Biserica Ortodoxă
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Biserica Ortodoxă este Biserica întemeiată de către Iisus Hristos şi apostolii săi. Îşi are începutul în ziua Cincizecimii prin pogorârea Duhului Sfânt în anul 33 după Hristos. Este cunoscută (în special în Occidentul contemporan) ca Biserica Ortodoxă Răsăriteană (Eastern Orthodox Church) sau ca Biserica Greco-Ortodoxă (Greek Orthodox Church). Mai poate fi numită şi Biserica Ortodoxă Sobornicească, Biserica Creştin Ortodoxă, Biserica cea una, sfântă, sobornicecască şi apostolească (după cum spunem în Crez), Trupul lui Hristos, Mireasa lui Hristos sau simplu Biserica.
Episcopii Bisericii Ortodoxe trasează o neîntreruptă succesiune apostolică, provenind de la primii apostoli înşişi, motiv pentru care consacrarea lor provine în ultimă instanţă de la însuşi Domnul Iisus Hristos. Toţi episcopii Bisericii, indiferent de titlurile lor, sunt egali în slujirea lor sacramentală. Diferitele titluri pe care ei le au sunt administrative (necesare pentru buna chivernisire a treburilor Bisericii) sau onorifice în esenţa lor. La un sinod ecumenic, fiecare episcop poate da un singur vot, fie că este patriarh ecumenic sau un simplu episcop vicar (deci fără scaun episcopal). În această privinţă nu poate deci exista o echivalenţă cu Biserica Romano-Catolică, în care învăţătura despre primatul papal permite unui papă să intervină de o manieră unilaterală în treburile Bisericii.
Prin succesiunea sa Apostolică, Biserica transmite astăzi credinţa Bisericii dintotdeauna, primită de Apostoli de la Domnul Iisus Hristos. Nimic nu este adăugat sau scos din "credinţa dată sfinţilor, odată pentru totdeauna"(Iuda 3). De-a lungul istoriei numeroase erezii au atacat Biserica, şi la acele timpuri şi contexte concrete Biserica a făcut enunţuri dogmatice (în special cu ocazia sinoadelor ecumenice), uneori dezvoltând într-un limbaj nou ce s-a crezut dintotdeauna de către Biserică, cu scopul de a opri răspândirea ereziilor şi chemând la pocăinţă pe aceia care au sfâşiat Trupul lui Hristos. Prima astfel de mărturisire de credinţă a fost Crezul niceo-constantinopolitan, care afirmă:
Cred întru una sfântă, sobornicească (catholică) și apostolească ([apostolică]) Biserică.
Mărturisirea de credinţă: atributele Bisericii
The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, against which he promised the gates of hell would not prevail. Specifically, one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church is the creedal form of belief in the Church. What is implied in that belief are commonly called the marks of the Church: unity, sanctity, catholicity, and apostolicity.
Cuprins
Unitatea
The Church is one. The Church is Christ's mystical body; just as he cannot be divided, neither can his body. There is one Church, not many; and it is united, not divided. This may seem naïve or callous given the present realities of Christians separated for nearly a thousand years. In the face of this real division, modern men are tempted to despair and speak of a "divided Church," abandoning the creedal faith.
According to Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko:
- ...this one Church, because its unity depends on God, Christ, and the Spirit, may never be broken. Thus, according to Orthodox doctrine, the Church is indivisible; men may be in it or out of it, but they may not divide it.
- According to Orthodox teaching, the unity of the Church is man's free unity in the truth and love of God. Such unity is not brought about or established by any human authority or juridical power, but by God alone. To the extent that men are in the truth and love of God, they are members of His Church.
The Orthodox Church teaches that she is visibly that one Church.
Some Orthodox hold that there can be a kind of imperfect participation in the Church by those not visibly in communion with her. This is most famously expressed by Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia, "We can say where the Church is; we cannot say where she is not."
Sfinţenia
The Church is holy because God makes her members holy by union with him. God sanctifies the Church by drawing her into his divine life, supremely through the union effected by the Incarnation. The faith and life of the Church participates in the holiness of God by expressing the divine life in doctrine, sacraments, services and saints --- men and women whose lives have been recognized for their holiness.
Just as untruth separates from the unity of God and ultimately separates from the unity of the Church, immorality also separates one from God and the Church.
Sobornicitatea sau catholicitatea
The Church is the fullness of Christ's body on earth. As a term, catholicity means fullness or perfection, wholeness. Only God is perfect wholeness, the fullness of being. God makes the Church to be catholic by its participation in his full, divine life.
Fr. Thomas Hopko:
- The term "catholic" as originally used to define the Church (as early as the first decades of the second century) was a definition of quality rather than quantity. Calling the Church catholic means to define how it is, namely, full and complete, all-embracing, and with nothing lacking.
- Even before the Church was spread over the world, it was defined as catholic. The original Jerusalem Church of the apostles, or the early city-churches of Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, or Rome, were catholic. These churches were catholic -- as is each and every Orthodox church today -- because nothing essential was lacking for them to be the genuine Church of Christ. God Himself is fully revealed and present in each church through Christ and the Holy Spirit, acting in the local community of believers with its apostolic doctrine, ministry (hierarchy), and sacraments, thus requiring nothing to be added to it in order for it to participate fully in the Kingdom of God.
Catholicity is sometimes confused with universality — the idea that the Christian faith is for all men. However, the word was originally used to denote the true Church among a growing horde of heretics who had removed elements from the faith which they disliked, refashioning Christian belief to their pleasure. Catholicity is a qualitative mark: the quality of the whole faith handed down from the apostles.
Caracterul apostolic
The Church has been sent into the world, to bring the world into communion with God. Just as the Son was sent by the Father, and the Spirit sent by the Son, the Church has been sent by the Holy Trinity into the world.
Fr. Thomas Hopko:
- As Christ was sent from God, so Christ Himself chose and sent His apostles. "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you ... receive ye the Holy Spirit," the risen Christ says to His disciples. Thus, the apostles go out to the world, becoming the first foundation of the Christian Church.
- In this sense, then, the Church is called apostolic: first, as it is built upon Christ and the Holy Spirit sent from God and upon those apostles who were sent by Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit; and secondly, as the Church in its earthly members is itself sent by God to bear witness to His Kingdom, to keep His word and to do His will and His works in this world.
This sending was first effected with the apostles, thus apostolicity is not only the divine mission; it is also unity of the Church with the apostles who were sent out by Jesus Christ. Thus, there is an apostolic succession by which the pastors of the Church are able to trace their orders back to the infant Church founded by Jesus Christ in the first century.
Structura actuală a Bisericii
Biserica Ortodoxa din ziua de azi este alcatuita din patrusprezece sau cincisprezece Biserici autocefale si cinci Biserici autonome cateodata referite ca jurizdictii. Bisericile autocefale sunt in intregime autoguvernate in tot ceea ce fac. Pe cand Bisericile autonome trebuie sa aiba preoti primari confirmati de catre una dintre Bisericile autocefale ,de obicei Biserica Mama. Toate Bisericile raman in totala comuniune(apropiere)impartind aceeasi credinta si practici.Au avut loc rupturi ocazionale in comuniune datorate de diverse probleme de-a lungul istoriei dar au fost in general de scurta durata neajungand sa se dezvolte in schim sau ruptura totala. Patriarhia Biserici Constantinopolului este dealtfel si Patriarhia Ecumenica si are ca statut 'prima intre egale' printre Bisericile Ortodoxe.--(aici termina traducerea paginni initiale.nt*)
Current Church structure
The Orthodox Church of today consists of fourteen or fifteen autocephalous churches and five autonomous churches, sometimes referred to as jurisdictions. Autocephalous churches are fully self-governing in all they do, while autonomous churches must have their primates confirmed by one of the autocephalous churches, usually its mother church. All the Orthodox churches remain in full communion with one another, sharing the same faith and praxis. There have been occasional breaks in communion due to various problems throughout history, but they generally remain brief and not developing into full schism. The Patriarchate of Constantinople is also the Ecumenical Patriarchate and has the status of "first among equals" among the Orthodox Churches.
See: List of autocephalous and autonomous Churches
See also
Further reading
Published works
The following are published writings that provide an introduction or overview of the Orthodox Church and its teachings:
From an Orthodox perspective
- Alfeyev, Hilarion; Rose, Jessica, ed. The Mystery of Faith: An Introduction to the Teaching and Spirituality of the Orthodox Church. (ISBN 0232524726)
- Bajis, Jordan. Common Ground: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity for the American Christian. (ISBN 0937032816)
- Bulgakov, Sergius. The Orthodox Church. (ISBN 0881410519)
- Cunningham, Mary. Faith in the Byzantine World (IVP Histories Series). (ISBN 0830823522)
- Chryssavgis, John. Light Through Darkness: The Orthodox Tradition (Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series). (ISBN 1570755485)
- Coniaris, Anthony M. Introducing the Orthodox Church: Its Faith and Life. (ISBN 0937032255)
- Constantelos, Demetrios J. Understanding the Greek Orthodox Church. (ISBN 0917653505)
- Florovsky, George. Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View. (ISBN 0913124028)
- Ware, Timothy. The Orthodox Church. (ISBN 0140146563)
From a Heterodox perspective
- Binns, John. An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches. (ISBN 0521667380)
- Fairbairn, Donald. Eastern Orthodoxy Through Western Eyes. (ISBN 0664224970)
- Fortescue, Adrian. The Orthodox Eastern Church. (ISBN 0971598614)
- Roberson, Ronald. The Eastern Christian Churches: A Brief Survey. (ISBN 8872103215) - (also available online)
- Parry, Ken, ed.; Melling, David J., ed.; Brady, Dimitri, ed.; Griffith, Sidney Harrison, ed.; Healey, John F., ed. The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. (ISBN 0631232036)
Sources
- [Chapter on Church in Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko's The Orthodox Faith
Legături externe
Overviews of the Orthodox Church
- Orthodoxy: The Narrow Path
Byzantine Studies
