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Religious Sacraments and Dance in the Greek Orthodox Church', Journal of Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) — Special Issue, Pp

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Religious Sacraments and Dance in the Greek Orthodox Church', Journal of Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) — Special Issue, Pp Archived at the Flinders Academic Commons: http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/dspace/ This is the published version of the following article: Riak, P 2019, 'Religious sacraments and dance in the Greek Orthodox Church', Journal of Modern Greek Studies (Australia and New Zealand) — Special Issue, pp. 301-318. Reproduced with permission of the publisher. © 2019 the author. Religio Sacramen and n h Gre thodox rch Patricia Riak Te aricle analses e Dance of Isiah as perormed during the sacramens of Marriage and Hol Orders in the Greek Orodox rc. The paper is concerned ith rial process merging both iblical e and sacramenal dance. The paper explores sacramenal rial and dance tha is insiionalised rog he pariarchal cosmolog of e Greek Orodo rc. Te perormance of e Dance of Isaiah ill e analsed dring Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders defining “rites of passage” that move initiates oard a religios cange of sas — o of one religios sas and in o another. Te Chrch perpeaes hese religios perormances throgh rial in order o deine canging religios idenities rooed in e insiion of the rc. The paper is concerned ith he coalescence of rial process — bilical ext and sacramental dance — in order o ndersand rial iniiaion seings of e rch. 301 PATRICIA IAK Diagr : Interior of a reek Orthodox hrch here the sacraments of Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders are performed. evised y the athor from her ethnographi fieldnotes.] 302 RELIGIOUS CRMENTS ND CE N HE EK ORHOOX CHURCH H rimon and e ance Isaiah (see also iagram for the detail presented elo The hurh defines the osmi and hristologial sarament of Holy Matrimony as a “dyadic unity” of man and women so that God’s image in man is ahieved hen the to beome one he nity of male and female expresses the poer of the Holy Spirit and man’s union ith od t is throgh hrist that reoniliation beteen man and oman an be ahieved since the all ahieving grae and revealing paradise Zion –129). Thus the tradition is one that the sarament of marriage defines the human ondition as “fallen human nature” and “glorified human nature” through Jess Christ in hristian marriage (Zion 1992:130) However ion mentions that man’s natural egoism for sexuality and offspring becomes “Eros” when he loves another and Eros then eomes oth relationship and noledge. This love is then self-transendent as revealed by the ross of hrist his relationship, Zion notes, is personal or “hypostatic” which then makes it possile for man to ommne ith family that then fulfills the true image of love for Christ and his church. This is the transformation of “natural Eros” to “true Eros” or “true freedom” (Zion, 1992:135). The first stage of Holy Matrimony is the ervie of Betrothal that emphasises the importane of salvation efore the marital ople is lessed ith the matrimonial rings the priest hants to prayers he first prayer alls for a holy inorporation and lessing of the cople as ordained ith an eternal love shared ith the Holy Trinity The seond prayer nites the ople as one throgh the Holy Trinity When the priest taes the rings he first blesses them by making the sign of the cross with the bride’s ring over the groom and the groom’s ring over the bride saying a blessing three times to oth – that one is etrothed to the other in the name of the Holy rinity (vdoimov :133) efore the ervie of roning taes plae, the priest ass od to onfirm the promise of their etrothal t is also mentioned that “woman” is a “helper” to man for the procreation of the human race The priest also describes the couple as “servants” who come after other servants in the history of etrothal for the ingdom of od throgh the Holy Trinity Haraas mentions that od is the athor of marriage and that od joins the sposes together — not only throgh a theologial position but as an affirmation of the holiness of the married state Haraas 2005:104). Haraas further states that the role of od is expliit hen the priest says 303 PTCIA IAK “Blessed are You, O Lord our God, oly Celebrant of mystical and pure marriage”. At the joining of the couple’s hands, which can be considered the “epicletic moment” of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony, the priest prays as he oins the hands of the couple: oly God, who fashioned man from dust and from his rib fashioned woman, and oined her to him as a helpmate for him, for it was seemly unto our Majesty for man not to be alone upon the earth, do ou Yourself Sovereign Lord, stretch forth our hand from Your holy dwelling place, and oin together (hen this is said, the priest joins their right hands) this our Servant (Name) and Your Servant (Name) for by you is a wife joined to her husband. (Harakas, 2005:110) The second stage of the sacrament is the Service of the Crowning where the priest signifies that the holy union be “fruitful” with children and the home. The priest then recites a prayer that describes God as a fashioner as he transformed the rib of dam into a wife: t is stressed that it is not good that man should be alone. et us make a helper fit for him. Taking one of his ribs, Thou didst fashion woman; and when Adam saw her he said: ‘This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called oman, because she was taken out of Man’. The priest then takes the crowns and recalls the martyrs or witnesses of Christ saying the servants of God are crowned to each other in the name of the oly Trinity. The Crowns are a biblical symbol of victory over death. The priest then chants: o you not know that in a race all the runners compete but only one receives the prize So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we are imperishable (1 Cor. 9:24–25). o not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. e faithful unto death, and will give you the crown of life. (Rev. 2:1) The crowns bestowed upon the couple take the couple to martyrdom through marriage as a ritual journey during the singing of the troparion of the oly Martyrs. t is a foundational theme within the rthodox liturgical setting. et, the fundamental liturgical meaning of the blessing is giving 3 RLIGIOUS ACRAMENT AND ACE N THE EK ORTHOOX CHURCH thanks to od for the union of the couple and a public sign within the church that it is a union approved by od ion, :): Be subject to one another out of reverence for hrist. ives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. or the husband is the head of the wife as hrist is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its avior. As the church is subject to hrist, so let wies also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as hrist loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ven so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. or no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as hrist does the church, because we are members of his body. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’. (Ephesians :20–33) rom the ucharist, there is a connection that incorporates the ingdom of od and marriage where the phesians in phesians emphasise the obligation of the marriage bond and the indissolubility of the alliance as legal concepts Harakas, :): On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in alilee, and the mother of Jesus was there esus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine’. And Jesus said to her, ‘O woman, what have you to do with me My hour has not yet come’. His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you’. ow six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water’. And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast’. So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from though the serants who had drawn the water knew, the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Every man serves the good wine first and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine but you have kept the good wine until now’. This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at ana in alilee, and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him.
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