What is an orthodox church?

Often one hears the expression "Greek Catholic Orthodox Orthodox Church". This raises a lot of questions. How can an Orthodox church be at the same time Catholic? Or does the word "catholic" mean something completely different? Also, the term "orthodox" is not quite clear. It is also applied to Jews who carefully follow the Torah's precepts 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, the "orthodox church" is synonymous with "Orthodox". What is the secret here? We will try to clarify the ambiguities associated with the orthodox (orthodox) church in this article. But for this it is necessary to first clearly define the terms.

Orthodoxy and orthopraxia

Jesus said to His disciples: "He who shares my commandments and lives according to them, I will liken him to a reasonable man who built a house on a rock. But he who divides the commandments, but does not fulfill them, I will liken the reckless man who builds a dwelling in the sand "(Mt 7: 24-26). What does this phrase have in common with orthodoxy and orthopraxia? Both terms contain the Greek word orthos. It means "right, straight, right." Now consider the difference between orthodoxy and orthopraxia.

The Greek word doxa means "opinion, teaching." And "praxia" answers the Russian term "practice, activity". In light of this, it becomes clear that orthodoxy means the right doctrine. But is this enough? Those who listen and share the teaching of Christ can be called orthodox. But in the early church, the emphasis was not on correctness of doctrine, but on observance of the commandments - "righteous life." However, at the end of the third century a canon, a religious dogma, began to be created. The Orthodox Church began to emphasize the division of the true doctrine, the "righteous glorification of God." But what about the fulfillment of the commandments? Somehow, orthopraxia gradually fell into the background. Steady adherence to all the ideological prescriptions of the Church has historically proved to be more important.

Orthodoxy and heterodoxia

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 calls Clement of Alexandria and Irenaeus of Lyons "the ambassadors of orthodoxy." And immediately this word is used as an antonym to the term "heterodoxia". It means "other teachings." All the views that the church did not take into its canon, she rejected as heretical. Since the reign of Justinian (6th century), the term "orthodoxy" has been used extensively. In 843 the church decides the first Sunday of the Great Lent to be called the day of triumph of Orthodoxy.

Other Christian teachings, even if their followers adhered unswervingly to Jesus' commandments and performed them, were condemned at the Councils. Heterodoxia is increasingly beginning to be called heresy. Followers of such Christian denominations are persecuted by such repressive institutions as the Inquisition and the Synod. In 1054, there was a final split between the western and eastern directions of Christianity. The term "orthodox church" was called the teaching of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Catholicity - what is it?

Christ said to his disciples: "There, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be among them" (Matthew 18:20). This means that the church is everywhere, where there is at least one, even the smallest community. "Catholic" is the Greek word. It means "wholly", "universal". Here, you can also remember the covenant Jesus gave to his apostles: "Go, preach to all nations." In a geographical sense, catholicity means "universality."

Unlike the contemporary of the early church, Judaism, which was the national religion of the Jews, Christianity claimed to cover the whole of the oecumene. But the universality of catholicity had a different meaning. Every part of the church was full of holiness. This position shared both directions of Christianity. The Roman church was called Catholic (catholic). But her canon claimed the supreme authority of the pope as the vicar of Christ on earth. The Greek Catholic Orthodox church also claimed to be spread all over the world. However, even though the patriarch was at the head of it, 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 share a common 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 Orthodox and Catholic churches.

Before the second millennium, it did not exist at all. Therefore, the apologists of the Christianity of the first centuries, the Fathers of the Church and the saints who lived until 1054 (the final split), are revered both in Catholicism and in Orthodoxy. Since the end of the first millennium, the Roman curia has claimed more and more power and wished to subdue the other bishops. The process of mutual alienation was crowned with 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.

Consecration

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

It is believed that the Lord's Church 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 them by Christ, they went to different corners of the earth to preach a new faith "to all languages." The apostles conveyed the grace of the Holy Spirit to their successors through ordination.

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

How the Russian Orthodox Church was formed

Tradition says that the Apostle Andrew Pervozvanny preached and spread the Christian faith on the Slavic lands. To the lands where the Russian Federation is now located, he did not reach, but baptized the people in Romania, Thrace, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Scythia.

Kievan Rus adopted Christianity of the Greek model. Patriarch of Constantinople Nicholas II Chrysosterg ordained in the first Metropolitan Michael. This event occurred in 988, under the reign of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. For a long time the metropolia of Kievan Rus remained under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church.

In 1240, an invasion of the Tatar-Mongol hordes occurred. Metropolitan Joseph was killed. His successor, Maxim, moved his throne to Vladimir on the Klyazma in 1299. And his heirs in Christ, though they called themselves "metropolitans of Kiev", actually lived on the territory of the Moscow principal principality. In 1448 there was a complete dissociation of the Moscow metropolia from the Kiev decision of the Council, where the Bishop of Ryazan, Iona, proclaimed himself "Metropolitan of Kiev" (but in fact - Moscow).

Kiev and Moscow Patriarchate - is there a difference?

The event happened without the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Ten years later, the next Council clearly expressed a complete separation from Kiev. The successor of Jonah, Theodosius, began to be called "Metropolitan of Moscow and All Great Russia." But this religious and territorial unit was not recognized by other Orthodox churches for one hundred and forty years and did not enter into eucharistic communion with it.

Only in 1589 Patriarch of Constantinople recognized autocephaly (autonomy in the bosom of the Orthodox Church) for the Moscow Metropolis. This happened after the capture of the Tsars by the Ottomans. Patriarch Jeremiah II of Tranos, at the invitation of Boris Godunov, arrived in Moscow. But it turned out that the guests were forced to force to ordain a local unrecognized Metropolitan to the head of the church. After a half-year imprisonment in prison, Jeremiah dedicated the Moscow metropolitan to the patriarchs.

Later, with the strengthening of Russia's role (and the simultaneous decline of Constantinople as the center of Eastern Christianity), the myth of the Third Rome began to be implanted. The Moscow Patriarchate, although part of the orthodox Greek church, began to claim the primacy among others. He succeeded in abolishing the Kyiv Metropolis. But if you do not take into account the controversy over the consecration of the Moscow Patriarch, then in terms of religion these churches do not differ from each other in any way.

The dogmas that divide Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Filiokwe

What does the Orthodox church profess? After all, judging by the name, at the heart of it is putting "the proper glorification of God." Its canon consists of two great parts: Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition. If everything is clear with the first - this is the Old and New Testaments, then what is the second? These are the decrees of all Ecumenical Councils (from the very first to the Great Schism and then only orthodox churches), the lives of the saints. But the main document used in the liturgy is the Nicene-Tsaregradic Creed. He was received at the Ecumenical Council in 325 years. Later, the Catholic Church adopted the doctrine of the Filioque, which states that the Holy Spirit does not come 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

Greco-Orthodox Church teaches that you can save the soul only in her womb. The first symbol is faith in one God and in the equality of all the hypostases of the Trinity. Further, religion reveres Christ, created before the beginning of time, who came into the world and embodied in man, crucified for the redemption of original sin, resurrected and coming on the Day of Judgment. The church teaches that her first priest was Jesus. And therefore she herself is holy, one, catholic and unblemished. Finally, the Seventh Ecumenical Council adopted a dogma about the veneration of icons.

Liturgy

The Orthodox Church conducts divine services in accordance with 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 by a cachet, but by prophora (kvass bread) and wine (mainly Cahors). Liturgical worship consists of four circles: a daily, a week, a fixed and a rolling annual. But some orthodox churches (for example, Antioch and Russian Orthodox abroad) began to use the Latin rite from the 20th century. Divine services are held in the synodal version of the Old Slavonic language.

The 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 to transfer to it all the property of religious purpose. The ROC MP claims that its "canonical territory" extends to all the republics of the former USSR, with the exception of Armenia and Georgia. This is not recognized by Orthodox churches in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia.