The Liturgy as Theology

The gathering section: the Divine Liturgy not merely as a rite the Church performs but as the Church’s primary theology — lex orandi, lex credendi, the law of prayer as the law of belief — and the Liturgy set among the other liturgies (the Presanctified, St. James) and within the daily cycle of the Church’s prayer.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Overview

Having walked the Divine Liturgy from the preparation of the gifts to the dismissal, this closing section steps back to two wider views. The first is theological: the Orthodox conviction that the Liturgy is the Church’s primary theology, the living source from which doctrine is drawn and by which it is tested — lex orandi, lex credendi — so that to know what the Church believes one must first know how the Church prays, and the Liturgy stands with the Mysteries and the Fathers as a font of the faith. The second is contextual: the Divine Liturgy set within the family of the Church’s liturgies (the Lenten Presanctified, the ancient Liturgy of St. James) and within the daily round of services that surrounds and prepares it. The section, and the collection, closes with a sober assessment.

Files

File Description
lex-orandi-lex-credendi.md The Liturgy as the Church’s primary theology; the Liturgy and the Mysteries; the Fathers and the lex orandi
the-presanctified-and-the-other-liturgies.md The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in Lent; the Liturgy of St. James; the daily cycle around the Liturgy; an assessment

See Also