The Divine Liturgy is the
center of the Orthodox Christian life. It is the sacrament of
sacraments, or to use the more traditional Orthodox expression, the "mystery of
mysteries." The word for "sacrament" among the Orthodox is usually
"mystery."
The central mystery of the
Orthodox faith is the service of Holy Communion, called the Eucharist. As words,
liturgy means "common action" and Eucharist means "thanksgiving."
The first action of the liturgy
is the gathering in common. The baptized and confirmed gather in one place.
After the common prayer of the Church called The Great Litany in which petitions
are made for all of the essential elements of life, biblical psalms are sung and
the Word of God is presented to the faithful. Here the emphasis is on the
epistle, the gospel and the sermon.
Then follows the offering of the
bread and the wine as the offering of ourselves and our world to God in Christ.
We ask God to accept us and our gifts (the bread and wine) as we love one
another and confess the Orthodox faith, the Nicene Creed which we, or our
sponsors for us, proclaimed at our baptism.
We then offer up ourselves and
our gifts to God in Christ in remembrance of all that He has done for us: the
cross, the tomb, the resurrection of the third day, the Ascension into heaven,
the sitting on the right hand of God the father, and the second and glorious
coming again.
We then call the Holy Spirit "to
come upon us and upon our gifts" and to make them the Body and Blood of Christ
and to give us the experience of the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus we receive back our
gifts of bread and wine as the gift of Holy Communion with God the Father
through Christ and the Spirit.
Finally we depart in peace to
bear witness in the world to the Kingdom of God which has been given to us,
calling all men into this unity with God and each other in Him.
The Orthodox celebrate this
Mystery of the Kingdom of God, the Divine Liturgy on each Lord's Day as well as
on feasts and special occasions. It is the living experience of what all
Christianity, and indeed all of life, is really about.
Yes, of course, the Liturgy is
the central revelation of the Christian mystery, and in it the whole of
Orthodoxy is somehow contained, remembered and given to our living experience.
All the icons, the vestments,
the candles, the singing ... everything taken together in harmony and unity
serve to disclose just one thing: Man is made for God and finds his identity,
fulfillment and perfection in Him.
We speak much today about
identity and fulfillment.
The Orthodox Church says that
the answer to all these crucial questions lies in Christ, His Cross and His
Resurrection. Through Christ the meaning of myself and the world and everything
that exists is disclosed and revealed. Through Christ, the Kingdom of God is
opened to men and the possibility for my becoming myself is guaranteed. I become
myself only in God. My nature finds its meaning in Him. My existence, as an
image reflecting His divine reality, is secured. My life as an eternal being is
established.
In this life this means that I
must put on Christ and take up His Cross and follow him. I must suffer for truth
and love and goodness. And yet there is joy in this suffering, for obedience to
the Word is fulfilled in the Marriage Banquet of the Lamb of God in the Kingdom
of God.
This is the Christian Mystery
which the liturgy reveals and for which alone, the Orthodox Christian Church
exists in the world.
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