| In this respect, the Samaritan targum is very important. It was compiled in the 10–11 th centuries, but takes as its basis for interpretation not the Massorite, but the Pre-Massorite Hebrew text, coinciding with the text of Septuagint in many respects. In our, Russian Church, we have at hand first-class translations of both variants of the Holy Scripture: the Church Slavonic translation from the Septuagint, and the Russian Synodal one – from the Hebrew text. The original translation into the Church Slavonic of the Holy Scripture was done by the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius, but only those parts of the Old Testament text which are included in the church services’ readings, the so-called paremias, have survived to this day. In the 16 th century, at the start of the Church’s battle with the Judaizing heresy, it was discovered that there was no complete Bible in all of Russia. Therefore, Archbishop Gennady of Novgorod ordered the translation of the holy books from the Greek anew. This translation, with many corrections and adaptations, reached us as the contemporary Church-Slavonic Bible. The Russian translation of the Bible was done from the Hebrew in the 19 th century. However, in the good Synodal editions, the more important divergences from the Septuagint are marked, and the translations from Greek are given in brackets. The Biblical Society editions are done exclusively from the Hebrew text without any variations from the Greek. Almost simultaneously with the Church Slavonic translation (even later than that), the Holy Scripture was translated into Arabic by Saadia ben Joseph al Fayumi (Saadia Gaon) (in the beginning of the 10 th century). This translation was done from the Peshitta. Such a late translation of the Holy Scripture into Arabic is explained by the fact that Aramaic, which received its most recent and final form in Palmyra among the northern Arabic tribes, was, before the onslaught of the Mohammedans, the literary language of all northern Arabs and Syrians, understandable even to the simple people. The Muslim conquest brought the language of the Southern Arabs to the North, from which the modern Arabic language descended. But, Arabs and Christian Syrians continued to use Aramaic in their church life for a long time, precious for the reason that Christ Himself spoke it. The Creation of the First Man |
| I was very excited and for several years I was in a non-denominational Christianity phase. Father George: Just yesterday, I read a story of one American, a former Jehovah's Witness. His grandparents and parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses, so he was a third generation Jehovah’s Witness. He said that the first thing that made him quit the organization was reading the English translation in the King James Bible. Probably not everybody knows that Jehovah’s Witnesses have their own translation of the Bible that is significantly biased to suit the belief system of this organization. So, for this American, it was a revelation to learn that the text of the Bible was actually quite different. And this canonical, classical translation that is close to our synodal translation became a bridge for him that eventually led him to Orthodoxy. What happened in your case? How did your long search lead you to Orthodoxy? A. Grigoryan: First of all, I realized that the Scripture in fact is not self-explanatory or self-sufficient as stated by sola scriptura , the classic Protestant thesis. The more I tried to understand the Scripture, the more interpretations I encountered. This concerned not only various ways of interpreting the text, but also hermeneutical approaches and exegetical methods. I understood that the issue of textology itself is essential. In other words, which interpretations of texts are more authentic and more ancient? I understood that the Scripture cannot be understood outside of a living tradition This interest in Bible Studies made me realize that in the grand scheme of things a specific denominational tradition in fact determined what should be considered as the Bible. I learned that there are so-called non-canonical books that from ancient times were included in the Scripture. In the Protestant world, they are rejected as apocrypha. I learned that there were various textological foundations for the Old Testament, such as Masoretic texts and Septuagint. All of this led to the realization that the Scripture in fact couldn’t be understood outside of this tradition, a living tradition, under which this text was written for the first time and finalized. This motivated me to search for original sources. I realized that this general Protestant idea of seeing what you believe in while reading the Bible, was actually invalid. Everybody says: “We do not put any meaning into it, we just extract the meaning that lies on the surface”. I understood that this was an illusion. This doesn’t work. In fact, the text and understanding of the text are not one and the same thing. |
| The Supreme Church Council consists of: Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Dionisy of Voskresensk, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, chairman of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church; Metropolitan Ioann of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, chairman of the Synodal Department for Mission; Metropolitan Merkury of Rostov and Novocherkassk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Religious Education and Catechization; Metropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Cossacks; Metropolitan Ignaty of Vologda and Kirillov, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Finance and Economic Administration; Metropolitan Mitrofan of Murmansk and Monchegorsk, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Physical Culture and Sport; Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porkhov, chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture; Metropolitan Antony of Korsun and Western Europe, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad; Archbishop Feognost of Kashira, chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism; Bishop Irinarkh of Krasnogorsk, head of the Synodal Department for Prison Ministry; Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevo, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry; Bishop Foma of Pavlovsky Posad, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; Bishop Serafim of Istra, chairman of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs; Bishop Stefan of Klin, chairman of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies; Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, chairman of the Education Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church; Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Family and Protection of Motherhood; and Mr. Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media. |
| “In 2009 we set about forming new Synodal departments and were faced with a task of creating a body for discussing the agenda common for all the Synodal institutions. With the view of coordinating the work of the Synodal bodies we started holding meetings of their heads. Several such meetings took place, and in 2011 the Synod and then, in February 2011, the Bishops’ Council decided “to give to the meeting of the heads of the Synodal institutions the proper status with the name ‘Supreme Church Council’.” “In other words, the Supreme Church Council established by the Bishops’ Council in 2011, undoubtedly, differed from the Supreme Church Council of the time of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. However, the Supreme Church Council was entrusted with the tasks, many of which were on the agenda of the Supreme Church Council under Patriarch Tikhon. On the 14th of April 2011, in the Red Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Supreme Church Council held its first session. “Today is an important event in the history of church governing institutions. On the threshold of the centenary of the last joint meeting of the Holy Synod and the Supreme Church Council we are holding the first joint session, reviving the tradition severed by the troubled 20th century.” The joint session of the two bodies of supreme church governance was organized for the first time in a hundred years with the view of resolving ecclesiocanonical problems, addressing issues of church governance and efficient planning, and considering annual reports of the Synodal institutions. On the 26th of December, at the Patriarchal and Synodal residence in St. Daniel’s Monastery in Moscow, the Holy Synod will continue its work. The permanent members of the Holy Synod are: Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine; Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna; Metropolitan Vladimir of Kishinev and All Moldova; Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, head of the Metropolitan area in the Republic of Kazakhstan; Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, head of the Metropolitan area of Central Asia; Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga; Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, and Metropolitan Dionisy of Voskresensk, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate. Invited to take part in the winter session (September – February) were Metropolitan Kornily of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory, Metropolitan Grigory of Chelyabinsk and Miass, Metropolitan Dimitry of Chita and Petrovsk-Zabaykalsky, Bishop Ignaty of Vyborg and Priozersk, and Bishop Mathew of Sourozh. |
| The Synodal Cathedral Hosts Namesday Celebrations for the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad Source: Eastern American Diocese, ROCOR On Thursday, November 1, the feast of Venerable John of Kronstadt, clergy and believers triumphally commemorated the namesday of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America &New York, in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City. Since the feast of Venerable Hilarion, Schemamonk of the Kiev Caves (Nov. 3) coincided this year with St. Demetrius Soul Saturday, the celebration of His Eminence’s namesday was moved to November 1. Clergy of the Eastern American Diocese, as well as parishioners of the cathedral and other churches of the Diocese, gathered to pray for the health of their archpastor. The moleben was led by Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, co-served by diocesan clerics: Archpriest Alexander Belya (dean of New York City), Archimandrite Maximos (Weimar; abbot of St. Dionysios the Aeropagite Monastery in St. James, NY), Archpriest Andrei Sommer (cathedral senior priest), Abbot Vladimir (Zgoba; rector of Our Lady “Unexpected Joy” Church in Staten Island, NY), Archpriest Petro Kunitsky (cleric of New Martyrs & Confessors of Russia Church in Brooklyn, NY), Archpriest Alexandre Antchoutine (dean of the Hudson Valley & Long Island), Abbot Nicodemus (Balyasnikov; cleric of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York City), Archpriest Dimitri Jakimowicz (rector of St. Nicholas Church in Stratford, CT), Hieromonk Silouan (Justiniano; cleric of St. Dionysios Monastery), Hieromonk Zosimas (Krampis; rector of the English-language mission of the Synodal Cathedral), Protodeacon Nicolas Mokhoff and Deacon Pavel Roudenko (clerics of the Synodal Cathedral), and Protodeacon Eugene Kallaur (cleric of St. Seraphim Memorial Church in Sea Cliff, NY). Praying at the moleben were numerous diocesan clergy. The moleben was served under the aegis of the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora, the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God. |
| In the history of these Churches, civil authorities always played an important role regarding many aspects of Church life. They founded monasteries and churches, promoted and installed to high positions their own primates and hierarchs. Sometimes they even decided what doctrine should the Church keep. Probably, the most illustrative example in this regard is the role of the emperors in the doctrinal disputes held in the Ethiopian Church. The official doctrine of this Church, including its Tewahedo Christology, was largely shaped by the imperial decrees. Although many of these Churches inherited Byzantine symphonia, they easily dropped it, under the State’s demand. This happened, for instance, in the Churches which adopted the so-called synodal system. Most prominent examples of such Churches are in Russia (in the XVIII-XIX centuries) and in Greece (in the XIX century). Synodal system is a way of administering the Churches, which is a result of transformation of the traditional Patriarchal administration to a collective administering performed by the Holy Synod and controlled by the state through its representatives to the Synod. The Church in this situation is turned into a sort of civil ministry of religious affairs. Her policies are supposed to be coherent with the policies of the state. Quite surprisingly, even though the state, by introducing the synodal system, violated the rights of the Church and specificity of her inner life, the people of the Church, notably the most conservative ones, remained faithful to the political regime that supported the synodal system, even after the fall of that regime. This is the case, for instance, in the Russian Church, where the ‘synodal period’ is considered by many to be a sort of ‘golden age’ for which people feel nostalgia. I do not want to say that such sort of attachment of the people of the Church to a state or to a political regime is good or bad. I just want to say that this is a specific feature of those Churches which were established with the efforts of the state. |
| That was why most of the Holy Scripture in Greek was read, and not chanted, during the Divine services; they chanted only the psalms and the Old Testament songs, to which were later added a few chants from the New Testament: the chant of the Theotokos, when She met St. Elizabeth (i.e. Magnification), the chant of Zechariah on the birth of St. John the Baptist and the chant of St. Simeon the God-Receiver. Because of the relative scantiness of chanting material in Greek, there appeared the need for new chants for the Divine services. In the earliest Christian times, the angelic hymn «Glory to God in the highest» (the so-called Gloria) was composed, based on the description of their singing in the Gospel, the martyr Athenagor writes the hymn «O Gladsome Light,» and then the Church starts to be filled abundantly with the inspired creations of great church chant-writers. All these church creations unfailingly used the language, images and thoughts of the Holy Scripture. The law, which we established at the beginning of this essay: the preparation for the encounter and acceptance of the Son of God, which took place in both the historical and liturgical process, but primarily through the Holy Scripture, – this law remains valid. The works of the church chant-writers, both internally and externally, are tightly connected to the Holy Scriptures. Partly this connection is dictated by the very content of the Divine service. Vespers consists of chanting and the reading of Psalms, which later began to be mixed with chanting of the so-called sticheras, i.e. chants, which are devoted to the celebrated feast, and with readings from parts of the Old Testament books, the so-called paremias. Consequently, more than half of vespers consists of Old Testament material, and new chants are composed in the language of the Holy Scripture, i.e. the language of the Septuagint. The same can be said about matins, the first half of which also consists of chants and the reading of psalms, and the second half – of singing the so-called Old Testament chants. Nowadays, instead of chanting and reading, this second half is made up of so-called canons, which were originally composed in the form of commentaries to the words of the Old Testament songs. This alone determines the Biblical character of the content and language of the canons. Matins ends with the ancient Christian hymn «Glory to God in the highest.» |
| The birthplace of monasticism is Egypt, and the father and founder was St. Anthony the Great. St. Anthony established eremeti-cal monasticism, a discipline in which each monk lived separately from the others in a hut or cave, giving himself over to fasting, prayer, and labor to support himself and the poor by plaiting baskets and rope. All were placed under one leader or elder, called an abba or father, for guidance. During St. Anthony’s lifetime another form of monastic life also began to develop. The ascetics gathered into one community where each would work according to his strength and talents for the general welfare, and all were subject to one rule. Such communities were called coenobia or monasteries. The abbots of monasteries began to be called abbots or archimandrites. The founder of communal monasticism is considered to be Pachomius the Great. From Egypt monasticism quickly spread into Asia, Palestine, Syria and finally to Europe. In Russia monasticism came almost simultaneously with the acceptance of Christianity. The founders of monasticism in Russia were Sts. Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev-Caves monastery. Large monasteries with many hundreds of monastics came to be called lavras. Each monastery had its order of life, its rule or monastic typikon. Every monk was obliged to fulfill various tasks which, according to the typikon, were called obediences. Monastics can be either male or female, both having exactly the same rules. Women’s monasteries (convents) have existed from ancient times. Those who desire to enter the monastic life must first undergo a trial period to test their strength before they give irrevocable vows. Those undergoing this preparatory testing are called novices. If after a long testing period they prove capable of becoming monastics, then they are partially garbed in the robes of a monastic with the initial service of profession. At this stage they are called rassophore monks having the right to wear the rasa and kamilavka, so that they might still be more confirmed upon their chosen path to become full monks or nuns. |
| The Synodal Residence in New York hosts the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Source: ROCOR Photo: synod.com On Tuesday, 13 September, 2022, the members of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, led by His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany, celebrated Divine Liturgy at the Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady “of the Sign” in New York City. At the end of divine services, the archpastors performed a moleben for the opening of the Council, invoking the Holy Spirit to help in their work. Attending the Council of Bishops were Metropolitan Mark; His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of Western America and New York; His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada; His Eminence Archbishop Peter of Chicago and Mid-America; His Grace Bishop John of Caracas and South America; His Grace Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe; His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan; His Grace Bishop Theodosius of Seattle; His Grace Bishop Luke of Syracuse; His Grace Bishop Alexander of Vevey and His Grace Bishop Job of Stuttgart. His Grace Bishop George of Canberra participated electronically. After a trapeza luncheon in the large hall of the Synodal Residence, the Council of Bishops opened. During his keynote address, Metropolitan Mark noted: “In very difficult circumstances, we must proceed to elect a new First Hierarch. We are in need of a calm hand to steer the ship of our Church in a storm-tossed sea. For this we require first of all genuine collegiality, through which, after exhaustive deliberation, we will make decisions in the spirit of conciliarity.” Archbishop Kyrill was then elected Vice Chairman, and elected as Secretaries of the Council were Bishop Nicholas, Bishop Theodosius and Bishop Job. Elected as members of the Counting Committee were Bishop Irenei and Bishop Luke. Then, after commemorating the reposed Primates of the Russian Church Abroad in the Cathedral, the hierarchs commenced electing a new First Hierarch. First to vote was Metropolitan Mark, followed by the other members of the Council of Bishops. Having heard the second round of voting, the archpastors exclaimed “Axios” [“he is worthy”] for Bishop Nicholas, after which litanies “for our Master Bishop Nicholas, Elected Primate of the Russian Church Abroad,” followed by the singing of “Many Years.” |
| Participating in the discussion on the theme on the agenda are archpastors, clergy and laity - members of the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission; representatives of theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church; faculty of higher education institutions, clergy from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and guests from Local Orthodox Churches. Among those present are Patriarchal Vicar of the Metropolis of Moscow Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna; chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Dionisy of Voskresensk; Metropolitan Isidor of Smolensk and Dorogobuzh, Metropolitan Ambrose of Tver and Kashin; DECR vice-chairman Archbishop Leonid of Vladikavkaz and Alania; Archbishop Matfey of Yegoryevsk; Archbishop Aksiy of Podolsk and Lubertsy; Bishop Nikolay of Balashikha and Orekhovo-Zuevo; rector of Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary Bishop Feodorit of Zvenigorod; deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate Bishop Savva of Zelenograd; chairman of the Synodal Department for Youth Bishop Seraphim of Istra; Bishop Peter of Lukhovtsy; Bishop Feofilakt of Mytishchi; head of the Moscow Patriarchate Administrative Secretariat Bishop Foma of Odintsovo and Krasnogorsk; rector of St. Petersburg Theological Academy and Seminary Bishop Siluan of Petergof; Bishops Foma of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov, Constantine of Zaraisk, Paramon of Naro-Fominsk, Porfiry of Ezersk, Roman of Serpukhov. Taking part in the conference remotely are Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Slutsk, Metropolitan Alexander of Riga and All Latvia; Metropolitan Nikoloz of Akhalkalaki and Kumurdo (Georgian Orthodox Church); hierarchs of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus - Metropolitan Nikiforos of Kykkos and Tillyria and Metropolitan Isaiah of Tamassos and Oreini, Metropolitan Augustine of Belaya Tserkov and Boguslavsk, Metropolitan Sergiy of Voronezh and Liski, Metropolitan Andrew of Gori and Ateni (Georgian Orthodox Church), chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monkhood Metropolitan Feognost of Kashira; Metropolitan George of Nizhniy Novgorod and Arzamas; Metropolitan Zinovy of Saransk and Mordovia; Archbishop Seraphim of Kaliningrad and Baltijsk, administrator of the diocese of Berlin and Germany Archbishop Tikhon of Ruza, Archbishop Theodosius of Sebastia (Orthodox Church of Jerusalem), Bishop Irinej of Bac (Serbian Orthodox Church), rector of Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary Bishop Silvestr of Belgorod, Bishop Seraphim of Bobruisk and Bykhov; Bishop Veniamin of Romanovo-Borisoglebsk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law-Enforcement Bishop Savvaty of Bronnitsy; Bishops Mitrofan of Gatchina and Luga, Augustine of Gorodetz and Vetluga, Anthony of Grodno and Volovysk, and Herman of Sochi and Tuapse. |
|
|
