Rev. Dr. George Papademetriou
Hellenic College/Holy Cross
Greek Orthodox School of Theology
Christian worship must be a common worship, that is, a worship within the community. The individual joining the community for worship is a personal act. It is a human response to the divine call.
For Orthodoxy, theology, and especially trinitarian theology, is wholly confessional, that is, doxological in character and soteriological in its importance. The worship of God as Trinity is a dynamic and soteriological experience, the beauty of God experienced in the liturgy of prayer, and is expressed in the Church's confession of praise. The worship of the Church reflects the mystery of the Christian existence. Worship is, and is to be, determined by the doctrinal faith, that is, by the believing insight into the object of worship, God. As. Georges Florovsky states: "Christians worship on the basis of their Creed, and it is in the light of devotional experience and evidence that the Creed itself assumes its full existential validity and significance, as a committed witness of faith."
Worship primarily and essentially, is an act of praise and adoration. This implies a thankful acknowledgement of God's embracing love and redemptive loving kindness.
The Church in worship, especially the Epiklesis offered in the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, clearly reveals to us the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. We read:
Once again we offer to Thee this spiritual worship without the shedding of blood, and we ask; pray and entreat Thee (Father): send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here presented.
And make this bread the precious Body of Thy Christ and that which is in this cup Thy Precious Blood of Thy Christ. Amen.
The glorification of God is trinitarian in essence. The community offers spiritual worship to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. St Gregory the Theologian demonstrates the doxological expression of the Trinity in the following words: "Adorable unity in trinity, and trinity recapitulated in unity; entirely venerable, entirely regal, of the same throne and glory, transcendent and timeless, uncreated, indivisible, untouchable, uncircumscribable." (Oration 6:22, PG 35c. 749-572).
St Paul in Romans 8:26-27 teaches that the Spirit's inspiration of prayer transcends words since the realities encountered in worship are beyond the limited scope of reason the longing for the divine communion which is inexhaustible for the rational mind. The very purpose of life is to worship the transcendent mystery as revealed by the Incarnate Christ.
The starting point of Patristic and Orthodox epistemology is clearly stated by Fr John Romanides in the following statement: "is the partial knowability of the divine actions or energies and the absolute and radical unknowability and incommunicability of the divine essence. This is not as a result of speculative meditation but of the personal experience or participation in the-uncreated glory of God ." (Romanides. "The Filioque, " Kleronomia, Vol. 7, No.2 (July, 1975), p.299.
The Church as the community of God has the mission to be in the world and by its presence and the manner of its existence, to confess, to praise and glorify the Holy Trinity. The unity of the Church as a worshipping community as in the manner of the Trinity, makes it capable of partaking organically in the divine and blessed life, that is, receiving the Grace of the Comforter and becoming witness to God the Holy Trinity Who loves the world. Fr Florovsky used to say in class that he or she who has really seen the Church has seen the Holy Trinity. It is a vision revealed to those who are baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity. Maximos the Confessor emphasized that those "who have attained not only union with the Holy Trinity, but also the unity which can be perceived within the Holy Trinity." (P.G.91:1196B.)
Theology is a mystery delivered to the Church. It is not an intellectual or speculative concern of the individual philosopher or theologian. Dogma serves as a guide for each life of the Christian, it is the truth that sets us free. It is the mysterious presence of God that surpasses all understanding.
The Orthodox use of the apophatic method safeguards the true doctrine of God from that of mythology. This method negates all definitions and creatively attributes of anthropomorphism, holding that the comprehension of God's incomprehensibility was the only safe knowledge about God. The Orthodox believe that God is beyond all human and logical categories and divine essence totally transcends knowledge and comprehension in this life and the next.
Orthodox theology provides God's accessibility to human persons through the uncreated energies. God's relation to the world and to the human person is an immediate presence revealing Himself to His people who praise and glorify His name. Like the physical sun, God in Trinity creates and sustains the world.
The Orthodox ontology of the person is rooted in the Bible. The ontological dimension of the person is the expression of the Church's faith in the Triune God. The debate of the three hypostases of God gave rise to the question: What is the meaning of the statement, "God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit" and at the same time, "God is one."
This led to the identification of the hypostasis with the person. That is, the being of God has three modes of existence and the cause and principle of the divine hypostases is the Father. "Outside the Trinity there is no God, no divine substance, because the ontological 'principle' of God is the Father. The personal existence of God (Father) constitutes His substance -- makes it hypostasis. The being of God is identified with the person." (John D. Zizioulas. Being As Communion, p.41).
This is not the Heideggerian understanding of ontology but rather the Patristic view of the ontology of the person as hypostasis. The Orthodox understanding of the ontology of the person is expressed in love. I John 4:16, "God is love" points to the truth that God is Trinity. The human person in relation to God is personal and this relation is manifested in love as God's energy. God's love is expressed in His "image," that is, the close relation of God as lover and the human person as the "beloved." So the ontology of persons is grounded in relations.
As Orthodox Christians our public worship and private prayers always begin with the invocation, glorification and confession of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
To Him be glory forever. Amen.
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