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[German Version] I. New Testament – II. Dogma and the History of Dogma – III. Art History I. New Testament Christ's descent into hell, i.e. his descent to the underworld, the realm of the dead, is, as Descensus ad inferos, one of the christological statements of the early and medieval church's confession of faith (Apostles' Creed, Athanasian Creed; Confession (of faith): III). Nonetheless, the NT does not offer a single certain text for this notion; at most, 1 Pet 4:6 may be interpreted as preaching by Jesus to the dead, before his resurrection (cf. Ign. Magn. 9.2; Gos. Pet. 10.41f.; Iren. H…

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Technique and Material – III. Theological Basis – IV. History I. Terminology The word icon, from Gk εἰκών/ eikṓn (“image, likeness”), is usually associated with egg-tempera paintings on a primed wood panel, used in the cult of the Eastern Orthodox churches (i.e. the churches that have accepted the Council of Chalcedon, but also a few pre-Chalcedonian churches such as the Coptic [Copts] and ¶ Ethiopian Orthodox Churches). Pictures are called icons only if they authentically represent a kind of sacramen…

[German Version] I. Phenomenology – II. History – III. Dogmatics – IV. Practical Theology – V. Ethics – VI. Orthodox Church – VII. Judaism – VIII. Art History – IX. Asia, Africa, Latin America I. Phenomenology The term liturgy has been used for Christian worship since the end of the 16th century; by the end of the 18th century, it had gained general acceptance. In secular usage, Gk λειτουργία/ leitourgía means work done in public service (from λαός/ laós, “people” [Laity] and ἔργον/ érgon, “work”); the LXX used it for the temple cult. It appears only 15 times in the N…

[German Version] (Mar 11, 1856, Gouvernement Astrachan' – Aug 10, 1929, Leningrad) was the most important representative of Russian critical study of the liturgy. After training and teaching in the Kazan' Spiritual Academy, he was professor of liturgics ¶ and Christian archaeology at the Spiritual Academy of Kiev (1884–1907). His life's work was devoted to the sifting and editing of Greek and Slavic manuscripts of liturgical texts, leading to the three-volume “Description of the Liturgical Manuscripts Preserved in the Libraries of the Orthodox East” ( Opisanie liturgičes kich …

[German Version] The word panichida is based on the Greek παννυχίς/ pannychís (“all night [ sc. service]”); in the Russo-Slavic church, it refers to what the Greek church calls a parastas (from παράστασις/ parastasis), a memorial service. It is modeled on the structure of Matins (Orthros: Worship: II, 7). Very popular with Orthodox churchgoers, today it is a comparatively short (and often further abbreviated) memorial service for the liturgical commemoration of the dead (Memorials to the dead), leading up to a prayer to God for…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies and History of Philosophy The dogmatic definition of the Holy Spirit as a person within the one divine substance (Trinity/Doctrine of the Trinity) presupposes not only a particular philosophical context but also a religio-historical horizon. A formative influence on the conceptualization of the Holy Spirit was exercised by the various anthropomorphic interpretations of elemental anthropological or normative qualities in the context of polytheistic interpretations of …

[German Version] I. General Preaching (from Lat. praedicare, “proclaim publicly”) is spiritual or religious speech, in contrast, for example, to forensic speech, political speech, or celebratory speech. Its setting is the worship of the community (Ministerial offices), church activities such as evangelism, devotions (Devotion [Attitude]), and ordinations (Consecration/Ordination/Dedication), and – in various forms – the media (see IV below). ¶ Communication in preaching, reduced to its basic elements, can be represented as a triangle of the preacher, th…

[German Version] (born 1878, declared missing in the 1930s) was associate professor at the Clerical Academy of St. Petersburg from 1911 onward. As a liturgical scholar with a strict historical-critical orientation, he interpreted the early Christian Eucharist (Eucharist/Communion: III, 3) as in essence a sacrifice of prayer and praise. The Words of Institution and the epiclesis, on the other hand, he viewed as relatively late, albeit indisputably appropriate expansions of the original order. Karab…

[German Version] I. Catholic Theology – II. Orthodox Theology – III. Protestant Theology I. Catholic Theology The semantic field of mysterium in Catholic theology exhibits two characteristic poles; though they cannot be separated, there is some tension in their relationship. One pole is the dialectic of God's revelation and hiddenness in his action of revelation and salvation. This semantic pole has its roots in the biblical use of the term (esp. in the Pauline, deutero-Pauline, and trito-Pauline ¶ material), but it is still dominant in formal scholastic usage in the 1…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Survey of the Christian Confessions – IV. Systematic Theology I. Religious Studies For an overview of Christianity at the end of the second millennium of its development, it is reasonable to give a comparative presentation against the background of the world of religion. It must be remembered, however, that “religion” is not an immutable, ahistorical quantity: it is variable and controversial. The modern concept of religion is …

[German Version] is known as the author of a commentary on the liturgy that was probably written by Nicholas, his predecessor as bishop of Andida, prior to 1067 and merely revised by Theodore in the early 12th century. It was the first commentary to interpret the Divine Liturgy (Worship: II, 7) consistently as a representation of Jesus’ life, from his birth to his ascension. Karl Christian Felmy Bibliography R. Bornert, Les commentaires byzantins de la divine liturgie du VIIe au XVe siècle, 1966 P. Plank, LThK 3 IX, 2000, 1409.

[German Version] I. Church History – II. The Branches of Orthodoxy – III. Orthodoxy throughout the World – IV. History of Orthodox Theology I. Church History 1. Terminology. The term orthodox (cf. also Orthodoxy: I) goes back to Hellenistic Judaism. Flavius Josephus, for example, commends τὴν ὀρϑὴν δόξαν περὶ Θεοῦ/ tḗn orthḗn dóxan perí Theoú instead of Greek myths and reports that the Essenes viewed other Jews as ἑτερόδοξοι/ heteródoxoi ( Apion. II 256; Bell. II 129). ¶ This idiom passed into Christian usage in the 2nd century. The critical moment for its ecclesiastica…

[German Version] (Gk τὸ ζέον, “something hot, boiling”), hot water mixed with the consecrated wine immediately before communion in the Byzantine liturgy (VI), to warm it to the temperature of life-giving blood. The ceremony is one of the few that was never based on a practical need. First attested in Constantinople in 582, it was in use even earlier in the Syrian church. Nikolaos Kabasilas saw it as representing the descent of the Holy Spirit on the church. This interpretation (probably secondary) is based on the formula in the textus receptus of the Divine Liturgy that is recited wh…

[German Version] (Aug 16, 1812 Kostroma, Russia – Oct 11, 1875 Sergiyev Posa, Russia). In 1832 he became professor, in 1862 – without having taken monastic vows, as was usual at the time – rector of the Moscow Spiritual Academy, which under him blossomed and achieved highest rank among the Russian academies. Gorsky was the most important initiator of the historical school of Russian theology, which largely on the basis of his work adopted the critical methods of Western theology. His importance as…

[German Version] (Sep 16, 1754, Michailov – Apr 2, 1829, Rjazan'), Russian lay theologian, teacher of Hebrew and Greek, and, finally, lecturer with the rank of collegiate assessor. His most important work is the first Russian commentary on the divine liturgy (VI) on a historical-critical basis (still current at the end of the 20th cent.) with a marked, Catholic emphasis on the sacrificial character of the liturgy and a rich, always well-documented use of Western literature. The author revised the commentary a number of times, and it continues to be reprinted. Karl Christian Felmy Bibliog…

[German Version] (Boris Dorofeevich Jarushevich; Dec 31, 1891, Kovno – Dec 13, 1961, Moscow), Russian metropolitan. In 1922 Nikolai became bishop of Peterhof; in 1940, archbishop of Wolhynien and Luck; in 1941, metropolitan of Kiev; in 1944, metropolitan of Kruticy; in 1946, head of the church foreign office. Nikolai gave full support to Stalin’s foreign policy but worked domestically as an important popular preacher and defender of Orthodoxy. When support of Soviet policy under Nikita Khrushchev …

[German Version] I. General Russia (Russ. Rossiya) has been known by that name only since the early 18th century (Peter the Great). Previously the name Rus’ had been in common use; the earliest documents used it to designate both the land and its people. The origin of the term Rus’, a feminine singular noun, is disputed; etymologically it most likely derives from Finnish Ruotsi (“Sweden”). The historical and geographical heartland of Russia can be defined as the territory of the upper Dvina, the upper Volga, and the upper and middle Dnieper. The southern step…

[German Version] (Dec 1, 1861, Svyatoe Ozero, Ryazan’ Oblast – Nov 26, 1941, Irpen’), archpriest, professor of apologetics at the University of Kiev (not at a seminary). As one of the most creative theologians of the period of awakening prior to 1917 and the first among strictly academic theologians to oppose the ideas of A. Ritschl, he argued for discarding a onesidedly juridical doctrine of redemption; in later years, he sought to protect the doctrine from the opposite extreme of a purely subjec…

[German Version] I. Catholic The city church of Rome took over a pre-Christian field procession held on Apr 25 in honor of Rubigo, the feared divinity of cereal burning, probably in the 4th century; it was developed further under Gregory I. The procession ended at St. Peter’s, where the Eucharist was celebrated. This rogation was later given the name of litania maior, from the litany sung at it. It extended beyond Rome; in 470 it was mandated by Bishop Mamertus of Vienne because of the threat of a poor harvest, and rogationes or litaniae minores, prescribed for the whole of Gaul in 511, …

[German Version] I. Dogmatics In general, the term synergy denotes theological conceptions that consider spiritual or ethical cooperation of the human will with divine grace a causal factor in human salvation (Pelagius/Pelagians/Semi-Pelagians). The Reformers followed Augustine of Hippo in rejecting synergism, seeing justification based solely on God’s free grace ( sola gratia) as the only foundation of salvation. Despite the 1999 Joint Declarationon the Doctrine of Justification by the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation, it remains debatable whether an…