EVANGELIZATION AND CONFESSION THROUGH WORSHIP
EVANGELIZATION AND CONFESSION THROUGH WORSHIP

Summary/Abstract: The fundamental importance of worship derives from its very nature: it is not a mere spectacle or a symbolic remembrance, but a real, sacramental actualization of the central events of salvation. Through the Holy Mysteries, through its prayers, songs, symbols and its profoundly theological structure, worship becomes the means by which divine grace is poured out on the faithful and on the whole of creation. It is at the same time an act of public confession of the faith, a universal language of the Church and a true form of evangelization, addressed not only to the initiated, but also to the whole world. Moreover, Orthodox worship, through its fidelity to Tradition and its symbolic and theological depth, preserves unaltered the link with the apostolic Church and with the liturgical experience of the first Christian communities. This continuity does not signify stagnation or immobility, but reflects its organic, living and current character, capable of responding to the spiritual needs of contemporary man. To ignore or minimize the role of worship in the life of the Church is to dilute the very essence of the Orthodox faith and to weaken the bond between the faithful and the living Tradition of the Church. On the contrary, by cultivating a correct, profound and lived understanding of worship, the Church can fulfil her mission of evangelization, witness and sanctification, remaining faithful to her call and responding to the challenges of the modern world.

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