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With our Last few
talks, we have been looking at the Divine Liturgy and explaining what
everything we do and say means. We saw what happens during the office of
preparation which the Priest performs before the onset of the Liturgy and
at our last meeting we started with the Divine Liturgy proper, and
finished with the Little Entrance. Today we pick up again from the Little
Entrance.
I mentioned that 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. The Priest lifting
up the Gospel Book from the Holy Altar holds it to the height of his face.
We mentioned before that the Holy Gospel is the image of Christ: it is the
verbal image of Christ and always represents the very person of Christ.
Thus the Priest holding the Gospel in front of his face shows the entrance
of Christ into the temple. Before him goes a lit candle, which represents
John the Baptist. Christ said of St. John: “He was a burning and a shining
light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.” (St John
5:35-37) The lit candle goes before Christ similar to St. John who came
first to show the way and reveal Christ. The candle is thus saying “Behold
the Lamb of God.” It is the first public showing of Christ to the
multitudes. The Liturgy up to this point relied on the Old Testament
prophecies to speak of the coming of Christ: now we have no more need of
the Old Testament: Christ is now here in person. The Priest exits the
Sanctuary from the North Door and comes and stands in the centre of the
Church where he will say the following prayer silently:
“O Master and Lord our God, who stablished the
heavenly orders and hosts of angels and archangels to minister unto Thy
glory: Grant that the holy angels may enter with our entrance, to minister
with us, and with us to glorify Thy goodness.
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. Amen.”
The Priest prays that with our Entrance into the Sanctuary, we may be
accompanied with angels who will assist us in our ministry and glorify God
with us; for as the angels were present in Bethlehem glorifying the New
born Christ, so now they are present and glorifying God: Angels and men
mingle with one another, for where the King is present, there his army
also goes. (Lity of Theophany) The Priest will then bless the entrance
into the Sanctuary saying: “Blessed is the entrance
into the holiest, always, now and for ever: world without end. Amen.”
Then holding up the Gospel book shall say aloud: “Wisdom. Stand
steadfast.” Here we are told not only to be standing but also that our
minds and hearts should be lifted and not to dwell on earthly things. Thus
with our whole being standing upright we may be worthy to receive Christ
who is the only Wisdom, the source and giver of Wisdom. The people respond
with: “O come, let us worship and bow down before
Christ. Save us, O Son of God, Thou who art risen from the dead, who sing
to Thee, Alleluia.” With this, the Priest will enter the Sanctuary
and place the Gospel on the Holy Altar. We have now entered the New
Testament and so appropriately we now sing hymns dedicated to the New
Testament feasts, to the Mother of God and the Saints who are witnesses of
the New Testament.
While the choir sing the hymns, the Priest says the Prayer of the
Thriceholy hymn in a low voice:
“O Holy God, who restest in the holies; unto whom
the seraphim sing the thriceholy song; whom the cherubim glorify, and all
the heavenly hosts adore; who didst bring into being all that exists; who
didst create man in Thine image and likeness, and didst adorn him with
Thine every gift; who givest wisdom and understanding to him that asketh,
and art not wroth with the sinner, but dost grant repentance to salvation;
who hast deemed us, Thine humble and unmeritable servants, worthy at this
hour to stand before the glory of Thy Holy Altar, to bring unto Thee
rightful worship and praise: accept, O Master, from the mouths of us
sinners the thriceholy hymn, and visit us with Thy goodness. Pardon our
offences, voluntary and involuntary. Sanctify our souls and bodies, and
grant us to serve Thee in holiness, all the days of our life. By the
prayers of the Mother of God, and of all the saints which have been well
pleasing unto Thee since the world began.”
The choir is due to sing the Thriceholy Hymn or we can call it the
angelic hymn, thus the Priest prays that grace be sent upon those who are
to sing this hymn. He asks that their bodies and souls may be cleansed,
that their sins be forgiven, and that they may worship him in holiness all
the days of their life. When the choir has finished singing the hymns to
the saints, the Priest will then say aloud the doxology to the prayer:
“For Thou our God art holy, 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.”
The choir will now sing the Thriceholy Hymn: “O Holy
God, Holy and Strong, Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us.” The
hymn was composed from two sources: firstly from the angelic hymn
mentioned in the book of Isaiah. Describing the throne of God he says:
“Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with two he covered
his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And
one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts:
the whole earth is full of his glory. The words Strong and Immortal belong
to King David who in Psalm 42 says: “My soul thirsts for the strong and
living God.” The Church joining these two sources and adding at the end:
“Have mercy upon us” wished to show the harmony of the Old and New
Testaments and also that angels and men form one Church, a single choir,
because of the coming of Christ who was of both heaven and earth. This is
why we sing this hymn after the bringing in and showing of the Book of the
Gospels. St. German of Constantinople gives this interpretation of the
Thriceholy Hymn: Holy God is the Father, Holy and Strong is the Son and
Word, because his strength put in chains the devil, who had the power of
death and gave us the life, the strength and the authority to tread him
underfoot. Holy and Immortal the Holy Spirit the giver of life through
whom the whole of creation is given life. It is said three times, because
the three Holies are proper and fitting for each person of the Holy
Trinity. Each Person is Holy, Strong and Immortal. During the singing of
the Thriceholy Hymn, the Priest imitates the movements of the seraphim who
flying around the throne of God continually cry to one another, with
incessant voices, hymns of glory. He goes to the Prothesis glorifying the
Lord who has come into the world saying:
“Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
He then goes to the Throne on High which we mentioned in our previous talk
is found behind the holy Altar saying: “Blessed art
Thou on the glorious throne of Thy kingdom, that sittest upon the
cherubim, always, now and for ever: world without end. Amen.” With
the Thriceholy hymn finished, it is now time for the Apostle and Gospel
readings. The reader will first read the Prokhimenon for the reading. The
word prokhimenon literally means the pre-texts. These are usually verses
from the psalms and are used to introduce us to the mystery of the Word.
They are prophetic sayings which foretell the presence of Christ and
prepare us to hear the Word of God. After the reader says the first verse,
the Priest will say aloud: “Let us give heed”
in other words Let us pay attention, let us cast away all negligence and
inattention and listen carefully to what is being said. After the second
verse he says: “Wisdom”. Now he is reminding
the faithful that they should call to mind the wisdom with which they
should enter into the holy mysteries and attend to them. What is this
wisdom? It is the sum of those thoughts which are in accord with the
ceremony, which should occupy those full of faith when they behold and
listen to the ceremonies and prayers, so that they are concerned with no
purely human sentiment. Such is the wisdom of Christians, that is the
meaning of the cry “Wisdom” which the Priest
says many times to the faithful during the Liturgy. It is a reminder to
collect our thoughts which are forever wandering on vain imaginings. It is
a reminder to set aside all earthly cares and listen carefully so that our
attendance is not in vain, so that we may benefit from what we are about
to hear. The reader then announces the reading and again the Priest tells
us to pay attention. Then follows the actual reading from the Apostle. But
why do we read first from the Apostle and then the Gospel whereas
historically the Gospels came first and then the Epistles of the Apostles?
Because the Liturgy is a continual manifestation of the Lord. We saw with
the Little Entrance His first appearance to the multitude, now with the
readings we are about to receive a more perfect manifestation. The
readings represent the time when Christ mingled with the crowd and made
himself known not only by his own words, but also by that which he taught
the Apostles in sending them to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
With the order of the readings, we wish to show the gradualness of his
appearance: the Gospels are Christ’s own words and thus reveal his supreme
manifestation and so are kept to the end. After the Apostle reading, the
Choir sing the Alleluia which means “Praise the Lord”. Many Churches just
sing a quick 3 Alleluias, but in times of old the Alleluia were complete
Psalms with the Alleluia at the end of each verse sung by all the people.
But why do we sing the Alleluia at this moment. What follows immediately
after the Alleluia is the Gospel reading and as we have mentioned before,
the Gospel always represents the appearance of Christ in person. Christ
with his presence brought joy into the world thus we sing Alleluia which
is a joyous greeting to the Lord. The singing of the complete psalm was
abolished long ago and was reduced to singing the Alleluia with 2 verses
from the psalms. This is also an old observance which many Churches are
tying to reintroduce back to the service. At our parish here, we have been
following this rule for many years, not only because it is more correct,
but also because before the Gospel reading the Priest should offer incense
and singing the Alleluia with the verses gives him the time to do it. In
Churches where they don’t sing the verses, the Priest either doesn’t
bother to offer incense or he censes silently during the reading of the
Apostle, which no matter how silently he censes, always disrupts the
people’s attention from the reading. Is it important to cense before the
Gospel? Yes! Before the start of the Liturgy the Priest offered incense
which was to welcome the faithful into the house of the Lord. Now he
offers incense so that we may receive in return spiritual enlightenment to
understand the deeper meanings of the Gospel reading. Remember the Prayer
at the blessing of the incense: “We offer incense unto thee, O Christ our
God, for a sweetsmelling savour of spiritual fragrance, which do thou
accept upon Thy most heavenly altar; and send down upon us the grace of
Thy most Holy Spirit.” We need spiritual grace to understand the Gospels
because we do not interpret the Gospels just literally with the face value
of the words, hidden within the words are many meanings which only God
reveals to spiritual people. We can read a passage from the Gospels
hundreds of times and not see anything new in it, then when God opens our
eyes we see the same passage as though for the first time and with a
different meaning and are puzzled why we didn’t see it before. This is
verified by the prayer before the Gospel which is said silently by the
Priest:
“O Lord and lover of mankind, make the imperishable
light of Thy divine knowledge to shine in our hearts; and open the eyes of
our understanding that we may apprehend the preaching of Thy Gospel.
Implant in us likewise awe of Thy blessed commandments, that trampling
under feet all the lusts of the flesh we may pursue a spiritual life,
thinking and doing always such things as are pleasing in Thy sight.
For Thou art the enlightening of our souls and bodies, O Christ our God,
and unto Thee we ascribe glory, together with Thine eternal Father and
Thine all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and for ever: world
without end. Amen.” It is dangerous to interpret the Gospels
without spiritual understanding, without God first opening our eyes and
our heart to apprehend the fuller meanings of his words. That is why today
there are so many thousands of Christian denominations because each
founder of these so called Christian churches interpreted the Gospels as
he wanted to interpret them without his spiritual eyes being opened. As a
safeguard we always interpret Scripture within the Church studying
carefully what the enlightened fathers have to say for each word.
The Priest now ready to read the Gospel will say:
“Wisdom. Stand steadfast. Let us hear the Holy Gospel. Peace unto all.”
With the cry of Wisdom Stand steadfast, the Priest is telling us to
be upright and alert, to raise our minds above what is earthly and
concentrate all our attention on the Gospel which is full of Divine
Wisdom. The Priest blesses the people saying Peace unto all. We mentioned
before that without peace in our souls we cannot pray, without calmness of
the thoughts we cannot concentrate on the task we have before us. Only
inner peace can help us keep our mind and soul on prayer and only Christ
can give us this inner peace which will prepare us to receive and
understand the spiritual wisdom of the scriptures. During the Little
Entrance, the Priest covered his face with the Gospel Book to reveal to
the people the face of Christ. Now with the reading of the Gospel, the
Priest lends his mouth to Christ the Word so that the faithful can hear
his voice. St. German (Herman) of Constantinople writes: The Gospel is the
presence of the Son of God which has appeared to us. Through the Gospel we
see Christ in our midst. We hear him calling us to his kingdom. And
because we see him and hear him with the senses of faith, for this very
reason we see him clearer than those who saw him in the flesh but without
faith. St John Chrysostom speaking on Christ’s saying:
“Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears,
for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous
men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them;
and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (St
Matthew 13:16-18”) says that Christ is not speaking of the external
senses but of the inner senses. The Jews saw a blind man made whole and
said: It is him, it is not him, it is someone like him, let us call his
parents to see if it is him. They doubted what they saw. But we, who were
not present, do not say it is him, it is not him, but that it is him. Do
you understand that absence does no harm when there are eyes of faith and
that there is no benefit being present when there are no eyes of faith.
Because what did the Jews benefit by seeing? Absolutely nothing. We see
clearer than them. The faithful especially during the Divine Liturgy, hear
Christ and follow him for as Christ said concerning the Shepherd and his
flock: “the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will
they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of
strangers. (St John 10:4-5)
After the reading of the Gospel the Priest says the Great litany prayers
which are also called the Common prayers. They are called Common because
they are the last prayers said for both the faithful and the catechumen
and at the end of these the catechumen are asked to depart from the
Church. The prayers begin with:
“Let us all say with our whole soul, and with our
whole mind, let us say.
O Almighty Lord, God of our fathers, we pray Thee, hear us and have mercy.
Have mercy upon us, O God, after Thy great goodness. We pray Thee, hear us
and have mercy.”
The prayers continue mentioning the Archbishop and all the
priesthood, for mercy, life, peace, health, salvation, visitation,
forgiveness and remission of the sins of the servants of God, and here we
mention the names of those who have asked to be commemorated for the
feast-day and all Orthodox Christians, the parishioners, the Church
committee, those who give help and those who have dedicated gifts to the
temple.
We pray for the blessed and ever-memorable founders of the Church and for
all our departed fathers, brethren, and Orthodox Christians everywhere who
have fallen asleep.
We pray for them that help and work in the church, for them that serve,
and them that sing; and for all the people.
Immediately after the Common prayers we have the special prayers for the
Catechumen. In our times, because we don’t have Catechumen like they did
in times of old, and to save time, we rarely say these prayers. We only
say them during Great Lent in the service of the Presanctified Liturgy.
The Priest will say:
“Catechumens, pray ye unto the Lord.
Let us, the faithful, pray for the catechumens.
That the Lord may have mercy upon them.
That He may instruct them in the word of truth.
That He may reveal unto them the gospel of righteousness.
That He may unite them to His Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
Save, have mercy, help and preserve them, O God, by Thy grace.
Catechumens, bow your heads unto the Lord.”
And then this prayer:
“O Lord our God who dwellest on high, and dost look
upon the lowly; who for the salvation of mankind didst send forth Thine
Only-begotten Son and God, our Lord Jesus Christ: look upon Thy servants,
the catechumens, who bow down their necks before Thee; and deem them
worthy, at the appropriate time, of the washing of regeneration, of the
remission of sins, of the garment of incorruption. Unite them to Thy Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church; and number them among Thy chosen flock.
That they also with us may glorify Thy sublime and majestic Name, of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and for ever: world
without end.”
During the period before Baptism the Church prepares the Catechumens to
become her members. This period of instructions is called catechism.
During the times of the Apostles this period was very short; usually just
one talk like the sermon Apostle Peter gave on the day of Pentecost. After
this time Catechism would usually last two or three years. Now because the
Catechumens are not yet members of the Church and in a sense have not the
freedom (boldness) before God, they need our support and love, so the
Priest asks the Faithful to pray for them, that God may have mercy upon
them and himself instruct them in the Word of Truth, to enlighten and
reveal to them the Gospel of righteousness and to prepare them so that at
the appropriate time, for their Baptism, they will be united as full
members of the Orthodox Church.
After this prayer the Priest will ask the Catechumen to depart saying:
“As many as are catechumens depart. Catechumens
depart. As many as are catechumens depart. Let not any of the catechumens
remain.”
And there ends the Liturgy of the Catechumen and the Third part of
the Liturgy begins called the Liturgy of the faithful.
The Priest unfolds the antiminsion. The antiminsion is a piece of cloth
which has imprinted on it the Icon of Christ lying dead in the tomb
similar to the Epitaphios. It is sealed and consecrated by the Bishop
during the Consecration service of the Church and is in a way a portable
Holy Table and with this we can serve the Liturgy in other places other
than the permanent Holy Altar. It is kept folded on the Holy Altar under
the Gospel Book and is unfolded as this time of the Liturgy. The Divine
Eucharist is always served on this cloth even if the Holy Altar is
consecrated because if any particles of the holy body should fall from the
paten, they are more easily found on the antiminsion and if the priest
should miss any they are still safe because they will be folded into the
antiminsion at the end.
With the Antiminsion unfolded the Priest calls the faithful to pray:
“As many as are faithful,
Again and again in peace, let us pray unto the Lord.
Succour, save, have mercy and preserve us, O God, by Thy grace.
Wisdom.”
And the Priest will read the first of two prayers for the faithful
“We give thanks unto Thee, O Lord God of hosts, who
hast accounted us worthy also now to stand before Thy Holy Altar and to
bow down and beseech Thy compassions for our sins and the errors of the
people. Accept, O God, our prayer; make us to become worthy to offer unto
Thee prayers and supplications, and the bloodless sacrifice for all Thy
people: and enable us, whom Thou hast appointed to this Thy ministry, by
the power of Thy Holy Spirit, to call upon Thee, at all times and in every
place, without impediment and without condemnation, with a clear testimony
of our conscience, so that hearing us Thou mayest be gracious unto us in
the multitude of Thy goodness.
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.”
The Priest thanks the Lord for accounting him worthy to stand before him
and pray for his sins and for sins of the people and then prays that the
Lord make him worthy to offer the Bloodless Sacrifice. This first prayer
of the faithful is in fact more for the Priest than for the faithful. It
is to prepare him for the awesome mystery of the Divine Eucharist that is
to follow, but the faithful are called to share in this preparation and
pray with the Priest that God may account him worthy for his sacred
ministry. It is taken for granted that the Priest must be pure to offer
the Bloodless Sacrifice. St. Theognostos says that: “for the Priest it is
required an angelic order and pureness, for if he mixes darkness with the
light and the offensive odour with myrrh, he is sure to inherit the woe
and eternal damnation.” St John Chrysostom says that the Priest’s soul
must be purer than the rays of the sun: when he invokes the Holy Spirit
and offers that awful sacrifice – where shall we rank him? What purity and
what piety shall we demand of him? Consider how spotless the hands be that
administer these things, how holy the tongue that utters these words.
Ought anyone to have a purer and holier soul than one who is to welcome
this great Spirit?” But a Priest is still a man with a wife and children,
and takes part in public life. He has all the problems a normal man has
plus the problems of his flock so how can he live up to the purity that is
expected of him? What ultimately makes him worthy is his humility by
recognizing and confessing his unworthiness, by realizing that everyone is
higher and holier than himself, and by remembering what Abraham said: “Now
I have begun to speak to the Lord, and I am but earth and ashes.” (Gen.
18:27) On the subject of the Priest humility, we shall see in more detail
next week with the prayer before the Great Entrance.
The Priest will again say:
“Again and again in peace, let us pray unto the
Lord.
Succour, save, have mercy and preserve us, O God, by Thy grace. Wisdom.”
And then recites the Second Prayer of the Faithful:
“Again and many times, we bow down before Thee and
pray to Thee, who art good and lovest mankind, that Thou wouldst look upon
our prayer and cleanse our souls and bodies from all filthiness of the
flesh and spirit; and grant us to stand guiltless and without condemnation
before Thy Holy Altar. Grant also, O God, to them that pray with us, an
increase of life, and of faith, and of spiritual understanding. Grant unto
them that for evermore worshipping Thee in fear and love, to partake,
without guilt and without condemnation, of Thy Holy Mysteries, and to be
accounted worthy of Thy heavenly kingdom.
That being ever guarded by Thy might we may give glory to Thee, to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and for ever: world
without end.”
As we approach closer to the time of the consecration and Holy
Communion, we feel that we must be spotless so that we can receive Christ.
Humbly we acknowledge that we cannot by our own efforts cleanse ourselves,
thus we beseech God to cleanse our souls and bodies from all filthiness of
the flesh and spirit, but this is not enough to approach the Holy
Mysteries without condemnation, we must approach worshipping God with
faith fear and love for when we have these things we approach in an
orderly fashion showing that we are conscious of the great gift of life we
are about to freely receive. If we approach disorderly as many do,
noisily, pushing and stepping on each others toes, this shows great
madness and contempt of the Holy Mysteries and worthy of condemnation. And
here we shall finish for this week and start next week with the Cherubic
Hymn and the Great Entrance.
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