Reference
Glossary of terms
The vocabulary of the subject, defined precisely. Greek first, transliteration second, then the definition as this library uses the term. Where a term is disputed, the definition states the reading defended here and the dispute is treated on the linked pages.
The act and its conditions
- ἀποτείχισιςapoteichisis
- Walling off: ceasing to commemorate one's bishop because he openly teaches an already condemned heresy, while remaining within the Church and awaiting her judgment.
- μνημόσυνονmnimosynon
- Commemoration: the naming of one's bishop aloud in the services, the audible sign of communion with him. Ceasing it is the precise act Canon 15 regulates.
- δίπτυχαdiptycha
- The diptychs: the lists of hierarchs, living and departed, read at the altar. The Church's ledger of who is in communion with whom.
- κατεγνωσμένη αἵρεσιςkategnosmene hairesis
- An already condemned heresy: one judged by the holy Synods or Fathers. The precondition of Canon 15; no fresh council is required to identify it.
- δημοσίᾳdemosia
- Publicly: before the church, not in private conversation or mere rumour.
- γυμνῇ τῇ κεφαλῇgymne te kephale
- With bare head: openly, undisguised, taught as teaching. On the stricter reading it includes heresy proclaimed by undeniable public deeds.
- πρὸ συνοδικῆς διαγνώσεωςpro synodikes diagnoseos
- Before synodical judgment: the protected interval of Canon 15. On the reading of this library it means before the trial of the man, since the teaching already stands judged.
- πρόεδροςproedros
- The president: one's own bishop, metropolitan or patriarch, whom one commemorates.
- ψευδεπίσκοποςpseudepiskopos
- Pseudo bishop: the canon's own word for a hierarch who publicly preaches condemned heresy.
Communion and its effects
- κοινωνίαkoinonia
- Communion, fellowship, participation: the bond the Eucharist creates, joining the faithful to their bishop and to one another.
- μολυσμόςmolysmos
- Defilement: the knowing communicant's implication in the heresy of the one commemorated. It rides the bond of communion; it does not empty the Mystery.
- κρῖμα καὶ κατάκριμαkrima kai katakrima
- Judgment and condemnation: what the real Mystery becomes for the one who receives it in knowing consent to error (1 Cor. 11:29).
- ἐνυπόστατοςenypostatos
- Subsistent, real: the state of the Mysteries of a hierarch who has not yet been deposed. Validity is distinguished from benefit.
Judgments and penalties
- καθαίρεσιςkathairesis
- Deposition: the constitutive synodical act that removes the priesthood. One is deprived of what one still had; the canons do not execute themselves.
- ἀφορισμόςaphorismos
- Excommunication: exclusion from the Mysteries, a medicinal penalty distinct from deposition and from anathema.
- ἀνάθεμαanathema
- Anathema: the Church's most solemn judgment, cutting the unrepentant teacher of heresy off from her body. Pronounced synodically, never privately.
- συνοδικὴ διάγνωσιςsynodike diagnosis
- Synodical judgment: the trial and verdict that belong to a synod of bishops alone. Discernment belongs to every Christian; judgment of persons does not.
Errors and separations
- αἵρεσιςhairesis
- Heresy: in St Basil's definition, a separation in the faith in God itself.
- σχίσμαschisma
- Schism: in Basil's usage, a separation over ecclesiastical questions that admit of healing; in common usage, any rupture of the Church's unity.
- παρασυναγωγήparasynagoge
- Parasynagogue: an unlawful rival assembly of the insubordinate. What walling off must never become.
- οἰκουμενισμόςoikoumenismos
- Ecumenism: as used in this dispute, the cluster of branch theory, joint prayer with the heterodox, organic membership in the ecumenical bodies, and the relativizing of the one Church.
Remedies and dispositions
- ἀκρίβειαakriveia
- Strictness: the canon applied in full.
- οἰκονομίαoikonomia
- Economy: the merciful, temporary relaxation of strictness for the sake of salvation. It can bend discipline; it can never touch dogma.
- φρόνημαphronema
- The mind of the Church: the settled orthodox disposition formed by her worship, dogma and saints, by which the faithful discern.
- ὁμολογίαhomologia
- Confession: the public holding of the faith at cost. The confessor (homologetes) is its bearer.
Doctrinal landmarks
- ὁμοούσιοςhomoousios
- Of one essence: the Nicene word confessing the Son as true God, of the same essence as the Father.
- ΘεοτόκοςTheotokos
- God bearer: the title of the Virgin upheld at Ephesus, confessing the single subject of the incarnate Word.
- consensus Patrum(Latin)
- The agreement of the Fathers: ecumenical and diachronic patristic concord, the criterion by which a difficult text or new claim is weighed.
- latae sententiae(Latin)
- Automatic penalty: the Western canonical idea that a penalty falls at the moment of the offence without a tribunal. The Orthodox critique rejects it; judgment belongs to the Church acting synodically.