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;