The Church is the living experience of the new life and is sacramental and symbolic by it’s very nature, and in the liturgical experience and the life of prayer, it is never severed from that end for the sake of which it was created and saved, that “God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28) – ultimately, Theosis of His creation.[1]
All of the Church services are steeped in scripture and sacred tradition for the purpose of continually bringing the faithful believers to the Lord. St. Paul told the Athenians that “In God we live and move and have our existence…”. He said that we, the faithful, share “every good and perfect gift that comes from above”. With prayer, our needs, desires, goals, realization of God’s great love for mankind, are united with our prayer, and corporately we acknowledge God the Father giving common thanks and glory to the Lover of Man. God alone is the source of all good things. Only God has the power to strengthen, enlighten and sanctify us.
The Divine Liturgy is the ultimate corporate yet personal prayer service of the church uniting man with his Creator. The Divine Liturgy is a sacred mystical action between God and his people. Originating with the Mystical Supper, the Apostles were obedient to the Lord’s command, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” and observed it regularly. We learn of the early Divine Liturgy through St. Paul in 1 Cor 11:23-24 where sacred tradition provided the basis, authority and method for the observance of the Liturgy before the Gospels were written. Over the years, the Liturgy was developed further through the work of the Holy Fathers of the Church incorporating words and phrases from the Old and New Testaments and Sacred Tradition until the beginning of the fourth century. The Divine Liturgy is the most perfect form of worship. It is a celebration of the Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ together with the prayer of the people, the study of scriptures and communion with God[2]. It is a perfect sacrifice offered by the Lord of Himself to His people calling them into communion with him through partaking of His Sacrifice.
The order and essence of the Divine Liturgy is movement and ascent from what is the world and man’s fallen nature to the heavenly Sanctuary, Christ’s Table in Kingdom of God, with the Diefication, Theosis, of man.[3] The faithful are received by Christ and receive forgiveness of sins and are reconciled to God at every Divine Liturgy when they partake of the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist. In receiving Holy Communion, Jesus Christ enters our hearts and gives us a new life. Christ himself in Holy Scripture tells us this, “Whosoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…”
The preparing for, drawing near to God, and partaking of Holy Communion at the Divine Liturgy is the work of the person himself to be reconciled with God. The word Liturgy comes from the Greek word, which means “the work of the people”. The promise of being able to personally receive our Lord and God through Holy Communion inspires us to try to live a Christian life between each Divine Liturgy so we may be prepared to receive Him. In actuality, the continuous work at being prepared to receive the Lord on a weekly basis at the Divine Liturgy also trains us to maintain a type of “vigil” which is continuous so we may be prepared to receive the Lord at the Second Coming. If we continually work at this preparation weekly, when the Lord comes again, we have a good chance of being prepared to receive Him. The Church uses various means to help the faithful in his effort to draw nearer to God: preparing and partaking of all of the Sacraments of the Church, prayer, study of the Holy Bible, offerings, but attendance and participation in the Divine Liturgy is a unique way of uniting one’s humanity with the Divinity of Almighty God.
The Sacrament of Penance is a Sacrament offered by the Church to help us when we fail to maintain our own personal “vigil” of waiting to receive the Lord in our daily lives. Our humanity tends to make us weak to temptation and we often fall from our vigil both being aware that we are not behaving as a good Christian and also when we are not aware of it. Through the Sacrament of Penance, we can evaluate our preparedness to receive the Lord on a continuing basis and work at turning from sin and with the loving forgiveness of the Father bestowed upon a truly repentant heart, we can again be restored to the image and likeness of the Father through His Grace. Deified.
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[1] Op. Cit., The Eucharist, p. 35
[2] The Divine Liturgy, Epistles and Gospels, Ecumenical Publications, p.10
[3] Op.,Cit. The Eucharist, p. 27
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