July 5, 2017
Today our selection of books is about the Sacrament, which is the basis of the very life of the Orthodox Church. Liturgy, Holy Communion is not a memory of what happened more than two thousand years ago - it is a real daily repetition of the Last Supper. These books will help you understand and realize what happens during the celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Divine Liturgy: Explanation of the meaning, meaning, content
Author:
Archpriest Alexy Uminsky Publisher: Nicea
Liturgy is the basis and center of everything that happens in the Church. The entire Orthodox liturgical tradition prepares for only one thing – the Eucharist. But can we understand and experience everything that happens at the Liturgy spiritually?
In this book
the famous priest, Archpriest Alexey Uminsky talks about the meaning and significance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and explains step by step all the actions performed in the service of the Divine Liturgy.
Types of Liturgy
In the modern Orthodox Church there are three main rites of the Liturgy:
– Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. It is celebrated all year round, except during Lent and on Palm Sunday. In its content, it practically does not differ from the liturgy of St. Basil, but some prayers are shortened;
Saint John Chrysostom writes:
“Think, what honor have you received? What kind of meal do you enjoy? What the angels look at with trepidation and do not dare to look at without fear because of the radiance emanating from here, with this we are nourished, with this we communicate and become one body and one flesh with Christ.”
– The Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is served only 10 times a year. January 1 (on this day the Church remembers the saint who created this rite), January 6, January 18. And also on the first five Sundays of Great Lent, on Maundy Thursday and Great Saturday of Holy Week.
– Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The rite of this liturgy was compiled by Gregory Dvoeslov, Pope of Rome, in the 6th century. The peculiarity of this liturgical rite is that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is not celebrated directly at the service at which believers receive communion. The Holy Gifts are consecrated in advance at the full Liturgy on Sunday and are stored in a special ark. Its emergence was marked by the fact that Christians, during days of strict fasting, considered it inappropriate to perform a solemn service. But in order for believers to have the opportunity to receive communion on weekdays, it was decided to use the Presanctified Gifts. It is performed only during Lent.
Notes on Liturgy and the Church
Author:
Fudel Sergei Iosifovich Publisher: Russian Way
Familiar to several generations of readers from samizdat, the works of the religious writer Sergei Iosifovich Fudel (1900–1977), who experienced many years of persecution during the years of Soviet power, did not remain just monuments of the bygone samizdat era and are being republished today in different languages in different countries. For many, meeting with Fudel’s books became a turning point in their lives, prompting them to follow Christ. In the book “Notes on Liturgy and the Church,” S. I. Fudel continues to develop the circle of his cherished thoughts about the essence of the Church, which is fully manifested in its main sacred rite - the Divine Liturgy. The meaning of the liturgy remained poorly understood for many of the author’s contemporaries - even for those of them who had already accepted Christianity in their minds and hearts, but were not brought up in the sense of the liturgy as a sacrament of “a blessed and loving eternity, warm, like a mother’s womb,” and were not accustomed to breathing “ the air of a completely different world." By addressing them, Fudel seeks to share knowledge of the spiritual and symbolic meaning of church worship.
Liturgy as the center of Christian life
All church holidays would be meaningless if Easter did not exist. Because if Christ had not been resurrected, then all the other gospel events could be considered only in a historical context and would not have any other value other than moral and cultural. We say that every Christian holiday belongs to eternity, since Easter fills it spiritually. Eternity is present in our time, and we become real participants in this holiday.
The same can be said about the Liturgy, which rises above all other services. If there were no Liturgy, it would be pointless to perform any services at all, because without the Liturgy there is no Church as such.
Therefore, the story about the Eucharist (from the Greek word ευχαριστία - thanksgiving) will go in parallel with the story about the Church, what it is and how the Church and the Eucharist are related to each other.
* * *
When we approach holy baptism, whether as an adult or in infancy, the priest asks us or our recipients: “Do you believe in God? Have you been united with Christ? And we answer that we have united with Christ and believe in Him as King and God. This is how we take an oath to serve the Lord.
Immediately after our answer, the Creed is read, listing what exactly we believe in. In particular, the Creed contains the following words: “I believe in one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
This needs to be understood: along with faith in God, we also confess our faith in the Church. In no other religious system, except Christianity, is there such a concept as “faith in the Church.” According to the catechism of St. Philaret Drozdov (1782/1783 - 1867), the Church is a society of people united by a common faith and common rituals. However, the same can be said about any religious association, for example, Muslim or Jewish. One can belong to such a society and perform rituals based on the tenets of faith, but it is impossible to believe in this society itself. None of these are what the Church becomes for Christians.
So what does it mean to believe in the Church? We do not confess the obligation to attend church on Sundays and holidays, we do not promise God to fast, confess and receive communion. Church for Christians is not only a place where they communicate with God, because you can communicate with Him at home, on the subway, in the forest - anywhere and at any time. To believe in the Church means to confess that it is the Body of Christ, of which you and I are a part.
The Apostle Paul writes about it this way: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of one body, although they are many, are one body,
-
so is Christ.
For we were all baptized into one body by one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:12-13) and adds:
“The branches
are
the body of Christ, and individually
members
”
(1 Cor. 12:27).
A severed part of the body cannot live independently. When they talk about a living organism, they mean a single and indivisible body in which the human and the Divine are united. The Church is a mysterious gathering of people where the unity of God with man takes place, where a single theanthropic organism is born.
We come to the Church in order to become part of it, to become its being, its nature. The Church makes us co-natural with Christ, because we are its body, and He is its Head. Moreover, as the newly glorified Serbian saint, the greatest theologian Justin Popović (1894-1978) said, the Church itself is the God-man Jesus Christ. This is us with Christ.
In this case, it becomes clear that simply the presence of a person in the Church, simply following some external rules, simply knowing certain dogmas is clearly not enough. We are talking about the path of life, which the Orthodox call faith.
Christ teaches: “I am the way and the truth and the life”
(John 14:6). The same can be said about the Church: the Church is the way, the Church is the truth, the Church is a person’s life in faith, and this is the meaning of Christianity.
Finally, we do not simply confess the existence of God; we believe not only that the Lord is the Person who created the world, that there are certain relationships between Him and man, and that there are certain rules that should be followed in anticipation of posthumous rewards. All this is typical for any religious views, including the most primitive ones, and is not the true meaning of the Christian faith. Our hope is that man is saved into eternal life by being united with God. Eternal life is abiding in God, union with Him and the deification of man, when he himself becomes a god. This is the true meaning of the Christian faith, without resorting to complex theological definitions.
The Church makes us co-natural with God. The Apostle Peter wrote about this: “How His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and goodness, by which were given to us great and precious promises, that through them you might become partakers of the divine nature.”
(2 Pet. 1:3-4). These words often go unnoticed by us, but they form the essence of all the apostolic epistles: we must become participants in the Divine Nature. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov spoke about the same thing, although somewhat differently: “We need to acquire the Holy Spirit.”
The meaning of Christian life is to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to become one in nature with the Lord, to unite with Him. If this happens, our stay on earth becomes meaningful, and life becomes truly spiritual.
The meaning of the Church lies in the fact that man cannot reach God in any other way. That is why Christ founded His Church on earth, through which man receives grace, knowledge of God and communion with God. However, it is necessary to make a reservation that for man, complete knowledge of God will always remain impossible, because the Lord is absolute, infinite and eternal, and man is by nature created. Our communion with God does not concern His Divine essence, which man can never commune with. We are talking about communion with Divine energies, with Divine nature. God became man in all His fullness, and man becomes the Son of God by grace. It is grace that makes him a God-man.
Only in the Church does a person become a God-man, because the Lord gives us the opportunity to partake of His Flesh and His Blood. This is given to us by the great sacrament of the Church, by our life in it, because Christ Himself said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”
(John 7:37).
Liturgy on Russian soil
Author:
Archpriest Dimitry Dudko Publisher: Kovcheg
Archpriest Dimitry Dudko’s book “Liturgy on Russian Land” consists of his sermons delivered in 1977-1978. in the village Grebnevo, Moscow region. The suggested readings provide explanations of the liturgy and core concepts of our faith.
Father Dimitri (1922-2004) was the confessor of a very large number of spiritual children, the organizer of regular Christian readings and interviews, temperance societies, a thoughtful preacher and writer. In 1945, he entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, after which in 1947 he was transferred to the Moscow Theological Academy. However, just six months later, on January 20, 1948, he was arrested and sentenced under the article “anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda” to ten years in the camps, followed by five years of loss of rights. Only eight and a half years later, in 1956, he was released from prison and reinstated as a student at the academy, which he graduated from in 1960. His name is also known in the West: eight books by the shepherd were published there and translated into many languages.
Church meeting
Reading the writings of apostolic men, for example, the Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons or the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, we pay attention to the fact that the authors repeatedly emphasize: “Where there is a bishop, there is the Apostolic Church.” The church community, headed by a bishop, represented the local Church; such Churches existed in almost every polis. At the same time, there were few Christians in those days. According to the rules that existed at that time, a bishop could be appointed to a community consisting of at least twelve people.
From the very beginning of the spread of Christianity, it was established that the only real celebrant of the Liturgy can only be the bishop, because it is he who heads the Church. In the first three centuries this was the case. The liturgy in the ancient Church was conciliar: usually only one Liturgy was celebrated in a city, because there was only one bishop. As it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: “And all those who believed were together”
(Acts 2:44).
The liturgy was always celebrated at dawn on Sunday, in memory of the Resurrection of Christ. Sunday was not a day off then; the pagan world lived according to a completely different calendar. Of course, it is completely unthinkable to imagine that someone would come to the Liturgy and not receive communion: after all, this is what they gathered for, and the service only preceded the communion of the Holy Mysteries for believers and was an introduction, a spiritual preparation of a person for the performance of the sacrament.
Not all Christians could come to Sunday services every time, so they often took Communion with them in the form of spare Gifts. Not only priests, but also deacons and deaconesses could give communion to believers. (There was such a special ministry in the early Christian Church that cannot be considered as some kind of holy order. There were honest widows at the churches who, with the blessing of the bishop, could go with the Holy Gifts to prisons and hospitals and give them to the suffering for communion. They baptized women, and they themselves had the right to receive communion at the altar). In addition, according to the then existing tradition, a Christian after each Liturgy took home the Holy Gifts and began each new day with communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
Subsequently, when Christianity began to spread throughout the empire and, thanks to the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337), became the state religion, a priest appeared as a co-servant of the bishop, but he could only replace the bishop when he left on diocesan affairs or languished in captivity or exile. The bishop could instruct a priest to serve the Liturgy in his place, but this was the exception, not the rule.
Only after parish churches began to open, the priests were given some episcopal functions: a certain independence in managing their small communities and, most importantly, they received permission to celebrate first the Liturgy, and then the Sacrament of Confirmation.
The bishops, as a sign of their blessing, sent the priests signed antimensions, which were consecrated cloth plates with particles of holy relics sewn into them in memory of the fact that the first Liturgies were celebrated on the tombs of martyrs. Modern antimensions usually depict the position in the coffin. In appearance, shape and inscriptions they correspond to the Shroud, which is taken out on Holy Saturday for worship.
And now, without an antimension signed by the bishop, a priest cannot serve the Liturgy under any circumstances, since he serves solely with the blessing of the bishop, and in himself does not have such power. The priest is the bishop’s assistant, his co-celebrant. And the priest’s co-celebrants are all the other parishioners.
* * *
The liturgy begins with everyone gathering together. The word “Church” itself in Greek is “ekklesia,” which in turn means “assembly.”
The Apostle Paul explains what it means to gather for the Liturgy. At that time there were no temple buildings; Christians gathered for the Eucharist in their homes, in the catacombs, and in other hidden places. Therefore, the words of the apostle: “when you are going to church”
(1 Cor. 11:18) do not mean at all: “when you are preparing to go to the temple.”
When we gather in church, we gather together
with
the Church,
the very Church in which we believe.
Our Eucharistic gathering is a gathering in Christ necessary for each of us to be united with God and through God to be truly deeply and eternally united with each other. This gathering of people in the Sacrament, in fact, is what makes people the Church.
Once upon a time, the priest appeared in the temple when the community was fully assembled. Now, unfortunately, he often comes to an empty church, reads the entrance prayers and dresses in silence, and only the reader on the choir waits for his blessing to begin reading the hours. In fact, the priest must come to the Church, that is, to the society of people whom he will lead, to the society called the people of God. About this people, the Apostle Peter wrote: “And you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For the Scripture says: “Behold, I lay in Zion a cornerstone, chosen and precious; and he who believes in Him will not be put to shame."
(1 Pet. 2:5-6).
Notice how the Bible uses the word “stone.” The devil invites Christ to turn stones into bread: “And the tempter came to Him and said: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
(Matt. 4:3).
John the Baptist denounces the Pharisees and Sadducees: “Do not think to say within yourself, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham”
(Matthew 3:9).
Christ addresses the Apostle: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it;
and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16: 18-19).
During worship, the words are often heard: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner”
(Ps. 118:22).
It would seem, what could be deader than a stone? Even the wood is more alive - this tree once grew, bloomed, and put out its leaves. And here is such a paradox - a living stone... The stone is hard, strong, immortality is inherent in it. It has not changed for centuries, you can rely on it, you can build on it. But still, stones are something insensitive, to which life has not been given for centuries. We are like that too. There is a spiritual concept - petrification of the heart.
And suddenly the stone is alive, animated, immortal... This is Christ, on whom everything rests, which is why He is called the Almighty. This is precisely the stone that the builders rejected, but which became the head of the corner.
The devil invites God to turn stones into bread, and the tempter always offers such temptation, which is essentially a substitution and deception, but at the same time very similar to the truth. After all, the Lord actually makes bread from stones, transforms lifeless things into living things, and creates Abraham’s children from stones. The Apostle Peter addresses us: “You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
(1 Pet. 2:5).
It is we who are the stones from which He can create the children of Abraham, and when we partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, we come to life, we become involved in the Bread of Life, unite with Him and become Living Stones and build ourselves into a spiritual house - that is, the Church of God . It is said about Peter: “On this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
Each of us Christians must remember: we are stones, and we are Peters, we are the temple of God, the Church of the Living God. But this is only possible if we are living stones and not dead ones. And we receive life from the Savior.
The Lord makes us living stones, and we, like architects, are engaged in divine economy. If we build the spiritual house of God from ourselves, this means that each of us puts our spiritual life at the foundation of the Church. The Church is built on the desire of people to be the Body of Christ, to become these living stones.
About Holy Communion
Author: Maslennikov S. M.
Publisher: Sibirskaya blazvovnitsa
In the book, the author collected the thoughts of the holy fathers about the sacrament of Communion, which occupies a central place in the life of the Church.
The sacrament was instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself during the Last Supper before the suffering of the cross. The Lord said in the Gospel about the importance of the sacrament: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you” (John 6:53). “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:36). With these words, Christ pointed out the absolute necessity for all humanity to participate in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
Holy Communion is not a memory of what happened more than two thousand years ago - it is a real daily repetition of the Last Supper. At every liturgy, both in apostolic times and in our 21st century, the Lord Himself, through the priests, through the action of the Holy Spirit, transforms wine and bread into His Most Pure Body and Blood. Divine Communion is a necessary component of spiritual life. It lifts our heart to God, revives and heals the soul and body, gives them strength and, most importantly, ignites Christ’s love in us and unites us with Him.
This book is very useful for both regular Church members and beginners. It helps, as far as possible for the human mind, to understand the meaning of the Holy Sacrament in order to receive communion “for the remission of sins and into Eternal Life.”
Text of the book “Explanation of the All-Night Vigil and the Divine Liturgy”
Explanation of the All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy Compiled by L.A. Chutkova
Recommended for publication by the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church
IS 13-305-0398
Vespers
In the Holy Scripture, which is for us who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and who confess the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Revelation and the word of God, the holy commandments are given about love for God and man as the image of God. One of the commandments is: Remember the Sabbath day
(seventh)
to sanctify it;
six days you shall work and do all your work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God (Ex. 20:8-10). In the New Testament, the seventh day for us is resurrection. For Orthodox Christians, resurrection is a holiday, for on this day our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The Resurrection gave the content of Sabbath rest: peace with God, restoration in man of the image and likeness of God, communion with God and peace in the Holy Spirit. Saturday was a prophecy of peace, a prophecy of the Resurrection, in this sense - an image of eternity. Resurrection is the beginning of eternal life on earth. The Old Testament Passover became the New Testament Passover, and Saturday became the Sunday.
By honoring and sanctifying this seventh day, we fulfill God’s commandment given in the Old Testament, and receive God’s blessing and help from above for the coming week. The time that we spend in worship on Sundays and holidays is for us the tithe that we bring to God for the entire yearly circle of time (see: Mal., Chapter 3).
Sunday begins for us on Saturday evening with the service of Great Vespers and the singing of the 103rd Psalm, which symbolizes the creation of the world.
The royal doors open, the priest and deacon cense the altar. This means the action of the Holy Spirit, who imparted life to primordial matter. The Creator of the world created the entire Universe from it.
Then the deacon goes to the pulpit and invites everyone present in the church to prayer. “Arise,” he proclaims, and the choir on behalf of the believers sings: “Lord, bless.” The priest, glorifying the Holy Trinity, proclaims: “Glory to the Holy One, Consubstantial, Life-Giving and Indivisible Trinity, always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.” The choir answers: “Amen” and sings the 103rd Psalm: “Bless the Lord, my soul... Alleluia”1.
The priest and the deacon perform incense for the entire church and all believers. A prayer is read for the consecration of the censer: “We offer the censer to You, Christ our God, for a spiritual fragrance, which You accepted into Your Heavenly altar and sent down to us the grace of Your All-Holy Spirit.” The symbolism of the incense of the temple and the people means the following: just as at the creation of the world the Spirit of God imparted life to the primordial world, so now believers are renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
The priests enter the altar, the royal doors are closed, just as the gates of heaven were closed behind a person who sinned before God. The deacon proclaiming a peaceful litany on the pulpit symbolizes the fallen Adam, expelled from Eden and standing before the closed gates of heaven with a prayer of repentance. This is how the Fall of the first people is remembered, and the 1st Kathisma of the Psalter is sung: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,” where the reasons for the Fall are revealed (after all, it was on the “advice” of the wicked serpent that the tragedy of the Fall occurred) and the ways of life and piety are preached.
The hymn “Lord, I have called to You, hear me” is reminiscent of the Old Testament sacrifices that depicted the future Redemptive Sacrifice - Christ the Savior. At this time, believers read to themselves the 50th Psalm, which talks about humility, and, in particular: The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a contrite and humble heart God will not despise
(Ps. 50:19). The entire temple is censed again, which marks the gospel of Christ Jesus, the True God and the True Man. The choir sings stichera that reveal the meaning of the currently celebrated event. To sing: “And now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen,” the stichera of the holiday is sung and the entrance with the censer is made from the northern doors of the altar. The priest symbolizes the light of the Old Testament prophets, the deacon symbolizes John the Baptist, and the priest symbolizes Christ the Savior. The deacon makes the sign of the cross with a censer at the royal doors, this means that through the suffering of the Savior on the cross, the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, closed by the fall of the first people, was again opened to believers. This is followed by the song “Quiet Light,” which tells of the appearance on the Jordan of Christ the Savior, who was baptized by John, and at that time the voice of God the Father was heard and the Holy Spirit was seen in the form of a dove descending on the Son of God.
Next, hymns are proclaimed and sung, which are called prokeimnas, paremias are read in the middle of the temple, two litanies are proclaimed - the august and the petitionary, where earthly and heavenly mercies are asked from God. The stichera of the temple or holiday are sung, the clergy go out into the vestibule, where the litia is performed - a prayer of a repentant nature, four petitions are pronounced by the deacon and the fifth, final one, by the primate. Those praying can offer petitions to God for the health of the living and the repose of deceased Orthodox Christians2. The clergy return to the center of the temple, the stichera of the holiday are sung, and the prayer of the righteous Simeon the God-Receiver is performed on behalf of the rector, “Now you let your servant go, O Master, according to your word in peace...”. This prayer reminds us of the end of each person’s earthly life and sets us up for pious reflection on people’s responsibility before God for their deeds, words and thoughts. The Trisagion after the “Our Father” is read, and the troparion is sung three times. During this holiday, three times incense is performed around a table with five loaves, which are blessed by the priest in memory of the miraculous multiplication of five loaves by the Lord Jesus Christ for five thousand people in the desert. The 33rd Psalm is sung, “I will bless the Lord at all times,” which talks about how David, filled with grateful feelings towards the Lord God, expresses his intention to glorify the Lord throughout his life. He invites other believers to do the same, with fatherly love, teaching them the fear of God and trying to convince them that pious people always enjoy the special favor of God, while the wicked will face severe punishment from God. The evening service ends with the cry of the primate: “The blessing of the Lord is upon you,” which continues into the morning service.
Matins
Matins begins with the reading of six psalms, a small doxology is sung or read, which symbolizes the night of the Nativity of Christ, so the lights and candles are extinguished. The psalms are of a penitential nature: “He stands before Christ God himself, invisibly and praying for his sins.” Believers listen carefully: in the middle of the reading, when praising the name of God, they must cross themselves three times, without bowing3. In the middle of the Six Psalms, the priest comes out to the pulpit and reads special prayers. It symbolizes Moses, who prayed in the desert
God for the sinned people. The last Psalm 142 recalls the last days of this world. The Coming of the Lord and the Last Judgment - the last words of the Six Psalms: Do not enter into judgment with Your servant... and Your Good Spirit will guide me to the right land
(Ps. 142, 2, 10).
The Spirit of God elevates those who believe in Christ into the Heavenly Kingdom of the Father: If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Rom. 8, 9, 11). At the end of the Six Psalms, believers must cross themselves three times with a bow from the waist. The deacon replaces the priest on the sole and proclaims a peaceful litany - a prayer request - and then says: “God is the Lord ...” with verses, and the choir sings the troparia of the holiday. This means the appearance of God the Word, the Son of God, in the flesh on earth. The reader reads kathismas.
The next part of Matins is the polyeleos. The priesthood enters the middle of the temple through the royal doors to glorify the holiday. Greatness is sung, on resurrection - glorification of the Risen Christ. Incensing of the entire temple is performed. This means that the joy of the holiday is communicated to all those who pray. The Gospel corresponding to the day is read. On Sunday, the Gospel is raised to the pulpit and the song “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ...” is sung.
Then the worshipers venerate the Gospel or the icon of the holiday and approach the primate, who anoints them with consecrated oil. The holiday canon, consisting of nine songs, is sung and read. The canon is compiled according to the sacred events of the Old Testament and New Testament history. The first hymn is a song of praise and thanksgiving by the prophet Moses, commemorating the passage of the people of God through the Red Sea. The second song was also composed in honor of the prophet Moses; it has a repentant and accusatory character and is sung only during Great Lent. The third song is in honor of the prophetess Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel. The Lord heard and fulfilled her fiery heartfelt prayer. The fourth song is the song of the prophet Habakkuk, who heard the voice of God about the coming of the Savior to the world. The fifth song is the song of the prophet Isaiah, who saw the Everlasting Light, signifying the appearance of Christ into the world. The sixth song is the song of the prophet Jonah, who prefigured the three-day burial and Resurrection of Christ the Savior. The seventh song is the song of the three youths in the Babylonian furnace, who, like the burning bush under Moses, prefigured the incorruptible Nativity of Christ. The eighth song is the song of the righteous Nehemiah, who received a sign during the restoration of the second temple in Jerusalem - the lighting of a sacred fire on the altar. The ninth hymn glorifies the Most Holy Theotokos, it is sung: “The most honorable is the Cherub and the most glorious without comparison is the Seraphim.” According to the ninth song, the luminary is read - a short chant that reflects the meaning of the holiday, and stichera on “praise” are sung. The priest proclaims: "Glory
You, who showed us the light." The choir sings a great doxology, after which the troparion of the holiday is performed. Two litanies are proclaimed by the deacon: intense and supplicative. Matins ends with the dismissal of the priest. The reader reads the first hour, which is dedicated to the last hours of the Savior’s life, when He was led into the praetorium from the high priest Caiaphas to Pilate and there he was unjustly condemned.
Divine Liturgy
The Divine Liturgy, or Eucharist, occupies a central place in the life of a Christian because it connects a person with God, the Source of Eternal Life. The purpose of our life is spiritual transformation and renewal. It occurs not only through our efforts, but especially through our mysterious unions with the God-man, Jesus Christ. The sacrament in which this connection is carried out is called Communion, and it occurs during the Divine Liturgy, where bread and wine become the true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, those who approach the Eucharist must prepare themselves with dignity. It is necessary to attend the evening service, confess to the priest, and read the Rule for Holy Communion. It is necessary to fast before Communion and the day before, after midnight, not to eat or drink anything.
The Divine Liturgy begins with the reading of the third and sixth hours, during which the priest performs proskomedia - the preparation of the Honest Gifts for the Eucharist. At the same time, notes are read about the health of the living and the repose of the dead.
During the third hour, we reverently, with tenderness of heart, diligently reflect on how our Savior, judged by Pilate and bound at a marble pillar, accepted countless insults, strangulations and was crowned with a crown of thorns in order to free us from the torment of the devil. The events recalled during the reading of the third hour include the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire, with which the Lord enlightened His disciples to preach the Gospel.
During the sixth hour, we reverently, with tenderness of heart, diligently reflect on how the Lord carried His Cross to Calvary and was crucified on it among two thieves, how the soldiers divided His vestments and there was darkness throughout the whole earth.
The liturgy begins with the exclamation of the priest “Blessed is the Kingdom...”. The Primate proclaims the presence of God, glorified in the Trinity in His Kingdom in the earthly Church. We come to church to fully participate in the Holy Mysteries, and also to offer God our gifts, spiritual and physical. In other words, we enter the Kingdom of God not only to receive something, but also to give something - to give ourselves and our prayer offering, praise and thanksgiving.
When we pronounce the words “Blessed is the Kingdom,” we reverently make the sign of the cross in the name of the Holy, Life-Giving and Indivisible Trinity and, in doing this, we commit our bodies, hearts and souls to God to allow Him to reign over us.
The deacon proclaims a peaceful litany, calling on the faithful to pray in peace with their conscience, with God and with their neighbors. The Great Litany, that is, petition or prayer, reveals to us God’s creation. Saint John Chrysostom, who set out the rite of the Divine Liturgy in writing, wanted us not to be indifferent to what God has created, and at the same time to make prayers, talents and personal sacrifices in order to preserve and rejoice in everything that God has created for us in His Kingdom.
According to the petitions of the litanies, we are called, on the one hand, to be with the sick, with the traveler, with a friend, etc. and, on the other hand, say from the bottom of your heart the prayer “Lord, have mercy!”, as did the woman caught in adultery, and the blind and paralytic.
We need the mercy of the Lord, we must be ready to meet Him, therefore the most frequently repeated words in the liturgy are “Lord, have mercy.”
At daily and great holiday services, three antiphons with special choruses are sung. In the first antiphon the Mother of God is glorified, in the second - saints, prophets, apostles, martyrs, in the third - the Son of God Himself, marvelous in His Providence and in His saints. By singing the first antiphon, “Through the prayers of the Mother of God, Savior, save us,” we are reminded that through the Mother of God salvation comes into the world. The closest person who can intercede for us is the Mother of God. All generations call Her Blessed.
Remembering our Heavenly Mother, we constantly learn from Her humility, obedience, and holiness of life. In the singing of the second antiphon we hear the voices of prophets and saints who foretold and preached the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We prepare to receive Him with great joy as He enters the royal doors. The introduction of the Gospel during the small entrance during the singing of the third antiphon symbolizes His coming. By singing the third antiphon we glorify the Lord, who came into the world and took upon himself human sins. On holidays, figurative antiphons with the beatitudes are mostly sung:
1) “Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, His holy name.”
2) “Praise the Lord, my soul; I will praise the Lord in my life.”
3) “In Your Kingdom, remember us, O Lord.”
The first antiphon - Psalm 102 - calls believers to the heartfelt, inner glorification of God according to the word of the Apostle Paul, that with our hearts we believe in the truth, and with our lips we confess God for salvation. This is also sung in the second antiphon, which calls on believers to confess God with their lips for the salvation of their souls. The chant “Only Begotten Son and Word of God! You, being immortal, wanted for the sake of our salvation to be incarnate from the Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary...”, performed after the second antiphon, reminds us of the Lord’s incarnation. The Word becomes flesh and dwells with us in the Kingdom of God - in the Holy Church.
The small litany “Let us pray again and again in peace to the Lord” calls for attention to what is happening during the liturgy. Jesus Christ promised: Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them
(Matt. 18:20).
And again: And if you ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask anything in My name, I will do it (John 14:13-14).
The litany ends with an expression of God's love for the entire human race: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life
(John 3:16). We glorify the Holy Trinity: “For God is good and a lover of mankind, and to You we send glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (from the sanctuary prayers, prayer three).
During the singing of the third antiphon - the Beatitudes - a small entrance with the Gospel is performed, which symbolizes the appearance of Christ the Savior to preach His Divine teaching, announced in the Sermon on the Mount, in the parables of the Kingdom
God, in the manifestation of the power of God - signs and wonders, healing of the sick and casting out demons. Two thousand years ago the world heard the Good News, and now we hear it again. Just as Christ entered the world, proclaiming salvation, the primate leaves the sanctuary and goes out in procession to the middle of the temple, saying: “Wisdom! Sorry!" These words mean: “Let’s stand up straight!” To hear Christ and touch Him, people came from all over the earth. Now at the liturgy we are asked to come and do the same - to come to hear Jesus Christ, touch Him and receive healing. Christ entered the world, and during the liturgy we are in His presence, we hear Him through the voice of the prophets.
A candle bearer with a candle signifies the light of New Testament grace. The Gospel carried by the deacon means Christ the Savior, the priests mean the holy apostles. The deacon makes the sign of the Cross with the Gospel and enters the altar, this implies that through the Savior’s suffering on the cross, the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven is opened for believers. All the clergy enter the altar. During the bishop's service, censing of the altar, iconostasis and people is performed. The troparia of the holiday and the Trisagion are sung, during which the clergy goes to a higher place, which means the salvation of the entire human race by Christ the Savior, His Resurrection and Ascension to the Heavenly Kingdom to the Heavenly Father.
Through the Trisagion we offer our sacrifices of praise, as it is said: Through Him let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips glorifying His name
(Heb. 13, 15). In the priestly prayer of the Trisagion there is a call to join the angelic forces, the Cherubim and Seraphim in the Trisagion hymn, to all the disembodied Heavenly forces for the glorification of God, so that through touching and approaching Him, His holiness becomes our holiness.
The deacon leaves the altar to read the Apostolic Epistles - this symbolizes the preaching of the Savior’s disciples, the holy apostles. At the end, "Alleluia" is sung - the Angel's song. At this time, everything earthly falls silent and the heavenly angelic song “Alleluia” is sung, which translated means: “praise the Existing One - Yahweh.” Here we unite with the heavenly liturgy, when there is a direct manifestation of God and His power, and we praise Him in especially solemn moments: at the small entrance with the Gospel, before the reading of the Gospel, at the great entrance with the Honest Gifts, when they are placed on the throne, after an exclamation “Holy to Holies”, after the Communion of the Holy Gifts of the Body and Blood of the Lord and transferring them to the altar.
Reading the Gospel is a symbol of the fact that the Lord Himself reveals to us His Divine teaching. We need to heed the Good News and be careful not to act like Judas, who betrayed Christ. Do not let doubt into your heart like Thomas and do not renounce Christ like Peter. Each of us must take the Good News into our hearts and repent. And, undoubtedly, Christ will not leave us.
Then two litanies are performed - about health and about the catechumens who are preparing for Baptism. The first prayer is a prayer of intense petition. This prayer reminds us of those people who heard Christ during His public ministry and received Him in Jerusalem, Jericho, or on the road to Emmaus. They followed Christ with special zeal and freely accepted death in His name because He became their Lord and Savior. Over the past two thousand years, millions of souls have been converted, baptized into Christ and clothed with Him (see: Gal. 3:27). The rebirth of the soul takes place in the house of God, in the Kingdom of God during the liturgy. Here, once again, we have the opportunity to hear Christ and pray more earnestly, remembering our own repentance and baptism.
Prayer for the catechumens is an instruction for us. This is the time to think about your own Baptism and renewal of life in Christ Jesus. This is the time to put off the robe of corruption and put on the robe of incorruption, as the Apostle Paul writes.
It is a serious mistake to think that we do not need any teaching. As Orthodox Christians, we believe that for this reason we already have faith and knowledge. It's a delusion. We are like little children and constantly need to be taught, admonished and trained in the faith through the Church. The moment we think we know it all, we move away from the power and grace of God, which actually leads us down a path of darkness and personal destruction. Each of us who belong to the Kingdom of God needs to open our hearts, minds and souls to the word of God and, like those proclaimed in the early Church, ask Almighty God to look favorably on each of us, forgive us and unite us with His Holy Church .
This is followed by the first prayer, during which the priest stands before the holy throne and offers prayer, as Jesus Christ did in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The following prayer is called the prayer of the faithful. Knowing human weakness—the ability to easily fall—God offered us another opportunity to pray. We often fall, seeking prosperity and stability in life, for, indeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Jesus Christ took His beloved disciples Peter, James and John with Him to the Mount of Olives, to a place called Gethsemane, and told them to wait while He prayed. These people, so faithful and so close to Christ, fell asleep. Three times Jesus found them sleeping. When we are in the Kingdom of God, we are close to God, we love God, we are faithful to Him in our prayer promises, but sometimes in our labors we find ourselves falling asleep, just like His disciples.
Then the Cherubic Song is sung and the Great Entrance with the Honest Gifts is made - this means the procession of the Lord to the Calvary sufferings. At this time, we read the penitential psalm 50. The candlebearer marks the lamps that were there when the Lord was taken in the Garden of Gethsemane,
The Honest Gifts signify the Lord carrying His Cross to Calvary. According to the Gospel, after the Lord was crucified, darkness covered the sun, the earth shook, the stones disintegrated, the coffins were opened, and the dark power of evil spirits was cast down. We stand upright, do not bow to the ground, do not kneel, but we ask the Lord, like a prudent thief: Remember me, Lord, when you come in Your Kingdom!
(Luke 23:42).
The clergy enters the altar, the Honest Gifts are placed on the throne - this symbolizes the position of our Lord in the grave. The royal doors are closed - this is the soul of the Savior, united with the Divine, descended into hell. The curtain closes - the stone is rolled against the coffin.
A litany of petition is performed, in which we ask for earthly and heavenly mercies. The litany seems to connect the successive parts of the service. The litany of petition is a spiritual remembrance of what has already happened. Immediately after the death and burial of Christ, the disciples fled and hid in the upper room, where the Lord celebrated the Last Supper. The disciples remained in solitude, praying and remembering what Jesus had told them about His death, burial and Resurrection. Remaining true to the spirit and love of their Lord, they were confident that one day He would return.
In the same way, we become disciples sitting in the Kingdom of God - in the upper room, physically and spiritually seeking the descent of the Holy Spirit in order to receive the experience of Pentecost; we are looking for hope to have eternal life.
After the litany, the curtain of the royal doors opens - this means the Resurrection of Christ the Savior. Then those present sing the Creed, where we confess faith in the Holy Trinity: God the Father, who created the world, God the Son, who became man and accomplished the feat of saving the fallen world, His Second Coming and Judgment on the world; God the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies all creation. We believe in the One Orthodox Church, we confess the One Baptism and other holy sacraments, especially Confession and the Holy
Communion. We expect the general resurrection of all people and the life of the next century, which will have no end. We make the sign of the cross three times, during the recitation of each Person of the Holy Trinity, without bowing.
When we hear the words “Doors, doors! Let us listen to wisdom” (“Listen to wisdom”), then we begin to testify to the Resurrection of Christ. We confess the Creed. The priest shakes the cover over the Honest Gifts, which is like a stone rolled away from the door of the tomb where Jesus Christ lay. Those of us who look at the tomb of the Savior, who look at the throne, can see what is happening. The Paten and Chalice are no longer hidden. We see them with our own eyes on the spiritual throne. The doors are open, and likewise we must open the doors of our hearts, our souls and our minds to Christ.
After the singing of the Creed, the Eucharistic canon of thanksgiving begins - the most important part of the liturgy, in which the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is celebrated: the bread and wine prepared at the proskomedia become the true Body and true Blood of Christ. We become participants in the Last Supper of Christ. The choir sings: “We sing to You, we bless You, we thank You and we pray to You, our God...”
The priest raises his hands and prays for the sending of the Holy Spirit:
“Lord, Who sent down Your Most Holy Spirit at the third hour by Your Apostle, do not take Him away from us, O Good One, but renew us who pray to You.” This is the most important moment of the service, and we worship the Lord Himself, mysteriously present on the Throne. The priest asks God to send the Holy Spirit on us; this means, firstly, on each of us personally, and then on the Gifts that are presented. The priest blesses the Gifts with the sign of the cross, saying: “And make this bread the Honorable Body of Thy Christ, and what is in this Chalice, the precious Blood of Thy Christ. Amen,” and bows to the ground.
During the chant “It is Worthy to Eat,” glorifying the Mother of God, we remember our relatives, deceased and living. We again perform the litany of petition and the popular singing of the “Our Father.” While the crowd was following Jesus, one of the disciples came to Him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Then Jesus taught them the prayer, which is given in the Gospel of Matthew (see: Matthew 6:9-13), the Lord's Prayer - “Our Father.” From this prayer we learn about God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: God the Father who dwells in Heaven; God the Son, who became incarnate and became for us the Bread of Life; God the Holy Spirit, who preserves us from temptation. We learn to forgive and learn how to call on God: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...”. Next the priest exclaims: “Let us take notice. Holy of Holies” and the Holy Lamb lifts it up, and we worship the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who exists in His Holy Mysteries. The priest stretches out his hands, calling on the name of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been with His Heavenly Father from eternity, so that He may look upon
The Holy Church - the Kingdom of God - and on all those who are in it. The priest calls on Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Father, so that He would descend and sanctify the priesthood and impart to each of them a piece of His Most Pure Body and through them to all the people. This is the manifestation of the gift of life, the Eucharist; we must become like Christ and, like the tax collector, constantly ask God for grace and mercy, believing in the One Holy God, in order to receive the Holy Gift.
Then the choir sings the sacramental verse. The reader reads the sermon and prayers for Communion. The priests take communion at the altar and come out to give communion to people who have prepared for Communion, fasted, confessed and received the priest's blessing. When approaching the Chalice, we should not fear God, but experience the reverent and humble fear of God.
We believe that through Holy Communion we go to salvation. The Lord has saved and is saving us, and He will save us if we remain faithful in faith and in love for Him. God has blessed, blesses, and will bless us if we ask Him to do so, because we are called to be His inheritance.
After communion, particles from the prosphora are immersed in the Chalice with the words: “Wash away, O Lord, the sins of those who were remembered here by Thy Honest Blood, by the prayers of Thy saints.” And, according to the words of Basil the Great, great benefit comes to the souls of those people whose names are remembered during the Divine Liturgy.
The last sacred act of the liturgy is the removal of the Holy Gifts. The priest comes out of the royal doors with the Holy Gifts and proclaims: “Always, now and ever and unto ages of ages.” This means the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ into the Heavenly Kingdom and His Second Coming. “This Jesus who has ascended...” will come from us to Heaven in the same way as the apostles saw Him ascending to Heaven.
The Holy Gifts are taken away and placed on the altar. The deacon proclaims the litany of thanksgiving. The litany of thanksgiving is our personal gratitude
God. It is not enough to accept the Holy Mysteries and be numbered among the saints - you must continue to ask God for intercession and help, to ask that the day that has begun be perfect.
Continuing the prayer, the priest raises the Gospel and proclaims:
“For You are our sanctification, and to You we ascribe glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.” Then He makes the sign of the cross with the Gospel and places it on the throne. By this action we are again reminded that Christ came into the world for the sake of sanctification. And all those who came to the Kingdom of God, those who walked with us - who came from everywhere - are now sanctified through God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
We are now called to go into the world and live the gospel, and we return to our homes, to the reality of everyday life, in the name of the Savior Jesus Christ. This is the final change.
The priest comes out under the pulpit and reads a prayer, which means our humility before
God and the inability of man wearing flesh to see the fullness of Divine Glory. Having finished the prayer behind the pulpit, the primate enters through the royal doors. Those who call on the name of God and knock on His door will enter the Kingdom of God with him. Thus, everything was accomplished for us. The law is fulfilled in Christ. In Him the prophecies were fulfilled, and all gifts were distributed to us through the Holy Spirit. We have no choice but to ask Him to fill our hearts with joy and joy.
Absolute absolution is pronounced, the choir sings many years, and the faithful venerate the cross and listen to Prayers of Thanksgiving.
Before believers leave the church - the Kingdom of God - and go into the world, they are given a heavenly fatherly blessing - just as God blessed the righteous Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Most Holy Theotokos, whose names are remembered every day from century to century, from century to century. at the service. When we are ready to go into the world, we come up to kiss the cross and the hand of the priest who holds it, as a sign of the Cross of Christ that we carry into the world. Having taken part in the Holy Eucharist, we leave, expecting a new meeting with the Lord at His Table in His Kingdom.
Explanation of the Divine Liturgy
Author:
Holy Confessor Sergiy Pravdolyubov Publisher: Otchiy Dom
Divine Liturgy is the center of the entire life of an Orthodox person. In the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church there has always been concern that the people of God know and understand Orthodox worship, especially the Liturgy. Sermons on this topic have always been an organic component of parish life. The reader is offered ten sermons-conversations about the Divine Liturgy by priest Sergius Pravdolyubov. Father Sergius spoke about the most important, most important meaning of the Liturgy - about the presence of God Himself behind it. He spoke passionately, captivating himself and captivating his flock.
Children about Orthodoxy. About liturgy
Authors:
Vladimir Luchaninov Publisher: Nikeya
Often we don’t know how to tell children about the essence and experience of our faith. To help solve such an important task, the Nikaia publishing house has prepared a series of books “For Children about Orthodoxy.” This book is “On Liturgy”
– explains to the children what happens in the church during the main Orthodox service.
The book can be read with your family, but the child himself will be happy to read it, because everything here is told in an interesting and simple way, and thanks to the color pictures the book becomes visual and meaningful.
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