Divine Liturgy

Oversimplified

• The central worship service of the Orthodox Church — the Eucharistic service in which heaven and earth meet and the faithful partake of Christ's Body and Blood.
• Most often the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom; St. Basil's (longer) is served ten times a year.

Summary

The Divine Liturgy is the principal service of Orthodox worship, the corporate offering of the Eucharist. Its name means "the common work" — the whole Body, clergy and people together, doing the one thing the Church exists to do. It unfolds in two great movements: the Liturgy of the Catechumens (or of the Word), centered on Scripture and preaching, after which the unbaptized were historically dismissed; and the Liturgy of the Faithful, centered on the offering and consecration of the Gifts.[^1] Cross-link Eucharist, The Church Building, Bishop.

The Liturgy re-presents the mystery

The Liturgy does not merely recall the events of salvation; it makes them present. The Great Entrance — the carrying of the Gifts to the altar — figures Christ's entry into Jerusalem and His burial: the priest and deacon pass through the Royal Doors and close them and the curtain, an image of the sealing of the tomb. Then the consecration begins; the sanctuary becomes the upper room, the altar the table of the Last Supper, and Christ Himself the true Priest who both offers and is offered. Cross-link Eucharist.

"The doors, the doors"

At the Creed the deacon cries "The doors! The doors!" — a survival of the ancient discipline by which doorkeepers ensured that only the faithful remained for the holy Mysteries. The people then confess the Symbol of Faith ("I believe in one God..."), and the Eucharistic Canon — the great prayer of thanksgiving in which the bread and wine become the Body and Blood — is offered by the priest. The antimension, a cloth signed by the bishop and containing a saint's relic, is unfolded on the altar: the Eucharist is celebrated upon the martyrs and by the bishop's authority even when a presbyter serves. Cross-link Bishop, Relics.

[^1]: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and of St. Basil the Great; cf. St. Nicholas Cabasilas, A Commentary on the Divine Liturgy.