The Eastern Tradition has the first Christians augmenting the Sabbath with a new festival, the Lord’s Day, the first of the week. This was the day of Christ’s resurrection, “the day that the Lord had made”, and it became a day on which the Christians gathered for worship, teaching and fellowship. Thus the Sabbath, festival of the first creation, took second place to the Lord’s Day, celebration of the New Creation. For Christians the dwelling place of God is not a building. Rather it is the people of God itself, the Church community, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the church building represents and makes visible for us this relationship we have with God.
The design and iconography of the Byzantine church building in particular strives to represent in a visible way this relationship from God’s side’, as it were.
Surrounded by the saints (represented on the walls), under the headship of Christ (represented in the dome) and by virtue of His incarnation (represented by the icon screen), we have been brought to stand before the throne of God (represented by the Holy Table) to receive a share in His life. Just as the design of the Church building recalls what God has done to bring us to intimacy with Him, what we do in that building signifies our side of the relationship. By our worship in the church we recognize God’s saving and forgiving love for us. We acknowledge that we owe Him our very lives and that we belong fully to Him, that it is to Him that we “commend ourselves, one another and our whole life”. In Byzantine practice worship is not a matter of watching someone else reverence God, but of actually doing it ourselves.
Eastern Christians traditionally express their relationship with God through bows, making the sign of the cross at various times throughout the liturgy, the raising of the hands in prayer, lighting candles before the icons, standing, singing, responding to the deacon during the litanies, and even coming down to the front sometimes during the reading of the Gospel.
Vespers
Saturday evening is a time of anticipation and preparation to celebrate the New Creation. In the Melkite Tradition it is customary to pray Great Vespers as a way of preparing for Sunday. Vespers is a service that focuses on the themes of creation and Christ as the light of the world. Vespers developed out of the practices of the earliest Christians, who would bless the evening light with a short prayer of praise. Soon they began to augment this very simple rite with a hymn and other prayers. But even when a regular routine of prayer was organized in the church building, the blessing of the evening light remained the pivot on which all the other ceremonial gestures revolved. These early Christians made Psalm 140 their evening prayer, because of the phrase “Let the lifting of my hands be like an evening sacrifice.” Even to this day, the recitation of Psalm 140 is an integral part of vespers, the evening service of prayer.
Orthros
Since the earliest days of Christianity the faithful have been offering corporate prayer to God in the morning before the work day begins, and in the evening after the work day is over. This is done in church, or in the family. The person who prays alone offers their worship in union with the whole Church of God. Sunday Morning Prayer includes the proclamation of the resurrection of Christ by the reading of the Holy Gospel, and the celebration of the resurrection of Christ by the singing of hymns. This makes clear that Sunday is the day of the Lord because it is the day of His resurrection.
There is no season of the year more filled with special customs and practices than this time of preparation for Pascha. For the entire Christian community this is a solemn time of refocusing on the Lord.
The Pre-Fast Weeks: Three weeks before the start of the Fast, the Church begins to prepare for it. This season starts with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. This is a good time to begin making decisions on how to observe Great Lent this year. During the Fast we try to intensify the usual practices of the Christian life: prayer (including liturgical services), fasting and almsgiving. This generally means replacing some of our ordinary activities (entertainment, leisure) to make room in our lives for the Lord.
As the season approaches it is good to determine how we will augment our:
- Home Prayer (personal or family) – perhaps by deciding on a half-hour quiet time every evening when people can concentrate on extra prayer, reading or the like.
Church Attendance – parishes generally observe the Fast by praying the Presanctified Liturgy, Great Compline and the Akathist Hymn on the weeknights of the season as well as a parish mission and special celebrations of the mystery of confession. Decide on which service(s) you will attend together. - Fasting – should be increased during this season: that’s what makes it the ‘great’ fast. Review the section on fasting and decide together how this year’s Fast will be ‘greater’ than in the past. Traditionally we ease into the fast during Meat Fare (carnival) Week, the last week before the onset of the season, by putting aside meat. Use this week for easing into the practice you have decided upon.
- Almsgiving – should also be intensified in a way the family decides together. Children should be expected to give of their own resources, not simply to contribute their parents’ money while leaving their own allowances intact. If you decide on seasonal practices as a family during the pre-Fast weeks, you will have given everyone in the household a greater chance to interiorize the spirit of the Fast.
Forgiveness Sunday (last day before the start of the Great Fast)
The day before beginning the Great Fast is dedicated to putting our relationships right on earth. We ask the forgiveness of anyone with whom we may be at odds and, in fact, with any of our family and friends, because we often offend people unknowingly. The experience of asking forgiveness and of giving it helps purify our hearts before we engage in the overtly religious observances of the Fast. In church this traditionally takes place after Vespers on Sunday evening (actually the first service of the Great Fast). People in church ask forgiveness of one another and exchange the kiss of peace. During the Great Fast Many people like to keep this season of forty (40) days with special readings or practices marked out for daily use during this season. Some people like to read the daily Scripture readings designated for the services as part of their private prayer. Many attend the additional services that are offered during the week as part of our Lenten Observance (Great Compline, Presanctified Divine Liturgy, Akathist).
THE GREAT WEEK– Following the example of the Church in Jerusalem, Byzantine Christians observe the Great and Holy Week by walking in the footsteps of the Apostles. We liturgically represent the events of the last week of Christ’s earthly life and in this way enter into the experience of His death and Resurrection. Each day of this week special services recall what Christ called His “hour;” the time set by the Father for His saving work to be accomplished. In many of these services we liturgically reenact these moments, making them present to us once more.
The major holy days of our Church focus on the main events in the life of Christ and the Theoto-kos. Parishes generally serve Vespers and the Divine Liturgy on these days.
We share this life in the Church in many ways. Most prominent of these ways in which the Spirit enlivens us are the holy mysteries or sacraments.
A mystery is a prayer of the Church in which we ask the Lord to transform a natural element into a vehicle of His saving grace: a prayer which, because made in His Body’s name, is unfailingly answered. Thus water and the reenactment of Christ’s death and Resurrection become a way of entering into an intimate relationship with Christ (baptism). In the same way, invoking the Holy Spirit over bread and wine enables us to achieve a physical union with Him in His Body (Eucha-rist).
Through all the mysteries and the Church’s other prayers of blessing, every aspect of our life can be transformed and set apart as a means of praise to the One who calls us to share His life.
- The Mysteries of Baptism (Mystery of Illumination)
- In the Melkite Catholic Church this is accompanied by the reception of Holy Communion and Chrismation(Confirmation)
- The Mystery of Reconciliation (Confession)
- The Mystery of Crowning (Marriage)
- The Mystery of Anointing (of the Sick)
- The Mystery of Holy Orders
