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Of Antiochian origin, “catholicos” is the title of some Orthodox or ancient Eastern archbishops (Bishop, Episcopate) who have supervision over scattered and relatively independent areas. Among the Jacobites in Persia, the term “maphrian” is also found. Where full autonomy is achieved or claimed, the title is associated with that of patriarch in the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the Assyrian Church of the East. It is used alone for the …

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1. Biblical Usage The LXX coined the Gk. word patriarchēs, which derives from patria (family, tribe). In the OT it may be used for any group leaders, but in the NT it refers specifically to Abraham (Heb. 7:4), the 12 sons of Jacob (Acts 7:8–9), and David (2:29). 2. Jewish History From the third century to the fifth, the nasi (prince), the head of the Tiberias Sanhedrin, was called patriarchēs in Greek documents. The office, which was a hereditary one in the family of the editor of the Mishnah, Judah ha-Nasi (d. ca. 220), lasted until after 415 and was recognized and supported by t…

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“Pentarchy” (lit. “the rule of five”) denotes the widespread theory in the Greek East that the five patriarchs of Rome, Constantinople (Byzantium), Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem are jointly responsible for oversight of the church (Church Government). These patriarchs occupy the seats that were given a special preeminence by the ecumenical councils of the fourth and fifth centuries. The theory is first found in the laws of Emperor Justinian (527–65). It was given fuller theological development by the theologians of the eighth and ninth centuries …

“Archimandrite” (from Greek roots meaning “head of a sheepfold [ mandra]”) refers to a dignitary ranking below a bishop. It was used from the 4th century for certain heads of monasteries (Orthodox or united with Rome). After the 6th century it was reserved for leaders of groups of monasteries and at first restricted to certain abbots. Since the 18th century the title has been conferred on other monks or unmarried priests only loosely connected to the monastic state (as a rhasophore, or novice), either in an honorary way or as a promotion on the way to the episcopal office. See Orthodox Church Pe…

[English Version] . 483/490 vom hl. Sabas in einem Ausläufer des Kidrontals 9 km südöstlich von Jerusalem gegründet als Laura, bestehend aus Einzelhöhlen im Fels mit einem Gemeinschaftskl…

[English Version] . Die beiden Brüder wurden um 775 als Söhne des Priesters Ionas in Palästina geboren. Wie ihr Vater wurden sie Mönche im Sabas-Kloster. Wohl von Patriarch Thomas I. von Jerusalem (807–820) auf die Reise geschickt, wurden sie in Konstantinopel festgehalten und gerieten in die Wirren des 815 unter Kaiser Leon V. (813–820) erneut aufgeflammten Bilderstreits (Bilderkult: VI.), in dessen Verlauf sie als erklärte Ikonodulen im Gesicht mit Spottversen tätowiert wurden (»γραπτ…

[English Version] . Am ersten Fastensonntag des Jahres 843 wurde der Bevölkerung von Konstantinopel feierlich kundgetan, daß die Häresie des Ikonoklasmus nach langen Kämpfen endgültig verurteilt und besiegt sei. Diese Proklamation ist in der orth. Kirche zur bleibenden jährlichen Feier geworden, die dem ersten Fastensonntag, der zuvor dem Gedächtnis des Mose und aller Propheten gewidmet gewesen war, den Charakte…

[English Version] (759 Konstantinopel – 11.11.826 Insel Prinkipon), Heiliger (Gedenktag 11.11.), prägender Reformer des monastischen und liturgischen Lebens, einflußreicher (Kirchen-)Politiker, fruchtbarer kirchl. Schriftsteller und Dichter. Höchsten Gesellschaftskreisen entstammend, wurde er wie Eltern, Geschwister und andere Verwandte 781 unter der Leitung seines Onkels Platon im Familiengut Sakkudion in Bithynien Mönch,…

[English Version] . Die mit der Bauernbefreiung durch Alexander II. 1862 greifende Gesellschaftsreform schuf auch in R. die Voraussetzungen für eine konsequent mit hist.-krit. Methoden arbeitende orth. Theol. (Orthodoxe Kirchen: IV.), die dem kulturellen Niveau und den Kapazitäten des Landes und seiner Kirche entsprechende Früchte zeitigte, bis durch die Oktoberrevolution 1917 das gesamte Leben der Kirche einschließlich ihrer theol. Reflexion gewaltsam unterdrückt wurde. Doch wäre es falsch, sich …

[English Version] Troparion, Bez. eines gesonderten Gesangs des byz.-orth. Gottesdienstes, dessen Herkunft und urspr. Bedeutung umstritten ist. Die Charakteristika des T., das als hymnographische Gattung formal nur schwer vom Sticheron und vom Kathisma abgrenzbar ist, haben im Lauf der Zeit merklichen Schwankungen unterlegen. Urspr. scheint ein T. …

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[English Version] vom Schwarzen Berg (um 1025 Konstantinopel – nach 1100 bei Antiochien), bedeutender Enzyklopädist und Kanonist des chalcedonischen Patriarchats von Antiochien. Nach einer militärischen Karriere in byz. Diensten Mönch auf dem »Schwarzen Berg« bei Antiochien und vom Patriarchat bestellter monastischer Lehrer. Als solcher sammelte und wertete er, nicht ohne krit. Sinn, in drei Werken, was ihm an rechtlichen, liturgischen und asketischen Überlieferungen genuin und normativ erschien (I: Erklärungen der Gebote des Herrn [῾Ερμηn̆ει˜αι τω˜n̆ ε᾿n̆τολω˜n̆ το…

[English Version] (Kasatkin; 1.8.1836 Berezovskij, Kreis Bel'sk – 3.2.1912 Tokyo), Begründer und erster Erzbf. der orth. Kirche Japans. 1860 Absolvent der Geistl. Akademie Sankt Petersburg (: II.), seit 1861 in Japan tätig, zuerst als Geistlicher des russ. Konsulats in Hakodate, nach Gewährung rel. Duldung 1873 als Missionar, seit 1880 als Bf., gelang ihm eine vorbildliche Inkulturation des orth. Kirchentums in die japanische Sprache und Mentalität. Es entstand eine Minderheitenkirche von ca.30 00…

[English Version] von Perm' (ca.1340 Velikij Ustjug – 26.4.1396 Moskau), bedeutender altruss. Missionar. Um 1365 Mönch im Kloster Gregorios des Theologen in Rostov Velikij. Dort erlernte er neben dem Griech. auch das Idiom der finnisch-ugrischen Syriänen (Komi), für die er ein eigenes Alphabet entwickelte und bibl. sowie liturgische Texte übersetzte. 1383 zum Bf. geweiht, konnte er so eine fruchtbare missionarische Tätigkeit unter ihnen entfalten. In seinem Mitschüler Epifanij dem Weisen fand S. ei…

[German Version] On the first Sunday in Lent in 843, after years of struggle, the population of Constantinople were solemnly informed that the heresy of iconoclasm had finally been condemned and defeated. In the Orthodox Church, this proclamation became the occasion of a permanent annual festival: the first Sunday in Lent, formerly dedicated to Moses and all the prophets, has been observed as the “Sunday of Orthodoxy” ever since. In all episcopal cathedrals, the Synodicon is recited on this day in a special rite: a lengthy doxology is followed by a renunciation of all…

[German Version] The pervasive social reform set in motion by Alexander II’s emancipation of the serfs in 1862 also created the conditions in Russia necessary for an Orthodox theology (Orthodox churches: IV) consistently using historical-critical methods. This new form of theology bore fruit consonant with the cultural level and the capacities of th…

[German Version] (Rumanian Cernăuţi, Russian Černovcy). After the incorporation of Bukovina into the Habsburg Empire in 1775, Czernowitz became the se…

[German Version] The pectoral cross represents a special development of the encolpion ( pectorale), otherwise usually rectangular or oval, which Christians as well as pagans and Jews used as an ornament in antiquity. Although long worn by other secular and religious notables, by the 12th century the encolpion and pectoral cross were becoming increasingly a mark of episcopal office. Since 1570 the pectoral cross has been part of the mandatory attire of bishops. Since the 18th century, priests in the Orthodox Church have been allowed to wear a pectoral cross (in the Russian church, all priests since 1896), so that today the encolpion, worn alone or alongside the pectoral cross, has become the distinctive mark of the Orthodox episcopate. A pectoral cross has always been worn by Anglican and Swedish Lutheran bishops; in recent year…

[German Version] Basically, liturgical vestments derive from the festal and official garb of antiquity; as secular fashions changed, they became the distinctive liturgical attire of the clergy and identified their various ranks (Clothing and vestments: II). All clergy wear an alb (sticharion), a full-length garment with sleeves. The stole (stola) serves as a mark of ordination; it is a strip of cloth worn over the left shoulder by deacons (orarion), over both shoulders by priests and bishops (epit…

[German Version] (c. 1025, Constantinople – after 1100, near Antioch), important encyclopedist and canonist of the Chalcedonian patriarchy of Antioch. After a military career in Byzantine service, Nikon was a monk on the “Black Mountain” near Antioch and a monastic teacher appointed by the patriarchate. In this role he gathered and critically evaluated in three works what seemed genuine and normative to him in legal, liturgical, and ascetic traditions (I: Explanations of the Commandments of the Lord [῾Ερμηνεῑαι τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ κυρίου], also called the Pandects; II: Little Boo…

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[German Version] Troparion, name of a special chant in Byzantine Orthodox worship; its origin and original meaning are disputed. Over the centuries, the characteristics of a troparion have been subject to considerable variation. As a hymnographic genre, a troparion is hard to distinguish formally from a sticheron and a kathisma. Originally a troparion appears to have been a s…

[German Version] In principle any language capable of supporting a literature is suitable as a liturgical language. All languages in which liturgy has been recorded in writing turn out to be potential literary languages or have become such through the translation of biblical and liturgical texts. Not unlike liturgical vestments, liturgical languages that differ significantly from languages in daily use, spoken or written, have arisen through the exclusion of the liturgical domain from processes of change and development, as well as from potential replacement of spoken idioms. The …

[German Version] The two brothers were born in Palestine c. 775 as sons of a priest named Jonas. Like their father, they became monks in the Sabas Monastery. Probably while traveling in the service of Patriarch Thomas I of Jerusalem (807–820), they were detained in Constantinople and became involved in the turmoil of the Iconoclastic controversy (Veneration of images: VI), which had flared up against in 815 under Emperor Leo V (813–820); in the course of it, as declared iconodules, they were forced to have their foreheads branded (γραπτοί/ g…

[German Version] The monastery was established between 483 and 490 by St. Sabas alongside the Kidron Valley nine km southeast of Jerusalem. It was founded as a laura, consisting of individual caves in the rock with a communal building as its center. Despite its deep involvement in the Origenist controversies, by the time of the Persian invasion in 614 it had already experienced an initial spiritual and intellectual flowering (Cyril of Scythopolis); it played an essential role in the development of…

[German Version] (759, Constantinople – Nov 11, 826, island of Prinkipo [modern Büyükada]) (feast day Nov 11), influential reformer of monastic and liturgical life, ecclesiastical politician, prolific writer and poet. His family moved in the highest social circles. Led by his uncle Platon, in 781 he along with his parents, siblings, and other family members turned the family estate of Sakkudion in Bithynia into a monastery; he was ordained to the priesthood in 787 and served as abbot after 794. In…

[German Version] (Aug 1, 1836, Berezovskij, district Bel’sk – Feb 3, 1912, Tokyo), founder and first archbishop of the Orthodox Church of Japan. In 1860 he graduated from the seminary in St. Petersburg (II); he worked in Japan from 1861, first as priest of the Russian consulate in Hakodate and, after the granting of religious tolerance in 1873, as missionary; from 1880, as bishop. He achieved an exemplary inculturation of the Orthodox Church in Japanese language and mentality. A minority church wa…

[German Version] (c. 1340, Veliky Ustyug – Apr 26, 1396, Moscow), important early Russian missionary. Around 1365 he entered the monastery of Gregory the Theologian in Rostov Velikhy. There besides Greek he learned the language of the Finno-Ugrian Zyrians (Komi), for whom he devised a new alphabet and translated biblical and liturgical texts. In 1383 he was consecrated bishop, so that he was able to conduct a successful missionary campaign among them. He found an outstanding biographer in his fellow student Epifany the Wise. Peter Plank Bibliography Source: Svjatitel’ Stefan Permsk…

[German Version] Until well into the 15th century, the term typicon, which in principle can mean any fixed order, was often used by founders of Orthodox monasteries to denote the structures and offices peculiar to their foundations. Since the 11th century, however, the term has been applied primarily to a collection of rubrics governing the course of worship throughout the year. Its beginnings can be traced back to the 7th century and the Sabas Monastery. From the 9th century on, the dominant typicon was …

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[German Version] (Strēnopoulos; Sep 15, 1872, Bithynia, Turkey – Jan 23, 1951, London), metropolitan of Thyateira with seat in London and a leading figure in the ecumenical movement. After attending the theological seminary at Chalkis and earning his doctorate in Leipzig, Germanos was appointed professor at Chalkis in 1904 and rector of the same in 1907, retaining his rectorship even after his consecration as bishop in 1912. In 1922, Patriarc…

[English Version] I.Katholisches Verständnis  Der Begriff P., in der röm.-kath. Umgangssprache für die Presbyterordination (Ordination: V.,1.) gebraucht, spiegelt ein bestimmtes, sazerdotales Verständnis des kirchl. Amtes (: VI.,3.) wider. Das christl. Priestertum hängt zunächst mit der Taufe (: IV.,1.) zusammen. Die postbaptismale Salbung ist das rituelle Zeichen für die Aufnahme in das priesterliche Gottesvolk durch Teilhabe am priesterlichen Amt Christi. Gerade in der röm. Tradition wird diese Salbung durchgehend auf …

[German Version] I. Western Church – II. Eastern Church I. Western Church From the very outset, celebration of the Lord's Supper (Eucharist/Communion: IV) required a cup for the wine and a dish for the bread (II). Initially simply chosen from whatever household utensils were availab…

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[German Version] I. Practical Theology – II. Orthodox Church I. Practical Theology Episcopal ordination is the rite whereby a person chosen as bishop receives his office (the legal aspect) and is empowered to exercise this (the spiritual aspect). After Vatican II, episcopal ordination in the Roman Catholic church was given a structure parallel to the ordination rites of deacons and …

[German Version] I. Western Hagiography – II. Eastern Hagiography – III. Medieval and Modern Judaism I. Western Hagiography Western hagiography, as a literature that has no scholarly purpose but serves to venerate saints, first followed Greek examples. Its most important genre, the lives of the saints, is shaped less by the panegyric biography of the martyr bishop Cyprian of Carthage, written by the deacon Pontius (2nd half of 3rd cent. ce), than by the vitaes of the desert father Anthony of Padua, written by Athanasius (with two Latin translations), and of Martin …

[German Version] I. General Background and History – II. Practical Theology – III. Orthodox Church I. General Background and History The church year – like church art, architecture, etc. – is one of the great cultural products of the Christian faith. It attempts to give cultural form to the gospel by means of the human perception of time. It thus stands alongside other attempts to cultivate the experience and perception of tim…

[English Version] I. Begrifflichkeit In bes. Maße ist die Trinitätstheol. gekennzeichnet durch ein spannungsvolles Ineinander von bibl.-narrativer und philos.-spekulativer Sprache. Der Ausdruck trinitas begegnet erstmals bei Tertullian (Prax. 2,1–4) als Übers. des griech. τρια´ς/triás (urspr. »Dreiheit«). Im Dt. haben sich neben dem Fremdwort »T.« die Begriffe »Dreieinigkeit« und »Dreifaltigkeit« etabliert. Für die Benennung der göttlichen Einheit (Gott: V.,1.) haben die Auseinandersetzungen des 4.Jh. den aus der antiken Philos. stammenden Terminus ου᾿σι´α/ousía …

[English Version] I. Historisch Das Gebet »zu jeder Zeit« entspricht dem Glauben an einen Gott, der Herr jeder Zeit und alle Zeit gleich nahe ist. Die Alte Kirche verblieb bei der Praxis Israels, bereicherte aber bald das mit Gebetszeiten verbundene anamnetische Gedenken der Heilstaten Gottes (Rettung am Morgen, Bewahren der Schöpfung am Abend) durch das Gedenken von mit Tagzeiten verbundenen Widerfahrnissen des Heils im Leben des Herrn und der Apostel. Noch in der Spätantike entwickelte sich die k…

[English Version] I. Religionswissenschaftlich R. bez. die Überreste (lat. reliquiae, »Zurückgebliebenes«) kraftgeladener Menschen (Krieger, Häuptlinge, Zauberer, Heroen, Propheten, Märtyrer, Heilige [Heilige/Heiligenverehrung]), ihrer Körper, Kleidungsstücke und Gebrauchsgegenstände. Ihre Verehrung gründet auf dem Glauben, daß diese Kräfte über das Grab hinaus dauerhaft wirksam sind, mit dem Ziel, dieser Macht oder des Segens teilhaftig zu werden durch Errichten von Gebäuden über dem Grab, Aufstellen von Kerzen und Blumen, Prozessionen, Berührung, Kuß oder Bestattung in der Nähe. Weiters gibt es Berührungs-R., das sind Gegenstände, die mit R. in Verbindung gekommen sind (z.B. Staub vom Grab, Öl). Der Besitz von R. legitimiert Herrscher, fördert die Verbreitung von Rel. (z.B. Buddhismus durch König Aśoka in Indien, Christentum durch Kaiser Konstantin), ist ein Wirtschaftsfaktor im Pilgerwesen bzw. auch Kriegsgrund. In manchen Rel. ist entgegen offizieller Lehre Reliquienverehrung (Rv.) in der rel. Praxis vorhanden. So wurden im Judentum trotz Bestimmungen zur Verunreinigung mit Toten (Lev 21; Num 19) die Gräber atl. Personen Ziel von Wallfahrten, im Islam werden bes. R. Muḥammads und Gräber isl. Heiliger verehrt. Barthaare des Propheten werden in Gefäßen in vielen Moscheen gezeigt, meist nur an bestimmten Festtagen, z.T. nicht den Frauen und Nicht-Muslimen, Abbildungen seiner Sandalen als Amulette gegen den bösen Blick verwendet, Steine mit dem Fußabdruck (Felsendom in Jerusalem) v.a. in der indo-musl. Tradition verehrt. Der Hinduismus hat weniger aufgrund der Vorstellung von Reinkarnation als von Unreinheit (rein und unrein) keinen Reliquienkult, sondern praktiziert die totale Vernichtung des Körpers durch Verbrennen. Ausgeprägte Rv. zeigen Christentum (Zurückhaltung allerdings im Protestantismus) und Buddhismus. Bei letzterem beginnt sie mit der Verehrung der Asche Buddhas, die unter acht adelige Familien verteilt worden sein soll und in Reliquienbehältern (stūpa) aufbewahrt wurde. Urspr. dienten Stupas bzw. Pagoden als Orte der Rv., allerdings schließt deren Vielzahl inzw. die Echtheit vieler darin aufbewahrter R. aus. Unecht ist die große Zahn-R. Buddhas in Kandy (Sri Lanka), die Shwedagon-Pagode in Rangoon (Birma) enthält acht Haare. Weiters finden sich R. wie Fußabdrücke und Kleidungsteile. Im tibetischen Buddhismus werden R. verschiedener Dalai Lamas verehr…

[English Version] I. ReligionswissenschaftlichEtym. leitet sich der Begriff »Priester« vom griech. πρεσβυ´τερος/presby´teros, »der Ältere«, her; er bez. ganz allg. einen rel. Funktionsträger, insbes. den für den Kult zuständigen Experten. Dem zugrundeliegenden griech. Wort kommt diese Bedeutung urspr. nicht zu. Nach einem zweiten Bedeutungsstrang verwaltet der Priester (grie

[German Version] I. History – II. Liturgical Practice – III. Catholicism – IV. Orthodox Church – V. Protestantism – VI. Music I. History Praying “at all times” reflects belief in a God who is always present as Lord of every time and all time. The Early Church continued the practice of Israel, but soon enriched the anamnestic remembrance of God's saving work at certain times (deliverance in the morning, preservation of the creation in the evening) with the remembrance of experiences of salvation in the life of the Lord and the lives of the apostles associated with the hours of the day. In Late Antiquity there had already evolved what was to remain the basic structure of the liturgy of the hours: seven day hours – Matins (later called Lauds), Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers (also called Lucernarium), Compline – plus the night offices (Vigil). Congregations and ascetic groups developed differing emphases, especially in the use of the Psalms: in the churches selected psalms during morning and evening worship, among monastics course reading of the …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Israel – III. Christianity I. Religious Studies The term comes from the Lat. “altare,” which is derived from “adolere,” “burn” (thus already Sextus Pompeius Festus, De verborum significatione, v. 14: …

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Etymologically the term priest derives from Greek πρεσβύτερος/ presbýteros, “elder”; it denotes a religious functionary, especially an expert responsible for the cult. The Greek word did not originally have this meaning. A second semantic strand puts a priest (Gk ἱερεύς/ hiereús, Lat. sacerdos) in charge of things that are sacred (Sacred and profane). The characteristics that comparative religion usually associates with priesthood are often transferred globally from Christianity, especially Roman Cathol…

[German Version] I. Old Testament – II. Judaism – III. New Testament – IV. Early Church – V. Patriarchates – VI. Islam – VII. Religious and Political Situation Today – VIII. Archaeology I. Old Testament Jerusalem (ירושׁלם/ yerûšālēm, MT yerûšālayim) was founded c. 1800 bce as a fortified town in the central Palestinian uplands at a strategic point for transportation between northern and southern Palestine. Outside the Bible, the name appears from the 18th century on …

[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics and Canon Law – IV. Missiology I. New Testament The NT contains no evidence of the episcopate in the traditional Catholic sense (a single bishop at the apex of a hierarchical clerical ministry functioning as head of a Christian community), but it does use the word ἐπίσκοπος ( epískopos; the etymological source of bishop) for functionaries and officials exercising oversight in the community (Acts 20:28; Phil 1:1; 1 Tim 3:1–7; Tit 1:7–9). For the primitive church, it is therefore better ¶ to speak of episkopoi rathe…

[German Version] ¶ I. Terminology To an unusual degree, the theology of the Trinity is characterized by a strained combination of narrative biblical language and speculative philosophical language. The word trinitas was first used by Tertullian ( Prax. 2.1–4), as a translation of Greek τριάς/ triás (orig. “threeness”). To denote the divine unity (God: V, 1), the 4th-century debates showed that the term οὐσία/ ousí (“Essence”; see also Divine essence) borrowed from Greek philosophy was theologically legitimate. The term ὑπόστασις/ hypóstasis (Hypostasis) was sometimes used i…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Relics are the remains (Lat. reliquiae) of individuals endowed with power, such as warriors, chiefs, sorcerers, heroes, prophets, martyrs, and saints – their bodies, their clothing, or objects they have used. Veneration of relics reflects the belief that these forces continue beyond the grave; the intent is to benefit from this power or blessing by erecting structures over the grave, lighting candles or leaving flowers, processions, touching or kissing, or burial near…