Orthodox worship emphasizes the mystical presence of Jesus Christ, a presence that is experienced as the infusion of Jesus’ life in the believer.
The church is primarily a worshiping community constituted by the very presence of God’s embracing love. Established by the redeeming action of God, sustained and vivified by the Holy Spirit, the church at prayer is always being constituted and actualized as the body of Christ. Through worship in general and the sacraments in particular the faithful experience a personal relationship with God, who infuses his life in them.
Worship is the soul of Orthodoxy and the lead to her mind. Replete with biblical readings, imagery, and expressions, the liturgical texts set forth the church’s authentic and living tradition in doxological form. Through the church’s worship, the faithful are in constant touch with the fundamental truths of the faith. Worship informs reforms and transforms the believer. The life and character of Orthodox Christians, in large measure, are shaped and formed by the worship of the church. As a window on God and the created order, worship enlivens faith as well as the social consciousness of the church. It is a great school for Christian living. It is an encounter with the living God. Thus it becomes the agent for the renewal of the human personality and the empowerment for godly praxis.
Orthodox worship is paschal in character and essentially eschatological in spirit. While rehearsing continuously the mighty acts of God in history, Orthodox worship joyously celebrates the kingdom of God already come and already given as the very pledge of salvation through the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. The church is always oriented towards the future, towards the age to come, Orthodox Christians draw their identity from Christ and his kingdom. Through worship and especially the sacraments, the faithful participate in the saving acts of Christ and experience continually the presence of the Holy Spirit, who bestows the resurrectional life.
The rituals of the church embody her vision of the new life, confirm the presence of divine grace, and communicate salvation and sanctification. The embodiment of spiritual realities in material forms is rooted in the mystery of the Incarnation and based on the belief of the ultimate redemption and transfiguration of the cosmos.
The essential elements and basic structures of Orthodox worship are rooted in the liturgical practices of the apostolic church. Rituals and text developed gradually over the course of many centuries. The Byzantine or Constantinopolitan Rite constitutes the final unification of liturgical usage of the Orthodox church. This rite represents both the intermingling of cathedral and monastic practices, as well as the remarkable reception, assimilation, and synthesis of the liturgical riches of Eastern Christianity.
The church’s order of prayer is made up of many parts, including the following major components: (a) sacramental rites and services and eucharistic liturgies; (b) a daily office; (c) a calendar of feasts and fasts; (d) a lectionary system; and (e) a distinctive arrangement of liturgical space and use of liturgical gestures and art forms.
Sacraments. The sacraments prepare the faithful for future life, but they also make that life real, here and now. The sacraments give the faithful powers by which to draw near to Christ and his kingdom. These powers are dynamic and are meant to be developed by each person. They are neither magical nor mechanical operations. The full effectiveness of the sacramental life is made manifest to a greater or lesser degree by the spiritual awareness, faith, and devoutness of the participants. Salvation is accomplished by God with the collaboration of humankind. This collaboration is called synergy.
The sacraments are founded upon the words and actions of Christ and are, in a particular and special way, a continuation and extension of his saving ministry. In them, we encounter Christ and experience as well our true and eternal mode of being.
The Orthodox Church recognizes seven sacraments: baptism, chrismation, Eucharist, penance, priesthood, marriage, and anointing of the sick. Among the sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist hold a preeminent position.
Preparation for the kingdom begins with our baptism and chrismation. It is sustained and advanced through the Eucharist. The Eucharist, which lies at the center of the church’s life, is her most profound prayer and principal activity. It is at one and the same time both the source and summit of her life. In the Eucharist, the Church manifests its true nature and is continuously changed from a human community into the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the people of God. The Eucharist imparts life and the life it gives is the life of God.
The Divine Liturgy is the sacred rite by which the Orthodox Church celebrates the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Divine Liturgy is structured around two solemn entrances, the reading and exposition of Holy Scripture, the great eucharistic prayer which includes the consecration of the eucharistic elements, and the distribution of Holy Communion. The Orthodox church has three eucharistic liturgies: the Divine Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil, and the Pre-Sanctified Gifts, the latter being celebrated only during the Lenten season and part of Great and Holy Week.
The Daily Office. The liturgical cycle moves on four interrelated planes: day, week, month, and year. Its goal is to incorporate the faithful into the mystery of Christ, in order to transform ordinary time into the decisive moment of salvation. Each day has the possibility to be a day of grace and each year to be a year of the Lord.
The daily prayer cycle of worship is comprised of the following services: Vespers, Compline, Midnight, Orthros, and the Hours (First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth). Of these, Vespers and Orthros, the evening and morning services respectively, are preeminent.
The services of the daily office have their roots in the devotional practices of the early Christians and in the communal worship of the monastic communities. Each service of the daily office has a particular theme and sometimes a sub-theme, based on some aspect of the Christ-event. The services, and especially the Vespers and Orthros, also contain festal elements which concentrate on particular moments of sacred history and/or commemorate the lives of saints and other memorable events in the life of the church. The services draw attention to God’s saving presence in history and the lives of human beings.
Feasts and Fasts. The weekly festal cycle begins with the observance of the Lord’s Day (Sunday). The principal activity of the church on Sunday is to assemble for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. Sunday is a day of rejoicing, inasmuch as it constitutes a weekly commemoration of Christ’s resurrection.
In continuity with ancient Christian practices, the church, with some exceptions, observes a fast on Wednesdays and Fridays of each week.
The succession of feasts and fasts of the liturgical year vary in importance and are usually divided into two large categories: “movable” and “fixed.” The movable are related to the celebration of Pascha (Easter), while the fixed feasts occur on the same date each year. Each feast, whether of universal or local importance, is celebrated with the Divine Liturgy, since the Eucharist constitutes the perpetual festival of the church.
Pascha, which commemorates the resurrection of Christ, is the oldest, most venerable, and preeminent feast of the church. It lies at the very center and heart of the liturgical year. Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection constitute the essence of his redemptive work. The solemn celebrations of Holy Week and Pascha are centered on these events.
Holy Week is preceded by a forty-day Lenten period, called the Great Fast. Through a series of special Lenten observances and penitential rites, the church affirms the power and value of repentance and the vitality and truth of the Christian life.
Besides Pascha, the Orthodox festal calendar contains twelve other great feasts which highlight events in the life of Christ and the Theotokos, including the Annunciation, Christmas, Theophany, Palm Sunday, Ascension, Pentecost, and the Transfiguration.
In addition to the weekly fast and Great Lent, the liturgical year contains other periods and days of fasting. Christmas, for example, is preceded by a period of fasting.
Fasting is integrally related to prayer and almsgiving. It is not understood as a meritorious act, nor as an exercise in self-denial. It is rather an act that gives expression to and affirms the words of the Lord, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4, RSV). Thus, fasting is seen primarily as an increase in spiritual awareness, obedience to and love for God’s commandments, a transformation of the passions through self-control, and acts of charity.
The service books used in the worship of the church fall into four main categories. The first category contains only one book, the Typikon, which is the book of directives and rubrics which regulate the order of the divine services for each day of the year. The second includes the books which contain the priestly prayers and petitions for all the divine services, the sacraments, and other rites. These are the Euchologion[ and its derivatives the Small Euchologion, Archieratikon, Hieratikon and Diakonikon. The third category includes the books which contain the fixed and variable elements of the daily office. The Horologion contains the fixed elements of the daily office and other miscellaneous services and material. The Great Octoechos (orParakletike) contains the hymns of the daily services throughout the week and is structured on a recurring cycle of eight weeks and tones. TheTriodion contains the hymns for the daily office of the Pre-Lenten and Lenten seasons and Great and Holy Week. The Pentaekostarion contains the hymns of the daily office for the Paschal period. The Menaia is a collection of twelve volumes, one for each month of the year. They contain the divine services for the fixed or immovable feasts of the liturgical year.
The hymns of the Orthodox church are more doctrinal than lyrical in nature. Each hymn is set to one of the eight tones which comprise the musical idiom of the church.
The fourth category includes the books which contain the readings from Holy Scripture. These are the Evangelion, which contains the text of the four Gospels arranged in sections and pericopes, in the order in which they are read throughout the year; the Apostolos, which contains the pericopes from the Acts and the Epistles for the whole year; and the Psalter, which contains the Psalms divided into twenty sections as well as the nine biblical odes; and the Prophetologion which once contained the prescribed readings of the Old Testament. These last readings are no longer contained in this separate liturgical book but have been distributed into one or another of the liturgical books mentioned above which contain the text for a given service with assigned Old Testament readings.
Liturgical Space. The traditional church building or temple has several distinctive features and characteristics. Its purpose is to reflect the power and beauty of the transfigured world and to give tangible evidence to the principle of communion. Through the use of domes, arches, and apses, together with a well-defined iconographic scheme, and the use of light and measurements that take into account human proportions and dimensions, the temple manifests the embracing love of God and gives expression to the church’s view of man and the world.
The temple is divided into three main sections: the narthex, nave, and sanctuary. The ambon or pulpit is located in the nave near the sanctuary. The Holy Table or Altar is situated in the center of the sanctuary. The sanctuary is slightly raised and is set apart from the nave by the iconostasis (or icon screen).
Icons play an important role in the worship of the church and in private personal devotion. The icon depicts persons and events of sacred history and brings before the faithful the transfigured world. The icon teaches and elevates. More importantly, however, it safeguards a proper understanding of the Incarnation and bears witness to the sanctification and transfiguration of the cosmos.