Home       Faith       News and Politics      About This Site      E-mail     Guestbook

Saving Medicine for the Whole Church

In Russia a reader chants the hours in front of the iconostasis (screen in front of the altar)

What you are listening to: Богородице Дево, радуйся, the Hail Mary in Slavonic (liturgical Russian), by Father Deacon Z. Trubachyov

Introduction • Explaining Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism to each other

Left: The author venerates a relic at an Orthodox church:
Mediæval Christendom lives.

LTHOUGH the Schism between East and West was tragic and probably preventable, it seems that God providentially has spared the Eastern Churches, including the Byzantine Rite ones of the Orthodox tradition and communion, from many of the mistakes and their consequences that have beset the West, from Eucharistic heresies (from Berengarius to the Protestants – there never have been any heresies about the Blessed Sacrament in the East) and the rise of ‘man-centred’ rationalism to its fruits, from the Renaissance (revival of pagan thought) and the rise of private judgement (resulting in the Protestant heresies or ‘Reformation’) to their logical results, ‘Enlightenment’ deism and today’s secular humanism. Might there be some cracks in the foundation of Western thought that caused these problems? Fr Seraphim (Rose) (1934-1982), an Orthodox monk, explained much of this in his writings. While one may not necessarily criticise Latin Christianity as harshly as many Orthodox (perpetuating the Schism), it seems that the living, sanctifying tradition of Orthodoxy offers the healing medicine the West needs to restore it: a holistic view of Tradition including liturgy, icons and a strong monastic life. (As good as the Roman Mass but with a mystical ‘kick’ all its own.)

The East views the Bible, ecumenical councils, liturgy and icons as integral parts of an indivisible whole, Holy Tradition. Thus liturgy and iconography, for example, are not seen as only teaching tools or worse, ‘decoration’ that can be thrown away. Rather, they are sacramental POINTS OF CONTACT between God and man, made directly possible through God the Son’s becoming man. An Eastern church has been described as ‘heaven on earth’, and that is exactly what it is: a place where heaven and earth meet.

Дорогие друзья! Добро пожаловать! Есть Бог, Единосущний в Трех Ипостасех, и Иисус Христос Бог. Он сказал, “аз (я) с вами есмь во вся дни, до скончания века: аминь.” (Мат. 28.20) Поэтому, основал Кафолическую (соборную, для всех людей) Церковь с специальным служением апостолов и их преемников, чтобы увековечить Его присутствие с нами в тайнствах и быть Его безошибочным голосом к миру. Церковь старшее чем Нового Завета (компилуемый епископами в Соборе Картаг, в 397 г.), и Символ Веры (“Верую”), написано Церковью, тоже старшее чем этой книги. Эта веб-страница — мой подарок вам, чтобы преподавать о вашей родной религиозной традиции византийского обряда. Возможно, что список ссылк не необходим сегодня в эпохе Гугла или Яндекса, но я надеюсь, что наслаждайтеся этим участком и находите это полезным. Мир вам! ‘O strange Orthodox Church, so poor and so weak, at the same time so traditional and yet so free, so archaic and yet so alive, so ritualistic and yet so personally mystical, Church where the pearl of great price of the Gospel is preciously preserved, sometimes beneath a layer of dust — Church that has so often proved incapable of action, yet which knows, as no other, how to sing the joy of Easter.’ – Fr Lev (Gillet), ‘A Monk of the Eastern Church’

There’s something about Mary What Eastern Orthodoxy believes The one Eastern Orthodox dogma about Our Lady is the teaching of the Council of Ephesus that she is the Mother of God, giving birth to true God and true man united in the person (hypostasis) of Christ. Also mentioned at one of the councils, Chalcedon, but not as a dogma with an anathema attached for rejecting it, is the belief that she is ever-virgin (that she gave birth to Christ but never had sex and never had any other children). Orthodox believe she is sinless/immaculate but don’t explain how, and also believe she died (falling asleep or dormition) but that her body was taken up into heaven afterwards (her bodily Assumption). And finally, like all the saints, she prays for us and we can ask her prayers. Jesus saves; Mary prays.   Christianity in the East venerates Mary with the same profound fervour as in the West. This is true of both Catholics of the Eastern rites and Christians not united with Rome, commonly called the Greek Orthodox. ‘The Cult of Mary… has its strongest roots in the early church of the east. The great Marian feast days derive from the eastern liturgies. The Greek fathers produced the first literary documents of Marian devotion. From Eastern artists came the most ancient treasures venerated in Roman shrines.’ From the popular cult of the east came the custom of keeping a picture of Mary in Catholic homes. Mary’s first recorded apparition was to St Gregory of Nazianzen. Her first popular shrines were in Caesarea, Edessa, Lydda and Mount Athos... This cult of Mary remains strong today… among the [Orthodox] churches. (America, National Catholic Weekly Review). — Zsolt Aradi, ‘Our Lady in Russia’, Shrines to Our Lady, pages 201-209, Farrar, Straus and Young, 1954

LINKS

Long lists of links are redundant in the age of Google but I hope you find these useful!

• A brief introduction
• Explaining Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism to each other: a FAQ/Q&A
• Who is Orthodox?
• The Divine Liturgy (Mass)
• The Horologion (Office)
• The Jordanville Prayer Book
  The gold standard of Russian Orthodox prayer books
• Service Book
  The first translation into English of Russian Orthodox services, by Isabel Florence Hapgood. With the blessing of St Tikhon. A classic. Especially enjoyable if you like your liturgical English with an Anglican flavour, as Mrs Hapgood was an Episcopalian and the book uses Miles Coverdale’s translations of the psalms. Read it online and download it as a PDF for free! Google Books preview.
• The Orthodox Church
  By Bishop Kallistos (Timothy Ware): a bit liberal in places (he fudges on contraception) but other than that a valuable and widely used catechetical and academic introduction to the faith.
• Orthodox Dogmatic Theology
  By Fr Michael Pomazansky
• Photo album
• A holy man
  Between the two extremes of assimilating into the modern mainstream and sectarianism... now we’re talking!
• Fasting
• Western Rite Orthodoxy
• Wikipedia on Orthodoxy
• An example of prayer at home
• A Syrian family’s story
• Under an Orthodox heaven: a collection of thoughts pro and con
• 700 years of Ruthenian history in 30 seconds
• Jokes

Please support this site by buying these books through the links here.

• Holy Bible: Original 1611 King James Version
  The favourite and best English translation for this rite as it has all of the Old Testament books (including those that Protestants consider parts of the Apocrypha)
• The Jordanville Prayer Book
• Chl’ib Duši
  By Fr Alexander Duchnovich. A 1996 reprint of a 1930s Orthodox edition of an 1800s Slav Greek Catholic classic.
• Old Rite Orthodox Prayer Book
  The prayers of the Russian Old Believers, in Slavonic and English on facing pages. A beautiful book, especially if you know Russian. Similar to standard Russian Orthodox usage but longer and more elaborate.
• Byzantine Daily Worship
  Melkite Greek Catholic, but following the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch
• The Orthodox Eastern Church
  By Dr Adrian Fortescue. Google Books preview.
• The Orthodox Church
• Orthodox Dogmatic Theology
• Law of God
  By Fr Serafim Slobodskoi. Recommended to this site by a Russian-American visitor, this is the ‘mother of all Russian Orthodox catechisms’.
  
• The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite
  By the Revd Canon Hugh Wybrew
  
• Grammar of the Church Slavonic Language
  By Archbishop Alypy, translated by Archpriest John Shaw. Learn the liturgical language of the Russian Orthodox Church.
• Russian Piety
  By Nicholas Arseniev: a well-written, balanced, short book about Russian Orthodox thought and culture, from a representative of the ‘Paris school’ of theology

Afterword

Top       Faith       News and Politics      About This Site      E-mail     Guestbook

Конец и Богу слава: The end, and to God be the glory.