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[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Judaism – IV. Early Christianity – V. Church History – VI. Liturgical and Practical Aspects I. Religious Studies The words “feast” and “festival” (cf. fête, festa, fiesta, Fest, etc.) derive from the Latin festus ( dies). They refer to the calendar and also evoke the notion of the divine: a feast day is a special day set aside and dedicated to a certain supernatural being. “Feast” or “festival” can therefore be understood as synonyms for religious celebrations. To speak,…

[German Version] In the Byzantine and Armenian liturgies (Liturgy: VI), the Cherubim Hymn or Cherubikon is sung at the Great Entrance, when the eucharistic gifts are brought to the altar from the table of oblations: “We, who mystically represent the Cherubim, And chant the thrice-holy hymn to the Life-giving Trinity, Let us set aside the cares of life That we may receive the King of all, Who comes invisibly escorted by the Divine Hosts. Alleluia, alleluia, allelu…

[German Version] (Gk παροιμίαι/ paroimíai) are the Old Testament lections of the Orthodox Liturgy of the Hours (IV). While the usual Sunday Vespers does not include lections, on the eves of feasts of Christ, the Theotokos, and saints, up to three paroemia are generally read, which often interpret OT events as types of the saving events of the New Testament. On the eve of Christmas eight paroemia are read, on Epiphany 13, and on Holy Saturday 15. On feasts of the apostles, they are replaced with readings from the Apostolos. OT par­oemia are also read during morning worship (II, 7) on…

[German Version] (Dec 6, 1863, Kičmengskij Gorodok, Vologda province – Mar 18, 1937, Sofia) was professor of New Testament at St. Petersburg Spiritual Academy from 1894 to 1918, at the University of Petrograd in 1918, and at the Theological Institute there from 1919 to 1921. As professor.of New Testament in Sofia from 1923, Glubokovsky was involved in the formation of the ecumenical movement (Stockholm, 1925). His highly knowledgeable publications in the field of biblical studies, notably with reg…

[German Version] I. Terminology The German word Gottesdienst (“worship,” lit. “service of God”) is attested since the 13th/14th century as a German translation of Latin cultus (Cult/Worship). It came into common use in the 16th century, especially in Luther’s works. Starting with an ethical understanding of the word, Luther himself used it as a technical term for the common celebration of the Word of God, as it evolved from the evangelical reform of the Catholic sacrifice (IV) of the mass. For centuries the term Gottesdienst remained limited to this specific form of worship of …

[German Version] I. Eastern Christianity – II. Western Christianity I. Eastern Christianity The prayerful remembrance of the deceased is regarded as a central praxis pietatis in all eastern Orthodox churches of the two, three, and seven ecumenical councils. All eastern liturgies include prayers for those who have died in the faith in the anaphora, that is in a central position in the service. In the Byzantine Divine Liturgy (VI), prosphora are offered from which pieces are taken in memory of the deceased and mixed with the eucharistic gifts after Communion to s…

[German Version] (Nov 20, 1860, Ilinsky Pogost, Russia – Jul 4, 1911, Sergiyev Posad, Russia). Golubchov was appointed lecturer at the Moscow Theological Academy in 1887; in 1893 he became professor of Christian archaeology and liturgics. Unlike earlier Russian liturgiologists, his historical criticism also bore on the history of doctrine: he noted the diminishing role of the laity in worship (II, 7) and changes in the understanding of the liturgy's sacrificial nature. Karl Christian Felmy Bibliography Obituary: Bogoslovskii vestnik, 7–8, 1911, 1–40 K.C. Felmy, Die Deutung der …

[German Version] I. History of Religion – II. Church History – III. Fundamental Theology – IV. Orthodox Law – V. Eastern Poetry – VI. Islam – VII. Buddhism – VIII. Taoism I. History of Religion The canon can be defined as a complex process of selection of documents regarded as authoritative; from the totality of the extant written tradition, documents are set apart according to certain criteria as holy or inspired (Inspiration/Theopneustia). Although the concept of the canon as a normative collection…

[German Version] (1601, Paris – Sep 23, 1653, Paris). As prior of the Dominican convent on Chios (1631–1637), in close interaction with the Greeks there, he began the study of Orthodox worship that he continued in Rome through contact with L. Allatius. The Euchologion (Liturgical books) he published in 1647 relied on the textus receptus published in Venice in 1638, which Goar supplemented with excerpts from older manuscripts (including the oldest Euchologion text in the Greek ¶ codex Barberini 336, 8th cent.) and from the liturgy commentaries of important Byzantine theolo…

[German Version] (Boris Georgievich Rotov; Oct 15, 1929, Frolovo, Rjazan’ region – Sep 5, 1978, Rome), metropolitan. In 1949 Nikodim became a monastic priest; in 1956, head of the spiritual mission in Jerusalem; in 1960, still with the rank of archimandrite, head of the ecclesiastical foreign office of the Russian Orthodox Church; in 1960, bishop; in 1961, archbishop; in 1963, metropolitan of Jaroslavl’, then of Minsk, and finally of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Novgorod. His unusually fast rise…

[German Version] I. Western Theology – II. Orthodox Theology – III. Present Ecumenical Discussion I. Western Theology 1. The Problem. In the churches of the West, the statement in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed that the Holy Spirit (Spirit/Holy Spirit: VI, 2) “proceeds from the Father” adds “and the Son” (Lat. filioque). The Orthodox churches rejected this addition (see II below). Although the Filioque clause was not directly responsi-¶ ble for the schism of 1054, it came to epitomize the alienation between the East and West. 2. History. Augustine was authoritative for t…

[German Version] (Ioann Sanin; 1439/ 1440, Jazvišče – 1515, Volokolamsk), Russian saint. First a monk in the monastery of St. Pafnuty in Borovsk, he founded the monastery in Volokolamsk in 1479. He consistently advocated the cenobitic (Cenobites) principle, with the idea that monastery property should be used for social and cultural activities, among others. Joseph and Nil Sorsky were not involved themselves in the bitter controversy between their followers over this principle. Joseph's emphasis o…

[German Version] I. Literature – II. Music – III. Orthodox Liturgy I. Literature Historically, the term ode (Gk ᾠδή/ ōdḗ, “song”; cf. the derivative lit. forms of the palinode, “poetic retraction,” and parody, “mock song/poem”) was increasingly reserved for a formal song or poem of exalted emotion ( carmen). Pindar (apart from four books of epinicia [victory songs], only frgms. extant) was the poetic muse of Horace (IV 2), whose four books of carmina ( odae), though little read in the Latin Middle Ages, provided a model for the Latin and vernacular strophic lyric poet…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Old Testament – III. Early Judaism – IV. New Testament – V. Church History – VI. Systematic Theology – VII. Practical Theology – VIII. Law – IX. Missiology I. Religious Studies Over the course of history, the word office has been used for a wide variety of functions. In every case, however, what is peculiar to the term is that it refers to an activity independent of the unique personal characteristics of the officeholder. In the context of religious studies, what first comes to mind is the office…

[German Version] I. Religio-Cultural Journals – II. Journals of Religious Studies – III. Christianity – IV. Judaism – V. Islam I. Religio-Cultural Journals During the second half of the 19th century, the publication of German-language journals experienced a tremendous upsurge. While the year 1890 saw the publication of 3,203 individual titles, the number had grown to 5,231 by the year 1900 and to 6,689 by 1914. Journals became the preferred medium in academia and culture. In the field of theology, the proportion …

[German Version] (in the Orthodox Church). In reference to 1 Cor 11:27–29, the Orthodox Church only allows laypersons to receive communion (Eucharist/Communion) after they have been given express pemission to do so, the latter usually (but not necessarily always) being granted in confession. In some places, a week of fasting and frequent attendance at worship are required. The minimum requirement for priests and laypersons, which may only be departed from in situ…

[German Version] The prothesis is the northern apse of a three-point sanctuary or a niche or table on the wall of the sanctuary. It derives architecturally from the northern pastophorium of Syrian churches. This is where the proskomide takes place. Since Byzantine liturgical commentaries interpret the proskomide as a mystical representation of Christ’s birth and sacrifice on the cross, the Christ-child is often represented on the diskos (in the form of the eucharistic deesis), in later use also Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. Karl Christian Felmy Bibliography G. Babič, “Les dis…

[German Version] (actually Ioann Ilʾič Sergiev; Oct 19, 1829, Sura – Dec 20, 1908, St. Petersburg). Already revered during his lifetime as a confessor gifted with insight and as a miracle-worker, he founded an important social and charitable ministry in Kronštadt grounded in a piety rooted in the divine liturgy (Worship: II, 7) and that led to the fostering of more frequent communion on the part of the laity. His sermons were highly regarded. The full theological value of his spiritual diary Moja žiznʾ vo Christe [My life in Christ] has still not been fully explored. His monarch…

[German Version] I. Early Church The title patriarch appears to have been first used by early Judaism (I), with reference to the both the ancestral biblical figures ( 4. Macc. 7.19; 16.25; T. 12 Patr.; Ber. 16b) and the religious leaders of the Romans’ Jewish subjects (Heb. nasi ), throughout the history of that central religious office. The first such patriarch was probably Judah ha-Nasi, during the Severan dynasty (193–235); Cod. Theod. XVI 8.29 (May 30, 429) records the excessus (“termination”) of the Jewish patriarchate. In Christianity, the Montanists (Montanism; cf. Jerome, Ep. 4…

[German Version] I. History The evening service of the Western churches in the the Liturgy of the Hours has been shaped by various traditions. Congregations gather for a liturgy of the Word in which certain Psalms are sung, Bible lessons are read, sermons are preached, and prayers are offered. Monastic communities include this service in their systematic recitation of the entire Psalter in course ( Psalterium currens). A tradition associated with house churches and cathedral churches adopted the practice of hailing the newly-lit lights of evening – among Chris…