dzheremi
Coptic Orthodox non-Egyptian
- Aug 27, 2014
- 13,565
- 13,723
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- Oriental Orthodox
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(Cont'd. from above)
What on earth are you talking about? I don't know whatever Evangelicals may or may not be doing these days (though I'd prefer to ask them myself), but "correctly dividing the word", as you've put it, has nothing to do with elevating anything over anything else. I don't know where that's coming from. "Rightly dividing the word" is from the scriptures themselves (2 Timothy 2:15), and is a reminder of how important it is to not just know the word, but to understand it and use it properly. (*cough*) This is why it ended up in our (Coptic Orthodox) liturgical prayers in precisely the place it is found there, in the seven short litanies, which read in part as follows (I've truncated them because they go on for a while, and I just want to show where the phrase is and its immediate environment):
Priest:
Make us all worthy, O our Master, to partake of Your Holies, unto the purification of our souls, our bodies, and our spirits,
that we may become one body and one spirit, and may have a share and an inheritance with all the saints who have pleased You since the beginning.
Remember, O Lord, the peace of Your one, only, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church—
Deacon:
Pray for the peace of the one holy catholic and apostolic orthodox Church of God.
People:
Lord have mercy.
Priest:
this, which You have acquired to Yourself with the precious Blood of Your Christ,
keep her in peace, with all the orthodox bishops who are in her.
Foremost remember, O Lord, our blessed and honored father, the archbishop, our patriarch, Abba (Tawadros the Second),
and his spiritual brothers, the Patriarch of Antioch Mar Ignatius (…), and the Patriarch of Eritrea Abouna (Antonios the First).
In the presence of a bishop:
and his partner in the liturgy, our father the bishop (metropolitan), Abba (...).
Deacon:
Pray for our high priest, Pope Abba (Tawadros the Second), pope and patriarch and archbishop of the great city of Alexandria,
and his spiritual brothers, the Patriarch of Antioch Mar Ignatius (Aphrem the Second), and the Patriarch of Eritrea Abouna (Antonios the First).
In the presence of a bishop:
and his partner in the liturgy, our father the bishop (metropolitan), Abba (...).
And concludes with:
and for our orthodox bishops.
People:
Lord have mercy.
Priest:
And those who rightly divide the word of truth with him,
grant them unto Your holy Church to shepherd Your flock in peace.
Remember, O Lord, the orthodox hegumens, priests, and deacons.
+++
In other words, here are some of the people we mutually recognize as "rightly dividing the word of truth" (teaching and understanding correctly, i.e., according to the Orthodox Christian faith), so we pray for them and all those who do the same with them. It is for the strengthening of the Orthodox people by our mutual recognition of one another (that we may become one body, as prayed earlier in the prayer), not to promote or demote any writing or concept over any other. Even the division you have mentioned, between "the law" and "grace", is artificial insofar as for Christians, Christ has fulfilled the Law, so it is not able to conflict with anything to begin with.
I know from interacting with Mormons here and elsewhere that your religion is more of a "Law-based" religion, but just like your building of temples, this is something that Christians simply do not do, and not because we have 'lost' anything that Mormonism has since 'restored', but because we "rightly divide the word of truth" and understand that such things are of the old covenant which the Lord God made with the Jews, and so are not binding upon Christians, who instead have other commands that go far beyond what the law of Moses says (cf. St. Hippolytus of Rome, as quoted earlier on the Acts of the Apostles). To the Christian, the Mormon approach is therefore at best a step backwards, and an implicit denial of Christ's fulfillment (and, I would argue, therefore of Him).
What on earth are you talking about? I don't know whatever Evangelicals may or may not be doing these days (though I'd prefer to ask them myself), but "correctly dividing the word", as you've put it, has nothing to do with elevating anything over anything else. I don't know where that's coming from. "Rightly dividing the word" is from the scriptures themselves (2 Timothy 2:15), and is a reminder of how important it is to not just know the word, but to understand it and use it properly. (*cough*) This is why it ended up in our (Coptic Orthodox) liturgical prayers in precisely the place it is found there, in the seven short litanies, which read in part as follows (I've truncated them because they go on for a while, and I just want to show where the phrase is and its immediate environment):
Priest:
Make us all worthy, O our Master, to partake of Your Holies, unto the purification of our souls, our bodies, and our spirits,
that we may become one body and one spirit, and may have a share and an inheritance with all the saints who have pleased You since the beginning.
Remember, O Lord, the peace of Your one, only, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church—
Deacon:
Pray for the peace of the one holy catholic and apostolic orthodox Church of God.
People:
Lord have mercy.
Priest:
this, which You have acquired to Yourself with the precious Blood of Your Christ,
keep her in peace, with all the orthodox bishops who are in her.
Foremost remember, O Lord, our blessed and honored father, the archbishop, our patriarch, Abba (Tawadros the Second),
and his spiritual brothers, the Patriarch of Antioch Mar Ignatius (…), and the Patriarch of Eritrea Abouna (Antonios the First).
In the presence of a bishop:
and his partner in the liturgy, our father the bishop (metropolitan), Abba (...).
Deacon:
Pray for our high priest, Pope Abba (Tawadros the Second), pope and patriarch and archbishop of the great city of Alexandria,
and his spiritual brothers, the Patriarch of Antioch Mar Ignatius (Aphrem the Second), and the Patriarch of Eritrea Abouna (Antonios the First).
In the presence of a bishop:
and his partner in the liturgy, our father the bishop (metropolitan), Abba (...).
And concludes with:
and for our orthodox bishops.
People:
Lord have mercy.
Priest:
And those who rightly divide the word of truth with him,
grant them unto Your holy Church to shepherd Your flock in peace.
Remember, O Lord, the orthodox hegumens, priests, and deacons.
+++
In other words, here are some of the people we mutually recognize as "rightly dividing the word of truth" (teaching and understanding correctly, i.e., according to the Orthodox Christian faith), so we pray for them and all those who do the same with them. It is for the strengthening of the Orthodox people by our mutual recognition of one another (that we may become one body, as prayed earlier in the prayer), not to promote or demote any writing or concept over any other. Even the division you have mentioned, between "the law" and "grace", is artificial insofar as for Christians, Christ has fulfilled the Law, so it is not able to conflict with anything to begin with.
I know from interacting with Mormons here and elsewhere that your religion is more of a "Law-based" religion, but just like your building of temples, this is something that Christians simply do not do, and not because we have 'lost' anything that Mormonism has since 'restored', but because we "rightly divide the word of truth" and understand that such things are of the old covenant which the Lord God made with the Jews, and so are not binding upon Christians, who instead have other commands that go far beyond what the law of Moses says (cf. St. Hippolytus of Rome, as quoted earlier on the Acts of the Apostles). To the Christian, the Mormon approach is therefore at best a step backwards, and an implicit denial of Christ's fulfillment (and, I would argue, therefore of Him).
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