scholarly journals Participation in Divine Light and Church Membership in De Spiritu Sancto of Basil of Caesarea

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-294
Author(s):  
Harri Huovinen
Keyword(s):  
Church Membership ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Mystical Union ◽  
Ecumenical Dialogue ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
Rites Of Initiation ◽  
Public Witness

AbstractThe imagery of light plays a key role in Basil of Caesarea’s narrative of God and salvation. Curiously, the communal aspects of this imagery have received little attention in scholarship. A systematic analysis of “De Spiritu Sancto” reveals that in Basil’s understanding, participation in divine light functions as a parallel concept to Church membership. To begin with, the corporate nature of participation in divine light is evident from the ecclesial rites of initiation whereby this participation is bestowed. Furthermore, Basil uses the imagery of light to underscore the corporate nature of both the mystical union between God and the baptized, and the outward expressions of the believers’ lives in the divine light: worship and public witness. In addition to shedding new light on the Basilian notion of Church membership, the study o#ers a fresh outlook into the ecumenical dialogue between the Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church bodies on the theology of initiation.

Neue Dialogperspektiven oder doch nicht?

Philotheos ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-162
Author(s):  
Rade Kisić ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Ecumenical Dialogue

This text analyses the document „Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World” in terms of possible new perspectives of the ecumenical dialogue? The analysis of the document and its reception so far, show that alongside a general willingness of the Orthodox Church to participate in the ecumenical dialogue, the document also contains certain methodological and practical suggestions for the continuation of the dialogue. Nevertheless, the document is obviously influenced by the fact it is adopted in the time of so called „the ecumenical winter”.

An Intriguing Ecumenical Dialogue: Lutheran-Orthodox Encounters in Finland

Exchange ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huub Vogelaar
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Eastern Orthodoxy ◽  
Mutual Learning ◽  
Ecumenical Dialogue ◽  
Modern Welfare State ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
National Perspective ◽  
Church Structures

Abstract Finland is seen as a model country for ecumenism. For many years the country was almost monolithic Lutheran, but today Lutheranism is no longer a state religion. Yet, certain state-church structures still exist in this modern welfare state. Religiously Finland is characterized by strong secularization as well as by privatized faith. Since the 1960s minority churches came more to the forefront, in particular the Finnish Orthodox Church whose impact exceeds its small quantity. The Lutheran majority Church strongly facilitated the ecumenical dialogue with Eastern Orthodoxy, initially in international and later on in national perspective. In the article the development of this attractive discourse is highlighted. It became an appealing process of mutual learning between Eastern and Western Christianity.

Historical Scholarship and Ecumenical Dialogue

Horizons ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 420-424
Author(s):  
Carter Lindberg
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Ecumenical Dialogue ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
Hundredth Anniversary ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of

I am honored to participate in this theological roundtable on the five-hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. I do so as a lay Lutheran church historian. In spite of the editors’ “prompts,” the topic reminds me of that apocryphal final exam question: “Give a history of the universe with a couple of examples.” “What do we think are the possibilities for individual and ecclesial ecumenism between Protestants and Catholics? What are the possibilities for common prayer, shared worship, preaching the gospel, church union, and dialogue with those who are religiously unaffiliated? Why should we commemorate or celebrate this anniversary?” Each “prompt” warrants a few bookshelves of response. The “Protestant Reformation” itself is multivalent. The term “Protestant” derives from the 1529 Diet of Speyer where the evangelical estates responded to the imperial mandate to enforce the Edict of Worms outlawing them. Their response, Protestatio, “testified” or “witnessed to” (pro testari) the evangelical estates’ commitment to the gospel in the face of political coercion (see Acts 5:29). It was not a protest against the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrine. Unfortunately, “Protestant” quickly became a pejorative name and then facilitated an elastic “enemies list.” “Reformation,” traditionally associated with Luther's “Ninety-Five Theses” (1517, hence the five-hundredth anniversary), also encompasses many historical and theological interpretations. Perhaps the Roundtable title reflects the effort in From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017 (2013) to distinguish Luther's reformational concern from the long historical Reformation (Protestantism), so that this anniversary may be both “celebrated” and self-critically “commemorated.”

scholarly journals South Slavic culture and its influence on the formation of liturgical collections of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church

2021 ◽  
pp. 250-256
Author(s):  
Mykola Рidhorbunskyi
Keyword(s):  
Orthodox Church ◽  
The South ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Spiritual Culture ◽  
Quantitative Characteristics ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Style Of Writing ◽  
Stylistic Changes

The purpose of the article is to analyze the influence of the South Slavic spiritual culture on the formation and development of hymnography in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the 16th-17th centuries. The methodology includes a systematic analysis, which made it possible to analyze and study the influence of the South Slavic spiritual culture on the formation of hymnography in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. To determine the temporal and quantitative characteristics of the analyzed material, statistical and chronological methods were used, which contributed to the identification of spelling and stylistic changes in Ukrainian liturgical collections. The scientific novelty lies in the determination of the characteristic features of the development of Ukrainian church singing under the influence of South Slavic spiritual culture. Establishing the difference in the formation of the two main directions of church singing in the Ukrainian territory, namely in big cities and peripheral spiritual centers. Conclusions. South Slavic influence manifested itself in certain spelling and stylistic changes that took place in Ukrainian liturgical collections. This process contributed to the intensification of the development of Ukrainian musical and hymnographic art. On the model of South Slavic graphics, a new style of writing was formed, which was called the "junior half-stav". Together with the change in spelling and literary language, the "weaving of words" was transferred - a special literary style that arose in Bulgaria during the time of Patriarch Euthymius. In Ukraine-Rus, the variety of translations of instructive and ascetic works of Byzantine and South Slavic writers in the spirit of "hesychasm" has increased. The restrained and austere tone of the previous era of Ukrainian Orthodox worship was filled with major Balkan-Slavic tunes. In the Notolinian Irmologions, polyeleos psalms and glorifications spread mainly in the form of Bulgarian and Serbian tunes, on the basis of which regional variants arose in the spiritual centers of Ukraine.

scholarly journals Practical and Pastoral Perspectives on Inter-confessional Marriage in the Finnish Orthodox Context

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-334
Author(s):  
Pekka Metso
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practices ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Family

Abstract In this article, the phenomenon of inter-confessional marriages and families is studied in the context of Finnish Orthodoxy. The focus is on the wedding services, religious upbringings and participation in Church life from the perspective of inter-confessional marriages/families: How does the ecumenical reality influence them? Sociologically, the family has a central role in relation to beliefs, religious practices and activities. The religious upbringing of most Orthodox children takes place in a family of two Christian traditions. In the lived reality of the Finnish Orthodox population, the co-existence of two traditions (Orthodox and non-Orthodox) in inter-confessional marriages is not always non-problematic. In dialogue with the Lutheran Church, the Orthodox Church of Finland has aimed to promote harmony and mutual respect for the two traditions in inter-confessional families, as well as to fortify the Orthodox identity of its members.

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