Eucharist – RCS

Оn the Term Sacrifice of Representation in the Lutheran Liturgical and Theological Context

Olga Alexandrovna Rudaya master of theology, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680)
chri@yandex.ru

Rudaya O. A. Оn the Term Sacrifice of Representation in the Lutheran Liturgical and Theological Context, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2023, vol. 12, pp. 58–79.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2023-12-58-79

Language: Russian

Theological glossary of different confessions in our country changes due to good-natured and expanding dialogue between representatives of traditional Western Christianity. The article deals with sacrifice of representation, one of the terms influenced by such tendency. The author reviews briefly the teaching on the sacrifice in the New Testament, in early Church fathers’ writings, as well as in Catholic and Lutheran theologians of later centuries in general. Recent notion sacrifice of representation however was coined in another way — it’s rooted in the so-called mysterial theology of German Benedictine Odo Casel, who was an influential precursor of the II Vatican Council. Confessional Lutheran theologians are almost unanimous in their rejection of such a way of speaking despite a great ecumenical appeal of the term. We can name reasons for a highly cautious position towards the idea as follows: unwillingness to speculate neither in temporal, nor in philosophical, theological terms, full adequacy of mere faith in Real Presence of the true Christ’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament, emphasis on catabatic perspective in the Sacrament. Furthermore, a Lutheran exegetical principle sedes doctrinae prevents from introducing any new theories not founded in the Holy Scripture into the Church’s theological discourse.

Key words: Eucharist, sacrifice of representation, the Book of Concord, Confessional Lutheranism, Lutheran-Catholic dialogue, Odo Casel, the Holy Communion, Sacrament, sedes doctrinae

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-rudaya-2023/

Status and Development of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia from 1918 to 2018. An Outline

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Jouko Talonen Professor (emeritus), Doctor of Τheology University of Helsinki, Faculty of Theology (Ulrikankuja 6 B 41, Vantaa, Suomi, 01400)
jouko.talonen@helsinki.fi

Talonen J. Status and Development of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia from 1918 to 2018. An Outline, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2023, vol. 12, pp. 232–276.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2023-12-232-276

Language: Russian

The history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (ELCL) from 1918 to 2018 is analysed. During the first period of independence (1918– 1940), the ELCL was the church of the majority of the population (55–57%). Quite positive was the period of the Kārlis Ulmanis’s rule. In Soviet Latvia in 1940–1941 and 1944–1987, the church was a persecuted and marginalized faith community. Efforts of Gustavs Turs (1890–1973), the «Red Archbishop», didn’t prevent the church decline. In 1987 the church had only 25,000 active members (about 1% of the population of the Soviet Republic). However, the straightforward estimation of the statistics if troublesome.
In the last years of communism, the church received new operational freedoms from the end of the 1980s onward. After Latvia became independent, the church’s activities continued to develop. However, there was no return to the National Church. However, the ELCL’s forms of work became more and more versatile starting in the 1980s. The Church’s theological profile has been conservative. This has been seen, among other things, in its solid relationship with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in America, and in the fact that the church has stopped ordaining women.

Key words: Eucharist, liturgy, reform, Bible, righteousness, Trinity

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-talonen-2023/

The essence and theology of worship. The history, evaluation and theology of the Mass in the Book of Divine Services approved by the Church of Finland in 2000

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Seppo Suokunnas professor (emeritus), doctor of theology University of Helsinki, Faculty of Theology (Ulrikankuja 6 B 41, Vantaa, Suomi, 01400)
sisuokunnas@elisanet.fi

Suokunnas S. Jumalanpalveluksen olemus ja teologia. Messun historiaa, arviointia ja teologiaa Suomen kirkon v. 2000 hyväksytyn Jumalanpalvelusten kirjan äärellä, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2023, vol. 12, pp. 156–178.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2023-12-156-178

Language: Russian

In the article «Jumalanpalveluksen olemus ja teologia. Messun historiaa, arviointia ja teologiaa Suomen kirkon v. 2000 hyväksytyn Jumalanpalvelusten kirjan äärellä» is analysed the reform of worship in Finland in the 1990s. The main question was what could be changed in Lutheran worship and liturgy without distorting the basic content of the faith. The task was set to make worship more free and modern and to cover national liturgical experience. During the work of the committee, various orders of Lutheran worship were analyzed and some conclusions were drawn. The author addresses these issues and gives an assessment of the liturgical reforms carried out. He considers righteousness by faith to be the main criterion for reforming liturgy, and, therefore, greater freedom of the liturgical order is achievable, which at one time was reflected in the preface to the German Mass by Martin Luther (Deutsche Messe). In addition, it is emphasized that the fundamental content of the liturgy is the doctrine of the Trinity. The article also analyzes how the Finnish Reference Book Committee has expanded the use of the Bible in worship services.

Key words: Eucharist, liturgy, reform, Bible, righteousness, Trinity, epiclesis

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-suokkunas-2023/

William of Pagula and ideas on the Sacrament of the Eucharist

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Sergey Sergeevich Lazarev Master Student, Saint-Petersburg State University, Institute of History, (Mendeleevskaya liniya, 5, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034)
lazarevsergey01@gmail.com

Lazarev S.S. William of Pagula and Ideas on the Sacrament of the Eucharist, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2019, vol. 8, pp. 16–31.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2020-00009

Language: Russian

The liturgical activities of parish clergy have traditionally focusedon church services. Only at the turn of the 11–12th centuries, medievalintellectuals began to make works that were designed specifically to helpthe parish priests. In the 14th century, pastoral leadership for priests wereinstructions and treatises in Latin, such as «The Priest’s Eye» by Williamof Pagula. The work of William of Pagula during the late Middle Agesremained the most popular pastoral manual to the duties and servicesof the parish clergy. It was of exceptional importance as a pastoral manualto the conduct of confession, especially in term of interrogation, forgivenessof sins and choice of punishment for the penitent. In addition, this manualcontained a fairly complete and simple instruction to medieval Englishman on the sacrament of the Eucharist. An explanation of the sacramentof the Eucharist was required so that parish priests could fix the practiceof communion with only bread in mental attitudes of parishioners, whichbegan to be applied from the 12th century. Nevertheless, the new practiceof communing the laity under one kind, and the clergy under both arouseddiscontent among some of the parishioners, which served as one of the catalysts for the emergence of reformist movements. The Catholic Churchfinally confirmed the church custom of the communion of the laity underone kind only in the 16th century at the Council of Trent.

Key words: William of Pagula, the Eucharist, «The Priest’s Eye», parish priests, late medieval England

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/lazarev-2020-en/

The Formation of the Evangelical Confession in Germany: Melanchthon and religious polemics in the middle of the 16th century

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Natal’ya Aleksandrovna Berezhnaya PhD of History, senior lecturer, Institute of History, Saint-Petersburg State University (Mendeleevskaya liniya, 5, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 199034)
n.berezhnaya@spbu.ru, natalialandi@mail.ru

Berezhnaya N. A. The Formation of the Evangelical Confession in Germany: Melanchthon and religious polemics in the middle of the 16th century, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2019, vol. 8, pp. 216–253.

doi: 10.24411/2308-0698-2019-00012

Language: Russian

The present article examines the formation of the evangelical denomination in Germany for fifteen years after the death of Martin Luther. The author analyses the relationship and dogmatic disagreements between Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, Melanchthon’s activities as a leader of German Protestants, his attempts to create a new formula of dogma, which was to unite the supporters of the two versions of the Augsburg Confession, unaltered and altered, and the Gnesio-Lutherans. In addition, the author notes the communication of Melanchthon with the princely elite of Protestant Germany. These communications are of interest, since it was the authority of the imperial princes that helped the theologian lead the Evangelical Church. The main subject of internal protestant discussions in the second half of the 1540–1550s were the adiaphora and the Eucharist. The GnesioLutherans accused Melanchthon of «cryptocalvinism» because of the peculiarities of his views on the Eucharist, and also because of his unwillingness to refuse Calvin in response to the proposal to unite the evangelical and reformist confession. However, Luther himself did not require his comrade to renounce his views, that is, he did not consider them an error. GnesioLutheran theologians would have found it difficult to accuse Melanchthon of apostasy if not for his position on the issue of adiaphora and for the support of the Elector Moritz of Saxony.

Key words: Philipp Melanchthon, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Evangelical Church, Gnesio-Lutherans, Reformed tradition, Adiaphora, Eucharist

URL: //rcs-almanac.ru/en/berejhnaya-2019-en/