January 28, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: bishops, Bolshevik Revolution, canon law, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Christianity, church, Church canons, church history, church polity, College of Cardinals, Communism, early Christianity, early church, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Church, Eastern church history, Eastern church polity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Great Patriotic War, history of Christianity, Latin Church, Latin Rite, locum tenens, locum tenentes, martyrdom, martyrs, Moscow Patriarchate, Orthodox bishops, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox church history, Orthodox Church polity, Orthodox patriarchates, Orthodox patriarchs, orthodoxy, papacy, Patriarch of Moscow, Patriarch of Russia, Patriarchate of Moscow, Pope of Rome, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Russian church, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodoxy, Russian patriarchate, sede vacante, Soviet Union, spiritual guidance, spirituality, St. Peter of Krutitsy, St. Tikhon of Moscow, theology, USSR, Vatican, World War 2, World War II, World War Two
It’s being noted in news coverage that Moscow Patriarch-elect KYRILL was “Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne” since shortly after the repose of Patriarch ALEXEI. This concept is not unknown in Western Christianity … in fact, locum tenens is the traditional Latin-language term whose Greek or Slavonic counterpart I do not know, but seems commonly [...]
January 27, 2009 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: bishops, Byzantine theology, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Christianity, church councils, church elections, church governance, church jurisdiction, church organization, church patriarchs, church polity, church primates, church unity, collaborative ministry, collegiality, conciliarism, conciliarity, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern patriarchs, eastern religion, Eastern theology, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, episcopacy, episcopal churches, first among equals, Greek Church, Greek Orthodox, greek orthodox church, Greek Orthodoxy, High Church, High Churches, holy tradition, honorary seniority, icons, ikons, Metropolitan Kyrill, miracles, miraculous icons, modern church councils, Moscow Patriarchate, myrrh, myrrh-streaming icons, national churches, Orthodox bishops, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, Orthodox church councils, Orthodox Church polity, Orthodox Churches, Orthodox theology, Orthodox Tradition, orthodoxy, papacy, papal claims, Patriarch of Alexandria, Patriarch of the West, patriarchal election, patriarchal structures, Patriarchate of Alexandria, Patriarchate of Moscow, Patriarchate of Russia, patriarchs, Petrine ministry, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope of Alexandria, primacy, primates, religion, religious icons, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodoxy, Russian patriarchate, sobornost, synodal church government, synodality, theology
if you’ll permit me, I’ll start off by saying that an Orthodox Patriarch is not normally a “little Pope” whose word is law among those whose Patriarch he is.
June 18, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: agape, Andrew Greeley, apologetics, charity, Christianity, church history, community, conversion, doctrine, dogma, early church, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, established church, established religion, establishment, evangelism, evangelization, friendship evangelism, Greeks, Hellenism, Hellenistic world, Hellenization, Jewish Christians, Jews, Judaism, Latter Day Saints, LDS Church, love, martyrdom, Mormonism, Mormons, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, paganism, pagans, Providence, religion, religious free market, Rodney Stark, Roman Empire, seminaries, service, social change, sociology, sociology of religion, statistics, theology, urban ministry, urban mission, women's issues
What follows is extracted from this blog post I know nothing else about, which is why I’m giving you what I got out of it here instead of sending you there to try and pinpoint it. The book-author discussed, Rodney Stark, a sociologist (and BTW, according to Wikipedia he’s not “a Mormon fanatic” as one of [...]
June 11, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christian spirituality, Christianity, Church Fathers, church history, deification, Divinization, Early Christian Writers, Early Church Fathers, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, Evangelicalism, Fathers of the Church, glorification, heartland, kansas, Middle America, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, Patristics, Protestantism, religion, Roman Catholicism, salvation, spiritual guidance, spirituality, theology, Theosis, wichita
Says an Antiochian Orthodox bookstore owner in Wichita, Kansas,* in this 2002 Publishers Weekly roundup / preview of then-new Orthodox books entering the mainstream book market (in English in the United States).
(*–For the record, home of 5 Orthodox churches, visible at orthodoxyinamerica.org.)
March 22, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: 2 Cor 5:17, Apocalypse 21:5, deification, devotions, Divine Energies, Divinization, doctrine, Eastern Orthodoxy, hell, II Cor 5:17, Incarnation, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, prayer, Rev 21:5, Revelation 21:5, Revelations 21:5, salvation, theology, Theosis, Uncreated Light, worship
An Akathist (sometimes spelled Akafist or Acathistos, etc.) is a poetic or quasi-poetic devotional service dedicated to a Saint or God Himself, or themed around a Feast day, a need being prayed for, possibly other things. It’s divided into stanzas, each of which is called an Ekos (Ikos, Oikos) or a Kontakion. Several times during the [...]
March 15, 2008 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: art, basilicas, Blessed Mother, cathedrals, Catholicism, Christianity, deification, Divine Light, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, glorification, iconoclasm, iconography, icons, images, Italy, Mary, miracles, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, painting, religion, Roman Catholicism, Rome, saints, salvation, theology, Theosis, Theotokos, Uncreated Light, Western Orthodoxy
Italy’s former Orthodoxy is attested by the ancient icons and Greek icon-style murals and mosaics to be found in many old Latin churches there to this day. Rome itself has at least one icon said to have been painted by St. Luke the Evangelist (like a few in Orthodox hands, or rather, graced to Orthodox [...]
From Russian-born U.S. theologian Fr. Georges Florovsky:
“Tradition is not a principle striving to restore the past, using the past as a criterion for the present. Such a conception of tradition is rejected by history itself and by the consciousness of the Orthodox Church… Tradition is the constant abiding of the Spirit and not only the [...]
September 24, 2007 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Catholic Church, Catholicism, catholicity, Christianity, church history, church polity, conciliarism, conciliarity, doctrine, Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, ecclesiology, local church, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, papacy, Philip Sherrard, pope, prelest, Protestantism, Quakerism, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, Russia, sobornost, spirituality, theology, Uniates, Uniatism, Uniats, Western Christianity
The blogger from the previous post, Mr. Brooks Lampe in the Washington, DC, area, here tackles some heavy stuff, without it coming across too heavy! He’s reporting and reflecting mostly on a book by Philip Sherrard, whose writing can be extremely dense – well-planned, well-packed, making for downright oppressive reading, like much philosophy can be [...]
I offer this one from Fr. Stephen Freeman not because I get it, but because I don’t get all of it. Let me ponder it….
November 17, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: deliberation, Eastern Orthodoxy, Fathers of the Church, feast days, gender, iconography, icons, liturgy, OCA, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church in America, orthodoxy, Patristics, relationships, saints, sex, theology, women, women in the church, women saints
What follows is an extended quote (from pp. 9-10) from Women and Men in the Church, a 1980 work/study by a committee of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). I’m still wrestling with all its implications, myself, but thought I’d offer it here as an example of an Orthodox approach to questions and issues:
Sacraments and [...]
October 28, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Catholicism, Christianity, church history, conciliarism, conciliarity, contraception, deaconesses, divorce, Eastern Orthodoxy, economic justice, Fathers of the Church, first among equals, Liberal Catholicism, liberalism, liturgy, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox mission, papacy, Patristics, pope, progressive, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, sobornost, social justice, spirituality, theology
(Polished and expanded a little on 18 January 2008.)
How can Orthodoxy possibly dovetail with liberal Roman Catholicism?
Collegiality and conciliarity; no Papal Infallibility. While the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has some very supportive supporters, he’s really not supposed to be a worldwide ecclesiastical autocrat, merely “first among equals” among the bishops of the Orthodox Church, permanent [...]
July 22, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: ascesis, asceticism, askesis, deification, Divine Energies, Divine Energy, Divinization, doctrine, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, empirical theology, experimental theology, glorification, John 7:17, Orthodox Christianity, purification, salvation, theology, Theosis, virtue
John 7:17 (NKJV):
If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or [whether] I speak on My own [authority.]
Here was discussed the fact that those who experience Energetic Union with God/Glorification perceive fundamental o/Orthodox Christian teachings therein. Now John 7:17 seems to reinforce that testimony. If [...]
July 16, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Bible, Christianity, deification, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, forgiveness, glorification, Hebrew Scriptures, Job, Job 42:7, Job 42:7-8, Old Testament, Old Testament Church, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, philosophy, philosophy of religion, religion, salvation, Scripture, spirituality, theology, Theosis
See Job 42:7-8 (NAB):
…the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and with your two friends; for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job. Now, therefore, take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up a holocaust for yourselves; and [...]
July 6, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: Christianity, creed, creeds, Divinization, Eastern Christianity, Eastern Orthodoxy, filioque, glorification, Jesus Christ, John Romanides, nicene creed, Orthodox Christianity, orthodoxy, religion, Romanity, salvation, spirituality, theology, Theosis, Trinity
(UPDATED 4 August 2008, clarifying about the Son and Spirit proceeding eternally [ie, Their "existence"] only from the Father, ie, no Filioque in the true experience of God’s Glory.)
From Prophet of Roman Orthodoxy: The Theology of John Romanides, by Andrew J. Sopko, Dewdney, BC, Canada: Synaxis, 1998, pages 41-42:
Lest glorification/divinization be equated with a mystical [...]
July 1, 2005 in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Tags: apostolic succession, Bible, Catholicism, Christendom, Christianity, church history, churches, conciliarism, conciliarity, Divinization, Eastern Orthodoxy, first among equals, glorification, Great Schism, Holy Spirit, infallibility, John 16:13, Matthew 18:18, Matthew 6:13-19, Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox Church, orthodoxy, papacy, patriarchates, pope, religion, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Rome, salvation, Scripture, sobornost, spirituality, St. Peter, theology, Theosis, Western Christendom, Western Christianity, Western Church
Yesterday was the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Apostles. The Gospel reading for Divine Liturgy was Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, Matthew 16:13-19 (here, from the NAB).
13
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14
They replied, “Some say [...]
