Search

[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] (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] (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] (c. 1360 – before 1427, Moscow), saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, the greatest Russian icon painter (Icons, fig. 3), and monk of the Andronikov Monastery in Moscow. In 1405 Rublyov was involved in painting the Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Moscow Kremlin and its iconostasis. In 1408 he participated in painting the frescoes of the Cathedral of St. Vladimir on the Klyazma and designing its iconostasis, as well as the Andronikov Monastery. The “Stoglavy” council in 1551 d…

[German Version] Peter, Metropolitan, metropolitan of Kiev and first metropolitan of Moscow (before 1275, Volhynia – Dec 21, 1326, Moscow). In 1308 Prince Yuri of Galicia is reported to have nominated Peter to Constantinople for appointment as metropolitan of Galicia, but he was appointed metropolitan of Kiev instead. His predecessor Maksim had transferred the seat of the metropolitanate from Kiev to Vladimir; to avoid the constant hostilities of the ruling grand dukes of Tver, Peter transferred t…

[German Version] actually a term coined by Western liturgics for worship during the night preceding major feasts. The frequent mention of nighttime watching and prayer in the New Testament (Matt 14:23; 26:41 par.; Acts 16:25; Col 4:2 etc.) gave rise to corresponding liturgical observances, if in fact they do not themselves reflect such practice. In the Early Church, Tertullian and others attest to the practice of assembling at night for prayer (Tert. Ad uxorem II 4.2). Cyprian of Carthage mentions nighttime prayer (Cyp. Dom. orat. 35). Chapter 41 of the Traditio apostolica spea…

[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…

[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] 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] I. Invocation – II. Epiclesis I. Invocation In order to get into touch with a given deity, one must know the procedure whereby one gets that deity's attention, how to get to the locus of its presence, and how to invoke an epiphany or visit the image representing it. There are also forms that are not necessarily tied to the deity's local presence, such as prayer, imprecation, …

[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. 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. 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] 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] I. History – II. Systematic Theology I. History The term “Mariology,” used to refer to theological interest in the Mother of Jesus Christ (Mary) − and to the systematic subdiscipline of dogmatics that developed out of this interest − first appeared in the title of the work Summa sacrae Mariologiae by Placido Nigido (Palermo 1602, 21623); the variant “Marialogy” was introduced by Vincent Contenson (see below) in 1669. Thereafter, the concept disappeared until the 19th century. The matter itself has, for christological reasons, been t…

[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…