The jurisdiction of each autocephalous synod generally coincides with national borders—with numerous exceptions in the Middle East (e.g., in the jurisdiction of Constantinople over the Greek islands and the jurisdiction of Antioch over several Arab states)—and also concerns the national dioceses of the Orthodox diaspora (e.g., in western Europe, Australia, and the United States), which frequently remain under the authority of their mother churches. The latter situation led to an uncanonical overlapping of Orthodox jurisdictions, all based on ethnic origins. Several factors, originating in the Middle Ages, have contributed to modern ecclesiastical nationalism in the Orthodox church. These factors include the use of the vernacular in the liturgy and the subsequent identification of religion with national culture. Clergy and laity
The emphasis on communion and fellowship as the basic principle of church life inhibited the development of clericalism, the tradition of enhancing the power of the church hierarchy. The early Christian practice of lay participation in episcopal elections never disappeared completely in the East. In modern times it has been restored in several churches, including those in the United States. Besides being admitted, at least in some areas, to participation in episcopal elections, Orthodox laymen often occupy positions in church administration and in theological education. In Greece almost all professional theologians are laymen. Laymen also frequently serve as preachers.
The lower orders of the clergy— priests and deacons—are generally married men. The present canonical legislation allows the ordination of married men to the diaconate and the priesthood, provided that they were married only once and that their wives are neither widows nor divorcees. These stipulations reflect the general principle of absolute monogamy, which the Eastern church considered as a Christian norm to which candidates for the priesthood are to comply strictly. Deacons and priests cannot marry after their ordination. Bishops are selected from among the unmarried clergy or widowed priests. The rule defining the requirement for an unmarried episcopate was issued at a time (6th century) when monks represented the elite of the clergy. The contemporary decrease in the number of monks in the Orthodox church has created a serious problem in some territorial churches, as new candidates for the episcopacy are difficult to find. Monasticism
Eastern Christian monasticism began in the 3rd and 4th centuries of the Christian era. From its beginning it was essentially a contemplative movement seeking the experience of God in a life of permanent prayer. Concern for prayer, as the central and principal function of monasticism, does not mean that the Eastern Christian monastic movement was of a single uniform character. Eremitic (solitary) monasticism, favouring the personal and individual practice of prayer and asceticism, often competed with cenobitic (communal) monastic life, in which prayer was mainly liturgical and corporate. The two forms of monasticism originated in Egypt and coexisted in Byzantium as well as throughout eastern Europe.
Metéora: Varlaám monasteryVarlaám, or All Saints (Áyioi Pándes; c. 1517), monastery, Metéora, Thessaly, Greece.© Leonid Katsyka/Fotolia
In Byzantium the great monastery of Studion became the model of numerous cenobitic communities. It is in the framework of the eremitic, or Hesychast, tradition, however, that the most-noted Byzantine mystical theologians, such as St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamas, received their training. One of the major characteristics of the Hesychast tradition is the practice of the Jesus prayer, or constant invocation of the name of Jesus, sometimes in connection with breathing. This practice won wide acceptance in medieval and modern Russia. Cenobitic traditions of Byzantium also were important in Slavic lands. The colonization of the Russian north was largely accomplished by monks who acted as pioneers of civilization and as missionaries.
In Byzantium as well as in other areas of the Orthodox world, the monks were often the only upholders of the moral and spiritual integrity of Christianity, and thus they gained the respect of the masses as well as that of the intellectuals. The famous Russian startsy (“elders”) of the 19th century became the spiritual leaders of the great Russian writers Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolay Gogol, and Leo Tolstoy and inspired many philosophers in their quest for religious experience.
Since the 1970s, when a resurgence in the admission of new monks began, the most famous centre of Orthodox monasticism has been Mount Athos in Greece. In this remote location more than 1,000 monks of different national backgrounds are grouped into a monastic republic—a federation of 20 self-governing monasteries and smaller monastic communities whose governor is appointed by the Greek minister of foreign affairs and whose spiritual head is the ecumenical patriarch. Worship and sacraments The role of the liturgy
By its theological richness, spiritual significance, and variety, the worship of the Orthodox church represents one of the most significant factors in the church’s continuity and identity. It helps to account for the survival of Christianity during the many centuries of Muslim rule in the Middle East and the Balkans, when the liturgy was the only source of religious knowledge or experience. Since liturgical practice was practically the only religious expression legally authorized in the Soviet Union, the continuous existence of Orthodox communities in the region was also centred almost exclusively around the liturgy.
The concept that the church is most authentically itself when the congregation of the faithful is gathered together in worship is a basic expression of Eastern Christian experience. Without that concept it is impossible to understand the fundamentals of church structure in Orthodoxy, with the bishop functioning in his essential roles as teacher and high priest in the liturgy. Similarly, the personal experience of participation in divine life is understood in the framework of the continuous liturgical action of the community.
According to many authorities, one of the reasons why the Eastern liturgy has made a stronger impact on the Christian church than has its Western counterpart is that it has always been viewed as a total experience, appealing simultaneously to the emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic faculties of humans. The liturgy includes a variety of models, or symbols, using formal theological statements as well as bodily perceptions and gestures (e.g., music, incense, prostrations) and the visual arts. All are meant to convey the content of the Christian faith to the educated and the noneducated alike. Participation in the liturgy implies familiarity with its models, and many of them are conditioned by the historical and cultural past of the church. Thus, the use of such an elaborate and ancient liturgy presupposes catechetical preparation. It may require an updating of the liturgical forms themselves. The Orthodox church recognizes that liturgical forms are changeable and that, because the early church admitted a variety of liturgical traditions, such a variety is also possible today. Thus, Orthodox communities with Western rites now exist in western Europe and in the Americas.