Sermon Notes Sunday January 21, 2007

Orthodoxy

Orthodoxy is also known as “Eastern Christianity. It includes three groups of churches primarily including, The Assyrian Churches, The Oriental Churches, and The Eastern Orthodox. There are approximately 240 million Orthodox Christians throughout the world. Russia has the largest population of about 100 million, Ethiopia has 22 million, Romania 15 million, Greece 10 million, Egypt 4 million, Syria 800 thousand, Israel 300 thousand.

The Orthodox church continues to hold that the Patriarch of Constantinople is “first among equals” among the Orthodox bishops.

There is some considerable confusion as to whether Wesley sought for some of his preachers to be ordained by a Greek Orthodox Bishop. There are accounts of such an event happening, yet Wesley did not claim responsibility for such action. There are even reports Wesley was consecrated as a Bishop by an Orthodox Bishop. Wesley was influenced by the Orthodox spirituality and his prayer life was greatly influenced by the orthodox traditions.

Orthodox Christians have a different calendar from Western Christians. The most noticeable difference being the date of Christmas as January 6 instead of December 25. This goes back to the Julian Calendar which is still used in the Orthodox tradition. (Pope Gregory introduced the “Gregorian” calendar in 1582, because the seasons were getting out of sync with the old Julian calendar.)

Unlike the Catholic Church, The Orthodox celebrate “mysteries.” These mysteries resemble Sacraments but differ in that a mystery is not limited to a list but could include any act in which a person connects with God. The common Mysteries of the church include: Baptism, Chrismation (an anointing of the Holy Spirit), Fasting, Almsgiving, Holy Communion, Repentance, Marriage, Monasticism, Holy Orders, Anointing with Oil.

Important dates in Orthodox Christianity.

1204 the sacking of Constantinople. In 1198 Pope Innocent III called for a crusade to capture the city of Jerusalem for the Christian faith. The armies of the crusade were to meet in Constantinople and sail to Jerusalem from there. The crusading armies in some confusion with the leaders of the city, attacked Constantinople. Much of the city was destroyed in fire and the chaos of war. Pope Innocent was ashamed and his attempt to take Jerusalem was a massive failure. In 2004 Pope John Paul II apologized to the Patriarch of Constantinople for the incident.

1453 Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Empire, ending the Byzantine Empire. Moscow becomes the new center of Orthodox Christianity.

If you have had the opportunity to worship in an Orthodox congregation you would be immediately struck by the iconography through out the building. Icons, paintings of saints, fill the Orthodox worship space. They tell the story of the Christian faith and they literally surround the congregation as a cloud of witnesses.

Most protestants do not understand the iconography of the Eastern tradition, for some it even seems like idol worship. For the Orthodox Christian, the icons are a means of communion with God. Remembrance of the Saints functions as a spiritual discipline to build our relationship with God. As one remembers the story of the saint it informs our contemporary Christian life. Prayer with the saints is seen as one might have a conversation with a deceased relative. It is not to worship the saint, but to reconnect to an important relationship of our life.