Home  ›  Patriarchate Of Moscow And All Russia

Patriarchate Of Moscow And All Russia

Russian Orthodox Church
( )
Founder (s) Prince Vladimir of Kiev

Independence = 1448

Autocephaly / Autonomy recognized 1548 by Pat. Constantinople
Current primate Cyril
Headquarters Moscow , Russia
Primary territory Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, former USSR
Territorial extension Russian diaspora
Rite Byzantine
Language (s) liturgical (s) Slavonic
Musical tradition Russian
Calendar Julian
Estimated population approximately 80 million
change Consult the documentation of the model

The Patriarchate of Moscow and All Russia, Orthodox Church of Russia or Russian Orthodox Church is the canonical jurisdiction autocephalous of the Orthodox Church of Russia and, indeed, of the Russian diaspora.

The head of the Church carries the title of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (or all Russia), with residence at Danilov Monastery in Moscow. The holder since 27 January 2009 His Holiness is Cyril.

Summary

History

The Russian Orthodox Church traces its origin to the baptism of Prince Vladimir I. of Kiev in 988. In fact, the Kievan Rus , multi-ethnic state, does not correspond completely to the Russia (Muscovy). Legend has it that Vladimir, wanting to choose a new religion, sent ambassadors from several nations to see how they worshiped God. The choice would have centered on the Christian Byzantine because of the beauty of worship. In fact, this choice were political and strategic reasons. The metropolitan see of Kiev was created around 991 under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, who named the primate. Yaroslav , the son and successor of Vladimir, allowed the development of the new church by encouraging the creation of new dioceses, by building cathedrals.

The genius of the Orthodox tradition

Converted to the late tenth century in Byzantine Christianity , the Russian went on to establish a religious tradition that has become, over the centuries, a crucial element of his being "the world". A successful acculturation, a sumptuous liturgy and spirituality original helped make this heritage "identity marker" whose revival is now clearly visible, after seven decades of persecution suffered under the Soviet regime. The Russians see themselves as belonging to a "civilization of heirs." From Constantinople they received during the tenth century the alphabet "Cyrillic" invented by the saints Naum and Clement of Ohrid and thus they entered the "civilization of the book." Translations - not only those liturgical works but also chronicles and literature - then multiply. So from the Byzantine heritage that Russians create their own political ideas, cultural and religious.
As Constantinople can not be considered a capital break with Rome , Kiev continues north the Byzantine tradition , is expressed by the Metropolitan Hilarion which can then itself as the "third Rome" after the first will have fallen under the blows of the Vandals the fifth century, the second under that of Ottoman Turks a millennium later.

Christ in Glory , Gospel of the monastery Andronikov to Moscow , ca. Sixteenth century.

Moscow becomes part of a perspective eschatological to assume the Revelation. This concept is now living in Rome Russian who has regained its place and its mission to lead the people of God until the Parousia. The events of history, like the seventy years of the Soviet period, are played in human terms, these are just avatars, as were the multiple crises that have shaken the Byzantine Empire. God's plan is elsewhere and it is in eternity and time that will see the Cross "Victorious and invigorating." Orthodoxy became so from the outset, the identifier of the young Russian. In this country with no natural limits on this broad plain matrix of the Russian land, the russkaia Zemlja, only Orthodoxy has preserved the unity of the "Russian land" sanctified by the collective representations that are imposed over generations. It is divided between different powers and hostile, it is occupied by invaders from the steppes or the West, "Russian land" remains as it is orthodox and is pravoslavnaja.

Art and Liturgy

This unity of the "Russian Orthodox earth" is also expressed in an art and a liturgy. From the beginning, Christianity has adopted the Russian theology of light then ordered to Constantinople. Throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries , the feudal fragmentation and the emergence of the principalities favored the establishment of bishoprics in each of these political entities. The plan of the Byzantine cross inscribed in a circle surmounted by the dome was adopted everywhere, but the original Russian was to mount domes on high drums pierced with windows to allow light to invest the sanctuary and participate in the transfiguration of the believer in the divine light.

The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom , The most widespread and was accompanied by the famous singing melismatic invented in Kiev in the eleventh century. Another innovation of Russian Orthodoxy is the iconostasis . The proliferation of wooden churches - initially without spaces capable of accommodating the icons whose worship had been restored in 843 - was accompanied by the appearance of a large wooden wall which was installed gradually, starting the fourteenth century , seven rows of icons. The iconostasis and separated the divine space, reserved for clerics, secular space open to the faithful. The liturgy then boils down to a spiritual dialogue between the faithful, at whose head is the deacon and the priest celebrant. It therefore provides the necessary link between spirituality, individual and the community of believers whose prayer to God is carried by his Mother, who "bridges the gap between Heaven and Earth".

Moscow icon Our Lady of Kazan to 1572.

The icon is then an element at all, it takes its place in the liturgy that allows the individual to be assumed as a member of the mystical body is the Church. The Eastern liturgy constantly reminds and all the faithful that the economy of salvation is collective and helps to create, in effect, a profound sense of unity. This liturgy that has known only one Schism - the Raskol seventeenth century - and has maintained the ancient language, the Slavonic , which makes any celebration a party, is a unique element of unity in a society and civilization which it is the common denominator.

Russian Spirituality

Three elements provide the key to Russian spirituality: the Passion, Suffer the model is that of the saints Boris and Gleb , the startchestvo this spiritual guidance so wonderfully described through the Staretz Zosimus of Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky , and finally the "forlorn in Christ " , Yourodivy, which expresses a spirituality of dissent.

The Sulphur-Passion

The first two saints of Russia are the son of Vladimir , Boris and Gleb , murdered during the civil war that ravaged the country from 1015 to 1018 , after which imposed itself brother Yaroslav the Wise. Through their martyrdom, these two princes are the founders of a form of spirituality typically Russian, Sulphur-Passion. Vladimir indeed have the responsibility to make because their brother Yaroslav , disgusted at Novgorod , they learn that it has enlisted Varangian mercenaries to assassinate him. Rather than flee and protect themselves as they recommended their companions, they take their fate and suffer their martyrdom. They will be canonized as 1073. These saints are the source of spirituality and passion of the suffering to which belong the holy victims of Gulag or the emperor Nicolas II and his family. All have taken their destiny. Through their martyrdom, they won their individual salvation and, especially, hello everyone.
Modern Russian renaissance rooted in the blood of martyrs. That is why Soviet society collapsed without it opens the courtroom for trying those responsible would condemn the victim twice and take away any hope of salvation in which these victims are living for themselves and for the country.
This attitude is hardly understandable for the Latins and reminds us that the Orthodox have a different relationship to time than us.
Human time is not God's time, man can not substitute for God to judge the past and build the future. To understand Russia, it is necessary to understand this dimension of spirituality.

The startchetsvo

Much better known in the West through Dostoevsky , the startchetsvo - or "spiritual guidance" - constitutes another major factor. Strongly imbued with the theology of the Hesychasm , who was admitted to Constantinople in the fourteenth century, the Russians have, since the eleventh, always sought to achieve inner peace they hope to find through divine light of Tabor. To achieve this transfiguration inside, man must be accompanied by a Staretz , spiritual guide whose mystical experience, not age, gives it the ability to assume the spiritual leadership of those men and women who are seeking of God. This movement underwent a major in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He played a key role in a church governed by laymen such as Pobiedonostsev , the Prosecutor of the Holy Synod. Religious life away while a secular clergy in crisis that did not spare the satirists to return to a more personal spirituality that was part of a process involving time and support of an authentic spiritual direction.

"Crazy in Christ," the Yourodivy

Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg, dressed in rags.

A third approach has profoundly influenced Russian spirituality, that of "Crazy in Christ" . For Russian Christians in fact, God - who came to earth by his son, Christ - continued to apply to men, through characters often at odds with society, to challenge vigorously the powerful time and remind them one day they will also be accountable. These men and women were called "foolish in Christ." The most famous of these is probably Basil the Blessed (Russian ), whose memory is still preserved in the Church of the Red Square , which retains its name when it was originally dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan. It is said that Ivan IV himself came to carry his body during his burial. Another representative of that holy power was holy Xenia of St. Petersburg whose work for the poor marked the end of the nineteenth century. This piety aggressive, violent, sometimes anarchic is a constant in the country's religious history. God has never ceased to manifest itself in him through men inspired the faithful to deliver a speech of freedom, strongly critical of any transfiguration.

History, economics and culture provide knowledge essential to an understanding with Russia, but only its original spirituality may provide the key to understanding a people and a civilization who see the divine economy only way to take the unit of society.
Around the year one thousand , the West "was covered - by the beautiful expression of Raoul Glaber - a white mantle of churches "which sealed the slow process of its Christianization, soon generating the" clarity of Middle Ages. " A millennium later, the East suddenly resonates with the sound of bells from churches singing the "song of the angels" while the bulbs of its golden shrines sparkle new under the sun illuminating the great Russian plain, reminding Christians of all Nations that Moscow remains the third Rome "as a fourth there will not ... .

Organization

Currently ( 2007 ), the Russian Orthodox Church has 142 dioceses in several countries and 27,942 parishes (over 13,000 in Russia). There were only 92 dioceses in 1993. There are 732 monasteries monasteries including 350 male and 382 nunneries.

For training, the church has five academies of theology, including the Moscow Theological Academy , 32 seminaries, 43 pre-seminaries, one theological institute and two universities Orthodox.

Relations with other Churches

The Moscow Patriarchate is a member of the World Council of Churches since 1961 .

Relations with the Russian Orthodox Church outside borders

The Russian Orthodox Church outside borders was born in the early 1920s after the Bolshevik Revolution, and was considered the "free" of the Russian Orthodox Church, very critical towards the Soviet power and patriarchy Moscow "subservient." The end of the Soviet Union created a new situation. The Russian Orthodox Church is willing to dialogue for reconciliation. The Russian Orthodox Church outside border is crossed by various versions as to the attitude to be facing the Patriarchate of Moscow :

  • opposition, defiance. This attitude can be up to the organization of a parallel hierarchy on Russian territory.
  • Reunification: the 17 May 2007 , in Moscow , Metropolitan Laure de New York and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II , officially ended this schism by signing an act of canonical communion. This was done in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Relations with other Orthodox Churches

The Russian Orthodox Church is in communion with other Orthodox churches that together form the " Orthodox Communion. "

This does not preclude some disagreements with some of them.

Relations with the Roman Catholic Church

After the death of Patriarch Alexis II , which occurred Dec. 5, 2008, his successor Cyril I. was elected and enthroned Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on February 1, 2009. By his election and ecumenism, it made a big step toward the Catholic Church ...

Differences between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church
  • For Catholics, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, for the Orthodox, only the Father.
  • For Catholics, the Church is one. The power of the pope passed seamlessly from Peter Pope is infallible when proclaiming a definitive point of doctrine concerning the faith. Orthodox Churches are autocephalous, they govern themselves. The Orthodox faith is constituted by the dogmatic definitions of the first seven ecumenical councils , it has in common with the Catholic faith.
  • When Orthodox baptism, the baptized person is still fully immersed in water.
  • Confirmation from the Orthodox held just after the birth of the child.
  • The host prepares unleavened among Catholics, among the Orthodox.

It will be charmed, dazzled and bewildered by the worst Orthodox liturgy. The first idea that dominates the Orthodox liturgy is that we must turn all his artistic sensitivity to God, so the liturgy must be above all the fullest.
Sings only the chorus that can sing. The instruments are not permitted, because everything must be natural, that is to say human voice. The location of the church is already heaven on earth. This is where the encounter occurs in humans and God.
So where man rises the most. We remain standing for the liturgy as a sign of faith in the resurrection. The whole body should participate in prayer, as happens to many inclinations. It is considered that the image is the very presence of the saint , so when you kiss a icon , it does not embrace the stick, but directly the saint represented. Orthodoxy makes a great place for the veneration of saints. The saints are the most revered saint Sergius of Radonezh which marked the beginning of the monastic movement in the fourteenth century by retreating into the forest and St. Seraphim of Sarov .

Meeting with Patriarch Athenagoras

He met Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem in 1964. It was the first meeting of the Primates of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople since 1439 ( Council of Florence ). Both prelates are still found in Istanbul in 1967 , and again this year during the visit of Patriarch to the Vatican. In 1965 the two men had agreed to the revocation of the decrees of excommunication Mutual 1054 : Cardinal Humbert and Patriarch Michel Cerularius had mutually excommunicated in Hagia Sophia (Constantinople) and he was followed by a break Sustainable communion between the two Churches.
Return to the Apostolic Delegation, Pope receives Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople. This is a historic meeting because it is the first time since the ( Council of Florence ) that the primates of the churches of Rome and Constantinople meet. The two men multiply the gestures of friendship: they are made by hand, are very excited. After their respective speeches held an interview in French between the two men was decided to create a board where Orthodox and Catholic theologians discuss the issues that divide them. At the end of this interview, the Pope offers a chalice of gold to the patriarch (the symbol of communion between the two churches desired by the pope) and together they recite the Our Father , one in Latin and one Greek.
During the final meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Athenagoras I. Paul VI said in part: "great is our emotion, deep is our joy, this time really in history when, after centuries of silence and waiting, the Catholic Church and the Patriarchate of Constantinople are found again ... "After a joint statement they were exchanged gifts (Athenagoras Paul VI gave an icon representing two apostles, Peter the " Coryphaeus "and Andrew , the first to follow Jesus Christ ).

In 1999 , John Paul II 's visit to Romania with local dignitaries of the Orthodox Church. It is also the first pope to visit predominantly Orthodox countries since the schism of 1054. During this trip he asked forgiveness on behalf of Catholics for the sack of Constantinople . During the Jubilee Year 2000 , he opened the Holy Door with Metropolitan Athanasios Orthodox and Anglican Primate George Carey , will mark the unity of different Christian . But he could never go to Russia, the Patriarch of Moscow refusing to meet him . During a trip to Greece, November 27, 2004 , Pope John Paul II, recovering the remains of two bishops of Constantinople and the fathers of the Byzantine liturgy, St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory Nazianzen , hitherto kept in the Vatican to Bartholomew I of Constantinople in a logic of reconciliation . Attempts at reconciliation with the Orthodox have also been hampered by conflicts of jurisdictions and boundaries, the Uniate churches claiming churches confiscated by the Soviets in favor of the Orthodox . The pope was criticized because of the proselytizing of Catholics in Russia, leading to the refusal of the Bishops of the Russian receive . Finally, the recognition by the Vatican for the independence of Croatia was much resented by the Orthodox Serbs who saw this country as linked to Serbia .

On March 1, 2006 , Benedict XVI has decided to renounce the title of " Patriarch of the West " . This renunciation has two goals, the first is to retain only the universal title of the pope and not more than the Patriarch of the West, the second reason is to get closer to Orthodox Christians, as the title of Patriarch of the West was created largely by opposition to the Patriarch of the East, and therefore orthodox.
On March 16, 2006 , exchanges of letters between Pope and Patriarch of Moscow Alexy II are published, this exchange shows a beginning of reconciliation, Benedict XVI wanted "a more intense collaboration in the spirit of truth and charity", the patriarch meanwhile says that the West "is facing serious challenges that require shared commitments." The relationship between John Paul II and Alexy II were much more strained .
On June 28, 2008 , the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I attended in Rome, along with Benedict XVI, at the opening of the Pauline Year to commemorate the second millennium of the birth of Paul.

See also

Internal Links

External Links

Bibliography


Leave a Reply

0 vote, average: 0.00 out of 50 vote, average: 0.00 out of 50 vote, average: 0.00 out of 51 vote, average: 0.00 out of 50 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5 (0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 5, rated)
Loading ... Loading ...
Help us improve the wiki Send Your Comments