| The New Testament presupposes the stream of Jewish worship and prayer. The Gospel of Luke records exquisite prayers by the Virgin Mary ( Lk. 1.46–55 ), the priest Zechariah ( Lk. 1.68–79 ), and the elder Simeon ( Lk. 2.29–32 ). Jesus himself, circumcised on the eighth day and presented at the Temple on the fortieth, grew up in the tradition of Jewish prayer and piety with frequent appearances at the Temple and the synagogue. He not only gave instructions on prayer but also practiced heartfelt prayer, seeking solitude in the hills where he could pray all night, not least before making important decisions ( Mk. 1.35 ; Lk. 6.12 ). The personal depth of Jesus’ prayers to God the Father breaks forth in dramatic moments of joyful confession ( Mt. 11.25 ), the giving of the Lord’s Prayer ( Mt. 6.5–13 ), the high priestly prayer to the Father ( Jn. 17 ), and the agony at Gethsemane ( Mk. 14.33–5 ), all of which exemplify the intimate relationship with God as a personal and loving Father which Jesus lived and taught. While the early church inherited much of the Jewish tradition of prayer, it gradually moved away from the Temple worship and cultic practices such as animal sacrifices, circumcision, and kosher foods, regarded as no longer compatible with the gospel. Instead, the church focused on its own rites of baptism, the Mystical Supper or Eucharist, and other rites that gradually developed into a whole tradition of worship continuously elaborated in content and structure. St. Paul, large sections of whose letters read like prayers, is a primary figure of the Christian renewal of prayer and worship in trinitarian forms based on the view that each baptized Christian is a living sacrifice to God ( Rom. 6.4, 13; 12.1 ) and the church is the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit ( 1Cor. 3.16–17; 12.12–27 ). Stirring echoes of early Christian prayers and aspects of worship, replete with Old Testament language, frequently occur in the Book of Revelation, where the eschatological drama of salvation itself is recounted from the perspective of the worship of God (Rev. 4.4–11; 5.8–14; 7.9–12; 11.15–18; 12.10–12; 15.3–4; 19.1–8). |
| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation A Third Way of Reading the Bible Source: Mysterion Priest Richard Rene 12 November 2016 When it comes to reading the Bible, two distinct schools of thought seem to exist. On one hand, there’s the ‘Literal’ school of biblical interpretation, which generally takes any given text from the Bible and upholds its literal historical meaning as the incontrovertible truth. If it is says so in the Bible, then that’s how it happened and that’s how it is. In apparent contrast to this Literal school of biblical is the ‘Liberal’ school. Liberal interpreters generally assert that Scripture is really just myth and allegory. When reading the Bible, they say, we cannot take the surface meaning as the ‘Gospel truth.’ The Bible is, after all, a religious document, not a historical one. Its meaning is to be understood in purely symbolic terms, for its spiritual or metaphorical meaning. It would seem that the Literals and the Liberals stand on opposite sides of biblical interpretation debate. In fact, the two approaches are really two sides of the same coin. Whether you are Literal or Liberal, you are still working with the same basic assumption that the meaning of the Scriptures centres around the question of historical veracity. For the Literals, the historical accuracy of the Scriptures makes them true. For the Liberals, the historical inaccuracy of Scriptures is the basis of their ‘symbolic’ truth. Either way, the historicity of the text is both the starting point and the destination of the debate. May I suggest a third way? I like to call it the ‘prophetic’ method, but it’s nothing new. This manner of interpreting the Bible has been practiced within the body of Eastern Orthodox theology for almost two thousand years. The basic assumption of prophetic exegesis derives from the New Testament, in which the risen Christ appears to His disciples on the road to Emmaus. Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:27. See also John 5:46) |
| 41. Mr Munawar Rattansey (President of World Federation of Shia Ithnari) 40. Maulana Shahid Raza, Muslim College 43. Mr Giles Rowe (Catholic Forum) 44. Sir Iqbal Sacranie, Al-Risalah Trust 45. Bishop Keith Sinclair (Anglican Bishop of Birkenhead) 46. Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh, (Chairman, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha’) 47. Archbishop Peter Smith (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Southwark) 48. Archbishop George Stack (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff) 49. Rev John Stevens (Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches) 50. Canon Dr Chris Sugden (Executive Secretary, Anglican Mainstream) 51. Prebendary Rod Thomas (Chairman of Reform) 52. Rev Dr Simon Vibert (Wycliffe Hall, Oxford) 53. Bishop Alfred Williams General Overseer Christ faith Tabernacle International Churches Source: Telegraph Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Faith leaders in UK demand gay marriage rethink James Kirkup May 31, 2013 An unprecedented alliance of religious leaders has called on David Cameron to rethink his plans to allow gay people to marry, warning that the change will “devalue the meaning of marriage”. Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist leaders have signed a letter to the Prime ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. |
| 212 Plutarch cites five sources for one position and nine for another, plus an extant letter attributed to the person about whom he writes; but he then adds that the minor divergence does not affect our view of his herós character (the main point for him; Alex. 46.1–2). Valerius Maximus, a more popular and less careful writer than some others, rarely cites his sources (and often confuses his data), but he mentions them occasionally when they diverge (e.g., 5.7.ext.l; 6.8.3). Earlier exaggerated contrasts between elite and popular literature aside, the Gospels (to some extent with the exception of Luke) do not reflect an elite audience. Often ancient writers cited sources, however, only when various sources disagreed (or when the writer wished to criticize them). 213 The Gospels do not explicitly cite sources, perhaps in part because of their relatively popular level but also probably in part because they report recent events on which sources have not yet diverged greatly (like, e.g., Tacitus, who naturally does not need to cite many sources on his father-in-law Agricola). It is possible that they also follow some Jewish conventions on this point; in some such works we can identify the sources only because they are extant (e.g., 1 Esdras blends Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah with some midrash). 214 Including material missing from earlier extant sources is not necessarily a sign of fabrication. A writer providing information missing in some earlier historians sometimes was drawing from sources unavailable to the other historians, whether those sources were written, oral, or both. 215 3. Evaluating the Accuracy of Particular Works Although we often lack direct access to firsthand ancient sources, we can look to the ancient historical writers who still had access to such sources, then test them to determine the degree of their fidelity to those sources. Comparing different ancient historians such as Herodian and Dio Cassius turns up discrepancies, but also confirms that both use substantial historical data. |
| молитвенника, XV века, хранящегося в спб. д. академии, представлена праведная Анна, на руках ее Богоматерь в виде девочки, на руках Богоматери – младенец Христос (Н.Покровский, Церк.-арх. музей, стр. 55–56 и табл. XVIII). Узенер, имея в виду, как кажнтся, германский простой народ, говорит, что Иисус Христос , единственное Лицо Троицы, Которое может быть изображено наглядно, затем – Его Мать и приемный отец Иосиф образовали новую триаду для народа: «Jesus, Maria und Joseph» (Usener, 45–46). Тот же исследователь (s. 11) указывает другие низшие триады. Это дочери Софии (Sophia) – Вера, Надежда и Любовь (Pistis, Elpis, Agape, лат. Fides, Spes, Caritas), и бывшая популярною в Вифинии группа: Agape, Theophila и Domna. См. Migne, PG. 116, 1037 s. О прочих группах из трех лиц см., напр., Н. Покровский, Стенные росписи в древних храмах, 1890, стр. 125, Ц.-арх. Музей, 104–105 и соотв. таблицы, и Евангелие в памятниках иконогр., 132 (о 3 волхвах, происходивших из трех стран). 276 John marquess of Вите, The blessing of the waters on the eve of the Epiphany, Lond., 1901, p. 10 s., по Usener, s. 2. 277 Минея, январь, 6-е число.Троекратность повторения слов и целых предложений, как и усиление слов соответствующими предатками, может, конечно, служить и для обозначения полноты выражения. Срав.: «Свят, Свят, Свят, Господь Саваоф» и слово «треблаженное» в церковной песни: «О, треблаженное древо, на нем же распяся Христос Царь и Господь». (Канон на воздвижение Креста Господня, песнь 5, ирмос). 278 В творениях церковных писателей есть очень много мест, в которых трактуется о числах, как это видно и из индексов, иногда очень обстоятельных, каков index generalis к творениям Августина в XI томе творений его по изданию Миня. Для примера можно указать на Epistola ad Januarium в 33 томе латинской серии, col. 204 ss. Собрание и изучение всех таких мест могло бы послужить предметом специального и очень обширного труда. 281 Соответствующие библейские места указаны, напр., в Sacrorum Bibliorum vulgatae edutionis Concordantiae, Venetiis, 1754, s. |
| Here again John alludes to Exod 33–34, this time to the second giving of Torah from Sinai. 3740 Gods character of grace and truth was revealed with the giving of law (Exod 34:6), but made fully available to humanity ultimately through Christ. The contrast is one of intensity more than of quality; 3741 John accepts the witness of the law to the fulness of grace and truth in Christ, but Christ is the full embodiment of the law, the actual model of lived-out commandments, in flesh. John does not oppose Torah 3742 or doubt that grace and truth may still be found there in some measure; 3743 he identifies it with Jesus and declares that only followers of Jesus submit to its ultimate eschatological expression. 3744 Moses» writings remain God " s Word, but they were not the same as «the revelation of grace and truth incarnate.» 3745 Thus Moses and the law testify to Jesus (1:45; 5:45–47). Those who contend with Jesus on the basis of the law (7:49; 9:28–29; 18:31; 19:7) actually misunderstand (7:23; 8:17; 10:34; 15:25) and disobey (7:19,51) the law themselves. (Interestingly, John does not apply γραφ with the same polemical sense as νμος.) The lack of adversative conjunction here does not eliminate the contrast (compare the lack of adversatives in 1:18; 2:9,10; 7:36), 3746 but it also does not permit us to exaggerate the force of the contrast. 3747 Context must dictate the force of contrast, as in m. «Abot 2:7, which similarly implies a contrast without a conjunction: «One who gains a good name (indeed) gains (something) for oneself; (but) one who gains for himself the words of Torah gains for himself life in the world to come.» 3748 As in m. »Abot 2:7, the contrast of John 1is between something good and something better, which are not mutually exclusive. None of John " s audience would have viewed grace negatively; not only the Jewish Bible but early Judaism emphasized grace. 3749 Most Jewish sources concur that the law was given through Moses–that God was the author and Moses the mediator. 3750 The only evidence for a contrary view became a gnostic position against the law in the second century. 3751 John accepts the divine origin of Torah («it was given» is presumably a divine passive) and the Mosaic agency, but contends that Christ, not Moses, is the mediator of the character of God to which the law bore witness. In contrast to Abraham (mentioned eleven times in the Gospel), John " s mentions of Moses (twelve times) generally are at pains to subordinate Moses as an agent and a witness. 3752 John consistently portrays Jesus as the true gifts to which Moses» gifts of Torah, manna, and lifting up the serpent point. 3753 The community " s opponents appeal to Moses as their witness (9:28–29), but he is a witness against them (5:45–46). 3C. Beholding God " s Face in Christ (1:18) |
| John through his holy oil. Whenever we have a health issue we apply his oil and seek his intercession. He never failed us. Through his holy life St. John is an example for all Christians. Through his powerful intercession, he brings all the followers of Christ together. Thank you St.John for being there and Please continue to bless and heal us. Thank you my brothers and sisters for this website. Kathy Kerpchar 22 августа 2016, 02:52 Please please pray for my daughter, she is lost, leaving the church God and her family I as a mother am sick and cannot believe what is happening, it is like the devil has taken over her soul mind and body. Please help bring her back, we need a miracle, I have been praying for years- God is great and can through Him anything is possible! God bless you all and my Dearest Saint John. A heartsick Mother Kathy Kerpchar 21 августа 2016, 22:21 What a blessing to have now found Saint John, from a parishioner at my church today. My grandson Max died at the age of 7 he was a blessed child, as an alter boy said the liturgy with Our priest ( father said if he lost his place Max knew it) my daughter, his Mom has now left the church and her family, she doesn " t speak,to her sister , who,help,her through some difficult times and is no longer close to us. She had a little girl since Max passing but has not had her Baptized and no longer allows us to,take her son to,church for anything. I feel so lost and hopeless I miss my family and I worry about my grandchildren. I have been praying about this for four years and things just seem to,be getting worse. Please pray for us help,her and show her the way. She needs to come back,to Christ and be filled. Our church members have tried and our Priest Fayher Luke keeps in touch. Please,please pray for,us all. My God bless us one and all. Herman 5 мая 2016, 08:46 As a seeker, I am deeply moved, inspired, and emblazoned with Love for God that the miracles I have always KNOWN were real are still happening in these days and times. |
| In Palestinian Judaism, «accusers» were witnesses against the defendant rather than official prosecutors (cf. 18:29), 5956 an image which would be consistent with other images used in the gospel tradition (Matt 12:41–42/Luke 11:31–32). The irony of being accused by a person or document in which one trusted for vindication would not be lost on an ancient audience. 5957 Thus instead of receiving «glory» before God (5:44), they would receive condemnation, and their eschatological «hope» would prove vain (5:45). Moses» «writings» (5:46–47) were believed to be the first five books of Scripture, 5958 and it was natural for Jewish commentators to emphasize that he was a truthful witness of what God revealed to him. 5959 Appeals to Torah were useful in polemic; for example, one might appeal to nationalism by denouncing other Jews as betrayers of Jewish laws and collaborators with Romans (Josephus Life 135). 5960 (To direct such a charge against those associated with Pharisaism might be particularly infuriating, for they were known for their scrupulous attention to the laws.) 5961 The formal logic of the argument would have been effective if one accepted the premise that Moses wrote of Jesus; Jesus addresses the practice of rejection of God " s message by an argument from lesser to greater. 5962 The claim that «Moses wrote of me» might be taken as a reference to Deut 18:18 , but though Jesus is the «prophet,» that Christology by itself is inadequate in this Gospel (cf. 6:14; 7:40, 52; 9:17). The context of this Gospel rather suggests that the reader approach this claim in light of the dominance of the prologués climax: Moses saw the glory of Jesus on Sinai when he received Torah (Exod 33–34; John 1:14–18 ), just as Isaiah the prophet later did ( John 12:41 ). This closing appeal to Moses in 5:45–47 paves the way for John " s narrative about the one greater than Moses who gives new manna, in ch. 6. 5963 5713 Such as Bultmann, John, 209; Sloyan, John, 61; cf. discussion in Smith, John (1999), 28. |
| LEAVENED As in leavened bread, where a small amount of yeast will cause the whole loaf to rise, so a small amount of evil or good affects the whole body (see Luke 13:20 21; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8). In contrast to the Old Testament bread, which was unleavened t( show the Israelites’ separation from the world (see Ex. 12:15-20), leavened bread—risen bread—is used in Orthodox Communion to show forth the Resurrection of Christ. LIGHT The Bible frequently uses light as a symbol of God and of that which is good that which overcomes the darkness of sin and death. Candles are used in churches t( symbolize the light of Christ. Christians are lights shining in the world to show the way of righteousness and salvation (see Matt. 5:14; John 8:12). LITURGY The work or public service of the people of God, which is the worship o the one true God. The Divine Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Orthodox Church LOVE Charity, union, affection, friendship; unselfish concern for another’s good. The love of Christians for each other and for the world is a reflection of the love between the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. See John 11:3, 36; 1 Cor. 13; 1 John 4:8, 16. MAGNIFICAT The prayer or hymn sung by the Virgin Mary when she visited St Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist, shortly after the Annunciation (Luke 1:46-55). Sung frequently during Matins in the Orthodox Church, this hymn takes it title from the Latin for the beginning phrase, " My soul magnifies the Lord. " Se 1 Sam. 2:1-10. MAN (Gr. anthropos) Frequently used in the Bible in the generic sense for both man and woman. Man is the pinnacle of God’s creation, for only he among the creature: was made in the image and likeness of God. See Gen. 1:26, 27; Luke 4:4. MARTYR (Gr. martyria) Literally, " a witness. " Normally, the term is used to describe those who give their lives for Christ. Martyria has two meanings: (1) witness or testimony, especially that which God bears to Christians, and which Christians bear to the world; and (2) martyrdom, especially Christ’s Passion, and the martyrdom of Christians for the faith (see John 1:6-15; Acts 6:8—7:60). |
| Perhaps lest the accusers of John " s audience complain that glorifying Jesus detracted from God " s glory, John is at pains to demonstrate that it is the Father himself who glorifies Jesus and that Jesus» costly glory glorifies the Father (7:18; 8:50,54; cf. 1 John 2:23 ). Jesus is exalted on the basis of his prior submission to suffering for the Father " s honor. 9416 In Isaiah, God glorified himself in glorifying Israel (Isa 44:23; 46:13; 49:3; 55:5; 60:1–2, 7, 9, 19, 21; 61:3); thus an Amora could remark, for example, that God told Moses to glorify Israel, for Israel " s glorification would glorify God. 9417 That Jesus rules «all flesh» (17:2) simply means that he rules «all humanity.» 9418 This was a role normally attributed to God alone, 9419 but the Fourth Gospel reveals that the Father has repeatedly delegated his authority to the Son (3:35; 5:22, 26–27; 13:3); 9420 the Father " s gifts to the Son (especially disciples; also glory, revelation, and authority) and the Son " s gifts to disciples in fact make the present context the Gospel " s greatest concentration of δδωμι (17:2,4,6–9,11–12,14,22,24). That Jesus was authorized to give eternal life to his own would encourage those whose faith was challenged by opponents who claimed to speak for God apart from Jesus (cf. 6:37–40; 10:28–29). John 17continues the connection between the Father and the Son; eternal life, eschatological life, involves an intimate relationship with the Father and the Son (see discussion of «knowledge» in the introduction, ch. 6). 9421 The connection between Jesus and the Father in 17is very close. It is even grammatically possible to construe the dual object as a hendiadys, identifying Jesus Christ with «the only true God,» but this construction is impossible both logically and from the standpoint of Johannine theology. 9422 In John " s theology, the Son is not the Father, and it is hardly coherent for Jesus to identify himself as the Father he was addressing. The close association, however, places Jesus in the role reserved for the Father (or at least divine Wisdom) in standard Jewish teaching. Besides 1:17, «a legitimate anachronism,» 17is the only instance in the Gospel in which «Christ» appears as part of a proper name and not simply a title. 9423 |
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