Receive One Another

A series of litanies immediately follows the homily: the Litany of Fervent Supplication, which consists of petitions made directly to the Lord, most of which only occur during this part of the Divine Liturgy, the Litany for the Departed, which is not done on Sunday (the Day of Resurrection), the Litany for the Catechumens, and [...]

Up until the eighth century, the daily readings commenced with Old Testament readings, both from the Torah (first five books of the Bible) and from the Prophets. The Church, in creating a liturgical calendar of readings from Scripture, followed the Jewish Temple practice. We can witness Christ participating in this liturgical cycle of readings in [...]

During the singing of the final Kontakion, the priest quietly prays the Prayer of the Thrice-Holy Hymn, which precedes the singing of that ancient hymn. The prayer is a rich theological utterance filled with scriptural allusions as indicated below:
O holy God, who restest in thy Holy Place; who art hymned by the Seraphim [Is. 57:15] [...]

O Master, Lord our God, Who hast appointed in Heaven the ranks and hosts of angels and archangels unto the service of Thy glory: With our entry do Thou cause the entry of the holy angels, serving and glorifying Thy goodness with us. For unto Thee are due all glory, honor, and worship: to [...]

As the deacon intones the second and final small litany of the Liturgy, the priest prays the Prayer of the Third Antiphon: O Thou who hast bestowed upon us these common and concordant prayers, and Who hast promised that when two or three are agreed in Thy Name Thou wouldst grant their requests: Do Thou [...]

While the deacon intones the small litany, the priest prays the Prayers of the Second Antiphon in the Altar: O Lord our God, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Preserve the fullness of Thy Church. Sanctify them that love the beauty of Thy house: do Thou glorify them by Thy divine [...]

The two small litanies divide the three antiphons into a three-part structure honoring the Holy Trinity. These litanies are a condensed summation of the petitions from the Great Litany: the second and third of these petitions are the last two petitions from the Great Litany and the first repeats the Great Litany’s first petition, “in [...]

The Antiphons, named such because the three Antiphons are usually sung antiphonally (that is by two choirs alternating with the first choir singing the First Antiphon and the second choir singing the Second Antiphon and both alternating during the Beatitude verses of the Third Antiphon) begin with verses from the beautiful Psalm 102 (103), praising [...]

“For our Bishop ______, for the honorable presbytery, the diaconate in Christ, for all the clergy and people, let us pray to the Lord.” St. Ignatius of Antioch (+108), disciple of the Apostle John, Patriarch of Antioch, and early Church Father, wrote: “Let no one do anything that has to do with the Church [...]

The Liturgy of the Catechumens begins with the announcement of the Kingdom of Heaven and ends before the Passion [. . .] We find the death of Christ twice: first in the Proskomedia (with the entombment after the Great Entrance), and secondly after the Consecration [. . .] The Liturgy of the Catechumens, which is [...]