RE: What is Orthodox Christianity?
Okay, i've seen a lot of theological, metaphysical and esoteric discussion on this thread so far. Personally i am a Serbian Eastern Orthodox Christian living in the west. Truthfully, i am rather lackluster in my worship but i can consider myself and my family Christian in the sense that we bother to commemorate Easter with the fast and celebration after. Same thing for Christmas. Slava's as well (not always, unfortunately). Still, when we commemorate we effectively follow and respect the Julian Calendar.
I am far from a theological expert but what i can contribute is practical expressions of belief and literal basics of customs in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. So i can basically explain what Eastern Orthodoxy (The Serbian variety at least) is by how it is practiced.
The first thing people should know is that there are several different Orthodox national/regional Church branches each led by their own Patriarch. This matters because customs differ amongst different churches and also for political reasons. Church size and relevance go roughly like this (there is room for disputation of course):
1. Russian Orthodox Church
2. Serbian Orthodox Church
3. Greek/Constantinople Patriarchy (Despite bizarre political happenings still is)
4. Romanian Orthodox Church
5. Bulgarian Orthodox Church
6. Orthodox Churches in Diaspora nations (So basically US branches and other Anglo/West Euro nations with large Greek, Serb, or other Orthodox believer diasporas)
What all Eastern Orthodox worshipers have in common is that they all follow the Julian Calendar which is literally the same thing as the Gregorian Calendar but the only difference is that it is 13 days ahead of the Gregorian one. For instance, this is why Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January instead of 25th December. Its also why New Years Eve for Eastern Orthodox Christians is on 13th January. The 13 day difference is easy to see. Easter is a different matter as its simply determined by a specific set of experts or religious heads for the whole Orthodox world (so not 13 days difference) and everyone is informed about it just in time. I don't know how exactly the Easter date is determined but it would definitely make for an interesting constellation topic.
As for how Easter is commemorated, it is a common custom to paint eggs, decorate them and then crack them. That is have egg cracking contests where one side is the egg "butt" while the other is the egg "head" where heads and butts can only exclusively go against each other for game balance reasons. Otherwise, it is really identical in celebration and fasting as other Christian denominations.
Christmas is celebrated on 7th January where a Badnjak is set on fire. That is, a branch of an oak tree is burned ideally on a fire outside, inside a house or even on your stove, if no other alternatives exist. It is shaken repeatedly for sparks which symbolize good luck. Also, parts of it that are not burned are placed around and inside your home in different rooms for good luck and where they bless different things in your household. There is fasting on the 6th, Christmas Eve as well of course. On Christmas something called a "Chesnica" is created which is bread with some kind of coin or currency where it is passed around the family table while being kissed repeatedly. Eventually, it is ripped apart (politely) and the person who happens to take the piece with the currency is considered to be blessed for the upcoming year.
As for a Slava, it is a feast or a celebration after a patron saint by one family, where family and friends from other families are invited as guests for it. Here also a Chesnica is broken. It is basically a worship or commemoration of a chosen Orthodox saint in a traditional manner, but in a fun and cool way as alcohol is allowed to be drunk (of course, people are expected not to be degenerates). Each different saint has their own day of commemoration or celebration and each family is simply assumed to choose or stay with one as they are considered to bless different things. For instance, my family's patron saint, Saint Sava, will confer knowledge and education upon you. Saint Sava is commemorated upon 27th January every year. In the past amongst Serbs, it was common to reference days of the years and calendar months by Saints due to Serb lands being occupied by Turks for several hundred years where access to things like Calendars was rare and suppressed.
It should be noted that both the lighting of the Badnjak and the Slava's are distinct and unique Serbian customs in worshiping the Eastern Orthodox faith. They are remnants from the Pagan periods incorporated by the local Orthodox Church in order to assimilate Pagans as they proved to be extremely resistant to conversion in Serbia. From what i know, none of the other Orthodox Churches have such customs for its believers but i believe the other various churches have their own unique different customs. Eastern Orthodoxy and the Orthodox Churches are fundamentally opposed to Ecumenicalism, which is basically mutliculturalism for Christianity. Any Christian who claims to be Ecumenical, Orthodox or not, is not a real Christian at all and is merely a modern Globo-Homo Christian.
"And guess what, you might have a feeling that youre destined for something else, and that any day now it will dawn on you, but it will remain that, just a feeling that you use as a crutch to never focus on anything", Beirut.
(This post was last modified: 04-12-2019 06:40 AM by KnjazMihailo.)
|
Home
RooshV.com
Search (Via Forum)
Member List
![[-]](images/collapse.gif)
The following 3 users Like debeguiled's post:
