My beloved brothers and sisters in Our Risen Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN! ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! ΑΛΗΘΩΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ!
The Proclamation by the Roman Church
of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
and the Dogma of the Bodily Assumption
of the Mother of God
By Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky
[Athor: of Orthodox Dogmatic Theology)
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by a Bull of Pope IX in 1854. The definition of this dogma says that the Most Holy Virgin Mary at the moment of her conception was cleansed of ancestral ("original") sin. According to the Roman teaching, the burden of the sin of our first ancestors consists in the removal from mankind of a supernatural gift of grace. But here arose a theological question if mankind had been deprived of the gift of grace, then how is one to understand the words of the Archangel addressed to Mary: "Rejoice, thou that are FULL OF GRACE, the Lord is with thee. BLESSED art thou among women…Thou has found Grace with God" (Luke 1:28, 30)? One could only conclude that the Most Holy Virgin Mary had been removed from the general law of the "deprivation of grace" and of the guilt of the sin of Adam. And since her life wa holy from birth, consequently she received, in the form of an exception, a supernatural GIFT, a grace of sanctity, even before her birth, that is, at her conception. Such a deduction was made by the Latin theologians. They called this removal a "PRIVILEGE" of the Mother of God. One must note that the acknowledgment of this dogma was preceded in the West by a long period of theological dispute, which lasted from the 12th century, when this teaching appeared, until the 17th century, when it was spread by Jesuits in the Roman Catholic world.
In 1950, the so-called Jubilee Year, the Roman Pope Pius XII triumphantly proclaimed a second dogma, the dogma of the Assumption of the Mother of God with her body into heaven. Dogmatically this teaching was deduced in Roman theology from the Roman dogma of the Immaculate Conception and is a further logical deduction from the Roman teaching on original sin. If the Mother of God was removed from the general law of original sin, this means that she was given from her very conception supernatural gifts: righteousness and immortality, such as our first ancestors had before the fall into sin, and she shoςςuld not have been subject to the law of bodily death. Therefore, if the Mother of God died, then, in the view of the Roman theologians, she accepted death voluntarily so as to emulate her Son; but death had no dominion over her. The Orthodox Church does not accept the Latin system of arguments concerning original sin. In particular, the Orthodox Church, confessing the perfect personal immaculateness and perfect sanctity of the Mother of God, whom the Lord Jesus Christ by His Birth from her made to be more Honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim–HAS NOT SEEN AND DOES NOT SEE ANY GROUNDS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DOGMA OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IN THE SENSE OF THE Roman Catholic interpretation, although it does Venerate the conception of the Mother of God, as it does also the conception of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner John.
PRACTICE OF INDULGENCES
The Roman Catholic tradition of indulgences is centuries old and teaches that Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Saints have more merits than are necessary, and that these merits can be transferred to others to help with their salvation. Because of differences in the theology of salvation, indulgences for THE REMISSION OF TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT OF SIN currently do not exist in Eastern Orthodoxy, but until the 20th century there existed in some place a practice of absolution certificates (Greek: συγχωροχάρτια).
The Eastern Orthodox Church believes one can be absolved from sins by the Mystery (Sacrament) of Repentance/Confession.
DEVIATIONS IN THE PREPARATION OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST
In all the passages of Holy Scripture where the BREAD of the Eucharist is mentioned, the bread is called ARTOS in Greek (John 6; the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke; in the Apostle Paul and the Acts of the Apostles). ARTOS usually signifies WHEAT BREAD WHICH HAS RISEN THROUGH THE USE OF LEAVEN ("unleavened" is expressed in Greek by the adjective AZYMOS). It is known that in Apostolic times–that is, from the very beginnings, from its institution–the Eucharist was performed during the whole year, weekly, when the Jews DID NOT prepare unleavened bread; this means THAT IS WAS PERFORMED, EVEN IN THE JEWISH-CHRISTIAN communities, WITH LEAVENED BREAD. ALL THE MORE MAY THIS BE SAID OF THE COMMUNITIES OF CONVERTS FROM PAGANISM, TO WHOM THE LAW REGARDING UNLEAVENED BREAD WAS ENTIRELY FOREIGN. In the Church of the first Christians the material for the Mystery (Sacrament) of the Eucharist, as is well known, was usually taken from the offerings of the people, who, without any doubt, BROUGHT TO CHURCH FROM THEIR HOMES THE USUAL, LEAVENED BREAD; IT WAS ALSO MEANT TO BE USED, AT THE SAME TIME, FOR THE LOVE-FEASTS (AGAPE) AND FOR HELPING THE POOR.
Church historians say that churches in the East and West both used LEAVENED BREAD until the 7th century. In 1054, when a Great Schism arose, the Western Church (Roman Catholic) accepted only unleavened bread. The tradition of using leavened bread, RISEN BREAD, symbolizes the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The term ‘TRANSUBSTANTIATION’ comes from medieval Latin scholasticism: following the Aristotelian philosophical categories, "transubstantiation’ is a change of the "substance" or underlying reality of the Holy Gifts without changing the "accidents" or appearance of bread and wine. Orthodox theology, however, does NOT try to "define" this Mystery in terms of philosophical categories, and thus prefers the simple word "CHANGE."
THE MANDATORY CELIBACY FOR PRIESTS AND DEACONS
For a bishop there exists the obligation of celibacy. In the first centuries of Christianity such a demand was NOT OBLIGATORY, but even in Apostolic times it was allowed for bishops to avoid marriage for the sake OF THE ASCETIC STRUGGLE OF CONTINENCE. This custom became strengthened, and the Sixth Ecumenical Council made it a CANON. As regards Priests and Deacons, the Church REGARDED THAT SUCH A BURDEN SHOULD NOT B LAID UPON THEM AS OBLIGATORY, and that the ancient canon should be followed which FORBIDS CLERGY, AFTER RECEIVING ORDINATION, TO ENTER INTO MARRIAGE, but which allows to the Mystery of Priesthood persons who are already bound by marriage, even regarding this as natural and normal. A second marriage, as well as having a wife who has been married before, are hindrance to ordination.
In the Roman Church in the 4th to 6th centuries, CELIBACY BEGAN TO BE INTRODUCED LIKEWISE FOR PRIESTS AND DEACONS. This INNOVATION WAS REJECTED BY THE SIXTH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, but this prohibition was not heeded by the Roman Popes.
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere in our Lord’s Glorious Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 