Glory to Jesus Christ!
Dear Bretheren:
Here is a sampling of the Isabel Florence Hapgood's
Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic APostolic Chorch Seventh Edition, 1996, "Office for the Receiving into the Orthodox Faith such persons as have not been presviously Orthodox" (pp. 455-
Bishop/Priest: Wilt thou renounce the errors and false doctrines of the Roman-Latin (or Armenian, or Lutheran, or Reformed) Confession?
And he shall reply: I will.
Bishop/Priest: Dost thou desire to enter into and abide in the communion of the Orthodox Catholic Faith?
Answer: I do.
Then the Bishop/Priest, rising signeth him with his right hand, in the form of a cross saying:
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(I'll skip to the Renunciations)
(Convert from the Roman/Latin Confession)
Bishop/Priest: Dost thou renounce the false doctrine that, for the expression of the dogma touching the Procession of the Holy Spirit, the declaration of our Savior Jesus Christ himself: "who preceedeth from the Father": doth not siffice; and that the addition, of man's invention: "and from the Son": is required?
Answer: I do
Bishop/Priest: Dost thou renounce the erroneous belief that it doth not suffice to confess our Lord Jesus Christ as the head of the Universal Church; and that a man, to wit, the Bishop of Rome, can be the head of Christ's Body, that is to say, of the whole Church?
Answer: I do.
Bishop/Priest: Dost thou renounce the erroneous belief that the holy Apostles did not receive from our Lord equal power, but that the holy Apostle Peter was their Prince: And that the Bishop of Rome alone is his successor: And that the Bishops of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch and others are not, equally with the Bishop of Rome, successors of the Apostles?
Answer: I do.
Bishop/Priest: Dost thou renounce the erroneous belief of those who think that the Pope of Rome is superior to the Oecumenical Councils, and infallible in faith, notwithstanding the fact that several of the Popes have been heretics, and condemned as such by Councils?
Answer: I do.
Bishop/Priest: Dost thou renounce all the other doctrines of the Western Confession, both old and new, which are contrary to the Word of God, and to the true tradition of the Church, and to the decrees of the Seven Oecumenical Councils?
Answer: I do.
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So that is the specific Hapgood renunciation of a Latin Catholic who desires to enter Orthodoxy; the service is quite impressive.
Just thought I would give those who have never read it a nibble
.
Before I purchased this little gem I had no idea that Isabel Hapgood was a Protestant Episcopalian
; It seems when the Episcopal Church was in good favor with Orthodox at that time it was seen as containing some hope for reconciliation.
I her Preface she writes:
:I have used the King James version of the Bible for the Scripture lessons; and the Psalter contained in the Book of Common Prayer for the Psalms and Verses, with occasional exceptions, when the exigencies of the Slavonic version or adaption to special cases or services required slight changes...I alone am personally responsible for everything: the suggestion that the book was needed, and the plan without which it would have been impossible; for the execution; for ocassional invented words, and for the language, in general and particular, except in the case of the incomparable rendering of the Prayer of St. Chrysostom, which I have taken from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer; and of course from the passages from the Bible as above stated."
Very interesting indeed. And this all was approved by Patriarch Tikon. Aside from a few latinizations it is a nice resource; although if I was clergy I would only use it as a reference and not a Service Book, since we have moved forward in scholarship and have better Liturgikons et al these days.
In Christ,
Alexis
Poll