The Richness of the Divine Liturgy in the Melkite Catholic Church

The ancients called this gathering of the faithful synaxis, a convention: a community that looks to eternity. Worshiping together in community, the faithful experience more readily both their unity in Christ and the power of the Spirit. They learn how to open and abandon themselves to the revelation of God, to experience Him, and thus are able to witness to their religious experience.
In these public functions there is constant motion and personal participation. Every act, gesture and movement of the body has its meaning. People sway with their bodies, move their hands, raise and lower their eyes, bow their heads. Their voices rise and fall in heartfelt supplication.
Every person performing a bodily gesture in the celebration points to a spiritual reality and acclaims it. Preparation of the Gifts In the ancient Church only the baptized, the initiated and those instructed in the faith were allowed to bring their offerings to the altar. Bread and wine symbolize those who are united to Christ and made one with Him in baptism. As the many grains of wheat and the many grapes have to be crushed to become a new form of life-giving element which is bread and wine, so also the baptized are grafted onto Christ and voluntarily surrendered and given to Him to be one with Him. With Christ who is our Bread we become new life, life divine.
From the material offerings of bread and wine of the faithful, the deacons—and, later in history, the priests—selected what was necessary for the sacrifice and used the rest for their subsistence or the subsistence of the poor. The simple ceremony of offering, receiving, selecting and distributing the bread and wine, which is the human part of the covenant, was made at a special place called prothesis or proskomedia (table of oblation). This ceremony became more elaborate later and developed into a short story and a condensed drama of the whole eucharistic sacrifice.
Among all the loaves offered there is one called prosphora, representing Christ and stamped with a seal bearing His name: "Jesus Christ the Victor," IC XC NIKA. When this seal is cut it is called "the Lamb", the Lamb of God who represents here all humanity. The priest lifts up the prosphora and signs it three times with the lance that pierced the side of the Lord on Calvary. He cuts the seal marked with Christ's name, saying: "As a sheep He was led to the slaughter. And as a spotless lamb before the shearers, He did not open his mouth. In His lowliness His judgment was taken away. And who shall describe His generation?" The priest, thrusting the lance into the right side of the bread, lifts out the lamb, saying: "For His life was taken away from the earth." He turns it face down and pierces it on the side stamped "Jesus," saying: "One of the soldiers pierced His side with a lance." Wine is then poured into the chalice with some drops of water. The memory of Calvary becomes alive again, and the priest declares, "...and at once there came forth blood and water and he who saw it bore witness, and his witness is true." Another special piece is cut "in honor and memory of our most highly blessed and glorious Lady the Mother of God" and is placed at the right of the Lamb, for indeed, "at Your right stood the queen in an embroidered mantle of gold." Other pieces are cut in honor of angels, prophets and saints. Christ is thus surrounded by saints. Other pieces are cut for the living (militant church on earth), and the dead (the suffering church in Purgatory) so that, by the mercy of God, they are joined to the victorious church in heaven around the Lamb on His throne. The priest puts a star on the oblation and declares that a "Star came and stood where the Child was." He declares the faith of the assembly in the Incarnation of the Son of God. Here is Bethlehem! Even the covering of the oblation becomes an occasion for the glorification of God: "The Lord is king, He has clothed Himself with splendor; the Lord has put on might and has girded Himself! Your glory, O Christ, has covered the heavens, and the earth is full of Your praise."
The solemn Divine Liturgy
1. The liturgy of the Catechumens (Service of the Word) "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…" 
a. Litany of Peace: Every prayer, as every act of the Christian, is ordained ultimately, not only to his own fulfillment in the "vision of God" in heaven, but also to the transformation and consummation of all things in Christ. In Christ all that is, is full of possibilities for beauty, truth, community and justice. And the Christian is vowed to draw out all these possibilities into the realities of this world. All of reality invites him to respond to goodness with goodness of his own.
This vision of the praying Christian is most explicitly clarified in the Litany of Peace, which opens all Byzantine public prayers. In this litany the Christian gathers within himself the public servants: authorities both religious and civil; cities, country places and all those who live in them, the travelers; the sick and those forgotten brothers who are in prisons. The Christian lives deeply in touch with all the troubles of the world and feels the pain of human life intensely. He brings all the earth and whatever it contains to God for His mercy, and dedicates himself for its healing and welfare.
When Christ ascended the cross, He succeeded in spreading over the whole world more of Himself, more of love and salvation than there will ever be of death, hatred, self-centeredness and sin. The mercy of God is the life-giving perpetuation of the divine energy of the Redeemer’s love, an outpouring of love and goodness that sanctifies and divinizes. The mercy of God is not a condescension, a paternalism on the part of God, a "crumb that falls form the Master’s table." The mercy of God is God Himself in His transforming presence! It is He, the Bread broken for all, generously given and completely surrendered.
The cry of "Lord, have mercy," therefore, invokes the divine presence on the whole of creation, upon mankind and matter, upon the whole world thought of as gathered in the one embrace of Christ.
b. Procession of Gospel and Hymn of the Incarnation: "The antiphons of the Liturgy are the prophets’ predictions which foretold the coming of the Son of God... that is, they reveal His incarnation which we proclaim again, having embraced knowledge of it through those who have become servants, eyewitnesses and attendants of the Word." (St. Germanos of Constantinople, Historia Ecclesiastica, 23 (c 725 AD)). Historically speaking, the antiphons were popular demonstrations and processions through the streets and winding roads of a given locality, from church to church, leading to the main Church where the celebration had to take place. These processions were meant to gather on their way the "good and the sinners, inviting every one, believer and unbeliever, to the wedding-feast of the King" (Matt 22:8). The word antiphon means a refrain to a reading or to a rhetorical declamation often repeated during the course of a procession. Antiphons are devised to provoke in people enthusiasm, and joy, and to help them see the goodness of God who hears the immense desire of humanity:
“Only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal as You are! You condescended for our salvation to take flesh of the holy Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, and without undergoing change, You became man. You were crucified, O Christ God, and crushed Death by Your death. You are One of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit: save us.”
The ministers form a great procession with lighted candles, covered with a cloud of incense. The bejeweled Holy Gospel book, which is the symbol and sign of Jesus Christ Himself, is carried high on the head of the celebrant or the deacon. This procession symbolizes the preaching of Christ in Palestine. The candle-holders represent John the Baptist who preceded Christ and prepared the way for him. The whole assembly singing rises to honor the coming of the Lord. Everyone bows profoundly at the passage of Christ, adoring Him present in His book of life. The Gospel Book is thus brought with solemnity into the midst of the congregation and finally to the sanctuary. "…the priest, standing in front of the altar, raises the Gospel Book and shows it to the people, thus symbolizing the manifestation of the Lord, when He began to appear to the multitudes. For the Gospel represents Christ in the same way that the books of the Old Testament are called the Prophets… (‘They have Moses and the Prophets,’ Lk 16:29)…" Nicholas Cabasilas, Commentary on the Divine Liturgy, 20 (c.1350 AD)
c. Hymns in Commemoration of Saints: After the entrance of the Gospel and its enthronement on the altar, the throne of God as it were, the people go on with their celebration of the saints or of an event in the life of Christ. Heroes and benefactors of humanity, the saints have surrendered themselves to God and to their brothers and sisters. They become pure transparencies for God’s action, and thus they are to us extended radiances of the incarnation.
d. Hymn to the Thrice-Holy God (Trisagion): The Christians are the associates of angels in their service before God. We enter into this association when we proclaim with them the holiness of the divine Trinity. At this point in the Liturgy, we affirm this association as we chant the Trisagion: "Holy is God:" the Father, who is origin, source and point of return of all creation; "Holy the Mighty One:" the Son. He is mighty because He conquered evil and death and wrought salvation and resurrection. "He is mighty, because through Him the Father was revealed to us and the Holy Spirit came to this world" (vespers of Pentecost). "Holy the Immortal One:" the Holy Spirit, who is life and life-giving, whom nothing—no evil, no sin, no amount of gravity of sin—can ever kill or wipe out from the soul of the Christian. "The Fathers originally received from the angels the ‘Holy, holy, holy’ and from David the remainder, where he glorified God in Trinity, saying, ‘My soul thirsted for God, the mighty One, the living One’ (Ps 41:3), and rightly and most appropriately composed the Trisagion Hymn. As a mark of petition they added—again from David—the ‘have mercy on us’." (St Simeon of Thessalonike, Treatise on Prayer 24 (c. 1425 AD))
e. Readings from Scriptures and Homily: The Church chose two readings for each Sunday: one from the Epistles and one from the Gospel books. The readings are arranged such that they fit the holy season celebrated. For example, during Lent, one reading includes the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, and another retells the parable of the prodigal son. When the Gospel is read, the assembly stands in honour of the Word of God.
"Before the Gospel, the deacon comes with the censer in his hand to fill the church with sweet fragrance for the reception of the Lord, reminding us by this censing of the spiritual cleansing of our souls with which we should attend to the fragrant words of the Gospel." Nikolai Gogol, Meditations on the Divine Liturgy (19th Century) ... it got about that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door, and He was preaching the word to them." (Mark 2:1-2) The story of the life and deeds of Christ is called Gospel, good news, because it is precisely news of life.
We Christians do not read, we proclaim the Gospel. Whether read or chanted, the proclamation of the Gospel has this one function: to convey the power of its words, and the joy of being in the presence of God. Saint John Chrysostom says, "When emperors of this world speak, we all shout with one voice and one heart, ‘Glory to you, lord.’ But when the Lord Jesus speaks in His Gospel, our enthusiasm grows stronger and louder and we repeat it twice, ‘Glory to You, O Lord, glory to You!’" Our enthusiasm becomes love and we repeat the cry twice, once before the proclamation of the Gospel and once when the proclamation has ended.
The readings are followed by the homily in which the priest expounds on the meanings and spiritual treasures for the people’s benefits. The catechumens (those who are not yet baptized) used to attend the service of the Word with the faithful to benefit from learning the Christian faith. Prayers for them followed, then they were required to leave the church before the service of the faithful (the Eucharist) commences.
2. The liturgy of the Faithful (The Eucharist)
a. The Procession of Offerings: The solemn transfer of the oblations to the altar takes place. A stir of anticipation runs through the whole congregation. Seized by the awareness of what is going to happen, everyone falls into a humble, yet confident, change of heart. Purification of all sins is effected. The faithful know that they are forgiven and sanctified. Now they can face their Redeemer and God, unite with Him and feel their oneness with Him. They realize that they "mystically represent the cherubim," consequently they "put aside all worldly care and sing the thrice holy hymn to the King of the universe who is coming escorted by all the angelic hosts."
b. The Kiss of Peace and Recitation of the Creed: The sign and seal of the love of God is the love of neighbor. After having obtained forgiveness from God and making our peace with Him, we now ask forgiveness from each other." "Everyone present confesses and proclaims his unity with Christ, the Lover of mankind: "I will love You, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my fortress, my refuge and my deliverance!" Because of the love of the Lord who fills us with His peace and joy, we overflow with love. And because we know that Christ has forgiven us, we feel the urgent desire to forgive others and to be at peace with them. Each member of the assembly shakes hands or embraces his neighbor and says: "Christ is in our midst." And the other answers, "He is and always will be." The kiss of Christ is the dynamic sign wherein Christians express their love for each other before they share the one bread. It is Christ who unites us to one another and through one another to God. "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23–24)
Once the brotherly love of forgiving is secure, the whole assembly bursts into reciting the Creed which articulates the faith of the Church. In reciting the Creed we plunge into life, the life of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God the Creator is an artist, a worker, an inventor and maker of things and producer of life. Since God is a worker-artist, all of His creation is good. The Son is a savior and a lover. "For us men and for our salvation" He lived, suffered, died, resurrected, ascended and will come back again. The Holy Spirit is life and Giver of life and eternal joy. Christians who proclaim in the Creed their acceptance of life in God, Father-Son-Holy Spirit, enter into the realm of creation, into the Kingdom of heaven, and become ready to respond to God’s excellence and love in the accomplishment of the mysteries soon to become reality on the altar.
It is the glory of the Christian to declare that all this was planned and executed by God, not for God’s sake, but "for us men and for our salvation." We were redeemed, not because of our success or our mature years, but because of our troubles and perils and God’s greater love for us. In this we find rebirth in death, resurrection and life eternal. We are ready to go deeper into the realities of God and become "eucharistic." "Through Him let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God..." (Hebrews 13:15)
c. Offering (“Anaphora”): After the priest blesses the faithful, the offerings of bread and wine are now "lifted up" from the earthly place to the divine and holy altar of God in heaven, thereby uniting the two. In this action of lifting up, the whole creation finds its way to God who pours out on it the same love He has for His Son. Salvation is thus made present and real. The Church also becomes real. She is seen to be what she really is, "the Bride of Christ," pure and undefiled.The anaphora or lifting-up remembers and expresses in its reality a double movement, one of descent and one of ascent. In the first movement, God descends upon man and creation to "lift them up" and make them sharers in His divine life. This movement is called "a mercy of peace". The mercy of God is the gift of God, His self-revelation and self-giving. The second movement is a movement of ascent. Man is taken up to God to offer Him praise and thanks. This movement of ascent is called "sacrifice of praise."
Thanks and praise: this is the answer of man to the gift of God, his awareness and recognition of God's goodness. The tremendous mystery of the power, condescension and infinite love of God in "descending" and "lifting up" is enacted on the altar in these two successive and dynamic movements by which creation and man are deified. This mystery will culminate in the final and decisive union of the Creator with His creature in Holy Communion.
Let us stand well! Let us stand in awe! Let us be attentive! Heaven and earth listen! God is pouring Himself down upon us! We adore in a great hush. We plunge into the abyss of concentration and the rapture of a mystic vision. This "eucharist" or thanksgiving is the expression of life in God and the only true relationship between man and God. It is what really "makes possible" all that will follow. The breadth of perspective of the true meaning of God’s intention and of His relation to creation is present here. The Father planned from all eternity and made this world and man and placed them in space and time. The Son embodied them in His own divine person in the incarnation and saved them by His offering or sacrifice. The Holy Spirit renews this salvation and divinization by His descent at the epiclisis, just as He did by His descent at Pentecost.
All these divine historical actions become actual and alive before our very eyes. The world of faith takes shape, and the eternal mystery of God becomes reality in time.
The Angelic Hymn: Once again Christians share in the life of angels and declare that we are sharing in their function and playing their role. We recognize that we are not only associates of angels, but more: we take their place on earth as ministers before the altar: "We thank You for this liturgy which You are pleased to accept from our hands, even though there stand before You thousands of angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim… singing, proclaiming, shouting the hymn of victory and saying: “Holy! Holy! Holy Lord of hosts! Heaven and earth are filled with Your glory. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."
 According to St. Germanos, the four words “singing, proclaiming, shouting the hymn of victory and saying” refer to the multi-faced animal that Ezekiel saw in his vision: singing refers to the eagle, proclaiming refers to the ox, shouting refers to the lion, and saying refers to Man. The four creatures are symbols of the four evangelists. As we surge on the wings of our dignity, we join in the vision of Isaiah to sing the hymn of heaven, "Holy! Holy! Holy!" and add to it the children’s cry to Jesus when he entered Jerusalem “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." The world to come is already here present in the "fullness of Your glory." Christians reach the apex of their glory when they go beyond the horizon of the prophets and visionaries to look at the Trinity with an ineffable movement of joy.
We address ourselves first to the Father:
Consecration: "Holy are You and all-holy — You and Your only-begotten Son and Your Holy Spirit. Holy are You and all-holy and magnificent is Your glory! … You so loved Your world as to give it Your Son, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. …" (Liturgy of St John Chrysostom). Then we recall the memory of the Son: "When He had come and fulfilled all that was appointed Him to do for our sake, on the night He was delivered up —or rather, delivered Himself up for the life of the world —He took bread, … and gave it to His holy disciples and apostles and said: “Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you for the remission of sins.” He took the cup of wine and said "Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins." The Fathers say that the Christian "hopes for what exists already" and remembers what is to come in the immediate, because he drinks at the Source of the living water. "Remembering, therefore, this precept of salvation [‘Do this in anamnesis—remembrance—of me."] and everything that was done for our sake: the cross, the tomb, the resurrection on the third day, the ascension into heaven, the enthronement at the right hand [of the Father], the second and glorious coming again, …"
This is the memorial, which makes present and manifest here and now the divine events of the life of Christ. The Christian remembrance or memorial is not simply a recalling to mind of an event which existed once upon a time. Recalling the mysteries or events of the life of Christ who is risen, alive, always present, always active, makes them present with the same effectiveness and strength as when they were enacted by Christ. The ministers around the altar and the assembly of the baptized are now all wrapped in adoration. The deacon crosses his hands, the right stretching over the left to take up the diskos which lays on the left, the left hand stretching under the right to take up the chalice which is at the right. He elevates both in gesture towards the east, then towards the west, the north and the south, thus planting Christ in the four corners of the universe, or rather gathering the universe in these four movements to offer it in Christ and with Christ to the Father, as the priest says: "We offer You Your own from what is Your own, in all and for the sake of all." The priest offers to the Father “We offer You Your own” (i.e. Your Son’s body and blood)..”from what is Your own” (i.e. brought from Your creation: bread and wine..) ” in all” (i.e. in the name of all creation..) ”and for the sake of all." (i.e. for the sake of all creation.) The whole history of salvation, the whole revelation of God’s love, the whole meaning of Christianity is here made manifest. The whole value and the very meaning of life is given to the Father. The Father recognizes the whole creation in His Son and pours upon the whole universe the same love He has for His Son.
"In this offering," says St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "we bring to the presence of God the Father heaven, earth, oceans, sun, moon and the entire creation…" and we break out in praise and thanks: "We praise You, we bless You, we give thanks to You, … O our God." The priest falls on his knees, begging for the descent of the Holy Spirit: "We ask and pray and entreat: send down Your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these gifts here offered." The Holy Spirit comes to fill us and to transform the bread and wine by His power to the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Sins are forgiven and life is given. The Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—takes hold of us, divinizing us. Theosis is realized!Ministers at the altar and all the assembly of worshipers fall down on their faces, saying: "Amen! Amen! Amen!"
Intercessions for the Church: The Church, the communion of saints, remembers all her members in the Body of Christ: the saints who are in heaven, and especially the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God to whom we sing “It is truly right to call you blessed O Mother of God…”, then we remember those who left this world in the hope of rising again that they may rest in peace. We also remember the living faithful starting with the leaders and servants of the word of God: the Pope of Rome, our Patriarch, and our bishop (of the city or land or area).
The Lord's Prayer: The Church then sings the prayer “Our Father.” The word "Father" on the lips of those who believe the message of Christ adds power and dignity and heightens their already sublime role in creation. We are commanded to say to this Abba, "Thy kingdom come!" which means, "take over, be the only one who inspires, directs and rules my life." We say it with mixed emotions but with daring. "Kingdom of God" means justice, peace and love. It is not simply a question of personal salvation or fulfillment, but the establishment of a new order of things. Those in the kingdom give to whoever asks, treat everyone as real children of God, forgive without question, resist evil. The kingdom is characterized, therefore, by healing, forgiveness, sharing, reconciliation: all of which are acts a "family" shares and enjoys. God is a Father, Abba. The person who says the "Our Father" comprehends that he or she is united with everyone and that all are equal in the eyes of God, in whom they all find peace and salvation. They all belong to the kingdom: they are brothers and sisters. Whoever says the "Our Father" must say it aloud, because it is "Our." "Our" is a word of the community. Every member of the community must hear it. We say it also with our arms open to the heavens, the "Shamaim": to "the everywhere." It is in the "everywhere," indeed, that the Abba resides and dwells.
d. Holy Communion: The priest … takes the Bread of Life and, showing it to the people, summons those who are without mortal sin and are worthy to receive it fittingly: ‘Holy things to the holy!’ … The faithful are called ‘saints’ because of the holy thing of which they partake: because of Him whose body and blood they receive. "The priest breaks the Holy Bread, saying, ‘Broken and distributed is the Lamb of God: broken and not dismembered, always eaten and never expended, but making holy those who receive it.’" "Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold, this has touched your lips, will remove your transgressions and wash away your sins" (Isaiah 6:6-7).
 By uniting to our human nature, Christ made our flesh a part of His divine person. When we partake of the Eucharist, we unite to Him and receive His divine graces.
Thanksgiving: "We have seen the true Light, we have received the heavenly Spirit..." Having become one flesh, one soul and one heart with Christ, the communicant bursts into a hymn of glory and joy, the joy and glory of being and of existing. His feet are, indeed, on the ground, but his chin is uplifted and his head stretches to the highest heaven. All his senses are awake and vibrant to the presence of Christ.The priest recites the prayers of thanksgiving and supplications for the Church, the governors, and all the people. The faithful burst “Blessed be the name of the Lord now and for ever”…
e. The Final Blessing: The priest gives final blessing to the faithful “The blessing of the Lord be upon you, through His grace and love for mankind, now and always and forever and ever…. May Christ, our true God who is risen from the dead through the prayers of His all-pure Mother, and through the supplications of the holy, glorious and praise-worthy apostles, and of our father among the saints, John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, of Saint N . . .patron of this holy church, of Saint N . . . whose memory we celebrate today, of the holy and just ancestors of God Joachim and Ann and all the saints, have mercy on us and save us, for He is good and loves mankind.”
"The priest brings out to the people the prosphoras or altar bread from which the portions were cut out and removed, and thus is retained the great and ancient pattern of the Agape or love-feast, which was observed by the Christians of primitive times. Therefore, everyone who receives a prosphora ought to take it as bread from the feast at which Christ, the Creator of the world, has Himself spoken with His people, and one ought to consume it reverently, thinking of oneself as surrounded by all men as one’s dearest and most tender brothers. And, as was the custom in the early Church, one ought to eat the prosphora before all other foods or take it home to one’s family or send it to the sick or the poor or to those who have not been able to attend the Liturgy." Nicolai Gogol, Meditations on the Divine Liturgy.

* Excerpted mainly from Archbishop Joseph M. Raya’s “Eyes of the Gospel”, and Archbishop Lotfy Laham (Now Patriarch Gregory III) “Orders of rite” (Arabic), 1988