Preface
THE ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE, NEW TESTAMENT AND PSALMS (1993) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy, Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas Nelson Publishers
I decided to edit and combine the previous parts 1-2 that made two articles, into one article.
The review of this fine, academic, source continues.
Orthodox Church in America: The Divine Liturgy Glossary from Reverend John Morris, PhD
Quote
'A statement of belief. Creeds in their earlier form were used by the apostles, and many are recorded in the New Testament (Eph. 5: 14; 1 Tim. 3: 16; 2 Tim. 2:11-13). The creed used throughout the Church was adopted at the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 and expanded at the Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381. The Nicene Creed is used at baptisms, the Divine Liturgy, and in personal prayers.' (796).
Comments
From my Reformed, Anabaptist (evangelical) theological background, the Divine Liturgy is not terminology used. This is within Orthodoxy, language for the 'Eucharistic service of the Orthodox Church'. (802).
Cited
'The word liturgy means common work or common action. The Divine Liturgy is the common work of the Orthodox Church. It is the official action of the Church formally gathered together as the chosen People of God. The word church, as we remember, means a gathering or assembly of people specifically chosen and called apart to perform a particular task.'
'The Divine Liturgy is the common action of Orthodox Christians officially gathered to constitute the Orthodox Church. It is the action of the Church assembled by God in order to be together in one community to worship, to pray, to sing, to hear God’s Word, to be instructed in God’s commandments, to offer itself with thanksgiving in Christ to God the Father, and to have the living experience of God’s eternal kingdom through communion with the same Christ Who is present in his people by the Holy Spirit.'
'The Divine Liturgy is always done by Orthodox Christians on the Lord’s Day which is Sunday, the “day after Sabbath” which is symbolic of the first day of creation and the last day—or as it is called in Holy Tradition, the eighth day—of the Kingdom of God. This is the day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, the day of God’s judgment and victory predicted by the prophets, the Day of the Lord which inaugurates the presence and the power of the “kingdom to come” already now within the life of this present world.'
'The Divine Liturgy is also celebrated by the Church on special feast days.'
Greenville, South Carolina
Cited
Cited
'What is the Purpose of the Divine Liturgy?
The transformation of wine, water and bread into the Divine Body and Blood of Christ; for the sanctification of the faithful, who receive remission of their sins and the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven.' St.Cabasilas
Cited
'It is the coming together of the heavenly Kingdom with earthly life. The Church of heaven, the Church triumphant, and the church here on earth, the Church Militant, join in this grand celebration to glorify God and to be in union with Him.
We come to this service to be transformed through the partaking of Holy Communion. This is the same as saying we partake of Jesus Christ's Flesh and Divinity. Holy Communion and the Divine Liturgy cannot be separated. This the greatest of all mysteries. All should come prepared to be partakers of the Divine gift.'
'What is the Meaning of the Word Liturgy?
The word Liturgy comes from an ancient Greek word leitos (people) and erogon (work), Literally it means the work of the people. This word was used initially to refer to service given to the state by citizens for the betterment of the public good. We can think of the divine Liturgy as the public work for the benefit of the people so God’s people will be cared for by Him. As we participate in this service we are serving God through our work in the Divine Liturgy.'
λειτουργία/leitourgia
'Liturgy (leitourgia) is a Greek composite word meaning originally a public duty, a service to the state undertaken by a citizen. Its elements are leitos (from leos = laos, people) meaning public, and ergo (obsolete in the present stem, used in future erxo, etc.), to do. From this we have leitourgos, "a man who performs a public duty", "a public servant", often used as equivalent to the Roman lictor; then leitourgeo, "to do such a duty", leitourgema, its performance, and leitourgia, the public duty itself.'
New Advent sources below. not cited by me personally
Cited
CABROL AND LECLERCQ, Monumenta Ecclesiæ Liturgica. I, Reliquiæ Liturgicæ Vetustissimæ (Paris, 1900-2);
BRIGHTMAN, Liturgies Eastern and Western, I. Eastern Liturgies (Oxford, 1896);
DANIEL, Codex Liturgicus Ecclesiæ universæ (4 vols., Leipzig, 1847-53);
RAUSCHEN, Florilegium Patristicum, VII. Monumenta eucharistica et liturgica vetustissima (Bonn, 1909); FUNK, Patres Apostolici (2 vols., Tübingen, 1901), and Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum (Paderborn, 1905), the quotations in this article are made from these editions;
PROBST, Liturgie der drei ersten christl. Jahrh. (Tübingen, 1870);
IDEM, Liturgie des vierten Jahr. u. deren Reform (Münster, 1893);
DREWS, Untersuchungen über die sogenannte clementin. Liturgie (Tübingen, 1906);
DUCHESNE, Origines du Cuite chrét. (Paris, 1898);
RAUSCHEN, Eucharistie und Buss-sakrament in den ersten sechs Jahrh. der Kirche (Freiburg, 1908);
CABROL, Les Origines liturgiques (Paris, 1906);
IDEM, Introduction aux Etudes liturgiques (Paris, 1907). For further bibliography see articles on each liturgy. For liturgical languages, as well as liturgical science, treating of the regulation, history, and dogmatic value of the Liturgy, see RITES.
Smartfaith.net
Cited
'Kevin Simington (B.Th. Dip. Min.) is a theologian, apologist and social commentator.'
Cited
'Contrary to some people’s misguided views, liturgy was not a later ‘add-on’ instituted by a stultified church but was a vital part of Christian worship from the very beginning. The New Testament contains many references to the ongoing practice of liturgical worship as well as actual examples of first century liturgy.'
Comments
The smartfaith.net comments are in agreement with the Orthodox Study Bible, in as much that liturgy was practiced within the New Testament and the New Testament era. To use the first New Testament reference from the Orthodox text, quoting a saying in Ephesians 5: 14:
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Footnotes
a) Ephesians 5:14 Or He
The Orthodoxy text uses the
New King James Version (NKJV)
14 Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
The Orthodoxy text states that verse 14 is an early baptism hymn, and that baptism is illumination. (450).
From my Reformed and Anabaptist perspective, baptism is a key New Testament practice (ordinance or sacrament, depending on the denomination) that represents a sign of regeneration (John 3, Titus 3, 1 Peter 1: 23) for a believer.
1 Peter 3: 21
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ...
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A good conscience exists via regeneration and the applied atoning and resurrection work of Jesus Christ to a believer.
A good conscience exists via regeneration and the applied atoning and resurrection work of Jesus Christ to a believer.
From this brief review in Part 1, we can see that a creed is a statement of belief; whereas liturgy is a form of public worship. So, a liturgy may be a creed and vice-versa.
Both are a biblical means of expressing theological truths.
Selected source from cited links
Fortescue, A. (1910). Liturgy, In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved March 20, 2022 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09306a.htm
The Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is from the Council of Nicea in 325 AD/CE. Paraphrasing the Pocket Dictionary, the Council of Nicea was convened by the Roman Empire, Constantine (83) in regards to Arianism (83), which denied the deity of Jesus Christ, based on the teachings of Arius (died 335-336) (15).
George Newlands explains that Arius believed that Jesus Christ was the incarnate Logos, but was subject to change. (103). The Logos, itself, was therefore subject to change. (103). The Logos for Arius would not be eternal God. This is error in my view as the nature of God the Son, God the Word (Logos/Λόγος), is eternal, infinite and immutable (the Gospel of John, Chapter 1, clearly portrays the Word of God, as fully God). As Jesus Christ was fully human, his body would change, as would any other human being. But his divine nature, as the God the Word, Logos, would not.
Does the resurrected body of Jesus Christ change? As now immortal, I doubt it. (Referencing the example of resurrected humanity in 1 Corinthians 15).
Arius reasoned that as God was immutable, my term paraphrasing (103), Jesus Christ could not be God. (103). Therefore he reasoned the Logos was not God. This is a misunderstanding of trinitarian theology and the biblical text by Arius and within Arianism. The same could be stated for denying the deity of Christ over the issue of impassibility (103). Jesus Christ as fully human, would suffer, but God in nature cannot suffer. God is impassible in my view, at least in that God's ontological nature cannot be changed by suffering. I do reason that God with infinite knowledge, does understand all suffering.
Blaising documents that Arianism argued that the Son cannot have the same exact essence as God the Father, because then 'the essence would be divisible'. (774). Arianism stated that the Son only does God the Father's will, as do all other creatures. (774).
The Pocket Dictionary documents that the Nicene Creed teaches that God the Son is of one substance with God the Father (83) as in homoousios (83), ὁμοούσιος (my add). As spirit (John 4: 24) God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, have one nature as three distinctions/persons. The Nicene Creed was revamped slightly at the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD/CE (83).
V.L.Walter reasons that 'the most compelling argument against Arianism' (75), in agreement with Athanasius, is that only God incarnate, could reconcile and redeem fallen humanity to a holy God. (75).
I would state that God the Son, Jesus Christ, as infinite could outlast finite sin on the cross. A finite being, as in Arianism, could not do so. God the Son, Jesus Christ, as perfect human being, could serve as the divine sacrifice for sin and simultaneously conquer death.
Romans 6: 23 King James Version (KJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Nicene Creed, in my view, biblically protects the New Testament, trinitarian theology of the deity of Jesus Christ. Yes, in the incarnation, God the Son, God the Word (John 1) took an additional human nature that does not mix with the infinite, eternal nature of God. God the Son, remains, fully God the Son, even as incarnate Jesus Christ.
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Arius
Cited
'As with most heretics, Arius is known primarily through the eyes of his opponents; only a few letters of Arius himself survive. Modern studies of Arius and Arianism are scarce: Henry Melvill Gwatkin, Studies of Arianism: Chiefly Referring to the Character and Chronology of the Reaction Which Followed the Council of Nicaea (1882; 2d ed. 1900), and John Henry Newman, The Arians of the Fourth Century (1833; 4th rev. ed. 1876), are helpful but prejudiced and outdated. Of general surveys, G.L. Prestige, Fathers and Heretics (1940); Jean Daniélou and Henri Marrou, The Christian Centuries, vol. 1: The First Six Hundred Years (1963; trans. 1964); and Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (trans. 1967), can be consulted with profit.'
ATHANASIUS, SAINT, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, (-373) (1970). St. Athanasius on the Incarnation : the Treatise De Incarnatione. Verbi Dei. London :A. R. Mowbray & Co.
BLAISING, C.A (1996) ‘Nicea Council of’ in Walter A. Elwell (ed.) Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books.
CAIRNS, EARLE E. (1981) Christianity Through The Centuries, Grand Rapids, Zondervan Publishing House.
GRENZ, STANLEY J., DAVID GURETZKI and CHERITH FEE NORDLING (1999) Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, Downers Grove, Ill., InterVarsity Press.
NEWLANDS, GEORGE (1999) 'Christology', in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (eds.), A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, Kent, SCM Press Limited.
SHELBY, BRUCE L. (1982) Church History In Plain Language, Word Books, Waco, Texas.
WALTER, V.L. (1996) ‘Arianism’ in Walter A. Elwell (ed.) Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books.
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