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The Liturgy of the Eucharist

The Liturgy of the Eucharist begins with 2 Little Litanies. These litanies correspond to the Clergy's prayers of access to the Holy Altar. Here, the priests beg forgiveness of their sins and the grace to be able to stand without condemnation before the Holy Altar of God offering prayers and by the Holy Spirit to be made worthy to serve the Liturgy.

The Cherubic Hymn is sung whilst the Deacon makes an incensation of the Church.

Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim and who sing the Thrice-Holy Hymn to the Life-giving Trinity now lay aside all cares of life That we may receive the King of All escorted invisibly by ranks of angels. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

In the meantime, the priest completes the last prayer of Access to the Altar: "No one bound by the desires of the flesh... is worthy to approach You, O King of Glory...Yet because of your love for mankind - a love which cannot be expressed or measured, You became man... You alone O Lord our God have dominion over heaven and earth, ...You are the Lord of the Seraphim and the King of Israel, You alone are holy and abide in those who are holy, O You who alone are good...cleanse my heart and soul of evil...By the power of your Holy Spirit...allow these gifts to be offered by me, your sinful and unworthy servant. For it is really You who offer and You who are offered; it is You who receive and You who are given, O Christ, our God, and we give glory to you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever..."

The Great Entrance

Then the clergy preceded by the Servers with Ripidia and Candles, bring the Holy Gifts (the Bread and Wine prepared during the Proskomidia) into the Church.

At the Ambo, the Clergy stop to pray that God remember all Orthodox Christians in His Kingdom and commemorate in especial, the hierarchs, the clergy, the monastics, the founders and benefactors of the parish, the nation, parishioners and any special prayer requests. Then the Gifts are processed into the Altar and place upon the Holy Table.

This is a very solemn point in the Divine Liturgy observed with great reverence by the Faithful. It represents the Entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem and thereto his Salvific Sacrifice, Passion and Resurrection. And while the Bread and Wine have not already been sanctified into the Holy Body and Blood of the Christ, nevertheless the sacredness of this moment comes from the fact that, according to Orthodox theology, the Bread and Wine have already by blessed and dedicated for Holy Communion.

Thus the Bread and Wine are sacred because they are already in the process of being consecrated and transubstantiated, which consecration will be completed and perfected by the point that the Epiclesis [the invocation of the Holy Spirit over the Holy Gifts] is prayed.

The sacrality of the Great Entrance is well demonstrated by the practice of the Romanian Church where the faithful place food or other items to be blessed in the path of Great Entrance so that the clergy carried the Holy Gifts might step over the items to be blessed.

Indeed people themselves will lie down in Church so that the Holy Gifts might be passed over them as the clergy step over these Faithful. The Faithful in Romania will even try to, as it were become part of the Holy Gifts, by coming up to the clergy and kneeling and covering themselves with the epitrakhil or phelon of the clergy, while they pray the Commemorations at the Ambo.

The Holy Gifts carried into the Altar symbolize not only Jesus entering into His Sacrificial Passover, but also the Faithful, who are baptized into Christ, and who also are the Body of Christ, and who are symbolized in the Particles of Commemoration, placed on the Diskos, offered up with the Lamb, and mixed into the Holy Communion of the Chalice after the communion of the Faithful.

At the Epiclesis, the Priest invokes the Holy Spirit to bless, sanctify and offer up the Faithful as well as the Holy Gifts.

The Great Entrance is completed with the Litany of Offering (or Supplication) wherein we pray that the Lord, God Almighty, enable us to offer gifts and spiritual sacrifices and to make us worthy to find favour with God that our sacrifice may be acceptable and we may receive the Gift of the All-holy Spirit in return.

The Kiss of Peace

Before proceeding to the profession our Faith and the Eucharist, we greet one another with the Kiss of Peace. "First be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift on the altar" Matt. 5:23.

On great Feast Days like Pascha, the entire parish engages in the rite. Usually we follow the established custom whereby the Kiss of Peace is exchanged only with each rank, Priests with Priests, Deacons with Deacons, etc. This differs from the practice of the Latin Church, where the Kiss of Peace descends from the Priest to the People. In Orthdoxy, what is symbolized is that the Peace of Christ is breathed upon all the Church and abides within all sectors and levels, whereby the Faithful may exchange the Kiss of Peace with each other without having first to receive it from the Clergy.

Before chanting the Symbol of Faith (known in the Latin Church as "The Creed"), the Deacon proclaims: "The Doors! The Doors!" This order originated from the practice in the early Church suffering from persecution by the Roman Empire, where the Porters, who guarded the doors, would at this point shut the doors of the Church, guarding the Church against all government spies, so that the sacred Mysteries by protected from profanation.

The Symbol of Faith

The Symbol of Faith (known in the Latin Church as "The Creed") is then sung by the Faithful, a prayer with summarizes the essential beliefs of the Church:

"I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

"I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, through Him all things were made. Who for us...and for our salvation came down from heaven...suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day He arose... He will come again to judge the living and the dead and His Kingdom will have no end.

"I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father. With the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets... I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen."

During the Symbol of Faith, the Priest waves the Aer Covering over the Holy Gifts as representing the presence of the Holy Spirit ("Spirit" originating from the Biblical word for "wind" or "breath"). The bell is rung 12 times for the 12 tenets contained in the Symbol of Faith.

Ukrainian version
Українська версія

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