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[German Version] In the Orthodox Church, the artophorion is a vessel in which the Eucharist is kept for the communion of the sick and the liturgy of the presanctified. It has the form of a church resting on the altar, or less commonly that of a dove hanging above the altar. Smaller artophoria are used to bring communion to the sick. Although the reservation of the Eucharist is attested as early as the 3rd century, pyxes made especially for that purpose do not appear until after the turn of the millennium. Karl C. Felmy Bibliography G. Sotiriou, “᾽Αρτοφόριον,” TEE I, 1962, 296f. K. Nikol'skii, Poso…

[German Version] (Fr. Jean; Feb 17, 1926, Neuilly-sur-Seine – Jul 22, 1992, Montréal). Born into a noble Baltic family, John Meyendorff became protopresbyter of the Orthodox Church of America. He was educated at the Institut St. Serge and the Sorbonne in Paris, and was appointed professor of patristics and church history at St. Vladimir's Seminary (New York). Together with G. Florovsky and A. Schmemann, he personified the flourishing years of this academy and served as its dean from 1984 to 1992. H…

[German Version] In the Orthodox Church, steeped in Byzantine tradition, the liturgy of St. Basil is used only ten times each year. Until the 11th/12th century, however, it was the principal liturgy of Constantinople, to which the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (Chrysostom, Liturgy of St. John), which later became the principal liturgy, was adapted. Coptic…

[German Version] I. Terminology Ecumenical discussion (Ecumenicalism), in particular, assumes that the term “apostolic succession” refers to an original and clearly defined characteristic of the church office. However, the notion that the notae ecclesiae indicate an unbroken chain, going back to the apostles, of officeholders who have each come into office through the laying-on of hands by another legitimate officeholder, appeared only relatively late and is not the original meaning of the underlying Greek and Latin semantic field. The Greek and Latin terms διαδοχή/ diadochḗ/…

[German Version] (Gk ἀναφορά, “offering”) is a term for the Eucharist as a whole, but more specifically the eucharistic prayer, usually addressed to the first hypostasis of the Trinity, more rarely to the second; its basic structure goes back to Jewish table prayers. The earliest extant anaphora is found in the Traditio Apostolica . Since the 4th century, fixed types have developed, each with a different sequence of basic elements (preface, …