history

from The Word, October 1961

The Fathers of our Church derived all of their teachings from Orthodoxy. However, they gave everything they possessed for the triumph of the Orthodox Faith, which is the priceless treasure of Christian truth. Nowadays, when we speak about Orthodoxy, we immediately think of all the great figures of the Church, who were the pillars of Orthodoxy. The life, work and spiritual struggles of the Church Fathers are organically and inextricably interwoven with Orthodoxy.

There is a common characteristic among the great figures of Orthodoxy, the guardians of our Faith. That is, they did not only speak and write or struggle against heresy, but they also lived and radiated the spirit of Orthodoxy through the example of their holy lives. This is their great secret. To this they owe their eternal spiritual greatness and also their triumph against all those, who with such madness sought to counterfeit and falsify the truth of Christ. For this reason, they are not simply called Teachers, but Fathers of the Orthodox Church. They had lived a life “in Christ’’ before they began to struggle against those who fought the deity of our Lord. Saint Paul’s “in Christ” which we find in all his Epistles was a blessed reality for the Fathers.

The spiritual struggles of the Fathers against those who fought the Holy Spirit do not derive only from a theological knowledge concerning the Holy Spirit. The Fathers lived in the Holy Spirit. For this reason, they became the spiritual Heralds of Orthodoxy. They had personally lived every Christian truth, for the sake of which they entered fearless and unyielding into the arena of the spiritual struggle.

Saint Romanos the Melodist, A Syrian Poet
Michael G. Farrow, Ph.D.
Vice Chairman, Dept. Sacred Music

“The hymnologists of the Orthodox Church are Christians of virtue and great faith, having been endowed with musical talent as well as the power of religious inspiration. Their creations have enriched our worship services and have helped turn our souls towards God. Perhaps the greatest of all hymnologists is St. Romanos the Melodist. Many other hymnologists have written ecclesiastical hymns, but none of them inspired the Christians as much as St. Romanos.” This statement, issued by the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians concisely states the reverence, appreciation and feeling all Orthodox Christians have for St. Romanos.

Romanos’ Background

From Lux Occidentalis, by Fr. John Connely
Used by permission.

The ancient Western Rite, although lost to Orthodoxy after the 11th century Great Schism, did survive in the monastery of the Almafians on Mount Athos itself until 1287. According to the V. Revd. Edward Hughes: "We also need to notice that when Ss. Cyril and Methodios began their mission to Eastern Europe in the 9th century, they went to Rome for authority, and worked as Roman Christian missionaries even though they came from the East. They employed and distributed Liturgical books in both rites. Their Eastern rite work did not survive their own time, but was continued in Bulgaria by Ss. Clement and Naum of Ochrid. Their Western rite work, however, survived directly from their day right down to the 1970's in Dalmatia and Croatia. There are 15 known extant manuscripts of pre-Tridentine complete Missals in Old Church Slavonic, which have been subjected to all manner of textual and historical studies. The Christians of Dalmatia and Croatia know that their liturgical heritage is from the work of Cyril and Methodios. These both died as Roman clerics, never having expressed in writing any problems with their bi-ritualism."

The Revd. John Connely is a graduate of the University of Colorado and holds the degree Artium Magistri Religionem from Yale University. He is Pastor of St. Mark's Parish, Denver, Colorado and Dean of the Central States Deanery, Western Rite Vicariate, The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

From Lux Occidentalis, by Fr. John Connely
Used by permission

The Liturgy of St. Peter (commonly known as the Liturgy of St. Gregory), is found, substantially as it has been used in the Latin Church until Vatican II (1969)¹, in the Sacramentaries of St. Gregory [590], Gelasius [491] and St. Leo [483]. The Roman Liturgy is attributed to St. Peter by ancient liturgical commentators, who founded their opinion chiefly upon a passage in an Epistle of Innocent [fifth century], to Decentius, Bishop of Eugubium. St. Gregory revised the variable parts of the liturgy, the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels; but the only change which he made in the Ordinary was by the addition of a few words which is noticed by the Venerable Bede [Hist. Eccl. Lib.2, c.I.].²

Since the time of St. Gregory the Roman Liturgy has been used over a large part of the Western Church, and, until 1969, was practically the only one allowed by Rome. From the Roman Liturgy in its primitive form were derived that used by the Churches of North-western Africa, and the Ambrosian Rite of the Church of Milan.

by Robert Arakaki

"Tell me the history of Christianity and I can tell you your theology." This is especially true with a controversial figure like Constantine. Where Roman Catholics present him as laying the foundation for the Papacy, Protestants see him as the one responsible for leading the early Church away from the simplicity of the pure gospel and turning it into an institutional Church. However, blaming Constantine for the fall of the Church is a double-edged sword that cuts in both directions. If Protestants accuse Constantine of tampering with the Church, how do they know that Constantine did not tamper with the Bible? The problem with the "fall of the Church" argument is that it opens the possibility of a radical discontinuity between present-day Christianity and the early Church.

This danger can be seen in one of today's most popular bestsellers, The DaVinci Code. In the middle of the book (Chapter 55) Sir Leigh Teabing gives Sophie Neveu a brief synopsis of the "history" of Christianity. In it he makes the following points about Constantine: