Elements of the Liturgy – Metropolitan Cantor Institute

Christian liturgy consists of words, actions, and the chant that accompanies them. (Every Christian liturgical tradition has its own liturgical chant, even if other music sometimes replaces it.) This page describes the basic types of words and actions that make up the liturgical services in the Byzantine tradition, as well as the roles of those who take part in the liturgy. For information about the liturgical singing in the Byzantine Catholic Church, see the pages on Chant.

The words of the liturgy

Of the texts used in the Byzantine Liturgy, the most familiar are those used each time a given service is celebrated:

The priest’s blessings that begin and end each service, to which the faithful respond, “Amen!” (Hebrew for So be it!).
The litanies led by the deacon, in which he calls the people to pray for specific needs.
The prayers which the people (or the priest speaking in their name) direct to Almighty God.
Hymns of praise, adoration, repentance and thanksgiving, whether sung to God or about Him. Hymns may also be sung in honor of the saints of God, or to ask for their intercession.

Much of the church’s worship is drawn from the Book of Psalms. These hymns, written by King David and others, and collected in ancient times, contain sentiments appropriate to every human situation, and are thus suitable to be used as the Hymnbook of the Church. Psalms, or excepts of psalms, are sung at virtually every service.

Along with the Psalms, we listen to the other books of Scripture in our services. The books of Sacred Scripture are read for instruction and edification; as Saint Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” The Church prescribes specific readings for each celebration of the Divine Liturgy, as well as at other services throughout the year.

Ecclesiastical compositions

The Psalms were composed and written down before the incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by human authors who awaited the revelation which was still to come. For this reason, the Church found it fitting to add short Christian hymns called stichera to the chanting of the Psalter. Stichera are usually sung in alternation with psalm verses, and can point out the deeper meanings in the psalms, or adapt them to the particular service or feast being celebrated.

In the same way that the psalms are accompanied by stichera, the Scripture readings are accompanied by short hymns which introduce the Scripture readings for a particular service or feast, and prepare us to listen attentively. These hymns are the Prokeimenon which introduces readings from the Old Testament and the apostolic writings of the New Testament, and the Alleluia which introduces the reading of the Holy Gospel.

Early Christian liturgy consisted almost entirely of prayers and Scriptural readings or hymns. But over time, as the Church’s liturgical year developed, new elements were added. Gifted hymnographers (writers of hymns) added their own contributions to the liturgy, in order to glorify God and his saints, and explain the Church’s doctrine.

The most important of these new liturgical hymns was the troparion, a short hymn which is intended to encapsulate the essence of a particular feast or celebration.

Later, a longer, very stylized kind of poetic sermon called the kontakion became popular. (The kontakion we have in the liturgy today is a very abbreviated form of the original poem.)

Finally, the troparia which were sung in alternation with canticles from the Old Testament at Matins developed into an elaborate poetic structure called a Canon. The canon eventually replaced the kontakion as the most important kind of extended hymn in the Byzantine Rite. Canons remain an important part of Matins, and are also sung at certain other services.

The actions of the liturgy

The words of the liturgy are accompanied by actions, which allow the whole person to participate in Divine worship.

We make the Sign of the Cross over ourselves, to commemorate the life-giving death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This sign is made with the fourth and fifth fingers folded against the palm, representing the Divine and human natures of the incarnate Word, and with the other two fingers and the thumb brought together, to represent the three Persons of the Holy Trinity.
The priest blesses the people with the Sign of the Cross, with the Gospel Book or hand cross, showing that it is not in his own name that he blesses us, but it is the Divine blessing that he invokes.
We bow before God, make prostrations to the ground, bow our heads, or kneel as a sign of repentance and humility.
The priest, deacon and servers, and sometimes the people as well, move through the body of the church in procession.
The priest or deacon may incense the church, the sanctuary, the holy table, the icons and the people. The rising sweet-smelling smoke is an ancient symbol of purification, and also represents our prayers as they ascend to the throne of God.

Some of these gestures are prescribed by the liturgical books; others are a matter of tradition or devotion, especially on the part of the people.

Roles in the liturgy

No Christian, by virtue of an office or liturgical role, has any claim to greatness before God; all that we do in the liturgy is delegated by our Mother the Church. But by the same token, not all who take part in the liturgy do so in the same way.

The bishop is a successor to the apostles; it is his responsibility to teach, to govern, and to ensure that the Church’s liturgy, like her teaching and laws, is carefully observed.
The priest is our representative before God, offering sacrifice and praying on our behalf. At the same time, he is the representative of Jesus Christ, empowered to bless, to forgive sins, and to make present the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ.
The deacon is responsible for order in the liturgical assembly. In the litanies, he announces the things for which we are to pray; he calls for our attention at various points in the services, and directs the people at prayer in a variety of ways. He may preach and read the Gospel, but does not bless the people.
The reader chants the appointed sections of the Old Testament and Apostolic readings, and may also lead certain services in the absence of a priest. (See Reader Services.)
The faithful (baptized Christians) add their prayers to those of the priest, sealing his prayer with their “Amen.” They pray for their own needs as well as for those announced by the deacon, affirming these petitions with responses such as “Lord, have mercy”, and “Grant this, O Lord.” They lend their voices in the singing of hymns, and offer their own sacrifices in union with the one acceptable sacrifice, offered by Christ as our High Priest, and made present by the priest in the Eucharist. They listen attentively to the Scripture readings and sermon or homily, applying these teachings to their own lives and to the sanctification of the world around them.
Catechumens (those preparing to become Christians through baptism) attend portions of the services to learn what is required of a Christian, and to be prayed over by the clergy and faithful.
The cantor or cantors lead the singing of the faithful, setting a comfortable pitch, and starting the singing to show which melody is to be used.
A choir of singers may also support the singing at liturgical services, especially when rarely-used or difficult music is used. The choir may be divided in two, for those parts of the services in which hymns are sung in alternation.

Unfortunately, the disappearance for many years of deacons from our churches, and the practice of the priest’s reciting many prayers quietly while the people’s singing was extended to “fill the gap”, resulted in some basic misunderstandings of liturgical roles. The priest was seen to be most active precisely at those moments when he took on the deacon’s role, coming before the iconostasis to lead the litanies, or calling for the people’s attention.

Our church is still re-learning the pattern according to which the faithful, led by the deacon, pray to God, and the priest sums these prayers up in a prayer of his own, sealed by the “Amen” of all present. Liturgical prayer is the work of the whole church.

The words of the liturgy

Ecclesiastical compositions

The actions of the liturgy

Roles in the liturgy

Recommended Reading