Antimension
The Antimension ( ancient Greek Ἀντιμήνσιον Antiménsion 'instead of the altar'; Church Slavic антиминс Antimins ) is the most important altar cloth of the Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches . It is in the Byzantine rite in the tradition of the early Christian martyr's grave, similar to the altar stone of the western church . The relic of a saint is sewn into the antimension . No divine liturgy can be celebrated without an antimension . Allegorical liturgical declarations interpret it as the shroud of the risen Christ .
description
The antimension is a rectangular, roughly square cloth made of linen or silk on which chalices and disks are placed during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy . It is often filled with silk and painted or embroidered. A common motif of this is the well of icons known burial of Jesus . Relics are sewn into its corners or in the upper middle area, in the corners there are often the names, images or symbols of the four evangelists : a bull ( Matthew ), a lion ( Mark ), a person ( Luke ) and an eagle ( John ).
For a valid celebration of the liturgy it is necessary that an antimension is on the altar or on another table. During the liturgy there is a small sponge on the Antimension, with which smaller particles of the consecrated bread can be wiped from the disc into the chalice. The antimension is usually folded up - wrapped in an unadorned silk or linen cloth ( eiletón or iliton ) - on the altar table. The gospel book lies above the folded antimension . At the beginning of the cherubim hymn ( cherubicon ) during the divine liturgy, the antimension is unfolded and later put together again in a special way and wrapped in the iliton.
When the church is consecrated by the bishop , the antimension is consecrated together with the entire church building and the altar table. It is signed by the consecrating bishop - usually in the lower right corner - with the date and place of the consecration and the church for which it was intended.
history
The origins of the Antimension lie in the first Christian millennium, when missionaries and priests traveling around carried it with them in order to be able to celebrate the liturgy even in unconsecrated places. After the Seventh Ecumenical Council ruled in 787 that the Divine Liturgy could only be celebrated on a canonically consecrated altar, doubts arose as to whether, in view of the schisms and heresies that were common at the time, a particular altar or a particular church was actually by a legitimate bishop or consecrated in a canonical manner. This difficulty was avoided by using an antimension in every Divine Liturgy, because at least this was canonically consecrated. In 1675 the Russian Orthodox Church determined that no divine liturgy without an antimension could be celebrated under its jurisdiction.
Roman Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church , in which up to Vatican II also the celebration of the Holy Mass on embedded in the altar relics was mandatory, it was since the Second World War military chaplains allowed with their acts, at Masses outside fixed churches instead of altar stone , a textile To use antimensium with sewn-in relics based on the model of the Orthodox churches, on which the corporal was then placed. This also applied to soldiers who were priests during private celebrations . After the war, the antimensium was part of the necessary equipment for the "measuring case" for celebrations in the diaspora, in small group fairs or in tent camps.
literature
- Andrew Shipman: Antimensium . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 1, Robert Appleton Company, New York 1907.
- Januarius M. Izzo: The Antimension in the Liturgical and Canonical Tradition of the Byzantine and Latin Churches: An Inter-ritual Inter-confessional Study. Pontificium Athenaeum Antonianum, 1975.
- Antiminsion . In: Paraments of the Christian Churches . Walter de Gruyter, 2001, ISBN 3-11-095252-1 , p. 136 . ( online )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nikola Tomov, Januarius (Yanko) Dzhangozov: Wax Embedding as a Method for Preservation of Body Relics Used by the Orthodox Church . In: Acta Morphologica et Anthropologica . 25, No. 1-2, September, pp. 122-125.
- ↑ a b Compendium of the canonical law of the one, holy, general and apostolic church Volume 1. Buchdruckerei des Josef Drotleff, 1868, p. 34, digitized
- ↑ Antiminsion . In: Paraments of the Christian Churches . Walter de Gruyter, 2001, ISBN 3-11-095252-1 , p. 136 . [1]
- ↑ Michail Fjedorowitsch Rajewsky (transl.): Euchologion of the Orthodox Catholic Church . 1861, p. XXXIV f.
- ↑ a b c Paul Brusanowski: Romanian Orthodox church orders (1786-2008): Transylvania - Bukovina - Romania . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne - Weimar 2011, ISBN 978-3-412-20698-7 , pp. 514 .
- ↑ Eileton . In: Paraments of the Christian Churches . Walter de Gruyter, 2001, ISBN 3-11-095252-1 , p. 137 . [2]
- ↑ Andrej Lorgus, Michael Dudko: Orthodox faith book. Introduction to the life of faith and prayer in the Russian Orthodox Church. Verlag Christlicher Osten, 2nd edition, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-927894-33-8 , Chapter 2 (German translation: Archdiakon Viktor Schilovsky, Johann Krammer) ( online ).
- ↑ Andrew Shipman: Antimensium . In: Catholic Encyclopedia , Volume 1, New York 1907.
- ↑ Monica Sinderhauf: Antimensium . ( Memento of the original from March 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. kathische-militaerseelsorge.de, accessed on April 19, 2016.
