1.
Confirmation
–
In Christianity, Confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in Holy Baptism. In some denominations, Confirmation also bestows full membership in a local congregation upon the recipient, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and many Anglicans view Confirmation as a sacrament. In the East it is conferred immediately after baptism, among those Catholics who practice teen-aged Confirmation, the practice may be perceived, secondarily, as a coming of age rite. In Protestant churches, the rite tends to be rather as a mature statement of faith by an already baptized person. It is also required by most Protestant denominations for membership in the church, in particular for traditional Protestant churches. Confirmation is not practiced in Baptist, Anabaptist and other groups that teach believers baptism, thus, the sacrament is administered to converts from non-Christian religions, those aforementioned groups, and nontrinitarian churches. There is a ceremony also called Confirmation in the Jewish religion. The age instituted was older than that of Bar Mitzvah because some of these topics were considered too complicated for 13-year-old minds to grasp. Nowadays, Confirmation has gained widespread adherence among congregations affiliated with the Reform movement, then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit. Also, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, Christ speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, later, after his Resurrection, Jesus breathed upon them and they received the Holy Spirit, a process completed on the day of Pentecost. After this point, the New Testament records the apostles bestowing the Holy Spirit upon others through the laying on of hands. From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace, it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, Abba. God the Father has marked you with his sign, Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, in the Latin Catholic Church, the sacrament is customarily conferred only on persons old enough to understand it, and the ordinary minister of Confirmation is a bishop. According to the ancient practice maintained in the Roman liturgy, an adult is not to be baptized unless he receives Confirmation immediately afterward, provided no serious obstacles exist. Priests who, in virtue of an office which they lawfully hold, in Eastern Catholic Churches, the usual minister of this sacrament is the parish priest, using olive oil consecrated by a bishop, and administering the sacrament immediately after baptism. This corresponds exactly to the practice of the early Church, when at first those receiving baptism were mainly adults, the practice of the Eastern Churches gives greater emphasis to the unity of Christian initiation. The main reason why the West separated the sacrament of Confirmation from that of Baptism was to direct contact between the person being initiated with the bishops. In the Early Church, the bishop administered all three sacraments of initiation, assisted by the priests and deacons and, where they existed, the post-baptismal Chrismation in particular was reserved to the Bishop
2.
Rogier van der Weyden
–
Rogier van der Weyden or Roger de la Pasture was an Early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces and commissioned single and diptych portraits. By the latter half of the 15th century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity, however his fame lasted only until the 17th century, and largely due to changing taste, he was almost totally forgotten by the mid-18th century. There are few facts of van der Weydens life. What else is known of him has come from records and secondary sources. However the paintings now attributed to him are generally accepted, despite a tendency in the 19th century to attribute his work to others, all of his forms are rendered with rich, warm colourisation and a sympathetic expression, while he is known for his expressive pathos and naturalism. His portraits tend to be half length and half profile, Van der Weyden used an unusually broad range of colours and varied tones, in his finest work the same tone is not repeated in any other area of the canvas, even the whites are varied. Due to the loss of archives in 1695 and again in 1940, Rogelet de le Pasture was born in Tournai in 1399 or 1400. His parents were Henri de le Pasture and Agnes de Watrélos and he married around 1426, to Elisabeth Goffaert, and was made town painter of Brussels in 1436, and changed his name from the French to the Flemish format, becoming van der Weyden. The Pasture family had settled before in the city of Tournai where Rogiers father worked as a maître-coutelier, in 1426 Rogier married Elisabeth, the daughter of a Brussels shoemaker Jan Goffaert and his wife Cathelyne van Stockem. Rogier and Elisabeth had four children, Cornelius, who became a Carthusian monk, was born in 1427, a daughter Margaretha in 1432. Before 21 October 1435 the family settled in Brussels where the two children were born, Pieter in 1437 and Jan in 1438, who would go on to become a painter. On his move to Brussels, Rogier began using the Flemish version of his name, little is known about Rogiers training as a painter. The archival sources from Tournai were completely destroyed during World War II, the sources on his early life are confusing and have led to different interpretations by scholars. It is known that the city council of Tournai offered eight pitchers of wine in honour of a certain Maistre Rogier de le Pasture on the 17th November 1426. However, on 5 March of the year the records of the painters guild show a Rogelet de le Pasture entered the workshop of Robert Campin together with Jacques Daret. Records show that de le Pasture was already established as a painter, only five years later, on the first of August 1432, de le Pasture obtained the title of a Master painter. His later entry into apprenticeship might be explained by the fact that during the 1420s the city of Tournai was in crisis, the late apprenticeship may have been a legal formality. Also Jacques Daret was then in his twenties and had living and working in Campins household for at least a decade
3.
Baptism
–
Baptism is a Christian sacrament of admission and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally. The canonical Gospels report that Jesus was baptized—a historical event to which a degree of certainty can be assigned. Baptism has been called a sacrament and an ordinance of Jesus Christ. In some denominations, baptism is also called christening, but for others the word christening is reserved for the baptism of infants, Baptism has also given its name to the Baptist churches and denominations. The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the candidate to be immersed, in v.16, Matthew will speak of Jesus coming up out of the water. The traditional depiction in Christian art of John the Baptist pouring water over Jesus head may therefore be based on later Christian practice, other common forms of baptism now in use include pouring water three times on the forehead, a method called affusion. Martyrdom was identified early in Church history as baptism by blood, later, the Catholic Church identified a baptism of desire, by which those preparing for baptism who die before actually receiving the sacrament are considered saved. Today, some Christians, particularly Christian Scientists, Quakers, The Salvation Army, and Unitarians, do not see baptism as necessary, among those that do, differences can be found in the manner and mode of baptizing and in the understanding of the significance of the rite. Most Christians baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, much more than half of all Christians baptize infants, many others hold that only believers baptism is true baptism. Some insist on submersion or at least partial immersion of the person who is baptized, others consider that any form of washing by water, as long as the water flows on the head, is sufficient. The term baptism has also used to refer to any ceremony, trial, or experience by which a person is initiated, purified. The Greek verb baptō, dip, from which the verb baptizo is derived, is in turn hypothetically traced to a reconstructed Indo-European root *gʷabh-, the Greek words are used in a great variety of meanings. John the Baptist, who is considered a forerunner to Christianity, the apostle Paul distinguished between the baptism of John, and baptism in the name of Jesus, and it is questionable whether Christian baptism was in some way linked with that of John. Christians consider Jesus to have instituted the sacrament of baptism, though whether Jesus intended to institute a continuing, the earliest Christian baptisms were probably normally by immersion, complete or partial. Though other modes may have also been used, at the hour in which the cock crows, they shall first pray over the water. When they come to the water, the water shall be pure and flowing, that is, then they shall take off all their clothes. The children shall be baptized first, all of the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer. If there are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for them, after this, the men will be baptized
4.
Holy Spirit
–
Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is a term found in English translations of the Bible that is understood differently among the Abrahamic religions. Holy Spirit is stated to be a realm beyond the ability of words to properly convey and it must be experienced, realized, kindled within like a holy fire. The term is used to describe aspects of other religions. The word Spirit appears as either alone or with words, in the Hebrew Bible. Combinations include expressions such as the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, the word Spirit is rendered as רוּחַ in Hebrew-language parts of the Old Testament. In its Aramaic parts, the term is rûacḥ, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, translates the word as πνεῦμα. This is the word that is used throughout the New Testament. The English term Spirit comes from its Latin origin, spiritus, the alternative term, Holy Ghost, comes from Old English translations of spiritus. The Hebrew Bible contains the term Spirit of God in the sense of the might of a unitary God and this meaning is different from the Christian concept of Holy Spirit as one personality of God in the Trinity. According to theologian Rudolf Bultmann, there are two ways to think about the Holy Spirit, animistic and dynamistic, both kinds of thought appear in Jewish and Christian scripture, but animistic is more typical of the Old Testament whereas dynamistic is more common in the New Testament. The distinction coincides with the Holy Spirit as either a temporary or permanent gift, in the Old Testament and Jewish thought, it is primarily temporary with a specific situation or task in mind, whereas in the Christian concept the gift resides in man permanently. The Holy Spirit also has an equivalent in non-Abrahamic Hellenistic mystery religions and they included a distinction of the Spirit and psyche, which Paul the Apostle later incorporated into his epistles. According to proponents of the History of religions school, the Christian concept of the Holy Spirit cannot be explained from Jewish ideas alone without reference to the Hellenistic religions. However, according to theologian Erik Konsmo, the views are so dissimilar that the only legitimate connection one can make is with the term πνεῦμα itself, Another link with ancient Greek thought is the Stoic idea of the Spirit as anima mundi—or world soul—that unites all people. In his Introduction to the 1964 book Meditations, the Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth wrote, cleanthes, wishing to give more explicit meaning to Zenos creative fire, had been the first to hit upon the term pneuma, or spirit, to describe it. The Hebrew language phrase ruach ha-kodesh is a used in the Hebrew Bible. It literally means spirit of the holiness or spirit of the holy place, the Hebrew terms ruacḥ qodshəka, thy holy spirit, and ruacḥ qodshō, his holy spirit also occur. The Holy Spirit in Judaism generally refers to the aspect of prophecy
5.
Acts of the Apostles
–
The Acts of the Apostles, often referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament, it tells of the founding of the Christian church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a work, Luke–Acts, by the same anonymous author. The first part, the Gospel of Luke, tells how God fulfilled his plan for the salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Acts continues the story of Christianity in the 1st century, beginning with Jesuss Ascension to Heaven, the early chapters, set in Jerusalem, describe the Day of Pentecost and the growth of the church in Jerusalem. Initially the Jews are receptive to the Christian message, but soon turn against the followers of Jesus. Rejected by the Jews, under the guidance of the Apostle Peter the message is taken to the Gentiles. The later chapters tell of Pauls conversion, his mission in Asia Minor and the Aegean, and finally his imprisonment in Rome, the title Acts of the Apostles was first used by Irenaeus in the late 2nd century. It is not known whether this was a title or one invented by Irenaeus, it does seem clear, however. The Gospel of Luke and Acts make up a work which scholars call Luke–Acts. The author is not named in either volume. )He admired Paul, the earliest possible date for the composition of Acts is set by the events with which it ends, Pauls imprisonment in Rome c.63 AD, but an early date is now rarely put forward. In either case there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century. Luke aligned his work, Luke–Acts, to the narratives which many others had written, Acts, the second part, is widely thought of as a history, but it lacks exact analogies in Hellenistic or Jewish literature. The title Acts of the Apostles would seem to identify it with the telling of the deeds and achievements of great men. By and large the sources for Acts can only be guessed at, but Luke would have had access to the Septuagint, the gospel of Mark and the collection of sayings of Jesus called the Q source. )There are also points of contacts with 1 Peter, the Letter to the Hebrews, and 1 Clement. Other sources can only be inferred from internal evidence—the traditional explanation of the three we passages, for example, is that they represent eye-witness accounts, the search for such inferred sources was popular in the 19th century, but by the mid-20th it had largely been abandoned. Acts was read as a history of the early church well into the post-Reformation era. The mid-19th century scholar Ferdinand Baur suggested that Luke had re-written history to present a united Peter and Paul, Baur continues to have enormous influence, but today there is less interest in determining Lukes historical accuracy than in understanding his theological program. Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lords supper, the author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to the Greco-Roman world at large
6.
Chrism
–
The English chrism derives from Koine Greek via Latin and Old French. In Greek, khrîsma was originally the verbal noun of χρίειν, by extension, along with khrîma, khrîstai, and later khrísma, it came to be used for the anointing oil or ointment itself. Khrísma came into Latin as chrisma, which appears in the works of Tertullian and this was adopted directly into Old English as crisma, which developed into Middle English crisme and various related spellings. In Old French, the original Latin was conflated with cramum, developing into cresme, the spelling chrism after the Latin original was generally adopted in the 16th century, after which cream came to be restricted to its present meaning. The Proto-Indo-European root from which the Greek term derived has been reconstructed as *ghrei- and this is cognate with Sanskrit ghṛtə and Hindi ghī, as well as Lithuanian grejù, griẽti, Middle Low German grēme, Old English grīma, English grime, and possibly Phrygian gegreimenan. Multiple early Christian documents discuss the ordinance or several ceremonies. explained in the Apostolical Constitutions of chrism, including documents by Theophilus, cyril states that the ointment is the seal of the covenants of baptism and God’s promises to the Christian who is anointed. He says, Having been counted worthy of this Holy Chrism, ye are called Christians, for before you were deemed worthy of this grace, ye had properly no right to this title, but were advancing on your way towards being Christians. Chrism is essential for the Catholic Sacrament of Confirmation/Chrismation, and is used in the sacraments of Baptism. Those to be confirmed or chrismated, after receiving the laying on of hands, are anointed on the head by the bishop or priest, in baptism, if the person baptized is not to be immediately confirmed or chrismated, the minister anoints them with chrism. Newly ordained priests are anointed with chrism on the palms of their hands and it is also used in the consecration of objects such as churches and altars. Before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, chrism had to be used to consecrate patens and chalices as well. The Sign of the Cross would be made with the chrism on the parts the chalice and paten where the Eucharist would rest. The chalice and paten would need to be consecrated with the chrism again if they were re-gilded and this ritual could only be performed by a Bishop or a priest with the faculties to do so. According to the rubrics, a simple blessing suffices, however, it is still permitted that the bishop performs the consecration with chrism. Chrism is made of oil and is scented with a sweet perfume. The oil of catechumens and the oil of the sick are blessed at this Mass. These holy oils are stored in special vessels known as chrismaria. When the oils are distributed to a priest for him to use in his ministry they are kept in a vessel with three compartments, known as an oil stock
7.
Reformation
–
The period is usually considered to have begun with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Luther in 1517 to the Thirty Years War and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Protestant position, however, would come to incorporate doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura, the initial movement within Germany diversified, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The spread of Gutenbergs printing press provided the means for the dissemination of religious materials in the vernacular. The largest groups were the Lutherans and Calvinists, Lutheran churches were founded mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia, while the Reformed ones were founded in Switzerland, Hungary, France, the Netherlands and Scotland. The new movement influenced the Church of England decisively after 1547 under Edward VI and Elizabeth I, there were also reformation movements throughout continental Europe known as the Radical Reformation, which gave rise to the Anabaptist, Moravian and other Pietistic movements. The Roman Catholic Church responded with a Counter-Reformation initiated by the Council of Trent, much work in battling Protestantism was done by the well-organised new order of the Jesuits. In general, Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, southern Europe remained Roman Catholic, while Central Europe was a site of a fierce conflict, culminating in the Thirty Years War, which left it devastated. The oldest Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum and Moravian Church, the later Protestant Churches generally date their doctrinal separation from the Roman Catholic Church to the 16th century. The Reformation began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church, by priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice. They especially objected to the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and the abuses thereof, and to simony, the reformers saw these practices as evidence of the systemic corruption of the Churchs hierarchy, which included the pope. Unrest due to the Great Schism of Western Christianity excited wars between princes, uprisings among the peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church, New perspectives came from John Wycliffe at Oxford University and from Jan Hus at the Charles University in Prague. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone, the Roman Catholic Church officially concluded this debate at the Council of Constance by condemning Hus, who was executed by burning despite a promise of safe-conduct. Wycliffe was posthumously condemned as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428, the Council of Constance confirmed and strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the century and could not prevent schism. Pope Sixtus IV established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead, Pope Alexander VI was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes. He was the father of seven children, including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, in response to papal corruption, particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses. The Reformation was born of Luthers dual declaration – first, the discovering of Jesus and salvation by faith alone, the Protestant reformers were unanimous in agreement and this understanding of prophecy furnished importance to their deeds. It was the point and the battle cry that made the Reformation nearly unassailable
8.
Second Vatican Council
–
The Second Vatican Council, fully the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council and informally known as Vatican II, addressed relations between the Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, many of these changes remain divisive among the Catholic faithful. At the same time, the worlds bishops faced challenges driven by political, social, economic, some of these bishops sought new ways of addressing those challenges. The First Vatican Council had been nearly a century before but had been cut short when the Italian Army entered the city of Rome at the end of Italian unification. Pope John XXIII, however, gave notice of his intention to convene the Council on 25 January 1959 and this sudden announcement, which caught the Curia by surprise, caused little initial official comment from Church insiders. In various discussions before the Council actually convened, John XXIII often said that it was time to open the windows and he invited other Christians outside the Catholic Church to send observers to the Council. Acceptances came from both the Eastern Orthodox Church and Protestant denominations as internal observers, but these observers did not cast votes in the approbation of the conciliar documents. Pope John XXIIIs announcement on 25 January 1959 of his intention to call a general council came as an even to the cardinals present. The Pontiff pre-announced the council under a full moon when the faithful with their candlelights gathered in St. Peters square, after which, he instructed the people to go back home and give their children a kiss of goodnight, from the Pope himself. He had tested the idea only ten days before one of them, his Cardinal Secretary of State Domenico Tardini. Although the Pope later said the idea came to him in a flash in his conversation with Tardini, two cardinals had earlier attempted to interest him in the idea. They were two of the most conservative, Ernesto Ruffini and Alfredo Ottaviani, who had already in 1948 proposed the idea to Pope Pius XII and who put it before John XXIII on 27 October 1958. These groups, composed mostly of members of the Roman Curia, produced 987 proposed constituting sessions, attendance varied in later sessions from 2,100 to over 2,300. In addition, a number of periti were available for theological consultation—a group that turned out to have a major influence as the council went forward. Seventeen Orthodox Churches and Protestant denominations sent observers, more than three dozen representatives of other Christian communities were present at the opening session, and the number grew to nearly 100 by the end of the 4th Council Sessions. Pope John XXIII opened the Council on 11 October 1962 in a public session, what is needed is that this certain and immutable doctrine, to which the faithful owe obedience, be studied afresh and reformulated in contemporary terms. For this deposit of faith, or truths which are contained in our time-honored teaching is one thing, roncalli, Angelo Giuseppe, Opening address, Council, Rome, IT.13 October 1962 marked the initial working session of the Council. That days agenda included the election for members of the ten conciliar commissions, each would have sixteen elected and eight appointed members, and were expected to do most of the work of the Council
9.
Accolade
–
The accolade was the central act in the rite of passage ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. From about 1852, the accolade was used much more generally to mean praise or award or honor. Accolade was first used in 1611 and is French, from the Occitan acolada and this, in turn, came from the Latin ad + collum and in Occitan originally meant embrace. Accolade is akin to dubbing or to dub since the tap on the shoulder with the sword is accepted to be the point at which the title is awarded, the accolade is a ceremony to confer knighthood. It may take many forms, including the tapping of the side of a sword on the shoulders of a candidate or an embrace about the neck. In the first example, the knight-elect kneels in front of the monarch on a knighting-stool, first, the monarch lays the side of the swords blade onto the accolades right shoulder. The monarch then raises the sword gently just up over the apprentices head, the new knight then stands up, and the king or queen presents him with the insignia of his new order. Contrary to popular belief, the phrase Arise, Sir. is not used, there is some disagreement among historians on the actual ceremony and in what time period certain methods could have been used. It could have been an embrace or a blow on the neck or cheek. Gregory of Tours wrote that the kings of France, in conferring the gilt shoulder-belt. In knighting his son Henry, with the ceremony of the accolade, the blow, or colée, when first utilized was given with a bare fist, a stout box on the ear. This was later substituted for by a stroke with the flat part of the sword against the side of the neck. This then developed into the custom of tapping on either the right or left shoulder, or both, which is still the tradition in Great Britain today. An early Germanic coming-of-age ceremony, of presenting a youth with a weapon that was buckled on him, was elaborated in the 10th and 11th centuries as a sign that the minor had come of age. Initially this was a rite often performed on the battlefield. A panel in the Bayeux Tapestry shows the knighting of Harold by William of Normandy, some words that might be spoken at that moment were Advances Chevalier au nom de Dieu. In medieval France, early ceremonies of the adoubement were purely secular, around 1200, these ceremonies began to include elements of Christian ritual. The process of becoming a knight generally included these stages, Page — A child started training at about the age of seven or eight, learning obedience, manners, squire — At twelve to fourteen the young man would observe and help other knights
10.
Wikisource
–
Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
11.
Sacrament of Penance
–
By this sacrament Christians are freed from sins committed after Baptism. The sacrament of Penance is considered the way to be absolved from mortal sin. The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation is also known as Penance, Reconciliation, the sacrament has four elements, three on the part of the penitent and one on the part of the minister of the sacrament. Catholics distinguish between two types of sin, mortal sins are a grave violation of Gods law that turns man away from God. Someone who is aware of having committed mortal sins must repent of having done so, every sin involves an unhealthy attachment to creatures, purification from which is called the temporal punishment for sin. The 1983 Code of Canon Law states, A priest alone is the minister of the sacrament of penance, to refer exclusively to priests in the more common English sense, Latin uses the word presbyter. In order to be able to be absolved validly from sin, the history of the sacrament of Penance dates back to the New Testament and the time of Jesus. Cyrille Vogel collected a list of twelve major sins named in the New Testament, fickleness and insanity Drunkenness and intemperance. This early way of penitential discipline received in modern times the name of public penance, mistakenly confused with public announcement of the excommunication because of a public and grave sin. Sometimes sinners did publicly speak about their sins, but testimonies of the early Church show that in most cases offences were known to the priest alone. When a penitent did publicly confess his/her sins, decision to do it was always by the initiative of the person. The public character of penance should be understood as prayerful participation and support given by the community to a sinner. Multiple discussions began in the 3rd century, time of persecutions, on how to exercise Church penance regarding grave sinners, e. g. lapsed Catholics. A controversy first resulted over Montanism, whose main supporter was Tertullian, there were arguments between Novatian and Pope Cornelius, and between St. Cyprian and Pope Stephen I. Hippolytus of Rome criticised the popes, condemning them for being too easy to accept grave sinners back to the communion of the Church, the primary source of information on the canonical penance in this period are sermons of Augustine of Hippo and of Caesarius of Arles. Special canons were issued by regional, local Church councils on how to deal with the public penance, because of that it is called canonical penance. Acts of ancient councils of this show that no one who belonged to the order of penitents had access to Eucharistic communion – until the bishop reconciled him with the community of the Church. Canon 29 of the Council of Epaone in Gaul says, that from among penitents only apostates had to leave Sunday assembly together with catechumens, other penitents were present until the end but were denied communion in the table of the Lord
12.
Easter Vigil
–
Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a service held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this service that people are baptized, the original twelve Old Testament readings for the Easter Vigil survive in an ancient manuscript belonging to the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In the earliest Jerusalem usage the vigil began with Psalm 117 sung with the response, then followed twelve Old Testament readings, all but the last being followed by a prayer with kneeling. Genesis 1, 1--3,24, Genesis 22, 1-18, Exodus 12, 1-24, Jonah 1, 1--4,11, Exodus 14, 24--15,21, Isaiah 60, 1-13, Job 38, 2-28,2 Kings 2, 1-22, Jeremiah 31, 31-34, Joshua 1, 1-9, Ezekiel 37, 1-14, Daniel 3, 1-29. The twelfth reading leads into the Song of the Three Children and is not followed by a prayer with kneeling, as the candle proceeds through the church, the small candles held by those present are gradually lit from the Paschal candle. As this symbolic Light of Christ spreads, darkness is decreased, the deacon, priest, or a cantor now chants the Exsultet, after which the people sit for the Liturgy of the Word. Once the paschal candle has been placed on its stand in the sanctuary, the lights in the church are switched on and the congregation extinguish their candles. Each reading is followed by a psalm or biblical canticle sung responsorially, the collect is sung or recited. The reading from the Epistle to the Romans is proclaimed, followed by the chanting of Psalm 118. The Alleluia is sung for the first time since before Lent and with special solemnitThe Gospel of the Resurrection (Matthew 28, 1-10, Mark 16, 1-8 or Luke 24, 1-12 follows, along with a homily. After the celebration of these sacraments of initiation, the congregation renews their baptismal vows, the prayer of the faithful follow. After the prayers, the Liturgy of the Eucharist continues as usual and this is the first Mass of Easter Day. During the Eucharist, the newly baptized receive Holy Communion for the first time, according to the rubrics of the Missal, the Eucharist should finish before dawn. The 20th century saw two major revisions of the Roman-Rite Easter Vigil liturgy, the first occurred in the 1950s under Pope Pius XII. Previously, the Vigil service was held on Holy Saturday morning, outside the church the Easter fire was lit and blessed, and five grains of incense were also blessed. All lamps and candles within the church were quenched, so as to be relit later with the new fire. During the singing of the Exsultet, which followed, the five grains of incense were placed in the paschal candle. The prayers after the readings were preceded by Flectamus genua and a genuflection, after the Old Testament readings the baptismal font was blessed, and the conferral of baptism was envisaged, though rarely performed
