Orthodox Church - Orthodoxe Kirche

The Orthodox Church usually evokes the image of golden onion domes, magnificent icons, strange chants and incense in Central Europeans, paired with a piety that is unknown to us. It is often overlooked that this religion is also represented in German-speaking countries by communities of emigrants from countries with Orthodox churches.

Icon: adoration of a cross

background

Emergence

With the Milan Edict of Tolerance of the Emperor Constantine ended the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire in 313. The Edict of the Three Emperor from 380 was a further step on the way to the state religion in 391. At that time the church was divided into dioceses headed by a patriarch, their seat was in Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Even then there were the first tendencies towards secession, the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus show this clearly. That was when the ancient oriental churches such as the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Coptic Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Despite the name, they do not belong to the group of the Byzantine Orthodox Church Separation of the Eastern Orthodox Church from the Roman Catholic happened formally in 1054, one reason was certainly the political development. The Pope as Patriarch of Rome demanded supremacy within the Church, but this was refused to him by the Eastern Roman Patriarch in Constantinople. After Constantinople was conquered and sacked during the fourth crusade, the separation was final.

distribution

The Orthodox Church originated in the Byzantine Empire, it traditionally comprised the areas of the ancient patriarchates. In the course of the missionary work, it expanded throughout the entire Eastern European area. After the spread of Islam, it lost much of its importance in the Mediterranean region.

structure

The area of ​​the Orthodox Church is divided into eparchies, which corresponds to the dioceses of the Western Church, they are responsible Eparch before, this corresponds to a bishop. For areas outside the heartland, the terms exarch for bishop and exarchate for diocese are. Several eparchies are administered by a common head. In ancient times, these were those Patriarchs with its seat in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Antioch (now Damascus), Alexandria (now Cairo) and Jerusalem. In the Slavic area, some of which was evangelized after the imperial era, the heads are called Metropolitan referred to, roughly corresponding to the archbishops in the Roman Catholic Church.

Canonical churches

Traditionally, the Patriarch of Constantinople is the head of the Orthodox Church, but without having the prominent role that the Pope has in the Roman Catholic Church. He is First among equals. All churches that recognize this are called canonical. You can autocephalous be, then they own one own head, you can also use it as autonomous apply, then they are independent, but are represented externally, e.g. by a metropolitan from another church.

Structure of the Orthodox Church

According to the creed is the Orthodox Church catholic and apostolic. This means that it is all-encompassing and established by the apostles. In this sense, the totality of all independent churches in their totality forms only one single Orthodox church. The listing of the individual members shows that the main focus of the Orthodox Church is in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, meanwhile it is represented by migrations worldwide.

Autocephalous churches

The Alexander Nevski Cathedral in Sofia

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow

• Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (3.5 million)
• Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria (750,000)
• Patriarchate of Antioch (Rum Orthodox Church, 750,000)
• Patriarchate of Jerusalem (250,000)
• Patriarchate of Moscow and all Russia (Russian Orthodox Church, 100 million)
• Patriarchy of Serbia (Serbian Orthodox Church, 8 million)
• Patriarchy of Romania (Romanian Orthodox Church, 20 million)
• Patriarchy of Bulgaria (Bulgarian Orthodox Church, 8 million)
• Patriarchy of Georgia (Georgian Orthodox Apostle Church, 3 million)
• Archdiocese of Cyprus (Cypriot Orthodox Church, 350,000)
• Archdiocese of Greece (Greek Orthodox Church, 10 million)
• Archdiocese of Poland (Polish Orthodox Church, 500,000)
• Archdiocese of Albania (Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, 170,000)
• Archdiocese of Czech Republic and the Slovakia (150.000)
• Archdiocese of America (Orthodox Church in America)

Autonomous Churches

• Orthodox Church in Finland
• Archdiocese of Sinai
• Moldovan-Orthodox Church
• Russian Orthodox Church Abroad
• orthodox church in Japan

The Orthodox Faith

Term: Orthodox

The word Orthodox can be translated as right teaching and as right praise. The Orthodox Church differs from the Roman Catholic Church in a number of ways, for example it does not recognize the infallibility of the Pope. There are also deviations in some tenets of belief.

Sacraments

The Orthodox Church, like the Roman Catholic, knows seven sacraments. Here they are called mysteries. these are

• baptism
• the anointing of myron (according to confirmation)
• the Eucharist
• the confession
• marriage
• the sacrament of consecration
• the anointing of the sick

In contrast to the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox priests may be married if the wedding took place before the first ordination as a deacon. Bishops, on the other hand, must be celibate.

public holidays

Orthodox deacon

With a few exceptions, the Orthodox Church follows this Julian calendar. Therefore, when calculating the date of Easter, there are always deviations from the date used in the western churches. In addition, Easter in the Orthodox Church is not celebrated before the Jewish Passover, which results in further postponements. All holidays that depend on the date of Easter therefore differ from the date used in the western world. Otherwise there are some holidays that are little known in other Christian churches.

• Holidays with a fixed date:

• Easter and related holidays

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The party Entry into Jerusalem corresponds to Palm Sunday of the western churches, All Saints Day is a week after Pentecost. The first Sunday of pre-Easter Lent also bears the title Orthodoxy Sunday.

Some Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar adapted to the Gregorian, the largest of which are the churches in Greece (exception: Mount Athos), Bulgaria and Romania. The others too Old calendar called, remained firmly in the church area with the Julian calendar. This causes the public holidays to be postponed by 13 days. This means that December 25th in the Julian calendar does not appear until January 7th of the following year is that Christmas party and all other church festivals take place exactly these 13 days later. This applies to the churches in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and Serbia.

Construction of the houses of worship

Large iconostasis in the Kovilj Monastery

In the Orthodox Church, places of worship are divided into a vestibule, the actual church or Naos and the sanctuary. The main entrance is usually in the west.

The chancel in the east of the church is often raised a few steps and separated from the nave by a Templonthat has evolved over the course of history into the Iconostasis. The iconostasis is usually set back a little so that a passage is free for clergymen to stay during the liturgy, a small stage is also mentioned here Ambo or Table of the word, from here the gospel is read and the sermons are given.

The iconostasis usually has three doors. The middle one is usually called a double door King's door, through them communion and the gospel book are carried. The wall and doors are adorned with portraits, on the king's door there are pictures of the evangelists, on the wall to the right you can see an icon of Christ, on the left one of the Virgin Mary. The side doors are decorated with images of angels and saints. A picture of the namesake of the church can often be found on the right side door. Large iconostases often have additional rows of icons, the motifs of which are reminiscent of church festivals or represent prophets or saints.

In the middle of the sanctuary is an altar table with a tabernacle on it. Here is the gospel book, a blessing cross and that Myron, an oil used for anointing comparable to that Chrism. The offering table with bread and wine is to the left of the altar. The bread, so-called. Prosphores, are unleavened in the Orthodox tradition and baked with Christian symbols. Behind the altar is a seven-armed candlestick to commemorate the seven sacraments and an altar cross. The sanctuary is only accessible to the clergy.

In contrast to Western churches, there are usually no seats in the Orthodox churches, the fragrant incense during the liturgy can be annoying for strangers, especially since some services for Central Europeans take a long time. Liturgies of two to three hours are common on holidays with the corresponding chants.

Churches worth seeing

Trinity Monastery in Meteora, Greece

Among the Orthodox churches and monasteries there are a large number that are listed as World Heritage Sites.

• important churches in Russia
  • the St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square that Kolomenskoye Church of the Resurrection and the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow
  • at the Golden ring there are quite a number of cathedrals and monasteries
  • the Wooden churches of Kishi Pogost at Lake Onega
• In Romania count seven Moldavian monasteries To the world cultural heritage
• In Bulgaria Worth mentioning are the rock churches of Ivanovo
• In Serbia it is the Studenica Monastery
• In Kosovo, the Gračanica Monastery is a World Heritage Site
• In Greece belong to the world heritage
  • Mount Athos
  • the Meteora monasteries
  • the monasteries of Daphni, Hossios Luckas and Nea Moni on Chios
• In Georgia belong to the world heritage
  • The cathedrals of Bagrati and Gelati at Kutaisi (red list due to unsuitable renovation work)
  • The churches of Svetitskhoveli, Samtavro and Jvari in Mtskheta (also red list for the same reasons)
• In Egypt it is Catherine's Monastery on the Sinai

literature

• Janina Schulze, Franjo Terhart: World religions: origin, history, practice, belief, worldview. Parragon, 2008, ISBN 978-1407554242 .
• Anke Fischer: The seven world religions. Edition XXL GmbH, 2004, ISBN 978-3897363229 .
• Markus Hattstein: World religions. Ullmann, 2005, ISBN 978-3833114069 .

Web links

• Exarchate of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis
• Russian Church in Leipzig
• German Orthodox Trinity Monastery
• Orthodoxworld pages, in English and French

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