Volume 9 (2017): Issue 2 (August 2017)

A historical and theological journey in 12 steps, from the early Biblical origin to later Patristic and contemporary expression of the Orthodox liturgy, in order to uncover the social dimension of Christian liturgy. Some of the causes are analyzed in brief: the marginalization of the Antiochene tradition, an overdose eschatology, the “modern” understanding of the Bible, the gradual loss of the prophetic character of the Church, which is more evident in the Bible, and the marginalization – until the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church – of its witnessing responsibility, have resulted in a significant legacy that hinders any real Biblical and liturgical renewal. The experiment of the Church of Greece that launched nearly 20 years ago an official, albeit unsuccessful, liturgical renewal project. The final proposal is a combination of both this neglected prophetic character and the prevailing eschatological dimension of the Orthodox faith, with all that these imply for an authentic and genuine Orthodox liturgical practice.

The article explores the nationalization of the Orthodox liturgical tradition in Finland in the 1920s-30s. It was a process through which the Finnish Orthodox tried to remove signs of Russian heritage from their church culture in order to prove their loyalty to the newly independent Republic of Finland. The analysis of the national discourse reveals how the contemporary writers justified the nationalizing reforms.

The Finnish Orthodox Church forms a small minority in a predominantly Lutheran country. Since the 1950s, some changes in liturgical texts have occurred because of this Lutheran presence. This paper discusses three of them: the addition “and all Christians” in the Great Entrance, the addition “through your intercessions” in the prayer formula “Most-holy Theotokos, save us”, and the commemoration of “our Bishop Irja” during the visits of the Lutheran bishop of Helsinki, Irja Askola, in the Uspensky Cathedral of Helsinki in 2015. The author proposes that the two first cases took place in order to reconcile the Orthodox population with their Lutheran surroundings by the commemoration of their non-Orthodox friends and relatives in the liturgy, on one hand, and to explain dogmatic thought that is foreign to Lutheran mentality, on the other. The additions, however, pose theological problems and should not be used as such.

If anything has changed during the twentieth century, it is the perception of the phenomenon of music. The irruption of sound into our lives is accompanied by changes in the use, understanding and enjoyment of music. The liturgy employs music as a sensible element for celebrating the Word and singing the same Word in the sacraments, in the liturgy of the hours and in prayer. For centuries the music was a bridge for the transcendent, today this element is thoroughly affected by the influences of the omnipresence of sound and of the challenge of real sound, that is of authenticity. We will try to respond to the question of what is changing in our societies in the matter of listening, while the liturgy continues to use sound as an element of perceiving the Mystery of God. The attention to the theological weight of these questions will underline the importance of paying attention to the contemporary world of sound for a liturgical understanding.

Adaptation of liturgy to conditions of a certain community or society is not only a possibility. Following the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy of Vatican Council II, it is the very nature and character of the liturgy, which require adaptation to cultural patterns. It is necessary to keep the balance between tradition and present situations, between unity and diversity, between people in their specific circumstances and the heritage of faith of the church.

The historical kiss of peace between Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Krzyżowa/Kreisau in 1989 serves as an example for how existential experiences can profoundly impact and even alter liturgy. However, liturgy can also be an obstacle for the further reflection and processing of such experiences, if they are not taken up in the liturgical setting. The political situation of a divided Europe as well as the Cold War following World War II indicate a unique situation in recent history that concernes believers all over the world. The question that results from taking this immediate past seriously is what kind of experiences liturgy can and should address (and in what form) and if there might be experiences or forms of handling such experiences that threaten the power of the ritual.

The article discusses the relation between liturgy, theology and social ethics, focusing particularly on gender justice and its representation in liturgy as the official worship of the Church. It argues that the way women are (not) represented within liturgy is an expression of problematic gender stereotypes which shape once more the faith and the social engagement of the Church and its believers.

First, the text contends that the Second Vatican Council acknowledged the implementation of gender justice as an important mission of the church. However, it is precisely the liturgy of the church that reveals a severe underrepresentation of women and highly problematic gender stereotypes, which is exemplarily illustrated by the saints remembered, the texts read and the way women are (not) allowed to preside over liturgical worship. Finally, possible paths towards a more inclusive liturgy, through the implementation of gender justice within the church and society will be presented.

One of the smallest and most influential documents of Vatican II is the Nostra aetate (declaration. The dynamic of the discussions as it was formulated and the subsequent arduous process of and reception application on local church level proved that the reconsideration of the attitude of the Roman-Catholic Church towards Judaism was concealing unforeseen consequences at the moment of the promulgation. Not only that Nostra aetate has been a turning point for the relationships between Catholicism and Judaism, but it has opened and encouraged – of course, along other documents of the council – a whole new perception of one another and of the ecumenical dialogue. The Jewish response to the 50 years Jubilee of Vatican II confirms the ultimately social relevance of the possible collaboration between Christians and Jews in ethical issues. This paper puts at the fore the Nostra aetate as example for the Orthodox Church as well, and draws attention to the many benefits that may follow such responses.

The present study addresses new insights into the interdependent relationship between social and liturgical change by examining the Jewish community in Hong Kong. It shows how social change affects liturgical practice, and how liturgical change, on its turn, leads to social change. The changes of the social are to be considered primarily on the meso level and the micro level. Concerning the liturgical, primarily liturgical practice, i.e. the performance of liturgical services, as well as liturgical attitudes of individuals, liturgical participation and liturgical reception are the focus of the analysis. New forms of liturgical participation in the age of new communication technologies are also presented and their social and liturgical relevance is examined.

The following essay argues that worship attendance rates stand in direct competition with current social developments at all times. The author bases his arguments upon the empirical research results found in the sociological study by Martin Engelbrecht “Human–Routine–Worship”, which determined criteria for church attendance. He discovered that people are motivated to participate in routines or rituals based on needs. These needs can be described in the following seven categories: pleasure; self-determination; self-care; locality; sense of purpose; structure and orientation; and aesthetics. Müller focuses more closely on four of these needs and explores how 1) each of these needs is influenced by social change, and 2) how this can affect the decision to participate in worship. Müller emerges with the axiom: these needs describe a person's inner demand on his or her outer world. And while religious worship addresses these inner needs and fulfils them (or not), each and every social (outer) change will correspondingly influence a person's decision to attend worship (or not). The trajectory of worship is always two-way: worship is certainly the product of social change, yet worship can also effect change in society because of its transformative power.

The post-modern secular society is questioning all traditional Christian values in an attempt to create a new kind of religious life and through the transformation of old religious elements in something else than religion. This new “religious life” is characterized by a process of an overall re-shaping of the whole human world through re-absorption, re-melting and re-elaboration of everything it ever carried in it for thousands of years of Christianity legacy. In such a situation and context, in order to be relevant and survive in a secularist and pluralist society, the Church must first and foremost concentrate on its liturgical life, on its rich Christian spiritual tradition. Only if the Liturgy becomes again the source of all theological expression, as well as of the individual life of each Christian, then the response of the Church to all the problems of modernity will be a living, profound, personal and relevant one.