importance. But don’t. The fact that this response, Amen, is usually made by the chanters on behalf of the people (in the vast majority of Orthodox churches there is no congregational singing) can also make us think that it is simply another extra or meaningless “churchy” word, which the choir sings simply to add a nice, big ending to the prayers and petitions. But no. Amen is the testimony of the whole congregation to all that is said and done by the clergy in the Liturgy. We should be fully conscious as we say it. Amen is usually sung by the chanters for aesthetic and practical reasons, but this word belongs to us all. Without this Amen of the people, literally nothing can be done in church.
The Liturgy is not a performance by the priest and chanters for the people to simply watch and listen to. Liturgy literally means “the work of the people.” Without the laity, there is no liturgy. A priest on his own cannot celebrate a liturgy at all. There can be no Church without priests, but there can be no priests without the Church, and as I said at the beginning, the real meaning of the word Church is not a temple, not a church building, but the gathering of the Faithful.
The Liturgy as just this kind of joyful, Eucharistic gathering has been well expressed by two of the most important Christian theologians from the last century, Fr. Alexander Schmemann and Romano Guardini:
The Liturgy is before all else the joyful gathering of those who are to meet the risen Lord and enter into His Kingdom. And it is this joy of expectation and this expectation of joy that are expressed in singing and ritual, in vestments and in censing, in that whole beauty of the liturgy which has so often been denounced as unnecessary and even sinful.
Unnecessary it is indeed, for we are beyond the categories of the “necessary.” Beauty is never “necessary,” “functional” or “useful.” And when, expecting someone whom we love, we put a beautiful tablecloth on the table and decorate it with candles and flowers, we do all this not out of necessity, but out of love. And the Church is love, expectation and joy. It is heaven on earth.… It is the joy of recovered childhood, that free, unconditioned and disinterested joy which alone is capable of transforming the world.2
The Liturgy, then, “speaks measuredly and melodiously; it employs formal, rhythmic gestures; it is clothed in colors and garments foreign to everyday life.… It is in the highest sense the life of a child, in which everything is picture, melody and song.”3
Most of us, by contrast,
ask for definitions and justifications, and they are rooted in fear—fear of corruption, deviation, “pagan influences,” whatnot. But “he that feareth is not made perfect in love” [1 Jn. 4:18]. As long as Christians will love the Kingdom of God, and not only discuss it, they will “represent” it and signify it, in art and beauty. And the celebrant of the sacrament of joy will appear in a beautiful chasuble, because he is vested in the glory of the Kingdom, because even in the form of man God appears in glory. In the Eucharist we are standing in the presence of Christ, and like Moses before God, we are to be covered with his glory.4
The clergy at the Divine Liturgy wear vestments (garments worn specifically for this and other services). The chasuble is the outer garment worn by priests. Orthodox vestments are often elaborate, but this is not to be showy or to satisfy the priest’s vanity, though that can be a temptation for clergy! There are historical and theological reasons for these special garments, as well as aesthetic ones. There is nothing run-of-the-mill or mundane about the Liturgy, nor should there be!
The Litany of Peace
So we have gathered together in order to discover our true identity; we have announced our destination: the Kingdom of the Trinity. And the people have confirmed our journey’s end with the word Amen. Then the deacon, who usually stands between the priests and the people, between the altar and the main body of the church (divided by the iconostasis, or “icon screen”), commands us to pray in what is called the Great Litany, known also as the “Litany of Peace,” because in the first three petitions we ask for peace.
In peace let us pray to the Lord.
For the peace from on high and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord.
For the peace of the whole world, for the welfare of the holy Churches of God, and for the union of all, let us pray to the Lord.
That word, peace, is so very important throughout our worship, throughout our lives as Christians. “Peace,” writes Fr. Ephrem Lash,
a word which is used some thirty times in the Liturgy, is not simply an absence of conflict. It is to live in harmony with God, with oneself, with all mankind and with the natural world of which we are part. It is above all a gift from God, which, as St Paul writes to the Philippians, “is beyond all understanding.” It is the gift that comes with the birth of Jesus, as the angels’ hymn proclaims, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill among men.” It is how Jesus sends away those he has healed or forgiven, “Go in peace.” It is how he greets the Apostles after his resurrection and it is how the bishop and priest greet the people in all the services.5
Peace to you. Peace is necessary for prayer and worship. This is a most basic and necessary truth, and one that demonstrates how the originators of our worship, millennia ago, had a profound understanding of the human heart. If we are not at peace with God, with one another, and with ourselves, we cannot focus on prayer; and if we have hatred and animosity toward others, our prayers are not acceptable to God. This need for peace is reiterated time and again in the Divine Liturgy.
As we begin the Liturgy, then, we must put aside all our grudges; we must forgive one another; we must be at peace, that we may offer an acceptable sacrifice to God. Only then can we be made worthy to hear the Holy Gospel, to be forgiven by God, and to receive the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion for the remission of sins and eternal life.
And so, even though the Church is necessarily apart from the world, in but not of the world, this separation is not inspired by hatred or apathy, but by the exact opposite. We leave the world that we may return to it renewed and illumined, fit to bring light to those in darkness.
The Great Litany
For God’s grace to come during the Liturgy, you must be concentrated and untroubled.
—ELDER AMPHILOCHIOS MAKRIS
After we ask for the peace of God within us, in the world, and within the Church, we pray for “this holy house, and for those who enter it with faith, reverence and the fear of God.” This is the spirit in which we come to church.
We enter the church with faith. The Divine Liturgy is above all for believers, for those who believe in God and in the teachings and ways of the Orthodox Church. We come to church for Christ, to enter into a deeper relationship with Him, and through Him our relations with one another are transformed into a relationship of divine love and communion.
We enter the church with reverence—with respect for the church building as the house of God. As St. Germanus of Constantinople once wrote:
2. Deacon saying the Great Litany
The Church is the temple of God, a sacred precinct,
