Begin Your Journey With Introduction To Liturgical Theology Designed And Illustrated By Alexander Schmemann In Electronic Format

writer and thinker. Helps his readers connect deeply to litrugy, Fr. Alexander's introduction to Liturgical Theology reads like as much like a textbook as the title makes it sounds, Regardless of the essay's form, however, Fr, Alexander's writing remains true to the title and provides a very comprehensive and thorough introduction of the Church's Ordo and it's development from Apostolic times up until the "Byzantine Synthesis.
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Of particular importance is his definition of Liturgical Theology as it relates to the ontology and actualization of the Church, the "what" of the Liturgy as contrasted with the "how" of liturgics.
This living connection between the Ordo of the Church with the Body of Christ itself both the Eucharist and the Church also displays a greater sense of contemplation and devotion to liturgics from Fr.
Alexander than has come out of the recent "liturgical crisis" in the West and East, to a lesser extent, with a focus on the rubrics of the order taking greater precedence.


I would recommend this book to anyone interested in tracing the history and development not of a particular liturgy but of the Church's Ordo as a whole and the place of both the Eucharist and Time in the life of the Church.
Fr Alexander had some very salient things to say in many of his books, especially considering when they were written and the state spiritually, and of the Church in America in general of those to whom he wrote.
This is not one of those books, Helpful on early Christian liturgy accompanied by Eastern Orthodox oddities and confusion, The classic work on the subject by the classic author on the subject, delightfully fun, A great introduction to liturgy, though somewhat caught in the controversies of his time, However, Schmemann makes a good case that the early Christian liturgies derive essentially from Judaism, the Temple and in particular the synagogue not from the pagan mysteries.
A good read for someone new to liturgy, In this work Fr Schmemann defines liturgical theology, noting especially its progress beyond "liturgics, " This book is true to its title, the reading is fairly fast, and not as technical, of course the reader will still need to go over some parts a couple of times.


He stresses a lot, the awareness/consciousness regarding the early theology of time, the sacrament of the gathering, and the Eucharistic worship as the actualization of the Church's true being and nature.
Then follows ups its developments up until the late Byzantine period when the liturgy Typikon to be more precise was consolidated with its minor variations, the author touches on the forces that influenced its development and how much or little in each force the originalmentioned above were preserved.
The author also briefly touches on the state of affair regarding liturgical worship in the time he was writing this book,

Whether you are a nonorthodox, and convert into orthodoxy, or a cradle orthodox this book is going to tackle down some presuppositions, Helpful eastern Orthodox historical survey of early church liturgical development, Misleading title. It is not an introduction to what liturgical is, but rather a variation on the theme of "different aspects of the early church sometimes doing "liturgy" and with a few slams against the neoPatristic movement and all things perceived to be western in the church.
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Still, some interesting quotes by Maximus and Dionysius, This book has been roundly

criticized for portraying the Eastern liturgy as subject to a process of historical development, rather than simply presenting it as a divinely inspired whole.
Funny that's why I liked it, Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann was a prominent Eastern Orthodox theologian and priest of the Orthodox Church in America, .