Sacrificial Ritual in Ancient Greece. Some Methodological Remarks

The article discusses some selected problems in analysis of ritual in the religion of ancient Greeks. Part one presents the history of study of the relationship between myth and ritual, focusing on principal ideas which appeared in the late 19th century. A turn toward ritual in studying ancient religion meant a shift in emphasis away from mythology. Nonetheless, questions about links between mythological texts and rituals still remain part of research scope. In the 1960’s, scholars’ attention focused on sacrificial ritual, with various interpretative methods being used. Walter Burkert proposed a pre-agrarian origin of blood sacrifices, tracing them to the behavior of Paleolithic hunters. Jean-Pierre Vernant (with associates) used structuralist methods to interpret offerings as a symbolic expression of man’s status as between gods and beasts. Thus Burkert’s theory explains myths as a cultural interpretation of inherited rituals which may be reduced to biologically programmed behavior, while Vernant’s theory sees myth and ritual as two forms expressing the anthropological concepts of Greek Man. In part two, the article contains translations of key source texts, proving that, on close reading, they render great theories less than obvious.

Funerary Ritual of Greeks in Antiquity as Reflected in Funerary Epigrams

The author discusses the Greek funerary verse-inscriptions as the primary sources for the study of Greek burial rituals (Classical, Hellenistic, Greek-Roman). Funerary epigrams constitute an invaluable source, as funeral, an ordinary event of daily life did not draw enough attention of ancient writers. Archaeological sources, on the other hand, are too often ambiguous and fragmentary. As a result, epigrams help us most to determine the way funerary rites in Greek antiquity were performed; moreover, they give us also first-hand accounts of these practices, which is unparalleled by any of the extant literary testimonies. The importance of funerary rites as ta nomizomena in verse inscriptions is noticeable; most important elements of burial are well documented, starting with prothesis, ritual lamentation, procession, interment or cremation, funeral offerings, and concluded with lustrations, funeral banquet and subsequent visitations of the tombs.

Studies in the Neoplatonic Interpretation of the Theurgic Ritual (Iamblichus’ De mysteriis). Some Remarks on the Problem of Action

Deriving the etymology of the term theourgia, which is probably made up of the words „god” (theos) and „work” (ergon), the article attempts to explain the role played in theurgy by „work”. The author asks a question about what, and, more importantly, whose action it is that is meant in theurgy and investigates three possible answers: acting on the gods, the gods’ actions, and creating the gods. The analysis is based on a Neoplatonic interpretation of the theurgic ritual as shown in De mysteriis, where Iamblichus questions Porphyry’s view in which theurgists claim a right to influence the gods. The article investigates the concept of theurgic ritual which Iamblichus formulated in response to Porphyry’s accusations. The author concentrates on Iamblichus’ main point which is that active in theurgy is not man, but the gods, who take control over ritual and use it as an instrument to influence men in order to enable them to achieve salvation. She also examines the meaning of ritual techniques performed by men as she addresses invocations intoned by the priest which served as a technique of attainment divine condition.

The Impact of Doctrine on Interpretation of the Dualist Ritual of Baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Middle Ages

The article addresses the controversial problem of the meaning of doctrine in interpreting the dualist sacrament of baptism of the Holy Spirit. Some researchers into Catharism downgrade the role of doctrinal differences in medieval dualism, believing that they were of secondary importance while all dualists agreed about a single, salvation-giving sacrament of baptism of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. In analyzing the doctrines of various schools of medieval dualism, the article demonstrates that the sacrament of baptism of the Holy Spirit, while identical in form, meant widely different things to radical dualists and for moderates, what with their profound differences in soteriology, Trinitarian theology, and eschatology. Such distinctions in meaning between radical and moderate dualism may supply a significant argument for the doctrinal change made by the Saint-Felix-De-Caraman Synod.

Confirmation. From the History of the Making of the Protestant Adulthood Rite (16th–18th Centuries)

The Reformation altered the understanding of and attitude to the sacraments as had developed since the beginnings of Christianity. As in other religions, most of them were associated with a religious contribution to pivotal points in the lives of individuals and referred to a person’s specific biographic situation. In this respect, sacraments may be understood as a central point in rites of passage whereby an individual’s life acquires an aspect of order and is merged with a broadly understood community. The article traces the formative process of confirmation as a rite of initiation into Christian adulthood as seen from a Protestant perspective. Confirmation, or a strengthening in faith, derives directly from what was originally part of the ceremony of baptism. The article casts more light on the understanding and practice of baptism and the gradual emergence from it in the Western Church by the end of the 9th century of a separate sacrament known as confirmation.

As Reformation theologians departed from a sacramental understanding of confirmation, a process began whereby former confirmation was transformed into a ceremony marking a person’s maturity to participate in church life. Based on church teaching and catechization, a custom of public confession of faith and of „strengthening” a person in such confession became a major ceremony in churches rooted in the Reformation. The article focuses on an early stage in the changes which had, by the 16th century, been adopted as customary practice common to Lutherans, Anglican or reformed communities. The confirmation ceremony was most helped to spread by pietism in which desires for an individual to internalize faith led to increased appreciation of confirmation as being also important to the community which granted an individual rights to partake fully not only in church life (such as in Lord’s Supper), but also in elective, decision-making bodies in Evangelical churches (e.g. in elections of parish councils, diocesan synod, and national synod).

„Una voce dicentes”. The Hierarchical Vision of Reality in the Tridentine Rite Mass and Its Theological Justification

The article uses characteristic examples to present a hierarchic order of reality as seen in gestures, acts, and prayers of the Catholic Tridentine Mass ritual, which was in use from the early Middle Ages (when it had developed this form in Western Church) until Paul VI’s reforms of 1969. This liturgy, recently (2007) appreciated by pope Benedict XVI and cleared for free use by priests as an „extraordinary form of the Roman rite”, expresses with great force, using a number of complex symbols, the Catholic vision of the natural and supernatural world. The various aspects of the ritual were grounded in acts of the Magisterium and in theologians’ writings as cited in notes.

Selected Aspects in Eucharistic Celebration Rites in the French Province of the Old Catholic Mariavite Church

The history of the French Province of the Old Catholic Mariavite Church has so far earned no more than contributory remarks from scholars and still remains a largely unexplored territory to researches into the movement. The present article is an attempt to shine more light on how French Mariavites celebrate the Eucharist. The history of Mariavitism in France makes for a backdrop for a liturgical and dogmatic-focused discussion. It is particularly surprising that the French province of the Mariavite church uses two rites, both different from the missal rite celebrated in Poland.

The Nature and Sense of Enthronement of Jesus Christ – An Attempt at an Interpretation

The article aims to explain the rite of enthronement of Jesus the King using terminology borrowed from, among others, the anthropological inquiries by Roy A. Rappaport and from a sociological analysis of religion made by Peter L. Berger. Emphasis is placed on explaining the adaptive role of the ritual in establishing and maintaining a convention which offers to individuals a coherent narrative system to organize their perceptions. On the example of the enthronement ritual of Jesus the King, created by the Polish mystic Rozalia Celakówna, the author tries to show how performative acts of speech form a distinct space in social life.