{"id":241,"date":"2015-12-31T03:33:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-31T03:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/?page_id=241"},"modified":"2021-02-17T11:43:16","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T16:43:16","slug":"elements-of-the-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/liturgy\/elements-of-the-liturgy\/","title":{"rendered":"Elements of the Liturgy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Christian liturgy consists of <strong>words<\/strong>, <strong>actions<\/strong>, and the <strong>chant<\/strong> that accompanies them. \u00a0 (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.\u00a0 For information about the liturgical singing in the Byzantine Catholic Church, see the pages on <a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/chant\/\">Chant.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>The words of the liturgy<\/h2>\n<p>Of the texts used in the Byzantine Liturgy, the most familiar are those used each time a given service is celebrated:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The priest&#8217;s <strong>blessings<\/strong> that begin and end each service, to which the faithful respond, &#8220;Amen!&#8221; (Hebrew for <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">So be it!<\/span>).<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>litanies<\/strong> led by the deacon, in which he calls the people to pray for specific needs.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>prayers<\/strong> which the people (or the priest speaking in their name) direct to Almighty God.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hymns<\/strong> of praise, adoration, repentance and thanksgiving, whether sung <em>to<\/em> God or <em>about<\/em> Him. Hymns may also be sung in honor of the saints of God, or to ask for their intercession.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Much of the church&#8217;s worship is drawn from the Book of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/liturgy\/Psalms.html\">Psalms<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0 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 <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Hymnbook of the Church<\/span>.\u00a0 Psalms, or excepts of psalms, are sung at virtually every service.<\/p>\n<p>Along with the Psalms, we listen to the <strong>other books of Scripture<\/strong> in our services. \u00a0 The books of Sacred Scripture are read for instruction and edification; \u00a0as Saint Jerome said, &#8220;Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.&#8221; \u00a0 The Church prescribes specific readings for each celebration of the Divine Liturgy, as well as at other services throughout the year.<\/p>\n<h3>Ecclesiastical compositions<\/h3>\n<p>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 <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/liturgy\/Stichera.html\">stichera <\/a><\/strong>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.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u00a0particular service or feast, \u00a0and prepare us to listen attentively. \u00a0These hymns are the <strong>Prokeimenon <\/strong>which introduces readings from the Old Testament and\u00a0the apostolic writings of the New Testament, and the<strong> Alleluia<\/strong> which introduces the reading of the Holy Gospel.<\/p>\n<p>Early Christian liturgy consisted almost entirely of prayers and Scriptural readings or hymns.\u00a0 But over time, as the Church&#8217;s liturgical year developed, new elements were added. \u00a0Gifted <em>hymnographers<\/em> (writers of hymns) added their own contributions to the\u00a0liturgy, in order to glorify God and his saints, and explain the Church&#8217;s doctrine.<\/p>\n<p>The most important of these new liturgical hymns was the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/liturgy\/Troparia.html\">troparion<\/a><\/strong>, a short hymn which is intended to encapsulate the essence of a particular feast or celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Later, a longer, very stylized kind of poetic sermon called the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/liturgy\/Kontakia.html\">kontakion <\/a><\/strong>became popular. \u00a0(The kontakion we have in the liturgy today is a very abbreviated form of the original poem.)<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the troparia which were sung in alternation with canticles from the Old Testament at Matins developed into an elaborate poetic structure called a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/liturgy\/Canons.html\">Canon<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n<h2>The actions of the liturgy<\/h2>\n<p>The words of the liturgy are accompanied by actions, which allow the whole person to participate in Divine worship.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We make \u00a0the <strong>Sign of the Cross<\/strong> over ourselves, to commemorate the life-giving death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. \u00a0This 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.<\/li>\n<li>The priest <strong>blesses<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<li>We <strong>bow<\/strong> before God, make <strong>prostrations<\/strong> to the ground,\u00a0 <strong>bow our heads,<\/strong> or <strong>kneel<\/strong> as a sign of repentance and humility.<\/li>\n<li>The priest, deacon and servers, and sometimes the people as well, move through the body of the church in <strong>procession<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The priest or deacon may <strong>incense<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some of these gestures are prescribed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/liturgy\/LiturgicalBooks.html\">liturgical books<\/a>; others are a matter of tradition or devotion, especially on the part of the people.<\/p>\n<h2>Roles in the liturgy<\/h2>\n<p>No Christian, by virtue of an office or liturgical role, has any claim to greatness before God; \u00a0all that we do in the liturgy is delegated by our Mother the Church. \u00a0But by the same token, not all who take part in the liturgy do so in the same way.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>bishop<\/strong> is a successor to the apostles; \u00a0it is his responsibility to teach, to govern, and to ensure that the Church&#8217;s liturgy, like her teaching and laws, is carefully observed.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>priest<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>deacon<\/strong> is responsible for order in the liturgical assembly. \u00a0In the litanies, he announces the things for which we are to pray; \u00a0he calls for our attention at various points in the services, and directs the people at prayer in a variety of ways. \u00a0He may preach and read the Gospel, but does not bless the people.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>reader<\/strong> chants the appointed sections of the Old Testament and Apostolic readings, and may also lead certain services in the absence of a priest. \u00a0(See <a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/liturgy\/ReaderServices.html\">Reader Services<\/a>.)<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>faithful<\/strong> (baptized Christians) add their prayers to those of the priest, sealing his prayer with their &#8220;Amen.&#8221; They pray for their own needs as well as for those announced by the deacon, affirming these petitions with responses such as &#8220;Lord, have mercy&#8221;, and &#8220;Grant this, O Lord.&#8221;\u00a0 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. \u00a0They listen attentively to the Scripture readings\u00a0and sermon or homily, applying these teachings to their own lives and to the sanctification of the world around them.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Catechumens <\/strong>(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.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>cantor<\/strong> or <strong>cantors<\/strong> lead the singing of the faithful, setting a comfortable pitch, and starting the singing to show which melody is to be used.<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>choir<\/strong> of singers may also support the singing at liturgical services, especially when rarely-used or difficult music is used. \u00a0The choir may be divided in two, for those parts of the services in which hymns are sung in alternation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unfortunately, the disappearance for many years of deacons from our churches, and the practice of the priest&#8217;s reciting many prayers quietly while the people&#8217;s singing was extended to &#8220;fill the gap&#8221;, resulted in some basic misunderstandings of liturgical roles.\u00a0 The priest was seen to be most active precisely at those moments when he took on the deacon&#8217;s role, coming before the iconostasis to lead the litanies, or calling for the people&#8217;s attention.<\/p>\n<p>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 &#8220;Amen&#8221; of all present. Liturgical prayer is the work of the whole church.<\/p>\n<h2>Recommended Reading<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><cite>Light for Life: Part Two, The Mystery Celebrated<\/cite>. (Pittsburgh: God With Us Publications, 1996).<br \/>\nAn excellent introduction to Byzantine liturgy. This is the second volume of a widely-used Byzantine Catholic catechism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christian liturgy consists of words, actions, and the chant that accompanies them. \u00a0 (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 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/liturgy\/elements-of-the-liturgy\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Elements of the Liturgy&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":76,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/241"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1523,"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/241\/revisions\/1523"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mci.archpitt.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}