water of His baptism, sprinkled by His blood and adorned in bridal array, and sealed with the ointment of the Holy Spirit.… The church is an earthly heaven, in which the God beyond the heavens dwells and walks about. It represents the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Christ: it is glorified more than Moses’ tabernacle of witness, in which were the mercy seat and the Holy of Holies. It is prefigured in the patriarchs, foretold in the prophets, perfected by the apostles, adorned by the hierarchs and fulfilled in martyrs.6
We enter the church with fear of God. When we speak of the fear of God, we should not understand this in the sense of being paralyzed with fear, of being gripped with terror at the thought of God. We know that our God is a God of love and mercy, “slow to anger, abounding in love” (Ps. 102:8 [103:8], NIV). Yet we know also that God is all-powerful and greater than us beyond imagining. Being in the presence of God is like being in the middle of the ocean, overwhelmed by the size and power of the sea, in awe of its might and magnificence. And so before God we stand in awe—with fear, wonder, and adoration.
You may have noticed that one of the first things Orthodox Christians do when they enter a church is kiss the icons. Icons are a significant feature of Orthodox worship and theology. A traditional Orthodox Church is normally full of icons, frescoes, or mosaics. The icons depict Christ, His mother, and His saints. The theology of the icon is rooted in the doctrine of the Incarnation: since God became a man—flesh and blood like you and me—and was seen by human eyes, He can be depicted. The saints are those who have attained His likeness, and so the icons of the saints reveal the full implications of the Incarnation: God took on the likeness of the human being so that human beings could attain the likeness of God. Thus icons are not realistic portraits—rather, they portray human nature restored to its original beauty and proper “image.” These icons “stand in” for the saints depicted. So when we enter a church, we feel that we are in the presence of the company of heaven—that they are praying and worshiping with us. We show our love and veneration for Christ and the saints through their images—by going up to them and kissing them, just as we would our dearest friends.
With these emotions and intentions we have come to church to pray and worship. Then we begin by praying for our bishop, for the honored order of presbyters (the priests), for the diaconate in Christ (the deacons), for all the clergy and the people. In every service of the Orthodox Church, we commemorate the bishop whether he is present or not. This is of great importance to the understanding of the Church. In the early Church it was the bishop, and not the priest, who would normally celebrate the Divine Liturgy. Inasmuch as the Eucharist is above all the Sacrament of the unity of the people of God, the person who leads the service would be the one whose ministry consists in preserving this unity. In the early Church, there was no parish system, with many churches in one area each holding a separate Liturgy. The Eucharist was held in one church with the bishop, and the deacons would distribute Holy Communion to those Christians in the area who were unable to be present. At the center of the Church’s unity is the local bishop, because it is the bishop who presides at the Eucharist, which is the heart of the Church’s life.
The priests and deacons are merely the assistants and delegates of the bishop. Their ministry is not their own but is the ministry of the bishop, which they carry out on his behalf. St. Ignatius, in the early second century, wrote: “Let no one do anything involving the church without the bishop.… Let the congregation be wherever the bishop is; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the universal church.” But St. Ignatius also writes, “Let that eucharist be considered valid that occurs under the bishop or the one to whom he entrusts it.”7
Already by the beginning of the second century there were times when a bishop could not celebrate the Liturgy and delegated the task to one of his priests. In time, the exception became the rule. “The bishop was gradually transformed from the leader of a concrete church community into an administrator of a more or less extensive ecclesiastical area”8 (a diocese), and so began the administrative organization of a number of churches under the rule of one bishop.
In the conscience of most Christians today, it is the priest and not the bishop that has come to be seen as the “pastor,” the “shepherd” of the flock, while the bishop is perceived as the “superior” of the clergy, a distant administrator of the Church, rather than its chief priest and spiritual father. “Thus it is characteristic that we call the priest, not the bishop, ‘father,’ while we greet the bishop as ‘master.’”9 And yet, even though the priest has replaced the bishop as the normal celebrant of the Eucharist, the Orthodox Church has never forgotten that it is the bishop, and not the priest, who is the center of church unity.
In that spirit, before the opening blessing of the Liturgy, even when the bishop is absent, the deacon proclaims, “Master, give the blessing.” The preservation of this command to the bishop to begin the Liturgy reminds us that the priest who celebrates the Liturgy does so on behalf of the bishop. It is through the bishop that all of our local churches, all of our parishes, are united. “The calling and essence of the episcopate,” says Schmemann, “consists in ensuring that no one community, no single ‘parish’ becomes self-contained, shut up in itself,”10 cut off from the life of the rest of the Church. It is through the bishop that all of our churches and parishes, their clergy and congregations, are linked together and united as one single Church. This is the meaning of commemorating the bishop at the Divine Liturgy.
We then continue by commemorating the local authorities, heeding the words of St. Paul: “I exhort that prayers be made for all people, for rulers and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Tim. 2:1–2, VP).
We pray for the area in which we live, “for every city, town, and village, and for the faithful who dwell in them.”
We pray “for favourable weather, an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and temperate seasons.”
We pray for travelers, the sick, the suffering, the imprisoned, and for their salvation.
It is worth noting that the word salvation in Greek (soteria) has a double meaning. Its first and original meaning is “safety” or “protection.” In some of our hymns and prayers to the Mother of God, we ask her to “save” us. This is not because we believe that she is the one who grants salvation to humanity in the theological sense of the word. We ask for her protection, through her prayers and loving care for humanity and the world. But salvation also came to be understood in the theological sense that humanity is redeemed, saved from sin and reunited with God. In this sense, Christ is our only salvation.
Finally, we ask for “our deliverance from all affliction, wrath, danger, and constraint.”
After each petition, the choir sings, “Lord, have mercy” (in Greek, Kyrie eleison).
In the previous chapter I explained that the word Amen, though usually sung by the choir, belongs to all of us. It is the response of the people to all that is said and done by the clergy. This is true also of the words Lord, have mercy.
Although it is undoubtedly beautiful, the Great Litany is not a musical performance by the clergy and choir. The deacon leading us in prayer intones, “In peace, let us pray to the Lord,” and with each command to pray, we respond with the words Lord, have mercy. Some Orthodox Christians respond also in the physical action of making the sign of the cross. In this sense, we all participate. We are not at the Liturgy as if it were a concert, simply to listen, but to act, to pray. Such is the importance of the responses of the chanters and of our acts of prayer such as crossing ourselves, lighting candles, and making prostrations or small bows during the services.
The Great Litany ends: “Commemorating our all-holy, pure, most blessed, and glorious Lady Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us entrust ourselves and one another and our lives
