Liturgy as Communion in theory and practice

This paper has been presented on the conference "Theology of Communion" in the monastery of Bose, Italy, October 20-23, 2014. I am a parish priest in Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and in this paper I'd like to highlight some questions about Orthodox liturgy and the dissonance between liturgy as it is fixed in its prayers and rubrics and its practical celebration. Let us look how liturgy is perceived by parishioners – people who attend it with varying degrees of frequency. It's no secret that…

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“The fast is for man, not man for the fast”

By Fr. Phillip Parfenov The “Minor Forty-Day Fast” This fast, as it is today in the Orthodox Church, became part of its tradition relatively late. The first mention of a fast preceeding the Nativity feast appears only at the end of the fourth century A.D. and its duration was not the same in different parts of the Christian world (the Armenian Church has preserved to this day a seven-day fast before Nativity and Theophany, which are united into one celebration). Only in 1166…

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“You’ve gone mad—creating a family without trying it out first?”

By Fr. Igor Prekup You sample, others sample you…soon there will be nowhere to place a stamp of approval and you’re still sampling each other? Such is the preliminary tasting. But in order to define the flavor, you must have prior experience, which means that the first trial cannot be the last—after all, to evaluate the merit you need something with which to compare…And not one out of two. In general, to find your own thing you need to refine your taste; or…

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Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, Essential Writings (REVIEW)

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, Essential Writings: Selected and Introduced by Gillian Crow (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010), 189 pp. Published Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, Vol. 52 (2011) Nos. 1-2, pp. 173-174. Gillian Crow is author of four books, two of which were reviewed in previous issues of this journal: This Holy Man: Impressions of Metropolitan Anthony and Orthodoxy for Today. In the present book, Crow continues to promote the thought of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (Anthony Bloom), the well-known leader…

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Gillian Crow, Orthodoxy for Today (review)

Gillian Crow, Orthodoxy for Today (London: SPCK, 2009), 160 pp. Gillian Crow, the biographer of the late Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh (Anthony Bloom), has in this new book followed a "Bloomian" line of argumentation. (Her earlier book was This Holy Man: Impressions of Metropolitan Anthony, published in 2006 by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press of Crestwood, New York.) Here she has tried to oppose the stereotype of Orthodoxy as an obscure and ossified artifact, stuck in the past and of no relevance to the…

Читати даліGillian Crow, Orthodoxy for Today (review)

On Formation of Jurisdictional Limits of Eastern Churches in 4-5th Centuries

Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, PhD Period of the 4-5th centuries was probably the most crucial in formation of different aspects of life in the Christian communities in both West and East. Needless to say how dramatic was the development in the Christian theology during this period. Not of less significance were the changes that the canonical discipline and jurisdictional limits of the local Churches underwent through these two centuries. In my paper, I will focus on the development of the structure of the Patriarchates…

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A Proposal for Renewing Liturgy in the Twenty-First Century

About three years ago, my grandfather, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest for over 50 years, gave me a book. The book was written by a Russian priest of the nineteenth century, and provides basic rubrics for clergy and choir directors in celebrating the liturgical year. When my grandfather handed me the book, he said, "this is for you: here is the liturgy of our Church, completely unchanged for 2,000 years."

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The First International Conference on The Spiritual Legacy of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Anthony Bloom is one of the most prominent Orthodox personalities of the twentieth century. He influenced not only Eastern Christians but also many others, especially Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Britain, Russia, and North America.

Читати даліThe First International Conference on The Spiritual Legacy of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Gillian Crow, This Holy Man: Impressions of Metropolitan Anthony (Review)

When I first picked up Gillian Crow's biography of Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, I was surprised at the title "This Holy Man." My surprise was twofold: first, it seemed to me a marketing mistake to use such a title insofar as many modern readers may likely dismiss with a smile or complaint any biography with the word "holy" in the title. The second source of my surprise was my own study of the metropolitan's life and works.

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CIRCULAR LETTER: The Manner of Reading the Prayers of the Divine Liturgy

The Sacred Synod of the Church of Greece desires to inform you, by way of this letter and through you and to "the whole glory of our Holy Church of Greece" the following, which relates to the manner of reading the prayers of the Divine Liturgy.

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Our ‘Post-ecclesiological’ Age

In the article its author argues that we live in a post-ecclesiological age due to our loss of sense of the local church belonging in a particular place. He also analyses the ways in which overlapping 'co-territorial' Churches define themselves by use of particular rites (Catholic), by confession (Protestant), or, in the case of the Orthodox, by ethnic origin.

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Why the Incarnation?

Every year, because we keep two calendars in this church, the feasts of Christmas and Theophany, or Epiphany, are somehow meshed together: we celebrate one after the other and one before the other. But it is important to remember that this overlap is not out of place.

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First international conference on the legacy of Metropolitan Anthony Moscow, 28-30 September 2007

A very striking feature of the event was its informality, which in itself is a rare thing in Russia, combined with an exceptional feeling of friendship, companionship, community - we were all there because we wanted to share our experience of following the teaching of a great man.

Читати даліFirst international conference on the legacy of Metropolitan Anthony Moscow, 28-30 September 2007

The Orthodox World Is Reconfigured According to the Political Events

From the book: Antoine Arjakovsky. Church, Culture, and Identity: Reflections on Orthodoxy in the Modern World. Lviv: Ukrainian Catholic University Press 2007.

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“Always everyone together for one and the same thing” – The Ecclesial and Sacramental Vision of Nicolas Afanasiev

The paper presented on the theological conference of Russian Orthodox Church 'Orthodox Teaching on the Sacraments of the Church', Moscow, November 2007.

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Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: “An inter-orthodox problem”

Interview by Robert Moynihan, "Inside the Vatican". "The absence of the Moscow Patriarchate from this stage of the work of the Mixed Commission, in my opinion, makes the whole work of the Commission problematic".

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Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church. Ecclesial Communion, Conciliarity and Authority

The first document adopted by the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Ravenna, 13 October 2007.

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St Herman of Alaska and the Kyivan Missionary Vision

Alaska was the final frontier of the vast expanse of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Like Siberia, it was a place to which Kyivan missionaries were sent to introduce Orthodoxy and Christianize the native peoples.

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