How Should We Attend The Divine Liturgy
How should we attend the Divine Liturgy?
When we come to the Divine Liturgy we should come like the tax collector and the sinful woman who has been the topic of hymnology in the Church particularly in the hymns referring to the Passion that of Holy and Great Tuesday night (in fact 4 Saint Kassiani has dedicated the hymn of praise.” The woman who had fallen into many sins, perceiving Thy divinity, O Lord fulfilled the part of myrrh -bearer...). What was it that the sinful woman offered? The most precious thing she could, the most precious thing she had in her possession, myrrh.
What about us, what are we to offer our ALL-HOLY GOD? What are we to bring when we come to Church? This is what we ought to bring: Repentance, devoutness, sorrow, mourning, and the hidden tears of our souls with which we will cleanse the person of our soul and at the same time soaking our cheeks, our clothes, as well as the place where we are standing. This is when our whole being glows in His Grace. That is why we say that this cleansing of the soul and preparation are evident. God can see all of it; man can either barely see anything or nothing at all. In any case, no one can hide from God.
First and foremost, we need to have repentance, sorrow and awareness of our sinfulness. We will not attend the Divine Liturgy like the Pharisee. We will not say I am not “as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers...” We will not say: I follow the commandments,” I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess,” I pray day and night, I also give money or help people who are poor, sick, and in difficulties...as well as other things that could be stated by each and every one of us. Nevertheless, we shall come” as the publican.” We will be saying: God be merciful to me a sinner.” And in spirit (in a noetic way), within us, we shall beat our chests. We need not beat our chest in the exterior, for we are in public and in common Divine Worship. Thus, we shall not pay attention to the person standing next to us, in terms of what they are wearing, how they are behaving, not even if they are crying, sighing, kneeling, making the sign of the Cross ten or fifty times. We shall only pay attention to what we are doing. Precisely like the sinful woman’, who offered the myrrh, but unlike the traitor who offered the Kiss. The sinful woman on the one hand, gained Paradise, while the other one, the Disciple, lost it.
In this way, during the Divine liturgy we shall live all of the events of our Lord on earth as well as the Mystery of His Divine Dispensation, that which begins from the creation of the world, with the proemial psalm which is chanted during Vespers, the one that precedes and continues on not only to the Second Coming of our Lord, net only to His fearful Judgment and the separation of the sheep from the goats, but also to the eternal glory of the future of those whose souls have been elected. All these are experienced by humans, Orthodox Christians, during the Divine Liturgy, especially when they receive Holy Communion. So, they also live the Resurrection.
During the time when we partake of the Most Holy Body and the Most Precious Blood of Christ from the Holy Spoon which touches our lips, it is that moment when our mouth resembles Mount Sinai, which was shaking as the ‘Decalogue’ (Ten Commandments) was handed over on the stones of the law. If there was an earthquake and Moses was captivated by fear and terror, what are we, who are not receiving the stones of the Law but in fact, God Himself, His Body and Blood, to say? What kind of earthquake should we experience within our being? What transformation of the soul and compunction should we have?
Taken from the book : “Experiences During The Divine Liturgy” by Protopresbyter
Stephanos K. Anagnostopoulos
Prayer Presupposes Faith
Prayer presupposes faith. People who don’t pray are without help, uncertain, blind and alone. They're earthbound, not knowing how to fly aloft, to burn bright in the sky, to enjoy the necessary celestial support. They're magnetized, bound firmly, attached to corruptible, earthly things. It’s not easy for them to break away. They attempt to lay up treasure on earth. They're constantly seeking pleasure to bring them joy, though, in fact, it brings them more pain. It’s sad and lamentable to seek joy in the mire.
Ascent to heaven begins with contrition, with real repentance, with remorse. It’s worth remembering that we weren’t made to return to dust. The life of the passions doesn’t in fact bring joy and satisfaction. Attaching yourself too firmly to the things of this world is a serious mistake and brings its own cost in terms of bitter consequences. It’s not unfeasible to advance beyond the visible. Anyone can manage it. They need only to want to, to have a real desire. At first we're hesitant, shy. afraid and we don’t want to risk much. We may find it to be something we can’t grasp, strange, unnatural, impossible and, in any case, not for us. We think we're playing an offensive and impious game and that we're too sinful for any of that. But prayer isn’t only for saints.
If only you pray modestly and humbly, your heart becomes sweeter, enlightened, strengthened and restful. It feels it’s worth the effort to pray. It feels elation, exultation, security, fortification and comfort. It realizes that prayer’s a great need of the soul, a natural motion, a divine function. It becomes a good deed rather than a formal habit. A daily delight and gift. Just as the body wants its daily food, to maintain itself, so does our immortal soul.
It’s not possible to love God and not be linked to Him, to talk with Him and to pray. We should always think on Him and invoke Him. Remembrance of God is itself a prayer. You commemorate the Beloved and are glad. Invocation of God is a source of great joy, peace and blessing. Without prayer, the soul is gasping, weak and sickly. Prayer confers spiritual health, balance, discernment, enlightenment and blessedness. Prayer arms us against sin. People who pray have entered into conversation with God and don’t concern themselves With vain matters, They learn humility, sobriety, simplicity and love. They're God's beloved children. Prayer’s a great gift from God to us.
by Monk Moses the Athonite
Elder Paisios: Never Say “They Will Answer to God”
- Elder. is it alright to say about someone who has caused me 4p,
injustice: “They will answer to God”. - Whoever says that is being fooled by the evil one and does not understand that in this way he is cursing politely. There are Some who say that they are sensitive and they have love and a delicate hand and they are tolerant of the injustices done to them by people, but they say: “They will answer to God”.
In this life all people are given tests, so that we may pass to the other life, to Paradise. My thoughts tell me that the polite curse is below the spiritual base and is forbidden to Christians, because Christ did not teach us that kind of love, but rather: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Also, the best prayer of all is, when you have been unjustly cursed, to bear it silently and with kindness.
When we are falsely accused or unjustly treated either by frivolous or wicked people, who have evil intentions and distort the truth, if we can, it is good to not seek to be justified when the injustice concerns only ourselves. Nor should we say: “They will answer to God”, because this is a curse. It is good that we forgive them with our whole heart and supplicate God to strengthen us, to bear the weight of the false accusation and continue along in our spiritual life (in obscurity, as much as possible). Let those who have it as a habit to judge and criticize continue to do so, to be unjust to us, because they are continuously in this way preparing for us golden crowns for the true life.
Of course, those who are near to God never curse, because they do not have evil intentions but are filled with goodness, and whatever evil is thrown at them, these sanctified people sanctify it, and feel a great, secret joy.
Translated by John Sanidopoulos source: mystagogy