Divine liturgy

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Orthodox episcopal liturgy

The divine liturgy or holy liturgy (fully holy and divine liturgy ) is called the celebration of the Eucharist in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite . Its counterpart in the Roman Catholic Church is Holy Mass .

There are four liturgy forms in use, three for the full celebration of the Eucharist and one for communion :

The holy and divine liturgy of Basil the Great († 379)

The liturgy form with the Basil's anaphora is based on St. Traced back to Basil of Caesarea , it was the main text until around 1000 AD and is used today - probably because of its length - only ten days a year. It is celebrated on the eve of Christmas (December 25th) and Theophany (January 6th), on the feast of St. Basil (January 1st), on the first five Sundays of the Great Lent , on Great Thursday ( Maundy Thursday ) and on Great Saturday ( Holy Saturday , actually an early Easter Vigil as in the Catholic Church until the liturgical reform of Pius XII). It differs from the Chrysostom liturgy only in certain prayers and chants, but not in ceremonial.

The holy and divine liturgy of John Chrysostom († 407)

The liturgy with the Chrysostom anaphora is the most common form today in the churches of the Byzantine rite.

Structure of the Basil and Chrysostom liturgy

I. Proskomidy ( preparation of gifts )
Proskomidy takes place in secrecy behind the closed iconostasis , at the table of the prothesis, usually north of the altar, in non-east facing churches on the left side of the apse.
1. Internal preparation of the celebrants
  • Prayer in front of the iconostasis
  • Entry into the sanctuary
2. External preparation of the celebrants
  • Donning the liturgical vestments
  • Hand washing
3. Preparation of the offerings
  • Preparation of the bread
  • Making the wine
  • Memory of the saints, the living and the dead
  • Concealment and incense (adulation) of the gifts
  • Prayer of preparation ("prothesis prayer")
  • Discharge
II. Liturgy of the Catechumens
The Little Entry with the Gospel Book
1. Beginning of the public liturgy
  • Opening praise
  • Peace secteny ( litany ) - the litanies during the liturgy are sung by the deacon , if he is absent, by the priest himself, and answered by the community with calls to prayer.
  • Silent prayer and first antiphon
  • Little Litany, Silent Prayer and Second Antiphon
  • Christ hymn
  • Small litany, silent prayer and third antiphon
  • Small entry with the Gospels
2. Prayers
3. Scripture readings
  • Prokimen
  • epistle
  • Alleluia
  • Gospel
  • Homily ( sermon ) - can also be given after the ambon prayer
  • Fervent litany for the believers
  • Litany for the deceased
  • Litany for the catechumens
  • Dismissal of the catechumens
The big move
III. Liturgy of the faithful
1. Presentation of the gifts
2. Anaphora ( prayer )
3rd communion
  • Litany of supplication in preparation for communion
  • Our Father
  • Main inclination prayer
  • Elevation of the "lamb"
  • Breaking Bread , Mixing and Zeon
Blessing and discharge
4. Conclusion
  • Final litany
  • Ambon prayer (blessing prayer over the congregation)
  • Cleaning the vessels
  • Blessings and Antidoron
  • Private thanksgiving prayers

The holy and divine liturgy of St. Father James

It is originally the Eucharist form of Jerusalem and Palestine as well as of the Patriarchate of Antioch and is traced back to the Lord Brother and Apostle James . With the increasing Byzantinization of the Middle Eastern Orthodox Patriarch, it fell out of use even in its homeland at the beginning of the 2nd millennium and was superseded by the two aforementioned Byzantine forms. In modern times, increasingly since the beginning of the 20th century, it has also found limited use in Byzantine churches. Today it is usually celebrated only on special occasions, but is celebrated regularly by some bishops and priests. At the end of the 19th century, the custom of celebrating the word service in front of the iconostasis , i.e. in the middle of the community, arose . Since the end of the 20th century, the Jacobos liturgy in Greece has often been celebrated at a popular altar versus populum .

The liturgy of the pre-consecrated gifts (presanctified liturgy)

It is more recently (and wrongly) attributed to the Roman Pope Gregory the Great († 604, mostly called Gregorios Dialogos by the Orthodox) and essentially consists of the Ἑσπερινός ( Vespers ) of the Liturgy of the Hours , which was combined with a communion ; the sanctification of bread and wine is omitted here, since sacred gifts were distributed in an earlier Eucharistic celebration.

Presumably, this form of worship arose from pastoral considerations in order to enable the faithful to receive communion on working days, especially during the Great Lent. To this day, it is forbidden in the churches of the Byzantine Rite to celebrate a festive Eucharistic liturgy on the working days of the forty days of Lent (with the exception of the feast day of the Annunciation ). The pre-consecrated gifts liturgy is currently celebrated on the Wednesday and Friday of the first six weeks of Lent, on the Thursday of the fifth week of Lent, and on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of the Great and Holy Week ( Holy Week ).

In the past, communion with pre-consecrated gifts was given more frequently in the Byzantine liturgy, for example at the coronation of a Byzantine emperor and the marriage of Christian spouses.

In the Roman rite of the Catholic Church it corresponds to (a) the communal communion celebration as part of the celebration of the suffering and death of Christ on Good Friday , the dispensing of Holy Communion outside of a mass in a word service with communion celebration , e.g. B. (b) The Word of God celebration with communion celebration (with the special form of ward worship ) and (c) Communion for the sick .

literature

  • Tat'jana I. Afanas'eva: Славянская литургия Преждеосвященных Даров XII – XV вв .: текстология и язык . Saint-Petersburg 2004. ISBN 5-288-03381-1
  • S. Alexopoulos: The Presanctified Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite. A Comparative Analysis of its Origins, Evolution, and Structural Components (Liturgia Condenda 21). Peeters, Leuven 2009. ISBN 978-90-429-2109-2
  • Stefano Parenti: L'attribuzione a s. Gregorio "Dialogos" papa di Roma della liturgia bizantina dei doni presanctificati . In: ders., A Oriente e occidente di Costantinopoli. Temi e problemi liturgici di ieri e di oggi . Città del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2010. 75-87.
  • Stefano Parenti: La 'vittoria' nella Chiesa di Costantinopoli della Liturgia di Crisostomo sulla Liturgia di Basilio . In: Acts of the International Congress Comparative Liturgy Fifty Years after Anton Baumstark (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 265). PIO, Roma 2001, 907-928.
  • Robert A. Taft, A History of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom , Pontificio Istituto Orientale, Roma 1978-2000, so far published in 3 (of 6 planned) volumes.
  • Hugh Wybrew: The Orthodox Liturgy. The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite , SPCK, London 1989, ISBN 0-281-04416-3
  • Heinzgerd Brakmann - Tinatin Chronz: A flower of the Levant. At the beginning of the modern Jacobos liturgy . In: Orientalia Christiana, Festschrift Hubert Kaufhold . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2013, 85-107.

Videos

  • Divine liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Collegium Orientale Eichstätt, DOC-Medien-GmbH, Esslingerstraße 1, D-85132 Schönfeld. ISBN 3-938394-11-0

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In 2013, after a trial phase, the Orthodox Bishops' Conference approved a German translation: http://www.orthpedia.de/index.php/Götigte_Liturgie_(Text)
  2. ↑ Jacobos liturgy in Russia, with photo of the divine service celebrated in the direction of the congregation (2009)

Web links