tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75407602096301297032024-02-20T11:45:16.058-08:00Meditations on TarotAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08257430965157419817noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7540760209630129703.post-60048643963714220172012-04-13T21:48:00.001-07:002012-04-28T20:23:11.696-07:00Disciplina Arcani<br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><b>Disciplina Arcani</b> or <i>Discipline of the Secret</i> or <i>Discipline of the Arcane</i>, is a theological term used to describe the custom which prevailed in Early Christianity, whereby knowledge of the more intimate mysteries of the Christian religion was carefully kept from non-Christians and even from those who were undergoing instruction in the faith.The idea of a <i>disciplina arcani</i>, a law imposing silence upon Christians with respect to their rites and doctrines, has been well-studied in the past century.Some</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 10px; white-space: nowrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">state that a nucleus of oral teaching was inherited from Palestinian and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif;">Hellenistic Judaism</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"> and formed the basis of a secret oral tradition in the early stages of Christianity. This nucleus of oral teachings (which reflected older traditions and which can be shown to form the background of both </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif;">Jewish Christian</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif;">Gnostic</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"> conceptions),</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 10px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">formed what came to be called </span><i style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">disciplina arcani</i><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"> in the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif;">4th century</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">.</span><br />
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<span class="mw-headline" id="Disciplina_Arcani_in_the_early_stages_of_Christianity">Disciplina Arcani in the early stages of Christianity</span></h2>
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<span class="editsection" style="float: right; margin-left: 5px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">The Object of the Discipline</span></span></h2>
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">It is characteristic of the <i>disciplina</i> that the subject of the silence was not the dogma and the sacramental gift, but the elements and the ritual performance.</span><span style="line-height: 10px;"> </span>Origen<span style="line-height: 19px;">, in </span><i style="line-height: 19px;">Contra Celsum</i><span style="line-height: 19px;">, argues that it is the doctrine of the Christians, and not only their rites, which should be secret in character.</span><span style="line-height: 13px;"> </span><span style="line-height: 19px;">Even if the elements of ritual performance, such as </span><i style="line-height: 19px;">missa fidelium</i><span style="line-height: 19px;"> and other Christian rites were under the </span><i style="line-height: 19px;">disciplina arcani</i><span style="line-height: 19px;"> during the early stages of Christianity (especially during the 3rd-4th century), nobody at the present time can definitively state which other subjects comprised the </span><i style="line-height: 19px;">disciplina</i><span style="line-height: 19px;">. Indeed, </span>Origen<span style="line-height: 19px;">, </span>Clement of Alexandria<span style="line-height: 19px;">, </span>Tertullian<span style="line-height: 19px;">,</span>St. Basil<span style="line-height: 19px;">, St. </span>Ambrose of Milan<span style="line-height: 19px;"> and many other </span>Church Fathers<span style="line-height: 19px;"> of early Christianity mention an "oral tradition," as in St. Basil's appeal to the "unwritten tradition" in</span><i style="line-height: 19px;">de Spiritu Sancto</i><span style="line-height: 19px;">:</span></div>
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"Of the dogmata and <i>kerygmata</i>, which are kept in the Church, we have some from the written teaching (εκ της εγγραφου διδασκαλιας), and some we derive from the Apostolic tradition, which had been handed down <i>en mistirio</i> (εν μυστηριω). And both have the same strength (την αυτην ισχυν) in the matters of piety. [...] They come from the silent and mystical tradition, from the unpublic and ineffable teaching".</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></h2>
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<span class="editsection" style="float: right; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 5px;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">References</span></span></h2>
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<li id="cite_note-0" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>^</b> The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V. Published 1909. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, May 1, 1909</li>
<li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>^</b> G.G. Stroumsa, <i>Hidden Wisdom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism</i> (Studies in the History of Religions), Paperback, 2005</li>
<li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>^</b> Frommann, <i>De Disciplina Arcani in vetere Ecclesia christiana obticuisse fertur</i>, Jena 1833</li>
<li id="cite_note-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>^</b> G.G. Stroumsa, <i>Hidden Wisdom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism</i> (Studies in the History of Religions), Paperback, 2005</li>
<li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>^</b> E. Hatch, <i>The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church</i>, chap. x., London, 1890</li>
<li id="cite_note-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>^</b> Schaff Philip, <i>New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge</i>, Vol. I: Aachen - Basilians, 1819-1893</li>
<li id="cite_note-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>^</b> Origen, <i>Contra Celsum</i>, (1,1)</li>
<li id="cite_note-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b>^</b> St. Basil, <i>de Spiritu Sancto</i>, 66</li>
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<span class="editsection" style="float: right; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 5px;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Basic Bibliography</span></span></h2>
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17th-19th century texts on <i>Disciplina Arcani</i></div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">G. T. Meier, <i>De recondita veteris ecclesiæ theologia</i>, Helmstedt, 1670;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">E. von Schelstrate, <i>Antiquitas illustrata circa concilia generalia et provincialia and Commentatio de s. Antiocheno concilio</i>, Antwerp, 1678, 1681;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">W. E. Tentzel, <i>Exercitationes selectæ</i>, ii., Leipsic, 1692, contains Tentzel’s <i>Dissertatio de disciplina arcani</i>, 1683;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Schelstrate, <i>Dissertatio apologetica de disciplina arcani contra disputationem E. Tentzelii''</i>, 1685;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">G. C. L. T. Frommann, <i>De disciplina arcani</i>, Jena, 1833;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">R. Rothe, <i>De disciplinæ arcani origine</i>, Heidelberg, 1841;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">K. A. Credner, <i>in the Jenaer allgemeine Litteraturzeitung</i>, 1844;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">T. Harnack, <i>Der christliche Gemeindegottesdienst im apostolischen und altkatholischen Zeitalter</i>, pp. 1–66, Erlangen, 1854;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">G. von Zezschwitz, <i>System der Katechetik</i>, i. 154-209, Leipsic, 1863;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">E. Hatch, <i>The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian Church</i>, chap. x., London, 1890;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">G. Anrich, <i>Das antike Mysterienwesen in seinem Einfluss auf das Christentum</i>, Göttingen, 1894;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">G. Wobbermin, <i>Religionsgeschichtliche Studien zur Frage der Beeinflussung des Urchristentums durch das antike Mysterienwesen</i>, Berlin, 1896;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">P. Batiffol, <i>Études d’histoire et de théologie positive'</i>, Paris, 1902;</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">H. Gravel, <i>Die Arkandisciplin</i>, part i., Münster, 1902.</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">K. von Eckartshausen, "The Cloud Upon The Sanctuary" 1752 / 1803</li>
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