"Sermon" is a word that everyone hears, but no one knows what it really means. In the minds of most people, this term is associated with the promotion or popularization of any religious doctrines and ideas. In general, this is so. However, this concept has many different shades, which it would be nice to understand for a person living in a polyreligious country. So what is a sermon? We will try to deal with this in this article.
Exact definition
In fact, there is no single answer to the question of what a sermon is. This concept is very broad, and it is impossible to give one capacious, specific definition. In itself, a religious way of life is already a sermon, and therefore it is impossible to separate the life of a believer from his promises to the outside world. In the narrow sense of the word, a sermon is a speech aimed at conveying to the addressee some idea of a religious nature. This understanding is the most common, but in fact it is only one of the facets of the term. Below we will trydeal with all of them, but first let's turn to the etymology.
Origin of the concept
To understand what a sermon is, we will be helped by the Old Church Slavonic language, in which this term is used in three main meanings. The first is the sermon itself, that is, the dissemination of religious ideas. The second is a prediction, a prophecy. The third is petition. The word is formed from the root "Veda", meaning "to know", "to know" and ascending to the Proto-Indo-European language. The term "sermon" translates into Russian many concepts from the Greek and Hebrew languages used in the Bible. Therefore, it is possible to speak about the exact meaning of the word only taking into account the context.
Kerygma
First and most important to our culture is the concept of kerygma as the basic religious sermon. Christian missionaries of the first centuries, spreading their teachings, called the epistle in this way, which in a concise and generalized form contained the foundations of faith without deepening into dogmatics and a mystery component. As a rule, the kerygma included the announcement of the death and resurrection of the messenger of God, Jesus Christ. Her goal was to interest the non-Christian and bring him to Christianity.
Message
God's preaching as some kind of special message, news (often good or good) is also a characteristic, almost technical term of the New Testament. It is based on the Greek term "angelo" - "notify". It should be noted that in the form of the good news ("gospel") it was often left without translation.
Speech
Two Greek words "lego" and "laleo", which mean "to speak", "pronounce", can also be translated as "sermon". This becomes possible when it is a speech dedicated to God, or a word inspired by God.
Invocation, testimony
Public speech, which means the Greek word "parisiasome", can also have the character of a sermon. Christian apostles and evangelists often testified of their faith in the squares and city forums, which was customary during the time of the Roman Empire.
Other synonyms
There are other concepts in the Bible that are translated into Russian and Slavonic as “sermon”. It can be an inventory, a story, and even a witness statement. However, these are isolated cases, and it makes no sense to analyze them in detail.
Oral Sermon
If we analyze religious, including Orthodox, sermons, then usually we are talking about oral teachings. In this case, again, various forms are possible. In part, they intersect with those that we have described above. The main forms of such a message are messages, prophecies, teachings and agitations.
Message
Orthodox sermons (and not only Orthodox), which are in the nature of messages, are intended to convey to the listener a certain amount of information. This is a kind of training, which can be of a different nature, depending on who the addressee is - an unbeliever or an already believer and church person. In any case, the purpose of such a sermon is to arouse interest inproduct of spiritual culture.
Prophecy
What is prophetic preaching is difficult to say, if we discard the definition, which can be translated as "God inspired". From a religious point of view, such speech is not a product of the human mind. The latter only puts into words the message put into it from above, for the content of which he is not responsible. The purpose of such a sermon is to point people to their true position in the context of any situation and to proclaim God's will for them. Sometimes this sermon may contain elements of prediction. The prophet does not speak on his own behalf, he is an intermediary between the divine power and the addressee. Literally Greek "profit" (prophet) means "caller". His task is to convey to people what God wants and expects from them, to call them to action for the sake of obedience to the higher will. But the prophet is only an intermediary, he does not aim to convince anyone. In addition, such a preacher does not have the right to proclaim what he wants, what he thinks is right, unless he receives permission from above.
Teaching
This format is also called didascalia (from the Greek "didaskal" - "teacher"). Instruction is, for example, the sermon of the patriarch or other clergyman after the divine service. It is aimed at already believers and aims to maintain their religious interest, lifestyle and spiritual practice, recalling already known things and explaining certain aspects of them.
Campaign
This is missionary preaching to the fullest. Mainlyit is directed at unbelieving people in order to convert them to their faith. Sometimes, however, the target audience of such a sermon may consist of quite accomplished religious people when it is necessary to involve them in any business. So, for example, in the Middle Ages, bishops agitated their flock to mobilize for the crusades. In the same way, Protestant preachers engage their parishioners in paying tithing, and some Orthodox pastors in the war against Jews, Freemasons and the LGBT community. In all cases, the purpose of an agitational sermon is to induce listeners to some specific activity.
Other types of preaching
In a broader sense of the word, a sermon can be understood as a kind of written work or musical creativity. In addition, iconography and the material component of spiritual culture in general are often regarded as a form of religious proclamation. As already mentioned, the very way of life of a person can serve as a sermon. After all, even death can testify to faith and have missionary significance, as was the case with the martyrs.
