My beloved spiritual children in Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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RESUMING WORSHIP AND SACRAMENTAL (MYSTERIAKI) LIFE
A young lady revealed to me recently the impact the church lockdown had on her and how very happy she is that worship is open again. A feeling that all of our fellow parishioners share. It is in our church that we feel the presence of our Lord and it is in the church that we are able to connect and are united with Him through the sacraments of the Church. It is in our church divine services that we are assured of His Love and we are comforted and strengthened. It is there that we are renewed and sanctified.
According to the Church, a priest cannot conduct a Divine Liturgy for himself without anyone else present. In ancient times the word "Liturgy" (in Gk. λειτουργία from the words λείτος = and 'εργον=work) meant a work for the benefit of the people. In the Old Testament, it denotes the worship which the people offered through priests of the Mosaic Law. Since New Testament times the word "Liturgy", preceded usually by the adjective "Divine", has signified that Church service which is filled with memories of our Lord's Life and teachings from His Nativity (Birth) to His Ascension into Heaven. The Divine Liturgy is the great central act of Christian worship, offered to God for the benefit of the members of the Church, the Orthodox Christians.
In the Divine Liturgy our Lord is present: first in the Person of His priest, secondly, in His Logos/Word which is read in the Church, and thirdly, according to His promise: "where two or three are gathered in My name, there Am I in the midst of them" (Saint Matthew 18:20). Lastly, He is really and truly present upon the Holy Altar under the appearances of the consecrated Bread and Wine.
The belief that our Lord is really present upon the Holy Altar under the appearance of the consecrated Bread and Wine, is based upon the word of God Himself. Let us return to the days when our Lord dwelt on the earth.
He had fed five thousand men in the desert by a miraculous multiplication of five loaves and two fish. The next day He was in Capernaum, where the people asked for more of that wonderful bread. Instead of fulfilling their desire, Jesus said unto them: "I Am the Bread of Life...I Am the Living Bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever, and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the Life of the world...Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My Blood, hath Eternal Life; and I will raise him up at the Last Day...He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him" (Saint John 6:34-56).
With these words, our Lord promised to give His flesh and blood to be the food and drink of the world. But He did not explain at that time how His Body and Blood would serve as food and drink for spiritual nourishment of the world.
A year passed since our Lord said these words. The Jewish Passover (Pascha or Gk. Πάσχα) was at hand. Jesus knew that he had to journey from that feast to the Sacrifice on the Cross. He knew that His body had to be broken, and His blood had to be shed for the salvation of the world. He knew, too, that His Disciples would grieve Him that night, and that one of them would even betray Him, and yet He said to them: "With desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer..." (Saint Luke 22:15).
Knowing what was to come, our Lord, on the night before his crucifixion, gathered with His Disciples in the Upper Room of a house in Jerusalem for the Mystical ("Last") Supper with them. As they were seated before a long white banquet table, their eyes were upon Jesus. He took one of the loaves of bread, blessed it and broke it, so that each of His Disciples might have a portion. Then distributing it to them, He said:
"Take eat; this is My Body which is broken for you".
Obediently, eagerly, the Holy Apostles accepted the Bread of Life.
Then, taking a chalice Jesus pouring into it some red wine of Palestine, rendered thanks to His Father and gave it to His Disciples, saying:
"Drink ye all of it; for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
The chalice was then passed from one to another, and they all drank of it. Thus, in the simplest and most sublime manner, Christ fulfilled His earlier promise to give His Flesh as food and His Blood as drink. It was not until the after the Crucifixion and Resurrection, though, that the Disciples understood this. We see then that at the Mystical "Last" Supper, the very night when our Lord was betrayed, He instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
In order to perpetuate the memory of this Sacrifice for subsequent centuries until He should come again, He commanded His Apostles: "This do in remembrance of Me" (Saint Luke 22:19). With these words our Lord gave them the power to do what He had done -- change bread and wine into His Body and Blood -- namely, to consecrate the Holy Eucharist, which is the highest form of Thanksgiving to God that man has in his power to render. Indeed, God enjoins man to render this Thanksgiving (Eucharist) in the form of the Divine Liturgy.
The Holy Eucharist is the repetition of the Mystical Supper. It is also the self-same Sacrifice of the Cross, repeated sacramentally. ("Repeated") does not mean "begun all over again" but once "once again made actual and present to us living made actual and present to us living today.
The Holy Apostles and the first Christians, obeying the Lord's Commandment "this do in remembrance of Me", gathered together every day in private homes and celebrated the Breaking of Bread, or what we know as the Sacrament (Mysterion) of Holy Eucharist. (Source: The Divine Liturgy Explained)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George