What is the Orthodox Church?

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

It is not uncommon to hear the expression "Greek Catholic Orthodox Orthodox Church". This raises many questions. How can an Orthodox Church be Catholic at the same time? Or does the word "catholic" mean something completely different? The term "orthodox" is also not entirely clear. It is also applied to Jews who carefully adhere to the prescriptions of the Torah in their lives, and even to secular ideologies. For example, you can hear the expression "orthodox Marxist." At the same time, in English and other Western languages, "Orthodox Church" is synonymous with "Orthodox". What is the secret here? We will try to clear up the ambiguities associated with the orthodox (orthodox) church in this article. But for this you need to first clearly define the terms.

Orthodoxy and orthopraxy

Jesus told His disciples: “He who shares My commandments and lives according to them, I will liken to a reasonablethe man who built the house on the rock. And the one who shares the commandments, but does not fulfill them, I will liken to a foolish man who builds a dwelling on the sand” (Matt. 7:24-26). What does this phrase have to do with orthodoxy and orthopraxy? Both terms contain the Greek word orthos. It means "correct, straight, right". Now consider the difference between orthodoxy and orthopraxy.

The Greek word doxa means "opinion, teaching". And “praxia” corresponds to the Russian term “practice, activity”. In light of this, it becomes clear that orthodoxy means correct doctrine. But is this enough? Those who listen to and share the teachings of Christ can be called orthodox. But in the early church, the emphasis was not on the correctness of the doctrine, but on the observance of the commandments - "righteous living." However, at the end of the third century, a canon, a religious dogma, began to be created. The Orthodox Church began to put at the forefront precisely the division of the correct doctrine, "the right glorification of God." What about keeping the commandments? Orthopraxia somehow gradually faded into the background. Steadfast adherence to all the ideological prescriptions of the Church has historically proved to be more important.

Orthodoxy and heterodoxy

As we have already mentioned, the term itself appeared in Christianity at the end of the third century. It is used by apologists, including Eusebius of Caesarea. In his History of the Church, the author refers to Clement of Alexandria and Irenaeus of Lyons as "ambassadors of orthodoxy". And immediately this word is used as an antonym to the term"heterodoxia". It means "other teachings". All views that the church did not accept into its canon, it rejected as heretical. Since the reign of Justinian (VI century), the term "orthodoxy" has been used quite widely. In 843, the church decides to call the first Sunday of Great Lent the day of the triumph of Orthodoxy.

Other Christian teachings, even if their followers adamantly followed the commandments of Jesus and kept them, were condemned at Councils. Heterodoxy is increasingly being called heresy. The followers of such Christian denominations are persecuted by repressive institutions such as the Inquisition and the Synod. In 1054 there was a final split between the western and eastern direction of Christianity. The term "orthodox church" began to refer to the teachings of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Catholicity - what is it?

Christ said to his disciples: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be among them” (Matt. 18:20). This means that there is a church wherever there is at least one, even the smallest community. "Catholic" is a Greek word. It means "whole", "universal". Here we can also recall the covenant that Jesus gave to his apostles: "Go and preach to all nations." Geographically, catholicity means "worldwide."

Unlike the contemporary of the early church, Judaism, which was the national religion of the Jews, Christianity claimed to cover the entire ecumene. But the universality of catholicity also had another meaning. Every part of the churchpossessed all the fullness of holiness. This position was shared by both directions of Christianity. The Roman Church began to be called Catholic (Catholic). But its canon affirmed the supreme authority of the pope as Christ's vicar on earth. The Greek Catholic Orthodox Church also claimed worldwide distribution. However, even though it was headed by the patriarch, the local churches had complete independence from each other.

Orthodoxy and Catholicism

All Christian denominations, by definition, claim to spread their religion throughout the earth, regardless of the nationality of believers. And in this sense, Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism are of the same opinion. What is the Russian Orthodox Church? This issue should be given more attention. But for now, we will focus on the problem of the difference between the Orthodox and Catholic churches.

Before the beginning of the second millennium, it did not exist at all. Therefore, the apologists of Christianity in the first centuries, the Church Fathers and the saints who lived until 1054 (the final schism), are revered both in Catholicism and in Orthodoxy. From the end of the first millennium, the Roman curia claimed more and more power and wished to subjugate the rest of the bishoprics. The process of mutual alienation culminated in the Great Schism, as a result of which the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople called each other schismatics. The Fourth Lateran Council of the Roman Church defined the Orthodox as heretics.

Ordering

In the Orthodox Church, as well as in Catholicism, great importance is attached to the sacrament of ordination. This word, like many other church terms, comes from the Greek language. The rite of consecration elevates a person to the rank of priesthood, gives him the grace of the Holy Spirit and the right to celebrate the liturgy.

It is believed that the Church of God was established by the Lord Himself on the day of Pentecost. Then the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. According to the commandment given to them by Christ, they went to different corners of the earth to preach the new faith "to all tongues." The apostles passed on the grace of the Holy Spirit to their successors through the laying on of hands.

After the great schism, the bishops of the Catholic and Orthodox churches "have not communicated eucharistically". That is, they did not recognize the sacraments given by opponents as effective. After the Second Vatican Council, "partial Eucharistic communion" was achieved between these churches. Therefore, in some cases, joint liturgies are served.

How the Russian Orthodox Church was formed

Tradition claims that the Apostle Andrew the First-Called preached and spread the Christian faith in the Slavic lands. He did not reach the lands where the Russian Federation is now located, but baptized the people in Romania, Thrace, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Scythia.

Kievan Rus adopted Greek Christianity. Patriarch of Constantinople Nicholas II Chrysoverg ordained the first Metropolitan Michael. This eventhappened in 988, during the reign of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. For a long time, the metropolis of Kievan Rus remained under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church.

In 1240 there was an invasion of the Tatar-Mongol hordes. Metropolitan Joseph was killed. His successor, Maxim, transferred his throne to Vladimir on the Klyazma in 1299. And his heirs in Christ, although they called themselves “Metropolitans of Kyiv,” actually lived on the territory of the Moscow appanage principality. In 1448, there was a complete dissociation of the Moscow Metropolis from the Kyiv Metropolis by a decision of the Council, where Bishop Jonah of Ryazan presided, proclaiming himself the "Metropolitan of Kyiv" (but in fact - Moscow).

Kyiv and Moscow Patriarchate - is there a difference?

The event that happened was left without the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Ten years later, the next Council already clearly expressed a complete separation from Kyiv. Jonah's successor, Theodosius, became known as the "Metropolitan of Moscow and All Great Russia." But this religious-territorial unit was not recognized by other Orthodox churches for a whole hundred and forty years and did not enter into Eucharistic communion with it.

Only in 1589 did the Patriarch of Constantinople recognize autocephaly (autonomy in the bosom of the Orthodox Church) for the Moscow Metropolis. This happened after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans. Patriarch Jeremiah II Tranos came to Moscow at the invitation of Boris Godunov. But it turned out that they began to force the guest to ordain a local who was not recognized by anyonemetropolitan to the head of the church. After a six-month imprisonment in prison, Jeremiah consecrated the Moscow Metropolitan as a patriarch.

Later, with the strengthening of the role of Russia (and the simultaneous decline of Constantinople as the center of Eastern Christianity), the myth of the Third Rome began to be planted. The Moscow Patriarchate, although it was part of the Orthodox Church of the Greek Rite, began to claim supremacy among others. He achieved the abolition of the Kyiv Metropolis. But if we do not take into account the disputes over the consecration of the Moscow Patriarch, then in terms of religion, these churches do not differ from each other.

The dogmas that separate Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Filioque

What does the Orthodox Church confess? After all, judging by the title, it puts “the right glorification of God” at the forefront. Its canon consists of two large parts: Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. If everything is clear with the first - these are the Old and New Testaments, then what is the second? These are the decrees of all the Ecumenical Councils (from the very first to the Great Schism and then only the orthodox churches), the lives of the saints. But the main document used in the liturgy is the Niceno-Tsaregrad Creed. It was adopted at the Ecumenical Council of 325. Later, the Catholic Church adopted the filioque dogma, which asserts that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from God the Father, but also from the Son, Jesus Christ. Orthodoxy does not accept this principle, but shares the indivisibility of the Trinity.

Symbol of faith

The Greek Orthodox Church teaches that the soul can be saved only in its womb. The first symbol is faith in one God and in equalityall hypostases of the Trinity. Further, religion reveres Christ, who was created before the beginning of time, who came into the world and incarnated in man, crucified to atone for original sin, resurrected and coming on the Day of Judgment. The Church teaches that Jesus was its first priest. Therefore, she herself is holy, one, catholic and blameless. Finally, at the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the dogma of the veneration of icons was adopted.

Liturgy

The Orthodox Church conducts services according to the Byzantine (Greek) rite. It presupposes the existence of a closed iconostasis behind which the sacrament of the Eucharist is performed. Communion is made not with a wafer, but with prosphora (leavened bread) and wine (mainly Cahors). Liturgical worship consists of four circles: daily, weekly, fixed and mobile annual. But some Orthodox churches (for example, Antiochian and Russian Orthodox Churches Abroad) have begun to use the Latin Rite since the 20th century. Services are held in the synodal version of Old Church Slavonic.

Russian Orthodox Church

After the October Revolution, the Moscow Patriarchate is in a long canonical and legal conflict with Constantinople. Nevertheless, in Russia the Orthodox Church is the largest religious community. It was registered as a legal entity, and in 2007 the state ordered that all religious property be transferred to it. The ROC MP claims that its "canonical territory" covers all the republics of the former USSR, with the exception of Armenia and Georgia. This is not recognized by the Orthodoxchurches in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia.