Byzantine Liturgical Texts and Modern Israelogy: Opportunities for Liturgical Renewal in the Orthodox Church

Abstract

It must be mentioned from the outset that the term “reform” does not find favor with the Orthodox Church for several reasons. First, the term is emblematic for the Protestant communities which hark back to the historic Reformation 500 years ago. During the following centuries, sustained theological and practical conflicts between adherents of the Reformation and followers of Rome (Catholics) led to the definitive crystallization of two distinct paths for the two Christian confessions. Second, the advent of the Renaissance, invention of the printing press, humanism, the Enlightenment, and the “New World” all have contributed to shaping the sinuous trajectory of western Christianity. Parallel with this religious, cultural, and economic development in Western Europe, an inverse process transpired in the Christian East which had been conquered by the Ottomans. To preserve and confess its Christian faith, eastern Christianity had to make intrepid efforts, reaching even to martyrdom.1 Thus, on one hand, we have 500 years of cultural and social flourishing and, on the other hand, 500 years of fighting for survival. In Romania, for example, there was a brief respite after it regained its independence from the Ottoman Empire (1877) until the imposition of communism in the aftermath of World War II (1948)2. During