{"id":3447,"date":"2020-04-29T09:33:33","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T14:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/?p=3447"},"modified":"2020-04-29T09:33:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T14:33:33","slug":"the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/?p=3447","title":{"rendered":"The Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the nature of the Church, comprehending each local church as “The Church” as well – compositely – as each in unity as a singular Church inclusive of but not under the Bishop of Rome,\u00a0 I offer some early liturgies and other witnesses taken from The Ante-Nicene Fathers<\/em> (Roberts and Donaldson, T.T & Clark, Vol. 7, reprinted by Eerdmans, 1994)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Divine Liturgy of\nJames, the Holy Apostle and Brother of the Lord<\/em> contains the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Priest\/pastor: “For  the peace of the whole world, and the unity\nof all the holy churches of God” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To which the people reply:\n“Let us beseech the Lord.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In The Divine Liturgy\nof the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, the Disciple of the Holy Peter<\/em>,\nthe Priest\/pastor opens with a prayer which contains the following:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the influence of Satan, all the\nsnares of wicked men, do Thou, O Lord, drive away from us, and from Your Holy\nCatholic and Apostolic\n Church<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The priest\/pastor prays for the leaders of the [orthodox\nchurch]:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We pray and beseech Thee to defend\nin Thy good mercy our most holy and blessed high priest our Father in God\n______, and our most reverend Bishop __________.  Preserve them for us through many years in\npeace . . . with all the orthodox bishops, elders, deacons, sub-deacons,\nreaders, singers, and laity, with the entire body of the Holy and only Catholic\nChurch. . . But all the enemies of Thy Holy Church put Thou speedily under\ntheir feet through the grace, mercy, and love of Thine only-begotten Son. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in liturgy, the priest\/pastor says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O Sovereign and Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus . . . Preserve for us through many years our most holy and blessed Papas _______, and our most pious Bishop ___________ . . . with all the orthodox bishops, elders, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, with the entire body of the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And further, in his Anaphoral prayer, the pastor says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O King of kings and Lord of lords,\ndefend the kingdom of Thy servant, our orthodox and Christ-loving sovereign [Constantine, apparently]\nwhom Thou hast deemed worthy to reign over this land in peace, courage, and\njustice. . . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be kind to him, O Lord, for the\nsake of Thy Holy Catholic and Apostolic\n Church, and all Thy\nChrist-loving people, that we too in his peaceful reign may live a calm and\ntranquil life, in all reverence and godliness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh Lord our God, give peace to the\nsouls of our fathers and brothers who have fallen asleep in Jesus, remembering\nour forefathers of old, our fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs,\nconfessors, bishops, and the souls of all the holy and just men whohave died in\nthe Lord.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially remember those whose\nmemory we this day celebrate, and our holy father Mark, the apostle and\nevangelist, who has shown us the way of salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later the priest\/pastor offers incense and says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defend, O Lord, our most holy and\nblessed Papas _______ [i.e. Patriarch: the Bishop of Constantinople, the New\nRome], whom Thou hast fore-ordained to rule over our most pious Bishop\n________, that they through many years of peace may, according to Thy holy and\nblessed will, fulfill the sacred priesthood committed to their care, and\ndispense aright the word of truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember the orthodox bishops\neverywhere, the elders, deacons, sub-deacons, readers, singers, monks, virgins,\nwidows, and laity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, O Lord, the holy city\n[Jerusalem] of our God, Jesus Christ; and all cities and all lands, and the\npeace and safety of those who dwell therein in the orthodox faith of Christ; and\nthe imperial city [Rome]; and this city of ours, and all cities and all lands,\nand the peace and safety of those who dwell therein in the orthodox faith of\nChrist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be mindful, O Lord, of the return\nof the backsliding, and of every Christian soul that is afflicted and\noppressed, and in need of Thy divine mercy and help.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be mindful also of us, O Lord, Thy\nsinful and unworthy servants, and blot out our sins in Thy goodness and\nmercy.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be mindful of me, Thy lowly,\nsinful, and unworthy servant, and in Thy mercy blot out my sins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be with us, O Lord, who minister\nunto Thy holy name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bless our meetings, O Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utterly uproot idolatry from the\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crush under our feet Satan, and all\nhis wicked influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humble now, as at all times, the\nenemies of Thy Church. . . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do Thou bless a thousand times ten\nthousand Thy faithful and orthodox people while they do Thy holy will. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service continues with the Deacon directing the people\nwho are seated to stand, another prayer, and then the Deacon directed the\ncongregation to turn to the east.  More\nprayer from the Priest and response from the people is followed by the\nconsecration of the sacrament which concludes with: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Fill, O God, this sacrifice\nwith Thy blessing, through the inspiration of Thy all-holy Spirit.  or the Lord Himself, our God and universal\nKing, Christ Jesus, reclining at meat the same night on which He delivered\nhimself up for our sins and died  in the\nflesh for all, took bread in His holy, pure, and immaculate hands, and lifting\nHis eyes to His Father, our God, and the God of all, gave thanks; and when He\nhad blessed, hallowed, and broken the bread, gave it to His holy and blessed\ndisciples and apostles, saying: (Aloud) Take, eat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as the deacon prays earnestly, the priest says aloud:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this is my body, which is\nbroken for you, and divided for the remission of sins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To conclude: each church, then (and all as a singular body),\nis defined not by association with the Roman Bishop, but by its affirmation of\nthe Creeds: Apostolic, Nicene, Athanasian. \nNo mention in those of the supremacy or domination of the Roman bishop. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the nature of the Church, comprehending each local church as “The Church” as well – compositely – as each in unity as a singular Church inclusive of but not under the Bishop of Rome,\u00a0 I offer some early liturgies and other witnesses taken from The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Roberts and Donaldson, T.T & Clark, Vol. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,21,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3447"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3448,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3447\/revisions\/3448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}