| Widespread celebrations were also held in the United Arab Emirates, which has a large expatriate Christian community. In Dubai, Ethiopian Orthodox worshipers – who until the 1950s were administered by the Coptic Church in Egypt – held traditional prayers from 22:00-03:00 local time. “When we receive communion and leave church we go back home and break our fast by eating anything we want since we have been abstaining for more than a month,” Ethiopian worshiper Tigest Girma told Gulf News . The Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Mathias I is due to visit Egypt for the first time next week, with hopes high that the six-day visit will further bolster ties between the two churches. Traditionally some Orthodox churches decree a 45-day period of fasting in the run up to Christmas in which worshipers are expected to abstain from certain foods, most commonly red meat and dairy. Christianity’s history in the region is diverse and complex, but most the Orthodox denominations have roots in the Eastern Roman Empire, which was headquartered in Byzantium, or what is now modern-day Istanbul. The Eastern Roman Empire was sacked by crusaders during the Fourth Crusade in 1206 in what was seen to foreshadow the decline of Christianity across the Middle East. But a plethora of self-governing Churches which are either seen as autocephalous (meaning having their own head) or autonomous has survived to this day. The 13-day difference between Christmas and Orthodox Christmas celebrations is explained by calendars: While the Latin Church switched to the Gregorian calendar, devised by Pope Gregory in the 16th Century, the Eastern Orthodox churches still use the Julian calendar, created during the reign of Julius Caesar in 45 BC. 9 января 2015 г. Предыдущий Следующий Смотри также A Christmas Tradition on the Island of Tinos A Christmas Tradition on the Island of Tinos Tinian people preserve their local manners and customs as sacred. Christmas is more than a day in Orthodox church Christmas is more than a day in Orthodox church A group of Hillsboro residents practicing centuries-old traditions of Orthodox Christianity does not need reminders that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Observances of Christ’s birth started for them in mid-November, and will continue for many days after Dec. 25. Orthodox Christmas 2015: Russian, Greek And Other Eastern Churches Begin Celebrations [PHOTOS] Orthodox Christmas 2015: Russian, Greek And Other Eastern Churches Begin Celebrations [PHOTOS] Orthodox Christian communities around the world began their Christmas celebrations on Tuesday, with Jan. 6 marking the start of Christmas Eve for much of the Eastern Christian world. Комментарии © 1999-2015 Православие.Ru |
| 33 «τ σαρκ δι τς ασχρς τν δονν πολασεις ναμιχθ», Quod Deus non est auctor malorum 31. 344. 34–35. 35 «δον γρ στι τ μγα το κακο δλεαρ», Asceticon magnum sive Quaestiones (regulae fusius tractatae) 31. 964. 20. 36 “Pravila, prostranno izlozhennye v voprosakh i otvetakh (The rules that are extensively described in the questions and answers)”, 182 in Vasilii Velikii, svt. 2008. Vol. 2. 37 «τς δονς δελεασμτων», Homiliae super Psalmos 29. 224. 28; Quod Deus non est auctor malorum 31. 332. 46–333. 1; «δον βραχε δελεασθες», Sermones de moribus a Symeone Metaphrasta collecti 32. 1117. l4. 38 «δελεασθντες» – причастие от «δελεζω» – ловить на наживку, Quod rebus mundanis adhaerendum non sit 3. 541. 42; “Beseda 21. O tom, chto ne dolzhno prilepliatsia k zhiteiskomu i o pozhare byvshem vne tserkvi (Conversation 21. That should not cling to this life, and about the fire, the former outside the Church)”, 1044 in Vasilii Velikii, svt. 2008. Vol. 1. 39 Asceticon magnum sive Quaestiones (regulae fusius tractatae) 31. 916. 21; “Pravila, prostranno izlozhennye v voprosakh i otvetakh (The rules that are extensively described in the questions and answers)”, 160. 40 «δι το σματος δονς», De legendis gentilium libris 9. 91; Homiliae super Psalmos 29. 236. 5; Asceticon magnum sive Quaestiones (regulae brevius tractatae) 31. 1204. 12; «ασθσεων δονς», De legendis gentilium libris 9. 38; «ες πλαυσιν σαρκς», Homilia adversus eos qui irascuntur 31. 365. 47; Homilia exhortatoria ad sanctum baptisma 31. 433. 22; «σαρκς δονν», Epistula 188. 3. 14. 43 “Besedy na Shestodnev. Beseda 3 (Conversation’s on the six days. Conversation 3)”. 362 in Vasilii Velikii, svt. 2008. Vol. 1; Homiliae in hexaemeron. Homily 3. 10. 4. 46 «ο γρ φθαλμος βλπει τ κλλη τς κτσεως ποιητς λλ τ ρρτ σοφ θεωρε τ γινμενα», ibidem. 4. 6. 3–4. 47 «δι τ λλοτρισαι αυτν το Θεο λγου, γενμενον λογον», Homiliae super Psalmos 29. 453. 16–17. 48 «λογας παθν», Homilia in principium proverbiorum 31. 401. 56; «λγοις φαντασαις», Sermones de moribus a Symeone Metaphrasta collecti 32. 1253. 4. |
| Положение об определенности и целости «семени» каждого «рода» в такой степени присуще Св. Писанию и писаниям св. Отцов, что в Евангелии оно служит основанием притчи Господа нашего Иисуса Христа об определенности добра и зла, добродетели и греха. Свят. Амвросий использует эту притчу ( Мф. 13:24–30 ) как пример целости семени каждого «рода»: «Нет угрозы, что заповедь Божия, к которой приучилась природа, может стать недействительной в будущем из-за прекращения размножения, коль скоро ныне целость породы по-прежнему сохраняется в семенах. Мы знаем, что куколь и другие чуждые семена, которые часто рассыпаны среди плодов земных, в Евангелии называются «плевелами». Сии, однако, принадлежат к особому виду, а не дегенерировали в другой вид через процесс мутации из семени пшеничного растения. Господь поведал нам, что это так, когда сказал: «Уподобися Царствие Небесное человеку, сеявшу доброе семя на селе своем; спящим же человеком, прииде враг его и всея плевелы посреде пшеницы» ( Мф. 13:24–25 ). Мы заключаем из сего, что плевелы и пшеница безусловно представляются раздельными и по имени, и по роду. Отсюда, слуги тоже сказали Домовладыке: «Господи, не доброе ли семя сеял еси на селе твоем, откуду убо имать плевелы?» ( Мф. 13:27 ). Он сказал им: «Враг человек сие сотвори» ( Мф. 13:28 ). Одно есть семя диавола, другое – Христа, которое посеяно в согласии со справедливостью. Следовательно, Сын Человеческий посеял одно, а диавол посеял другое. По этой причине естество каждого раздельно, коль скоро сеятели противоположны. Христос сеет Царствие Божие, в то время как диавол сеет грех. Как, поэтому, может это Царствие быть того же самого рода, что и грех ? «Подобно есть Царствие Небесное, – говорит Он, – зерну (...), еже взем человек всея на селе своем» ( Мф. 13:31 ). (Six Days, III:10, рр. 99–100). Как разграничение видов относится к разграничению добра и зла, совершенно так же смешение видов относится к нравственному релятивизму. Конечно, хорошо известно, как верующие в относительность добра и зла, добродетели и порока, пользуются космологической теорией всеобщей эволюции, чтобы защитить свои верования, будто бы «научные» и «основанные на фактах»: если человек был «однажды» низшим животным и «эволюционирует» во что-то другое, как можно заставлять его непостоянное естество подчиняться заповедям, данным лишь на отдельной ступени его «развития»? 10 Марксистский атеизм привязывал себя с самого начала к этой теории эволюции и до сего дня проповедует ее как одну из кардинальных доктрин своей релятивистской философии. |
| Six days before the Passover (12:1) Jerusalem would already be filling, both for purification (11:55) and for Diaspora Jews making pilgrimage who could neither calculate the exact time of their arrival nor risk arriving late. In John " s story world (in which Passover begins Friday evening; see 18:28; 19:14), this timing apparently indicates Saturday evening after sundown, when Martha could serve at table. 7766 Yet Mark strongly implies that the anointing occurred two days before Passover ( Mark 14:1–3 ). Some think that John corrects Mark on the basis of independent tradition; 7767 whether the difference involves a deliberate correction or not, it does emphasize the independence of the tradition. Mark may have moved the anointing closer to Passover to clarify the connection or increase suspense, or to recount it after the fateful meeting of authorities, which he places two days before Passover ( Mark 14:1–2 ) but which John places earlier ( John 11:47–53 ). John may wish to begin passion week with the anointing; having recounted Jesus» conflicts in Jerusalem as early as 2:14–18, he now must bring the passion to an end quickly once Jesus enters the holy city. It is also possible, in view of an early Christian tradition concerning the transfiguration ( Mark 9:2 ; Matt 17:1), that John uses the six days to allude to the waiting period for the revelation of God " s glory at Sinai (Exod 24:16); at the Passover Jesus would be «glorified» (12:23–24), and his disciples would behold his glory as Moses had (1:14). 7768 Less likely (though reflecting the Pentateuch " s most frequent use of «six days») it refers to the period of work preceding a Sabbath (cf. John 19:14,31,42 ). The six days might also allow a careful interpreter to note the transition to the next day (12:12) and thus to suggest that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day the Passover lambs were set aside (Exod 12:3), four days before their offering (Exod 12:6); but the lack of explicit chronological indication at the time of Jesus» entrance, when it would be most helpful to convey this point, renders unlikely the suggestion that John sought to communicate this impression. |
| The book of the Acts of the Apostles narrates many miraculous healings and exorcism of evil spirits accomplished by invocation of the name of the Incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, one should use the name of God with awe and reverence as, for example, in pious prayer, in preaching, in serious religious conversations, and in similar well-intended activities. Using God’s name in an oath is permitted only in special circumstances such as judicial proceedings (Hebrews 6:16-17). The name of God invoked attentively and piously always draws to man Divine Grace. It brings to him enlightenment of mind and gladness of heart. The Fourth Commandment “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Here the Lord God directs us to labor during six days according to our vocation and the seventh day of the week to dedicate to Him, either in rest or in good activities. Activities that are pleasing to Him include concern about saving one’s soul, prayer in church and at home, study of the word of God, enlightenment of mind and heart with meditation on spiritual subjects, religious discussions, helping the needy, visiting the sick and the imprisoned, giving succor to the grieving and other similar acts of mercy. During Old Testament times the Sabbath (“Shabbash” in ancient Hebrew means “rest”) was celebrated in remembrance of God’s completion of the world in six “days,” after which God “rested,” blessing and sanctifying the seventh day (Genesis 2:3). Following the captivity in Babylon after 400 B.C., the Jewish scribes reinterpreted the commandment regarding the Sabbath in an overly rigorous way and forbade on that day any activity. The Gospels relate that the scribes accused even the Savior of transgressing the Sabbath when on that day He cured someone. Correcting their misinterpretation on the fourth commandment, the Lord explained to them that “the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27) i.e., the Sabbath rest was established for the benefit of man and not for his subjugation or deprivation of good works. |
| The Beginnings: Second and Third Centuries By the second century, the very ‘structure’ of initiation in the early Church included instruction in preparation for baptism. The length of this preparation varied and often spanned several years. Then, “As many as are persuaded and believe that these things which we teach are true, and undertake to live accordingly, are taught to pray and ask God, while fasting, for the forgiveness of their sins; and we pray and fast with them” for one or two days—Saturday only, or Friday and Saturday—a fast without any food or drink. By the mid-third century, in many but not all places, the fast had lengthened to six days. Few could have kept a week of total fast. In some places, bread and salt were eaten Monday through Thursday after the ninth hour, then, those who could, kept a total fast Friday and Saturday. On Holy Saturday, those who had been elected as being ready for illumination would meet together as catechumens for the last time. Here they are “catechized” by undergoing a final exorcism; they renounce Satan, are anointed with the “oil of exorcism” which has been blessed along with the chrism the preceding Holy Thursday, and recite the Creed which they have memorized since hearing it in the fourth scrutiny [on the preceding Sunday]. They kneel for prayer, and are then dismissed, being told to go home “and await the hour when the grace of God in baptism shall be able to enfold you.” Dionysius of Alexandria, in writing his Letter to Basiliades around 260, provides us the earliest source for an incipient ritual of Holy Week. Dionysius takes great pains to link each day and hour of Holy Week to events in Christ’s passion, sojourn in the tomb and resurrection. The Syriac Didascalia do the same. Hippolytus’ Apostolic Tradition (ca. 215) and Cyprian (d. 258) both link the hours of prayer—for Holy Week and throughout the year—with specific events during Christ’s final week. The Formative Age: Fourth Century Cyril of Jerusalem, in the Catechetical Homilies he delivered ca. 350, makes no mention of daily commemorations and ritual. The Cross and the Resurrection, for example, were part of a single, united celebration on Saturday night, for which the six days of fasting were simply preparation. Friday did not yet specifically commemorate the crucifixion. But the “current of the times” in the fourth century was a historicizing one: eschatological notions were giving way to historical commemoration. |
| The majority of those canonized are martyrs. One of these — Alexander Schmorell — was added to the church calendar this past weekend. His canonization took place at the Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, a church in Munich not far from Schmorell’s grave. On the far side of the cemetery, at Stadelheim Prison, Schmorell was beheaded on 13 July 1943. He was only 25 at the time. He was an Orthodox Christian who had put his life at risk by being part of a anti-Nazi resistance group. The canonization got underway on Saturday afternoon, February 3, as people began to gather in the church. Aware that the reporters and cameramen present would need certain photos before the ceremonies started, Fr. Nikolai Artemoff, dean of the cathedral, brought out the icon of Alexander Schmorell in anticipation of its formal presentation later in the day. Many photos were taken, a pre-canonization ceremony that would not have been imagined in earlier centuries. The icon showed Alexander Schmorell as the tall, brown-haired young man he was, wearing the white robe of a physician with a Red Cross arm band (he had been a medical student at Munich’s Maximilian University), his left hand raised in a gesture of greeting, the other holding a blood-red cross plus a white rose. He is standing against a pure gold background representing eternity and the kingdom of God. As Father Nikolai explained to the journalists, the white rose in his hand symbolizes the White Rose group Schmorell co-founded with Hans Scholl in the spring of 1942. Before the arrests began the following February, the group succeeded — assisted by friends in many German and Austrian cities and towns — in widely distributing a series of six anti-Nazi leaflets. All six members of the core group were guillotined. (The story is powerfully told in an the Oscar-nominated film, “Sophie Scholl – The Final Days,” much of which was photographed in Munich.) Press photos taken and interviews completed, at about 4 PM a procession of about two hundred people set out led by a cross bearer. Behind the cross were six bishops: Archbishop Mark (who leads the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in Germany), Metropolitan Valentin of Orenburg (the Russian city where Schmorell was born), Metropolitan Onufriy of Czernowitz in Ukraine, Archbishop Feofan of Berlin, Bishop Michael of Geneva, and Bishop Agapit of Stuttgart. How many priests? I lost count. |
| What need is there of mentioning Sagaris, bishop and martyr, who sleeps in Laodicea and the blessed Papyrus and Melito, eunuch in the Holy Spirit, who, ever serving the Lord, was laid to rest in Sardis and there awaits his resurrection at Christ " s advent. These all observed the day of the passover on the fourteenth of the month, in nowise departing from the evangelical tradition and following the ecclesiastical canon. I also, Polycrates, the least of all your servants, according to the doctrine of my relatives which I also have followed (for there were seven of my relatives bishops indeed and I the eighth) have always celebrated the passover when the Jewish people celebrated the putting away of the leaven. And so brethren being sixty-five years old in the Lord and instructed by many brethren from all parts of the world, and having searched all the Scriptures, I will not fear those who threaten us, for my predecessors said It is fitting to obey God rather than men. I quote this to show through a small example the genius and authority of the man. He flourished in the reign of the emperor Severus in the same period as Narcissus of Jerusalem. 46. Heraclitus Heraclitus in the reign of Commodus and Severus wrote commentaries on the Acts and Epistles. 47. Maximus of Jerusalem Maximus, under the same emperors propounded in a remarkable volume the famous questions, What is the origin of evil? And Whether matter is made by God. 48. Candidus Candidus under the above mentioned emperors published most admirable treatises On the six days of creation. 49. Appion Appion under the emperor Severus likewise wrote treatises On the six days of creation. 50. Sextus Sextus in the reign of the emperor Severus wrote a book On the resurrection. 51. Arabianus Arabianus under the same emperor published certain small works relating to christian doctrine. 52. Judas Judas, discussed at length the seventy weeks mentioned in Daniel and wrote a Chronography of former times which he brought up to the tenth year of Severus. |
| including its night, is twenty-four hours, of which the fourth part, which is a quarter of a day, is found to be six hours. So much in the course of the year does the sixth number prevail. Chapter 5.– The Number Six is Also Commended in the Building Up of the Body of Christ and of the Temple at Jerusalem. 9. And not without reason is the number six understood to be put for a year in the building up of the body of the Lord, as a figure of which He said that He would raise up in three days the temple destroyed by the Jews. For they said, Forty and six years was this temple in building. And six times forty-six makes two hundred and seventy-six. And this number of days completes nine months and six days, which are reckoned, as it were, ten months for the travail of women; not because all come to the sixth day after the ninth month, but because the perfection itself of the body of the Lord is found to have been brought in so many days to the birth, as the authority of the church maintains upon the tradition of the elders. For He is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also He suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which He was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which He was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before nor since. But He was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th. If, then you reckon from that day to this you find two hundred and seventy-six days which is forty-six times six. And in this number of years the temple was built, because in that number of sixes the body of the Lord was perfected; which being destroyed by the suffering of death, He raised again on the third day. For He spoke this of the temple of His body, as is declared by the most clear and solid testimony of the Gospel; where He said, For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale " s belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Chapter 6.– The Three Days of the Resurrection, in Which Also the Ratio of Single to Double is Apparent. |
| For they are by no means to be listened to who suppose that in those times years were differently reckoned, and were so short that one of our years may be supposed to be equal to ten of theirs. So that they say, when we read or hear that some man lived 900 years, we should understand ninety, ten of those years making but one of ours, and ten of ours equalling 100 of theirs. Consequently, as they suppose, Adam was twenty-three years of age when he begot Seth, and Seth himself was twenty years and six months old when his son Enos was born, though the Scripture calls these months 205 years. For, on the hypothesis of those whose opinion we are explaining, it was customary to divide one such year as we have into ten parts, and to call each part a year. And each of these parts was composed of six days squared; because God finished His works in six days, that He might rest the seventh. Of this I disputed according to my ability in the eleventh book. Now six squared, or six times six, gives thirty-six days; and this multiplied by ten amounts to 360 days, or twelve lunar months. As for the five remaining days which are needed to complete the solar year, and for the fourth part of a day, which requires that into every fourth or leap-year a day be added, the ancients added such days as the Romans used to call intercalary, in order to complete the number of the years. So that Enos, Seth " s son, was nineteen years old when his son Cainan was born, though Scripture calls these years 190. And so through all the generations in which the ages of the antediluvians are given, we find in our versions that almost no one begot a son at the age of 100 or under, or even at the age of 120 or thereabouts; but the youngest fathers are recorded to have been 160 years old and upwards. And the reason of this, they say, is that no one can beget children when he is ten years old, the age spoken of by those men as 100, but that sixteen is the age of puberty, and competent now to propagate offspring; and this is the age called by them 160. And that it may not be thought incredible that in these days the year was differently computed from our own, they adduce what is recorded by several writers of history, that the Egyptians had a year of four months, the Acarnanians of six, and the Lavinians of thirteen months. The younger Pliny, after mentioning that some writers reported that one man had lived 152 years, another ten more, others 200, others 300, that some had even reached 500 and 600, and a few 800 years of age, gave it as his opinion that all this must be ascribed to mistaken computation. For some, he says, make summer and winter each a year; others make each season a year, like the Arcadians, whose years, he says, were of three months. He added, too, that the Egyptians, of whose little years of four months we have spoken already, sometimes terminated their year at the wane of each moon; so that with them there are produced lifetimes of 1000 years. |
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