The Divine Liturgy

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"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ walked on earth to show us the way to reach God. During that time people walked with Him, around Him, and listened to His words.

Today many people believe if they were living during the life of Jesus, they would have believed and enjoyed His presence. But the fact of the matter is, that very few actually believed and enjoyed His presence while He was here on earth. Christianity did not flourish until the Holy Spirit descended on His disciples and they went to preach the gospel.

In our Orthodox church, our primary worship service is to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in every occasion we do (fasting, feast, wedding, death, thanksgiving, tribulations, etc.). Why? Because every time we attend the Holy Liturgy, we enjoy seeing and spending time with our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. We get to walk with Him through His life, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. We also get to celebrate with Him our Salvation.

We live in a diversified world offering harmony, peace and positive and negative things. But when we gather in the church, we become one body and one spirit in front of the glory of God, the Pantocrator. Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ becomes our head that intercedes on the whole body as the sacrificial lamb with no blemish that is acceptable to God in order to cover our sinful life and give us a Holy and Heavenly life with God.

Our church becomes the meeting place of the heavenly hosts and the earthly saints to glorify and honor the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore when we go to church, we must be prepared through repentance and confession to receive the blessing of partaking of Holy Communion.

To speak about the Divine Liturgy, we realize and acknowledge how fortunate and blessed we are to attend such a miraculous event. We must also elevate our heart and mind with what is unseen and look at all the events occurring during the Divine Liturgy with comprehension of the meaning behind each step:

First Step: Preparation of the bread to be used in the Altar. The person who makes the bread is required to be a Deacon in the church and recites special Psalms during the preparation.

The flour is mixed with water to create dough symbolizing the Humanity + the Divinity of our Lord is one without mingling or confusion. Next the yeast will be added symbolizing the sin and evil of the world. When everything is mixed together, it will change the compound of the dough and rise symbolizing Jesus carrying our sin.

The bread is round as a symbol of eternity and stamped in the middle by a large cross and surrounded by twelve small crosses symbolizing our Lord Jesus Christ and His twelve disciples. The Deacon heats the oven and places the dough in the heat in order to go through the process of cooking symbolizing the suffering and the death of our Lord in order to free us from sin and reconcile with Him.

Second Step: Placing the bread in the basket made out of straw on the inside and velvet on the outside symbolizes the Lamb and the King of heaven. The priest will choose the best one to be the Lamb of the Altar. Then the priest will wipe the bread with the towel and announce that this is the chosen bread to be the sacrificial Lamb of God. He will then cross it with the wine symbolizing the blood of our Lord on the cross. Thus this wine must be red.

The priest will go to the Altar and place water on the bread a symbolizing baptism and right then he will ask all the prayers that have been in front of him to be granted since this moment symbolizes the time the heavens will be opened as it happened on the Baptism day of our Lord., Next he wraps the chosen Lamb with a cloth and circles around the Altar announcing the glory and the honor to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then he will take a little bit of the wine in his hand and to make the sign of the cross three times on the bread.

Third Step: The priest lays down the bread in the plate and places the star on it symbolizing the King is born, brought to the Altar, and carried by Simeon the elder according to the customs. The wine also will be mixed with water symbolizing the blood and water that came from our Lord’s side when He died on the cross.

Next the priest covers the bread with cloth to announce His death on the cross. And he walks around the Altar with his sensor to recall that moment of death when the earthquake had occurred.

Fourth Step: The priest, with the help of the Deacon, covers the entire Altar with a white linen symbolizing our Lord Jesus Christ has been buried inside the tomb and the tomb was closed by the rock that rolled against the entrance of the tomb where the body of our Lord was laid.

Some readings from the Holy Bible will be read: a reading from the Pauline Epistles, Catholic Epistle, book of Acts, and the Praxis, that is not part of the Holy Bible but is very important to our church. Then the Holy Gospel for the day will be read.

Fifth Step: The priest uncovers the white linen symbolizing that our Lord Jesus Christ had risen to give us life with Him. So the entire church members will rejoice and greet one another with a Holy kiss. Then the Holy Liturgy will begin; recalling all that happened during the beginning of breaking the bread with the Lord and His disciples until His resurrection to heaven.

Sixth Step: Next we all declare our faith and beliefs that this body and this blood truly is the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is given to us for our salvation, remission of sins, and eternal life to those who partake of Him. We proceed to the Altar to take communion together in love and faith. Then the priest will bless us with water from the Altar saying, "Leave in peace".

"Therefore let us; as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind" (Philippians 3:15-16).

Glory to God in the highest! Who gave us His only begotten Son as our sacrificial Lamb, in order to acquire salvation from our sins and have life with Him in heaven someday.

The Holy Liturgy

It is the only place I’d rather be
For My Lord will be right there with me
And
All His children will gather there as one with Him
To
Enjoy His presence and gain His blessing
So
Let’s not delay
And
Come right now and say
Lord please grant us everlasting life with Thee

Written by
Nagwa Abdou