Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean Emeritus of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary, once recalled an ecumenical conference at which the Orthodox panelist was asked to which denomination Orthodoxy is most nearly related. Seated among Roman Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical, and main-line Protestant clerics, the priest replied, “Judaism”. And while his answer is not accurate theologically, it highlights important points about the history of Orthodoxy, its traditions, its worship, and its singular “feel”.
In the early days, during the Apostles’ ministries, there was no concept of Christ’s teachings as forming a body of doctrine separate from Judaism—Jesus was a Jew, his disciples were Jews, the teachings sprang from and referenced Judaism, and were not considered other than a piece of Judaism. The issue of Gentiles’ access to the Teaching did not arise until around 50AD, when Paul brought that question to the Apostles from Antioch in Syria, where numbers of non-Jews had been drawn to the teachings.
Given the Jewishness of the early Church, it’s understandable that the early Christian liturgy was essentially the worship of the synagogue, with the addition of the Eucharistic meal. When, early in the second millennium, Western Christianity separated itself from Orthodoxy and then splintered, these novel denominations produced variant liturgical forms, and more recently, have even produced non-liturgical forms of worship.
Orthodoxy, for its part, has steadfastly maintained, in worship as in doctrine, the ways of the early Church. My friend, Fr. Timothy Cremeens, tells me that a first century Christian, were he granted an understanding of modern languages, could today follow with familiarity an Orthodox liturgy, even being able to recite some of the prayers.
Currently three forms of the Divine Liturgy, all similar, are performed in the Orthodox world. Perhaps the oldest is the Liturgy of St. James (first bishop of Jerusalem and step-brother of Jesus), which is offered on a frequent basis only in the lands under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Jerusalem.
Currently three forms of the Divine Liturgy, all similar, are performed in the Orthodox world. Perhaps the oldest is the Liturgy of St. James (first bishop of Jerusalem and step-brother of Jesus), which is offered on a frequent basis only in the lands under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Jerusalem.
During the centuries of the Roman persecutions, communication among Christian communities was necessarily limited. Upon the legalization of Christianity with the Writ of Constantine of 312, it soon became apparent that this isolation had given rise to local variations in the liturgy, and a need to standardize the worship was recognized. Within an amazingly short time, by consensus, the Church settled upon the Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and of St. Basil (which differ only in that some additional prayers are said by the priest in St. Basil’s Liturgy). It’s important to note that neither of these forms was innovative, but that both were attempts to keep the liturgy on the solid footing of the worship of the first generation of Christians, in accord with the instruction of the Apostles.
Articles
Orthodox Theology