in the heart, which it claims for itself in the recesses of the soul, and drives out Israel, i.e., the contemplation of holy and heavenly things, and never ceases to oppose them. For virtues cannot possibly live side by side with faults. For what participation has righteousness with unrighteousness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 2Corinthians 6:14 But as soon as these faults have been overcome by the people of Israel, i.e., by those virtues which war against them, then at once the place in our heart which the spirit of concupiscence and fornication had occupied, will be filled by chastity. That which wrath had held, will be claimed by patience. That which had been occupied by a sorrow that works death, will be taken by a godly sorrow and one full of joy. That which had been wasted by accidie, will at once be tilled by courage. That which pride had trodden down will be ennobled by humility: and so when each of these faults has been expelled, their places (that is the tendency towards them) will be filled by the opposite virtues which are aptly termed the children of Israel, that is, of the soul that sees God: and when these have expelled all passions from the heart we may believe that they have recovered their own possessions rather than invaded those of others. Chapter 24. How the lands from which the Canaanites were expelled, had been assigned to the seed of Shem. |
| But as to those permanent miracles of nature, whereby we wish to persuade the sceptical of the miracles of the world to come, those are quite sufficient for our purpose which we ourselves can observe or of which it is not difficult to find trustworthy witnesses. Moreover, that temple of Venus, with its inextinguishable lamp, so far from hemming us into a corner, opens an advantageous field to our argument. For to this inextinguishable lamp we add a host of marvels wrought by men, or by magic – that is, by men under the influence of devils, or by the devils directly – for such marvels we cannot deny without impugning the truth of the sacred Scriptures we believe. That lamp, therefore, was either by some mechanical and human device fitted with asbestos, or it was arranged by magical art in order that the worshippers might be astonished, or some devil under the name of Venus so signally manifested himself that this prodigy both began and became permanent. Now devils are attracted to dwell in certain temples by means of the creatures (God " s creatures, not theirs), who present to them what suits their various tastes. They are attracted not by food like animals, but, like spirits, by such symbols as suit their taste, various kinds of stones, woods, plants, animals, songs, rites. And that men may provide these attractions, the devils first of all cunningly seduce them, either by imbuing their hearts with a secret poison, or by revealing themselves under a friendly guise, and thus make a few of them their disciples, who become the instructors of the multitude. For unless they first instructed men, it were impossible to know what each of them desires, what they shrink from, by what name they should be invoked or constrained to be present. Hence the origin of magic and magicians. But, above all, they possess the hearts of men, and are chiefly proud of this possession when they transform themselves into angels of light. Very many things that occur, therefore, are their doing; and these deeds of theirs we ought all the more carefully to shun as we acknowledge them to be very surprising. |
| опис. Тр.-Сергиевы лавры», 150; “Извл. из отч. Об.-Пр.», 1858 г., 12 (пожертв. земли); Строев, “Спис. иер. и настоят.», 984, 1; Ключевский, “Жит. свят.», 350; “Чтения в И. Общ. ист.», 1865 г., IV, смесь, 124 (о припис. к Тр.-Серг. лавре), 141 (вотчины м-ря в 1752 г.); 1867 г., III, Отд. 1, 72 (в 1678 г. имел 498 двор. крест., в 1752 г. 5.248 душ); 1878 г., IV, ист. опис. Тр.– Серг. лавры, 183 (приписан в 1615 г.); “Опис. докум. и дел архива св. Синода», II, ч. 2, 614 (доношение 1722 г. о жестоком истязании служителей м-ря). 1250. Троицкий, женский, ныне приходская церковь в гор. Курмыше, Симбирской губ. Из описи 1624 г. видно, что он находился на посаде, в конце Казацкой и Стрелецкой слобод за острогом, и имел одну деревянную церковь св. Троицы. Судя по описи ризницы, которая находилась уже тогда в ветхом состоянии, можно с достоверностью сказать, что он уже существовал в XVI стол. В 1764 г. упразднен и обращен в приход. “Ист. Росс. Иер.», IV, 881; “Симбир. сборн.», II, Отд. I, 17; “Матер. для ист. и стат. Симбир. губ.», III, 67; “Известия Археол. Общ.», 1868 г., VI, 25 (церковн. древности); “Чтения в И. Общ. ист.», 1860 г., Отд. 1, 152 (в 1744 г. имел 20 душ крест.). 1251. Троицкий, мужской, ныне село Дмитриево-Семионовка, Симбирской губ., Сызранского у., в 27 вер. к югу от Сызрани. Основан в 1712 г. одним из предков поэта Дмитриева, Семеном Константиновичем Дмитриевым, скончавшимся в обители в 1725 г. Упразднен в 1764 г. “Сборник ист. и стат. свед. о Симбир. губ.» в “Прилож. к Памят. кн. на 1869 г.», Отд. IV, 81. 1252. Троицкий, мужской, 3-го класса (с 1764 г.), в губерн. гор. Смоленске, близ архиерейск. дома. В 1674 г., по повелению царя Алексея Михаиловича, Бернардинский католич. костел обращен в православ. м-рь. До 1740 г. имели в нем жительство архиеп. Смоленские, которые здесь и погребались (Симеон, Сильвестр Черницкий, Сильвестр Крайский и Дорофей); над могилами их в 1847 г. устроен придел во имя Божией Матери всех скорбящих при Рождественской церкви. Перед иконою Божией Матери Иверской, старинного письма, с 1700 г. |
| е. ересеначальники, главы ереси, принимались в общение, как миряне. И православ. церковь считает Амвросия лишенным епископской чести, сана, как начальника, основателя австрийского раскола, ереси, так как он не по насилию ушед туда, а добровольно оставил православ. церковь и, чрез принятие раскольнического помазания от беглого, изверженного и проклятого попа (6 пр. Гангрск собора) Иеронима, в скверну вменил благодать Божию, полученную им в Греко-Российской церкви. Далее, Александрийский собор принял в сущем сане, признал священство тех епископов, кои приняли священство в недрах православ. церкви; ныне же прав. церковь принимает австрийских клириков в сущем сане и не признает законным их священство, потому что оно получено неправильно, незаконно, в раздоре с церковью, от беглого греческого митрополита. Собором Александрийским приняты были отцы «не потому, как пишет бл. Иероним, чтобы могли быть епископами бывшие еретики, но поскольку было известно, что принимаемые не были еретики» и такою «необходимою мерою мир был исторгнут из пасти сатаны» (т. IV, 84 стр.)... А прав. церковь не принимает австрийских клириков потому, что известно, что они раскольники, что они осуждены церковью, как «непокорники», преданы анафеме, отлучены от св. церкви, при чем о клириках, бывших в расколе или имеющих быть в будущем, собор сказал, что «они извержены и обнажены священнодействия» (Соб. Деян. 1667 г. л. 6 об.–7)... Б) Неверна и та мысль, что раз церковь принимает крещение, то обязана принимать в хиротонию еретических клириков Известно, что 2-й Всел. собор не признал хиротонии Максима Циника и им рукоположенных, определив: «ниже Максим был, или есть епископ, ниже поставленные им на какую бо то ни было степень клира; и соделанное для Него и соделанное им, все ничтожно» (4 пр.), хотя Максим был рукоположен законными епископами; крещение же их приняли, ибо рукоположенных им не перекрещивали (Деян. Всел. соб. т. IV, по 2 изд. 98 стр.). Восточная церковь не признавала хиротонии ариан, хотя крещение, совершаемое у них, признавала, и потому клириков арианских, при присоединении к прав. церкви, она принимала как мирян, повторяя только рукоположение (Опыт курса Церк. Законовед. И. Смоленского, т. I, стр.217.). Папа Иннокентий 1-й (V века) определял, что «арианских клириков не должно принимать в их степенях, хотя арианское крещение и можно признать действительным, так как оно правильно совершается во имя Отца и Сына и Св. Духа; но той полноты благодати, которая потребна для священства, ариане, вследствие отпадения от кафолической веры, не имеют» (24 посл, к Александру еписк. Антиох, См. у Соколова «Иерархия Англик. церкви», 335 стр.). Второй Всел. собор в 7 пр. и 6-й Всел. собор 95 пр. узаконоположили: ариан, македониан, аполлинаристов и др. принимать в общение с прав. церковью чрез миропомазание, т. е. вторым чином, приемля таким образом крещение, но хиротонии назвавных еретиков соборы эти не приняли. |
| This Mediator, having spoken what He judged sufficient first by the prophets, then by His own lips, and afterwards by the apostles, has besides produced the Scripture which is called canonical, which has paramount authority, and to which we yield assent in all matters of which we ought not to be ignorant, and yet cannot know of ourselves. For if we attain the knowledge of present objects by the testimony of our own senses, whether internal or external, then, regarding objects remote from our own senses, we need others to bring their testimony, since we cannot know them by our own, and we credit the persons to whom the objects have been or are sensibly present. Accordingly, as in the case of visible objects which we have not seen, we trust those who have, (and likewise with all sensible objects,) so in the case of things which are perceived by the mind and spirit, i.e., which are remote from our own interior sense, it behooves us to trust those who have seen them set in that incorporeal light, or abidingly contemplate them. Chapter 4.– That the World is Neither Without Beginning, Nor Yet Created by a New Decree of God, by Which He Afterwards Willed What He Had Not Before Willed. Of all visible things, the world is the greatest; of all invisible, the greatest is God. But, that the world is, we see; that God is, we believe. That God made the world, we can believe from no one more safely than from God Himself. But where have we heard Him? Nowhere more distinctly than in the Holy Scriptures, where His prophet said, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 Was the prophet present when God made the heavens and the earth? No; but the wisdom of God, by whom all things were made, was there, Proverbs 8:27 and wisdom insinuates itself into holy souls, and makes them the friends of God and His prophets, and noiselessly informs them of His works. They are taught also by the angels of God, who always behold the face of the Father, Matthew 18:10 and announce His will to whom it befits. Of these prophets was he who said and wrote, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And so fit a witness was he of God, that the same Spirit of God, who revealed these things to him, enabled him also so long before to predict that our faith also would be forthcoming. |
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