Worship in the Russian Orthodox Church
Worship in the common language of the peopleIn the times of St. Cyril and Methodius, the adversaries of the work of these great enlighteners of the Slavs, referred to a doctrine obliging the Word of God and the Divine Liturgy to sound only in one of the three sacred tongues - Old Hebrew, Old Greek or Latin for they had come to be used in the Golgopha's inscription above the head of the crucified Saviour, and, hence, oppose all other languages of the world the way sacral opposes mundane. The Orthodox tradition rejected this 'Three Tongues' Heresy', sticking to the initial choice of the Church. For if there had been any languages at the dawn of Christianity that could ever claim a sacral status, it might be either the language of the Mount Sinai Revelation i.e. Old Hebrew, or the language of the living sermon of Jesus Christ i.e. Aramaic (let as remember the reverence, which the Gospels keep sounds of some Aramaic words with); yet it was Greek 'koine' , understandable for the majority of people in the lands of the Eastern and partially Western Mediterranean that had become the language of the New Testament. We should reflect upon this: the very phrases of the Founder of Christianity had been perceived by the Ecumenical Church in their translation into the languages of those, to whom the apostolic sermon was addressed . The concept of a cult language, which is quite inevitable for paganism and required by the logic of Judaism and Islam, is foreign to the Church in its very essence; its genuine language is not one which is a proudly preserved dialect, but a speech which is clear and comprehensive to those being saved. These principles had been held in the wonderful work of St. Cyril and Methodius, which forever laid such an indelible imprint upon the whole internal order of the Russian language. It is strange, however, to think of the ironic fact that many are wishing now to immortalise Old Church Slavonic by the help of that very theory, which once had served the enemies of the Solun's brothers' work. It is strange that that very Slavonic liturgical language, created to bring the Sacred nearer to the consciousness of our ancestors, is today helping to keep distance between that very Sacred and the consciousness of their descendants. Orthodox polemicists were so frequently reproaching the Catholic Latin, keeping laymen aloof from the live and conscious participation in the conciliar worship; but now even Catholics have already come over to a different practice, while we are still sticking to the obligatoriness of our own "Latin". < "..."> The experience offered here is only an experience, liable to the judgement of the sensible critics, not to mention the judgement of the Church. Boldness is a great responsibility. But will we take upon ourselves an even heavier responsibility, not for actvity, but for inactivity?Lectionary ReadingsThe Lectionary is part of the Holy Tradition of the Church. Its antiquity is witnessed by it being the same across all 20 independent Orthodox Churches. Also, by the sermons of the Holy Fathers based on Sunday and Holy Day Gospel and Epistle readings--while the Western Lectionary does not conform to these sermons hardly at all.A list of the readings is found in the back of the Gospel and Apostle(Epistle) books used in the services. These lists of readings consist of two calendars: one, the menaion cycle with readings appropriate to specific calendar dates, the dates of most Feast Days (the fixed cycle); and two, the cycle based on Pascha, with readings for every day of the Paschal calendar year (the moveable cycle). Not every day has a reading in the "fixed" cycle--some days the saint commemorated has no Epistle or Gospel reading. These two cycles are accompanied with a list of readings appropriate to certain "needs": for a funeral, a baptism, a wedding, in case of an earthquake, etc. The actual rubrics as to how to put the readings together can get quite complex, although the basic principle is rather simple. You check the menaion section for today's date and see if there is a reading specifically for today's saint. Then, you check for a reading in the paschalion based on the week and day after Pentecost. |
Roswell, New Mexico U.S.A.
Metropolitan Symeon (Ioannovskij),
Our Archbishop