Lex orandi, lex credendi

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The motto Lex orandi, lex credendi ( Latin for "the law of prayer [is] the law of faith") stands for one of the basic ideas about the connection between prayer and faith that comes from the Christian tradition . Sometimes Lex orandi, lex credendi can also be seen as an ideal according to which the prayer and beliefs correspond to a person and, in a broader sense, to the whole church . The axiom from the 5th century goes back to the writer and monk Prosper Tiro of Aquitaine , experienced different degrees of interpretation and is still popular in the Christian denominations today .

origin

Representation of the writing Prosper of Aquitaine

In the 5th and 6th centuries, the theological doctrine of Pelagianism and later semipelagianism was widespread in some regions of Europe . According to her, man - since his being is well created by God - is able to lead a life completely without sin . The importance of Jesus Christ , who died as God's Son for the redemption of mankind, and the importance of God's grace take a back seat. However, this teaching is in strong contradiction to the common Christian view, also represented by the church teacher Augustine , that salvation and eternal life are only possible through the grace of God. The late antique writer Prosper Tiro of Aquitaine tried to fend off the semipelagianism , which is commonly regarded as heresy . His considerations were based on Paul's first letter to Timothy , in which it is written:

“The first and most important thing I call the church to do is prayer, for all people. Bring requests and intercessions and thanks for all of them before God! Pray for those in power and for all who have violence so that we can live in peace and quiet, in awe of God and in righteousness. So it is good and pleases God our Savior. He wants all people to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. "

- ( 1 Tim 2,1-4  GNB )

From this it can be seen that in the supplication of the congregations one should pray for all people - this also includes a prayer for the conversion of non-believers. The Bible does not consider the supplication for unconverted sinners to be meaningless (thus: God “wants all people to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved”). Thus it was clear to Prosper of Aquitaine that it was only God "who in his sovereign grace takes the initiative for the salvation of man" - and not, as propagated by semi-Pelagianism, leading a sin-free life. The need for supplications ordered by the Apostle Paul inevitably leads to belief in the necessity of God's grace, since otherwise the supplications would have to be pointless. Prosper of Aquitaine formulated this knowledge in the words ut legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi (Latin for "so that the starting point of prayer determines the starting point of faith").

interpretation

In the centuries after Prosper of Aquitaine, Lex orandi, lex credendi were often removed from the very concrete context and transferred to wider contexts. According to Gunnar af Hällström , there are basically three possibilities for interpreting the axiom:

  • the minimalist interpretation understands the Latin motto in its original way, used by Prosper of Aquitaine. Lex orandi stands for the intercessory prayers recommended in the Bible, lex credendi for faith in the grace of God, without which the intercessions would have to be in vain.
  • the intermediate interpretation extends the concept of the lex orandi beyond intercessory prayers to prayer in general. According to Nicholas A. Jesson, this is the most common variant of the interpretation. Often, following this interpretation, it would be concluded that the contents of a prayer correspond or should coincide with the beliefs of the person praying. More recently, for example, the German theologian Johannes Hartl also used this form of interpretation of the axiom when he freely translated it in a series of lectures entitled Wo God Wides - Theology of the 24/7 Prayer as “As you pray, so do you believe . ”Accordingly, prayer is an expression of the faith of the person praying.
  • the maximalist interpretation relates the term lex orandi beyond prayer to the liturgy as a whole. According to Nicholas A. Jesson it is then the liturgy (as lex orandi ) which theological contexts ( lex credendi ) can make comprehensible. Even Pope Pius XII. In his encyclical Mediator Dei published in 1947, he resorted to this form of interpretation and at the same time called for a stronger weighting of the lex credendi over the lex orandi , since "the rule of faith to be determined by the magisterial [...] also has to determine the rule of worship. ". The maximalist interpretation is now more popular among those theologians who call for a liturgical renewal of the church.

meaning

Catholic Church

The importance of the principle in the Catholic understanding is shown by the fact that it has found its way into the Catechism of the Catholic Church , which is regarded as an important work on fundamental questions of the Catholic faith.

“The faith of the Church precedes the faith of the individual who is asked to consent. In celebrating the sacraments, the Church professes the faith received from the apostles. Therefore, the old principle applies: 'lex orandi, lex credendi' (or, as Prosper of Aquitaine says in the 5th century: 'legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi' ['the law of prayer should determine the law of faith': auct. Ep . 8th]). The law of prayer is the law of faith; the church believes as it prays. The liturgy is a fundamental element of the sacred, living tradition. "

- Catechism of the Catholic Church , paragraph 1124

It can be observed that the axiom has become increasingly important after the Second Vatican Council , according to Michaela Neulinger from the University of Innsbruck .

Orthodox Church

In a sermon on the occasion of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. in Turkey in 2006 the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church , Bartholomäus I , declared that even Orthodox Christians would recognize the principle "according to which the norm of prayer is also the norm of faith (lex orandi, lex credendi)." that unity in faith and unity in prayer are the starting points for restoring Christian unity .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ P. Uwe Michael Lang: Liturgy - Language - Faith . In: Circular Pro Missa Tridentina . No. 31 , March 2006, p. 17 ( pro-missa-tridentina.org [PDF; 538 kB ]): "[...] the more recent research, however, assumes the authorship of Prosper of Aquitaine († around 455), a pupil of Augustine, who defended his doctrine of grace against their semi-Pelagian critics."
  2. ^ Wolfgang W. Müller: "Lex orandi, lex credendi" - where systematics and liturgical science can work together today . In: Catholic-Theological Faculty of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Hrsg.): Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift . tape 49 , no. 2 . Munich 1998, p. 145 ( uni-muenchen.de [PDF]).
  3. ^ Mattijs Ploeger: Ecclesiasticalness, bondage and freedom of the liturgy in an old Catholic view . In: Luca Baschera, Angela Berlis, Ralph Kunz (eds.): Common prayer: form and effect of worship . Theological Publishing House Zurich, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-290-17758-4 , chap. "3. The relationship between lex orandi and lex credendi ”, p. 214 .
  4. ↑ Gunnar af Hällström: Lex orandi - lex credendi in some sermons of Leo the Great . (English, auth.gr [PDF; accessed on November 7, 2018] Original title: Lex orandi - lex credendi in some homilies of Leo the Great . Aristotle University of Thessaloniki ).
  5. ^ A b Nicholas A. Jesson: Lex orandi, lex credendi - Towards a liturgical theology . November 2001, chap. "II. Lex orandi, lex credendi: a puzzling adage ", p. 7 (English, ecumenism.net [PDF; accessed November 4, 2018] University of St. Michael's College, Toronto / Toronto School of Theology).
  6. ↑ Johannes Hartl: Where God lives - Theology of 24/7 prayer. Part 1: “The center of everything”. May 16, 2017, accessed on November 11, 2018 (video [Portal: YouTube ], the quoted passage can be found at 35:40 min).
  7. ↑ Michael Meyer-Blanck: Divine Service (=  New Theological Outlines ). 1st edition. Mohr Siebeck Verlag , 2011, ISBN 978-3-16-149171-9 , "§ 10: The meaning of dogmatics for the teaching of worship", p. 108 f .
  8. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church. III. Sacraments of Faith, paragraph 1124. In: vatican.va. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997, accessed November 5, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Michaela Neulinger: Lex Orandi - Lex Vivendi? Reflections on the intertwining of gender justice and liturgy in post-conciliar times . De Gruyter, 2017 ( degruyter.com [PDF]): “Lex orandi - lex credendi”, this early church axiom has been widely received in Catholic theology, especially after the Second Vatican Council.
  10. ↑ Homily S. All Holiness of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the Divine Liturgy on the feast day of St. Andrew in the Cathedral of St. George. Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, November 30, 2006, accessed November 8, 2018 .