The Light of the World (original) (raw)
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Ad fontes liturgicos 13, 2023
The article analyzes the prayers of the Liturgy of the Word in the Byzantine tradition with regard to meditation on the Holy Scriptures. In particular, the author draws attention to the fact of the need to prepare for participation in the divine service through a deeper knowledge of the prayer and patristic tradition of reading the Bible. On the example of individual prayers, the context of reading and commenting on the Gospel in the Eucharistic assembly is indicated. Among other things, the author encourages rethinking the modern rite of the Liturgy of the Word in the Byzantine tradition, which underwent significant changes during its formation and partially lost its authentic structural simplicity.
Back to this book's importance, it, first of all, recalls for the Orthodox the importance of Scripture, reminds them of their roots in the original witness of the apostles, and directs them to read the Church Fathers, the Liturgy, and their own experience of Christ in the light of this continuity. It provides a new lens for reading apparently familiar material, which reveals previously unsuspected links with older currents and illumination with relation to the coherence of the whole. All of these are touched on in the essays in this volume, which its readers can only consult with profit.
The Image of Light from Pagan Religious Thought to Christian Prayer
En el Cristianismo la luz simboliza por un lado la esencia de Dios, por el otro el esplendor de la vida eterna que él otorga a los beatos. Los dos sentidos tienen correlación y se encuentran en varios textos litúrgicos y oraciones, entre las más antiguas de las cuales están el Credo de Nicea y el Requiem aeternam.
Prayers of the Byzantine Liturgy of the Word as an Introduction to Meditation on the Holy Scriptures
2022
There is an opinion, especially among "pastorally" oriented and zealous priests, that, as they say, the prayer of the Church should be such that anyone who enters the church could understand it. What will the "man from the street", "the average Christian", "non-churched person", etc. think about that word, that phrase, the rite, the address, or liturgical robes? How will they like our more than 2,000-year-tradition of prayer? Should we simplify it, make it "closer to its simple apostolic origins", to "the language of simple fishermen from Jerusalem"? These questions can be heard too often from the zealots of catechetical enlightenment, and even from church leadership-bishops. This is true especially about the introductory part of the Byzantine Liturgy-the Liturgy of the Word. Some believe that the Liturgy should begin directly with the reading of the Holy Scriptures. 2 All 1 Tekst pierwotnie opublikowany w "Polonia Sacra" 27 (2023) nr 3, s. 65-78. 2 For a monographic study of the Liturgy of the Word in the Byzantine tradition, see: