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Light for Life The Mystery Celebrated
© Copyright 1996 God With Us Publications
About the Cover - In the Byzantine tradition, the highpoint of THE MYSTERY CELEBRATED is the Divine Liturgy, the actualization of the presence of Christ where two or three are gathered in His name. The icon of the Liturgy depicted here illustrates two characteristics which the Byzantine tradition ascribes to the Liturgy. Its continuity with the apostolic tradition is suggested in the persons of the celebrants, St James the Bishop of Jerusalem and the protomartyr, the deacon St. Stephen. Its connection with the heavenly liturgy is indicated by the ripidion, symbol of the presence of the angels, with which the deacon fans the Holy Gifts. Table Of Contents: Chapter One: Faith Expressed
in Worship Chapter Two: Our Sanctification in Time Chapter Three: The Yearly Cycle Chapter Four: The Divine Liturgy, The
Fulfillment of Time Chapter Five: The Holy Mysteries:
Sanctification of Life Chapter Six: Living Liturgically Note: God With Us Publications has limited us to the posting of Chapter One of this book on the internet. To read the rest of the book, please contact God With Us Publications for purchasing information. Chapter 1 - Faith Expressed in Worship Life is a mystery. Elements of it are partially understandable, but these do not exhaust its possibilities. Central to seeing life in its fullness is faith in a loving Creator who reveals His presence to us as our "way, truth and life" (Jn 14:6). This faith-ultimately a gift of God-is an invitation to rediscover our world in the light of God and to celebrate His loving-kindness in worship. The Church’s tradition of worship profoundly reflects the depth and breadth of the reality of God’s love for us and His mystical union with us. We can hear the still, small voice of God1 speaking to our inner being across the ages with His timeless voice of love, and come to recognize it when we hear it in other ways. Worship is a "bowing down" (Greek, proskynesis) or an "act of service" (Greek, latrela); but in this very act of emptying ourselves before God, we are filled with His Spirit and made God-like. Worship is glorification (Greek, doxologia) of the Other: our Creator, Savior and Lifegiver; but this act of glorifying the Other lifts us as creatures to the pinnacle of human expression. Our smallness in a vast universe may seem to reduce us to insignificance. However, the act of giving glory to God by our own free will opens to us the true greatness of our destiny unmatched in all of inanimate creation. It is only when we render the glory, honor and worship due to God that we discover the true dignity of our human calling: to participate in the life and love of the Creator. Worship should not be mistaken as arbitrary servitude to a jealous God. This wrong concept masks the true meaning of worship: a simple awareness of our true relationship with God. The word itself implies "worth-ship" or the giving of honor where it is truly due. Worship recognizes our complete need for God; and recognizing this dependence elevates us into His very life. Christians further understand worship in the light of Christ and our union in Him. Having put on Christ in baptism, we have been brought into the mystery of Jesus Christ and empowered to join ourselves to the perfect worship which Christ continually offers to the Father. In the Church’s worship we participate in Christ’s work of salvation through the Holy Spirit, who prays for us in a way which transcends human language (Rom 8:26). Thus it is not we who initiate worship; rather we cooperate with Christ while He transforms and deifies us.
WORSHIP AS SACRIFICE Worship is an act which signifies both our complete openness to God and our desire for union with Him. It is an offering of self- a sacrifice - expressed in words, in gestures, in deeds. This attitude is expressed in the so-called Standard Beginning or Trisagion Prayers, with which most Byzantine liturgical services open2. This sequence, culminating in the Lord’s Prayer which proclaims our dedication to the kingdom of God, express the worshipper’s self-offering in word (the prayers) and gestures (the metanies, the sign of the cross). These prayers, like any sacrifice, reflect the spirit of openness to God which marks the believer as distinct from those who do not believe. In the Old Testament era the spirit of sacrifice was expressed in the temple sacrifices of animals or food. Making these offerings expressed the worshipper’s desire for union with God, but they could not achieve it. This unity could only be accomplished in Christ: Since the Law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never perfect the worshippers by the same sacrifices offered continually year after year.... but Jesus offered one sacrifice for sins and took His place forever at the right hand ........ by one offering He has forever perfected those who are being sanctified (Heb 10:1,12,14).
"Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar" (Gn 8.20).Christ did not offer a gesture or token sacrifice, but the complete and total sacrifice of His entire being. Through this unique sacrifice, made present to us in the Divine Liturgy, we are "perfected": truly united with God, totally transformed and made holy. Because of this union, Christian worship is an entirely new reality, what St. Paul called spiritual worship3: "I beg you, through the mercy of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship" (Rom 12:1).
EARTHLY PARTICIPATION IN HEAVENLY LIFE The commentaries of the Fathers often draw comparisons between the earthly liturgy and the heavenly liturgy. This resemblance is inspired by the prophecy of Isaiah, who had a vision of angels surrounding God’s throne singing, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts! All the earth is filled with His glory!" (6:3). In the New Testament, the Book of Revelation depicts God seated in the midst of angels and the twenty-four elders who sing, "To the One seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and power forever and ever." (Rev 5:13) This theme of heavenly worship recurs frequently in Byzantine liturgical services with their frequent mention of the angelic hosts:
At the Divine Liturgy, after the holy gifts are sanctified, we pray that they may be received "on [God’s] holy, heavenly, and mystical altar." "Standing at this holy altar as before Your cherubic throne" (Presanctified Liturgy), we offer to God a worship which has a spiritual that goes beyond what we see on the surface. The person who not see with the eyes of faith, perceives worship as mere words ritual gestures. Those illuminated by faith see it as "God with us" sanctifying us and, through us, the world in which we live.
WORSHIP AND THE CONTINUING SALVATION OF THE WORLD The Church’s worship celebrates the eternal truth that God is in midst, working for our salvation. He has inclined the heavens by the incarnation of Christ and brought us into the life of heaven in the resurrection. Liturgy expresses this life in Christ flowing from our union with God and nourishing us as His children. Christ said, "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who lives in me and I in him, will produce abundantly, for apart from me you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5). Liturgical worship has been described as living in heaven-on-earth, because it is there that we are nourished by the vine which is Christ. As the Lord said, he who is so nourished is meant to produce abundantly. And so our liturgical life calls us to a mission which extends beyond the sanctuary. The Church’s worship extends our individual profession of faith to include a commitment to God’s plan of salvation for the whole world. The services themselves express this commitment through intercession for "peace throughout the world, the welfare of the holy Churches of God and the union of all" (Great Litany), drawing all persons and nations into our worship. Our involvement in worship also calls us to focus our attention on works of concern for those for whom we pray. "Our Father, who art in heaven.., Thy Kingdom come," would be a vain prayer without it.
WORSHIP AS A NORM OF FAITHOur action of worship is more than a token of faith; it is our faith itself in action. This is why the Fathers insisted so often that our worship constitutes our belief and why formulas of faith ("word symbols") are drawn from our liturgical life. St. Irenaeus taught this as early as the second century, "Our teaching is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our teaching." As an element of the Tradition, the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, liturgical worship is a norm of faith, a source and pattern for life. We are not free to alter it arbitrarily, to treat it as mere entertainment or to reject it as irrelevant without separating ourselves from faith. We live in a society which tempts us to do so because it is both individualistic and subjective. Rather than draw faith from our worship, we have a tendency to force faith to conform to our preconceptions. Instead of seeking a source and pattern for life in our worship, we may try to find refuge from our personal cares and problems.
LITURGY IS A COMMUNAL REALITY Liturgy is meant for celebration within a community. It is not merely a setting for private prayer or meant as a supplement to our individual spiritual life. Christian worship is based on the New Testament revelation of God as a "community" of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we are baptized into Christ we are made children of the Father and bearers of the Spirit, truly members by extension of the community of the Trinity. Together with all the baptized we are being joined together as a holy temple, "built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God" (Eph 2:22). We are enjoined to let ourselves be the living stones of this temple: "Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pt 2:5). The Church’s worship is precisely God’s instrument for making us a people, forming us into His kingdom-"The Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". Thus we repeatedly pray in the Divine Liturgy for "unity in the faith and the communion in the Holy Spirit." Thus "communion" must not be narrowly understood as reception of a private share of the divine life through the Eucharist. Our sharing in the life of the Trinity includes the "communion" of all other believers and we become interrelated members of the Body of Christ. This communion is equally the basis for that closer unity which must take place among the members of the community manifested in works of charity for one another. This communion among believers presupposes communion with God and, hence, incorporates it. Divine worship in the Church, then, is inherently communal, uniting a particular gathering of people with the entire Christian community throughout space and time-in fact with the entire created cosmos- through our union with Christ. We must also be aware that celebrations of the sacraments are not completely private ceremonies. Sometimes rites such as baptisms, weddings and funerals are misconceived as pertaining only to the involved family. Each of these mysteries is, instead, the action of the whole community. They express our integration into a community of faith, the Body of Christ which is the Church.
ALL CREATION FINDS FULFILLMENT IN WORSHIP The life in Christ involves every aspect of our being, and so divine worship must involve and affect all the bodily senses to focus the whole person on God. This has given rise to liturgical arts (architecture, iconography, hymnography) which, in the Eastern Churches, have been so integrated into the liturgy that they have become inseparable. And so the liturgical services of the Eastern Churches involve the whole person-spirit, soul and body--- through gesture, music, sight and sound. Eastern liturgical worship is designed to facilitate our ~ resence to the reality we are celebrating, recognizing that we are creatures of both body and spirit. It is filled with meaning through words and concepts, and it affects each of our bodily senses to open us completely to God’s presence. The structure of the church and the color of the icons perceived by vision reinforce our faith that we are truly present to Christ and all His saints. In the Eucharist we partake of Chris1’s body and blood and are able to sing, "Taste and see how good the Lord is" (Ps 33/34:9). Incense reminds us through smell and sight that we are being offered to God as "a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God" (Phil 4:18) and that the bright cloud of the Holy Spirit is filling the temple of our worship. The sacred music of the Liturgy instills through our hearing its patterns of God’s love in the depths of our being. We are creatures attuned to music which intrinsically affects us. The vestments of the ministers witness that we are all clothed in God’s glory by baptism. Baptism itself physically impinges on all of our senses by the touch of hands, manifesting God’s love; by the burial in water representing our death to sin; and by the manifold flagrance of chrism, giving us every needed gift of the Holy Spirit. Every liturgical celebration encompasses us totally in the saving act of God by elevating and glorifying us in both soul and body.
THE CHURCH BUILDING: ICON OF THE WORSHIPPING CHURCH All these aspects of worship find concrete expression in the Byzantine church building. Standing before the Pantokrator, the image of the inexpressible God, we find ourselves called to bow down and acknowledge our true status before God. We are surrounded by appointments recalling both the temple of Jerusalem and its heavenly prototype (cf Ex 25:1-27:21), but clearly focused on the mystery of Christ at work among us. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the icons of the saints we take our place in the community of the Holy Spirit. Some people feel that church buildings are unnecessary since God is present everywhere, even in the field under the stars. If silent prayer for communing with God were the sole purpose of the church building, this argument would have weight, as many other places would serve this purpose as well. Of course, we sometimes take refuge in our churches as places of quiet and peace for private prayer, but the true purpose of the church building becomes manifest only with the liturgy celebrated there. There are essential aspects of His presence and His relationship to us which can be perceived best in the church building as it comes alive through use. In the Church’s liturgical worship God is truly acting in the midst of His people. The Lord is at work, creating us anew: salvation is a continuous happening, as the Fathers often proclaimed. Hence, in the divine services, we are present to the saving events of Christ’s paschal mystery as well as to the entire Church, across time and space, which lives through His saving acts.5 The timeless and universal effect of these events is accented when they are celebrated in a properly appointed church building representing the fullness of creation touched by the saving hand of God. The walls of Byzantine church buildings are usually covered with icons, proclaiming a "theology in color." They follow certain traditional forms in portraying the scenes or persons depicted in order to reveal the teaching of the Church. They visually attract the beholder by expressing levels of meaning too complex for words. Icons derive from the mystery of the incarnation, in that Christ is "the icon of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). In the incarnation God has become visible in human form, making it possible to depict Him in Christ. The style of icons reflects the transfiguration of our humanity by the divinity of Christ who is depicted as the perfect man, the model for all the other images of saints. The icons of the saints are painted according to the same principles as the icon of Christ to show deification by the Spirit into the image of God. The saints’ eyes, the mirrors of the soul, are open wide to represent wisdom and spiritual insight. Their posture and clothing are harmoniously arranged to represent integrity and wholeness of being. Icons de-emphasize physical features (physiogno-my) in order to lead us to a perception of spiritual reality and beauty. The icon screen is the most distinctive feature of the Byzantine church structure. Its practical function is to set apart the altar area from the main body of the church (the nave). This architectural purpose of the icon screen was drawn from the style of other public structures in the Roman and Byzantine Empire. The usual division between the area for the public and that for the official function was a low fence, often enhanced by columns with an architrave (a lintel running along the tops of the columns). Icons were given a more prominent place on the screen after the ninth century controversy with the iconoclasts (icon breakers) had highlighted the connection with the incarnation. The theological function of the icon screen is to be the "gate of paradise," proclaiming that, through Christ, "the reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of the Father’s being" (Heb 1:3), we have access to the Father and to the Kingdom of God. The icons of the Mother of God, the apostles, the gospel scenes on the screen are placed there because of their connection with the mystery of the incarnation. Likewise the Church, represented by the icons of the parish patrons, is there as the continuation of the incarnation, affording us spiritual and bodily unity with God. The sanctuary and the nave have been given different meanings. The altar area represents the throne of God, become truly present as "our Father in heaven" who has "lowered the heavens" to dwell among us in His only Son. The nave, place of the worshipping community, signifies the pilgrim Church on its journey toward the kingdom of God. The goal of this pilgrim Church is to achieve unity with God beginning in this life and culminating in the future world. ("Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.") St. Maximos the Confessor has emphasized that both parts of the Church structure share a common purpose.6 Maximos affirms that the structure of the church building is an icon symbolizing the unity between God and humanity, between spirit and flesh, between the future and the past, and between symbol and reality. Thus the church structure represents the purpose of the Church itself: to lead us into the presence of God, so that we can be united with Him. Through the very structure of the church building the invisible reality of the Church is presented to our bodily eyes even as we and our gifts are transformed into a heavenly reality.
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