Popular Involvement in Early Byzantine (Para)Liturgical Practices: Participation in Hymns and Prayers in Churches and Elsewhere (original) (raw)
Related papers
Political approaches to Byzantine liturgical texts
Roy Eriksen & Peter Young (eds.), Approaches to the Text. From Pre-Gospel to Post-Baroque, Pisa-Rome: Fabrizio Serra Editore [Early Modern and Modern Studies, 9] 2014, pp. 63–81.
The deeply religious character of the Byzantine society gave way to a political system that has been characterized as a “political theology”. Established already during the fourth century, this ideology was based on a close relation between the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of heaven and, thus, between God and the emperor. This ideology was used by emperors to strengthen their own power and/or the legitimacy of their dynasty. To reach its aims, the imperial propaganda used –among other mediums– the sanctification of emperors or royals and the composition of liturgical texts. The paper discusses cases of such a use of hymnology
Hymns, Homilies and Hermeneutics in Byzantium
Brill, 2020
These papers explore the literature of Byzantine liturgical communities and provide a window into lived Christianity in this period. The liturgical performance of Christian hymns and sermons creatively engaged the faithful in biblical exegesis, invited them to experience theology in song, and shaped their identity. These sacred stories, affective scripts and salvific songs were the literature of a liturgical community – hymns and sermons were heard, and in some cases sung, by lay and monastic Christians throughout the life of Byzantium. In the field of Byzantine studies there is a growing appreciation of the importance of liturgical texts for understanding the many facets of Byzantine Christianity: we are in the midst of a liturgical turn. This book is a timely contribution to the emerging scholarship, illuminating the intersection between liturgical hymns, homiletics and hermeneutics.
Problems in Byzantine Liturgy: History, Evolution & Mysteriology
The formation of Byzantine liturgy is a complex interaction and creative synthesis of both what one might call the historio-linguistic and the narrative-symbolic. A more nuanced position on the evolution of the Byzantine liturgy will reveal that the 'symbolic imagination' in turn exercises a causal relationship on the later evolution of the rite. It is my opinion that infrequent communion led to an ever-increasing symbolization of the Liturgy, which had the effect of obscuring the sacramental event by the gradual replacement of an ecclesiological understanding of the Eucharist by one that was increasingly representational and symbolic. Yet the commentaries that supported this imaginative turn are still a living part of the liturgy, and rather than being entirely dismissive it is important to be aware that an understanding of the rite can grow up besides the written text, that is in no way extrinsic to the rite.
Liturgical Necrosis: The Misuse of Symbol and Action in Byzantine Liturgy
Personal Paper, 2015
The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that liturgical actions, when they have ceased to serve the function for which they were originally intended, become like “dead appendages” that either encumber true worship or worse, mislead people away from the true understanding of liturgy. This necrosis exists in quite a few areas of the Church’s liturgical life and, if left unchecked, will continue to mislead both clergy and lay people alike. Liturgical actions, like human appendages, need to serve a purpose. When necrosis sets in appendages either fall off or continue to infect the surrounding tissue. In the same way, if we continue to ignore such necrotic practices, relegating them to a “ship the bottle” status of nostalgic anamnesis, then the Church risks eventually becoming an heirloom herself.
Review of Ecumenical Studies, 2019
This article discusses the role of Byzantine liturgical hymnography within the Jewish- Orthodox Christian dialogue. It seems that problematic anti-Jewish hymns of the Orthodox liturgy were often put forward by the Jewish side, but Orthodox theologians couldn’t offer a satisfactory answer, so that the dialogue itself profoundly suffered. The author of this study argues that liturgical hymnography cannot be a stumbling stone for the dialogue. Bringing new witnesses from several Orthodox theologians, the author underlines the need for a change of perspective. Then, beyond the intrinsic plea for the revision of the anti-Jewish texts, this article actually emphasizes the need to rediscover the Jewishness of the Byzantine liturgy and to approach the hymnography as an exegesis or even Midrash on the biblical texts and motives. As such, the anti-Jewish elements of the liturgy can be considered an impulse to a deeper analysis of Byzantine hymnography, which could be very fruitful for the Jewish-Christian Dialogue.