by Fr. Jonathan H. Cholcher
Introduction
The classical Greek word leitourgia (liturgy) refers to public works, or duties, performed on behalf of the organized society of people, often religious in nature. Thus in the organized society of God’s people according to the Old Covenant in Israel fulfilled in the New Covenant of the Christian Church, liturgy refers especially to the services of the worship of God (see Num. 4, et al.). In the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, the High Priest Jesus Christ is called the “Liturgist of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected,” the sanctuary and tabernacle made “according to the pattern shown” to Moses on Mount Sinai when the Old Covenant was ratified. Jesus Christ “has obtained a more excellent liturgy, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant,” that is, the New Covenant in His blood, given at the Lord’s Supper of Holy Communion (Heb. 8; Lk. 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26).
The Orthodox Divine Liturgy is the principal service of the worship of God culminating in Holy Communion, participation in the very Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, the realization of the faithfuls’ relationship with God the Holy Trinity and each other in the unity of faith, hope, and love. The Divine Liturgy was given by Christ to His apostles as the fulfillment of the prior worship of God among the Jewish people (see Lk. 4:16; 22:15-16), and the Christ-taught apostles in turn passed the Divine Liturgy on to succeeding generations of Christians down to the present day (see Acts 2:42; 13:2-3; 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-26).
- The Proskomidia (Preparation)
Before the formal beginning of the Divine Liturgy, the Priest performs the Proskomidia, or Preparation, of the bread and wine to be changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Leavened bread (Gk., artos; Matt. 26:26; Jn. 6:35) is cut from a loaf and placed on the plate (diskos); this bread is known as the Lamb, as it will become the very Body of “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). Dark red, sweet wine is poured into the cup (chalice) along with some water (cf. Jn. 19:34; 1 Jn. 5:5-6). The diskos and chalice are covered and remain on the Table of Preparation until taken to the Altar at the Great Entrance during the Liturgy.
- “Blessed is the Kingdom”
After censing the entire Church with incense signifying the “pure offering” about to be served (Gen. 8:20-21; Mal. 1:11), the Priest begins the Liturgy with the exclamation of God’s name: “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The Divine Liturgy is the manifestation of the Kingdom of God among human beings, the revelation of God the Father’s dominion in the Son and the Holy Spirit given in Holy Baptism (Ps. 102:19-22; Matt. 12:28; 28:16-20; Lk. 22:29-30; Col. 1:12-13).
- Litanies and Antiphons
The Church gathers for Liturgy first of all in “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks” for all the sorts and conditions of mankind (1 Tim. 2:1-2), and “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). Litany (Gk.) means “entreaty” (2 Macc. 3:20), and each particular petition of the litanies is confirmed with the comprehensive response: “Lord, have mercy,” entrusting all our needs to the compassionate and patient will of God (Ps. 50:3).
Antiphons are Psalms and hymns sung in an alternating style, either between two choirs, or as verses with a response. This type of singing was introduced into the service of Liturgy by St. Ignatius of Antioch (+107), a contemporary with the Apostles.
- The Little Entrance with the Gospel Book
The Priest, or Deacon, takes the Gospel Book which rests on the Altar and carries it out of the Sanctuary in procession through the side door of the Icon-screen (Iconostasis) completing a circuit and stopping before the open Holy Doors (in middle of the Icon-screen). The Priest exclaims: “Wisdom! Let us attend!” entering the Sanctuary and placing the Gospel Book back on the Altar as the People sing: “O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ…” (see Ps. 94:1-7). This is called the Little Entrance. The hymns of the day, troparia and kontakia, are sung immediately following the Entrance with the Gospel Book.
In the ancient Church, the Divine Liturgy began with the Bishop, Priests, and Deacons entering the house of worship carrying the articles for worship with them: the Gospel Book, the censer, the Diskos and Chalice (for Communion), etc. Psalms and hymns were sung by the faithful awaiting the arrival of the Bishop and the beginning of the Liturgy, but the Entrance with the Gospel Book (the Word and Son of God) signaled the reason for gathering as the Church.
The Trisagion (“thrice-holy”) hymn is sung: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us,” an expansion of the hymn of the seraphim (Isa. 6:3) sung later at the Anaphora before Holy Communion. Here at the commencement of the Divine Liturgy, we confess God the Holy Trinity “who is wondrous in His saints” (Ps. 67:36), both men and angels who await His word and command.
- The Readings and Sermon
The word of God from the Scriptures is read, introduced by Psalm verses and the exclamation: Alleluia (Aramaic, meaning “praise the Lord”). Today during Liturgy we read from a New Testament epistle (letter), and from the four Gospels, appointed to be read throughout the year according to the various seasons of the Church calendar, e.g., Lent, Holy Week, Pascha, Pentecost, etc. Readings from the Old Testament take place generally on the eves of feasts and saint days, during the service of Vespers (lit., Evening).
A sermon, or exhortation (Acts 13:15; Heb. 13:22), follows the Readings to explain the meaning of what is read as applied to the lives of the faithful. The sermon preaches the Good News (Gospel) of salvation in Christ, and teaches the truth of God for repentance, faith, and love in keeping of the commandments of Christ (Matt. 28:20; Jn. 15:10; 1 Cor. 7:19).
With the Readings and Sermon, the first half of the Divine Liturgy concludes as a unit basically taken from the synagogue service familiar to Christ and His apostles (cf. Lk. 4:16; Jn. 6:59; Acts 13:14-15; 17:1-3). From ancient Jewish sources, the order of the synagogue service at the time of Christ was as follows:
- recitation of the Shema (“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One…”[Deut. 6:4f.] ; a Creed);
- prayers/benedictions led by one appointed, to which the people responded: “Amen” (Heb., it is true);
- reading from the Torah (Law of Moses) arranged in a three-year cycle of 154 sections;
- a reading from the Old Testament historical books or prophets;
- an instructional address;
- a closing blessing.
This basic order is retained and fulfilled in the first part of the Christian Liturgy.
- The Litanies and Great Entrance
Next come a series of Litanies for specific needs: the Long, or Fervent, Supplication in which persons are mentioned by name; for the Departed (not said on Sundays); for the Catechumens (lit., those being instructed for Baptism and entrance into Communion with the Church); for the Faithful who are approaching for Holy Communion. The ancient Liturgy calls for the dismissal of the Catechumens after praying for them, because only the faithful baptized remained who were preparing to receive Holy Communion. Today this dismissal is not typically said – “All catechumens depart” – because no one is escorted out of the Liturgy.
These Litanies signal a transition in the service, a drawing nearer to the destination of the journey toward God in His heavenly kingdom, and a closer gathering together of those prepared to partake of His Table (see Matt. 22:12-13).
A cloth on the Altar is unfolded for what follows. This cloth is called an antimension (lit., instead of the table) because it is signed by the Bishop of the Church, confirming his blessing upon the Liturgy served in unity with the other Orthodox churches; it is there instead of the Bishop’s physical presence at each Liturgy.
The Priest censes the Sanctuary, Icon-screen, and People during the singing of the Cherubic Hymn: “Let us who mystically represent the cherubim (a kind of angel; Ez. 1), and who sing the thrice-holy hymn to the life-creating Trinity, now lay aside all earthly cares.” He picks up the Diskos (bread) and Chalice (wine) from the Table of Preparation and carries them in procession out of the side door in the Icon-screen completing a circuit to stand before the Holy Doors facing the people; there the Priest commemorates the Bishops of the Church, the civil authorities of the country, and the people, before placing the Diskos and Chalice on the Altar. The people complete the Cherubic Hymn: “That we may receive the King of all who comes invisible upborne by the angelic hosts. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”
The transfer of the Gifts (the bread and wine) from the Table of Preparation to the Altar was originally a simple action done by the Deacons of the Church who also selected and prepared them prior to the Liturgy. This simple action expanded into a procession as churches became more extensive in size and capacity to include all gathered for the Liturgy in the action.
- The Litany of Preparation and the Creed
The Litany of Preparation, which is repeated again before the Lord’s Prayer and reception of Holy Communion, here petitions the “completion” (or, fulfillment) of our prayer to the Lord. The Liturgy is a path of perfection, fulfillment, and arriving at the destination of the journey of faith in Christ. “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as Your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). “Till we all come to unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
Then the Creed is announced: “Let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess…” “Love is the bond of perfection” (Col. 3:14). “I (Jesus) in [those who believe in Christ], and You (Father) in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (Jn. 17:23). The Creed: “I believe in one God…” is a profession of the love of the true God, the Holy Trinity, both for Him who created and saved us, and for all people who live according to His love in the Church.
The Creed of the Orthodox Church is the standard confession of Faith in God the Holy Trinity appointed for the Church as agreed by the Bishops at the 1st and 2nd ecumenical (world-wide) councils in the years 325 and 381 respectively. Other creeds such as the commonly called Apostles’ and Athanasian Creeds, while perfectly Orthodox in content, are not used in the Orthodox Church because they were local creeds not adopted for use in the entire Church. Recitation of the Creed in the Liturgy was included in the 6th century to reaffirm the Faith weekly, whereas before that, the Creed was always confessed as it still is today in the services for Holy Baptism.
- The Anaphora Prayers
Anaphora (Gk.) means an “offering-up,” that is, a sacrifice of praise and thanks to God (see Ps. 50:21; Heb. 13:15). An initial dialogue bids us to “lift up our hearts” (Col. 3:2; Matt. 6:19-21). Our thanksgiving joins that of the angelic host in ceaseless praise to God the Holy Trinity: “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord of Sabaoth (Heb., hosts/armies)!…Hosanna (Heb., Lord, save us) in the highest!” – see Isa. 6:2-3; Ps. 117:25-26. This is a thanksgiving to God the Father outlining His plan of salvation for us in His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, always including and culminating in Christ’s words at the Lord’s Supper over the Bread and Wine: “Take, eat, this is My Body…Drink of it, all of you, this is My Blood of the New Testament” (Matt. 26:26-28; Mk. 14:22-24; Lk. 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-25).
The two common Anaphora Prayers used in the Orthodox Church were composed by St. Basil the Great (d. 379) and St. John Chrysostom (d. 407). The longer version of St. Basil was commonly used at Sunday Liturgies throughout the Church until the 11th or 12th centuries, eventually yielding to the shorter version of St. John Chrysostom. The Anaphora Prayers of St. Basil are now appointed 10 times a year: on the 5 Sundays of Great Lent; the evening (Vesperal) Liturgies of Holy Thursday and Saturday, and the eves of Christmas and Theophany (Dec. 25 and Jan. 6); and on St. Basil Day (Jan. 1).
From the earliest times of the Church, the Anaphora Prayers were said by the Bishop presiding at the Liturgy “according to his ability according to the pattern” taught him (see St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, and St. Hippolytus of Rome, The Apostolic Tradition, 10.3-4). Thus the Anaphora Prayers manifest the essence of apostolic teaching delivered in unbroken succession from Christ Jesus to His apostles to each generation of bishops to the present day.
This apostolic teaching is God’s plan of salvation in Christ which is God’s promised salvation (salvation history) fulfilled in the Person of Jesus Christ, the God-Man, and given to the faithful in His Body and Blood. The 12 apostles learned this model narrative (Heb., hagaddah) which is a remembrance in action (Gk., anamnēsis) from Christ Himself when He instituted the Liturgy of Holy Communion at the time of the Jewish Passover (see Lk. 22:15-16; Ex. 13:8-10; Deut. 8:10, 18; 1 Cor. 5:7; 11:23-26). “Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, in behalf of all and for all” (1 Chr. 29:14). Now in the Liturgy Christ “gathers together in one all things” in Himself, and He “fills all in all…for the life of the world” (Eph. 1:10, 23; Jn. 6:51).
- The Epiklēsis and Commemoration of the Saints
The Priest prays to God the Father: “Send down Thy Holy Spirit upon us and upon these Gifts here offered…And make this Bread the Precious Body of Thy Christ…And that which is in this Cup, the Precious Blood of Thy Christ.” We “call upon” (Gk., epiklēsis) the Holy Spirit to accomplish the change of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, as the Holy Spirit has changed and gathered sinners to be the holy People of God.
By the Holy Spirit the Son of God was conceived and made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary (Lk. 1:35; Jn. 1:14). By the Holy Spirit human beings are baptized and become members of the Body of Christ, the Church, in which the Holy Spirit now dwells (Rom. 8:11, 14-15; 1 Cor. 12:12-13). By the Holy Spirit the Bread and Wine become the Body and Blood of Christ – “The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life” (Jn. 6:55, 63).
Importantly, together with the Body and Blood of Christ, we commemorate all the faithful in the Body of Christ, the Church, who have partaken and continue to partake of the one Bread (Body) and Cup (Blood), Holy Communion (1 Cor. 10:16-17). This, too, is accomplished by the Holy Spirit at every Liturgy. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen” (2 Cor. 13:14).
- The Lord’s Prayer – Holy Family
The Litany just prior to Holy Communion ends in the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven…” Our Lord teaches us to pray for what we truly need, and these needs are comprehended in this one prayer pertaining to our relationship as children of our heavenly God the Father in the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. With our minds already set on high, above mere temporal concerns, we prepare to receive the Bread of Life present before us. “Our aim is not just to live but to live for God” (St. Maximus the Confessor, On the Lord’s Prayer), especially in the reception of Holy Communion.
So the Priest lifts up the Body of Christ: “The Holy Things for the Holy (ones)!” to which the People respond: “One is Holy! One is the Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father! Amen.” The Priest then breaks the Lamb (consecrated Bread) into four pieces, placing one piece of the Body of Christ in the Chalice (Blood of Christ), and adding boiling-hot water to the Chalice as the Body and Blood of Christ are warm, that is, full of the Holy Spirit and alive and enlivening those with faith. The remaining pieces of the Lamb are divided by hand or cut with a spear (knife) into smaller pieces and added to the Chalice for the Communion of the Faithful. [The Clergy – Deacons, Priests, and Bishops – first receive the Body of Christ from their hands, and drink the Blood of Christ from the Chalice.]
- Communion of the Faithful
Before receiving Holy Communion all now confess their sins with the prayer: “I believe, O Lord, and I confess…Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant.” Bringing out the Chalice, the Priest exclaims: “In the fear of God, and with faith (and love), draw near.” No unrepented sin before God, or grievance with another person (see Matt. 5:23-24), should exist for those coming to receive Holy Communion from the one Cup. Rather, the very reason for gathering at the Divine Liturgy is because we believe in Christ to forgive us our sins enabling us truly to live in love with God and all other people. Reception of Holy Communion manifests this unity of faith “in deed and in truth” (1 Jn. 3:18).
The Priest administering Communion calls each communicant “by name” as sheep in the “one flock” of the “one Shepherd” (Jn. 10:3, 16). Only Orthodox Christians baptized and chrismated into the one Body of the Church are given Holy Communion because all admitted to the Table of Christ are called and preserve a place there as living members of the one family of God (see Matt. 22:11-13; Eph. 2:19-22; 4:4-6; Rev. 19:7-9; 22:14-15). The unbaptized and persons living in an unrepentant or heretical manner divided from Christ by open falsehood are not given Holy Communion (see Rom. 16:17-18; 1 Cor. 5:9-11; Titus 3:10-11).
Each communicant is given the Body and Blood of Christ together on a spoon, a practice dating from the Middle Ages to minimize spillage when communing greater numbers of people at one Liturgy. In the Orthodox Church, all the baptized faithful receive Holy Communion regardless of age, “For the promise is to you and to your children…continu[ing] steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine, the communion, the breaking of bread, and the prayers” (Acts 2:39, 42).
- Thanksgiving after Communion
One word in the ancient Church was used to describe the entire service of the Divine Liturgy, namely, Eucharist (Gk., Evcharistia). Eucharist means “thanksgiving.” Having now received the very Body and Blood of Christ in Communion with all the faithful, we give thanks for our actual reception of Christ Jesus in the flesh. Our thanksgiving after Communion reiterates the grace to bear the fruits of that Communion in our lives: “that the whole day may be perfect, holy, peaceful, and sinless…Make straight our path; strengthen us all in Thy fear; guard our life; make firm our steps.” “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thes. 4:3). Having become “partakers (that is, communicants) of the divine nature…make your call and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:4, 10).
- Prayer Behind the Ambon and Dismissal
“Let us depart in peace.” The Old Latin Liturgy used these words: Ita missa est (from which the word Mass is derived), “And so, he/she is sent.” Called out of the world into the Church (Gk., ekklēsia, lit., “assembly’) for the Divine Liturgy, we now return to the world fortified with Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit. “You are the light of the world,” says Christ, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:14, 16). “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth)” (Eph. 5:8-9).
The Priest says the Prayer Behind (or, before) the Ambon (raised step/platform leading to the Sanctuary and Altar), on the same level as the People in the Nave (main part) of the Church. The very architecture of the Church building reveals our liturgical journey through this life: out of the world through the entryway (Narthex), into the main gathering of the People of God (Nave, lit., ship), and finally to the Kingdom of heaven (Sanctuary/Altar). Here at the Dismissal to the Liturgy, the reverse motion takes place as we return to our lives in the world with the blessing of God until gathering once again for the Divine Liturgy.
- Conclusion
The meaning, purpose, and benefit of the Divine Liturgy are realized in the experience of the Liturgy. “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk. 11:28). The Divine Liturgy is a treasure laid up in heaven (Matt. 6:20; 13:52), an inexhaustible source of life and salvation, because it is the New Covenant of God the Holy Trinity with His people.
