The Doctrine of the Orthodox Church: Worship & Sacraments
THE ROLE OF THE LITURGY
By its theological richness, spiritual significance, and variety, the
worship of the Orthodox Church represents one of the most significant
factors in this church's continuity and identity. It helps to account for
the survival of Christianity during the many centuries of Muslim rule in
the Middle East and the Balkans when the liturgy was the only source of
religious knowledge or experience. Since liturgical practice was
practically the only religious expression legally authorized in the former
Soviet Union, the continuous existence of Orthodox communities in the
region was also centred almost exclusively around the liturgy.
The concept that the church is most authentically itself when the
congregation of the faithful is gathered together in worship is a basic
expression of Eastern Christian experience. Without that concept it is
impossible to understand the fundamentals of church structure in
Orthodoxy, with the bishop functioning in his essential roles of teacher
and high priest in the liturgy. Similarly, the personal experience of
man's participation in divine life is understood in the framework of the
continuous liturgical action of the community.
According to many authorities, one of the reasons that helps to explain
why the Eastern liturgy has made a stronger impact on the Christian Church
than has its Western counterpart is that it has always been viewed as a
total experience, appealing simultaneously to the emotional, intellectual,
and aesthetic faculties of man. The liturgy includes a variety of models,
or symbols, using formal theological statements as well as bodily
perceptions and gestures (e.g., music, incense, prostrations) or the
visual arts. All are meant to convey the content of the Christian faith to
the educated and the noneducated alike. Participation in the liturgy
implies familiarity with its models, and many of them are conditioned by
the historical and cultural past of the church. Thus, the use of such an
elaborate and ancient liturgy presupposes catechetical preparation. It may
require an updating of the liturgical forms themselves. The Orthodox
Church recognizes that liturgical forms are changeable and that, since the
early church admitted a variety of liturgical traditions, such a variety
is also possible today. Thus, Orthodox communities with Western rites now
exist in western Europe and in the Americas.
The Orthodox Church, however, has always been conservative in
liturgical matters. This conservatism is due, in particular, to the
absence of a central ecclesiastical authority that could enforce reforms
and to the firm conviction of the church membership as a whole that the
liturgy is the main vehicle and experience of true Christian beliefs.
Consequently, reform of the liturgy is often considered as equivalent to a
reform of the faith itself. However inconvenient this conservatism may be,
the Orthodox liturgy has preserved many essential Christian values
transmitted directly from the experience of the early church.
Throughout the centuries, the Orthodox liturgy has been richly
embellished with cycles of hymns from a wide variety of sources. Byzantium
(where the present Orthodox liturgical rite took shape), while keeping
many biblical and early Christian elements, used the lavish resources of
patristic theology and Greek poetry, as well as some gestures of imperial
court ceremonial, in order to convey the realities of God's kingdom.
Normally, the content of the liturgy is directly accessible to the
faithful, because the Byzantine tradition is committed to the use of any
vernacular language in the liturgy. Translation of both Scriptures and
liturgy into various languages was undertaken by the medieval Byzantines,
as well as by modern Russian missionaries. Liturgical conservatism,
however, leads de facto to the preservation of antiquated languages. The
Byzantine Greek used in church services by the modern Greeks and the Old
Slavonic still preserved by all the Slavs are at least as distant from the
spoken languages as is the language of the King James Version—used in
many Protestant Churches—from modern English.
THE EUCHARISTIC LITURGIES
Two eucharistic liturgies are most generally used in Orthodox
worship—i.e., the so-called liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and of St.
Basil the Great. Both acquired their present shape by the 9th century, but
it is generally recognized that the wording of the eucharistic "canon" of
the liturgy of St. Basil goes back to the 4th century—i.e., to St. Basil
himself. The so-called Liturgy of St. James is used occasionally,
especially in Jerusalem. During the period of Lent, a service of
Communion, with elements (bread and wine) reserved from those consecrated
on the previous Sunday, is celebrated in connection with the evening
service of Vespers; it is called the "Liturgy of the Presanctified" and is
attributed to St. Gregory the Great.
The liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and of St. Basil differ only in
the text of the eucharistic canon: their overall structures, established
in the high Middle Ages, are identical.
These eucharistic liturgies begin with an elaborate rite of preparation
(proskomide). A priest on a separate "table of oblation" disposes on a
paten (plate) the particles of bread that will symbolize the assembly of
the saints, both living and dead, around Christ, the "Lamb of God." Then
follows the "Liturgy of the Catechumens," which begins with a processional
entrance of the priest into the sanctuary with the Gospel (Little
Entrance) and which includes the traditional Christian "liturgy of the
word"—i.e., the reading from the New Testament letters and the Gospels as
well as a sermon. This part of the liturgy ends with the expulsion of the
"catechumens," who, until they were baptized, were not admitted to the
sacramental part of the service. The "Liturgy of the Faithful" includes
another ceremonial procession of the priest into the sanctuary. He carries
the bread and wine from the table of oblations to the altar (Great
Entrance); the following recitation of the Nicene Creed, the eucharistic
canon, the Lord's Prayer, and Communion are—as in the West—the
characteristic parts of the Byzantine "Liturgy of the Faithful." The bread
used for the Eucharist is ordinary leavened bread; both elements (bread
and wine) are distributed with a special spoon (labis).
THE LITURGICAL CYCLES
One of the major characteristics of the Byzantine liturgical tradition
is the wealth and variety of hymnodical texts marking the various cycles
of the liturgical year. A special liturgical book contains the hymns for
each of the main cycles. The daily cycle includes the offices of
Hesperinos (Vespers), Apodeipnon (Compline), the midnight prayer, Orthros
(Matins), and the four canonical "hours"—i.e., offices to be said at the
"First" (6:00 AM), "Third" (9:00 AM), "Sixth" (12:00 noon), and "Ninth"
(3:00 PM) hours. The liturgical book covering the daily cycle is called
the Horologion ("The Book of Hours"). The Paschal (Easter) cycle is
centred on the "Feast of Feasts"—i.e., of Christ's Resurrection; it
includes the period of Great Fast (Lent), preceded by three Sundays of
preparation and the period of 50 days following Easter. The hymns of the
Lenten period are found in the Triodion (Three Odes), and those of the
Easter season in the Pentekostarion (called the "Flowery Triodion"). The
weekly cycle is the continuation of the Resurrection cycle found in the
Triodion and the Pentekostarion; each week following the Sunday after
Pentecost (50 days after Easter) possesses its own musical tone, or mode,
in accordance with which all the hymns of the week are sung. There are
eight tones whose composition is traditionally attributed to St. John of
Damascus (8th century). Each week is centred around Sunday, the day of
Christ's Resurrection.
The Easter and weekly cycles clearly dominate all offices of the entire
year and illustrate the absolute centrality of the Resurrection in the
Eastern understanding of the Christian message. The date of Easter, set at
the Council of Nicaea (325), is the first Sunday after the full moon
following the spring equinox. Differences between the East and West in
computing the date exist because the Orthodox Church uses the Julian
calendar for establishing the date of the equinox (hence a delay of 13
days) and also because of the tradition that Easter must necessarily
follow the Jewish Passover and must never precede it or coincide with it.
The yearly cycle includes the hymns for each of the 366 days of the
calendar year, with its feasts and daily commemoration of saints. They are
found in the 12 volumes of the Menaion ("Book of Months").
From the 6th to the 9th century the Byzantine Church experienced its
golden age of creativity in the writing of hymns by outstanding poets such
as John of Damascus. In more recent times hymn writing has generally
followed the accepted patterns set by these authors but rarely has it
reached the quality of its models. Since the Eastern Orthodox tradition
bans instrumental music, or accompaniment, the singing is always a
cappella, with only a few exceptions admitted by Westernized parishes in
America. The idea behind the ban is based upon the practice of worship in
the New Testament; i.e., only the natural aptitudes of the living
congregation are viewed as capable of expressing praise that is worthy of
God. In many Orthodox churches there is a wealth of new musical
compositions for liturgical texts.
THE SACRAMENTS
Contemporary Orthodox catechisms and textbooks all affirm that the
church recognizes seven mysteria, or "sacraments": Baptism, chrismation,
Communion, holy orders, penance, anointing of the sick (the "extreme
unction" of the medieval West), and marriage. Neither the liturgical book
called Euchologion (prayer book), which contains the texts of the
sacraments, nor the patristic tradition, however, formally limits the
number of sacraments; they do not distinguish clearly between the
"sacraments" and such acts as the blessing of water on Epiphany day or the
burial service or the service for the tonsuring of a monk that in the West
are called sacramentalia. In fact, no council recognized by the Orthodox
Church ever defined the number of sacraments; it is only through the
"Orthodox confessions" of the 17th century directed against the
Reformation that the number seven has been generally accepted. The
underlying sacramental theology of the Orthodox Church is based, however,
on the notion that the ecclesiastical community is the unique mysterion,
of which the various sacraments or sacramentalia are the normal
expressions.
In the West, since the Scholastic period (Middle Ages) and, especially,
since the Catholic Reformation (16th century), much emphasis has been
placed on the vicarious juridical power of the minister to administer the
sacraments validly. The Orthodox East, however, interprets each
sacramental act as a prayer of the entire ecclesiastical community, led by
the bishop or his representative, and also as a response of God, based
upon Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit upon the church. These two
aspects of the sacrament exclude both magic and legalism: they imply that
the Holy Spirit is given to free men and call for their responses. In the
mysterion of the church, the participation of men in God is effected
through their "cooperation" or "synergy"; to make this participation
possible once more is the goal of the incarnation.
Baptism and confirmation
Baptism is normally performed by triple immersion as a sign of the
death and Resurrection of Christ; thus, the rite appears essentially as a
gift of new life. It is immediately followed by confirmation, performed by
the priest who anoints the newly baptized Christian with "Holy Chrism"
(oil) blessed by the bishop. Baptized and confirmed children are admitted
to Holy Communion. By admitting children immediately after their Baptism
to both confirmation and Communion, the Eastern Christian tradition
maintains the positive meaning of Baptism—i.e., as the beginning of a new
life nourished by the Eucharist.
The Eucharist
There never has been, in the East, much speculation about the nature of
the eucharistic mystery. Both canons presently in use (that of St. Basil
and that of St. John Chrysostom) include the "words of institution" ("This
is my Body . . .," "This is my Blood . . ."), which are traditionally
considered in the West as the formula necessary for the validity of the
sacrament. In the East, however, the culminating point of the prayer is
not in the remembrance of Christ's act but in the invocation of the Holy
Spirit, which immediately follows: "Send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and
upon the Gifts here spread forth, and make this bread to be the precious
Body of Thy Christ... ." Thus, the central mystery of Christianity is
seen as being performed by the prayer of the church and through an
invocation of the Spirit. The nature of the mystery that occurs in the
bread and wine is signified by the term metabole ("sacramental change").
The Western term transubstantiation occurs only in some confessions of
faith after the 17th century.
Orders
The Orthodox Church recognizes three major orders: the diaconate, the
priesthood, and the episcopate (bishop), as well as the minor orders of
the lectorate and the subdiaconate. All the ordinations are performed by a
bishop and, normally, during the eucharistic liturgy. The consecration of
a bishop requires the participation of at least two or three bishops, as
well as an election by a canonical synod.
Penance
The sacrament of penance in the early church was a solemn and public
act of reconciliation, through which an excommunicated sinner was
readmitted into church membership. Historically it has evolved into a
private act of confession through which every Christian's membership in
the church is periodically renewed. In the Orthodox Church today there is
a certain variety in both the practice and the rite of penance. In the
churches of the Balkans and the Middle East, it fell into disuse during
the four centuries of Turkish occupation but is gradually being restored
today. In Greek-speaking churches only certain priests, especially
appointed by the bishop, have the right to hear confessions. In Russia, on
the contrary, confessions remained a standard practice that was generally
required before communion. General or group confession, introduced by John
of Kronshtadt, a Russian spiritual leader of the early 20th century, is
also occasionally practiced. The rite of confession in the Euchologion
retains the form of a prayer, or invocation, said by the priest for the
remission of the penitent's sins. In the Slavic ritual a Latin-inspired
and juridical form of personal absolution was introduced by Peter Mogila,
metropolitan of Kiev (17th century). Confession, in Orthodox practice, is
generally viewed as a form of spiritual healing rather than as a tribunal.
The relative lack of legalism reflects the Eastern patristic approach to
sin—i.e., as an internal passion and as an enslavement. The external
sinful acts—which alone can be legally tried—are only manifestations of
man's internal disease.
Anointing of the sick
Anointing of the sick is a form of healing by prayer. In the Greek
Church it is performed annually in church for the benefit of the entire
congregation on the evening of Holy Wednesday.
Marriage
Marriage is celebrated through a rite of crowning, performed with great
solemnity and signifying an eternal union, sacramentally "projected" into
the Kingdom of God. Orthodox theology of marriage insists on its
sacramental eternity rather than its legal indissolubility. Thus, second
marriages, in cases of either widowhood or divorce, are celebrated through
a subdued penitential rite, and men who have been married more than once
are not admitted to the priesthood. Remarriage after divorce is tolerated
on the basis of the possibility that the sacrament of marriage was not
originally received with the consciousness and responsibility that would
have made it fully effective; according to this view, remarriage can be a
second chance.
Webmaster Note: This page was retrieved from www.archive.org after
decani.yunet.com went defunct following the Kosovo conflict. This page was
originally created by monks at Decani Monastery in Kosovo. It has been
slightly edited for inclusion on this site. Abridged, from Callistos Ware,
The Orthodox Church, p. 12-16.
|