Sacred Actions In The Eastern Churches

The Eastern Orthodox churches did not develop scholastic, logic-based systematic theologies like those of late medieval and modern Catholics and Protestants in Western Europe. Many of the differences between Eastern and Western explanations of the sacraments can be traced to this historical divergence. Moreover, the sacramental life of worship in the Eastern churches retains an important role for fasting at certain times in the church year and for the veneration of icons.

Bishops and theologians of the Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic church have been involved in the last decade in explaining how the two churches express the faith in continuity with the apostles. Both churches understand themselves as a communion of faith and sacraments, preeminently manifested in eucharistic celebrations presided over by an ordained bishop or priest. Catholics and Orthodox in the 1988 New Valamo consensus statement agreed that "? … on all essential points concerning ordination, our churches have a common doctrine and practice, even if on certain canonical and disciplinary requirements, such as celibacy, customs can be different because of pastoral and spiritual reasons?" (30). The two churches now wish to present their sacramental beliefs in theological language that avoids the systematic categories of medieval scholastic logic (in the West) and the mystical, yet systematic categories of Gregory Palamas (d. 359) and his disciples (in the East). The new sacramental theology being formulated together draws upon scriptural, liturgical, and patristic language. Since the Eastern churches did not undergo a Renaissance, a Reformation, or an Enlightenment, they have preserved some ancient traditions forgotten in the West but have not elaborated a systematic sacramental theology. The church of Rome and the Eastern Orthodox church recognize their basic creedal affirmations on the sacraments as the same, despite the fact that the Orthodox are often puzzled and troubled by, and unwilling to imitate some practices of Rome. To refer to the sacraments, Eastern Christians use the word derived from the Greek word mysterion, the holy mysteries. Eastern Christians speak of participating in the sacramental life of the church rather than receiving sacraments. The holy mysteries or sacraments are seen as making present and partially accessible, in sensible form, the invisible reality of God's love expressed in Trinitarian life through encounter with the incarnate Word. Christian sacramental life is a salvific union with the glorified Christ by participation in the mystery of the heavenly liturgy. Roman Catholics note that Eastern Christians often do not use the distinction between sacraments and sacramentals. For Eastern Christians sacramental living means participating in the mystery of the Incarnation through gestures and activities which, even if practiced in the home, are linked with the church's liturgy. Numerous blessings connected with foods, water, and holy places are seen as possessing a kind of sacramental function that fosters ecclesial communion and turns the believers' minds to the heavenly liturgy where Christ intercedes without end. Two religious practices of Eastern Christianity strongly color their sacramental life and should be noted even if, in the West, these practices are not considered directly sacramental. These practices are fasting and veneration of icons. Through fasting Eastern Christians blend daily living with the liturgical calendar. Four major fasts are celebrated each year: Lent (seven weeks before Easter); the apostles' fast (the second Monday after Pentecost to June 28); the fast of the falling asleep of the Theotokos (August 1 to August 14), and the forty days' Christmas fast (November 15 to December 24). Fasting in the Eastern tradition is measured more by what is not eaten rather than by amount of food eaten. On most days in Great Lent and Holy Week not only is meat not allowed but neither fish nor animal products (milk, cheese, eggs, etc.), and in addition wine and oil are excluded. Eastern Christians do not use the distinction found in the West between fasting and abstinence. Observing fasting regulations in the modern living conditions of the diaspora is not always feasible. One of the preparatory commission's position papers for the forthcoming Great and Holy Synod of the Orthodox church proposes to adjust fasting requirements. Fasting is not seen as punishment of the flesh but as a gesture used to open oneself more fully to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, through veneration of icons Eastern Christians enter into the spiritual realities signified by the sacraments. Eastern Christians venerate a spiritual presence in these religious paintings, which Westerners would never associate with statues, stained glass windows, or holy cards. In the West there is neither an equivalent of icon veneration (proskynesis) nor iconic incorporation into the liturgy as in the East. By the incarnation of the Word, the image of the Father, God's image (2 Cor. 4:4), is seen as being restored in every human being. The material world is viewed as sanctified and again capable of mediating divine beauty. Icons express, as far as possible, the glory of God seen in the face of Christ. And so icons are judged to be sacred words in painting or the visible gospel. An icon is not a random decoration but an integral part of the church's life and worship. Production and use of icons are always controlled by theological criteria. The location of the iconostasis (the screen that displays the principal icons), the location of the screen's doors, the shape of the sacred vessels, and even the shape of the church building contribute to the liturgical interplay between the visible and the invisible reality.