In this blog post I'm going to talk about the importance of going to church.
Now, when I talk about going to church, I don't just mean the Sunday Liturgy, but as many of the services as you can get to.
The Divine Liturgy is very important to attend since that is where the Eucharist is given, however, the other services are also very important because this is where you will learn a lot more of the theology of the Church.
Let me explain.
In the liturgical cycle of the Church the new day starts around sundown. This means that the evening service - Vespers - marks the celebration of the new day. For instance, let's say that your patron saint is Saint John the Forerunner. He has a feast day on June 24th, which is started to be celebrated during Vespers on the evening of June 23rd.
The Vespers service is where you'll hear the hymns for whatever saints and/or special commemorations for the day for the first time. It takes us back to the Old Testament era, reminding us of "the creation of the world, the first human beings fall into sin, of their expulsion from Paradise, their repentance and prayer for salvation, the hope of mankind in accordance with the promise of God for a Saviour and ending with the fulfillment of that promise." (Source)
"The service leads to the meditation of God's word and the glorification of his love for men. It instructs and allows us to praise God for the particular events or persons whose memory is celebrated and made present to us in the Church. It prepares us for the sleep of the night and the dawn of the new day to come. On the eves of the Divine Liturgy, it begins the movement into the most perfect communion with God in the sacramental mysteries." (Source)
And, it is not uncommon for such things as a Vesperal Liturgy for certain feasts if a regular Liturgy would be hard to do (such as in the middle of the week when a morning Liturgy means a lot of parishioners could not be in attendance).
"Great Vespers is combined with the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great on Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday. This combination is also appointed to be served on the eves of the Nativity of Christ and Theophany when those feasts fall on any day other than Sunday or Monday.According to some traditions, when the feast of the Annunciation falls on a weekday of Great Lent or during the first three days of Holy Week, the festal Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom is combined with Great Vespers on the day of the feast itself." (Source)
Since 1975 the Antiochian Archdiocese has permitted parishes in its jurisdiction to commemorate certain important feasts that fall on days other than Sunday and Monday at an Evening Divine Liturgy served on the eve of (i.e., the night before) the feast. The Evening Divine Liturgy combines Great Vespers and the festal Divine Liturgy in a slightly different way than the traditional Vesperal Divine Liturgy. The form of the service was developed by the Archdiocese's Department of Liturgics and Translations.The introduction of Evening Divine Liturgies has been viewed by some as a reasonable pastoral accommodation to the reality of American life—due to work and school commitments most families cannot order their schedules in such a way that readily permits attendance at weekday morning services. Others argue that the practice is an innovation that disrupts the liturgical cycle and continues a negative trend of shortening the divine services.Some dioceses of the OCA also permit the celebration of Evening Divine Liturgies." (Source)
"This service (sometimes called “Vesperal Liturgy”) is prescribed only a few times each year.*It opens with the blessing used at Divine Liturgy: “Blessed is the Kingdom . . .”The service continues similar to great vespers. There is no psalter reading, and there is an entrance with the gospel book.After the 3 Old Testament lessons, there is a small litany. The Divine Liturgy then follows, beginning from the Trisagion, followed by the prokeimenon, epistle, etc.*The days calling for its celebration in some or all years include: Dec. 24, Jan. 5, March 25, Holy and Great Thursday, Holy and Great Saturday. Following the principle “the greater the feast, the shorter the fast,” it is celebrated (a) when there is a pre-festal Divine Liturgy on the eves of certain great feasts, and (b) on certain special days coinciding with the strict fast of Great Lent. In these situations the fast is longest, with the result that the Divine Liturgy comes at the end of the liturgical day. (By contrast, on Pascha, for example, there is no fast at all, so the celebration of the liturgy takes place as soon as possible.)" (Source)
After Vespers, normally the next service in the life of the parish would be Orthros/Matins. Orthros is very heavy on the Psalms, and includes what is known as the Hexapsalmos (Six Psalms) which tradition states "that the duration it takes to read the Hexapsalmos is the time will take for Christ to judge all of humanity at the Last Judgment.(Source)" There is also a Gospel reading, and litanies, and canons read as well;
The Canon is now chanted in the following order: The Choir chants the 1st Ode of the Resurrectional Canon (Tone of the week), the Canon to the Cross and Resurrection, the Canon to the Theotokos (all in the tone of the week), and the Canon of the Saint of the day. They then chant the 1st Ode's sesonal Katavasia. The 3rd Ode is chanted in the exact same manner.
After the Katavsia of the 3rd Ode the Deacon intones the Little Litany, at the end of which the Priest exclaims "For Thou art our God..." (Source)
As well as the hymn (or Canon) of the Saint of the day, the Life of the Saint (or Saints) is also read. These hymns are jammed packed with not just a tidbit about the Saint, but with the theology of the Church - which is why in my opinion parishioners should not just be in attendance, but strive to learn and sing the hymns with the choir.Towards the end of Orthros (usually right at the end, and then followed by the start of the Divine Liturgy, from my experience) is what is known as the Great Doxology, which is one of my favorite prayers - especially as was sung by the clergy and parishioners at St. John Cathedral in Alaska.As stated above, after Orthros/Matins is the Divine Liturgy. The Liturgy is in two parts; the Liturgy of the Catechumens and the Liturgy of the Faithful.During the Liturgy of the Catechumens is when the appointed Epistle is read, another Gospel is read, and typically the homily (sermon in Protestant speak, but usually far shorter) is given (though some parishes the homily will be at the end, or if you attend a parish in Santa Fe, NM you'll get a pre homily after Great Vespers on Saturday night, the homily proper during the Liturgy, and maybe a nice little homily v1.5 after the Liturgy). Traditionally, after the Liturgy of the Catechumens, any catechumens in attendance would then leave to go be instructed in the faith; however, this is not normally done these days, though some parishes might have the children leave to go to "Sunday School" and then come back during the Liturgy of the Faithful so they might receive communion. I would like to note that the homily given usually has something to do with the appointed Gospel reading and is a great tool for instruction in the faith.The Liturgy of the Faithful is focused on the Eucharist, and the changing of the gifts to the Real Presence. It is also during the Liturgy of the Faithful where we will recite the Creed, or the Symbol of Faith. After the Creed is the Anaphora and the epiclesis;
"Following the Creed, the priest begins the anaphora, the great eucharistic prayer over the gifts, so called because of the initial phrase: "Let us lift up our hearts." The two principal anaphoras in use in the Orthodox Church are those of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great.After remembering the history of our fall and redemption and the institution of the eucharistic meal, the priest invokes the Holy Spirit, asking that he be sent down on the gifts. It is sometimes noted that this invocation, the epiclesis, is the climax of the change of the gifts of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, but there is not total agreement among Orthodox scholars whether the change can actually be pinpointed to a single moment in the service. It is certainly true that the prayers of the service treat the gifts as consecrated and changed after this point." (Source)
Following the consecration of the gifts is another of my favorite parts of the services;
"After consecrating the gifts, commemorating the saints, and praying for the local bishop, the priest lifts up the consecrated gifts, exclaiming, "The holy things are for the holy!" To which the faithful respond, "One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, amen." This phrase unfortunately loses something in English, since we have two words for holy and saint. In most other languages, this dialogue has a connotation of, "The holy things are for the saints! / Only one is a saint! Only one is Lord: Jesus Christ...." This is a rather prominent reminder that our holiness finds its source in God alone, and particularly in our participation in this communion." (Source)
We are reminded many times that God is the true and only source of holiness, and we partake of that holiness, through His Grace, in the partaking of the sacraments - and especially the Eucharist.
After all of this, we finally take communion, and then we have the dismissal. It is important to note that we Orthodox believe that these gifts - the bread and the wine - actually become the literal blood and body of Jesus Christ. We do not have some doctrine or dogma for how this happens, such as transubstantiation, but it is a mystery how this happens.
I mentioned in my post Christianity without Repercussions: Faith Pt. 1 that the Divine Liturgy is chock full of scriptural references, and I included a breakdown of the Liturgy and provided two links that showed the scripture references in the Liturgy (reposted here and here for your convenience).
An example of some of the hymns sung during the services are as follows:
Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One,And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One!Angels with shepherds glorify Him!The wise men journey with a star!Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!—Kontakion for Christmas, Roman the Melodist
Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death,and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.—Paschal Troparion
Notice the use of the word "Today" in the Kontakion above, we are not merely remembering nor commemorating the Nativity, but we are actively partaking in the actual Nativity - breaking the bonds of time to do so, as I mentioned in my post The Timelessness of Worship. This means that the Eucharist that we are partaking of today is also the same Eucharist we read about in the Bible - there is only one sacrifice for the whole of all time, not a new sacrifice every Liturgy.
These are just three of the services available to Orthodox Christians, and it would do us all well to attend all three as we are able because they explain the theology and the doctrines of our Church as well as are steeped in biblical references. There are also the services of the daily cycle (which includes Vespers, Compline, Orthros, and the Hours. Technically, the Liturgy is not a part of the daily cycle) which can be done at home, though a lot of times they are truncated down to Morning and Evening Prayers.
There are other services that will take place at the parish as well, such as paraklesis and canons that we definitely should strive to attend as we are able in this day and age.
If all we do is attend Liturgy on Sunday mornings, then we are missing out on a large portion of life in the Church, but sometimes that is all that we can do. The service of the Liturgy is very important because that is when we get to partake of the Eucharist and be in communion with our fellow believers, and we should definitely strive to attend that service as often as possible - though that can even be difficult in the United States where some people live literal hours away from the closest Orthodox parish and can only attend a few times a year. But, if we live closer, and it is within our means, we should definitely go to as many services as possible so we can be steeped in the theology of our Church and the Grace of God as poured out in the sacraments.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.a
The Vespers service is where you'll hear the hymns for whatever saints and/or special commemorations for the day for the first time. It takes us back to the Old Testament era, reminding us of "the creation of the world, the first human beings fall into sin, of their expulsion from Paradise, their repentance and prayer for salvation, the hope of mankind in accordance with the promise of God for a Saviour and ending with the fulfillment of that promise." (Source)
"The service leads to the meditation of God's word and the glorification of his love for men. It instructs and allows us to praise God for the particular events or persons whose memory is celebrated and made present to us in the Church. It prepares us for the sleep of the night and the dawn of the new day to come. On the eves of the Divine Liturgy, it begins the movement into the most perfect communion with God in the sacramental mysteries." (Source)
And, it is not uncommon for such things as a Vesperal Liturgy for certain feasts if a regular Liturgy would be hard to do (such as in the middle of the week when a morning Liturgy means a lot of parishioners could not be in attendance).
"Great Vespers is combined with the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great on Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday. This combination is also appointed to be served on the eves of the Nativity of Christ and Theophany when those feasts fall on any day other than Sunday or Monday.According to some traditions, when the feast of the Annunciation falls on a weekday of Great Lent or during the first three days of Holy Week, the festal Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom is combined with Great Vespers on the day of the feast itself." (Source)
Since 1975 the Antiochian Archdiocese has permitted parishes in its jurisdiction to commemorate certain important feasts that fall on days other than Sunday and Monday at an Evening Divine Liturgy served on the eve of (i.e., the night before) the feast. The Evening Divine Liturgy combines Great Vespers and the festal Divine Liturgy in a slightly different way than the traditional Vesperal Divine Liturgy. The form of the service was developed by the Archdiocese's Department of Liturgics and Translations.The introduction of Evening Divine Liturgies has been viewed by some as a reasonable pastoral accommodation to the reality of American life—due to work and school commitments most families cannot order their schedules in such a way that readily permits attendance at weekday morning services. Others argue that the practice is an innovation that disrupts the liturgical cycle and continues a negative trend of shortening the divine services.Some dioceses of the OCA also permit the celebration of Evening Divine Liturgies." (Source)
"This service (sometimes called “Vesperal Liturgy”) is prescribed only a few times each year.*It opens with the blessing used at Divine Liturgy: “Blessed is the Kingdom . . .”The service continues similar to great vespers. There is no psalter reading, and there is an entrance with the gospel book.After the 3 Old Testament lessons, there is a small litany. The Divine Liturgy then follows, beginning from the Trisagion, followed by the prokeimenon, epistle, etc.*The days calling for its celebration in some or all years include: Dec. 24, Jan. 5, March 25, Holy and Great Thursday, Holy and Great Saturday. Following the principle “the greater the feast, the shorter the fast,” it is celebrated (a) when there is a pre-festal Divine Liturgy on the eves of certain great feasts, and (b) on certain special days coinciding with the strict fast of Great Lent. In these situations the fast is longest, with the result that the Divine Liturgy comes at the end of the liturgical day. (By contrast, on Pascha, for example, there is no fast at all, so the celebration of the liturgy takes place as soon as possible.)" (Source)
After Vespers, normally the next service in the life of the parish would be Orthros/Matins. Orthros is very heavy on the Psalms, and includes what is known as the Hexapsalmos (Six Psalms) which tradition states "that the duration it takes to read the Hexapsalmos is the time will take for Christ to judge all of humanity at the Last Judgment.(Source)" There is also a Gospel reading, and litanies, and canons read as well;
The Canon is now chanted in the following order: The Choir chants the 1st Ode of the Resurrectional Canon (Tone of the week), the Canon to the Cross and Resurrection, the Canon to the Theotokos (all in the tone of the week), and the Canon of the Saint of the day. They then chant the 1st Ode's sesonal Katavasia. The 3rd Ode is chanted in the exact same manner. After the Katavsia of the 3rd Ode the Deacon intones the Little Litany, at the end of which the Priest exclaims "For Thou art our God..." (Source)
As well as the hymn (or Canon) of the Saint of the day, the Life of the Saint (or Saints) is also read. These hymns are jammed packed with not just a tidbit about the Saint, but with the theology of the Church - which is why in my opinion parishioners should not just be in attendance, but strive to learn and sing the hymns with the choir.Towards the end of Orthros (usually right at the end, and then followed by the start of the Divine Liturgy, from my experience) is what is known as the Great Doxology, which is one of my favorite prayers - especially as was sung by the clergy and parishioners at St. John Cathedral in Alaska.As stated above, after Orthros/Matins is the Divine Liturgy. The Liturgy is in two parts; the Liturgy of the Catechumens and the Liturgy of the Faithful.During the Liturgy of the Catechumens is when the appointed Epistle is read, another Gospel is read, and typically the homily (sermon in Protestant speak, but usually far shorter) is given (though some parishes the homily will be at the end, or if you attend a parish in Santa Fe, NM you'll get a pre homily after Great Vespers on Saturday night, the homily proper during the Liturgy, and maybe a nice little homily v1.5 after the Liturgy). Traditionally, after the Liturgy of the Catechumens, any catechumens in attendance would then leave to go be instructed in the faith; however, this is not normally done these days, though some parishes might have the children leave to go to "Sunday School" and then come back during the Liturgy of the Faithful so they might receive communion. I would like to note that the homily given usually has something to do with the appointed Gospel reading and is a great tool for instruction in the faith.The Liturgy of the Faithful is focused on the Eucharist, and the changing of the gifts to the Real Presence. It is also during the Liturgy of the Faithful where we will recite the Creed, or the Symbol of Faith. After the Creed is the Anaphora and the epiclesis;
"Following the Creed, the priest begins the anaphora, the great eucharistic prayer over the gifts, so called because of the initial phrase: "Let us lift up our hearts." The two principal anaphoras in use in the Orthodox Church are those of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great.After remembering the history of our fall and redemption and the institution of the eucharistic meal, the priest invokes the Holy Spirit, asking that he be sent down on the gifts. It is sometimes noted that this invocation, the epiclesis, is the climax of the change of the gifts of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, but there is not total agreement among Orthodox scholars whether the change can actually be pinpointed to a single moment in the service. It is certainly true that the prayers of the service treat the gifts as consecrated and changed after this point." (Source)
Following the consecration of the gifts is another of my favorite parts of the services;
"After consecrating the gifts, commemorating the saints, and praying for the local bishop, the priest lifts up the consecrated gifts, exclaiming, "The holy things are for the holy!" To which the faithful respond, "One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, amen." This phrase unfortunately loses something in English, since we have two words for holy and saint. In most other languages, this dialogue has a connotation of, "The holy things are for the saints! / Only one is a saint! Only one is Lord: Jesus Christ...." This is a rather prominent reminder that our holiness finds its source in God alone, and particularly in our participation in this communion." (Source)
We are reminded many times that God is the true and only source of holiness, and we partake of that holiness, through His Grace, in the partaking of the sacraments - and especially the Eucharist.
After all of this, we finally take communion, and then we have the dismissal. It is important to note that we Orthodox believe that these gifts - the bread and the wine - actually become the literal blood and body of Jesus Christ. We do not have some doctrine or dogma for how this happens, such as transubstantiation, but it is a mystery how this happens.
I mentioned in my post Christianity without Repercussions: Faith Pt. 1 that the Divine Liturgy is chock full of scriptural references, and I included a breakdown of the Liturgy and provided two links that showed the scripture references in the Liturgy (reposted here and here for your convenience).
An example of some of the hymns sung during the services are as follows:
Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One,And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One!Angels with shepherds glorify Him!The wise men journey with a star!Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!—Kontakion for Christmas, Roman the Melodist
Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death,and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.—Paschal Troparian
Notice the use of the word "Today" in the Kontakion above, we are not merely remembering nor commemorating the Nativity, but we are actively partaking in the actual Nativity - breaking the bonds of time to do so, as I mentioned in my post The Timelessness of Worship. This means that the Eucharist that we are partaking of today is also the same Eucharist we read about in the Bible - there is only one sacrifice for the whole of all time, not a new sacrifice every Liturgy.
These are just three of the services available to Orthodox Christians, and it would do us all well to attend all three as we are able because they explain the theology and the doctrines of our Church as well as are steeped in biblical references. There are also the services of the daily cycle (which includes Vespers, Compline, Orthros, and the Hours. Technically, the Liturgy is not a part of the daily cycle) which can be done at home, though a lot of times they are truncated down to Morning and Evening Prayers.
There are other services that will take place at the parish as well, such as paraklesis and canons that we definitely should strive to attend as we are able in this day and age.
If all we do is attend Liturgy on Sunday mornings, then we are missing out on a large portion of life in the Church, but sometimes that is all that we can do. The service of the Liturgy is very important because that is when we get to partake of the Eucharist and be in communion with our fellow believers, and we should definitely strive to attend that service as often as possible - though that can even be difficult in the United States where some people live literal hours away from the closest Orthodox parish and can only attend a few times a year. But, if we live closer, and it is within our means, we should definitely go to as many services as possible so we can be steeped in the theology of our Church and the Grace of God as poured out in the sacraments.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.
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