II. Значение антиминса, как жертвенника

Since the antimension is instead of the throne, during the celebration of the liturgy it has the same meaning as the throne, and sometimes replaces it; then the antimension, like the throne, is an altar, since the Eucharist celebrated on it is a true sacrifice to God 19. For a better understanding in what sense the antimension is called an altar, we must say a little about the sacrifice from which it received its name and meaning. Our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, as on an altar, offered an atoning sacrifice for the entire human race. On the cross, the Lord was both the high priest offering the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself. By death on the cross He satisfied God's justice for the sins of the whole world. The sacrifice He once made on the cross was sufficient to destroy the ancestral sin and the curse of the entire human race 20 . But in order for people to become participants in the gifts of death on the cross, to take advantage of the benefits of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, they need, in addition to living faith in Christ, crucifying their flesh with passions and lusts, grace-filled help imparted to people through the sacraments. To receive salvation, a person must be grafted through the sacraments, like branches into a tree, into the Lord Jesus Christ. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, partaking of the body and blood of Christ, a person is united with the Lord in the most intimate way. For here he partakes of the very body that suffered on the cross, the very blood that was shed there from the most pure ribs, hands and feet of the Savior. The Lord first promised to give his flesh under the guise of bread - that body that would suffer for the life of the world - saying: “I will give its bread, my flesh is, even I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Then at the Last Supper, serving bread to the Apostles, he gave them his body. He said: “This is my body” (Matthew 26:26). The need for communion of the body and blood of Christ to receive eternal life was indicated by the Lord Himself. He said: “Eat my flesh and drink my blood and have eternal life” (John 6:54). “Unless you have eaten the flesh of the son of man, you have not drunk His blood, you have not life within you” (John 6:53). The Lord first vouchsafed communion to the Apostles, and by performing the sacrament of communion at the Last Supper, he thereby made a spiritual and propitiatory sacrifice for the people. “He who disposes of all things by his own power,” says St. Gregory of Nyssa, “did not expect Pilate’s determination, but in a secret way of sacred rites, invisible to people, he offered himself as an offering and sacrifice for us. He is a priest and at the same time the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. When is this? When he gave the assembled disciples the body to eat and blood to drink, when he clearly revealed that the sacrifice of the lamb had taken place” (Ogat. 1 in Christ. resur. rect.). The Lord, according to the power of the sacrifice He made on the cross, offered at the Last Supper His very body and His very blood to propitiate God, for the remission of the sins of people. By pronouncing the words: “this is my body,” “this is my blood,” the Lord did not direct the thoughts of the disciples to his upcoming slaughter on the cross; this is clear from His words: “for your sake that which is broken,” which could not refer to the death of the Savior on the cross, since on the cross, according to prophecy, “His bone was not broken” (John 19:33,36). The words: “this is my body”, “this is my blood” pointed the disciples to what was offered for eating. And this, offered to the Apostles at the Last Supper, was God’s sacrifice and propitiation for people. For it was given, it broke for them for the remission of sins. The Lord said: “This is my body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19), or according to the Apostle: “which is broken for you” (1 Cor. 11:24). “This is my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The Lord, pointing to blood, called it the blood of the New Testament, and thus compared it with the blood of the Old Testament. It was offered to God as a sacrifice, serving as propitiation for the sins of the world, according to the power of the blood that was shed on the cross; the offering of the lamb was a sacrifice and sacrament for sins. According to the will of the Lord, the sacrament of communion also has this meaning. This is my blood of the new testament, said the Lord, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:25, Luke 22:19). Sacrificial blood under Moses served as a confirmation of the covenant between God and the chosen people. This is the blood of the covenant, the Lord of his covenant is with you (Exod. 24:8), Moses spoke about the blood of a sacrificial calf. Likewise, the body in the Eucharist serves as a confirmation of the union between God and man. And the holy mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord constitute not only a part of the new covenant, but the new covenant itself, as the Lord said: “This cup is a new covenant with my blood” (Luke 22:20). The Lord, having made a propitiatory sacrifice at the Last Supper and granted the disciples the communion of his body and his blood, gave them the commandment: “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19). Based on these words of the Lord, the Eucharist in subsequent times has the same meaning as the action of the Lord himself at the Last Supper. It delivers to believers the true body and blood of Christ and serves as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of people. The Lord promised not only to the Apostles, but also to all people: “I will give his bread; (John 6:31): The Lord, as the eternal high priest (Heb. 5:6), eternally offers the sacrifices of God (Heb. 8:3, 6), but not bloody sacrifices, which he once offered on the cross, but bloodless ones. As a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:21), he offers sacrifices similar in substance to the Melchizedek offerings, consisting of bread and wine; but in the sacrifices of Christ, bread and wine are transformed into the true body and true blood of Christ, and thus are essential to the sacrifice made on the cross. According to the saying of the word of God, this mysterious sacrifice and eating of the body and blood of the Lord, in remembrance of His death, will be performed until the Lord comes (1 Cor. 11:26). According to the prophetic saying, the sacrifice will be performed by all nations and in all places 21. To perform the bloodless sacrifice, as well as other sacraments, the Lord established the Apostles and their successors, and commanded them to do what He Himself did at the Last Supper: “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19). Although the sacrament of St. The Eucharist is celebrated by the clergyman, but the Lord Himself acts in the sacrament. Chrysostom says: “The actions of this sacrament are not performed by human power. The one who performed these actions at the Last Supper still performs them. We occupy the place of ministers, and Christ Himself sanctifies and transforms the gifts.” (Golden demon. on Gospel. Matthew 82, part 3, p. 423. 1846). Now the same supper is being celebrated at which He Himself reclined. Because one is no different from the other. It cannot be said that this is done by man, and that was done by Christ; on the contrary, He Himself does both; for even now it is the same Lord who performs, who in this case is both the sacrifice and the priest, and the offerer and the offered. (St. Chrysostom Conversation on the Gospel. Matthew 50, part 2, p. 357). No matter who performed it, Paul or Peter, it is the same one that Christ taught to his disciples, it is in no way inferior to that, for it is not people who sanctify it, but God Himself, who sanctified it then. Just as the words now spoken by the priest are the same as those spoken by the Lord, so the offering is the same, just like baptism, the same as He administered. For it is not man who does this, that what is offered becomes the body and blood of Christ, but Christ himself who was crucified for us. The priest, wearing His image, stands and pronounces words, while the power and grace of God acts. (Golden conversation on the 2nd epistle to Timothy, art. 33. St. Petersburg, 1859. About the predecessor of Judas. Christ. Reading, 1824, vol. 14, p. 24). Based on the fact that the Eucharist is a sacrifice to God, the meal (table) on which the sacrifice is performed is, in the proper sense, an altar. The high significance of this altar is indicated by St. The Apostle Paul, comparing it to both the pagan altar (1 Cor. 10:18–21) and the altar of the Jews. ( Heb. 13:10 ). The Holy Apostle, forbidding participation in pagan sacrifices as demonic services, points to the Lord's table and the Lord's cup as sublime, holy objects that should replace the pagan sacrificial service, and urges to take part in the Christian sacrifice as holy, pleasing, “Are not the eating sacrifices of the altar community? Even though they eat, they eat demons, not gods. I don’t want to be a demon with you. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; You cannot partake of the Lord’s table or the table of demons” (1 Cor 10:18–21). Comparing the Christian altar with the Jewish altar, the Apostle says that Christians also have an altar and a sacrifice: “the imams of the altar (θυσιαστήριον - altar) from it do not have power to eat, those who serve in the canopy” (Heb. 13:10) Here the Apostle, writing to Jews converted to the faith of Christ, says that they are not obliged to observe the rites prescribed by the Mosaic Law, that they should not regret the meat that they ate (Heb. 13:9), and points to the altar in Christianity much more excellent than the Old Testament (from which the Jews ate meat): “the imams’ altar, But from him those who serve in the canopy have no power to eat” (Heb. 13:10). The Apostle’s instruction that one eats from the Christian altar shows, on the one hand, that by altar one cannot mean the altar and the sacrifice on the cross of the Lord; on the other hand, it shows that what is eaten (inaccessible to the servants of the canopy) is a sacrifice, since it is from the altar (altar). At the Christian altar, apart from the communion of the body and blood of Christ, they do not eat any other food. Thus, the Eucharist is a sacrifice, and the place where it is celebrated is the altar - the altar. Christian altars get their name from the sacrifice of the holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Christians of all ages and peoples had a common conviction that, during the celebration of the Eucharist, St. the church brings the true sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and therefore the meal at which it is offered, they considered a holy place, called the altar, an altar to God. We see these names in the writings of ancient church teachers (Tetr., de Orat. n. 14. Surgian. Epist. 79. Orlat. lib. 6, adv. Parmen.) and in liturgies. The antimension, when performing the sacrament of communion, having the meaning of a throne, like it is called an altar, an altar, a meal for offering bloodless sacrifices, and in Greek θυσιαστίριον 22. We see such names in the inscriptions on the aptimins that have come down to us, starting from the 12th century. Therefore, the antimension should be as revered as the throne Nile, the Patriarch of Constantinople, having said that “it is permitted in certain cases 23 to give the holy throne, consecrated on a board or on a canvas,” thus discusses its importance and convinces Christians to honor it as the throne of the church: “the consecrated meal has significance even in the eyes of non-Christians, no less than the holy throne. - And so, all Christians should love and preserve this meal, look at it as holy, honor and worship it, as they do in holy churches, and fear nothing, no matter what they say or do to humiliate it: for such is the very tradition of the holy councils. Just as from tradition we know about divine churches with holy thrones; and how anyone who says anything against the divine church will receive punishment from God, as an opponent of His will; so exactly, whoever says something against the meal thus sanctified, or who does not recognize its holiness, who does not approach it, who does not receive sanctification from it, but who despises it, moves away from it and rejects it, will give an account to God on the day of judgment. (Σύνταγμα τῶν θειῶν καὶ ιερῶν κανόνων T. V, page 141). Luther, in his work De abroganda missa privata, published in 1522, tried to prove that there is no other sacrifice to God than the offering of oneself. And in the preface to the new liturgy he compiled and published in 1523, in which he left much from the Roman liturgy, he said that the liturgy and the communion of bread and wine constitute a rite divinely established by I. Christ, a rite that was performed by the Lord himself and then by the Apostles; but the liturgy is not a sacrifice, shall we look at it as a sacrament, or as a covenant, shall we call it, following the Latin name, a blessing, or the Greek name - the Eucharist, or the Lord's table, or communion, or the remembrance of the Lord (Pierre le Brun. Explication de la messe. Paris. 1778, τ. VII, p. 4 et cet.). Zwinglius, who preached his new reform in Zurich at the time when Luther promulgated his in Wittenberg, did not recognize the transubstantiation of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, and in the new liturgy he compiled in 1525 he mentioned the place where the Eucharist was celebrated as a simple table. This liturgy says that at the end of the sermon, they spread a clean tablecloth on the table, where they place a basket full of unleavened bread (unleavened bread), small dishes and wooden cups full of wine (Ibid. p. 28). In England, under Henry VIII, under whom relations with Rome were severed in 1531, the ancient liturgy was celebrated in its entirety. The new liturgy was introduced under Edward VI, 18 years after the adoption of Lutheranism. This liturgy, printed in London in 1549, in English, also spoke of the altar. But in the second liturgy, printed there and in the same language in 1552, the altar is no longer mentioned, but is replaced by a table (ibid. p. 42). Our supposed Old Believers have many similarities with Protestant opinions when they talk about the completion of the Eucharist on St. the throne, ilb about the antimension. By one he was exalted to exalt many (Heb. IX:28). With one offering he made to eat forever those who are sanctified (Heb. X: 14). From these words of the Apostle it is clear that the sacrifice of the Lord on the cross has power at all times. The Apostle in these places speaks not about the Eucharist but about the sacrifice of the cross. The prophet Malachid says: “My will is not in you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept sacrifice at your hands. From the east of the sun to the west my name will be glorified among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name and the sacrifice will be pure: because my name will become famous among the nations, says the Lord Almighty” (Malach. 1:10,11). By pure sacrifice, which will be offered in every place, we mean the bloodless sacrifice of the body and blood of the Lord in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Here one cannot mean: a) Jewish sacrifices; since God’s dislike is immediately expressed towards them, and they were offered in one place in Jerusalem and were not performed by pagans; b) the less one can understand pagan sacrifices, since they were not pure, pleasing to God; in the south the pagans devour, they devour demons, not Gods (1 Κορ.,Χ, 20); c) the Lord’s death on the cross cannot be understood, since it alone was offered on Golgotha, and the prophet speaks of many sacrifices; d) finally, one cannot understand spiritual sacrifices, which are called: faith, love, prayer, or similar pious dispositions and deeds; for the prophet says about the sacrifices that they will be new, but spiritual sacrifices should not be called such, for pious people had them before. Malachi talks about a new sacrifice, which was the sacrament of communion, about an external sacrifice, opposite to the Jewish one, about a sacrifice that is offered by the hands of the priests of the Lord (Malach. 1: 6, 31), and so pure that we cannot be stained, even if it was offered by the unclean (Malach. 1: 7, 8). In the book Πηδάλιον, ed. in Athens in 1841 the following τύπος αντιμίνσιου is indicated: τελεῖαθαι δί αυτοῦ τάς αναιμάκτους κερουργίας (page 559). See below for these cases. You might be interested in: