| The importance of fasting and its observance today: Draft document of the Pan-Orthodox Council Source: DECR Draft document of the Pan-Orthodox Council, adopted by the 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference in Chambésy on October 10-17, 2015. Photo: http://www.patriarchia.ru/ Published in compliance with the decision of the Synaxis of Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches, Chambésy, January 21-28, 2016. 1. Fast is God’s commandment (Gen 2:16-17). According to St Basil the Great, fasting is as old as humanity itself; it was prescribed in Paradise (On Fasting, 1,3). It is a great spiritual endeavour and the foremost expression of the Orthodox ascetic ideal. The Orthodox Church, in strict conformity with the precepts of the holy apostles, the rules of the Councils and the patristic tradition as a whole, has always proclaimed a great significance of fasting for people’s spiritual life and salvation. The annual cycle of liturgical celebrations fully reflects the patristic teaching on fasting, as well as the teaching on the necessity of constant unrelaxing watchfulness and on how to succeed in spiritual endeavours. The Triodion praises fasting as bringing the light of grace , as the invincible arms , the beginning of spiritual warfare , the perfect path of virtues , the nourishment for the soul , the source of wisdom , the life imperishable and imitation the angelic life , the mother of all blessings and virtues , and as the image of the life to come . 2. As an ancient institution, fasting was mentioned already in the Old Testament (Deut 9:18; Is 58:4-10; Joel 2:15; Jonah 3:5-7) and affirmed in the New Testament. The Lord Himself fasted for forty days before entering upon His public ministry (Lk 4:1-2) and gave to people instructions on how to practice fasting (Mt 6:16-18). Fasting as a means of abstinence, repentance and spiritual growth is presented in the New Testament (Mk 1:6; Acts 13:3; 14:23; Rom 14:21). Since the apostolic times, the Church has being proclaiming a profound importance of fasting, having established Wednesday and Friday as fast days (Didache, 8,1) and the fast before Easter (St Irenaeus of Lyons in Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 5, 24). |
| I. The epiclesis – a rule of faith? The problem of the epiclesis, its meaning, and its importance – or, alternatively, expendability – for the consecration of bread and wine during a Eucharistic prayer has long been a highly polemical issue 1 . Despite their differences, scholars and theologians have often taken for granted that it was the Byzantine Church that always believed in a consecratory power of the epiclesis. Indeed, from the fourth century on (i.e., from the very starting point of the development of the Byzantine liturgy), the Byzantine Eucharistic prayers contained explicit epicleses with strong consecratory statements. In this article I will demonstrate, however, that, while the Byzantines undoubtedly were very concerned about the epiclesis recited during their Eucharistic liturgy 2 , its mere existence did not always signify the importance it is ascribed in late- and post-Byzantine theological literature. For the Byzantines often pointed to some other elements of the rite as «consecratory», and were in nowise strangers to the idea of a Eucharistic consecration independent of an epiclesis. II. The Origins of the Epiclesis II.1. A Brief Overview The origins of the epiclesis are obscure and much debated. The earliest extant eucharistic prayers from the Didache contain no explicit epicletic petition 3 (though some scholars identify the acclamation «Maranatha» from Did. 10.6 with a proto-epiclesis 4 ). In pre-Nicaean Christian liturgical usage the words πικαλεν/πικαλεσθαι and πκλησις, as has been demonstrated 5 , referred more to «naming/applying the name» than to «calling forth in prayer» 6 . It is, therefore, tempting to suggest that the epiclesis in its later sense of «a call to God/Spirit/Logos to come and show/sanctify the bread and wine» is a result of the development of the early epicletic «naming the divine Name» formulae. This possibility comes to light when one compares Origen " s commentary on 1Corinthians 7:5, where he describes the Eucharistic bread as the one «over which the Name of God and of Christ and of the Holy Spirit has been invoked» (FragmCor 34) 7 , with a baptismal and a Eucharistic prayer from Acta Thomae: |
| The Journal of Theological Studies. — Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005 (April). — Vol. 56 (New Series): 1 8 июля 2005 г. 16:03 Содержание номера Статьи Campbell D. A. Possible Inscriptional Attestation to Sergius Paul[L]US (Acts 13:6–12), and the Implications for Pauline Chronology. Mosser C. The Earliest Patristic Interpretations of PSALM 82, Jewish Antecedents, and the Origin of Christian Deification. Zachhuber J. Once Again: Gregory of Nyssa on Universals. Заметки и публикации McDonough S. M. Competent to Judge: The Old Testament Connection Between 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. Van Nuffelen P. Two Fragments from the Apology for Origen in the Church History of Socrates Scholasticus. Edwards M. J. Constantine " s Donation to the Bishop and Pope of the City of Rome’. Рецензии на книги Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Theodicy in the World of the Bible. Biblical Hebrew: Studies in Chronology and Typology. Glimpses of a Strange Land: Studies in Old Testament Ethics Knowing the End from the Beginning: The Prophetic, the Apocalyptic and their Relationships. Stockmen from Tekoa, Sycomores from Sheba: A Study of Amos’ Occupations. Reading for History in the Damascus Document: A Methodological Study. Christianity in the Making, volume 1: Jesus Remembered. Not the Righteous but Sinners: M. M. Bakhtin " s Theory of Aesthetics and the Problem of Reader-Character Interaction in Matthew " s Gospel. The Gospel of Matthew " s Dependence on the Didache. Jesus " Defeat of Death: Persuading Mark " s Early Readers. An Introduction to the Gospel of John. Creation-Covenant Scheme and Justification by Faith: A Canonical Study of the God–Human Drama in the Pentateuch and the Letter to the Romans. Das Gesetz im Römerbrief und andere Studien zum Neuen Testament. Where to Live? The Hermeneutical Significance of Paul " s Citations from Scripture in Galatians 3:1–14. Paul, Luke and the Graeco-Roman World: Essays in Honour of Alexander J. M. Wedderburn. The Genre, Composition and Hermeneutics of James. |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf EUCHARIST EUCHARIST. From the Greek word meaning “thanksgiving,” and variously called Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Last Supper, and the Liturgy, this thanksgiving first involved Jesus ( 1Cor 11:24 ), and subsequently everyone with the name Christian who is to “do this in remembrance of me,” following the command of Christ for the messianic banquet. Both the institution and the periodicity, the “eighth day,” of this sacrament (qq.v.) as the primary Christian worship can be demonstrated from the Gospels and other of the earliest documents. To deny the centrality and frequency of the Eucharist in the face of our current knowledge of the worship of the early Church, let alone Holy Tradition (q.v.), can only be labeled an intentional distortion. This datum, continuously shared by the Eastern and Western Church alike, should be taken very seriously by those who claim to be “Biblically Christian” and who teach differently in doctrine or in personal piety (q.v.). In traditional liturgical texts used in the Church many Old Testament images and institutions are looked upon as prefiguring the Eucharist. For example, the table and cup described in Ps 23 , the bread and wine presented by Melchizedek ( Gen 14 ), the Levitical offerings of thanksgiving, the paschal lamb, the banquet of Wisdom ( Prov 9 ), et al. are among those precursors and types. The New Testament references are almost all direct, including Paul ( 1Cor 11 ) and the synoptic Gospels ( Mt 26 ; Mk 14 ; Lk 22 ), with only a veiled reference in Jn 6 . Acts gives further information about the Eucharist as it was celebrated by the Jerusalem community (ch. 2) and by Paul in Troas (ch. 20). Other of the earliest Christian sources cite occurrences of the Eucharist as central to Christian life, including the Didache (ch. 9), Ignatius (“Epistle to the Philippians,” 4f.), and Justin Martyr (“First Apology,” 1) in spite of the disciplina arcani, a reticence to speak of the sacred mysteries. After the Christianization of the Roman Empire, many of the Church Fathers, e.g., Cyril of Jerusalem, Joh n Chrysostom, Augustine (qq.v.), made contributions to a popular understanding of the centrality of this sacrament-to the extent that all of Christian spiritual life would henceforth be explained classically in terms of either Baptism (q.v.) or the Eucharist. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Ethics PERRY T. HAMALIS The term “ethics” commonly carries three meanings, all of which apply within the context of Orthodox Christianity. First, stemming from the Greek word ethos, the term refers to a community’s or person’s implicit beliefs about how to live, about right and wrong, or about what it means to flourish, as manifested through behavior. Second, “ethics” refers to a particular person’s or community’s explicit teachings about how human beings ought to live. The second meaning differs from the first insofar as it shifts from implicit ethos to normative and axiological claims made explicit and recommended to others. Third, “ethics” refers to a discipline of scholarly inquiry and application. It encompasses the assessment of ethical visions held or taught by persons, communities, and institutions, including the examination of moral capacities (e.g., freedom, reason, conscience, will, etc.), authoritative sources (e.g., tradition, scripture, reason, experience, etc.), methods for interpreting and applying ethical claims to specific issues and circumstances, and bases for grounding and defending ethical and moral visions. Within Orthodox theology the first meaning of ethics reflects the fact that Orthodoxy is more a form of existence than a form of discourse, more a lived way than a spoken word. At Orthodoxy’s core is the simple belief that to be a Christian is to be a follower of Christ ( Jn. 12.24 ) and a member of the church (cf. 1Cor. 12 and Rom. 12 ). To be a Christian is to strive for holiness and perfection as modeled by God (cf. Lev. 11.44 and Matt. 5.48) and to participate fully in the sacramental life, worship, and ascetical practices of the ecclesial community. According to this first meaning, Orthodox ethics pertains to the normative ethos ofthe church as a whole and, especially, the ethos of the saints as followers of Christ and exemplars of Orthodox Christian life. According to its second meaning, Orthodox ethics encompasses the church’s normative teachings on how human beings ought to live as expressed in the Holy Scriptures, the canon law tradition, and in the writings of saints and authoritative teachers. One can speak, for example, of the ethics of the Didache or of St. John Klimakos when referring to a text’s or author’s claims about human nature, the purpose ofhuman life, and how Christians ought to live in light of the reality and revelation of God. Nearly all sermons, ascetical treatises, and works on the spiritual life by Orthodox authors are articulating an ethical vision or expressing normative and axiological teachings that both reflect and shape the ethos of Orthodox Christians as a whole. |
| NY court lets woman refuse vaccine made with aborted baby tissue/Православие.Ru NY court lets woman refuse vaccine made with aborted baby tissue New York, September 3, 2015 An Orthodox Christian woman has won the right to refuse a vaccine developed using aborted babies' tissue, based on her religious beliefs. The vaccine is for measles/mumps/rubella and is required by New York City law for all schoolchildren. It was developed from fetal tissue procured from abortions, hence the moral dilemma for practicing Christians. The woman, who remains anonymous, said her Christian beliefs against abortion compel her to have nothing to do with vaccines made using aborted fetal tissue. " Abortion is clearly a mortal sin and is [an] abhorrent act to any Christian, " the New York mom said in her petition for exemption, according to the New York Post. " The vaccine manufacturers' use of aborted fetal cells in its products and research means that I cannot associate with them or support them financially (by buying their products), for such support would make me complicit to their sin. " New York State Department of Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia concluded in the woman's favor, explaining, " The weight of the evidence supports petitioner's contentions that her opposition to the MMR vaccine stems from sincerely held religious beliefs. " Christianity has always opposed abortion, from the time of the New Testament. The Bible teaches that from conception, the womb holds a human person, calling pregnancy " to be with child " (Isaiah 7:14). Many biblical individuals are explicitly described as called or known from the womb, such as Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4-5), Isaiah (Isaiah 44:2; 49:1), Job (Job 10:8-12), Paul (Gal. 1:15), and John the Baptist (Lk. 1:15). The New Testament also condemns abortifacients (Galatians 5:20; Revelation 9:21, 18:23, 21:8, 22:15). Other early Church documents condemning abortion include the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Epistle to Diognetus, the Apocalypse of Peter, St. Athenagoras's writings, the letters of St. Clement of Alexandria, the Apostolic Constitutions, Tertullian, Hippolytus's Apostolic Traditions. Additionally, every early Church council says likewise. |
| John Anthony McGuckin Ordination JEFFREY B. PETTIS The Orthodox Church looks upon ordination (derived from the Latin term for registering clerics in the official lists of the church), which it designates using the biblical term as the “laying on of hands” (cheirotonia), as the sacramental continuation of the setting apart of leaders for the Christian community. Ordination is the regular transmission through the ages of the church of the charism of priesthood, as derived from the apostolic succession the church protects within itself. The Book of Numbers 27.15–23 speaks of the setting apart of Joshua by the Lord to be a leader and shepherd of the congregation. Joshua is one who is “in the Spirit” (18), and Moses places him before the priest and the congregation, lays hands on him, and gives him a charge according to divine command (22–3; cf. Deut. 34.9 ). In the gospels Jesus himself sets apart for ministry the twelve apostles ( Mt. 10.1–5 ; Mk. 3.13–19 ; Lk. 6.12–16 ). He also commissions the Seventy to do the work of evangelizing ( Lk. 10.1 ). In Acts 14.23 the Apostle Paul lays hands (cheirotonesantes) on designated church elders (presbyterous). The laying on of hands is the transmission of the sacred gift of the Spirit, confirming the gift given in Chrismation, for the special role of sanctifying, teaching, healing, and witnessing that constitutes the priestly service in the church. The Apostle Paul also refers to the bishop (episkopos) who tends the church of God like a shepherd (Acts 20.28; cf. Ignatius, Eph. 1.3; 2 .1f.; 3.2; 4.1; 5.1f.). The Didache refers to the electing of bishops and deacons “who are worthy ofthe Lord, gentle men who are not fond of money, who are true (aletheis) and approved” (Didache 15). The earliest evidence for the church’s formal service of ordination is found in the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (ca. 215): Plate 44 Liturgical procession at Optina Hermitage. RIA Novosti/Topfot. Plate 45 Optina Hermitage recently restored. RIA Novosti/Topfoto. |
| Материал из Православной Энциклопедии под редакцией Патриарха Московского и всея Руси Кирилла Содержание КУПЕЛЬ Сцена крещения. Рельеф алтаря в Сант-Амброджо в Милане. IX в. Мастер Вольвиний Сцена крещения. Рельеф алтаря в Сант-Амброджо в Милане. IX в. Мастер Вольвиний Бассейн или большой сосуд, наполненный водой, который используется для совершения христ. таинства Крещения . К. подразделяются на 2 типа - стационарные (писцины) и передвижные (переносные). Использование К. наряду с естественными источниками воды засвидетельствовано в раннехрист. текстах (Didache. 7. 1-3; Iust. Martyr. I Apol. 61. 3; Tertull. De bapt. 4. 3; Trad. Ap. 21. 2; Acta Thomae. 26). Прототипами первых христ. К. могли служить как иудейские миквы для регулярных очистительных обрядов по Закону Моисееву, так и греко-рим. бассейны для бытовых или религ. целей, бассейны для сбора воды (impluvia), частные или общественные бани. Стационарные К. Археологические свидетельства о К. III-VII вв. многочисленны и весьма разнообразны: К. отличаются как по форме, глубине, техническому устройству, так и по декору (см. каталоги: Khatchatrian. 1962; Ristow. 1998). Чаще всего они являются частью комплекса баптистерия , могут быть вырублены в скальной породе или выкопаны и выложены мрамором и т. п. У одних К. стенки приподняты над уровнем пола, чтобы вода не выплескивалась при погружении, другие просто вырезаны в полу. Купель в баптистерии собора Св. Софии в Стамбуле. IV в. Купель в баптистерии собора Св. Софии в Стамбуле. IV в. Форма К. отражала богословское содержание таинства: круглые или имеющие форму жен. утробы (как, напр., К. в ц. св. Виталия в Суфетуле (ныне Сбейтла, Тунис); см. также: Bedard W. M. The Font as Womb or Mother// Idem. The Symbolism of the Baptismal Font in Early Christian Thought. Wash., 1951. P. 17-36) должны были указывать на Крещение как новое рождение; 8-угольные являлись символами совершенства, вечности и эсхатологического 8-го дня, указывая на новое творение во Христе или Воскресение Христово; писцины в форме креста или 6-угольной формы были символом соумирания со Христом и Страстной пятницы (6-го дня) (см.: Jensen R. M. Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity: Ritual, Visual, and Theological Dimensions. Grand Rapids (Mich.), 2012). |
| Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson Скачать epub pdf BAPTISM BAPTISM. Baptism, Chrismation, and the Eucharist (q.v.) are all administered together as Holy Mysteries (sacraments) that admit one into the membership of the Church, i.e., are rites of Christian initiation. Baptism is preceded by repentance and catechesis (qq.v.) in the case of adults, and assumes a continuous membership in a Christian community. Baptism of children occurs only in cases wherein the children are reared and taught in a Christian home and community, whether by parents or others. Baptism is not construed so much as a cleansing from “original sin” (q.v.), though it is for cleansing of sins as Paul teaches, but more especially as baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. When the repentant sinner is immersed in the baptismal waters, he or she descends to death with Christ. When coming up out of the waters, the newborn Christian is resurrected with Christ, all in the name of the Holy Trinity (q.v.) ( Mt 28:19 ). Rudimentary instructions on the administration of Baptism are found in the Didache VII (q.v.). With regard to the Baptism of adults in the Church today, the following items are normative from Holy Tradition (q.v.): 1) After evangelism, reception into the catechumenate and the assigning of sponsors occurs and is followed by catechesis; 2) The inscription of names or naming service begins a series of exorcisms (q.v.) and a forty-day lenten preparation; and 3) The liturgical rites of Baptism, Chrismation (the Kiss of Peace), and the Eucharist (qq.v.) proceed to a postbaptismal catechesis and a deepened experience of life in the Church. In the case of the Baptism of children, all of the elements above are to be included in the rearing and education of the child by the family. Читать далее Источник: The A to Z of the Orthodox Church/Michael Prokurat, Alexander Golitzin, Michael D. Peterson - Scarecrow Press, 2010. - 462 p. ISBN 1461664039 Поделиться ссылкой на выделенное |
| Is tithing a New Testament practice and a teaching in our Holy Tradition? Fr. John Whiteford discusses the practice and meaning of tithing, ancient and modern. Tithing was the practice of giving ten percent of one’s “increase” to God. By increase, this meant that whatever one’s labor managed to acquire, the first ten percent of it was the Lord’s. Tithing was included in the Law of Moses, but it actually predated that law, because we see in Genesis 14:18-20 that Abraham also tithed. To fail to tithe was to rob God (cf. Malachi 3:8-10). When we tithe , we recognize that God is the source of all that we have, and by giving back the first ten percent, we give thanks to God, and show that we trust God to continue to provide for our needs, rather than clinging to what we have, because we have no such trust. While tithing was clearly an obligation in the Old Testament , there is nothing that either specifically affirms that it is obligatory to Christians, nor anything that says that it is not. There is a great deal said about the need to give to the poor, and to support the work of the Church, but whether this was done by tithing is not stated. So to answer the question of what Christ taught the Apostles in this regard, and what the Apostles taught the Church, we must look to Tradition. In the 13th chapter of the Didache (which is believed to be the oldest document outside of the New Testament) it speaks of giving the “firstfruits” to support prophets, teachers, and the poor, “according to the commandment” (Didache 13:8). The giving of firstfruits in the Old Testament was an aspect of the tithing system, and so when it speaks of doing so “according to the commandment,” this suggests that tithing at least as some application for Christians. St. Irenaeus says: We are bound, therefore, to offer to God the first-fruits of His creation, as Moses also says, “Thou shalt not appear in the presence of the Lord thy God empty;” so that man, being accounted as grateful, by those things in which he has shown his gratitude, may receive that honour which flows from Him (Against Heresies 4:18:1). |
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