Is polyphonic singing considered a heresy, not an Orthodox Tradition?

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Justice
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Re: Is polyphonic singing considered a heresy, not an Orthodox Tradition?

Post by Justice »

Maria wrote:
Justice wrote:

I'm in a weird place right now. If the church hasn't been following all of the cannons, then Christ's prophecy was false and has ceased to exist. Even if its one or two cannons, it still mattered as the church is self-condemned for disobeying even one of them correct? also regarding the Old Believers, they seem to have been correct about Old-Rite and the Nikonian reforms wrong. I need some time to think this over my faith is struggling at the moment. I'm sorry you all have to see me go through this again.

Justice,

You must realize that even the Holy Canons, which have been published in a huge book, are not God's commandments. Priests will tell inquirers not to read these canons, because they can be confusing.

The Holy Fathers were not attorneys who had huge libraries available at the touch of a finger as we do today with computers. On writing the Holy Canons, they were concerned with current heresies and how best to combat them, so if a prior canon had been written dealing with older heresy, and a new heresy developed, there might be two canons that are almost identical. Both would be good, but one may have been written in a more ambiguous manner, so that one seems to contradict the other, when in actuality, they do not.

This is why it helps to have a good spiritual father, one like Father Irineos who has studied law.

Know that I will be praying for you. I too struggled greatly when I was an inquirer and a catechumen, but it helped being near a church and attending the Holy Services, which are awesome. I felt God's graces.

In Christ,
Maria

Thank you Maria I appreciate it. In these times I must remind myself that it is only natural to experience this. With God's help and prayer, I will get over yet another spiritual crisis.

Agios_Irineos
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Re: Is polyphonic singing considered a heresy, not an Orthodox Tradition?

Post by Agios_Irineos »

Justice wrote:

I'm in a weird place right now. If the church hasn't been following all of the cannons, then Christ's prophecy was false and has ceased to exist. Even if its one or two cannons, it still mattered as the church is self-condemned for disobeying even one of them correct? also regarding the Old Believers, they seem to have been correct about Old-Rite and the Nikonian reforms wrong. I need some time to think this over my faith is struggling at the moment. I'm sorry you all have to see me go through this again.

This is simply not correct. Christ did not prophecy that all canons would always be followed. He knew nothing of the sort. We have canons from a wide variety of sources. Some are from local councils which the Church does not hold to be infallible. Likewise, grace is not imparted via the canons. Christ was no legalist, in fact he spent a lot of time condemning the same. He also seemed quite a fan of applying economia. The church is a hospital, not a courtroom. Juridical thinking was a large part of the downfall of the Pharisees, and in my opinion, the cause of the hardening of their hearts. We should be very careful not to go down that path.

Agios_Irineos
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Re: Is polyphonic singing considered a heresy, not an Orthodox Tradition?

Post by Agios_Irineos »

This is not to say the Canons are unimportant. They are important. But they form one part of our Holy Tradition and can never be understood in pure isolation, especially outside of the Church community. Maria gave the analogy of the Fathers not being lawyers with computers. So true! In fact, it is more than likely that some canons of local councils that are now compiled in the Rudder were totally unknown to bishops in distant lands for many, many years! There is a reason priests advise catechumens not to read the canons!

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Re: Is polyphonic singing considered a heresy, not an Orthodox Tradition?

Post by NotChrysostomYet »

HieromonkIrineos wrote:

This is not to say the Canons are unimportant. They are important. But they form one part of our Holy Tradition and can never be understood in pure isolation, especially outside of the Church community. Maria gave the analogy of the Fathers not being lawyers with computers. So true! In fact, it is more than likely that some canons of local councils that are now compiled in the Rudder were totally unknown to bishops in distant lands for many, many years! There is a reason priests advise catechumens not to read the canons!

Agreed.

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