I may not be able explain this issue very well,I can't locate the appropriate thread where I ran across a confusing ritual, and it bothers me. It was something along the lines that when you formally get accepted as a catechuman (or maybe it's the actual Chrismation) there's a ritual where you have to get up and renounce your formal beliefs or "heresies''. This is the first I'd ever heard about this. So,I've been a Methodist going on 30 years (becoming less and less fulfilled in last 5 or so but that's anther story). I worry because I have a teenage child who's pretty involved in every aspect. raised, confirmed a in very consertative Methodist church a few years ago. How do I stand up and renounce everything that's dear to an innocent 15 year old who loves God and loves people. Is she going to be hurt, confused with me? What is it you have to get up and recounce or denounce,anyway?
I mean, what exactly does this involve? What heresies would I expect to denounce? It feels weird. I'm interested in Orthodoxy because I'm drawn to to good things, the focus on the Lord Jesus Christ,the positive things,the liturgy, not "Welcome home,you confused, ungodly heretic." Can anyone explain this to me or did I misinterpret what read? Thanks for your patience with my confusion.
I think the rite you are talking about is the office of reception of converts (you can find it in Hapgood). I have a copy somewhere of the specifics, but can't lay my hand on it. In my case, and others I've seen, if there was a problem (my Lutheran mother was going to come to my chrismation), the priest separate the service into two, doing the confession at one time and then the chrismation, the reasoning that the chrismation is proclaiming Orthdooxy, no reason to rub non-Orthodox noses in the renouncing part.
The renunciations in your case would be those for the Calvinists. It is something like renouncing that there is only 2 sacraments and denying the priesthood "the fount of the others," rejecting sola scriptura, rejecting the denial of the Real Presence, renouncing the destruction of icons, etc. so mostly it is rejecting criticisms of Orthodoxy. There is a renunciation of the filioque (most Protestants don't have a clue about it anyway), and I believe predestination.
You're not going to have to anathematize John Wesley.
I couldn't find the Calvinist one, but this is the Lutheran one. There are other things for the Calvinists, but this gives you an idea of the office, if you havn't seen it.
http:
//orrologion.blogspot.com/2006/01/renunciations-required-of-convert-to.html
As found in the Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church. Tr. Isabel Florence Hapgood. (Englewood, NJ: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, 1996), pp. 454-461.
After the Prayer, the Bishop (or Priest) shall say to the convert:
Wherefore renounce now, with all thy heart, thine errors, and false doctrines, and mistakes of judgement, and confess the Orthodox-Catholic Faith.
(or, without specific renunciations: Hast thou renounced)…
The Bishop questioneth the convert from the Lutheran Confession thus:
Dost thou renounce the false doctrine that, for the expression of the dogma touching the Procession of the Holy Ghost the declaration of our Savious Christ himself: 'who proceedeth from the Father': doth not suffice; and that the addition, of man's invention: 'and from the Son': is required?
Answer: I do.
Bishop: Dost thou renounce the erroneous belief that in the Sacrament of he Holy Eucharist the bread is not transmuted into the Body of Christ, and doth not become the Body of Christ; and that the wine is not transmuted into the Blood of Christ, and doth not become the Blood of Christ; but that the presence of Christ’s Body only for a short time doth touch the bread, which remaineth simple bread?
Answer: I do.
Bishop: Dost thou renounce the erroneous belief of the teachers who do not accept as Sacraments Chrismation, Marriage, Anointing with Oil, and the Priesthood itself, which administereth the other Sacraments, and presume to administer Baptism and the Eucharist, never having received, through the laying-on of hands by a Bishop, that Ordination which hath been transmitted from one to another, even from the Apostles?
Answer: I do.
Bishop: Dost thou renounce the erroneous belief of the teachers who receive not the traditions of the Holy Churchm reverence not the Saints, and deprive the dead of spiritual aid and the living of spiritual consolation, in that they reject prayers for the dead?
Answer: I do.
After these special questions, appointed for the converts from different Confessions, the Bishop shall proceed with the catechizing which is common to all, and shall ask:
Bishop: hast thou renounced all ancient and modern heresies and false doctrines which are contrary to the teachings of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Eastern Church?
Answer: I have.
Bishop: Dost thou desire to be united unto the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Eastern Church?
Answer: I desire it with all my heart.
Bishop: Dost thou believe in one God, who is adored in the holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: and dost thou worship him as thy King and thy God?
Answer: I believe in one God who is glorified and adored in the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and I worship him as my King and my God.
Then he maketh one lowly reference, kneeling and bowing his head to the earth, and reciteth the Creed [without the filioque, of course]….
And again the Bishop saith:
Dost thou accept the Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Canons framed and established at the Seven Holy Universal and Provincial Councils, and the other traditions and ordinances of the Orthodox Church?
Answer: I do.
Bishop: Dost thou acknowledge that the Holy Scriptures must be accepted and interpreted in accordance with the belief which hath ben handed down by the Holy Fathers, and which the Holy Orthodox Church, our Mother, hath always held and still doth hold?
Answer: I do.
Bishop: Dost thou believe and confess that there are seven Sacraments of the New Testament, to wit: Baptism, Chrismation, the Eucharist, Confession, the Priesthood, Marriage, and Anointing with Oil, instituted by the Lord Christ and his Church, to the end that, through
their operation and reception, we may obtain blessings from on high?
Answer: I do.
Bishop: Dost thou believe and confess that it is proper to reverence and invoke the Saints who reign on high with Christ; and that their prayers and intercessions before god avail with the beneficient God unto our salvation: and that it is well-pleasing in the sight of God that we should do homage to their relics, glorified though incorruption, as precious memorials of their virtue?
Answer: I believe and confess it.
Bishop: Dost thou confess that the images of our Saviour Christ; and of the Ever-virgin Mother of God, and of the other Saints are worthy of being possessed and honoured; not unto idolatry, but that, through contemplation thereof, we may be incited unto piety, and unto emulation of the deeds of the holy persons represented by these images?
Answer: I do.
Bishop: Dost thou confess that the prayers of the faithful which are offered up to God, and more especially when accompanied by the oblation of the unbloody sacrifice, for the salvation of those who have departed this life in the faith, are favourably received, through the mercy of God?
Answer: I do.
Bishop: Dost thou believe and confess that power hath been given by our Saviour Christ unto the Orthodox-Catholic Church to bind and to loose: and that whatsoever, by virtue of that power, is bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven?
Answer: I believe and confess it.
Bishop: Dost thou believe and confess the Foundation, Head, and Great High Priest and Chief Shepherd of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Church is our Lord Jesus Christ; and that Bishops, Pastors, and Teachers are appointed by him to rule the Church; and that the Guide and Pilot of this Church is the Holy Spirit?
Answer: I believe and confess that this Church is the Bride of Christ, and that therein is true salvation, which was in the Ark of Noah at the Flood.
Bishop: Dost thou promise true obedience, unto thy life’s end, in guidance which is salutary unto the soul, to the Most Holy Synod; to the Most Holy Patriarch, the Equal-of-the-Apostles (or to the Ecclesiastical Authorities of the Autocephalous Provincial Church); and to the Bishop of this Diocese, as the true Pastors appointed by the Holy Spirit; and to the Priests ordained by them?
Answer: I promise it, with heart unfeigned.
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Or the Bishop (or Priest) may, at his discretion, use the Shorter Office, as followeth:
Tell us of the other dogmas of our Orthodox Church, its traditions and ordinances; how thou holdest concerning them?
And he replieth:
I accept and confess the Apostolic and Ecclesiastical Canons, established at the Seven Holy Ecumenical and Provincial Councils, and the other traditions of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church of the East, its rules and ordinances; and I likewise will accept and understand Holy Scripture in accordance with the interpretation which the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Church of the East, our Mother, hath held, and doth hold.
I believe and confess that there are Seven Sacraments of the New Testament, to wit: Baptism, Chrismation, the Eucharist, Confession, the Priesthood, Marriage, and Anointing with Oil, instituted by the Lord Christ and his Church, to the end that, through their operation and reception, we may receive blessings from on high.
I believe and confess that, in the Divine Liturgy, under the mystical forms of bread and wine, the faithful partake of the true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto the remission of their sins, and unto life eternal.
I believe and confess that it is proper to reverence and invoke the Saints who reign on high with Christ, according to the interpretation of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Church of the East; and that their prayers and intercessions avail with the beneficient God unto our salvation: Likewise that it is well-pleasing in the sight of God that we should do homage to their relics, glorified through incorruption, as the precious memorials of their virtues.
I acknowledge that the images of our Saviour Christ, and or the Ever-virgin Mother of God, and of the other Saints are worthy to be possessed and honoured; not unto idolatry, but that, through contemplation thereof, we may be incited unto piety, and unto emulation of the deeds of the holy persons represented by those images.
I confess that the prayers of the faithful, which are offered up to God for the salvation of those who have departed this life in the faith, are favourably received, through the mercy of God.
I believe and confess that the power hath been given by our Saviour Christ unto the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Church, to bind and to loose: and that whatsoever, by virtue of that power, is bound or loosed on earth will be bound r loose in heaven.
I believe and confess that the Foundation, Head, and Great High Priest and Chief Shepherd of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Church is our Lord Jesus Christ: and that Bishops, Pastors, and teachers are appointed by him to rule the Church: and that the Guide and Pilot of this Church is the Holy Spirit.
I confess that this Church is the Bride of Christ, and that therein is true salvation.
I promise true obedience, unto my life’s end, to the Most Holy Synod (if it be in a Diocese, then the Bishop of that Diocese is named), as the true Pastor of the Orthodox Church, and to the Priests appointed by them.
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Then the Bishop giveth him the end of his pall (if a Priest officiate, he giveth him the end of his priestly stole) in his right hand, saying:
Enter thou into the Orthodox Church; and cast away all the errors and false doctrines wherein thou hast dwelt: and honor the Lord God, the Father Almighty, and his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, one true and living God, the holy Trinity, one in essence and indivisible….
