The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (237 page)

Archpriest
.

A title of certain clerics in the
Roman Catholic
and
Orthodox Churches
. From the 5th cent. on, the archpriest was the senior
presbyter
of a city, who might take the
bishop's
place at liturgical functions.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

ARCIC
(
Anglican
/
Roman Catholic
International Commission).

Created by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury in consequence of the Second
Vatican Council's
positive decree on
ecumenism
(1965). From 1971 to 1981 ARCIC produced four agreed statements on
eucharist
, ministry, and
ordination
, and (in two stages) authority. Principles governing the conversations were

(a) avoidance of polemical language inherited from late medieval and 16th-cent. formulas designed to exclude;
(b) avoidance of statements on essential doctrines which could be interpreted in incompatible senses by the two parties.

Although Anglican official endorsement of the agreed statements came reasonably rapidly the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Ratzinger accompanied the publication of the four reports (
Final Report
, 1982) with predominantly negative ‘Observations’. The official Vatican verdict (December 1991) was in tone less negative than the 1982 Observations.
After 1982 ARCIC was continued with largely new members and was increased in size, from 18 to 24. The large agenda assigned to it began with the most intricate of all articles of faith,
Justification
. An agreed statement,
Salvation and the Church
, appeared (1987), followed by
Church as Communion
(1991), and, after further changes in membership, by a statement on moral issues,
Life in Christ: Morals, Communion and the Church
(1994), recognizing differences on divorce and contraception but denying that the issues are church-dividing.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Pañj
b
, ‘petition’ from Persian ‘ar
d
sht). The Sikh Prayer. The Ard
s marks the conclusion of Sikh congregational worship in the
gurdw
r
and is to be repeated daily after the
Rahir
s
and
K
rtan
Sohil
.
The Ard
s is not in the
di Granth, and only the opening passage (concluding with veneration of Gur
Tegh Bah
dur
) is attributable to Gur