Church members.
The Church, according to the authoritative definition of the “Long Catechism” of Metropolitan Philaret, is “a God-established society of people united by the Orthodox faith, the law of God, the hierarchy and the Sacraments.”
The Founder of the Church, Jesus Christ, gave all the apostles equal power in it, retaining the supreme supremacy, calling Himself the “Good Shepherd”
(John 10:14). Just as there was no primacy of power among the apostles, according to the commandment of Christ, so there is not and cannot be among bishops; whatever see each of them occupies, all bishops are equal in dignity and sacramental power.
The Church, being the Body of Christ, having the Savior himself as its Head, consists of members - brothers, equal among themselves in the face of the truth of God, who have the same hope in the Kingdom of Heaven. The people of God, in the words of the Apostle Peter, “A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
(1 Peter 2:9).
Members of the Church are bound together not by a community of nationality, language, class, but by another community, a higher one - the unity of faith and the unity of spiritual life.
Sacrament of Baptism.
Entry into the grace-filled living organism of the Church begins with the Sacrament of Baptism. “In the field of church law,” wrote A. S. Pavlov, “baptism has the same meaning as birth in the field of civil law. Therefore, in our sources it is called the second, or spiritual birth. But just as a person is born once, he can only be truly baptized once.”
A correctly performed baptism cannot be repeated, therefore a priest who re-baptizes anyone is subject to reprimand: “If a bishop or presbyter baptizes again in truth someone who has been baptized, or if he does not baptize someone defiled by the wicked, he will be cast out, as one who mocks the Cross.” and the death of the Lord and not distinguishing priests from false priests” (Apostle 47).
Baptism is not repeated for those who, after falling away from the Church, repent and return to it, for the seal of this Sacrament is indelible.
Baptism is performed by three times immersion in water with the invocation of the Holy Trinity. In the Orthodox Church it is not customary to baptize through pouring or sprinkling, about which nothing is said in the Holy Scriptures. To perform the Sacrament, pure natural water is used.
The celebrant of the Sacrament of Baptism can be bishops and priests (Apostle 46, 47). But the unconditional necessity of Baptism for the salvation of man, as well as the belonging to every Christian of the high dignity of the “royal priesthood”, is the basis for recognizing as valid baptism performed in the event of mortal danger for the baptized layman, and even a woman. At the same time, however, the celebrant of the Sacrament is required to have a conscious attitude towards his act (“Orthodox Confession,” Part I, Issue 103; “Nomocanon” at the Great Trebnik, Art. 204; “Book of the Positions of Parish Elders,” § 84; Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs, 16 members).
Patriarch Photius of Constantinople, in response to a question from the Calabrian Bishop Leo about the validity of baptism performed by a layman, wrote: “If in a free country, where Christians enjoy peace and where there are many priests, any of the laity, despising the order of church rites and being puffed up with pride, dares to perform this matter, that is, baptism, such, after strict penance for their offense, are completely excluded from receiving the priesthood... For whoever despised grace before receiving it, will not hesitate to trample underfoot what he has received. We do not recognize those who are baptized by them as having received the grace of the Spirit, and therefore we determine that they must be baptized with water and anointed with myrrh... But if holy baptism is performed by (simple) Christians living under barbarian rule and not having enough priests, then what is done out of need deserves leniency, and those who require grace should not be deprived of it due to the tyranny of the infidels. Therefore, those who baptized, even if they did not have ordination, are not subject to judgment and punishment. Regarding the baptized, we determine that they should be anointed with chrism, even if they have already received chrismation from the unsanctified. But baptism performed out of need (by a layman) should not be eliminated. For although it is imperfect (due to the invalidity of the previous anointing), it is nevertheless honored by the invocation of the All-Holy Trinity, by the pious intention of those who call and those who receive by faith... For the Church of God from ancient times allowed many cases of baptism, correctly performed, according to the needs of the time and place, by a layman.”
The Orthodox Church, however, rejects the Catholic practice of recognizing as valid, on the basis of the doctrine of “ex opera operatum,” baptism performed by an unbaptized person who does not belong to the Christian Church. Of course, any self-baptism is unacceptable and insignificant.
If someone baptized by a layman recovers, then the priest must fill the Sacrament with prayers and sacred rites that could not be performed at the baptism itself; but neither the threefold immersion nor the baptismal formula is repeated.
A priest, due to whose negligence someone dies unbaptized, is subject to church punishment, as are parents, due to whose negligence a child dies outside the Church (Article 68 of the “Nomocanon at the Great Trebnik”).
According to the 84th canon of the Trullo Council, it is necessary to baptize foundlings, if it is not known for certain whether they were baptized: “Following the canonical decrees of the Father (83, 72 Carth.), we determine also about infants: whenever reliable witnesses are not found, those who undoubtedly affirm that they are baptized, and when they themselves, due to their youth, cannot give the required answer about the Sacrament given to them, they should be baptized without any bewilderment; Yes, such a misunderstanding will not deprive them of the purification of so much shrine.”
In order to avoid repeated baptism in cases where there is serious reason to assume that a particular person has already received the Sacrament, but there is no complete certainty about this, it is customary to perform baptism in a conditional form: “A servant of God is baptized in the name of the river, if he is not baptized.”
The Sacrament of Baptism in the Orthodox Church, unlike the Catholic Church, is connected with the Sacrament of Confirmation, which imparts to the recipient the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit. As the 48th canon of the Council of Laodicea says, “it is fitting for those who are enlightened to be anointed with the heavenly unction, and to be partakers of the Kingdom of God.”
The 59th canon of the Trullo Council requires that baptism be performed in a church: “Let baptism not be performed in a prayer book located inside a house; but those who want to be worthy of the most pure enlightenment, let them come to the Catholic churches, and there let them be worthy of this gift. If anyone is convicted of not keeping what we have decreed, then the cleric will be deposed, and the layman will be excommunicated.”
Exceptions are allowed only in cases of necessity and with the permission of the bishop: “We determine that clergy who officiate or baptize in prayer churches located inside houses do this only with the permission of the local bishop” (31 rights. Trull.). And only extreme need, caused, for example, by mortal danger, can be the basis for performing the Sacrament of Baptism at home without the prior blessing of the diocesan bishop.
In Orthodox families, children receive Baptism in infancy. As for the Baptism of adults, church laws require that they undergo a catechumen before baptism. In the Ancient Church, the rite of announcement was performed separately from Baptism; and the catechumens constituted a special category of incomplete members of the Church. The length of stay in the rank of catechumens could vary: from many years to several days. It depended on the spiritual maturity of the catechumen. In ancient times, the Lent of Great Lent was reserved for the announcement of those baptized, and Baptism itself took place on Holy Saturday.
The 45th canon of the Council of Laodicea says: “For two weeks of Lent, one should not receive Baptism.” In his interpretation of this rule, Zonara wrote: “The Church adopted the custom of performing Baptism on Holy Saturday, because Baptism is an image of the burial and resurrection of the Lord, and this Saturday is the middle between burial and resurrection. So, those who are preparing to be enlightened on Holy Saturday must fast for the entire period of Pentecost and purify themselves with abstinence and thus begin enlightenment.”
The ancient practice of baptism on Holy Saturday is now reminiscent of the chant “Those who were baptized into Christ...”, which replaces the Trisagion chant on this day.
For us, the rite of announcement is connected with the Sacrament of Baptism itself. Therefore, we do not have “catechumens” in the precise sense of the word. However, adults must undergo preparation for a certain period of time to receive the Sacrament. According to the decree of the Holy Synod of January 2-2, 1862, Gentiles who had not reached the civil age of majority (21 years), but had reached the church age of majority (14 years), were taught the Law of God for 6 months before Baptism, and for persons who had converted through the line of civil majority, the ancient canonical 40-day period was left. As for children under 14 years of age, during the Synodal era they were baptized together with their parents and without prior training in the Orthodox faith.
Persons whose illness posed a danger to their lives were allowed to be baptized immediately, without announcement. But it was required that the priest be convinced that the patient was of sound mind and full memory. The priest was obliged to immediately inform the bishop about the baptism of a sick non-Christian without first informing him of the truths of the faith. Upon recovery, the newly baptized person was handed over to an experienced shepherd for teaching. This practice meets the requirement of the 47th canon of the Laodicean Council: “Those who received baptism in illness and then received health should study the faith and recognize that they have been granted the Divine gift.”
In the synodal era, the baptism of non-Orthodox Christians who had reached the age of majority was performed on Sundays and holidays before the Divine Liturgy, so that the newly baptized could partake of the Holy Mysteries.
Persons with a damaged mind and suppressed will are not allowed to be baptized, except in those cases when they are in mortal danger: “When a demoniac has not yet been cleansed of the unclean spirit, he cannot receive holy baptism: but when he departs from this life he is baptized” ( 2 Timothy, Al.).
Since ancient times, recipients have participated in the baptism of children and adults. When baptizing adults, they are witnesses and guarantors for the seriousness of intention and for the right faith of the baptized, and when baptizing infants and the speechless, they make vows for them and pronounce the creed. The 54th rule of the Council of Carthage provides in this regard the following: “Sick people who cannot answer for themselves, let them be baptized when, by their will, others testify about them, under their own responsibility.”
The recipients are charged with the responsibility of monitoring the growth of the religious and moral consciousness of the newly baptized. The godchildren enter into a relationship with their godchildren and their parents, which is called spiritual kinship.
The fact of spiritual kinship is of particular importance in church marriage law, being one of the obstacles to marriage. According to the custom of the Ancient Church, baptism, as a rule, involved one recipient, whose gender corresponded to the gender of the person being baptized. With the prevailing baptism of adults at that time, this resulted from a natural feeling of modesty. But later, in baptism as a spiritual birth, by analogy with a carnal birth, both the recipient and the recipient began to participate simultaneously - the godfather and mother. This custom quite easily entered the life of the Church, especially since over time they began to primarily baptize infants. In the church-canonical consciousness, the relationship between the successor and his goddaughter and, accordingly, between the successor and her godson, as well as between the successor and the goddaughter, acquired the character of spiritual kinship.
Not every person is allowed to become a successor. Parents of the baptized person, monks (“Nomocanon” under the Great Trebnik, art. 209, 84), and minors (“Book of the Positions of Parish Presbyters”) are excluded from succession. According to the decree of the Holy Synod of May 23, 1836, persons who had reached the age of ecclesiastical majority—14 years—could be recipients. Non-Orthodox people are also not allowed to be successors, although the “Book on the Positions of Parish Elders” states that non-Orthodox people can be successors of the Orthodox, but at baptism they must read the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol without the addition of “filioque.”
Organizational structure of the Russian Orthodox Church
The structure of the Russian Orthodox Church and the material basis of its activities. If we exclude the Orthodox sees of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, canonically subordinate according to the tradition of the Moscow Metropolis (it was the only heir to the Kyiv Metropolis), then we can count nine bishops in the territory of North-Eastern and North-Western Rus'. These are the Novgorod (from the 12th century) and Rostov (from the first third of the 15th century) archdioceses, Ryazan, Suzdal, Tver, Kolomna, Perm, Sarsk and Podonsk bishoprics, as well as metropolitan tithes (i.e. territories that are in the church In respect, the metropolitan ruled like other rulers). There were no major changes in the boundaries of the territories of the departments in the 15th - mid-16th centuries. didn't happen. Only the Sarsky ruler in the middle of the 15th century. was forced to move to Krutitsy near Moscow, and Russia’s new acquisitions in the Severshchina at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. ended up in the Suzdal bishopric.
The size of the territories of most cathedras is striking: they are simply not comparable with similar indicators for bishops in the eastern patriarchates. However, let’s not forget about the low population density in the country. But the parishes undoubtedly grew quite quickly in accordance with the successes of colonization. The parishes in the cities became denser - this can be concluded on the basis of the growing church construction, especially in Veliky Novgorod, Moscow, and Pskov. But not only. Back in the 14th century. Most of the small Central Russian cities acquired city cathedrals, which implies the presence of parish churches. The rapid development of monastic life also contributed to the growth in the number of churches. The growing network of cathedral and parish churches was both a prerequisite and the most expressive manifestation of success in the work of evangelization. Churches in the 15th - mid-16th centuries. there were probably more than one thousand.
The fact is significant and multi-layered. From this time on, one should assume that the influence of hierarchs on the thoughts, moods, and social behavior of parishioners is quite effective. The Church naturally became a significant and autonomous force from secular authorities in many spheres of life. This was also facilitated by strengthened material independence. After all, what did the increase in the number of parishes mean in this regard? Increasing the income of the bishop and the institutions of episcopal government. The department received church tribute from priests, deacons, deductions for rituals and sacraments, and a number of other levies. The bishop and his representatives judged church officials in spiritual matters, and ideally in the vast majority of cases in general. Another thing is that the current documentation of the XV-XVI centuries. shows how far the ideal was from worldly realities: in secular affairs with the participation of representatives of the clergy, alas, the princely court prevailed. Finally, the rulers held court in cases of crimes against morality, in disputes about inheritance over all the laity. As in a secular court, all stages of the process, drawing up and certification of documentation were accompanied by the payment of fees and fines.
The involvement of rulers in earthly concerns is visible from the very structure of episcopal government. In the middle of the XIV - middle of the XVI century. The staff of this department was replenished by secular feudal lords - boyars, boyar children, etc. - who were in a service-vassal relationship with one department or another. It was they who found themselves in the posts of lord's governors, tithes, visitors, etc. Metropolitan and episcopal boyars primarily constituted the judicial curia under the hierarch. The Novgorod archbishop had a special position since the end of the 14th century: in the structure of its organs, the scope of functions, and the nature of the activities of a number of rulers (in the middle of the 15th century), signs of theocratism are discernible.
Another source of material isolation for the church is its land ownership. It arose back in the era of Kievan Rus, but from the second half of the 14th century. the pace of its growth has become noticeable. The metropolitan see and some bishoprics turned into very large feudal fiefdoms. Some cathedral churches were provided with land ownership to a significant extent. In ordinary parishes the situation was different. In addition to payments and in-kind income from parishioners, the clergy was entitled to a relatively small allotment, which was processed by the family.
From the second half of the 14th century. The land ownership of the monasteries grew rapidly. Sometimes they even talk about a monastic revolution. This word is hardly appropriate. But there is no doubt that the image of the monastery has changed dramatically. The previously dominant city or suburban monastery of the Kelliot, “special” life with a small group of monastics is being replaced by a “departed from the world” monastery, to which the founder prescribes the strict rules of a communal monastery with a fairly large contingent of monks and novices. The departure from the laity into the thicket of an uninhabited forest should hardly be taken literally: the elders were sometimes separated from the nearest settlements by just a few miles and, infrequently, by dozens of miles. Monasteries arose in zones of beginning colonization, when they themselves, as it were, outlined its directions. In other cases, the founders of the monastery followed the farmers.
Formation of the church structure in Rus' at the end of the X-XII centuries. was a process of internal development of the state system of Rus'. The metropolis itself in Kyiv, which united (with the exception of a short time in the second half of the 11th century) the entire state territory of Ancient Rus', was the center of the national (in the sense of nationality) church. Founded by the grand ducal authority and local princes, the bishoprics represented a centralized structure that largely corresponded to the political structure. At a time of feudal fragmentation and the existence of independent principalities, the church system of 11-16 bishoprics, subordinate to both local princes and Kyiv, to a certain extent compensated for the lack of political centralization.
Joining the Church.
In addition to baptism, there is another way of joining the Orthodox Church, but it is open, of course, only to those who have already received the Sacrament of Baptism, but outside of Orthodoxy. There are three ranks of joining for non-Orthodox people who want to join the Orthodox Church. They are discussed in the 8th and 11th canons of the First Ecumenical Council, in the 1st canon of Basil the Great, in the 7th canon of the Second Ecumenical Council, in the 68th canon of the Carthage Council.
The result of the law-making of the Ancient Church on the issue of joining schismatics and heretics is summed up by the 95th law. Trullo Council: “Those who join Orthodoxy and part of those saved from heretics are acceptable according to the following rites and customs. Arians, Macedonians, Novatians, who call themselves pure and best, the Four-ten-Day Diaries, or Tetradites, and Apolinarists, when they give manuscripts and curse all heresy, which does not philosophize, as the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of God philosophizes, is acceptable, sealing, that is, anointing with the holy world first the forehead, then the eyes, and nostrils, and lips, and ears, and sealing them with the verb: Seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. And regarding those who were Paulians and then resorted to the Catholic Church, it was decreed: they must be rebaptized without fail. Eunomian, those who are baptized by single immersion, and the Montanists, here called Phrygians, and the Sabellians, who hold the opinion of the fatherland, and those who do other intolerant things, and all other heretics (for there are many of them here, especially those coming from the Galatian country): all who of them wish joined to be Orthodoxy, we are acceptable like pagans. On the first day we make them Christians, on the second we catechumen them, then on the third we conjure them, with three blows blowing in their faces and in their ears: and so we proclaim them and force them to remain in the Church and listen to the Scriptures, and then we baptize them. Likewise the Manichaeans, Valentinians, Marcionites, and similar heretics. The Nestorians must write manuscripts and anathematize their heresy, and Nestorius, and Eutyches, and Dioscorus, and Sevirus, and other leaders of such heresies, and their like-minded people, and all the above heresies: and then let them receive holy communion.”
Thus, the 95th rule of the Council of Trulla requires that extreme heretics: Paulian, Eunomian, Sabellian, Montanist; according to the second rite, through Confirmation, - Macedonian, Novatian, Arian, Apolinarian; and finally, according to the third, through Repentance, the Nestorians and Monophysites.
As for the heterodox churches that separated from the Ecumenical Orthodoxy after the Trullo Council, the following practice now exists: Catholics, if they are anointed, have been annexed to our Church since the beginning of the 18th century according to the third order, although the Council of Constantinople in 1756 decided to rebaptize Catholics and Protestants , and here in Russia they were rebaptized back in the 17th century. Old Catholics also join. Anglicans, Protestants and Old Believers are accepted according to the second rank; and extreme sectarians, such as Molokans, Doukhobors, Jehovah's Witnesses, Subbotniks, join the Orthodox Church, like non-Christians, through Baptism.
What is the ROC?
The largest number of believers among the Local Orthodox Churches is the Russian Orthodox Church (abbreviated as ROC, another name is the Moscow Patriarchate). Until the 20th century, it was also called the “Russian Orthodox Church”, “Greek-Eastern Russian Church”, “Greek-Russian Church” and so on. It is important for every Orthodox Christian to know what the Russian Orthodox Church is.
St. Basil's Cathedral is the most famous temple of Russian Orthodoxy
“Studying the history of the Russian Church helps us, firstly, to remain in the Church, to be faithful to its Tradition; secondly, to live in the Church, that is, to grow spiritually ourselves, and also to teach the people of God.
There is always interest in the object of love, you want to know more and in more detail about it. If we love our Church, then we will study its history not out of duty, but out of love” (hieromonk Tikhon Vasiliev).
Loss of ecclesiastical legal capacity.
Those who die in the Orthodox faith remain members of the Church, but already a triumphant, heavenly one, and not a militant, earthly one, and therefore, naturally, are not subject to the judgment of earthly church authority. In this sense, the ecclesiastical legal capacity of Christians is lost with the onset of death.
In addition, ecclesiastical legal capacity is lost due to apostasy from the Church and through anathema. But in both cases, this loss is not unconditional. The stamp of Baptism is indelible. Therefore, for those who have fallen away from the Church and have been anathematized by it for serious crimes, the way is open to join the Church through Repentance. Moreover, in both cases, the newly received person into the Church does not need the Sacrament of Baptism to be repeated over him.
Local Churches as parts of the One Church of Christ
Since its inception, the Christian religion has been actively preached in many countries and peoples. Already in the first centuries, five Local Churches were formed - Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, Constantinople. The Roman Church eventually subjugated the entire Christian West and left the family of Orthodox Churches. Now it is the Roman Catholic Church, professing the Catholic version of Christianity.
The remaining Local Churches, equal among themselves, continued to follow the dogmas of Orthodoxy. Over time, the number of these Churches increased. Often their borders coincide with the state and administrative borders of the countries on whose territory they historically developed. Their rituals and customs reflect preserved national characteristics.
Currently there are 15 Local Orthodox Churches. All of them are recognized as equal and autocephalous, that is, independent of each other.
In the Orthodox world there is an approved list of Churches, which is called a diptych. In it, Local Churches are ranked according to the “rank of honor” - taking into account their origin, declaration of autocephaly and the significance of the city centers.
The Church of Constantinople is considered senior in honor and first among equal Local Churches. The Russian Orthodox Church is the fifth Local Church in the diptych. According to the order indicated in the diptych, the primates of the Local Churches stand at the throne in the altar during joint services.
