Artoklasia
The Artoklasia (Greek: ἀρτοκλασία, "breaking bread"; Church Slavonic: Лития) is a rite that is performed in the Eastern Orthodox Churches and sometimes also in the Greek Catholic Churches towards the end of Vespers or vigil celebrations. Before major church festivals, she is part of the night watch.
Liturgical process
At Artoklasia, five round loaves of leavened bread are blessed - together with wine and oil (in some churches, but not in the East Slavic tradition, a bowl of wheat grains as well).
The objects are arranged on a special Artoklasia tray, which is decorated with candles. While the “ Troparion for the feast” is sung, the deacon incenses the Artoklasia plate. The priest holds one of the loaves in his right hand, says the prayer of blessing, which relates to the feeding of the five thousand (see below), and indicates the elements to be blessed, if he mentions them, individually with the sign of the cross. Then he breaks the loaf in half - from which the rite takes its name.
Later in the worship service, loaves of bread and wine are distributed to the believers as a contribution to provide them with physical nourishment for the rest of the vigil. The blessed oil is used to anoint the believers in order to provide them with spiritual nourishment, the wheat is either planted in the earth or ground into flour to make prophora (communion bread). Believers can also take home some of the blessed elements for friends or family members who were unable to attend the service.
Occasionally, for economic reasons, the rite can also be moved from Vespers to Orthros ( Matutin ) or even the Divine Liturgy .
On Holy Saturday, a special Artoklasia is celebrated at the end of the night watch. During this Artoklasia only bread, wine and figs are blessed, as the fasting rules of the Orthodox Church do not allow the use of oil on this day.
origin
In terms of text, Artoklasia can be found in Jerusalem sources since the 12th century as part of Vespers, the night service or the great Compline. At first only bread and wine seem to have been blessed, later oil and wheat grains too. The custom of using five loaves of bread based on the “feeding of the five thousand” has been developing since the 14th century.
meaning
The five loaves are reminiscent of the five loaves with which (in addition to two fish) Jesus Christ is said to have satisfied five thousand listeners in the desert ( Mt 14.15-21 EU ; Mk 6.35-44 EU ; Lk 9.12 -17 EU ; Joh 6,5-14 EU ).
The rite of Artoklasia also takes up the Agapemahl of the old church and allows this to be carried out; However, unlike the early Christian feasts, the celebration of the Eucharist usually only follows in the course of the Divine Liturgy on the morning of Sunday or feast day.
The Greek term Artoklasia goes back directly to the language used by the evangelists in connection with the Last Supper, when Christ "broke the bread" and gave it to the disciples as his own body. Even if Artoklasia is not a celebration of the Lord's Supper (see Eucharist in the Byzantine Rite ), a tangible closeness is established between the Lord's breaking bread and that of his Church.
Consequently, the significance of the lity is also due to the fact that among Orthodox Christians appreciation of the bread is manifest not only as food, but also just as the supreme symbol of Christ's body - it's the bread in the Divine Liturgy of Consecration to Body of Christ is changed. Christ was repeatedly referred to as “the bread of life” ( John 6:35 EU ), as well as “bread that came from heaven” ( John 6:32 EU ). Bread symbolizes the Church of Christ, which spread everywhere like wheat on the mountains and was gathered (bundled, gathered) in one body through Christ. So bread has been given a mystical meaning that it represents the essence of a Christian's spiritual life.
In popular piety, the blessed bread from Artoklasia is accorded personal sanctification and help against physical ailments and illnesses if it is consumed in faith. The foundation of the loaves of bread for the rite is often done by individual believers as a special offering in connection with personal name days, family feast days and other special occasions.
Ecumenical meaning
Since it is theologically not a Eucharist , but only a blessing celebration (with echoes of the agape celebrations of the early Christian communities), Christians from other denominations can also take part in this orthodox celebration, provided they accept the blessing of objects (see also Sacramentals in of the Roman Catholic Church).
At the Second Ecumenical Church Congress in Munich, an Artoklasia under the title “1000 Tables” was organized and carried out by the Orthodox churches as a replacement for the not yet possible common Christian Lord's Supper. In addition, 1,000 beer tables and benches were set up on Ludwigsstrasse and Odeonsplatz, and more than 10,000 people came. Instead of wine, water was served, plus organic apples.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reinhard Thöle in: Artoklasie. The celebration of breaking bread. Bensheim 2010, back cover.
- ↑ Eckhard Nagel , Alois Glück (ed.): Have hope - live love. Fellowship at a thousand tables - Artoklasie and the 2nd Ecumenical Church Congress. German Evangelical Church Congress / Central Committee of German Catholics, Fulda / Bonn 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-034620-0 .
- ↑ Bernd Buchner: The Lord's Supper, which wasn't one . Report and Commentary 2010.
- ↑ See the report of the ÖKT Ecumenical Church Congress: Orthodox Vespers ( memento of the original from May 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
Literature and Sources
- Anastasios Kallis: Artoklasia. Münster 1985.
- Texts for the celebration of Artoklasie in a Greek-Orth. Community (gr./german .; PDF; 414 kB)
- Denominational Institute of the Evangelical Union (Ed.): Artoklasie. The celebration of breaking bread. A suggestion for evangelical and ecumenical worship services. Bensheim 2010.