![\"\"](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-lckYGmwZfKs\/TcomPQmpyGI\/AAAAAAAABZc\/LZ3NLaLaTFE\/s1600\/orthodox-monks-serbia.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nThis past Sunday, I attended an Orthodox liturgy for the first time, in the company of Miss Tristyn Bloom of Eschatological Psychosis<\/a>. \u00a0Tristyn gave me an overview Saturday night, so I\u2019d know what to expect and be able to avoid augmenting my normal church awkwardness<\/a>, but I still spent a fair amount of time of Google and Wikipedia to cover all my bases. \u00a0While doing my research, I ran across one article earnestly explaining that the Orthodox don\u2019t believe in Transubstantiation. \u00a0(Note, before you run to the comments, I know this is not true).<\/p>\n The confusion seemed to be the result of the Orthodox approach to the Sacred Mysteries (which include those rituals that Catholics term\u00a0Sacraments). \u00a0Both Orthodox and Catholics profess a belief in the Real Presence<\/a> \u2014 the idea that Christ is truly and fully present in the Eucharist, even though they retain the appearance of bread and wine. \u00a0But, as the Orthodox terminology would suggest, the Catholics spend more time concerned about the how<\/em>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard not to have all my sympathies with the Catholics, since I enjoy picking apart the kind of metaphysical apologetics this approach\u00a0yields, but further consideration has pushed me closer to the Orthodox view. \u00a0These \u00a0divine brain teasers may be fun to puzzle over, but inquiry along those lines isn\u2019t at the heart of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n Consider the new, more technicalized Roman Missal<\/a> (the script for Mass) set to go into effect this year. \u00a0Here\u2019s one of the changes that has sparked a backlash. \u00a0In the Nicene Creed<\/a>, the previous language of \u201cJesus\u2026 one in Being with the Father\u201d will change to \u201cJesus\u2026\u00a0consubstantial\u00a0with the Father.\u201d \u00a0One Catholic NYT<\/em>\u00a0commenter<\/a> summed up the objection:<\/p>\n So, how do I explain \u201cconsubstantial\u201d to my daughter, who is 9, attends Catholic school, along with her older brother, and pays attention and asks questions as she listens to the words of the homily every week at Mass? I have no problem with the idea of sticking closer to the Latin meaning, having studied the language in high school and college, but that doesn\u2019t mean making it inaccessible<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I understand her worry. \u00a0At the getting-to-know-the-missal lesson hosted by the Catholic Church on campus, a fair proportion of the students couldn\u2019t explain the meaning of the new language. \u00a0But I\u2019m not sure this is such a shift\u2013the Nicene Creed is already a litany of highly technical metaphysical facts professed by the Church. \u00a0The current version of the Creed reads in part:<\/p>\n We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, Reading through the list, I\u2019m reminded of the tradition of fighter pilots keeping a painted tally of enemy aircraft down on the side of their own plane. \u00a0This is a list of rebukes to defeated heresies that few people besides theologians are acquainted with. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t ever really make sense of the Creed until I read Diarmaid MacCulloch\u2019s Christianity: The First 3000 Years<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and ran across them in his history.<\/p>\n So who are these fairly obscure fights relevant to? \u00a0Well, theologians, certainly, in much the same way that arcane details are relevant to a Ph.D. candidate<\/a>. \u00a0It\u2019s possible that discussing and researching these nuances is helpful to the spiritual formation of some Catholics, but it certainly isn\u2019t a resource for the people who mouth the words of the Creed and have lost any sense of its meaning or historical urgency. \u00a0Pushing everyone toward abstraction makes it hard to focus and act<\/a> on the problems before us.<\/p>\n The Orthodox approach to mystery doesn\u2019t cut off discussion, but it focuses it toward the questions Christians most urgently need to answer: how to take up your cross and follow Christ. \u00a0Sacrements, liturgy, scripture, and tradition are all meant to help answer that question, not to be interrogated to the point of distraction.<\/p>\n This past Sunday, I attended an Orthodox liturgy for the first time, in the company of Miss Tristyn Bloom of Eschatological Psychosis. \u00a0Tristyn gave me an overview Saturday night, so I\u2019d know what to expect and be able to avoid augmenting my normal church awkwardness, but I still spent a fair amount of time of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parsing-catholicism","tag-from-the-pews"],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nthe only Son of God,
\neternally begotten of the Father, God
\nfrom God, Light from Light,
\ntrue God from true God,
\nbegotten, not made,
\none in Being with the Father.
\nThrough him all things were made.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/div>\n