tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post776235123529952256..comments2023-12-25T05:12:46.199+01:00Comments on ORA ET LABORA: Humility and Glory in the LiturgyFelix Culpahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18062279686869827534noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-72606425443742980892009-05-06T16:55:00.000+02:002009-05-06T16:55:00.000+02:00Another way I look at the question of ornate vesti...Another way I look at the question of ornate vestiture and temples is that these are not the rich things of today. It would be one thing if our churches and priests were changing vestments to accord with the whims of society, it is another thing to enshrine one particular, past expression of power, might, and authority as a sort of universal lanaguage. It becomes universal in its particularity, much in the way that Christ became a particular man in a particular culture and society, but Who is the God-man uniting all human nature with the Godhead. If you're going to choose something to wear, it may as well have meaning, and it may as well be out of fashion and capable of carrying meaning beyond what it originally did. The real Passover was Pascha, not the 'original' Passover in Egypt - it's just that particularity was able to foreshadow and 'carry the charge' of holiness until the true Pascha, and ever since.123https://www.blogger.com/profile/14514075641944568806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-30907960922017692762009-05-06T08:18:00.000+02:002009-05-06T08:18:00.000+02:00Bishops and priests are at times during the liturg...Bishops and priests are at times during the liturgy icons of Christ, who is surrounded by unapproachable glory that these vestments hardly approximate. Just because they're fancier than the polyester leisure suit worn by a Baptist pastor means nothing. Behind the ostentation lies the iconographic mentality of the Church, not pride.Kevin P. Edgecombhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590490181739464401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-78623719683234196122009-05-06T06:10:00.000+02:002009-05-06T06:10:00.000+02:00Right you are. What I am referring to is that comm...Right you are. What I am referring to is that comments such as you received, it speaks volumes as to the presence of (and reasons for) distrust and prejudice. Or so it struck me. And in the larger context of things, we must keep in mind a bishop is not merely a liturgical celebrant. Ought his dignity (and humility) not be evident in all and to all? Where have we gone wrong?<br /><br />Indeed the cited passage is laudable and certainly most apropos to your point, and I thank you for sharing it. <br /><br />This is a difficult time, a crisis of sorts. I am working my way through it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-48523081119742964992009-05-06T01:48:00.000+02:002009-05-06T01:48:00.000+02:00It's my policy not to comment on such things, but:...It's my policy not to comment on such things, but: 1) the main perpetrator of the crimes in the OCA was a married priest; the bishops were (allegedly) culpable largely for their silence; 2) the Metropolitan of the Antiochian Archdiocese is currently overlooking the very dignity of his fellow bishops, trying to make them into little more than mitred altar-boys.<br /><br />Neither point, however, speaks directly to the main point of the passage from Metropolitan John, which concerns the dignity of *any* liturgical celebrant.Felix Culpahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18062279686869827534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5134782302655515338.post-5705502923931304502009-05-06T01:33:00.000+02:002009-05-06T01:33:00.000+02:00All true and well, Ora, as long as true humility i...All true and well, Ora, as long as true humility indeed is practiced. Pardon the skittishness, what with strange news coming from the hierarchial quarters of late.Apophatically Speakinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02977708733244180404noreply@blogger.com