Anaphora Prayer: "We offer You, Yours of Your own, in behalf of all and for all"

This prayer comes from the Anaphora of the Divine Liturgy. Most people, when they look at this prayer, notice the offering of "Yours of Your own" to God, and recognize that the prayer is talking about the sacrificial offering of Christ at the altar.

What struck me today, as I listened during Divine Liturgy, was the latter portion: "in behalf of all and for all." Who are the "all"? Does all mean all members of the Church? All persons living on earth? All persons on earth and those deceased? Or, does all refer to something more encompassing than man alone, such as all creation?

Certainly the redemption of man is the main concern of Christ in his sacrificial offering. This is clear in Christ's priestly prayer, just before he offers himself up (John 17). However, it should be noted that redemption affects not man alone but all creation. The New Covenant brings forth a New Creation in which all things are made new. The Bread and Wine becomes the Body and Blood of Christ, and God's divine energies permeate and transform all things unto him. I believe St. Irenaeus said something similar with his theme of "recapitulation" of all creation into Christ. St. Paul, even earlier, writes: And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. (Ephesians 1:9-10)

All-Night Vigil

I just came back from the all-night vigil. It's still going on. We're chanting the Psalms and the Gospels. People are taking turns. I'm definitely exhausted now, but I wanted to post before falling asleep. I'm realizing more and more that Orthodoxy is much different from either Catholicism or Protestantism. From the outside, Orthodoxy may look like Roman Catholicism, with the devotion to the saints, to Mary; with the sacraments, the priest, the feast days, etc. But, once inside, you realize that each of these is understood in quite a different way than the Roman Catholic Church understands them. Orthodoxy is lived in the Liturgy, and her beliefs cannot be separated from the Liturgy and studied individually, as they often are in the West.

I've found myself in a strange situation: what to think of the Protestant and the Catholic faiths? In several ways, certain Protestant churches come closer to Orthodoxy than do the Roman Catholic churches. Not all Protestant churches, surely, due to the great variety. Yet, many Protestant communities have a strong sense of the local church as the Church of Christ. The Church is not a confederation of churches united together, as seems to be the case with the RCC (even though the Pope openly rejects this depiction). Many Protestant churches, like the Orthodox Church, seek to effectively teach both God's justice and his mercy. Whereas Orthodox do not declare, as do Protestants, that man is unable to fulfill the commandments, there nontheless is a similarity between the two: both carefully profess both the harsh reality but also God's merciful solution. We are all sinners; we are all weak and prone to sin, but God has abundant mercy on us, no matter how greatly we sin. Finally, in both Protestantism (certain forms as least) and Orthodoxy there is a true appreciation for the wisdom of God, above the wisdom of men.

But the RCC I sometimes think is closer in other respects. It holds dear the Church Fathers, even if it does not always follow them and regards them as less advanced than the scholastics who systematized the Fathers. The RCC pays adoration to Mary and venerates the saints. Protestants generally do not do this. The RCC places high value on philosophy and human reason in learning about God and receiving divine revelation. This is one area where I think the RCC and the EOC part. The EOC focuses much more on a true revelation of God's light, his uncreated energies, which enlighten the human soul and draw one closer to God. In the RCC, revelation is often described in terms of a rational coming-to-understand--God guiding reason to put the pieces together.

Well, that's all for now. I'm raked.

Holy Week

It's Holy Week, and my first one in the Orthodox Church. It was somewhat odd feeling for me to receive palms this past Sunday, when the Palm Sunday for the West was what now seems long ago. Perhaps God's irony: it poured constantly all Sunday. In any case, I was looking forward to some new pussy willow. Last year, before becoming Orthodox, I attended an OCA church on the eve before Palm Sunday. The priest blessed and gave us pussy willow branches. I understand this is the Slavic custom. I'll survive, I suppose.

I spoke with a friend today, and she informed me that, in Europe, the Eastern Catholic churches celebrate Easter the same time as do the Eastern Orthodox; whereas in the U.S., the Eastern Catholic churches celebrate according to the Roman Catholic Calendar instead. I did not know this and found it interesting.