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In
our first talk on the Divine Liturgy, I mentioned that it consists of
three parts: The Preparation and office of Oblation, The Liturgy of the
Catechumen and the Liturgy of the faithful. During the past two weeks we
looked at the Preparation and Office of Oblation. Today we begin the
Liturgy of the Catechumen. The Catechumen were those who were preparing to
be baptized, but as yet had not been received as members of the Orthodox
Church. The word comes from the Greek word Κατηχούμενος which means
someone receiving instructions, someone receiving a catechism. They were
allowed and expected to attend the service until just before the reading
of the Creed when the Deacon cries out “The doors, The doors” and at that
moment all the Catechumen had to leave the Church; the doors were closed
and only the faithful, only those who were baptized were allowed to hear
the consecration of the Mysteries that followed. Today we don’t have
Catechumen, or at the least, are very few and are known to the Priest that
we ignore this command to have them leave the Church, but rather allow
them to stay until the end. One must remember that during the first few
centuries of the Church, Baptisms were performed on grown ups, so there
were thousands being instructed in the faith. Usually complete households
were baptized and as new members arrived they would be baptized as
infants. In time with all the adults being already baptized, baptism of
infants prevailed.
So let us begin the Divine Liturgy. The Priest having prepared himself
will give the opening blessing of the Liturgy.
“Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit: now and for ever world without end.”
Every holy rite begins with the doxology: “Blessed is the Kingdom
of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Intercourse with
God consists of thanksgiving, doxology, confession and petition. The first
of these is doxology, because it is fitting that we should not begin
immediately with our petitions, but with glorifying the Lord for his power
and his glory. Doxology has first place in any intercourse with God, but
why does the Priest glorify the threefold nature of God by mentioning the
three Persons of the Holy Trinity, and not just say “Blessed is our God”
as he says for Vespers or Mattins, or just simply “Blessed is the
kingdom”? It is because it was through the Incarnation of the Lord that
man learned that God was three Persons and the Mystery which is being
performed is centred in the Incarnation. The Divine Liturgy is the Mystery
of the presence of Christ. Therefore it is the revelation of the Kingdom
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, because the presence of Christ is the
same Kingdom of God. With our first talk on the Divine Liturgy we
mentioned that the Divine Liturgy transcends our earthly time and becomes
the banquet that the faithful shall enjoy at the Second Coming of Christ.
Christ’s presence at the Divine Liturgy transforms earth to heaven. With
the coming of Christ the door of the Kingdom was opened to man and with
the Divine Liturgy we enter this door of the Kingdom and pre-partake of
her good things. When the Priest gives the opening blessing, he takes up
the Gospel book and makes with it the sign of the cross above the Holy
Altar. So the first words of the Liturgy are a blessing and doxology, but
the first action is a Cross. Why does the Priest at this point make the
sign of the Cross? Because the Cross guides us to the Kingdom of Heaven.
On the Cross hang the King of Glory and whilst on the Cross, the thief who
was crucified on the right said “remember me O Lord in thy Kingdom. Before
the Crucifixion, the Cross was a sign of condemnation and a curse, but now
it has become an object of reverence and honour and is the foundation for
our salvation. Through the Cross we found anew the way that leads to the
Kingdom of God. We mentioned before that the Divine Liturgy transcends our
earthly time and becomes the banquet at the Second Coming of Christ.
Christ said that at the end of time, the Sign of the Son of Man shall
appear in heaven. (St Matthew 24:30-31) The Sign is the Cross, thus we
begin the new age with the Sign of the Cross as a herald pronouncing the
Kingdom. So having said the opening blessing with the sign of the Cross,
the faithful respond with Amen. The word Amen is Hebrew and means let it
be, let it come to pass. We hear it many times during the Liturgy and it
is the respond of the faithful and their participation and seal to what
the Priest has said. By saying Amen, the people agree with the Priest and
make all the petitions the Priest asks for their own, because the Divine
Liturgy is not a work of the Priest alone but a work of all the people.
Immediately after the opening Doxology the Church teaches us the way in
which we should pray.
“In peace let us pray unto the Lord.”
Without peace in our souls we cannot pray, without calmness of the
thoughts we cannot concentrate on the task we have before us. Sin brought
into man and the world confusion and turmoil and this turmoil doesn’t
allow our thoughts to remain in prayer, but as soon as we start praying
our minds begin to fill with other things that we should do or say. Only
inner peace can help us keep our mind and soul on prayer and only Christ
can give us this inner peace.
And so having asked for this inner peace we now ask for a different peace:
“For the Peace from on high and the salvation of our
souls let us pray unto the Lord.”
With the first peace petition the church teaches us how to pray,
with this second petition she now teaches us what we should first ask for:
the peace of God and our salvation. This is how Christ taught us: to first
seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. The salvation of our souls
means the Kingdom of God and the peace from on high signifies the
righteousness of God of which St. Paul says: “the peace of God passeth all
understanding” (Philippians 4:7.) This peace the Lord left with the
Apostles when he ascended to the Father. “Peace I leave with you, my peace
I give unto you”. So first we strive for the peace which is possible among
men and then for the peace which only God can give us. And this is the
beginning of our intercourse with God, because he who is not at peace
cannot pray aright and cannot expect any good to come from his prayer. If
anger disturbs his soul or ill-feeling has driven out peace, his prayer
will not obtain forgiveness of his sins, and still less will he receive
any other grace. Only when we are at peace with ourselves and have
received the peace from on high can we then pray for others.
To every petition the Priest makes, the faithful respond with
“Kyrie eleison or Lord have mercy.” Why does
the Priest ask the people to pray for so many different things and yet the
people always ask for one thing only: for mercy?
To ask for God’s mercy is the same as asking for his Kingdom. Christ said
“First seek ye the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto
you. (St Matthew 6:33)
But how do we know that the Kingdom of God is signified by his mercy?
Christ speaking on the reward of the merciful, in one place says: “Blessed
are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy” and in another place says
that they shall inherit the kingdom of God, thus proving that God’s mercy
and the inheritance of the Kingdom are one and the same thing. Thus the
prayer “Lord have mercy” is sufficient for the faithful, since its
application is general.
So having prayed for inner peace, for Christ like peace, and our salvation
we now turn our prayer to others. The Priest says:
“For the peace and union of the whole world, and for
the good estate of the holy churches of God, let us pray unto the Lord.”
It is natural that we should now remember our fellow human beings
and the whole world which suffers through battles and wars. The faithful
must guard themselves from the dangers and sins of the world, but they are
still members of the great family called the world and thus should take
interest by remembering and praying for the correction and enlightenment
and salvation of the fellow brothers. The Church expresses her ecumenical
spirit of Christian faith and love asking God to stop the wars and
bloodshed and bring unity to all of mankind. The second part of the
petition: “for the good estate of the holy churches of God,” is directed
at our Holy Church which from time to time develops internal problems due
to her being made up of many local churches. At various times we have seen
the Church divided by schismatics and at other times our Clergy have
scandalized the people. Thus with one voice the faithful beseech God to
preserve the Church in the faith so that people may be saved through her.
We next turn our thoughts to our own temple and to the people who have
gathered to pray together.
“For this holy temple and for them that enter
therein with faith, reverence and fear of God, let us pray unto the Lord.”
We pray that God will preserve the temple unshaken and safe from
every kind of desecration and impiety. The temple is for Christians the
sacred place where can be felt the presence of God and has been Sanctified
for the worship of God. For those that enter the temple with faith,
reverence and fear of God we ask that God grant them special graces. But
at the same time it reminds us that we should enter the Church with piety
and decency and our every movement within the Church should manifest our
reverence and fear of God. It reminds us that we should keep silent and
hear the words of the service. Our reverence for the place is also
expressed by the way we dress, because the Church is not a place to have a
fashion show or to show off our wealth.
The Priest continues:
“For our Archbishop [Name], for the honourable order
of priesthood, and for the diaconate which is in Christ, for all the
clergy and the people, let us pray unto the Lord.”
This petition is for all the clergy and the people who belong to flock of
the Metropolitan or Archbishop mentioned. Each Metropolitan Bishop is
called an Archbishop in his own Metropolitan area. He is the Head and
authority of his Church and no other Bishop, not even a Patriarch, can
interfere in the internal running of his area. With the person of the
Bishop we see Christ himself and during the Divine Liturgy he is Christ’s
representative sent to do his work. A Bishop has the responsibility for
his flock and although God grants the Bishop and Priests the grace to
carry out their duties, they do not cease to be men with weaknesses and
illnesses. Therefore we pray for all the Priesthood, that God keep them in
good health, to strengthen them bodily and spiritually so that they can
carry out their duties with love and humility.
“For this city [village, monastery]; for every city
and land, and for them that dwell therein with faith, let us pray unto the
Lord.”
We are now told to turn our thoughts to where we live and to every
city where Christians live. Of course our earthy homes are only temporary
and our thoughts should dwell on our permanent dwellings in the Kingdom of
God, but we should not stop being interested in the well being of all the
inhabitants of the earth and especially our fellow citizens and fellow
Christians of all the earth. Therefore we pray that God preserve all
cities and land, from destruction, pestilence, famine, earthquakes, flood,
fire and the sword, from invasion of enemies, civil war and sudden death.
“For fair seasons and the abundance of the fruits of
the earth, let us pray unto the Lord.”
With this petition we now ask God for his blessing upon all the
earth, to send the rain, the sun, the wind and everything else needed that
we might have good crops and fruit in abundance. In our times when man
continually destroys the natural order of the seasons by destroying the
ozone layer, by interfering with the natural growth of crops, for quick
gains, with fertilizers, insecticides and hormones that help produce
lovely looking fruit, but harmful to our health, we need more than ever
Gods interference and blessing.
“For them that travel by land, by water, by air; for
the sick and the suffering, for those in captivity, And for their
salvation, let us pray unto the Lord.”
This petition is especially touching as we now pray for all those
who travel by various means, for the sick and the suffering, for those in
captivity or prison and cannot be with us at the celebration of the Divine
Liturgy. The dangers of travelling are indeed great, whether it be by car,
train, ship or plane, and we ask God to protect them from all danger
whilst on their journey. We are asked to remember them who are sick, to
remember that many of our fellow men cannot attend Church because of
illness or are in hospital awaiting an operation, but even among the
congregation there are those who have illnesses and suffer greatly or who
are burdened with many problems and have come to find comfort and relief
from their daily suffering, for as Christ said: “Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (St Matthew 11:28)
And we pray for those in captivity or in prison, that for whatsoever
reason they find themselves there, they might, through our prayers, find
the way to God and his Kingdom.
“That He may deliver us from all tribulation, wrath,
danger and necessity, let us pray unto the Lord.”
We now beseech God to deliver us from every kind of suffering and
pain, to protect us from all danger and necessity that has to do with our
bodily and spiritual being.
But tribulations are also seen as medicinal because without them we cannot
grow spiritually. For as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “and that we
must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” (14:22). And
as St. Paul says: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than
pleasant. Later on however, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness
to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)
“Succour, save, have mercy and preserve us, O God,
by Thy grace.”
This last petition varies from all the previous petitions in that
all the previous ended with the Priest asking the people to “pray unto the
Lord.” In this case we ask God to help us, save, have mercy and preserve
us by sending down his grace upon us. Basically with this petition we are
saying that everything in our life depends on the power of God and his
Divine Grace, because Divine Grace is capable of covering and curing all
the spiritual and bodily needs of man.
“Mindful of our most holy and undefiled, most
blessed and glorious Lady, Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, and of all
the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life
to Christ our God.”
To commend ourselves and our whole life to God is not something
easily done. It is not given to all to commend themselves to God and to
place themselves in his care. For the words of commendation are not in
themselves enough, it is also necessary that God should accept us. And we
need assurance of this acceptance before we can concern ourselves only
with the things of God. Do we have enough faith to abandon all anxiety for
our own affairs and to confidently commit everything into God’s hands?
Since this matter requires so much wisdom and thought, we do not make this
commendation until we have first summoned to our aid the Most Holy Mother
of God and all the saints and then after this we commend ourselves and our
lives to God to be placed in his keeping.
To this the faithful reply “To thee O Lord.”
In other words we are in total agreement with what the Church is asking us
to do. To give ourselves totally to the guidance and caring providence of
God: to accept without hesitations, complaints and moaning everything God
will allow to happen to us whether it be pleasing or unpleasing to us.
Then the Priest will read the prayer of the first antiphon silently:
“O Lord our God, whose might is ineffable; whose
glory passeth all understanding; whose mercy is infinite; whose love
toward mankind is beyond utterance: do Thou, O Sovereign Lord, of Thy
compassion look down upon us, and upon this holy temple; and bestow upon
us, and upon them that now make their supplications with us, Thy bountiful
goodness and mercy.”
God’s power and love for mankind cannot be expressed with human
words; his mercy cannot be measured by human standards; his glory cannot
be understood by the human mind. We acknowledge that God is beyond all
human reasoning, but we also know that his love for us is not contained
within barriers, because it was for us and for our salvation that he took
upon himself the flesh of man and suffered all for our sakes. Therefore in
his compassion for us, we beseech him to look upon us and to grant us
everything we have asked of him.
The Priest then says aloud the doxology to the prayer:
“For unto Thee belong all glory, honour and worship,
unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Spirit, now and for
ever: world without end.”
Here we are confessing our belief that God is one in his nature,
for unto Thee is in the singular tense, but at the same time we confess
that God is Triune in his Hypostasis, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and
to each Person belongs all glory honour and worship.
It reminds us of the doxology mentioned in the book of Revelations whereby
the angels approached the throne of God: “Saying, Amen: Blessing, and
glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be
unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.” (Revelation 7:12)
Next follows the singing of the first of three Antiphons. The Antiphons
are Psalms from the Old testament and they are called Antiphons because in
the early Church they were sung by the people who divided into two groups,
each singing a verse in turn. The word literally means to voice a response
which is what the two choirs do. There are two traditions to singing the
Antiphons. The first and most ancient is to sing the complete Psalm which
is rather lengthy. The First Antiphon is Psalm 102. This is rarely heard
today except in some monasteries. Instead we now hear the shorter
Antiphons that were sung on Great feast. We have not entirely removed the
Psalm from the Liturgy but use various verses from it between each singing
of “By the Prayers of the Mother of God.”
Thus today we sing:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within
me, bless His holy Name.
By the Prayers of the Mother of God, Saviour, save us.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.
By the Prayers of the Mother of God, Saviour, save us.
The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth
all.
By the Prayers of the Mother of God, Saviour, save us.”
But what is the meaning of the Antiphons, why do we at this point
of the Liturgy sing Psalms from the Old Testament? The Divine Liturgy in
its totality is the Mystery of the life of Christ. Each part of the
Liturgy takes us to a certain period in Christ’s life. Thus the Antiphons
represent the first stage of Christ’s appearance on earth, when he was not
yet known by the multitudes; when he was in the world but the world knew
him not, that is to say, the period before John the Baptist, before the
lamp was lit. At that time, he still had need of the prophetic writings.
But after He whose coming had been foretold appeared, he no longer needed
the prophets. John the Baptist witnessed to his presence and pointed him
out as the Lamb of God and the person whom the prophecies spoke about. So
with the singing of the Psalms we relive the time of the Baptist who
prepared the way of the Lord. The Psalms do the work of the Baptist they
prepare the way of the Lord and call us to receive him.
After the First Antiphon, we again make three petitions to the Lord.
“Again and again in peace, let us pray unto the
Lord.”
“Succour, save, have mercy and preserve us, O God, by Thy grace.”
“Mindful of our most holy and undefiled, most blessed and glorious Lady,
Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, and of all the saints, let us commend
ourselves and one another, and our whole life to Christ our God.”
This is not a repeat of the previous petitions. The Divine Liturgy
is man’s journey to meet with God. With each step that we take closer to
God we seek for new experiences of his grace, for God’s grace is without
limits.
Now as before, the Priest says silently the prayer of the Second Antiphon:
“O Lord our God, save Thy people, and bless Thine
inheritance. Preserve the fullness of Thy Church. Sanctify them that love
the habitation of Thy house. Do Thou by Thy divine power exalt them unto
glory; and forsake us not who put our trust in Thee.
For Thine is the might, and Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and for ever:
world without end.”
Here we ask God to save and bless the faithful Christians who are
his beloved people, separated from the rest of the world and given to
Christ the Head of the Church as an inheritance. Again we ask that he
preserve every member of the Church and to sanctify all those that love
and work for the bright and good appearance of the temple and to reward
them with glory, and lastly not to forget and abandon us who have placed
all our hopes and trust in him.
The choir now sings the Second Antiphon. The Second Antiphon is the
singing of Psalm 145, but as with the First Antiphon, we rarely hear the
complete Psalm, but use various verses from it between each singing of the
Easter Antiphon “Save us, O Son of God, Thou who art risen from the dead,
who sing to Thee, Alleluia.” We use the Easter Antiphon for Sundays
because each Sunday is the feast of the Resurrection. On weekdays, instead
of saying Thou who art risen from the dead, we say
“Thou who art wonderful in the saints.” The word Alleluia is
Hebrew and means praise the Lord.
Then follows the Hymn:
“O Only-begotten Son and word of God, O Thou who art
Immortal, yet for our salvation didst deign to be incarnate of the holy
Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, and without change was made man. O
Christ, our God, who was crucified for us, and by death didst overcome
death. Being one of the Holy Trinity, glorified together with the Father,
and the Holy Ghost, save us.”
The hymn is
said to have been written by the Emperor of Byzantium Justinian who ruled
during the 6th century. The last two words of the hymn
“Save us” are basically what we are seeking
for; the rest is a theological statement of who Christ is. It acknowledges
that Christ is the Immortal Son and Word of God, the Second Person of the
Holy Trinity who to save mankind became himself a man by taking flesh from
the Virgin Mary without changing his Divine nature and by his death on the
Cross overcame death.
Then we repeat the three petitions which begin with:
“Again and again in peace, let us pray unto the
Lord.”
But as we said before we are not repeating ourselves but with each
step that we take closer to God we seek for new experiences of his grace.
After the petitions the Priest again says silently the prayer of the Third
Antiphon:
“O Thou who hast given us grace with one accord to
make our common supplications unto Thee; and dost promise that when two or
three are gathered together in Thy name Thou wilt grant their request:
fulfil now, O Lord, the petitions of Thy servants, as may be most
expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of Thy truth, and
in the world to come life everlasting.
For Thou, O God, art good and loving-kind, and to Thee we ascribe glory,
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever:
world without end.”
We are now reminding the Lord of what he has promised: “That if two
of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it
shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
(Matthew 18:19-20) We are asking him to keep his promise and now fulfil it
by granting us our petitions which are to our spiritual benefit.
Having finished the Prayer, the choir will now sing the Third Antiphon.
Today this is usually the hymn of the day, for example: we are now still
in the Easter Period so we sing Christ is risen. But in past times the
choir sung the Beatitudes which we usually sing during our English
Liturgy. The first two Antiphons represented the period before John the
Baptist started to preach, before Christ publicly appeared to the
multitudes. The Third antiphon now represents Christ showing himself to
the World. He comes to John the Baptist to be baptized and John testifies
that he is the Christ the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the
world. God the Father also testifies that “Thou art my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.” After this Christ fasted and was tempted for
forty days and then gave his first sermon. The sermon is known as the
Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes were part of that first sermon.
Very appropriately they are now sung by the choir as the Priest lifts up
the Gospel Book to make the Little Entrance. The raising of the Gospel
symbolizes the manifestation of Christ for the Gospel always represents
Christ in person. The Little Entrance is a central point in the Divine
Liturgy. In times of Old this was the actual beginning of the Liturgy.
This was the time when the Bishop entered the Church and his appearance
was an image and type of Christ appearing to the world. This is where we
will finish for today and start with at our next meeting.
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