| John Anthony McGuckin Parousia MATTHEW J. PEREIRA The Greek term parousia, within the context of the New Testament, denotes the “presence” or “arrival” of Jesus Christ at the Eschaton (Matt. 24.3; 1Cor. 15.23 ). Early Christian expectations of apocalyptic salvation were foreshadowed in Palestinian literature, as can be seen by reference to the Old Testament pseudepigrapha and the Qumran texts (Russell 1964). The early church’s sense of the delay of the glorious return of Christ in judgment ( Jn. 21.21–23 ) provided Christians the opportunity to rearticulate the Parousia in a manner that reflected their own theological concerns, which were shaped within specific social and ecclesial settings (Aune 1975). Beyond exclusively focusing on the “last days,” patristic theologians extensively interpreted the Parousia as a present spiritual reality, part of the resurrection mystery, which pointed towards a future hope. In the early church the Parousia denoted a wide range of spiritual realities, such as the nearness of the gospel, the day of resurrection, Christ’s healing ministry, judgment, and accommodation to humanity. In his Letter to the Philadelphians Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 35-ca. 98/117) proclaimed that the gospel possesses the transcendent “appearance” of our Lord Jesus Christ, his passion and resurrection ( Phil. 9.2 ). Justin Martyr (ca. 100–165) interprets the Parousia as Christ’s power, whereby the Lord resurrects the dead and heals the sick upon his arrival. In his Dialogue with Trypho Justin Martyr also interpreted the deluge as a Christ-event; Noah and his family totaled eight people and thus allegorically represented the eighth day, which is when Christ “appeared” (had his Parousia) and rose from the dead (Dial. 88.2). Further, in his First Apology, Justin parallels the prophecy of Isaiah with Christ’s healing presence; it is at the Lord’s “coming” that the “lame shall leap ... the lepers be cleansed, and the dead shall rise” (I Apol. 48.2). In the Stromateis Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150–215) argues that the “advent” of the Savior will divide the believers from the disobedient (Strom. 1.18). The Lord’s arrival clearly reveals the spiritual state of each person, and thus ensures there will be only just judgment. Further, Clement teaches God has no natural relation with humanity, yet the Lord “accommodated” himself to our weakness (Strom. 2.16). In brief, Christian theologians in the first three centuries interpreted the Parousia as a fundamental christological event associated with Christ’s resurrection power, healing, judgment, and nearness to redeemed humanity. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Heresy JUSTIN M. LASSER The term “heresy” derives from the Greek term hairesis, which, in classical usage, typically meant “a diversity of opinion.” This usage was common within preChristian Hellenistic schools but acquired a new usage in the Christian era. In the Hellenistic schools a thesis or question would be offered and students or disciples would offer their opinions on the matter. In the case of a resulting diversity of opinion the matter would remain unresolved in a state of hairesis. In the classical schools the matter would be followed by extended debate and varying conclusions. In this usage “heresy” was the beginning of fruitful debate. On occasion these “heresies” would consolidate into cohesive “schools of thought.” These schools of thought are exhibited most clearly in the various ancient philosophical schools (i.e., the Epicureans, the Platonists, the Stoics, etc.). Though the schools had many disagreements they rarely “condemned” each other – they merely maintained different opinions. This classical usage of the term “heresy” was expanded in the Christian era. Whereas theologians such as Origen and Clement of Alexandria tended to view heresies as diverse schools of thought, other theologians, such as Irenaeus of Lyons and Justin Martyr, actively sought to characterize these diverse opinions or novelties as “corruptions” ofthe simple truth of the Christian faith handed down by the apostles. This move by the early heresiologists was not made out of vain intentions, but rested upon the belief that the Christian truth they were taught was not created but revealed and discovered. In this sense, Christian truth was not viewed as the result of theological speculation but as the recording and preserving of revealed truth. The simplicity and communicability of Christian truth was most important to the apologists such as St. Irenaeus and St. Justin, and became a paradigm for influential theologians such as St. Athanasius. It was a view that was first laid down in the Catholic epistles of the New Testament (see the letters of John, for example) which defined “those that had come out from among us” (heretical dissidents) as never having really belonged in the first place. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Africa, Orthodoxy in JUSTIN M. LASSER Christianity on the African continent begins its story, primarily, in four separate locales: Alexandrine and Coptic Egypt, the North African region surrounding the city of Carthage, Nubia, and the steppes of Ethiopia. The present synopsis will primarily address the trajectories of the North African Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Nubian Orthodox Church. The affairs of Christian Alexandria and the Coptic regions have their own treatments elsewhere in the encyclopedia. ROMAN-COLONIAL NORTH AFRICA After the Romans sacked the city of Carthage in 146 during the Third Punic War, they began a sustained colonizing campaign that slowly transformed the region (modern Tunisia and Libya) into a partially “Romanized” society. In most instances, however, the cultural transformations were superficial, affecting predominantly the trade languages and local power structures. It was Julius Caesar who laid the plans for Carthage’s reemergence as Colonia Junonia in 44 bce. This strong colonial apparatus made North African Christians especially susceptible to persecution by the Roman authorities on the Italian Peninsula. Because the economic power of Carthage was an essential ingredient in the support of the citizens in the city of Rome, the Romans paid careful attention to the region. The earliest extant North African Christian text, the Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs (180 ce), reflects a particularly negative estimation of the Roman authorities. Saturninus, the Roman proconsul, made this appeal to the African Christians: “You can win the indulgence of our ruler the Emperor, if you return to a sensible mind.” The Holy Martyr Speratus responded by declaring: “The empire of this world I know not; but rather I serve that God, whom no one has seen, nor with these eyes can see. I have committed no theft; but if I have bought anything I pay the tax; because I know my Lord, the King of kings and Emperor of all nations.” This declaration was a manifestation of what the Roman authorities feared most about the Christians – their proclamation of a “rival” emperor, Jesus Christ, King of kings. The Holy Martyr Donata expressed that sentiment most clearly: “Honor to Caesar as Caesar: but fear to God.” Within the Roman imperial fold such declarations were not merely interpreted as “religious” expressions, but political challenges. As a result the Roman authorities executed the Scillitan Christians, the proto-martyrs of Africa. Other such persecutions formed the character and psyche of North African Christianity. It became and remained a “persecuted” church in mentality, even after the empire was converted to Christianity. |
| At the Last Judgment, so St. Symeon the New Theologian writes, Christ will produce exemplary saints from every station in life and so demonstrate that it is possible for every person, whatever one’s work or employment, to attain to salvation and sainthood, rendering all excuses for what they are. Let us meditate from time to time on this teaching. Among the disciples of Jesus there were mostly Galilean fishermen and ordinary farmers. Matthew the tax collector may have been well educated and a trained professional in the Roman bureaucracy to do his job. John, the brother of James, was intellectually gifted in order to compose the magnificent Gospel of St. John, if he is indeed its author as handed down in tradition. In films Judas is sometimes portrayed as a Hamlet-lite figure, an intellectual with burning conceptual questions, but we know nothing of this from the texts of the Gospels. We have an astonishing variety of persons in the constellation of the saints, including men and women and children: from farmers to teachers, from lawyers to doctors, from ascetics to missionaries, from cooks to theologians, from charismatics to philosophers, from soldiers to kings, from deacons to bishops. St. Luke the Evangelist was a doctor. St. Paul was a missionary. St. Ignatius was a Bishop. St. Justin Martyr was a philosopher. St. Basil was a great philanthropist. St. Gregory of Nanzianzus was a preeminent theologian. St. Macarius of Egypt and St. Symeon the New Theologians were charismatics. St. John of the Ladder was an ascetic. St. Demetrios was a teacher. St. Theodore the Recruit was a soldier. St. Constantine the Great was an emperor. Born in a pagan family (ca. 272 AD), St. Constantine established a career in the military proving to be an exceptional leader and skillful politician. His life was one of continuous struggle for power and dominance, far from a solitary and peaceful climate conducive to sainthood. His inner circle involved intrigues for succession, including members of the imperial family who were executed as real or imagined plotters, under the reign of Constantine. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Philosophy MARCUS PLESTED Philosophy has long been integral to Eastern Orthodox theology, but the relationship has never been unproblematic. Distinct philosophical concerns can be traced in the earliest of the fathers, such as Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch, or Clement and Origen of Alexandria, the latter being the first Christian philosopher of international stature. St. Basil the Great (and Augustine after him) regarded the church’s use of philosophy as comparable to the manner in which the Jews escaping their servitude “despoiled the Egyptians”; and St. Gregory the Theologian used the memorable image of the Christian use of Greek philosophy as that of a gardener who carefully clips his roses of their thorns. Rooted in the patristic sense of the indispensability of a discerning use of human wisdom coupled with an understanding of Christianity as the true philosophy, Byzantine fathers such as St. Maximos the Confessor and St. John of Damascus make extensive use of philosophical categories and constructs. Maximos’ theory of the divine logoi, the underlying principles of all things grounded in the Logos, clearly owes something to the Platonic understanding of Ideas but has been radically transformed in its christocentric focus and insistence upon the ontological gap between creature and Creator. Between Maximos and John a general shift may be detected from a predominantly Platonic to a predominantly Aristotelian mode of discourse, without supposition of any incompatibility between the two. This Aristotelian preponderance was to obtain through the Byzantine and into the ottoman era. indeed, ongoing interest in plato could often provoke controversy. The brilliant 11th-century writer Michael Psellos was appointed “Consul of Philosophers” by Constantine IX Monomachos at the newly established school of philosophy of the University of Constantinople. Psellos placed special emphasis on Plato and the Neoplatonic tradition, but was forced to clarify his position as to the ancillary status of philosophy in response to hostile criticism. His disciple and successor, John Italos, did not escape so lightly. John was indicted for heresy on a number of counts: for using reason to probe divine realities and for adhering to certain Platonic concepts, notably the reality of the realm of Ideas. Elements of his condemnation live on in the anathemas of the Synodikon of Orthodoxy. |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf MUSIC MUSIC. Byzantine music, broadly speaking, is the medieval sacred chant of all Eastern Orthodox Churches, before which there is precious little evidence. Scholars hypothesize that musical precursors certainly existed, including Jewish music, productions of the classical age, and the plainsong of Christian urban centers; but no musical manuscripts predate Constantine (early 4th c.). The New Testament and modern research have given specific hints about 1st c. hymns. For example, in the Gospels of Mk and Mt after the Last Supper it says that Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn. Other hymnodic material has been identified by New Testament scholarship, including Rom 11:33–36 and Rev 1:5–8, among many others. Whether this hymnody was chanted prose (according to older Greek patterns of classical literature) or song as we now describe singing, remains debated. Similarly, scholars scrutinized the differentiation between hymn and poetic homily when Bishop Melito of Sardis’s (q.v.) “Homily on Pascha” appeared in the 2nd c. The question of pre-Constantinian music or chant is terribly complex. On the positive side: In the early Church, people actively participated in the performance of liturgy, so much so that the words choros (choir), koinonia (communion/fellowship), and ekklesia (church) were used synonymously. The background of Christian worship is usually identified with Jewish liturgy; and there seems to be a relationship between Hebrew poetry and Syriac liturgical poetry. On the negative side: In the New Testament and through the 2nd-3rd c. there is little evidence that music played a significant role in communal worship. The Pauline references ( Eph 5:19 ; Col 3:16 ) speak of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs-but not communally sung. Similarly, Justin Martyr (q.v.) talks about a united “Amen,” ending prayers, but no music. Further, when one mentions Jewish liturgy, what does the reference really mean?-the Temple in Jerusalem, an Aramaic-speaking synagogue practice, a Hellenistic, Greek-speaking synagogue, etc.?-while early rabbinical sources reveal a minimal use of music in services. Finally, the long-held supposition that early Christian worship originated in one primitive liturgy that subsequently diversified is coming under critical scrutiny. Some scholars prefer to see many liturgies developing simultaneously. |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf TRINITY TRINITY. According to the understanding of the Orthodox Church, the confession of faith in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (q.v.) is as old as Christianity. It is not the product of human reasoning, but the articulation of divine revelation, and it is embedded in the earliest Christian documents. The Apostle Paul, for example, closes 2 Cor with a Trinitarian blessing sometime in the A.D. 50s, and it seems to be the case that he is himself but repeating a formula already employed in Christian worship. The Gospel of Matthew concludes with the Trinitarian formula for Baptism (q.v.) already in use in that community ca. A.D. 80. The “Last Supper” discourse in Jn 14–16 contains four passages on the Holy Spirit which make it clear that the Spirit is regarded as a distinct person, “another Comforter/Advocate,” together with the Son. While profession of the three persons is from the earliest Christian scriptural witnesses, the Church also inherited the confession of God (q.v.) as one from the Hebrews: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord” (Duet 6:4). There do not appear to have been any speculative attempts to square this circle earlier than the 2nd c. Father, Son, and Spirit were simply facts of primitive Christian experience; they were acknowledged as such in tandem with faith in the divine unity. The word, “trinity” (Greek trias and Latin trinitas), does not appear until Theophilus of Antioch (Greek) in the 180s and Tertullian (q.v.) (Latin) a decade or two later. The latter, together with Irenaeus of Lyons (q.v.), provide the first attempts at explaining the dual confession of God as one and three. Tertullian relies primarily on a Stoic model, the divine substance in three different and eternal modes of expression. Irenaeus uses the analogy of the human person, speaking on some occasions of Son and Spirit as the Father’s Word and Wisdom, and elsewhere as his “two hands.” In the 3rd c. Origen, borrowing from Platonism and the earlier work of Clement of Alexandria and Justin Martyr (qq.v.), arranges Father, Son, and Spirit in a descending hierarchy of hypostases (persons, or substances). His terminology was preserved in the Greek East during the great Trinitarian controversies of the 4th c. But his notes relating to subordination and hierarchy were rejected as a result of the ultimate victory of the Nicene Creed championed by Athanasius (qq.v.). It was the glory of the Cappadocian Fathers, especially Basil’s On the Holy Spirit, Gregory of Nazianzus’s Theological Orations, and Gregory of Nyssa’s (qq.v.) Against Eunomius and “On Not Three Gods,” to supply the language and concepts reconciling Origen’s terms with the Nicene homoousios (consubstantial) in such a way as to become the classical formulation of the Orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. |
| Материал из Православной Энциклопедии под редакцией Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Кирилла ГОГЕЛЬ Гогель [франц. Goguel] Морис (1880, Париж - 1955, там же), франц. протестант. историк Церкви и библеист либерального направления. Учился на протестант. богословском фак-те Парижского ун-та, затем - в Марбурге. В 1906 г. получил кафедру НЗ в Париже, где преподавал в течение 25 лет. Г.- один из представителей франц. либерального богословия, восходящего к Э. Ж. Ренану , позднее представленного А. Ф. Луази, сторонником методологии школы истории религии (см. Истории религий школа ) Ш. Гиньебером (1857-1939). Ранние работы Г. дают представление об основных направлениях его богословских исследований: экзегезе и библейском богословии (La notion johannique de l " Esprit et ses antécédents historiques. P., 1902), отношении между провозвестием Иисуса Христа о Царстве Божием и Евангелием, возвещаемым ап. Павлом (L " Apôtre Paul et Jésus-Christ. P., 1904), догматике (W. Herrmann et le problème religieux actuel. P., 1905). В работе о лит. взаимоотношениях синоптических Евангелий (L " Évangile de Marc et ses rapports avec ceux de Mathieu et de Luc. P., 1909) Г. обосновывал распространенное в нем. лит-ре положение о приоритете Евангелия от Марка. Его докт. диссертация о ранней истории таинства Евхаристии (L " eucharistie des origines à Justin Martyr. P., 1910) и книга о повествовании о страстях в Евангелии от Иоанна (Les sources du récit johannique de la passion. P., 1910) демонстрируют способность Г. прослеживать развитие традиции в течение большого периода времени. Во «Введении в Новый Завет» (Introduction au Nouveau Testament. P., 1922-1926. 4 t.) Г. впервые во франц. библейской лит-ре на основе собственной аргументации и с привлечением большого объема научной лит-ры изложил основные положения формирующегося в то время критического консенсуса: гипотезу 2 источников, объясняющую взаимоотношения синоптических Евангелий; неподлинность 4-го Евангелия; сложность процесса возникновения кн. Деяний св. апостолов; неподлинность послания ап. Павла к Ефесянам и его Пасторских посланий (1, 2 Тим, Тит). Работа осталась незавершенной, были опубликованы тома о синоптических Евангелиях (Les Évangiles synoptiques. P., 1923), о Евангелии от Иоанна (Le quatrième Evangile. P., 1924), о Деяниях апостолов (Le Livre des Actes. P., 1922) и о посланиях ап. Павла (Les Épîtres pauliniennes. P., 1925-1926. 2 t.). Ситуация кризиса и краха мн. попыток синтеза, в к-рой находилась исагогика предшествующего столетия, по-видимому, помешала Г. закончить работу. |
| Филипп Шафф (протестант) Глава III. Литературный спор христианства с иудаизмом и язычеством §28. Литература Источники Тацит (консул с 97 г., умер около 117): Annal., xv. 44. См. также, что он пишет об иудеях: Hist. v. 1–5. Плиний (умер около 114 г.): Ер. х. 96, 97. Цельс (о нем известно со 150 г.): Αληθς λγος. Фрагменты сохранились в опровержении Оригена (8 книг Κατ Κλσου; восстановлены, переведены и объяснены в Theodor Keim: Celsus» Wahres Wort. Aelteste wissenschaftliche Sireitschrift antiker Weltanschau ung gegen das Christenthum. Zürich 1873 (293 pages). Лукиан (умер ок. 180): Περ της Περεγρνου τελευτς, с 11–16; и Αληθς ιστορα, I. 22, 30; II. 4, 11. Порфирий (около 300): Κατ Χριστιανν λγοι. Сохранились лишь фрагменты, собранные в Holstein, Rom. 1630 . Самые важные из его трудов утеряны. Остальные изданы A. Nauck, 1860. Труды Nath. Lardner: Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian Religion (Lond. VI. – VII. vols., in Works, ed. by Kippis, London 1838. Очень ценный труд. Mosheim: Введение к его немецкому изданию Origen against Celsus. Hamb. 1745. Bindemann: Celsus und seine Schriften gegen die Christen, in Illgen, «Zeitschr. für hist. Theol.» Leipz. 1842. N. 2, p. 58–146. Ad. Planck: Lukian u. das Christenthum, in the «Studien u. Kritiken», 1851. N. 4; перевод в «Bibliotheca Sacra», Andover 1852. F. Chr. Baur: Das Christenthum der 3 ersten Jahrh. Tüb. seed. ed. 1860 (and 1863) pp. 370–430. Neander: General History of the Christian Religion and Church; trans. Torrey, vol. I., 157–178. (12 th Boston ed.) Richard von der Alm: Die Urtheile heidnischer und jüdischer Schriftsteller der vier ersten Jahrh. über Jesus und die ersten Christen. Leipz. 1865. (Неточный источник.) H. Kellner (католик): Hellenismus und Christenthum oder die geistige Reaction des antiken Heidenthums gegen das Christenthum. Köln 1806. (454 pp.) В. Aubé: De l " Apologétique chrétienne au II e siècle. St. Justin, philosophe et martyr, 2 nd ed. Paris 1875. Его же: Histoire des Persecutions de l " église. Вторая часть может быть также озаглавлена La polémique païenne a la fin du IP siècle. Paris 1878. |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf ROME ROME. Capital of the Roman Empire and see of the popes (qq.v.), Rome and its mystique-Roma aeterna-have played practically as important a role in the Orthodox as in the Roman Catholic Church (q.v.). The ancient capital was, in a sense, the badge of legitimacy for Constantinople, “New Rome,” the capital of the East and of the Empire, which, until its demise in 1453, claimed to be the continuation of the polity begun by Augustus Caesar. The early Christian history of the city is worth noting in brief, not only for its intrinsic value and its influence on the East, but for the remarkably detailed list of its early bishops (Epiphanius, Haer. 27.6). After the burning of the city by Nero (A.D. 64) and the resulting martyrdom of Peter and Paul, the Church grew under Vespasian (69–79) and Titus (79–81 ) until the persecutions of Domitian (81–96) and Trajan (98–117). Ignatius of Antioch (q.v.) was martyred at Rome (ca. 110–117), along with at least one early bishop, Telephorus (ca. 126–136), Justin Martyr (q.v.), and Cecilia-the latter two under the severe persecutions of Marcus Aurelius (161–180). The first century and a half of Christianity in Rome was characterized by these persecutions, while the bishops were Greek-speaking and generally lesser known than contemporary Roman heretics Tatian, Valentinus, and Marcion. These heretics seem to have been criticized only by Rhodo, Pius, (possibly) Justin Martyr, and Hippolytus (q.v.) from the Roman Church. (It is significant that the Christian Apologists [q.v.] from this period, other than the aforementioned, were not Roman.) The earliest Roman bishops who actively appear on the historical record are Clement (ca. 88–97), who wrote an epistle to the Corinthians, which was included in some early lists of the canon of Scripture, Pius I (ca. 141–154), brother of the author of The Shepherd of Hermas and the bishop under whom Marcion was excommunicated, and Anicetus (ca. 155–166), who discussed the quartodeciman question with Polycarp of Smyrna (q.v.). Victor I (ca. 189) was the first Latin-speaking pope. |
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