Cherubim and Seraphim Society

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The Cherubim and Seraphim Society (Cherubim and Seraphim Society) is a Christian religious community widespread especially in Nigeria and West Africa , which is assigned to the group of Aladura churches .

history

The story of the Cherubim and Seraphim Society (abbreviated C&S ) began in 1925 with a vision of the seventeen-year-old Nigerian Abiodun Akinsowan , in which she had been taught by angels to found her own Christian community. Together with the preacher Moses Orimolade Tunolase , who managed to free Akinsowan from a week-long trance, she founded a prayer group within the Church Mission Society , the mission congregation of the Anglican Church to which she belonged at the time. This community, which was named "Cherubim and Seraphim Society" in 1926, was dedicated to Christian mission and prayer assistance, especially for families who thought they were under spiritual persecution. Akinsowan, later Abiodun Emmanuel, traveled extensively with Tunolase in western Nigeria, during which they missionized and carried out exorcisms against witches and demons .

In 1926, the Cherubim and Seraphim Society left the Church Missionary Society and became a separate church. After the break between Emmanuel and Tunolase in early 1929, the church split, with the wing under Emmanuel retaining the name Cherubim and Seraphim Society. The faction under Tunolase called itself from then on Ita Balogun Praying Band of Cherubim and Seraphim and is today the denomination with the largest number of members with around 400 congregations . In the 1960s there were again divisions within the group led by "Captain" Abiodun Emmanuel, which led to a split in 52 churches. Emmanuel succeeded in reuniting 49 of these churches under her leadership, but the organizational context of the Cherubim and Seraphim must be called rather loosely today.

The C&S churches are particularly successful in the context of the Yoruba culture in Nigeria and Benin , to which they refer in many ways in their religious practice. Congregations also exist in Togo , Ghana , Ivory Coast , as well as in the African immigrant communities in Great Britain and the USA . Today the C&S churches are the strongest Christian denomination within the Ondo state in Nigeria.

Individual C&S churches repeatedly form utopian communities based on the example of the early community described in the Acts of the Apostles of Luke (chapters 2, 42-47), with community of goods and communal meals. The best-known community of this kind is the Aiyetoro Community, founded in 1947 in the Ilaje region, on the coast of the Ondo state, which came together as a community of the "Mount Zion Church" (a spin-off from the C&S) and today has around 30,000 members .

The five main branches of the C&S churches today are:

  • Eternal Sacred Order of the Seraphim and Cherubim
  • Cherubim and Seraphim Society
  • Praying band
  • Cherubim and Seraphim Movement
  • Holy Order of Cherubim and Seraphim

Cult and Faith Practice

The order of worship can be described as a relaxed Anglican liturgy mixed with elements whose origins lie in the cult practices of the Yoruba religion . The strict order of the liturgy in the services again and again by ecstatic visions of prophets or prophetesses interrupted to pass the messages to individual church members, the entire community, or a larger public.

As the name of the church suggests, angels play an important role there, and are often invoked as heavenly guides and protectors. Above all there is the veneration of the Archangel Michael . An important place in the cult of the cherubim and seraphim is occupied by the cult of the ark , which the church believes to be in possession of. Abiodun Emmanuel is said to have found it through a revelation from heavenly powers.

Characteristic of the outward appearance is the white clothing, which is similar to the Anglican priestly robes during church services, but is now worn by the entire community. This is intended on the one hand to underline the Protestant idea of ​​the general priesthood, on the other hand, according to Rev 7,9  EU , the election is to be indicated before God. At the same time, the white clothing is reminiscent of certain pre-Christian purification cults of the Yoruba, e.g. B. the Oshun cult, whose followers, like the cherubim and seraphim community, have a close relationship with water as a healing and purifying element.

Members of the Cherubim and Seraphim Churches place prayer at the center of their piety. Active prayer, not inexpressive faith, or the reception of the classical sacraments is seen as the key to personal and community salvation. The belief is enabled only through prayer. Faith that is not expressed through a certain form of prayer is ineffective, sometimes no faith. The devotees also believe that certain sacred objects bring them happiness and blessings, healing and protection from demonic forces. Typically, these items are often Western consumer and luxury goods such as soap and perfume. Consecration is usually performed through prayers from prophets, who also determine what kind of objects should be and how the believers should deal with them. As a rule, the faithful are ordered to accompany the use of consecrated objects with prayers, sometimes with fasting. In this way the suspicion is to be dispelled that the belief of the cherubim and seraphim followers moves in purely magical categories, in which non-qualifiable power transmissions are possible without the mediating power of the praying word.

The services of the prophets are also in great demand among non-members of the Church. As healers and seers, they replace the traditional babalawos , the shamans , from whom they also decidedly distance themselves. In religious practice, the prophets play a far greater role than the priests, who, if they are not also prophets, only help to inspire the prophets and bring them into a vision-receptive state by celebrating the liturgy and preaching .

The fear of demonic powers, witches and wizards is very widespread , and Cherubim and Seraphim followers are constantly exposed to attacks. They often see this as effective in the traditional cults of the Yoruba, of whose spiritual but satanic power they are firmly convinced. The church claims to know all evil spirits by name and to break their power through prayer. The accusation of Satanism is not raised against all pagan cults in an undifferentiated manner, but some cults and magicians are granted to be unknowingly servants of God. Nonetheless, mission and exorcism are distinctive features of this church, with preachers and prophets making long journeys from place to place in the manner of traveling preachers.

motto

If God is for us, who can be against us? - From Paul's letter to the Romans , chapter 8, verse 31.

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