Historical Prospective of the Liturgy-Part VI

DIVINE LITURGY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

PRAYERS BEFORE THE ICONOSTAS

INTERPRETATION

ipodiakonos zoran j. bobic

Interpretation…

“Holy Place the Holy of Holies” = name of the sanctuary;

It is “dwelling-place of God on Earth”;

Real presence of the Eucharistic Christ;

To approach this one had to be “ritually pure”;

There was a fear of ritual impurity, physical, physiological, moral …etc.;

“Dwelling Place” is called because Christ is “Tsar of all heaven and earth”;

Therefore, “iconostas” is based on all above;

Tropars of Penitence... We approach God with fear in trembling prostration, but never without hope;

Why: because we know that Christ is understanding and compassionate;

Though our asceticism: personal guilt, sin and repentance which was embroidered with hope;

This state of mind is illustrated in the penitential “tropars”;

In them we plea, beg, yarn for acceptance by God…etc.;

Similar like when child wayward of its father;

Therefore only father is capable of such forgiveness;

Tropars of Theotokos… We call Mother of Jesus: Theotokos (Bogorodice Djevo)-”Virgin

Birthgiver of God”;

She is the most honored;

Byzantine Liturgy is inspired with great devotion to her;

Thousands of hymns have been composed;

Our Church have Marian feast for every day throughout the year;

They are either feasts to her or her miracles;

Byzantine liturgists were making sure that her name and glory was in all liturgical prayers;

Before the Icons of: Christ and His Mother - ICONS

For us Orthodox the icon is a veritable theophany;

The icon is a dynamic manifestation of divine energy at work on earth;

The mystical teaching of icons came from “Heaven on earth” (church bldg.);

Gregory of Nyssa set the first such teaching;

Later in the Church history we had “iconoclastic controversy”;

Icon represents human forms that have been “regenerated into eternity”;

Iconographers attempted to convey theological meaning through symbolic colors and forms;

For example: Saints are represented facing forward, the entire face is showing;

Before the Icons of: Christ and His Mother - TROPARS

The tropars are the same as those in the Canonical Office in Sext during the Great Lent;

Forgiveness is asked of Christ;

The theme recurs in the chants of the Holy Week (Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in Matins of Easter morning);

And in the tropar of the Easter-time: Christ is risen…;

Theotokos tropar: emphasis on “Mother of God” and the power of that position;

Bows and Reconciliation: Before entering: priest and deacon bow

to the faithful on the right and on the left of the Church;

These bows are plea for pardon and forgiveness from all;

They are required and mandatory;

This comes from Matt. 5:23-24;

Faithful bow in return as well;

This came in practice during the 16th century;

Kissing the: Gospel Book, Altar and Hand Cross: Priest kisses the Gospel book because it contains the teaching of Christ;

Gospel Book takes the place of Christ;

Kissing of the Gospel Book is reserved to the priest only; (sometimes for faithful)

Deacon kisses the hand Cross and the Altar only;

The Altar does not represent the Lord himself but only His Throne; - priest kisses the Altar as well;

Cross is the crucifix with engraved corpus and it has a handle;

We all kiss this Cross, because it is the instrument of Christ’s death, it is the source of all grace and a sign of victory over the power of evil;

Cross is also the sign of political might;