| The Heresy of Constantinoplés Neo-Papism in Light of Orthodox Trinitarian Theology Скачать epub pdf Christ is the Head of the Orthodox Catholic Church In our day we are being challenged with the aggravation of the internal ecclesiastical problem, which may be designated as the “self-institution” of the Constantinople Patriarchate, the would-be head of the Orthodox Catholic Church. In fact, this has been a decades-long issue rooted in Church history. Evidently, it is associated with man’s inexhaustible inclination to the sin of pride, which sometimes may grow worse if one is granted the authority of being a priest. The terrible experience of Judas – who shared the Last Supper as well as many other meals with Christ – is a vivid example to all ages and nations. According to the testimony of many holy fathers, the sin of pride is at the root of every fall. And this sin causes enormous harm to the Church body, to all God’s people, actually headed by the Humblest and Meekest Jesus Christ our Lord. Many great saints of antiquity – specifically including primates in the See of Constantinople – would denounce the current theological speculation of the Constantinople Patriarchate, which identifies the Constantinople Patriarch as the «head of all the Orthodox». Truly, any Patriarch is the “Primate” rather than the “head” of the Church. In accordance with the Holy Scriptures, saints Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom would declare that we have only one head of the Church, and that is Christ. 1 “We make up one Church, which is harmoniously represented by the members of one Head” – the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 The Twentieth Century Idea of Neo-Papism It was in the twentieth century, in the Church of Constantinople, that the idea of Eastern neo-papism was revived. As early as 1950, almost 70 years ago, Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) warned against the dangerous trends gaining strength in the Constantinople Patriarchate. “At present, in the depths of our Holy Church, lies a great danger of perverting the dogmatic teachings concerning Her, and therefore the danger of perverting Her being, because dogmatic thinking is organically connected with the whole course of inner spiritual life. Any minor change in dogmatic thinking would inevitably incur changes in the corresponding mode of one’s spiritual being. And vice versa: evading the truth of inner spiritual life would produce change in dogmatic thinking. The violation of dogmatic truth would inevitably lead to evading the possibility of true knowledge of God, the fullness of which is granted to the Church ... Any particular distortion would certainly affect the whole. If we distort Church doctrine now, and thus ... the mode of Her being, then how could She serve Her sons and provide the way to the Truth? You would ask, in which way is this distortion visible now? The answer is: in Constantinople’s neo-papism, which is quickly trying to move from the theoretical phase into the practical one.” 3 |
| Why Such Complex Rituals, Isn’t It Easier to Have Simple Heartfelt Faith? Source: Foma (Russian) Fr. Eugene Murzin 15 July 2021 Photo: Vladimir Eshtokin Simple heartfelt faith and the existence of church rituals do not contradict each other, but, on the contrary, complement each other. First, let’s figure out what a ritual is. The Russian word ‘obryad’ has Slavic roots and means outfit or clothing. That is, a ritual is an external expression of one’s faith, the things that make this faith visible and tangible, ‘clothes’ it for manifestation outside. A ritual is also a means of religious identification: you will surely see the differences between the rituals of Christian churches and religious ceremonies in Islam or Hinduism. Finally, a ritual is an accumulator of the spiritual, cultural and historical heritage of a particular religious tradition. From the Gospel we see that the Lord Jesus Christ also participated in the rituals of the Old Testament religion: He, like all other people who came to Jordan, received baptism from St. John the Baptist. Many miracles performed by the Lord were accompanied by certain actions: He healed the blind man’s eyes with the roadside dust, blessed the bread and fish, which then miraculously multiplied, commanded the paralyzed one to take his bed and go. During the Last Supper, the Savior established the Sacrament of the Eucharist, presiding over the Old Testament Passover meal, the order of which was detailed in the Jewish tradition. Jesus Christ also bequeathed to His disciples the performance of specific actions that were intended to testify about their faith. Following the example of their Teacher, the Apostles also baptized those who converted to Christianity in water, served the Eucharist, blessed, and brought down the grace of the Holy Spirit through the laying of their hands on bishops and priests. These sacred ceremonies continued their life further in the history of the Church. Over time, a certain order of their performance was developed – the rituals themselves. |
| Eastern Orthodox Christianity predates Protestantism by about 500 years. Their core beliefs are similar to those of Catholicism. In fact, the creeds of the two denominations are nearly identical. However, there are key differences between Orthodox Christianity and other Christian denominations. Here are five ways Eastern Orthodox differs from other Christian denominations: 1. The Authority of the Pope: Unlike Catholics, Orthodox Christians reject the authority of the pope as Christ's representative on earth. They see the pope as no greater than nor less than any other bishop (the pope is the bishop of Rome). However, this also sets them apart from Protestant denominations, who reject the notion of apostolic succession completely, believing that each individual church is obligated only to itself and to God. 2. The Communion of Saints: Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that those who have died in Christ are alive today in heaven and that we can communicate with them through prayer. They don't see this as worship of the saints; they believe that the saints can't act on their own power but only through interceding with Jesus on our behalf. 3. Christ's Presence in the Eucharist: Orthodox Christians believe that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are literally transformed into the real body and blood of Christ. Conversely, most Protestant denominations, if they celebrate the Eucharist at all, believe it to be only a symbolic reminder of the Last Supper. 4. Role of Mary as the Mother of Jesus: Like Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that Mary was deserving of veneration as the mother of Jesus. They also believe Mary was assumed bodily into heaven. Most Protestant denominations don't attribute a great deal of significance to Mary. While Catholic beliefs are similar to those of Orthodox Christians, there is one important distinction. Catholics believe in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which teaches that Mary herself was conceived without original sin. Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, reject altogether the concept of original sin that is passed from one generation to the next. Therefore, they believe there was no need for an Immaculate Conception. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy On the Feast of the Holy Trinity Italian Ambassador prayed at the Liturgy in the Church of the ‘Joy to All the Afflicted’ Icon of the Mother of God in Bolshaya Ordynka street On 23 June 2013, the Feast of the Holy Trinity, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the ‘Joy to All the Afflicted’ Icon of the Mother of God in Bolshaya Ordynka street in Moscow. Concelebrating with Metropolitan Hilarion were clerics of the Church. Attending the festive Divine service was H.E. Mr. Antonio Zanardi Landi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic to the Russian Federation. After the Liturgy, Metropolitan Hilarion addressed all those present with a homily, saying in particular: ‘In the prayer which we have just heard Pentecost is called a concluding feast. It concludes a long period of the liturgical year which began with the Feast of the Nativity of Christ; Great Lent, the Holy Week and the Feast of the Resurrection followed. And finally we, together with the whole Holy Church, have come to the Feast of Pentecost. It is called concluding because on the Day of Pentecost Jesus Christ completed his mission on earth. ‘During the Last Supper He promised His disciples to give them another Comforter and on the Day of Pentecost He sent Him down upon His holy disciples and apostles. An amazing miracle happened which cannot be described in any language: all the people who heard the apostles’ preaching, understood every single word, no matter what country they had come from. And on that very day the apostles themselves understood completely what the Lord had been telling them but for what their ears had remained closed: they are called to fulfill their apostolic mission. So, “their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world” (Psalm 19:4). Having begun their preaching in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, the apostles preached Christ to the whole world. |
| Jerusalem: New Threats and Vandalism at the Chapel of Holy Zion Photo: en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info Early on Monday morning, June 6, 2022, a group of approximately fifty Israeli radicals of unknown origin, broke into the gate and barriers and trespassed on the chapel of the Patriarchate on the hill of Zion, reports jerusalem-patriarchate.info . These radicals entered the chapel and defiled its interior and also threatened the guard at the premises who is appointed by the Patriarchate, saying “we know where you live and we will kill you”. This type of trespass, intimidation and threatening have repeatedly taken place in this chapel, violating its holiness and continued witness of the Christian presence there since the time of the Last Supper and the day of Pentecost. Escaping the harsh intimidation and fury of the radicals, the guard managed to call the police who came and intervened to restore order. The Patriarchate strongly protests against this unacceptable behaviour and will check all the possibilities to attain justice for its rights and personnel. The act of vandalism in the chapel of the Jerusalem Patriarchate also provoked a reaction from the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “We express our deepest concern over yesterday’s invasion of property belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem and the desecration of a chapel located there,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The complaint to the police was filed by the President of the Finance Committee and Patriarchal Commissioner, His Eminence Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias, who demanded that the police must do all they can to find the vandals and bring about justice, for the sake of the peace of the Christians, especially as we approach the celebration of the Holy Pentecost next Sunday and the Feast of the Holy Spirit on Monday. It is recalled that this is not the first time that the Patriarchate of Jerusalem has been the target of an attack. Patriarch Theophilos himself has referred to the occupation of the Little Petra Hotel by the radical extremist organization Ateret Cohanim, which poses a threat to the continued existence of a Christian district in Jerusalem. |
| The Body and Blood of Christ Those of us fortunate enough to be nourished frequently by the Holy Liturgy will perhaps find it difficult to recall just how strange it is to aspire, and indeed be commanded, to eat of the Body and Blood of Christ. Mysterious grace, peace, and healing so wonderfully flow to us in Holy Communion that it may never occur to us to wrestle with what, for many non-believers, easily seems the macabre, cannibalistic overtones of the Eucharist. Source: Canadian Orthodox Messanger. Summer 2004 Those of us fortunate enough to be nourished frequently by the Holy Liturgy will perhaps find it difficult to recall just how strange it is to aspire, and indeed be commanded, to eat of the Body and Blood of Christ. Mysterious grace, peace, and healing so wonderfully flow to us in Holy Communion that it may never occur to us to wrestle with what, for many non-believers, easily seems the macabre, cannibalistic overtones of the Eucharist. To a non-Christian this ritual act of sacrifice appears a bizarre, atavistic carryover from primitive, pre-rational forms of culture. Even among many otherwise sincere and devout Christians of Protestant or else liberal persuasion, who emphasize the obviously symbolic character of Christ’s act of blessing at the Last Supper, the consecrated elements of the Holy Eucharist—which fulfil the Lord’s command to “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19)—have no physical relation to the apparent physicality that they signify. After all, non-believers will rightly insist, in the Gospels the disciples quite obviously do not eat of Christ’s literal physical body, either at the Last Supper itself, or after the crucifixion. The Body and Blood of Christ by which we claim to be nourished, Protestants in particular would argue, must clearly be a purely spiritual and non-physical (and therefore merely symbolic), as is consistent with Christ’s emphatic teaching that true worship of God, under the New Covenant he announces, must be performed “in spirit and in truth” (John 4: 23). |
| Jews, Christians and Muslims unite to repair Mount Zion cemeteries March 3, 2015 An arson attack on a Greek Orthodox seminary in Jerusalem last week is one of a number of suspected hate crimes against Christians and Muslims in the area. Christians and Muslims living on Mount Zion have been the target of numerous hate crimes in recent years, but representatives from all three religions are taking a stand against the intolerance by repairing the mount's graveyards. Last week a Greek Orthodox Seminary on the mount was the site of an arson attack in which one of the church's bathrooms was set on fire. A wall was also sprayed with anti-Jesus graffiti, but no one was injured in the attack. Other incidents have seen gravestones smashed and people spitting at priests, and there has been little police intervention. Before Pope Francis visited the Holy Land last May interfaith tensions increased in response to fears that the government would give the Vatican control of David's Tomb, a building believed to be the site of the Last Supper. At the time there were demonstrations and calls for attacks on Christians living on Mount Zion. According to Haaretz , posters calling for action against " the transfer of David's Tomb to the Christians " have appeared again in recent days. The posters say: " King David's Tomb is in danger and you're sleeping? Prepare for a global battle that will shake the entire world. Now, in the run-up to the election, the left-wing parties have promised, with help from Christian foundations, to help transfer David's Tomb to the Christians. " In response to this intolerance, some Israelis have been working with churches on Mount Zion to preserve gravestones that have been damaged, whether by vandalism or the effects of time. The Protestant cemetery on the mount was the first to be restored in the initiative funded by the Society for the Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites, but the interfaith group plans to work on graveyards for all three religions. |
| Archive Representative of Department for External Church Relations attends Chiara Lubich memorial evening 16 March 2020 year 19:10 On March 14, 2020, the Rudomino Library for Foreign Literature held a memorial evening devoted to the centenary birthday of Chiara Lubich (1920-2008), the founder of the Focolare Movement. Participating in the event were Mr. Guido De Sanctis, minister of the Italian Embassy in Russia; Mr. Alessandro Salacone, representative of the Community of Saint’Egidio in Moscow; Archpriest Vladimir Fedorov, associate professor at St. Petersburg Theological Academy; Hieromonk Ioann Guayta, a cleric of the Ss Cosmas and Damian church in Moscow; Father Alexy Dikarev, Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations; Mr. A. Yudin, associate professor, State University of the Humanities religious research center, and many others. Participants shared their memories of the outstanding religious worker of the 20th century, who initiated the first movement of lay people in the Catholic Church, and spoke about the influence the Focolare Movement made on their life. They were also shown a film about Chiara Lubich and the work of the movement she founded. Father Alexy Dikarev read out a message of greeting to the organizers and participants of the memorial evening from Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, which reads in particular: “I cordially greet all the participants in the memorial evening devoted to the centenary birthday of the founder of the Focolare Movement, Chiara Lubich. The centenary birthday of the outstanding daughter of the Roman Catholic Church marked this year throughout the world is a remarkable opportunity to pay tribute to the fragile but spiritually strong woman whose service has gonet beyond the boundaries of the Catholic Church. In 1943, in the midst of World War II, which brought innumerable miseries and sufferings to nations, an ordinary girl from Trento felt a call to a special mission to devote herself to the cause of peace, mutual understanding and unity between people of different faiths, beliefs and ethnic backgrounds. Amidst death and destruction caused by hatred, Chiara Lubich came to perceive with a special force the meaning of the word said by the Lord at the Last Supper: “May all be one” (Jn. 17:21). These words became the motto of all her further activity. |
| Isaiah, Mark & More On ‘Ransom’ In Biblical Theology Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon SOURCE: Preachers Institute Let us consider what it means that Jesus life was made a ransom “for many.” With respect to this latter expression, its meaning in Mark 10:45 must take into account the very similar words pronounced by Jesus at the consecration of the Eucharistic cup during his final Seder: “This is my covenant blood, which is shed for many.” Here, implicitly, Jesus’ blood is the instrument of our redemption. These two Markan texts, which demand to be considered together as coming from the lips of Jesus, certainly rely on the imagery of Isaiah’s Suffering Servant, as presented in Isaiah 53. For the early understanding of the Atonement, hardly any Old Testament text rivals the importance of this Isaian passage. The New Testament contains no fewer than ten literal quotations from the fifteen verses between Isaiah 52:13 and 53:12 and more than thirty allusions to the passage. Luke’s story of Philip and the Ethiopian testifies to the central place of this Isaian prophecy in early Christian preaching (Acts 8:32-33). Mark traces to the lips of Jesus the first instance of the identification of the Messiah with the Suffering Servant, an understanding of Isaiah 53 that became ubiquitous in the New Testament sources. As far as we can determine, this Messianic identification appears for the first time in the New Testament, never in pre-Christian Judaism. According to Mark, Jesus himself testified to the identification of the Messiah with the redemptive Sufferer in Isaiah 53. Not only does Mark trace this testimony to Jesus; he also places in a specific setting—the Last Supper—the solemn historical event that virtually defined what the early Christians called paradosis , “tradition.” In the Eucharistic institution Jesus invoked both Isaiah 53 and Exodus 24:8 with respect to the libation of his blood: “This is my covenant blood, which is shed for many.” Thus, proclaiming himself to be the Suffering Servant, he identified the Atonement blood as his own. |
| Metropolitan Hilarion begins his working visit to China with celebrating Divine Liturgy in Beijing On June 18, 2012, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, arrived in Beijing for the 2nd consultations of the Russian-Chinese group for contacts and cooperation in religious sphere. He was met at the airport by Ye. Tomikhin, minister-counsellor of the Russian embassy in China, A. Povalyaev, first secretary of the embassy, Ms Syao Hun, deputy director of the State Administration for Religious Affairs’ department for international relations, and Mr Hao Zhuyang of the SARA Fourth Department. On June 19, the commemoration day of St. Hilarion the New, Metropolitan Hilarion celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Russian Embassy in Beijing, in which the Russian Orthodox Mission used to be located in China. Present at the service were members of the international Orthodox community in Beijing. Most of them partook of the Holy Communion. After the service, Metropolitan Hilarion was warmly greeted by Father Sergiy Voronin, dean of the cathedral, who congratulated the DECR chairman on this name day and the 25 th anniversary of his monastic tonsure. Metropolitan Hilarion addressed the congregation, saying in particular: ‘People’s fate develops mysteriously, but God’s Providence is visible in the life of each. When in the late 17 th century a group of Albasian Cossack captives were brought to Beijing, they hardly thought at that moment about themselves as apostles. But it was their coming to this place that made the beginning of the Chinese Church which is alive to this day and is in strained circumstances now. A special link of times is felt here, a link with those who found rest in this soil, who were exiles here but did not forget their Orthodox faith. Their descendants, citizens of China, keep up the faith of their fathers. ‘And you, too, keep the Orthodox faith and remember that the Eucharist helps people carry their life cross. You all came to Beijing by various ways and kept the memory of your native land and hope for return. Prayer in the church enables us to keep the memory of the Heavenly Homeland, the Heavenly Jerusalem, which is the same everywhere, be it Moscow or Beijing. It is communion that united us in Christ and makes us citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Being exiles on the earth, we feel themselves citizens of the heavenly city. For communion unites us with Christ not only spiritually but also in our nature. His Body becomes our body and His Blood becomes our blood. This Sacrament accomplished in human history uninterruptedly since the Last Supper unites us into the Church… |
|
|
