| Even in Antiquity Jerusalem was never a large church with a significant sphere of political influence, but it always had a different kind of symbolic influence, and importance, for the universal Christian imagination, chiefly as the site of the holy places where the Lord taught, suffered, and rose again. In its most important patristic phase it was the center of an internationally influential liturgical revival, which followed after Constantine’s building of the Church of the Resurrection (Anastasis) which in the West is more commonly called by its medieval name: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The story of St. Helena’s discovery of the true cross in Jerusalem was added to by several other major discoveries (by aristocrats, founders, and archbishops) of the relics of New Testament saints such as John the Forerunner or Stephen the Protomartyr; these were stories of visions and findings that electrified not only Jerusalem itself but Christian cities from Constantinople to Rome and Syria, and which led to a massive movement of the building of pilgrimage churches in the Holy Land (many of which are still being excavated – the finding of an octagonal site being the give-away evidence of it as a Byzantine place of pilgrimage). From the late 4th to the 6th centuries, Roman Palestine, with Jerusalem at its center, was renowned throughout the Christian world as a thriving church based around such pilgrim traffic. Its liturgical traditions thus spread because of this to influence many of the rites celebrated in Orthodoxy today. The influence can especially be seen in festivals such as the blessing of the waters on The- ophany (formerly a pilgrimage rite peculiar to Jerusalem, when the clergy and people would make the journey from the holy city to the Jordan river) and the ritual of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14), which was based around the acts of veneration celebrated in the courtyard of the Anastasis church buildings where a great cross was raised containing relics of the Lord’s own cross. The current festival commemorates the loss ofthese relics from Jerusalem to Persian raiders and their eventual reclamation by the Byzantine emperor. Jerusalem also seems to have adopted the common Orthodox liturgical practice of having the multinational congregation respond to complex prayer-petitions with a simple responsorial “Lord have mercy,” easily learned, in Greek, as Kyrie Eleison. The beautiful Liturgy of St. James is still in use in the Orthodox Church today, though rarely witnessed in the course of a year. It remains as the standard liturgical rite of Jerusalem. |
| Craig S. Keener The passion. 18:1–19:42 THE «HOUR» JESUS ANNOUNCED as early as 2has arrived; Jesus is the paschal lamb that John announced in 1:29. Peter Ellis suggests that John " s Passion Narrative fits a chiastic structure, as follows: 9506 A Arrested in a garden, bound and led to trial (18:1–12) Β True high priest tried; beloved disciple present (18:13–27) C Jesus, king of Israel, judged by Pilate, rejected by his people (18:28–19:16) B» True high priest carries wood of his own sacrifice (like Isaac); beloved disciple present (19:17–30) Á Bound with burial clothes, buried in a garden (19:31–42) Because many of the features on which he focuses to achieve this structure are so secondary and because the units may be adapted to suit the proposed structure, the suggested chiasmus ultimately proves less than persuasive. It does, however, evidence some patterns that point to the narrative artistry of their designer. More persuasive is the observation by Ellis and others that irony pervades the narrative. Thus Judas who went forth into «the night» in 13now returns in darkness to arrest the light of the world; Pilate the governor questions if Jesus is a king when the readers know that he is; Pilate demands, «What is truth?» when the readers know that Jesus is (14:6); the soldiers hail Jesus as «king of the Jews» in mockery, unaware that Jesus truly is the king of Israel (1:49), whose lifting up on the cross must introduce his reign. 9507 Historical Tradition in the Passion Narrative We must address some preliminary issues concerning John " s narratives and the history behind them (especially as preserved in the Synoptics) before examining the specific texts in John 18–19 . 9508 Where John diverges from the traditions reported in the Synoptics, we do think likely that John adapts rather than contradicts the passion sequence on which they are based, probably at least sometimes on the basis of other traditions and probably at least sometimes for a measure of theological symbolism. Although, on the whole, we think John essentially independent from the Synoptics, the Passion Narrative is different; John " s audience probably already knows the basic passion story from other sources (cf. 1Cor 11:23–25 ). Their prior knowledge would not render John " s version of the story any less intriguing to his audience, however: stories were told repeatedly in the ancient Mediterranean, and a good story could build suspense even if one knew the final outcome. 9509 John " s very adaptations, at least wherever they might diverge from the traditions commonly known among his ideal audience, invite his audiencés special attention. Where theological symbolism guides his adaptations, it is generally in the service of Christology: Jesus is the Passover lamb (cf. 1:29), who lays down his life freely (10:17–18). 1. The Genre of the Passion Narratives |
| Craig S. Keener True Purification. 2:1–25 AT A WEDDING, JESUS sets aside the purificatory purpose of waterpots that embody traditional religious practices (for comment on Johns water motif, see also comment on 1:25–26, 31; 3:5). At the Gospels first Passover festival, Gods lamb then purifies the temple itself, starting the path of conflict with Judean leaders that leads to the passion of the Gospel " s final Passover. Relationship versus Ritual Purification (2:1–11) Signs-faith is less valuable than faith that merely responds to the Spirit " s witness (20:29); it is nevertheless a better place to begin than no faith at all (14:11). In 2:1–11, disciples who have already begun to believe Jesus (in 1:35–51) come to a new level of faith through Jesus» first sign. Outsiders to the establishment again receive deeper insight (2:9) than those closest to the heart of the social order. Perhaps most significantly, Jesus, who acts with divine authority, does not hesitate to suspend ritual law (again symbolized by water; cf. 1:33; 2:6; 3:5) in favor of a friend " s honor. The Jesus of this narrative prefigures the Jesus of the following narrative, who will act in judgment against the social and religious order represented by the temple. The following interpretive dialogue will reinforce the point that it is Jesus» gift of the Spirit, rather than ritual or heritage, that brings life (3:3–6). Thus this narrative also introduces Jesus» «hour» (2:4), beginning the conflict with the Judean religious and political establishment that in John must inevitably lead to the cross. 4354 1. Preliminary Questions Scholars have offered various proposals about this passagés role in the structure of 2:1–4:54, paralleling the two explicit Cana miracles as a deliberate inclusio. Although details vary, the intervening section moves from a Jewish to a non-Jewish (Samaritan) setting, with extensive christological discourse between. 4355 Some fail to identify a historical core to the account, hence doubt its basic historicity. 4356 Without privileging particular presuppositions about miracles, however, and given John " s consistent rewriting, and hence obscuring, of his sources, evidence for the historicity of the event could be argued in either direction. Royal banquets appear frequently in later Jewish parables, 4357 but one could use the observation about abundant banquet stories to argue for historical veracity as well as against it; the stories are frequent because banquets were frequent, and the Synoptic tradition indicates that the historical Jesus frequently attended banquets. 4358 The account is strictly Johannine in style but, though missing in Synoptic tradition, seems characteristic of Jesus 4359 and not objectionable on Christian presuppositions. 4360 John probably applies prior tradition here as in those cases where we can test his dependence on tradition; yet, as with his other narratives, he clearly reworks this one into his own unique framework and idiom as wel1. |
| D. Oliver Herbel BIBLIOGRAPHY Introduction Agadjanian, Alexander and Victor Roudometof, «Introduction: Eastern Orthodoxy in a Global Age – Preliminary Considerations.» In Eastern Orthodoxy in a Global Age: Tradition Faces the Twenty-First Century, edited by Victor Roudometof, Alexander Agadjanian, and Jerry Pankhurst, 1–26. Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press, 2005. Behr, John. The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir " s Seminary Press, 2006. Berger, Peter L. «Orthodoxy and the Pluralistic Challenge.» In The Orthodox Parish in America: Faithfulness to the Past and Responsibility for the Future, edited by Anton C. Vrame, 33–42. Brookline, Massachusetts: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2003. Bicha, Karel D. «Hunkies: Stereotyping the Slavic Immigrants, 1890–1920.» Journal of American Ethnic History 2:1 (1982), 16–38. Bjerring, Nicholas. «Which the True Church: A Roman Catholic Savant Renounces Rome.» The Sun, January 12, 1870. Bozeman, Theodore Dwight. To Live Ancient Lives: The Primitivist Dimension in Puritanism. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988. Breck, John. Scripture in Tradition: the Bible and its Interpretation in the Orthodox Church. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir " s Seminary Press, 2000. Brookline, Massachusetts. «Some Further Thoughts on Religion and Modernity.» Sociology 49(2012), 313–316. Calhoun, Craig, Mark Jurgensmeyer, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen. Rethinking Secularization. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Cherry, Conrad ed. God " s New Israel: Religious Interpretation of American Destiny. Revised edition, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. Ferencz, Nicholas. American Orthodoxy and Parish Congregationalism. Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2006. Fisch, Thomas, ed. Liturgy and Tradition: Theological Reflections of Alexander Schmemann. Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir " s Seminary Press, 1990. Gallaher, Brandon. « " Waiting for the Barbarians»: Identity and Polemicism in the Neo-Patristic Synthesis of Georges Florovsky.» Modern Theology 27:4 (2011), 659–691. |
| In my first parish as an Anglican priest, I approached my first Midnight Mass with eager anticipation. I was trained “High Church,” with a very traditional liturgical emphasis – but I was serving in a “Low Church” parish. I was the first priest in their history to wear Eucharistic vestments as a normal practice. But it was common, even in Low Church areas, for the Midnight Mass to be “High.” Thus, I worked with the choir and we had our first “sung” mass – one in which the priest chants many of its parts. It was well-received, without controversy. But one teenager’s comment was enlightening and spoke volumes. “It was spooky!” She said. I quickly ascertained that she meant “frightening” rather than some new meaning of the word rendered in youth-speak. I was puzzled until, after more conversation, I realized that she associated chanting with magic and witches and spells. It was not a response driven by any ideology or doctrine – it was a true cultural artifact. How did chanting come to have such a perception in the modern world? At a certain point in Western Civilization, words came to triumph over all other forms of cultural and intellectual expression. Some of this is the natural place of words. The Western Catholic tradition developed a “low mass” tradition fairly early on – a Divine Liturgy that was spoken rather than sung, though the “high mass” continued to be normative. The Protestant Reformation did little to change music (other than to discontinue any use of chanting) but did much to elevate the spoken word even over the sacraments and the Cross. The practice of chanting made its continued decline towards dark associations and ridicule. Music has traditionally had a somewhat suspect place within Christianity (even in the East). A number of the fathers, following the Desert tradition, were wary of the power of music and its ability to arouse the passions in a negative manner. They by no means championed the spoken word over chanted prayer (chanted prayers were considered normative), but were concerned about melody and harmony and the use of musical instruments. Christianity was non-instrumental for many centuries, and remains so in Orthodox tradition (with very rare exceptions). But despite some reservations, music came to have a dogmatic and canonical place within Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is sung. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Relics MONICA M. WHITE Relics – objects connected with a holy person or event – are venerated in all Eastern Churches. Primary relics are from the body of a holy person (usually bones, but also hair, blood, etc.), while secondary relics are objects from an event in sacred history or with which a holy person has come into contact, most famously the True Cross. Relics can play an important role in the cult of a saint. The discovery of incorrupt relics has often been taken as a sign of sanctity, particularly in Kievan Rus, although this has never been an official requirement for sainthood (Lenhoff 1993). Relics can also help spread a saint’s cult by being broken up and distributed, or by exuding oil which can be collected by pilgrims. The healing power of relics is attested in the Old Testament. In 2 Kings 13.21 a dead man was revived when his body touched that of Elisha. Although the New Testament makes no reference to human remains effecting cures, it does describe miracles accomplished through secondary relics, such as the woman with a haemorrhage who was healed by touching the hem of Christ’s garment in Mark 5.25–9 (see also Acts 19.12). These stories shaped Christian beliefs about relics, encouraging the idea that the body of a holy person had a power which could be transferred to objects with which it came in contact, both before and after death. The practice of keeping relics in homes and churches may have originated in Egypt, where it was not unusual for pagans and Christians alike to store the mummies of relatives in their homes. Christians may have begun distributing pieces of such mummies, particularly if they had belonged to martyrs or holy men, in the belief that they had healing properties (Wortley 2006: 12–14, 18–27). Attempts by the authorities to discourage the distribution of relics (contrary to early Roman Law) were largely ineffectual, and their veneration quickly became widespread in the churches. As their popularity grew, so did the trade in them and the distribution of false relics. Athanasius of Alexandria and the Theodosian Code attacked these practices, apparently to no avail (Wortley 2006: 24–6). |
| Souroti, Greece—Legend has it that nearly three decades ago, a bearded Orthodox Christian mystic visiting here made an unsettling prediction: Greece in the future would experience a " great disruption and confusion, " followed by hunger and political turmoil. Believers say this grim vision of Elder Paisios, an ascetic monk who died in 1994, was actually a prescient glimpse of the upheaval now gripping this debt-racked country—helping fuel a surge of interest in the Orthodox holy man by Greeks struggling to make sense of a brutal financial crisis. Elder Paisios, who spent much of his adult life as a hermit on the monastic peninsula of Mount Athos in northeastern Greece, has become a popular sensation—with tales of his prognostications and miracles he is said to have performed posted online and recounted in popular books. On Saturdays, hundreds of pilgrims line up at Elder Paisios's gravesite here, waiting their turn to kneel, pray and kiss the wooden cross that marks his final resting place. They ask for help finding jobs, paying bills and surviving a downturn that has upended their lives. " Paisios predicted many things, and his prophecies are now coming true, " said Costas Katsaounis, a 41-year-old military officer on a visit to the shrine. " He foresaw the crisis. But he also said it would get better, that we will overcome and prosperity will return. He's helped a lot of people. " Elder Paisios's fame in some ways echoes that of Michel de Notredame, better known as Nostradamus , a 16th-century French apothecary who believers say foretold everything from the rise of Hitler to the terror attacks of Sept. 11. " Figures like Paisios represent the shaman, the magician of the tribe, " said Alexandra Koronaiou, a sociologist at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens. " They are the incarnation of a transcendental, invisible power. " With Greece's economy in the fifth year of a grinding recession that is expected to deepen further in 2013, unemployment above 25% and even middle-class families struggling to feed their children, many Greeks feel like their society is teetering on the brink of collapse, and they are seeking solace. |
| St. Tamar " s Church under construction in Adygea celebrates its patronal feast/Православие.Ru St. Tamar " s Church under construction in Adygea celebrates its patronal feast Maikop, April 28, 2015 Construction of the Church in honor of the Holy Right-Believing Queen Tamara of Georgia (+ 1207, feast: May 14 and the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women) has begun in Maikop. Maikop is the capital of Adygea—an autonomous republic in the Northwest Caucasus in Southwestern Russia, with a largely Muslim population. While the church walls are currently being constructed, services are temporarily celebrated in a repaired trailer. On the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women by the grace of God and through the parishioners’ joint efforts the church celebrated its patronal feast already for the sixth time, reports the official website of the Maikop and Adygea Diocese. The congregation had been preparing for this festival in advance, improving the church territory and making the festal meal. In the evening of April 25 the Vigil service was celebrated with blessing of breads. On April 26, on the patronal feast, the Divine Liturgy was performed. The church rector, Priest Alexander Zvonchenko, served the Liturgy with Archpriest Oleg Mayorov concelebrating him. The seventh anniversary of priestly ordination of Father Alexander, celebrated at the same day, added to the solemnity of the festival. The parishioners together proclaimed the priest “Many years”. Archpriest Oleg cordially greeted Fr. Alexander on this anniversary and gave him an icon of the Savior. 28 апреля 2015 г. Предыдущий Следующий Смотри также Russian Church opens the first monastery in Ingushetia Russian Church opens the first monastery in Ingushetia The Holy Synod of the Russian Church at its session on Wednesday approved of Bishop of Makhachkala and Grozny Varlaam’s initiative to open the New Sinai Monastery in the Stanitsa of Ordzhonikidzevskaya (Sleptsovskaya) in Ingushetia. First service celebrated at the first convent of the Republic of Adygea First service celebrated at the first convent of the Republic of Adygea For 20 years the clergy, the monastics and parishioners have wanted a convent, now that the dream is coming true thanks to the labors of the sisters headed by the Abbess, Mother Taisia (Ostavchuk). Museum of history of Orthodoxy in North Caucasus opens in Pyatigorsk Museum of history of Orthodoxy in North Caucasus opens in Pyatigorsk The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church made the decision to establish this monastery in 1904. It was founded with the blessing of St. John of Kronstadt, who even marked this place with a cross on the photographs that had been shown to him. Some of the saint’s personal things are on display at the museum’s exposition. Комментарии © 1999-2015 Православие.Ru |
| City cross procession for peace takes place in Sievierodonetsk Sievierodonetsk (Ukraine), May 27, 2014 On May 24, the feast-day of Holy and Equal-to-the-Apostles Methodius and Cyril, Teachers of the Slavs, a city religious procession for peace took place in Sievierodonetsk. On that day, Bishop Nicodemus of Sievierodonetsk and Starobilsk headed the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of Nativity of Christ in Sievierodonetsk. A special prayer was offered up at the service for peace, overcoming of hostility and repose of those killed in the internecine war, reports the Sievierodonetsk Diocese’s website. After the Liturgy, Akathist to the Lord for peace and mutual love among people was read. Then a city procession for peace in the motherland began, carrying a cross with a small portion of the True Life-Giving Cross, the “Tenderness” and “The three-Handed” Icons of the Holy Theotokos, a wonder-working Icon of St. Nicolas the Wonder-Worker and other shrines of the city’s churches. It proceeded from the Cathedral of Nativity of Christ, along the Kosmonavtov Street, the Gvardeiskiy Avenue, the Donetskaya and Energetikov Streets to the Church of the “Tenderness” Icon of the Mother of God. At the end of the procession Bishop Nicodemus addressed all the faithful with an edifying word: “In this time, difficult for each of us, we have celebrated the Divine Liturgy and held a cross procession for peace in our motherland with the Lord’s blessing… “All adversities befall us because we forget the Lord’s commandment about love. So, if we had more love in our hearts, then they would simply have no space for hatred, anger and other sins and vices…” The hierarch also noted the significance of cross processions: “Cross procession is an ancient pious tradition. However, not all people know their meaning. A cross procession is a solemn prayer procession, hence its name. A cross procession is an expression of the people’s one faith and zealous prayer to the Lord, the Mother of God and the saints for divine aid to the Church and people. |
| The Apostles’ Fast begins today, on the second Monday after Pentecost (the day after All Saints’ Sunday), and continues until the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on July 12 (Julian Calendar). The idea that any Westerner has about fasting is strongly linked with renunciation‚ with giving-up‚ with sacrificing something for God. In the Eastern Orthodox Church however‚ fasting achieves a much richer meaning. Fasting is not only about giving-up‚ but it is actually more about gaining‚ about being able to reach things that are possible only through this spiritual exercise. In a legalistic understanding of salvation some believe that Christ has come on earth to fulfill a duty‚ to repair an offense that man has brought unto God. His sacrifice on the Cross satisfies this need and mankind enters again in God’s favors. From this perspective fasting is a similar symbol: a personal sacrifice that one makes to step back into God’s grace. This can be anything ranging from giving up chocolate to abstaining from Facebook for the Lenten period. But such frivolous renunciations really don’t cut it into the genuine meaning of fasting. God doesn’t need any of these sacrifices as He does not need the whole burnt offering of the Old Testament anymore. It is us‚ not God‚ who need the fasting rule. Reducing the fasting to a symbol‚ to a mere idea of fasting‚ the entire exercise of a fast is perverted. Fasting becomes a theoretical notion that can be achieved through an act that involves little or no effort because‚ at the end‚ is not the fasting that is important‚ but only the idea of fasting. This intellectual reduction is yet another symptom of our brokenness‚ of the ontological separation between mind and heart. The mind creates an entire new reality that we confuse many times with the true authenticity of existence that only a heart open to God can see. In this world‚ made-up by our minds saturated with secular values‚ the importance of the complete involvement of the body in fasting is forgotten‚ because for the mind a symbol is enough. But man does not exist in a fantasy of the mind‚ but lives in the real world‚ as a true person‚ body and soul‚ both physical and spiritual. |
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