The Forgotten Connection Between Liturgy and Theology

Praxis 12:1 Fall 2012 The Forgotten Connection Between Liturgy and Theology Rev. Dr. Philip Zymaris Since the theme of this issue of PRAXIS is the application of theology in real life we have decided to write on this subject from the point of view of liturgics: the study of liturgy. Our Orthodox liturgy, our communal worship services and especially the Divine Liturgy, – the Eucharist – are the best reflection of this “lived theology.” At first sight this statement might seem surprising, because most people seem to perceive going to church on Sunday as a mere Christian “duty” and not as real “theology.” As it turns out, however, nothing could be further from the truth. This popular conception that divorces theology from what we do in church has emerged relatively recently due to theological developments in western Christianity that have little to do with our own teachings, history and traditions. Unfortunately we have been so deeply influenced by these developments that this mentality has taken root even in Orthodox circles today. In the lines that follow, I will attempt to trace and explain this fundamental connection between liturgy and theology by way of a few examples taken from the way we worship and especially the way we celebrate our sacraments. Going back to the era of early Christianity it becomes evident that the Church of Christ in both East and West, that is to say in the one undivided “Holy, Catholic Church” (to quote the Creed that we repeat at each liturgy), did not distinguish between theology and liturgy as we tend to do today. In other words, theology in the early Church was not conceived of as a discipline or an abstract exercise for special people with specific training. Rather, theology in the sense of liturgical participation was the prerogative of every baptized Christian. This is clear even in the etymology of the word “theology.” The Greek word theologia is composed of Theos (God) and logos (word), and therefore may be translated as “words appropriate to God,” i.e., communication and relationship with God, which means prayer and especially the prayer of the assembly, the synaxis, as identified with the Eucharist. This is the communal worship experience of the baptized faithful “in one place” mentioned by St. Paul. Interestingly enough, the earliest theological definition of the Church verifies this. St. Nicholas Cabasilas in the 14th century wrote that the “Church is made known in the sacraments” (the mysteries). We know that all sacraments were originally celebrated in the context of the Eucharist and therefore that the eucharistic gathering was considered to be the “sacrament of sacraments,” that which “constituted the Church” and gave meaning to the other sacraments. Indeed, regarding the Eucharist Cabasilas wrote: “it is not possible to go beyond it or add anything to it…For in it we obtain God Himself and God is united with us in the most perfect union.” The fact that these definitions of Cabasilas come to us at such a late date is witness to the fact that no such theological definition was needed for the early Christians precisely because they knew through the common woriship experience what Church – Ecclesia – really meant. And this was true theology. Even though today we have somewhat forgotten this connection between liturgy and theology, this connection is still preserved to this day in the very structure of our services and even in the particular way which our church buildings are set up and decorated. We shall attempt to demonstrate this with a few examples in the lines that follow. Anyone who has done church tours for their parish church festival can witness how people of other faiths are always struck by the mere experience of entering into an Orthodox church building. Our place of worship is indeed a “feast for the senses,” and there is a clear theological reason for this. All five senses and our whole psychosomatic being, not only the mind, somehow participate in worship, and this is how real theology – the true experience of God - is communicated to us in our worship experience. We see and touch icons as well as colorful, elaborate church furniture; we smell incense and hear chanting and we taste communion. Through the sermon we receive spiritual food for mind and soul; and at Holy Communion we are offered physical-spiritual food for our body, mind and soul. This way of worshipping actually is a lived out expression of a basic Christian theological teaching: the uniquely Christian dogma of the Incarnation, i.e., the fact that Christ took on a human body just like ours and thus blessed our body, our senses and all matter (“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” – John 1:14). Therefore the whole human being – body and soul – must participate in worship. One may note at this point that this theological emphasis on the Incarnation as foundational for the way we worship has sometimes been forgotten in some other Christian denominations, and this has resulted in clear differences between the venue and style of Orthodox and non-Orthodox worship. For example, some Western churches are reminiscent of a classroom: the proverbial stark, chapel devoid of icons and church furniture except for pews and a pulpit in a prominent position in view of all - in the place where an Orthodox church would have the altar table. The message given in this kind of a set-up is that the main aim of worship is hearing the sermon and therefore the sole aim is the intellectual “teaching” of the Bible, i.e., the principle of “sola scriptura.” On the other hand, our Orthodox churches and worship experience clearly cater to the whole human being as noted above. For example, although in the United States most Orthodox churches now have seating for all attendants, this was not the case in church buildings in most traditionally Orthodox countries in the past. In such traditional church buildings, although there usually would be some “stalls” along the walls for people to rest, the greater part of the nave would be free of all obstructions so the people could freely walk around, prostrate themselves and venerate icons at any time in the service. In short, they were free to pray using their whole body and not only their mind. This once again is in keeping with the theological teaching of the Incarnation referred to above. For the same reason we baptize, chrismate and offer Holy Communion to infants. This is because participation in the sacraments is clearly something that concerns the whole human being - not only the mind – and infants are full human beings according to our theology. Consequently, there is no “age of reason” more appropriate for receiving these sacraments. All of the above Orthodox liturgical practices stess once again a basic theological teaching connected to the Incarnation: since the body is as much an icon of God as is the soul, both participate fully in worship. This teaching leads us to another basic theological tenet that effects the way we worship, a clearly biblical teaching sadly forgotten by many Christians today: the uniquely Christian teaching on the General Resurrection in the flesh (in the body) of all human beings and the transfiguration of all material and immaterial creation in the end times in the Kingdom of God. Therefore, because the human being is such a psychosomatic reality that will participate fully in the Kingdom of God in the end times, this same total human being now participates in the worship of God. To offer one more example of this connection between theology and liturgy, one may note how the theological teachings on the Incarnation and the General Resurrection referred to above are especially evident in the way we celebrate our Orthodox sacraments. There is a sense that our sacraments are more real and “physical” than what is observed in other Christian communities. One could say that in the Orthodox Church we make ample use of matter and we do everything in a real, literal sense; we don’t “pretend.” This sometimes makes a strange impression in a religious culture where sacraments have been made so “symbolic” to the point of “de-materializing” them and “spiritualizing” them, as if too much “matter” takes away from the “spiritual” experience. (Of course, some Christian communities have even practically done away with sacraments altogether!). This alteration in worship practice actually comes once again from an alteration in theology; from a de-emphasizing of the basic theological teaching on the Incarnation and the General Resurrection referred to above. In our sacraments we emphasize the use of matter precisely because of this Orthodox stress on the Incarnation, the Resurrection and the resulting theological affirmation of matter’s goodness due to the fact that Christ took on a material body and in the Resurrection our material bodies will participate in the glory of the Kingdom. Therefore matter as created by God is good (“And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good,” Genesis 1:31) and is used profusely in the sacraments (especially the Eucharist) as a vehicle for communication of the divine. For example, in our Orthodox baptismal service we have a true threefold immersion of the neophyte in water rather than a “symbolic” sprinkling. Continuing with the example of baptism, one can note that in the Byzantine service we also totally anoint the neophyte in oil and chrism. One may further observe that in the catechism/exorcism part of this service (the first part), when the sponsors (godparents) or the prospective Christian him/herself renounce Satan, they actually spit towards the West. (It is interesting to note that this liturgical practice has even passed into popular Orthodox culture, i.e., the practice of spitting in some Orthodox circles, as reflected in the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” actually comes from this very literal, physical liturgical practice!). In the sacrament of Holy Unction once again there is a true anointing with oil. The sacrament of confession is done face to face with the priest, and the body participates by kneeling at the absolution prayer. In the marriage service, rings, crowns and wine are employed as well as a liturgical dance, an ancient practice found in the Old Testament involving the whole person in joyful, celebratory worship. Finally, the Orthodox method of distributing Holy Communion is still to offer both bread and wine to clergy and laity alike. Indeed, up until about the 10th – 11th century, there was no spoon. All the faithful received the Body in their hands and then drank from the cup, exactly as our clergy still do today. This has been forgotten in most Western Christian denominations where (if they even have communion at all) the laity partake of the bread (Body) only – indeed, this “bread” has been so “spiritualized” (the “wafer”) that it bears no resemblance to the real bread we eat in our homes. Hence, by the way we celebrate our sacramental life, the participation of the whole human being, body, mind and soul, is clearly evident, and this participation is a derivative of basic Christian theology. The few examples offered above hopefully can be seen as a confirmation of what the late Fr. Alexander Schmemann so often quoted: “Lex orandi lex est credendi,” the rule of prayer is the rule of faith. In other words, what we pray is what we believe; what we do in church is precisely what we teach in our theology books. The very structure and way we do our worship services (our “typicon”) makes it clear that this is the case in our Orthodox tradition. The fact that this evident connection between theology and worship found in our liturgical life has in part been forgotten today is unfortunate but not irreparable. All we need to do to rediscover these treasures is to begin actively participating in our services rather than merely attending them, for the theological basis of our worship is still manifestly imbedded in these services and especially in the sacraments and in the sacrament of sacraments, the Eucharist. In this way we can once again experience and live out what we believe to be the basic tenets of the good news of Christianity and become true theologians, that is to say, prayerful, liturgical beings truly united to Christ “in spirit and truth.” Only then can this experience overflow to the “liturgy after the liturgy,” i.e., to our everyday life, so we can become living witnesses, a desperate need in our world today, which thirsts so much for spiritual truth. In this way we can demonstrate to the whole world what the psalm so often quoted in our services exclaims: “taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 33/34:9)!”