عنوان

Sacraments and the Visible Unity of the Church

Number

LA109531

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Sacraments and the Visible Unity of the Church

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

Will Cohen

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

In modern Orthodoxy, the `Greek' practice, based on Cyprian, of receiving converts by (re -)baptism contrasts with the `Russian' approach, consistent with Augustine, of requiring mere profession of faith and/or chrismation. Is one approach more deeply rooted in Orthodox tradition? Against a modern tendency to champion Cyprian's narrower ecclesiology, the twentieth-century Russian émigré theologian Georges Florovsky argued forcefully that the distinction found in Augustine's De Baptismo between sacramental `validity' and `efficacy' can and should be the basis for contemporary articulations of Orthodox sacramental theology. Beyond the juridical plane, Florovsky considered Augustine's indispensable contribution to be an understanding of schism as what Florovsky calls a `dissipation of love'. It is through a creative appropriation of this insight-presenting its flip -side, as it were - that Florovsky is able to recognise `preparatory grace', already at work as a will and a thirst for unity, in presently separated communities. Significant insights of eucharistic ecclesiology corroborate the compatibility between Augustinian and Orthodox ecclesiology, and show how a full recognition of non- Orthodox baptisms neither obscures the reality of division nor minimises the imperative to overcome it. In modern Orthodoxy, the `Greek' practice, based on Cyprian, of receiving converts by (re -)baptism contrasts with the `Russian' approach, consistent with Augustine, of requiring mere profession of faith and/or chrismation. Is one approach more deeply rooted in Orthodox tradition? Against a modern tendency to champion Cyprian's narrower ecclesiology, the twentieth-century Russian émigré theologian Georges Florovsky argued forcefully that the distinction found in Augustine's De Baptismo between sacramental `validity' and `efficacy' can and should be the basis for contemporary articulations of Orthodox sacramental theology. Beyond the juridical plane, Florovsky considered Augustine's indispensable contribution to be an understanding of schism as what Florovsky calls a `dissipation of love'. It is through a creative appropriation of this insight-presenting its flip -side, as it were - that Florovsky is able to recognise `preparatory grace', already at work as a will and a thirst for unity, in presently separated communities. Significant insights of eucharistic ecclesiology corroborate the compatibility between Augustinian and Orthodox ecclesiology, and show how a full recognition of non- Orthodox baptisms neither obscures the reality of division nor minimises the imperative to overcome it.

Date of Publication

2007

Physical description

68-87

Title

Ecclesiology

Volume Number

4/1

International Standard Serial Number

1745-5316

Subject Term

baptism

Subject Term

ecclesiology

Subject Term

eucharist

Subject Term

Florovsky

Subject Term

Orthodoxy

Subject Term

schism

Subject Term

unity

Will Cohen

Call Number

10.1177/1744136607080897

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y