| Later on, when the catechumenate was dissolved and baptism of children was generalied, the blessing of the water was preserved, being related to the feast, but with a different significance. As Archbishop Simeon of Thessaloniki points out, on Epiphany day not only is renewal in the baptism of the Lord accomplished, but also the grace of the baptism we all received. The origin of the service of the Great Blessing of Waters is found in Jerusalem, where the very vivid remembrance of the baptism of the Savior by the Forerunner, in the waters of the Jordan River was preserved; hence it spread to Antioch, then to Constantinople and to Asia Minor. This is why the present service of the Great Blessing of Water is ascribed, according to tradition, entirely to Saint Sophrony, patriarch of Jerusalem (+638), to whom the January Menaion ascribes the troparia sung at the beginning of the celebration, while the Euchologion ascribes him a prayer for the blessing of water. Basilica News Agency 18 января 2016 г. Предыдущий Следующий Смотри также Blessing of the Restored Iconography of St. Spyridon the New Cathedral in Bucharest Blessing of the Restored Iconography of St. Spyridon the New Cathedral in Bucharest “Iconography, is an aesthetic embellishment, a beauty, and this beauty is not created in order to be admired in itself, but is created in order to direct us to an unseen but real celestial beauty: the glory of the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity. " Fr. Dumitru Staniloae: The Cross as a Means of Sanctification and Transformation of the World Fr. Dumitru Staniloae Fr. Dumitru Staniloae: The Cross as a Means of Sanctification and Transformation of the World Fr. Dumitru Staniloae Through the Cross, Christ sanctified His body—the link with the world. He rejected the temptations sent to Him by the world, that is to taste the pleasures, to satisfy His needs unrestrained or to avoid pain and death. If we, in the same way, ward off the temptations of sin and patiently suffer the pain of death, sanctity can spread from His body to all bodies and throughout the world. How the Fathers Walk with Angels on Theophany Priest Sergei Begiyan How the Fathers Walk with Angels on Theophany Priest Sergei Begiyan The most important trait of holy water is its incorruptibility, without having any change to its chemical composition. Incorruption belongs to the Kingdom of Heaven, and when we sprinkle something with holy water, we want to impart to it God’s grace, present in the water. And the first place we all want to see sanctified is our home. Комментарии © 1999-2015 Православие.Ru При перепечатке ссылка на Православие.Ru обязательна Контактная информация Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf ICONS OF THE THEOTOKOS ICONS OF THE THEOTOKOS. While images of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary [q.v.]) by herself, as frequently in the popular art of Roman Catholicism, are not unknown in Byzantium (qq.v.)-for example the image called the “intercession (deisis),” featuring the Theotokos and Baptist flanking Christ Pantocrator-the favored representation of her is as “Madonna,” the mother carrying the Christ child. Here, however, there are numerous variations, and characteristic of all of them is the portrayal of the child as a small adult: the eternal Word made flesh lifting his hand in blessing. Consistent is an emphasis on these images as theological statements, tied in particular to the Christology of the Ecumenical Councils (qq.v.). With few exceptions, icons of the Theotokos are also icons of Christ. These iconographic types are not primarily appeals to exalted emotion. The single most significant exception is the type of Madonna known as the glykophilousa (Greek “sweetly kissing”), or oumilenie (Russian “tender compassion”) portraying the mother tenderly embracing the child whose arms are entwined about her neck. Other and, save in Russia, more frequent types are: the hodigitria (“she who shows the Way”) with the mother pointing to the child enthroned on her lap; the gorgoepikousa (“she who is swift to hear”); the platytera (“she whose womb is more spacious than the heavens”) showing the child in triumph within the mother; and the “Lady of the Passion” showing two angels flanking the mother and child and carrying the Cross together with the spear and the sponge (known in the West as “Our Lady of Perpetual Help”). Of the three most famous icons of the Theotokos in Russia, our Lady of Vladimir (11th c. Constantinopolitan work) is of the oumilenie type, while the two others, our Lady of Tikhvin and our Lady of Kazan, are of the hodigitria type. A fourth, the Iveron Madonna, is a copy of the portaitissa (“she who guards the gate”) at the Iveron monastery on Mt. Athos (q.v.), also of the hodigitria type. Each of the Twelve Great Feasts (q.v.) that remembers Mary especially has an icon of her which portrays a historical scene. Читать далее Источник: The A to Z of the Orthodox Church/Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson - Scarecrow Press, 2010. - 462 p. ISBN 1461664039 Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf CAROLINGIANS CAROLINGIANS. This name refers to the court of Charlemagne (q.v.), and in particular to the theologians and church leaders whom that king and his successors sponsored in the late 8th and early 9th c. The importance of the Frankish Kingdom (present-day northern France and West Germany) begins in fact with Charlemagne’s father and founder of the dynasty, Pippin I, and the latter’s alliance with Pope Stephen II and the papacy (q.v.) in 754. The alliance promised the popes freedom from the manipulations of princes (including the emperors at Byzantium [q.v.]) in return for recognition of the dynasty’s legitimacy. It marked thus an epochal shift in the ancient axis of the Christian oikoumene (q.v.), from a line running east-west along the Mediterranean Sea to a north-south extension from Rome (q.v.) to the mouths of the Rhine. In this shift the Western Church turned in on itself and, more importantly, away from Constantinople (q.v.) as the throne of the sole Christian emperor. (One should note that the East under the Isaurian Dynasty [q.v.] was going through a similar process.) The shift is marked at once by a political schism, the crowning of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III in 800 as “Roman Emperor,” and by the efforts of the new emperor’s court theologians to isolate the “Greeks,” in support of their sovereign’s universal claims, by branding the Church of Constantinople and the Empire it served as heretical. They drew strength from the establishment and stimulation of new schools and a program in Latin, all of which took place in the context of the Church. The Carolingian theological program saw, among other things, the addition of the filioque to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (qq.v.), together with an insistence on the addition as a necessary article of the Christian faith. Particular stress was also laid on the papal office, an emphasis that was marked in turn by the creation of documents, such as the Donation of Constantine (q.v.), purporting to be ancient testimonies to the pope’s role both as governor of the universal Church and as source of all Christian political legitimacy. In effect a kind of revolution, the Carolingian reform paved the way for modern Europe and, more proximate to its own time, for the Gregorian reforms of the 11th c., the ensuing final rupture between the East and West, and the great papal theocracy of the High Middle Ages. Читать далее Источник: The A to Z of the Orthodox Church/Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson - Scarecrow Press, 2010. - 462 p. ISBN 1461664039 Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| Orthodox cathedral in Nice opens after restoration Nice, January 19, 2016 © RIA-Novosti/Daniel Nizamutdinov. One of the most beautiful Russian Orthodox churches outside Russia, the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Nice is opening on Tuesday after restoration which lasted more than eighteen months, reports a spokesman of RIA-Novosti . On Tuesday morning the clergy celebrated the lesser consecration of the church, served the Divine Liturgy and performed the Great Blessing of Waters. An official ceremony with participation by officials of the Executive Office of the Russian Federation’s President, local authorities and Russian diplomats was scheduled for 14.00 Moscow time on Tuesday. The St. Nicholas Cathedral is one of the main sights of Nice and one of the most popular historic monuments of Cote d’Azur (a coastal area of south-eastern France). Thus, according to the Nice-Matin French local daily newspaper, 273,000 people visited it in 2010. The history of the Russian St. Nicholas cathedral of Nice began early in the 20th century, when around 150 wealthy and powerful Russian families lived in the city. The community became so large that the small church in Rue Longchamp could no longer accommodate all the parishioners, so it was decided to build a new one. The funds used for building the new church went from the treasury of the Holy Emperor Nicholas II, from the local community, and the Russian nobility. The construction of the cathedral near Boulevard du Tzarewitch began in 1903 and was finished nine years later, in 1912. Built according to a design by architect Mikhail Preobrazhensky in the style typical for 16th century churches of Moscow and Yaroslavl, the cathedral has five domes. The distinctive feature of the cathedral is its decoration for which local materials were partially used: thanks to the combination of light brown bricks, milk-white capstone and blue-green ornamented tiles the cathedral, not losing its originality, blends well with the characteristic Mediterranean landscapes. The restoration work has been carried out not only in the cathedral, but also in the St. Nicholas Chapel built in 1869 on the site of the Villa Bermont where Cesarevitch Nicholas Alexandrovich, son of Emperor Alexander II, had died in 1865 of tuberculous meningitis. From 1923 the cathedral was managed by the Orthodox Association of Nice (ACOR) which has been under the Patriarchate of Constantinople since 1931. In 2013, after a long procedure, the court of cassation of France upheld the Russian Federation’s ownership of the cathedral. At that time it was it was it a nearly dangerous condition. By order of President Vladimir Putin, budgetary funds were earmarked for the reconstruction and restoration of this architectural monument. Pravoslavie.ru 20 января 2016 г. Комментарии Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| Elder Tikhon, spiritual father of St. Paisios the Athonite, proposed for canonization Moscow, March 30, 2017 Elder Tikhon (left) and St. Paisios (right). A fresco in the Church of All Athonite Saints at St. Panteleimon " s Monastery on Mt. Athos. Photo: afonit.info The question of the glorification of the Russian Athonite elder Tikhon (Golenkov), the spiritual father of St. Paisios the Athonite, was recently discussed at the Moscow Theological Academy at the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. The discussion occurred as part of the academy’s “Day of the Memory of Two Elders: St. Paisios the Athonite and Archimandrite Kirill (Pavlov),” in which the new book Athonite Elder Tikhon (Golenkov) (in Russian) was presented. The hope was expressed that the Church would support the glorification of this great twentieth-century elder, reports a correspondent of the site Russian Athos . The new book dedicated to Elder Tikhon was published with the blessing of the abbot of Koutloumousiou Monastery Archimandrite Christodoulos, who was the confessor and co-struggler of the great St. Paisios the Athonite. The book has been recommended for distribution by the publishing house of the Russian Orthodox Church. Meanwhile, according to Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov, Metropolitan Zenobius of Saransk and Mordovia and the head of the Russian Church’s committee for canonization Bishop Pankraty of Troitsk have introduced an initiative to glorify Elder Tikhon as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. “We are hoping for Church-wide support for the initiative,” the minister stated. Interest in the person of Fr. Tikhon has grown since the canonization of his most famous disciple St. Paisios the Athonite in 2015. As noted by Konovalov, “In 1,000 years of the presence of Russian monks on Mt. Athos, only one of the Russian ascetics has been glorified by the Church of Constantinople—St. Silouan the Athonite… In this regard, we found it reasonable to also publish a book about the teacher and co-struggler of St. Pasios, who was the Russian elder Tikhon.” Elder Tikhon was born in 1884 in the Russian Empire, in the village of Novaya Mikhaylovka (in present-day Volgograd). At the age of 24 he arrived to Mt. Athos where he spent the remaining sixty years of his life in unceasing prayer and repentance. He is an example to all of a true Christian and monk who already in his lifetime acquired the Holy Spirit, and his relics have been shown to be incorrupt. 30 марта 2017 г. Рейтинг: 8.7 Голосов: 6 Оценка: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Смотри также Комментарии Подпишитесь на рассылку Православие.Ru Рассылка выходит два раза в неделю: Новые материалы Выбор читателей Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
| John Anthony McGuckin Liturgical Books JOHN A. MCGUCKIN The priest and cantor need a veritable library of books in order to complete all the ceremonies, prayer services, rituals, and blessings of the Orthodox Church, so rich is its liturgical tradition, and so varied the range of ceremonies it has established and adapted over the ages of its existence. There are several small but significant variations of style and form among the different language families of Orthodoxy, especially in relation to liturgical customs prevalent among the Greeks and the Slavs, which grew up in the course of the last millennium. English-language translations of Orthodox liturgical texts tend to fall between the three ritual forms most common today in the United States of America: that of the Antiochene patriarchate; the ritual of the Russian Church as adapted for use by the Orthodox Church in America (OCA); and the English language publications of the Greek Orthodox archdiocese, which are generally straightforward translations of the ceremonies of the Great Church of Constantinople. Many of the most important liturgical books have separate entries in this encyclopedia. Chief among them are the Euchologion (altar book for the liturgy and sacraments); the Hieratikon (priest’s parts for the services); and the Horologion (book of texts and rubrics for the celebration of the services of the Hours). Among the Russians the collection of special services and blessings that might be celebrated outside of the church is known as the Trebnik (Book of Needs) and there are English versions of it in one volume or several volumes (covering a greater array of services). The Antiochene patriarchate has issued a Liturgikon in English that covers aspects of the Euchologion and the Trebnik. The special texts and prayers for the liturgical services are also to be found in the literature that follows the monthly calendar of saints, and takes its name from this as the (twelve- volume) Menaion. The book known as the Triodion contains the liturgical texts proper to Lent, and the Pentekostarion has those proper to the Paschal season up to Pentecost. The third book in this series, containing the normal range of texts for Sundays of the year, takes its name from the eight “Tones” that are used to attribute proper texts to various parts of the weekly services, namely the Oktoechos. SEE ALSO: Blessing Rituals; Canon (Liturgical); Euchologion; Hieratikon; Horologion; Menaion; Music (Sacred); Psaltes (Cantor); Triodion REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS McGuckin, J. A. (2008) The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Its History, Theology and Spiritual Culture. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Читать далее Источник: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity/John Anthony McGuckin - Maldin : John Wiley; Sons Limited, 2012. - 862 p. Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf BYZANTINE RITE BYZANTINE RITE. According to the use beginning in the Roman Catholic Church (q.v.), “rite” signifies both a form of Christian worship and the accompanying matrix of theology and spirituality (qq.v.) that the worship expresses and out of which it has grown. Thus “Byzantine rite” means the liturgy of Byzantium, more specifically as celebrated at the “Great Church” of Constantinople (qq.v.), and includes other elements, as the liturgist Fr. Robert Taft has rightly observed, such as architecture, iconography (qq.v.), etc. The Constantinopolitan liturgy was itself a fusion of different worship traditions in the ancient church, in particular those of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Cappadocia (qq.v.). In place by the 9th c. and in virtually its present form by 1400, the liturgy of the Great Church had also become by this time the one and unique mode of worship in the Orthodox Church. Although local use may differ in minor degrees from country to country, region to region, or even from village to village, it is fundamentally the same texts, the same exterior and interior arrangement of the church building, and the same piety (q.v.), which reigns in Orthodoxy from the Adriatic coast to the Aleutian islands. It is accurate to say that the primary difference between “national” Orthodox churches today is merely the language of worship, and not its form or content. The Byzantine rite has thus served as the single greatest factor ensuring the unity of the Orthodox Church, in a way perhaps analogous to what used to prevail in the Anglican communion with respect to the old Book of Common Prayer. While generally characterized as sumptuous in its use of art, incense, and poetry, the frequent perception that this is the most static of the great Christian “rites” is a misconception-in fact, the opposite is nearer the truth. Of all ancient liturgies, the Byzantine has perhaps been the most fluid, in a state of continuous change since its beginnings in Constantinople and marked by at least two great shifts-in the 9th c. and 14th c.-during its growth in the Byzantine era (q.v.) alone. Читать далее Источник: The A to Z of the Orthodox Church/Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson - Scarecrow Press, 2010. - 462 p. ISBN 1461664039 Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| Archive Metropolitan Nikiphoros of Kykkos and Tillyria calls the uncanonical decision of Patriarch of Constantinople to recognize schismatics in Ukraine the reason behind the current painful crisis in inter-Orthodox relations 30 November 2019 year 11:02 In his greeting speech to the participants in the International Conference on Monasticism and Today’s World, which opened in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 28 th November 2019, Metropolitan Nikiphoros of Kykkos and Tillyria (Orthodox Church of Cyprus) expressed his concern over the painful crisis that had arisen within the Orthodox Church because of the uncanonical decision of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople to recognize the schismatic church of Kiev and to grant it the so-called “autocephaly” in defiance of the unanimous canonical tradition and historical church practice. “This tragedy of schism between the brethren beloved in the Lord threatens to split the body of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ,” Metropolitan Nikiphoros said, as reported by the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church citing Romfea.gr. The hierarch of the Church of Cyprus stated with regret that the current developments “resemble the threshold of the Great Schism of 1054, which divided Ecumenical Christianity into Western Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. The schism threatens Ecumenical Orthodoxy after the Primates of the Churches of Alexandria and Greece joined the Ecumenical Patriarch’s decision.” “It is not permissible for anyone, and especially for us Orthodox monks, who are the first defenders of our Church, to remain indifferent to the dramatic situation in which our Orthodoxy has found itself. We all need to translate our passive anxiety into active responsibility. We must prayerfully invoke the mercy of God and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, so that the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches, with all-embracing love and humble and sacrificial thoughts, may listen to the voice of the Lord, overcome impermissible egoism, obsessions, and mania for power, and begin a fraternal pan-Orthodox dialogue aimed at overcoming the present crisis threatening the unity of Orthodoxy,” Metropolitan Nikiphoros also said. Having reminded all those present at the conference that “the sin of schism is incurable and inexcusable,” Metropolitan Nikiphoros of Kykkos and Tillyria added: “Only if the principle of conciliarity, on which the Orthodox Church has always relied, will work, can a way out of today’s situation be found,” website of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism reports. DECR Communication Service /Patriarchia.ru Календарь ← 7 December 2023 year |
| Archive Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion: The issue of a change of calendar and Paschalia is not on the Russian Church’s agenda 4 April 2021 year 13:19 During the time of Great Lent, the representative of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the World Council of Churches the archbishop of Telmessos Job spoke for a change in the calculation of the date of Easter so that Orthodox Christians would be able to celebrate this holiday at the same time as Western Christians. Commenting on this declaration in the Church and the World TV programme, the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion noted that such proposals had been discussed over a number of decades in various contexts, including at the World Council of Churches: “But here we are dealing with a very simple question: who should change their Paschalia? We, for example, have no intention of changing ours,” said the bishop. In outlining the pre-history of the issue, metropolitan Hilarion reminded viewers that according to the testimony of early church sources, originally in the Christian Churches there was no single date for the celebration of Easter. At the First Ecumenical Council, which took place in Nicaea in 325, it was laid down that Easter would be celebrated by all Christians on the first Sunday after the first full moon in Spring. “This method of calculating the date of Easter has remained the same to this day in the Orthodox Church,” His Eminence noted. The chairman of the DECR said emphatically: “There are no internal impulses which would come from within our church people in favour of changing the church calendar. This concerns not only the date of celebrating Easter, but also the adoption of the so-called New Style Gregorian calendar. From time to time voices can be heard in favour of aligning our church calendar with the secular calendar. Once such attempt was made in the Russian Church in the 1920s when Patriarch Tikhon issued a directive on the adoption of the New Style calendar, but two weeks later this directive was annulled for the simple reason that the church people rejected it.” Thus, said metropolitan Hilarion in summing up, “the issue of a change of calendar is not on the agenda of the Orthodox Church, or at least it’s not on the agenda of the Russian Orthodox Church.” DECR Communication Service /Patriarchia.ru Календарь ← 7 December 2023 year |
| St. Theodore the Archbishop of Rostov Commemorated on November 28 Saint Theodore, Archbishop of Rostov, in the world John, was the son of Stephen (brother of Saint Sergius of Radonezh), who occupied an important post under Prince Andrew of Radonezh. Left a widower, Stephen became a monk, and together with his twelve-year-old son, he went to the monastery to Saint Sergius, who foreseeing the ascetic life of the child John, tonsured him with the name Theodore on the Feast of Saint Theodore the Hair-Shirt Wearer (April 20). After Theodore attained an appropriate age, he was given a blessing to be ordined to the priesthood. With the blessing of Saint Sergius, Saint Theodore built a church in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos and founded a monastery on the banks of the River Moskva, at the place called Simonovo. Soon the monastery began to attract a throng of people. Saint Theodore built a cell five versts from the Moscow Kremlin, and pursued new ascetical labors, and here disciples gathered around him. Saint Sergius, visiting this place, blessed the founding of a monastery, and Metropolitan Alexis blessed the construction of a church in the name of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos at Novoe Simonovo, which also had its foundations laid in 1379. The old Simonov monastery remained the burial place of monks. Because of his virtuous life and strict asceticism, Saint Theodore became known in Moscow. The Metropolitan Saint Alexis elevated him to the rank of igumen, and Great Prince Demetrius of the Don chose him as his father confessor. Saint Theodore journeyed to Constantinople several times on church matters for the Russian Metropolitan. On his first journey in 1384, Patriarch Nilus made him an archimandrite. The Simonov monastery was put directly under the Patriarch, thus became stavropegial. In 1387, he was consecrated archbishop and occupied the See of Rostov. Being the igumen, and then the archimandrite of the Simonov monastery, and despite being occupied with churchly matters, Saint Theodore stalwartly guided those in the monastic life and counted many great and famous ascetics among his disciples. Saints Cyril (June 9) and Therapon (May 27), the future founders of two famous White Lake monasteries, were tonsured at the Simonov monastery. Saint Theodore occupied himself with iconography, and he adorned with icons of his own painting both the Simonov monastery, and many Moscow churches. At Rostov, Archbishop Theodore founded the Nativity of the Virgin monastery. The blessed death of the saint occurred on November 28, 1394. His relics are in the Rostov Dormition cathedral. Saint Theodore is also commemorated on May 23. The Orthodox Church in America 7 декабря 2016 г. Подпишитесь на рассылку Православие.Ru Рассылка выходит два раза в неделю: Мы в соцсетях Подпишитесь на нашу рассылку |
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