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Introduction to the Divine
Liturgy
Rev. George Mastrantonis
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Divine
Liturgy -- Most Ancient Service
THE DIVINE
LITURGY is considered the most significant ancient Christian service, not so
much for its phrasing and words
as for its meaning. In fact, the Divine Liturgy was in practice right after
the descent of the Holy Spirit on the
Disciples of Christ on the 50th day after His Resurrection, as the sacred
writer of the Acts of the Apostles records
(Acts 2:46 ff). The Divine Liturgy in its swaddlings at the beginning of the
Christian era consisted of free hymns and
prayers for the officiating of a certain framework of faith. It was
officiated long before the beginning of the
writings of the New Testament. The Divine Liturgy as such was the center of
the inspiration of the first Christians in
their communion with God and with one another.
In upper rooms
and catacombs the Apostles and later the Presbyters and Bishops of the
primitive Christian Church
offered the Divine Liturgy for its sacred Mysteries. It seems that relics
and reminiscences of that time were preserved
in the Divine Liturgies of the 2nd century and especially of the 4th century
when the Liturgies took their final form.
But whatever were the various forms of the Divine Liturgy of the primitive
Church, as well as of the Church of the
final formation of the Divine Liturgy, the meaning given to it by both the
celebrants and the communicants was one and
the same; that is, the belief of the awesome change of the sacred Species of
the Bread and Wine into the precious Body
and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Lord.
The Apostle
Paul refers to the meaning of the Divine Liturgy (1 Cor. 11: 23-30) quoting
the words of the Lord, saying,
"This cup is the new testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as ye
drink it, in remembrance of me." And the Apostle
admonishes, saying, "For as often as ye eat this Bread, and drink this
cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come"
(v. 25, 26). He also stresses the point that he who draws near the cup
"unworthily" will be guilty of profaning the
body and blood of the Lord (v. 27), and orders a thorough examination before
receiving Holy Communion because otherwise
the Holy Communion will be "damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord's body" (v. 29). It leaves not the slightest
doubt that the Apostle Paul stated in his writings that the strongest belief
of the primitive Church was that of the
awesome change of the Species, which initiated new members into the sacred
Mysterion of the Christian religion, that
is, the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
It is not our
purpose in this pamphlet to refer to all the witnesses and practices of the
Apostles and the Church in
order to prove this great truth of the Church. It is inscribed in stone, and
it is written on sheepskins and papyri so
as to leave no doubt as to the meaning of the belief of the Church. Our
purpose in this pamphlet is to introduce the
faithful reader into the Divine Liturgy consisting of:
the original
Act of the Holy Eucharist,
its enactment by the Church which formulated the words and order of the
Divine Liturgies, and
the established Divine Liturgies of today, and the full participation of the
faithful ones.
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The Eucharist
Reenacted
THE INSTITUTION of the Eucharist, that is, of the Mystic Supper by the Lord,
is recorded by St. Matthew 26: 26-28; St.
Mark 14: 22-24; St. Luke 22: 19-20, and the Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 11: 23-25.
The Eucharist took place after the "Last
Supper." This "Last Supper" was not the ritual passover.
Further more it seems to have been eaten only by the Disciples
of Christ. Matthew and Mark read: "And as they (the Disciples) did
eat" (esthionton afton), which stresses distinctions
indicating that Jesus Christ was doing something else at that moment;
"He reclined at the table" and was telling them
indirectly and directly of His betrayal, arrest and crucifixion which was to
take place soon after ward, but He did not
eat any Supper. He came to this moment, the last moment of his free life on
earth, to create the Holy Eucharist and
leave His own Being to the Church.
"It is a
hard saying" the people had said on another occasion long before this
moment, but this is what He did, and the
Apostles and the Church accepted, preserved and cherished for centuries the
visible Gifts of His presence in the
Church. It seems that He did not eat even from the Bread nor drink from the
Cup He gave to His Apostles. In the form of
these Species He has given Himself: "This is my Body"; "This
is my Blood." That is what He said then, and the Church
believes it and has practiced it ever since.
What did the
primitive Church and especially its first leaders do to embody and enact the
deep meaning and belief of
the Holy Eucharist? They appointed certain days and places, selected the
Species to be used, formulated meaningful
prayers and hymns, and determined the order as to the service, the
celebrants and the communicants.
In the Acts (2:
46-47) St. Luke writes that the believers "daily ... (were) breaking
bread from house to house" in
relation with the practice of the Agapae, the loving-feasts, in the very
first Christian years. The African Apologist
Tertullian (3rd Century; Apol. 39; Migne PL 1, 538-541) describes the Agapae
as an act of Christian brotherhood,
worship and sobriety, thus de fending the Christian standard of life. The
Agapae, the common supper, took place after
the Lord's Mystic Supper. Later, how ever, they were separated from each
other because of discrepancies. Clement of
Alexandria (3rd Century; in Paidagogos 3,1; Migne 8, 384) uses austere
language to criticize and condemn the practice
of Agapae, loving-feasts, as a parody and desecration of the Christian Agape
- love. Basil the Great states in the 31st
oros that, "neither the common supper (Agapae) to be eaten and drunk in
the Church, nor the Lord's Supper (the Divine
Eucharist) to be desecrated in homes." He stresses the same opinion of
the Synod in Laodicia (364 A.D.) that issued the
canon 28 that "not in the Lord's Supper nor in Churches the so-called
agapae take place".
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The Ancient
"Order" of the Liturgy
THE MOST ANCIENT DESCRIPTION of the order and time of the Holy Eucharist
(Divine Liturgy) is preserved in the 1st
Apology by Justin the Martyr, Ch. 67, written in 138 A.D. (Migne 6,
429-432). The space in this pamphlet does not allow
the text to be printed here in its entirety. In brief, he refers to the day,
which he calls the day of the sun (the
Lord's Day, the day of Kyrios, that is Kyriake, Sunday, the first day of the
week, in memory of the Resurrection of the
Lord.) On this day the Christians gathered together to participate in the
Divine Liturgy.
As to the order
of the diagram of the Liturgy, Justin refers to:
the reading of
the Scriptures,
the exhortation by the Notable, Proestos,
the offering of prayers,
the offering of bread, wine and water
the long thanksgiving, eucharistic, prayer of sanctification by the Notable,
the partaking of Holy Communion, and
the collection for charity.
It is the same order that St. Chrysostom follows in his Liturgy used today.
Justin the Martyr gives us only a diagram
and not the actual prayers and words. At that time, although the meaning and
significance of the Divine Liturgy had
been determined as to the change of the Species into the Precious Body and
Blood of Christ, the prayers were recited
freely by the Notable.
"We
pray," writes Tertullian, "without a prompter, sine monitore,
praying by heart" (Apol. C, 30 Migne PL 1,504). "It
was allowed to the prophets (the Notables) in whatever way they would like
to give thanks (to God)." Only the Dedache
of the Apostle, (a writing contemporary to Justin; cpt. 9-10) cites two
Eucharistic prayers and a prayer after the Holy
Communion. In these prayers Jesus Christ is called "the Vineyard of
David," and it is stated that "the Lord is near ...
let the Grace come and the world may disappear."
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The Various
Divine Liturgies
THE FREE EUCHARISTIC PRAYERS used at the beginning by the Notable for the
Divine Liturgy formed in later times the
various types of the established Liturgies. They are many.
Some of them
were created in the East, others in the West. But there are similarities
which reflect one original
source, that of the Apostles. There are the Syriac, Egyptian, Persian,
Byzantine, Spanish and Roman types of Liturgies.
Among them are those which are ascribed to Clement (see Decrees of Apostles,
Book 8, Chpt. 5-15) and St. Jacob (James,
very ancient), both in Greek.
Another,
ascribed to St. Mark, is that of the Presanctified Gifts by St. Mark. Of the
Byzantine type are those of Basil
the Great, of St. Chrysostom, and that of the Presanctified Gifts. In
Alexandria, the Liturgy of Mark was used yet in
the 12th century as Theodore Balsomon instructed in the 32nd canon of the
Synod in Troulo.
The Liturgy of
the "Brother of God," James, is very ancient. The Penthecte Synod
(Quinisext 692 A.D.) decreed that
James handed down the mystic service (Divine Liturgy). It is true least in
its basic prayers and diagram, which are in
line with the same thoughts the 5th catechism of Cyril of Jerusalem. In the
Eastern Orthodox Church this Liturgy of
James is seldom officiated.
St. Basil's
Liturgy is attested to not only by the Penthecte Synod (692 A.D.) but also
by his friend Gregory of
Nazianzos, who in his Funeral Oration said that Basil wrote "provisions
of prayers, decencies of the Altar;" also by
Leontios the Byzantios who put the Prayer of Oblation of Basil together with
that of the Apostles; thirdly by the
letter of the Monks of Skythia to the African Bishops (520 A.D.) reporting
that almost the entire East repeated the
Liturgy of St. Basil. Those are a few documents, among many others,
establishing St. Basil's Liturgy as a genuine work.
St. Basil's Liturgy is celebrated about 10 times a year, including the
Sundays of Lent.
The Liturgy of
the Presanctified Gifts is very ancient, "known to the Church before
the initiators Basil and
Chrysostom" as Patriarch Michael (12th century) infers. It is ascribed
rather to Apostle James or Peter. The
information that Pope Gregory, the Dialogos, wrote this Liturgy is untrue
for many reasons, among them that he did not
know the Greek language. As for the use of this Liturgy the 52nd canon of
the 6th Ecumenical Synod refers to it,
decreeing that "in all the fasting days of Lent, save Saturday, Sunday
and the day of Annunciation, the sacred
celebration of the Presanctified Gifts should take place." This Liturgy
is celebrated in connection with the vesper
service during the evenings. It keeps its venerable character even now whein
it is officiated during the mornings. It
is called that of the Presanctified Gifts because the Sacred Gifts have been
sanctified previously in the Liturgy of
St. Basil or St. Chrysostom. This Liturgy is not officiated for the awesome
change of the Gifts, but rather for the
partaking of the Presanctified Gifts by the faithful Christians.
St.
Chrysostom's Liturgy is well known and very common in the Eastern Orthodox
Church. It may be celebrated every day
of the year except the ones of St. Basil and those of the Presanctified
Gifts, and on Good Friday. It is shorter than
that of St. Basil and much reduced compared to St. James'. St. Chrysostom's
Liturgy put an end to the free prayers and
hymns in the officiation of the Holy Eucharist. This Liturgy placed a seal
on the free forms of the re-enactment of the
Mystic Supper of the Lord, depicting it in its finest form with a destiny of
enduring far into the future. Despite the
addition of hymns at later times, the St. Chrysostom Liturgy remains the
same majestic religious masterpiece with
grandeur and dramatic appeal matching the human expression and the divine
act. St. Chrysostom (345-407A.D.) was an
eloquent preacher, writer and one of the Fathers of the Orthodox Church,
whose writings have been translated into many
languages and have nourished the Christian Church throughout the centuries.
The Celebrant
and Communicants during the Liturgy are bound to participate and respond to
each other and among them
selves in the name of the Lord. It is not a scene of a vigorous actor with
an inactive audience. All of them have an
important part in the Divine Liturgy, both for its officiation and for their
participation in it. It is a corporal
worship of the whole body of Christ - His Church. Each member has an active
part in it. The faithful should be there
prepared to act. Self-examination and purity of the body and soul constitute
the good "soil" of the parable for
accepting the seed of the word and the communion, and for giving hundredfold
in one's response. The Divine Liturgy is
not a mere prayer offered to God; it is a real communion with God. At this
moment takes place an exchange of human and
divine personalities, whatever the great difference between them.
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Officiating the
Divine Liturgy
SUCH BEING THE IMPORTANCE of the active participation of the faithful in the
offering of the Divine Eucharist, the
knowledge of the Divine Liturgy as to its meaning and form usually is
adequate. For this reason we will refer in brief
manner to various phases of the performance of the Divine Liturgy as it is
seen today.
THE OFFICE OF
PREPARATION
The office of Preparation of the Divine Liturgy, the Prothesis, is now a
separate service. Originally it constituted a
part of the Liturgy when the deacon exclaimed: "Let us attend, that we
may offer the Holy Oblation in peace," and where
the prayer of the Oblation continues "to enable us to offer Thee
Gifts." In the Liturgy of St. James the prayer of the
Preparation is read during the Liturgy. In the Liturgy of Clement the prayer
of Preparation took place after the
dismissal of the Catechumens. St. Athanasios found untimely the practice of
the preparation before the Divine Liturgy.
St. Chrysostom put the Oblation and its prayer in the Liturgy after the kiss
of peace and the exhortation, "Let us love
one another," probably to remind us of the Bible's determination that
"if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there
remembrest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift
before the altar and go thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer thy gift" (Matt. 5:
23-24).
Later in the
6th century the office of the Preparation was set apart, elaborated, and
officiated before the Divine
Liturgy, as it is now. At the same time the Cherubic hymn was inserted into
the Liturgy against the protest of
Patriarch Eutyhios (582). Symbol ism and allegory entered this office of
Preparation and somehow confused the coherence
of the thoughts of the Liturgy by prescribing them in anticipation. The of£ice
of Preparation took its final shape in
the 14th century.
The Priest
wears vestments - sticharion (robe), epitrachelion (stole), girdle,
epimanica (cuff) and phelonion (the
outer cape); he washes his hands and reads the prayers of Preparation. On
the table of Preparation are the sacred
utensils: Paten (disc), Cup (Chalice), spoon, spear, asterisk, two small
covers, and one large overall cover (Aer).
Also on the table are the sacred Species - the loaf of Bread and the Wine
and water to be mixed in the Chalice.
The Bread is
impressed in the center with the stamp "IC-XC, NI-KA", on its left
has nine small elevations for the
Saints, and on its right a portion for the Virgin Mary. All these portions
are cut with the spear and placed on the
Paten with prayers and commemoration. Portions also are added in the name of
the faithful, both the departed and the
living. Both the Paten and Chalice are covered with the two small covers and
over all is placed the Aer. The Priest
censes them and reads the prayer of Preparation.
THE DIAGRAM OF
THE DIVINE LITURGY
The Divine Liturgy of St. Chrysostom consists of readings from the
Scriptures and of solemn hymns and prayers. Its
spoken words are chanted by the priest and sung by the "people",
who are now replaced by the cantor or the choir.
Besides the spoken words, the main part of the Liturgy is read inaudibly by
the priest, a custom which now prevails. It
is a matter of fact that most of the "exaltations" of the priest
are the ends of the prayers inaudibly read, and have
not a complete meaning apart from the prayers. It is to be remembered that
the Divine Liturgy is offered to enact the
Holy Eucharist. Eucharist, from the Greek verb, Eucharistein, and the noun,
Eucharistia, has not only the meaning of
thanksgiving but, more so, that of sacrifice.
Whenever Holy
Communion is offered, the partaking by all the faithful is intended. As a
prelude there are petitions,
Bible readings, exhortations and the confession. They open the awesome drama
in which all the faithful participate.
This participation includes singing, reading, listening, some gestures and
the par taking of Holy Communion.
The following
is a diagram of the Divine Liturgy:
Beginning: The
Liturgy starts with a blessing of the Kingdom of God, which includes the
Sacred Body of Christ on earth;
His Church.
Petitions: They are small prayers which the priest offers especially for the
peace of the world, with the people
responding, Kyrie eleison; Lord, have mercy.
Antiphons: These are readings from the Old Testament, especially from Psalms
102 and 145, with refrains of Christian
meanings and specifically references to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Entry with the Gospel: This entry represents the ancient practice when the
priest took the Gospel by the light of
torches from the crypt, an underground safeguard to protect the Gospel from
destruction by the pagans, bringing it up
to the Church. The priest lifts up the Gospel and exclaims:
"Wisdom," which means Christ, and calls the people to
worship and bow down to Christ.
Trisagion: A short prayer praising the Holiness of God.
Readings from the New Testament: (1) A part of the Book of Acts or the
Epistles of the Apostles read by the reader. (2)
Another section from the Gospels read by the priest. (The specific sections
read are determined by the Church and are
the same every year.)
Sermon: It is incorporated as an exhortation from the priest to the people
on the Good News of salvation. (The part of
the service for the Catechumens is now omitted).
Cherubic Hymn and Entry with the Holy Gifts: This is a procession with the
yet unsanctified Species taken from the
table of Preparation and brought to the Altar during which the Cherubic hymn
is sung: "Let us put away all worldly care
so that we may receive the King of all." (An addition made in the 9th
century)
Ectenia of the Oblation: They are small prayers completing "our
supplications to the Lord". To these supplications the
people respond, "Grant this, O Lord". The Prayer of Oblation is
now inaudibly read by the Priest saying: "Enable us to
offer to Thee gifts and spiritual sacrifices for our sins."
A Short Creed: This is a proclamation of the Holy Trinity in connection with
brotherhood. It is chanted now before the
Nicaean Creed.
Creed: This is the concise and accurate confession of the Christian faith in
12 articles formulated by 1st, 2nd
Ecumenical Synod at Nicaea in 325 A.D. (The Nicaean Creed is recited during
every Liturgy, an addition made in the 9th
century; prior to that time it was recited only during the Liturgy at
Easter).
Prayer of Sanctification: It includes dialogues of excerpts from the long
prayer of sanctification which is now read
inaudibly by the priest and which, in fact, is the very heart of the
significance of the Divine Liturgy. The dialogues
start with the offering of the Oblation (the Species, Bread and Wine),
continues with blessings and the actual words of
the Lord, "this is my body ... this is my blood," and climax in
the sanctification of the Species. Now the Bread and
Wine are lifted by the priest, who exclaims, "Thine own of Thine own we
offer to Thee, O Lord." At this time, generally
the people kneel, and the choir sings: "We praise thee... we give
thanks to thee, O Lord". In continuation, the priest
commemorates the Saints and especially the Virgin Mary, as well as the
faithful ones.
Petitions: These are small prayers referring to the spiritual welfare of the
city, the nation, the Church and the
individual.
Lord's Prayer: It is recited by the people; the priest follows it with the
exaltation.
Breaking the Lamb: At this point the priest elevates the Lamb (the
consecrated Bread) saying: "The Holy things for
those who are holy," and breaks it in commemoration of the actual
Eucharist. Also at this time the priest pours warm
water, zeon, into the Chalice, a reminiscence of the very primitive Church
(see, Justin the Martyr).
Prayers before Holy Communion and Partaking of the Holy Gifts by the Priest:
Now the doors of the Altar are generally
closed and the priest partakes of the Holy Gifts separately and then
combines both Elements into the Chalice; a later
practice of the Church.
Holy Communion: Both the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Christ, combined in
the Chalice, are given to the prepared
faithful when the priest calls them to "draw near with reverence."
In ancient times the Holy Gifts were given to the
faithful separately, first the Body and then the Cup, from which the
faithful drank in turn, as is the continued
practice for the clergymen today.
Thanksgiving Prayers: These are prayers of gratitude to Almighty God for the
privilege which is given to the faithful
to commune with Him.
Dismissal Hymn: The priest calls the people to depart with a prayer by which
he asks the Lord to "save Thy people and
bless Thine inheritance." In conclusion he blesses the people, saying,
"May the blessing of the Lord come upon you."
The people seal the Liturgy by responding, "Amen." Blessed bread,
antithoron, which means "instead of the Gift," is
given to all at the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy.
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The Divine
Liturgy - Cherished Heritage
THE SPOKEN WORDS of the Divine Liturgy are 15 minutes of reading material
which perpetuate the most cherished thoughts
of our Christian heritage. They should be studied literally once and for all
in the life of the faithful. There are
books with the Divine Liturgy in the ecclesiastical languages - Greek,
Slavonic, etc., and with translations into
English to help the English-speaking people learn and follow the Divine
Liturgy in its ecclesiastical language. There
is no dogma forbidding the translation of the Divine Liturgy or even the
Bible into venacular language; for many
centuries, however, the ecclesiastical language carried on the traditional
thoughts and meanings of the Divine Liturgy
to the extent that a translation into English may not render the full
meaning and grandeur of the ecclesiastical
language.
Whatever the
language and form of the Divine Liturgy, the subject matter re-enacted in it
is one and the same, that is,
the awe some change of the Sacred Species into the Precious Body and Blood
of Jesus Christ, the Holy Communion which
nourishes and strengthens the faithful's communion with God in his remission
of sins and promise of everlasting life. Copyright:
© 1990-1996 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
www.goarch.org
If you still have
any questions concerning fasting please direct them to
Rev.
Father Nicolaos H. Kotsis.
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forms are in Adobe Acrobat® PDF format. If you
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