| Of the hundreds of homilies, there exists the Lenten series entitled Hexaemeros which provide valuable parabolic moral teachings. These would articulate the moral chassis which would form the underpinnings of his Christian philanthropic worldview. Philanthropy Emerges From Worship, Prayer, and Ascetic Practice As with Basil’s delving into the monastic life, his approach to high academic theology does not remain merely in the theoretical. He makes it relevant precisely because he makes it applicable to the lives of the common members of society. Thus, in doing so, he makes it a ministry which reflects the Incarnation of Jesus Christ coming in the flesh and of life in communion with the Holy Trinity. This can be seen in his homily Sermon to the Rich where he instructs the hearer to treat the needs of other as we would treat our own, regardless of what those needs are. 5 In the realm of liturgical theology, Basil is attributed with many prayers within the Eastern and Western rites. Most notably however are two that stand out above the rest and they come down to us through the Byzantine liturgical tradition: the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great and the “Kneeling Prayers” at Pentecost Vespers. To what extent, these are the exact words penned by Basil verbatim is not the question that is important, the fact that they are attributed to him is reflective of his enduring influence and legacy of his focus on the synthesis of good liturgy through the formalization of liturgical prayers and hymnography with a sound theological basis. Throughout all of these works, Basil’s deep concern for the sick, the suffering, the hurting, the poor, the disadvantaged, and the oppressed is present throughout. Inn the anaphora (Eucharistic prayer) attributed to him in the Liturgy, the celebrant prayers, “defend the widows; protect the orphans; liberate the captives; heal the sick…For You, Lord, are the helper of the helpless, the hope of the hopeless, the Savior of the afflicted, the haven of the voyager, and the physician of the sick. Be all things to all, You know each person, his requests, his household, and his need.” 6 |
| One of the common determinants in all matters relating to church architecture was the relative wealth of the local church. Ethiopia and the Coptic Churches retained a simplicity of architectural forms in marked contrast to the burgeoning of building that was characteristic of the Latin and Byzantine Churches in their imperial expansions. After the 3rd century almost all Christian churches were fashioned to reflect a biblical typology of the Jerusalem Temple as fulfilled in the Christian mysteries. The altar area (sanctuary) was occupied by the priestly ministers, and was increasingly marked off from the main body of the church (the nave) occupied by the faithful, and from the portico (narthex) which was given over to the catechumens and those undergoing penitential discipline. The Eastern liturgies witnessed a regular movement backwards and forwards between the two areas by the deacons who had charge of public prayers. The development of the Byzantine iconographic tradition, especially after the 8th-century iconoclastic crisis, also stimulated reflection on the shape of church buildings as an earthly mirror of the heavenly cosmos. The pattern of depicting prophets and saints, with Christ in Judgment typically occupying the central dome, and the Virgin with liturgical saints in the sanctuary area, attempted to mark a linearly progressive movement (from the narthex frescoes of Old Testament saints one entered deeper into the church with New Testament scenes until one arrived at Christ in glory), and also a vertically progressive movement (from the lower walls where ascetics and other saints gave way in an upwards sweep to great martyrs, angels, and the Mother of God). Declining economic conditions after the 8th century made the typical village church in Orthodox lands usually a small and intimate affair (in marked contrast to Hagia Sophia, which still served as a style model). In the West the basilical form proved to be a fertile matrix for a number of stylistic developments and variations, such as Romanesque and, in the medieval period, Gothic and Perpendicular. In Orthodoxy the church building (as distinct from the Church considered as the redeemed body of Christ’s elect, the Ekklesia) is designated with a completely separate name: the Temple (Greek: Naos; Slavonic: Kram), deliberately drawing typological resonances with the biblical Temple, which Christ himself said he had “fulfilled” by his self-identification with the concept of the holy place on earth where God dwelt among humankind ( Mt. 12.6 ; Jn. 1.51, 2.19 ). |
| Bornert Bornert R. Les commentaires byzantins de la Divine Litur- gie du VII-e au XV-e siécle//Archivée de 1Orient Chré– tien. Paris, 1966. 9. Botte B. La Tradition Apostolique de s. Hippolyte. Essai de reconstruction//LQF. Münsteг/1963. 39. Brightman Brightman F. E. The «Historia Mystagogica» and other Greek Commentaries on the Byzantine Liturgy//JTS. 1908. 9. P. 248267; 387397. Brooks E. W. Hymns Brooks E. W. The Hymns of Severus and Others in the Syriac Version of Paul of Edessa as Revised by James of Edessa//PO. Paris, 1911. 6. Fasc. 1. P. 1179; fasc. 5. P. 593802. Brooks E. W. Letters Brooks E. W. A Collection of Letters of Severus of Antioch, from Numerous Syriac Manuscripts//PO. Paris, 1920. Vol. 14. Fasc. 1. Cabaniss Cabaniss A. The Harrowing of Hell, Psalm 24 , and Pliny the Younger: A Note//Vigiliae Christianae. 1953. Vol. 7. P. 6574. Catergian-Dashian Catergian J. Die Liturgien bei den Armeniern, Fünfzehn Texte und Untersuchungen/Hrsg. von Dashian J. Wien, 1897 (на армянском языке). Charon Charon С. Le rite byzantin et la liturgie chrysostomienne dans les patriarcats melkites (Alexandrie-Antioche-Jérusalem)//XPYCOCTOMIKA. P. 473718. Cochlaeus Cochlaeus J. Speculum antiquae deuotionis circa missam, et omnem alium cultum Dei: ex antiquis, et antea nunquam euulgatis per typographes autoribus, a Ioanne Cochlaeo laboriose collectum... Mainz, 1549. Codrington Codrington H. W. The Liturgy of St. Peter//LQF. Münsterz 1936. 30. Connolly R. H. Didascal. Didascalia Apostolorum. The Syriac Version Translated and Accompanied by the Verona Latin Fragments/Connolly R. H. (ed.). Oxford, 1929. Connolly R. H. Narsai The Liturgical Homilies of Narsai. With an Appendix by Edmund Bishop/Connolly R. H. (ed.)//Texts and Studies. Cambridge, 1909. 8, 1. Connolly-Codrington Two Commentaries on the Jacobite Liturgy by George, Bishop of the Arab Tribes and Moses Bar Kepha, together with the Syriac Anaphora of St. James and a document entitled The Book of Life. Text and English translation/Connolly R. H., Codrington H. W. (edd.) London, 1913. |
| 3 . Churching . In modern liturgical practice, initiation into the Church is accomplished by Baptism and Chrismation. But in the post 4 th century Byzantine Empire it took place on the 40 th day after the child’s birth so that he might be introduced into the Church even before his Baptism. The rite of churching itself had already developed in the 6 th century , acquiring its final shape in the 15 th century. The Byzantine rite of churching consists of two prayers: O Lord our God, who on the fortieth day wast brought as a child…, which is mentioned already in the famous Barberini Euchologion of the 8 th century (Vat. Barberini. gr. 336), and the prayer with heads bowed Our God Almighty, through Thy glorious prophet…, which was incorporated into the rite of churching in the 15 th century. Until the 13 th century there was a veneration of the holy altar, accomplished in this way: the child (whether male or female) was taken after the prayer through the sanctuary to the holy altar to be touched to it. If it was a male, he was taken around the altar from all sides, but if it was a female only from three sides. But with time this practice began to be taken as a violation of the sanctuary, and, from the 15 th century, the churching of males was limited to just taking him into the sanctuary to circle the altar three times only after the sacrament of Baptism was administered to him. Female babies were no longer taken into the sanctuary, but only to the holy doors to touch the icons of the Saviour and the Mother of God. Thus the rite of churching metamorphosed in this way: while in antiquity (before the 14 th century) churching was accomplished before Baptism, after the 14 th century, when children began to be baptized in infancy rather that at the age of 2 or 3, they began to be churched after the order of Baptism, though in the Euchologion this rite has remained preceding Baptism to this day. Gradually, in the period from the 18 th -19 th centuries, the rite of churching was revised to become the final part of Baptism. |
| While it is entirely possible that this fast began as a popular custom not necessarily associated with Christmas, it is more likely that the forty day fast grew out of an attempt to imitate the fast of Great Lent preceding Pascha. Although it was only in the fourth century that the Feast of the Nativity of Christ was celebrated by itself on December 25th, from its inception it was seen as a feast only rivaled by the Resurrection. The celebration of the Incarnation of the Word of God provided an excellent forum for the Churchmen of the late fourth and early fifth centuries to attack the then rampant heresies of Arianism ( denial that Jesus, as the " Word " of God, was of one essence with God the Father) and Monophysitism (denial of the effective presence of the human nature in Christ) . The Advent Fast, just as with the Lenten fast, developed from popular piety reflecting on the Scriptural fasts. However, unlike the Lenten fast, which was soon regulated by the Church in terms of its severity and duration, the Advent fast " s severity and duration were for many centuries governed by local custom and tradition. It was not until 1166 that a church council meeting in Constantinople fixed the length of the fast at forty days. However, the famous Canonist and Patriarch, Theodore Balsamon of the Great Church of Constantinople (1185-1204), noted in interpreting this council that only monastics were obligated to keep the forty days and that lay people might shorten it to only seven days. It is interesting to note that unlike Great Lent, with its Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, Presanctified Liturgies and Lenten Triodion, the liturgical life of the Church scarcely notices the existence of Advent. The Sundays are observed as " Sundays after Pentecost " and there are no special services prescribed. The approach of Christmas is mentioned only on the two Sundays directly preceding it, although the Christmas Canon (Christ is Born, glorify him...) is sung as a refrain at the Matins for the Presentation of the Mother of God on November 21 st (December 4 th ) and also on St. Nicholas Day on December 6 th (December 19 th ). |
| For the heirmoi, the classical chants in syllabic style are collected in a book called the Heirmologion, which may contain as many as 2,000 model stanzas. Like the Western Tonary, the Heirmologion is divided into one section per mode. The nine canticles are: 1 The song of Moses (Exodus 15.1–19) 2 The song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32.1–43) 3 The prayer of Hannah (I Kings 2.1–10) 4 The prayer of Habbakuk (Habbakuk 3.1–19) 5 The prayer of Isaiah (Isaiah 26.9–20) 6 The prayer of Jonah (Jonah 2.3–10) The prayer of the Three Children (the Benedicite, Apoc. Daniel 3.26–56 ) 7 The prayer of the Three Children (Apoc. Daniel 3.57–88 ) 8 The Magnificat and the Benedictus (Luke 1.46–55 and 68–79) Whatever the object of a canon may be (the celebration of a feast of the Lord or of the Virgin, or the commemoration of a saint or martyr), the hymn writer had to allude in each of the nine odes to its scriptural model. Church traditions (wrongly) attribute the invention of the canon to St. Andrew of Crete (ca. 660–740) and his famous Great Kanon of mid-Lent contains the exceptional number of 250 stanzas. But canon composition reached its peak in the 8th and 9th centuries, first in Palestine with examples by St. John Damascene (ca. 675-ca. 749) and St. Kosmas of Jerusalem (also known as St. Kosmas the Melodist or Kosmas of Maiuma; first half of the 8th century), then in Constantinople with St. Theodore, abbot of the Studion Monastery (759–826), and his brother Joseph (d. 833), the two Sicilians Methodios (d. 846) and Joseph the Hymnographer (d. 883), and the nun Cassia (ca. 810–65). SEE ALSO: Kontakion; Liturgical Books; Music (Sacred); Orthros (Matins) REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS Grosdidier de Matons, J. (1980–1) “Liturgie et hymnographie: Kontakion et Canon,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 34–5: 31–43. Hannick, C. (1990) “The Performance of the Kanon in Thessaloniki in the 14th Century,” in D. Conomos (ed.) Studies in Eastern Chant, vol. 5. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, pp. 137–52. |
| Manuscripts still survive from the 6 th century and they show the same prayers, the same service, that we Orthodox use in the 21 st century. Fr. Alexander Schmemann once explained, “The unity of rite in the Orthodox Church is comparatively a late phenomenon and the Church never considered liturgical uniformity a conditio sine qua non of her unity. No one who knows the history of the Christian worship will deny the richness of the Western liturgical tradition, that especially of the old and venerable Roman There is no question about the authenticity of this rite. To critique the western liturgy boils down to one thing: critiquing the authority of the Holy Spirit as it has guided the Church throughout time. But it looks so strange… Fr. Connely answers this well. “If the Western Rite seems strange to some Orthodox observers, it is probably because of its antiquity and austerity as compared with the highly developed and elaborated expression of the Eastern The Liturgy of St. Gregory may indeed look strange to many Orthodox Christians. Why is this? To a great extent, it looks “odd” because of its ancientness. In many ways, the differences between Eastern and Western Rites stem from more recent changes that were made in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. In essence, theologically and spiritually, the two liturgies are the same, and this spirit is merely expressed with a different cultural flavor. It is important that Eastern Orthodox Christians respect the Western Liturgy, which has remained relatively unchanged over the last millennium. It was certainly not strange to the Church Fathers for over a thousand years. Isn’t the west corrupt? Is there really anything worth redeeming? It would be redundant to harp on St. John’s words, “The west was fully Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies.” The liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church used up until Vatican II (that is, the religious ceremonies, not the theology and practice), had been kept pure and authentic since apostolic times. This is the liturgy of the apostles and the Church Fathers. There are enough reasons to embrace one’s Orthodoxy without inventing straw men of the west. Though so much in the west has fallen, much of it is still pure and inspired. Sadly, we live in a secular age when so many of the remnants of western Orthodoxy are being tossed out. Therefore, it is all the more urgent that we Orthodox rescue whatever is good, whatever is pure, whatever is beautiful in the culture of our fellow Americans. The Western Rite belongs to the Orthodox Church, and it always has since the days of St. Peter. It is our responsibility to protect and nurture what God has given us. |
| The Masoretic text simply makes no sense, and obviously at some point a scribe skipped an entire line or two of the text. This is obvious because of the reference to the Urim and Thummim, which were two objects used by the priest of the Old Testament for discerning the will of God on matters such as that described in 1 Samuel 14. Another example is the text quoted in Hebrews 1:6 ( And let all the angels of God worship him ) which is nowhere to be found in the Masoretic text, but is found in both the Septuagint and the Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew text in Deuteronomy 32:43. It should be pointed out that the Hebrew text should not be ignored entirely. Particularly when the Septuagint and the Hebrew text are in agreement, we will better understand the Septuagint as a translation if we compare it with the Hebrew text that it is clearly a translation of. It is extremely helpful to understand the range of meaning of the original Hebrew text (when we clearly have it). For example, it is helpful to know that Hebrew does not have a past or future tense, but only a perfect and imperfect tense … and so just because an English translation is clearly in either the past, present, or future tense, it does not necessarily mean that this is what is implied by the Hebrew original. One often encounters the use of the “prophetic perfect,” where a prophecy of something that has not yet come to pass is in the perfect tense, and so is often translated with the English past tense, e.g. … with His stripes, we were healed (Isaiah 53:5), when from the perspective of the prophet, he was speaking of something in the future. There are at present only limited options available in terms of English translations of the Septuagint. There is the translation of Sir Lancelot Brenton , which is often awkward and wooden. There is also a very well done revision of the KJV by Michael Asser, which corrected the KJV based on the Septuagint, but while the complete text is available online , only the Psalter is actually in print. For the Psalms there is the Psalter According to the Seventy, published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery ; A Psalter For Prayer, published by Holy Trinity Monastery ; and the Psalter of the Prophet and King David, published by the Center for Traditionalists Orthodox Studies —this text is based on the edition by Michael Asser, but it differs in some respects. There are also various editions of the Old Testament readings that are used liturgically. |
| Armenian communities, the Armenian Orthodox Church currently has the cathol- icate of Etchmiadzin in the Armenian Republic, as the dominant leadership center, and the catholicate of the Great House of Cilicia (currently with a jurisdictional remit over Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Greece, Iran, and parts of Canada and the Americas), along with two subordinate patriarchates (Constantinople and Jerusalem). Armenian Church art used the fresco extensively, but the cult of icons was never developed as significantly as in Byzantium, and the cross (especially in the form of distinctive stone carvings) received a higher focal symbolism. Armenian Church building styles are very distinctive. The balance of pro-Roman Armenians to the Greater Armenian Church (sometimes called the “Gregorian Armenians” by Latin commentators) is now estimated as in the ratio of approximately 100,000 to something over 5 million. The Armenian clergy are divided into two classes, the vardapets (doctors) from whose ranks the bishops are normally selected, who are easily recognized from their high-pointed cowls, and the parish priests who marry before ordination unless they chose the monastic lifestyle. Liturgically, they follow the ancestral liturgical tradition of the Church of Cappadocia, following the Gregorian calendar since 1923 (except at Jerusalem) and using St. Basil’s Liturgy in Armenian. Unleavened bread is used and communion is given under two species by intinction. There are several later Latin influences in the ritual. The common priestly vestment is the shurjar, which is reminiscent of the Latin cope, and the bishops wear the pointed mitre. In accordance with the earliest level of Eastern Christian liturgical observances, Christmas is not celebrated in late December as a separate festival, but is part of the Theophany celebrations that last over the week following January 6. The catholicate of Etchmiadzin operates two seminaries at present, one at Lake Van and the other at Etchmiadzin; while the Great House of Cilicia organizes a seminary in Lebanon. There are other seminaries at Jerusalem and in New York State (St. Nerses, at New Rochelle, which collaborates in its instructional program with St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary). |
| 1984 Books (booklets and pamphlets) 1984a with Mark Collier, Beginning Now , Part 1: Peacemaking Theology: A Study Book for Individuals and Groups , London: Dunamis 1984b (ed. with David Nicholls) in Politics and Theological Identity: Two Anglican Essays , London: The Jubilee Group, 1984, including ‘Preface’ (with David Nicholls) and ‘Liberation Theology and the Anglican tradition’ (see 1983f); pp.5-6, 7-26 Articles and Lectures 1984c ’Butler’s Western Mysticism : Towards an Assessment’, Downside Review 102 (July), pp.197-215 1984d ’“Religious Realism”: On Not Quite Agreeing with Don Cupitt’, Modern Theology 1.1 (October), pp.3-24; reproduced in Wrestling with Angels , pp.228-254 1984e ’A Response’ in Colin Ogilvie Buchanan (ed.) Essays on Eucharistic Sacrifice in the Early Church: A Sequel to Liturgical Study no 31 , Grove Liturgical Study 40, Bramcote, Notts: Grove Books, pp.34-7 1984f ’Violence and the Gospel in South Africa’, New Blackfriars 65 (774) (December), pp.505-13 1984g ’Women and the Ministry: A Case for Theological Seriousness’, in Monica Furlong (ed.) Feminine in the Church , London: SPCK, pp.11-27 Book Reviews 1984h ’Leach’s Bible’, review of Edmund Leach and D. Alan Aycock (eds), Structuralist Interpretations of Biblical Myth , Cambridge: CUP, 1983 in RAIN (Royal Anthropological Institute News) 61 (Apr 1984), pp.11–12 1984i Review of Eric F. Osborn, The Beginning of Christian Philosophy , Cambridge: CUP, 1981, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 35 (January), pp.145-7 1985 Articles and Lectures 1985a ’The Son’s Knowledge of the Father in Origen’, in Lothar Lies (ed.) Origeniana Quarta: Die Referate des 4. internationalen Origeneskongresses (Innsbruck, 2.-6. September 1985) , Innsbrucker theologische Studien, ed E. Coreth, W. Kern, H. Rotter, 19, Innsbruck: Tyrolia Verlag, pp.146-153 Book Reviews 1985b Review of Gillian R. Evans, Augustine on Evil , Cambridge: CUP, 1982, Religious Studies 21.1 (March), pp.95-97 |
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