Papers by Herman Majkrzak
In discussions of Orthodox soteriology and sacramental theology, the topic of "original" or "ance... more In discussions of Orthodox soteriology and sacramental theology, the topic of "original" or "ancestral" sin is frequently presented as a locus of significant difference between, on the one hand, the Greek Fathers and Eastern Orthodoxy and, on the other, the Latin Fathers and Roman Catholicism. This paper examines some themes in St. Maximus the Confessor that accord with aspects of St. Augustine's theology of original sin controverted by many contemporary Eastern Orthodox. It also looks some at recent Catholic magisterial presentations on this theme which can aid in finding a path forward for ecumenical consensus.
St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, 2022
The World Council of Church’s 1984 document Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry was intended to faci... more The World Council of Church’s 1984 document Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry was intended to facilitate mutual recognition of sacraments among the Council’s various member churches, all of whom were urged to provide official responses. Eight of the Eastern Orthodox Churches provided responses. On the whole, they express a favorable attitude to the BEM process, while noting concerns about a weak sense of sacramentality and ecclesiality in the text. A notable absence in most of the responses is a clear statement of the extent to which Orthodox Christianity is prepared to recognize the validity of sacraments performed outside its canonical bounds, and on what bases such recognition is to be founded. As such, Orthodox participation in the BEM process failed to meet the WCC’s expressed goals, and lack of consensus among Orthodox on sacramental recognition remains to this day, resulting in theological, canonical, and pastoral dysfunction. Fr Georges Florovsky’s ecclesiology, expressed espe- cially in his essay “The Limits of the Church” is a key indicator of the way forward for Orthodoxy to grapple with what he calls the “abnormality” of schism. His rejection of the so-called “economic” view of schismatic sacraments, and recognition of their validity under certain circumstances, is explicitly based on the sacramental model of St. Augustine of Hippo. The Orthodox responses to BEM would have greatly benefited from Florovsky’s thought, according to which the Church can and must recognize what belongs to her even outside her canonical limits, and in so doing create bridges to the future reunion of divided Christendom.
the Confessor (c. 580-662) was a man of the institutional Church. This is not merely a truism, fo... more the Confessor (c. 580-662) was a man of the institutional Church. This is not merely a truism, for his relationship with the Church of his time was a matter hotly debated. He was not a "company man": in the Monothelete controversy he showed himself willing to hold to a doctrine that was illegal without fear of the reprisals of men. Yet the position he espoused was always framed within the visible, institutional Church, both past and contemporaneous. Despite this, there has been few studies of Maximus's understanding of the institutional Church. The major exception to this concerns his views on the papacy, regarding which a great deal has been written, often with a polemical goal. In this paper, I first briefly discuss St. 1 Maximus's theological understanding of the Church, looking specifically at Ad Thalassium 63. And, second, I focus on his involvement in the Monothelete controversy as a lens by which to discern some Maximian principles of life in the institutional Church. This survey will be limited to the record of his trial at Constantinople (655) along with his dispute with Bishop Theodosius at Byzia (656). I am highlighting Ad Thalassium 63 and the trial texts because they are underrepresented in studies of St. Maximus and the Church, which tend to focus instead on the Mystagogy and Opuscula 11 and 12. They also provide two distinct approaches to the topic-the 2 one a theological commentary, the other biographical in nature; the one predating the Monothelete controversy, the other postdating Constantinople's rejection of the Lateran Council and Maximus's consequent trial. A classic pro-Papalist treatment is John Chapman's The Condemnation of Pope Honorius (London, 1907). Recent 1
March 12, 2022-St. Gregory the Great Catholicism and Orthodoxy in Newman: Some Thoughts on Eccles... more March 12, 2022-St. Gregory the Great Catholicism and Orthodoxy in Newman: Some Thoughts on Ecclesiastical Developments The Eastern Orthodox Church is not wholly absent from An Essay on the Development of Doctrine, 1 but it does not figure prominently. It was while writing that essay in 1845 that John Henry Newman made his momentous decision to be received into the Catholic Church. Neither this 2 decision, however, nor the arguments put forward in Development and other writings were made without consciousness of what Newman normally referred to as "the Greek Church." On the one hand, Newman would sometimes use certain practices of that communion to delegitimize Protestant arguments against similar Roman Catholic practices. On the other hand, in Development and elsewhere Newman would sometimes use the Greek Church as a negative testcase to illustrate the exclusivity of the Catholic Church's claim to identity with the Church of the apostolic and patristic eras. It is this claim of identity that constitutes the primary theme of Development (and much of the final chapter of An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent). Though much of Development is concerned with "the Development in Ideas,"-the title of chapter one-showing a correspondence between theological development and how ideas develop in every other sphere of human thought and polity, the text is not about ideas per se but about the institution that expresses them in word and deed "with a consistency which [its opponents] feel to be superhuman, though they would not allow it to be divine." Thus Newman can with confidence claim that "[n]o one 3 doubts," with the exception of catholic-minded Anglican divines whose objection Newman has already undercut, "that the Roman Catholic communion of this day is the successor and 4 representative of the Medieval Church, or that the Medieval Church is the legitimate heir of the Nicene…" Thus if St. Athanasius or St. Ambrose were to return to life, they would certainly 5
Polarities of Church and Tradition in the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI Among the many theological... more Polarities of Church and Tradition in the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI Among the many theological movements of the twentieth century, one of the most notable is a flowering of ecclesiology. Anglican ecclesiologist Paul Avis attributes this renaissance to three factors: (1) in the Protestant realm, the insistence of Karl Barth, in his Church Dogmatics, that all dogmatic theology must be situated in the context of faithfulness to the Christian church; (2) the shift in attitude within the Catholic Church towards ecumenical relations with churches outside her communion, most significantly articulated in Vatican II's Unitatis Redintegratio; and (3) the ecumenical movement as a whole, in which every major Christian tradition has taken part. For 1 our purposes, I would also highlight two specific and closely related factors: first, an interest in the relationship of the local church to the universal church, a topic wherein Orthodox and Catholic ecclesiologists covered similar, but not identical, territory, with the eucharistic ecclesiology of Nicholas Afanasiev and the communio ecclesiology of Henri de Lubac. And second, an interest in the nature of the Church's doctrinal authority, articulated especially in Vatican I's definition on papal infallibility; an interest, that is, in what Anglican Thomist Eric Mascall called "second-order" theology: definitions about definitions, but more broadly about 2 the nature of tradition as a whole. The topic of the Church is central to the theological career of Pope Benedict XVI. Starting with his 1951 doctoral dissertation, The People and House of God in Augustine's Doctrine of the Church, and continuing through his work as a peritus at Vatican II, as prefect of the Congregation
Liturgical Music as a Theological Question in the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI For the newly repo... more Liturgical Music as a Theological Question in the Thought of Pope Benedict XVI For the newly reposed Pope Benedict, there was hardly any area of church life not found worthy of a careful theological framing and articulation. His reflections on devotion to the Sacred Heart, on 1 contemporary renewal movements in the life of the Church, or on the place of Europe within the 2 Christian world, exemplify his wide ranging interests, and the extent to which he strove to take every 3 thought and every topic captive to Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 10∶5). Among his chief interests was the Church's liturgical life. As a young peritus at Vatican II, he wrote that "[t]he decision to begin with the liturgy schema … was a profession of faith in what is truly central to the Church-the ever renewed marriage of the Church with her Lord." Indeed, his collected works on liturgical theology form a volume of over 600 4 pages, and of those, a hundred pages are devoted specifically to liturgical music. 5 6 Benedict's approach to this subject brings together art theory, history, sociology, ritual studies, and other disciplines, but always remains grounded in a theological vision of the Church at worship in union with her Head, Jesus Christ. This paper will survey four aspects of Ratzinger's theology of church music: 1. the relationship between Church as institution and personal or group freedom in liturgy; 2. the nature of liturgical participation visa -vis music; 3. the incarnational shape of liturgical music; and finally, 4. the place of European music in the Church's liturgy; We shall see Benedict often arguing from a
orthodoxartsjournal.org, 2020
Orthodox Arts Journal, 2020
Anglophone Orthodox Christianity has yet to settle on a principled approach to the pronunciation ... more Anglophone Orthodox Christianity has yet to settle on a principled approach to the pronunciation of biblical and hagiographical names for its liturgical chanting and prayers. But there is a long tradition of anglicized pronunciation of proper names, especially of classical derivation, in the English language, and this system has much to recommend itself for both linguistic and theological reasons.
The Ascension of Christ is one of the most neglected doctrines of traditional Christianity, yet i... more The Ascension of Christ is one of the most neglected doctrines of traditional Christianity, yet it was central to apostolic preaching in the wake of Pentecost, as shown in Acts and the Epistles. A close reading of those texts, especially Hebrews, in conjunction with liturgical and mystagogical themes of the Eastern Orthodox Tradition fills out the Ascension event as the counterpart of, and of equal significance to, the Incarnation. Indeed, in some ways Ascension Day can be seen as the goal and fulfillment of Christmas, Candlemas, and Easter, and as that which Pentecost looks back to with fuller, clearer vision. https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxyandheterodoxy/2016/06/02/recovering-full-theological-vision-ascension/
There are several differing mystagogical interpretations of the entrance procession of the Byzant... more There are several differing mystagogical interpretations of the entrance procession of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, some of which are more rooted in the actual history of the rite than others, but all of which have something to contribute to a theological vision of the Little Entrance that situates it in the context of the entire Eucharistic Liturgy. Following a presentation of the rite’s complex history and an exposition of the many interpretations the rite has received, I conclude with my own synthesis and brief suggestions for liturgical practice.
Talks by Herman Majkrzak
It is taught in the Orthodox Christian tradition that the Virgin Mary—the Mother of God—followed ... more It is taught in the Orthodox Christian tradition that the Virgin Mary—the Mother of God—followed in the footsteps of her Son, Jesus Christ, by suffering death and by rising from the dead and being translated bodily into heaven. Many Patristic homilies on this subject include an opening motif of stupefaction and inability to express appropriate honor for the Holy Virgin who has now been exalted higher than even the angels. Yet her exaltation—soul and body—to the throne of God is to be viewed as unique, but rather as the first fruits of that which is stored up for all those faithful to God in their lives. The resurrection awaits all mankind. It will be for some a resurrection unto condemnation, and for others a resurrection to eternal life with God.
A 12-part lecture series giving a foundational overview of Orthodox liturgics for readers and cho... more A 12-part lecture series giving a foundational overview of Orthodox liturgics for readers and choir directors. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDwTIqEh8HJ2WO8n39QRExT9OMpNfY04A
Series topics:
1. Introduction to Liturgical Books
2. The Liturgical Year
3. Vespers: Focus on “Lord, I Call”
4. Great Vespers & Daily Vespers
5. Matins: Focus on the Canon
6. Daily Matins
7. Sunday & Festal Matins
8. Ranks of Commemorations & Theotokia
9. The Hours & Divine Liturgy
10. Christmas & Theophany
11. The Lenten Order of Services
12. Bright Week & Paschaltide
The large repertoire of traditional English (and, by extension, Western European and American) Ch... more The large repertoire of traditional English (and, by extension, Western European and American) Christmas carols is one of the last vestiges of classical Christian piety in popular American culture. As a link to our society’s Christian roots, this body of song should be embraced by English-speaking Orthodox Christians living in the West. Orthodox living in Slavic, Greek, Arabic, and Romanian cultures (among others) have their own traditional carols that complement the liturgical hymnography universal within Orthodoxy. English-speaking Orthodox can and should adopt as their own the English carol tradition, whose spirit and content is almost always harmonious with the Orthodox Faith. A broader principle is involved here: the Faith must be incarnated within culture so that the whole man and every aspect of life may be sanctified and dedicated to God.
Books by Herman Majkrzak
South Canaan, Pennsylvania: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2017. 338 pp.
This volumes includes t... more South Canaan, Pennsylvania: St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2017. 338 pp.
This volumes includes the full texts of the Divine Liturgies of Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Basil the Great, and the Presanctified Gifts, together with several explanatory introductions regarding hierarchical, vesperal, and paschal Liturgies, the order of censing, and priestly and diaconal concelebration. Appendices include hymns and verses of the liturgical year, various blessings (palms, artos, fruit, herbs, etc.), and more.
With the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, the 1967 liturgy text used by the Orthodox Church in America has been carefully compared to the standard Greek and Slavonic editions, and revised in consultation with the OCA’s Holy Synod of Bishops and Department of Liturgical Music and Translations. Dr. Permiakov explains that the editors’ goal was “for the text of the prayers and litanies to be accurate and understandable, that is, to be both in continuity with the original Greek (and Slavonic) text of the Liturgy and with the accepted style of English-language translations of sacred texts. The editors also sought to make liturgical rubrics both descriptive and prescriptive, so as to reflect the actual liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church in America, while ensuring that the established liturgical use conforms to the broader tradition and practice of the Church.” And Fr. Herman notes that “the wide expertise of hierarchs, experienced pastors, liturgiologists, and linguists was consulted throughout the editorial process.”
The book is identical in shape and size to its 2014 companion volume, Hieratikon: Office Book for Priest and Deacon, which contains the services of Vespers, Matins, the Hours, Compline, and so on. It’s printed in black and red on high-quality paper and durably bound in leather, with three ribbon markers and gilt edges. According to Fr. Herman, the book’s designer, “We have made every effort to produce a liturgical book of high esthetic quality as befits any object used in the offering of the Divine Liturgy. At the same time we have striven for a format that is easy to navigate, making it practical to use while celebrating the Liturgy.”
Book Reviews by Herman Majkrzak
From at least the time of Patriarch Photius of Constantinople, Byzantine theology began to look a... more From at least the time of Patriarch Photius of Constantinople, Byzantine theology began to look askance at developments in Western theology. For St. Photius (c. 810-893), the primary culprit was the Filioque, which he saw as introducing a host of logical absurdities into Trinitarian theology. While other specific issues came forward as additional causes of the schism that began to 2 harden in 1054, a significant shift occurred in Orthodox theology in modern times. According to such theologians as Vladimir Lossky and John Romanides, Western theology is off base not only 3 in a few specifics, but in its entire framework and methodology, and this framework is often identified with scholasticism in general and in particular with St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). As Marcus Plested notes, "Aquinas has consistently enjoyed in the Orthodox East the kind of normative and pre-eminent status as the archetypal representative of Catholic theology that he has only intermittently enjoyed in the West" (4). This point signals that Plested's book is not about Thomas narrowly but is in fact a fulsome exploration of Orthodox readings of Western Christianity broadly speaking. As such, the volume is an invaluable contribution to a growing conversation about Orthodoxy's view of the West. Taking its place among other volumes such as Orthodox Readings of Augustine and Orthodox Constructions of the West, Plested's historical survey has immediate implica 4 5 tions for contemporary Orthodox theology, as it responds to and perhaps moves away from the reflexively anti-Western and even anti-intellectual stance so prevalent throughout the twentieth century, alike among trained theologians and in popular thought. Plested's investigation shows
De Lubac’s ponderous introduction to Origen’s Scriptural exegesis addressed a theological milieu ... more De Lubac’s ponderous introduction to Origen’s Scriptural exegesis addressed a theological milieu of pre-Résourcement Scholastic thought that little valued Origen’s or the broader Patristic approach to Scripture. Though the study is dated and verbose, it brings out much of unquestionable value and beauty in Origen’s engagement with Scripture, while leaving to the side most of the doctrinal controversies associated with Origen’s thought.
Teaching Documents by Herman Majkrzak
Scripture and Patristic quotations pertaining to each petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Uploads
Papers by Herman Majkrzak
Talks by Herman Majkrzak
Series topics:
1. Introduction to Liturgical Books
2. The Liturgical Year
3. Vespers: Focus on “Lord, I Call”
4. Great Vespers & Daily Vespers
5. Matins: Focus on the Canon
6. Daily Matins
7. Sunday & Festal Matins
8. Ranks of Commemorations & Theotokia
9. The Hours & Divine Liturgy
10. Christmas & Theophany
11. The Lenten Order of Services
12. Bright Week & Paschaltide
Books by Herman Majkrzak
This volumes includes the full texts of the Divine Liturgies of Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Basil the Great, and the Presanctified Gifts, together with several explanatory introductions regarding hierarchical, vesperal, and paschal Liturgies, the order of censing, and priestly and diaconal concelebration. Appendices include hymns and verses of the liturgical year, various blessings (palms, artos, fruit, herbs, etc.), and more.
With the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, the 1967 liturgy text used by the Orthodox Church in America has been carefully compared to the standard Greek and Slavonic editions, and revised in consultation with the OCA’s Holy Synod of Bishops and Department of Liturgical Music and Translations. Dr. Permiakov explains that the editors’ goal was “for the text of the prayers and litanies to be accurate and understandable, that is, to be both in continuity with the original Greek (and Slavonic) text of the Liturgy and with the accepted style of English-language translations of sacred texts. The editors also sought to make liturgical rubrics both descriptive and prescriptive, so as to reflect the actual liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church in America, while ensuring that the established liturgical use conforms to the broader tradition and practice of the Church.” And Fr. Herman notes that “the wide expertise of hierarchs, experienced pastors, liturgiologists, and linguists was consulted throughout the editorial process.”
The book is identical in shape and size to its 2014 companion volume, Hieratikon: Office Book for Priest and Deacon, which contains the services of Vespers, Matins, the Hours, Compline, and so on. It’s printed in black and red on high-quality paper and durably bound in leather, with three ribbon markers and gilt edges. According to Fr. Herman, the book’s designer, “We have made every effort to produce a liturgical book of high esthetic quality as befits any object used in the offering of the Divine Liturgy. At the same time we have striven for a format that is easy to navigate, making it practical to use while celebrating the Liturgy.”
Book Reviews by Herman Majkrzak
Teaching Documents by Herman Majkrzak
Series topics:
1. Introduction to Liturgical Books
2. The Liturgical Year
3. Vespers: Focus on “Lord, I Call”
4. Great Vespers & Daily Vespers
5. Matins: Focus on the Canon
6. Daily Matins
7. Sunday & Festal Matins
8. Ranks of Commemorations & Theotokia
9. The Hours & Divine Liturgy
10. Christmas & Theophany
11. The Lenten Order of Services
12. Bright Week & Paschaltide
This volumes includes the full texts of the Divine Liturgies of Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Basil the Great, and the Presanctified Gifts, together with several explanatory introductions regarding hierarchical, vesperal, and paschal Liturgies, the order of censing, and priestly and diaconal concelebration. Appendices include hymns and verses of the liturgical year, various blessings (palms, artos, fruit, herbs, etc.), and more.
With the blessing of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, the 1967 liturgy text used by the Orthodox Church in America has been carefully compared to the standard Greek and Slavonic editions, and revised in consultation with the OCA’s Holy Synod of Bishops and Department of Liturgical Music and Translations. Dr. Permiakov explains that the editors’ goal was “for the text of the prayers and litanies to be accurate and understandable, that is, to be both in continuity with the original Greek (and Slavonic) text of the Liturgy and with the accepted style of English-language translations of sacred texts. The editors also sought to make liturgical rubrics both descriptive and prescriptive, so as to reflect the actual liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church in America, while ensuring that the established liturgical use conforms to the broader tradition and practice of the Church.” And Fr. Herman notes that “the wide expertise of hierarchs, experienced pastors, liturgiologists, and linguists was consulted throughout the editorial process.”
The book is identical in shape and size to its 2014 companion volume, Hieratikon: Office Book for Priest and Deacon, which contains the services of Vespers, Matins, the Hours, Compline, and so on. It’s printed in black and red on high-quality paper and durably bound in leather, with three ribbon markers and gilt edges. According to Fr. Herman, the book’s designer, “We have made every effort to produce a liturgical book of high esthetic quality as befits any object used in the offering of the Divine Liturgy. At the same time we have striven for a format that is easy to navigate, making it practical to use while celebrating the Liturgy.”
Parallel to the lectures, there will be a series of reading assignments that will constitute a small survey of some key spiritual texts.