Why is Orthodox Worship important?
This past Sunday was the 2nd after the Festival of the Holy Cross, and the readings from the Holy Bible were Acts 5:17-32, I Corinthians 2:14-3:9 and Matthew 16: 5-12.
Listening to the readings, I was reminded how I had struggled for a long time on why Orthodox worship was important ... like many I talk to in Chicago who are apathetic or left the Church, I believed that as long as we love Christ and follow His teachings it wasn't important to come to Church, participate in the Qurbana and appreciate the Sacraments. To those of us who think we are intellectually sophisticated and have no need of history and tradition, what's wrong with the thought of "Love Jesus, hate Church"?
The book Orthodox Worship: A Living Continuity With the Temple, the Synagogue was one of many resources that helped me understand, and actually referenced this passage in Acts as one example of how early Christian worship was "a Christ-centered continuity of order and cycle which continued and preserved the traditional structure of synagogue worship and the meaning of temple worship that the Lord had established in Israel". The Apostles continued going to the Synagogue, which was central to their spiritual life.
The book goes on to discuss how the basic structure of worshiping God as described in the Jewish Bible and the Old Testament was maintained in Orthodox worship. To quote, "going from Old Covenant to New Covenant, then, did not mean going from liturgy to no liturgy. It meant going from a good sacrifice to a better one, within the same basic structure of worship".
Both the Gospel reading from Matthew and Paul's letter to the Corinthians warn against the dangers of false teachings and doctrines. As mentioned, before I really began understanding Orthodoxy, I confess that I always read these passages out of context and had concluded that the Pharisees were symbolic of the "old" and "traditional" churches such as the Orthodox and Catholic. A Google search shows that articles from Evangelicals also use these passages to support their claims.
But, when one seeks to understand why the first Christians who walked with Christ incorporated elements of Jewish worship to form the base of the original Christian Liturgy, it's clear that they understood that Jesus was the Savior who fulfilled all the prophecies in what was Scripture at the time i.e., the Hebrew Bible. These early Christians initially maintained their Jewish traditions and obeyed the Sabbath and worshiped Christ the day after Sabbath (i.e., Sunday).
Later when Christianity was no longer outlawed and was becoming more widely accepted, it's easy to comprehend that our Church fathers would create a liturgy that combines aspects of Christian and Jewish worship. The incorporation of the "old" worship was important as the Scriptures revealed to Israel how to worship the Father in both manner as well as other aspects such as frequency of prayer, sacrifice, fasting, etc.
Any teaching that diminished this worship of the Father, as well as the importance of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ (the ultimate sacrificial lamb for our sins) truly does go against the doctrine that was established by those that walked with our Lord.
When absorbing all this, one truly gains completely new appreciation to Christ's words in Matthew 5:17, i.e., "Do not think I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill”.
We need to understand our Faith, and gain the wisdom to continue preserving the teachings of the Church while evangelizing to everyone the completeness of the Truth.
Listening to the readings, I was reminded how I had struggled for a long time on why Orthodox worship was important ... like many I talk to in Chicago who are apathetic or left the Church, I believed that as long as we love Christ and follow His teachings it wasn't important to come to Church, participate in the Qurbana and appreciate the Sacraments. To those of us who think we are intellectually sophisticated and have no need of history and tradition, what's wrong with the thought of "Love Jesus, hate Church"?
The book Orthodox Worship: A Living Continuity With the Temple, the Synagogue was one of many resources that helped me understand, and actually referenced this passage in Acts as one example of how early Christian worship was "a Christ-centered continuity of order and cycle which continued and preserved the traditional structure of synagogue worship and the meaning of temple worship that the Lord had established in Israel". The Apostles continued going to the Synagogue, which was central to their spiritual life.
The book goes on to discuss how the basic structure of worshiping God as described in the Jewish Bible and the Old Testament was maintained in Orthodox worship. To quote, "going from Old Covenant to New Covenant, then, did not mean going from liturgy to no liturgy. It meant going from a good sacrifice to a better one, within the same basic structure of worship".
Both the Gospel reading from Matthew and Paul's letter to the Corinthians warn against the dangers of false teachings and doctrines. As mentioned, before I really began understanding Orthodoxy, I confess that I always read these passages out of context and had concluded that the Pharisees were symbolic of the "old" and "traditional" churches such as the Orthodox and Catholic. A Google search shows that articles from Evangelicals also use these passages to support their claims.
But, when one seeks to understand why the first Christians who walked with Christ incorporated elements of Jewish worship to form the base of the original Christian Liturgy, it's clear that they understood that Jesus was the Savior who fulfilled all the prophecies in what was Scripture at the time i.e., the Hebrew Bible. These early Christians initially maintained their Jewish traditions and obeyed the Sabbath and worshiped Christ the day after Sabbath (i.e., Sunday).
Later when Christianity was no longer outlawed and was becoming more widely accepted, it's easy to comprehend that our Church fathers would create a liturgy that combines aspects of Christian and Jewish worship. The incorporation of the "old" worship was important as the Scriptures revealed to Israel how to worship the Father in both manner as well as other aspects such as frequency of prayer, sacrifice, fasting, etc.
Any teaching that diminished this worship of the Father, as well as the importance of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ (the ultimate sacrificial lamb for our sins) truly does go against the doctrine that was established by those that walked with our Lord.
When absorbing all this, one truly gains completely new appreciation to Christ's words in Matthew 5:17, i.e., "Do not think I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill”.
We need to understand our Faith, and gain the wisdom to continue preserving the teachings of the Church while evangelizing to everyone the completeness of the Truth.
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