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[German Version] Greek ἔξαρχος, leader, was originally a military rank (officer) in the Roman Empire. In the time of Justinian I, the exarch commanded a major, exposed army unit. From the 6th century onward, exarchs in the western Byzantine Empire were the military-administrative governors of a region called an exarchate (Ravenna…

[German Version] I. Early Church and Middle Ages – II. Protestantism (Germany) – III. Roman Catholic Church after Trent – IV. Orthodox Church – V. Non-Catholic Churches outside Germany I. Early Church and Middle Ages The New Testament contains scattered statements about the personal qualifications required of someone holding ministerial office in the church (e.g. 1 Tim 3:2–13; Tit 1:6–9) but says nothing about their training. Since the gospel implies understanding and address persons, the question of the theological education and…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Piety (recently often also “spirituality”) is understood, first, as the forms of expression of lived religiosity; research in this area is particularly the subject of folklore studies and church history for the idividual, secondly, piety has to do with particular qualities of feeling, such as reverence, with which the psychology of religion (Gruehn, Sundén) is concerned. Objective and subjective components are combined in various ways in the historical developme…

[German Version] from the Greek ἀρχιμανδρίτης, literally, leader of a flock, is translated from the Syriac Riš-dayra. Originally (4th cent.) a designation for the abbot of a Syrian monastery, the Greek term Archimandrite spread throughout the entire Christian East. From the 6th century, the Archimandrite was the leader of an important monastery, and from the 11th…

[German Version] (baptized Anastasiu; Jan 1, 1809, Miskolc – Jun 28, 1873, Sibiu/Herrmanstadt). Saguna, born to an Aromanian merchant family, studied law and philosophy in Pest and attended the Serbian Orthodox seminary in Vršac. A monk since 1833, he was ordained priest in 1837 and consecrated bishop of the Orthodox Romanians in Transylvania in 1848 in Sremski Karlovci. In 1864 he became the first archbishop of the autonomous Romanian Orthodox metropolitanate in Hungary. He created an independent…

[German Version] from the Greek ἀρχιδιάκονος, is the leader of the deacons in an episcopal see. The archdeacon is attested in East and West from the 4th and 5th centuries on. He is appointed by the bishop and serves as his assistant in the liturgy, in the administration of the diocese, in questions of church discipline, and in care for the poor. The archdeacon re…

[German Version] I. General 1. State. The name of the state of Romania (România) is derived from (Daco-)Romanian, which because of its Latin origin belongs to the Romance branch of languages. The modern state of Romania, with its capital Bucharest (Bucureşti), arose after 1859 to the north of the Danube through successive unification and secession of six relatively independent provinces inhabited by a majority of Romanians and by other ethnic groups. The principalities of Moldova and Wallachia, united…

[German Version] I. General Peasant liberation is a collective term for a variety of measures taken between 1777 and 1817 to break up the traditional lifelong bonds of seigniory and serfdom; they gave the peasants personal freedom, eliminating socage and domestic service, abolishing the hereditary subserviency that tied the peasant to the land and transforming a portion of the estate cultivated under feudal tenancy into the private property of the peasants. At the same ¶ time, these measures freed the lord of the estate from his obligation to protect the formerly subservient peasants. I…

[German Version] , Gk ʾΑκάθιστος ῞Υμνος, “not sitting,” i.e. a song of praise and thanksgiving to the mother of God, sung standing, that lauds the mystery of the incarnation of God. The original Akathistos Hymn contained a proemium and 24 alphabetical strophes that ended alternately with the refrain χαῖρε, νύμφη ἀνὐμφευτε ( chaire, nýmphē anýmpheute) or ʾΑλληλούϊα ( Allēlouia). The Akathistos Hymn was apparently composed anonymously in the 5th/6th or 7th century in the Christian East as a kontakio…

[German Version] I. European Christian Churches – II. Churches Worldwide – III. Islam I. European Christian Churches 1. Catholic Church A division of the church into clergy and laity does not coincide with New Testament evidence. The designation “laity” derives from laikós, the adjective form of λαός/ laós, “people.” In the Septuagint (LXX), this term describes the people of Israel in contrast to the (pagan) nations. In all important passages in the NT, it describes the people of God consisting of believers and dis…

[German Version] (also Triumph of the Cross). The liturgical observance of the Exaltation of the Cross, still celebrated in the Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church on Sep 14, goes back to the veneration of the relics (II, 3) of the cross after the “finding ¶ of the true cross” ( inventio verae crucis) at Calvary in the 4th century. The Itinerarium of the pilgrim Egeria (c. 384) describes an annual feast on Sep 14 in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Anastasis), commemorating the finding and exaltation of the cross at Golgotha. In the l…

[German Version] (Gk ὑποδιάκοvος). In the liturgical hierarchy (II, 2) of the Orthodox Church, the subdeacon stands in fourth place: in first place stands the bishop (III, 2); then follow priest/presbyter (Priesthood: III, 2), deacon (VII), subdeacon ( Ipodiakon), reader, psalm singer, baptized laypersons, and, finally, catechumens. The subdeacon assists the bishop serving at the altar in a particular manner. He receives the Eucharist (Communion: III, 3), as do baptized laypersons, before the iconostasis (wall of images). In the worship service today, the subdeacon wears the stoi…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Christianity – III. Judaism I. Religious Studies 1. General Clothing fulfills the need for ornamentation and presentation, protection against the weather, and, in certain cases, magic. Appearance and materials follow climatic conditions, economic and technical capabilities (sewing, weaving, etc.), social or fashion conventions, and can be specified according to function (professional attire) or situation (festal attire). Clothing increases the complexity of the optical appearance of its ¶ wearer. It visualizes and makes m…

[German Version] Walachia, region in southern Romania divided by the Olt into Greater Walachia (Muntenia) and Lesser Walachia (Oltenia). An extension of the Eurasian Steppe, until well into the modern era Walachia was settled by various steppe peoples. In the context of the Danube Bulgarian Empire (Bulgaria), historical sources also mention Orthodox Vlachs/Walachians (Romanians) in Walachia, canonically under Ochrid or Târnovo. In the 12th century, pagan Cumans ruled Walachia; they were evangelize…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Church History – III. Dogmatics – IV. Practical Theology – V. North America – VI. Missiology I. Religious Studies Generally speaking, the term laity (from Gk λαος/ laós, “people”) denotes adherents of a religious tradition who do not act as religious specialists or function within a defined socio-religious class (Priesthood, Monasticism). The use of the term is therefore inappropriate in religions without religious specialists, for example Islam. In some religions, the laity, who…

[German Version] A hierodeacon (Gk ἱεροδιάκονος) is an Orthodox monk (Monasticism: III) who officiates as deacon (VII) during the liturgy of the hours (IV) and the regular liturgy (VI). The number of deacons consecrated as hierodeacons or as hieromonks is limited, because only as many receive ordination (II) as are absolutely necessary for the conduct of the religious service in the monastery church. Like the priest-monks, the deacon-monks hold no elevated rank in the monastery, except during worship…

[German Version] “Ektenia” is derived from Gk ἐκτενής/ ektenḗs, lit. “outstretched, unceasing, fervent” (cf. ¶ Acts 12:5). In Orthodox worship, it designates the intercessions that are sung in antiphonous alternation, in the form of a litany. The deacon (Diaconate: VII) stands in the nave of the church with his (right) hand outstretched, and recites the petitions, whereupon the worshipers or the chorus respond with Kyrie eleison or “Grant [this], O Lord.” The Orthodox liturgy, the hourly prayers as well as other…

[German Version] Užgorod (Czech Užhorod, Hung. Ungvár), in western Ukraine, belonged politically to the kingdom of Hungary from the Middle Ages to 1918; it went to Czechoslovakia in 1919 but was returned to Hungary in 1940. It was in the Soviet Union after 1945 and has been in independent Ukraine since 1991. In the conflict between Habsburg pressure for Catholic union and the pressure of the Reformed local rulers of Transylvania for conversion, on Apr 23, 1646, 63 priests of the Orthodox diocese o…

[German Version] I. Early Church – II. Middle Ages – III. Reformation – IV. Modern Period – V. Present – VI. Practical Theology I. Early Church The church polity projected and in part realized in early Christianity is one of the most significant institutional inventions of Late Antiquity. Since it has survived into the present, with many modifications and variations, it also represents an element of continuity between the ancient world and the modern world. Church polity as used here means all the institutions affecting the external organization of early Ch…

[German Version] I. Auxiliary Bishop – II. Chorbishop – III. Regional Bishop – IV. Suffragan Bishop – V. Titular Bishop – VI. Vicar Bishop I. Auxiliary Bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop appointed at the request of a diocesan bishop to assist him in administration of the diocese. His rights, duties, and official functions are defined by canon law ( CIC cc. 403–411) and his letter of appointment. An auxiliary bishop is a member of the Bishops' Conference. Unlike a coadjutor, an auxiliary bishop does not have the right of succession. Wilhelm Rees Bibliography J. Listl, “Koadjutor-…