Part 3

How the Lord draws to Himself through liturgical hymns, stichera, canons, and the whole of worship and to the end of the age will draw the chosen believers, those who love the service of God! What a treasury of fervent repentance, of heartfelt compunction is hidden in our worship! Day and night many ascetics stood in prayer, drawn by love toward Christ, and offered to the beloved and loving Christ the greatest feats of self-restraint, prayer, and contemplation.

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My brother in the priesthood, whoever you are, our position in the holy Church is extraordinarily important, elevated, and grave with responsibility. We are entrusted with the constant proclamation of the true, saving faith, the performance of divine worship and of the supernatural, great, transcendent, salvific Mysteries; the tending of rational sheep and their guidance toward eternal life. We are obliged by our good example, our manner of life, and our word to lead the people toward the heavenly homeland. Especially do I direct your attention and my own to the performance of the Divine Liturgy.

My God! What an abyss of holiness, mercy, and divine justice, what incomprehensible majesty is hidden in it, what salvation, cleansing, sanctification, renewal, deathlessness, deification is concealed within! What supernatural union of creation with the Creator! Do we lift our hearts on high as we ought during its performance? Do we burn with the Spirit? Do we raise the hearts of the faithful to heaven by our reverent service? God through the Liturgy and Communion of the Holy Mysteries unites human nature with Himself and exalts it above the heavens, seats it with Himself on the throne of glory, unites it with the angels. Do we understand the height of our service, this boundless goodness, justice, and wisdom of God? Do we value it as we ought? Do we give thanks to the Lord and love Him fervently? Do we love one another? “Let us love one another so that we may confess with one mind: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity undivided and of one essence.”

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O divine, most holy, transcendent, all-encompassing Liturgy of Orthodoxy, gathering heaven and earth! How wondrous you are, so desired, full of infinite goodness, wisdom, justice, holiness of God, and incomprehensible majesty. Already the preliminary part of you, the Proskomedia, in brief and general outline, displays your divine majesty, salvific character, and heavenly beauty. Here in symbolic, greatly unequal portions of wheat bread are figuratively represented:

The Lamb of God Himself, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sins of the world; the Mother of God, in whose honor a triangular portion is cut from a special proskomedia bread and placed on the right side of the Lamb; the hosts of all the saints—the Forerunner, the Prophets, the Apostles, the Holy Hierarchs, the Martyrs, the Ascetics, the Holy Unmercenaries, the righteous Theotokos-parents Joachim and Anna, the Saints of the day, and that Saint whose name the Liturgy bears. This is the heavenly, triumphant Church, which has unity with the earthly Church. In symbolic portions is represented the entire earthly Church—all the episcopate of the Church on earth, in Christ, as the serving order in the Mysteries, prayers, and teaching; and finally, there is figuratively represented the third rank of the Church—those in Hades, or those who have died in faith and repentance, the departed children of the Church.

Behold what a wondrous, all-encompassing divine communion of the heavenly, earthly, and those in Hades! It is a comfort, a majesty, divinely majestic to see the Lamb of God, slain and pierced, standing in the midst of the paten—the large, square portion of bread destined to become the Body of Christ. And beside the paten stands the holy Chalice, the image of that wondrous Cup filled with wine, about which at the Last Supper the Lord proclaimed: “«Drink of it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Covenant»” (Mt 26:27-28). But listen to what the priest reads—what prayer concludes the Proskomedia. “«O God, our God, Heavenly Bread, Sustenance of all the world, Lord and God and Savior of us Jesus Christ, whom You have sent as Deliverer and Benefactor, blessing and sanctifying us: do You Yourself bless this oblation, and receive it upon Your heavenly altar. Remember, Lord, those who have brought it forth, and those for whom it has been offered. And keep us undefiled in the performance of Your divine Mysteries!»” What touching divine love is revealed in this prayer to the Heavenly Father! What inexpressible love, not only beyond human but also beyond angelic utterance, does God show toward the world! Not some earthly food, not some manna from heaven, but the Flesh and Blood of His own Son He has given as Food and Drink—the most intimate communion and unity of ourselves with Godhead and humanity! O inexpressible love, O highest honor! O condescension that astounds all angelic, cherubic, and seraphic minds! O wisdom of God! O justice of God, mercy, beauty, and majesty of the unspeakable Mystery! And we, unworthy priests and bishops, celebrate this Liturgy so often, we communicate the holy Mysteries sometimes daily! O triumph of the love of God! O blessedness! O our affirmation and deification, received so frequently! How do we approach the Liturgy? With love, thanksgiving, and constant fear, are we transformed through continued transformation? Do we become heavenly, divine, holy? When the priest begins the Proskomedia, signing the prosphora with the lance three times, he says: “«in remembrance of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ»”; and then, preparing the square portion of the prosphora that foreshadows the future Lamb, or the future most pure Body of Christ, he speaks in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “«As a lamb He was led to slaughter»” and so forth (Is 53:7). And with the words: “«His life shall be taken from the earth»” (Is 53:8), he takes the square portion from the center of the prosphora and places it on the paten, and cutting it crosswise, he says: “«The Lamb of God is sacrificed, taking away the sin of the world, for the life and salvation of the world.»” Then, piercing it at the side, he says: “«And one of the soldiers pierced His side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water»” (Jn 19:34). O indescribable love of God! O ineffable wonder of wonders—the Liturgy! Bow before it, humanity, and shed tears of repentance, for it is offered for your sins.

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In the bestowing of the Divine Liturgy upon the Orthodox Church and in the bestowal of the other Mysteries, God has given so much that no human mind can evaluate the greatness of these gifts: the gift of rebirth, of adoption, of renewal, of the right to eternal life, of entrance into heaven, of communion with angels and all the saints, and of eternal reconciliation with the Heavenly Father and participation in His holiness and blessedness. Do you value, Orthodox Christians, this gift of God? Do you strive to live worthily of the Christian calling, in purity and holiness and in every virtue?

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The terrible Blood of the Son of God, offered in the Liturgy, intercedes for us daily. And what a wondrous communion is the Liturgy—communion with God, the Head of the Church, with all the saints, both departed and living. With what love must the celebrant of the Mystery—the bishop or priest—be inflamed! How must he be detached from every earthly attachment! Lord, make us worthy by the power of Your Holy Spirit to celebrate this Mystery with reverence.

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Communion in the Holy Mysteries at each Liturgy makes us whole, peaceful, renewed. How many supreme gifts are hidden in the Liturgy! Let us give thanks to the Lord who gives us life through His wondrous Mysteries! Orthodox Christians, hold the Liturgy in awe—the Liturgy that sanctifies us by God’s mercy! Priests and laypeople, be renewed by it daily. Glory to the mercies of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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See how many relatives, those near and dear to you, you have in Christ: the Mother of God, the holy angels, the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the holy hierarchs, the ascetics, the hosts of martyrs, the righteous, and all the saints. Celebrate with attention, with understanding, with heartfelt devotion and reverence and gratitude, the Proskomedia and the entire Liturgy; understand it deeply, be moved to tenderness, and weep before God with tears of repentance and wonder. How many blessings has God bestowed upon the Orthodox Christian people in the celebration of the Liturgy! After death it will be made manifest what riches of blessings God has prepared for those who love Him—for “«now we see through a glass, darkly»” (1Cor 13:12).

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The Church is the Body of Christ, to which belong all the saints, beginning with the Mother of God and ending with the last of the saints, all Orthodox Christians who truly believe and strive to live always in accordance with their Christian calling, all spiritual laypeople, and finally all those who have departed in faith and repentance. All, as members of one Body, help one another, especially the saints help us who labor on earth and earnestly have recourse to them, and most of all, we are saved by the all-good and almighty, most-just Head of the Church—Christ, that “«Lamb of God, who takes away the sin»” of ourselves and of all the “world” (Jn 1:29). The Liturgy is the all-interceding, divine service for all the living and the dead; the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses the sins of all believers, of the repentant, and of those who pray earnestly and strive in their Christian life. Wondrous, all-reconciling, all-sanctifying, all-cleansing, all-renewing Liturgy, and all-deifying! One must attend the Liturgy, participate in its prayers, glorify and give thanks to the Lord.

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“«Take, eat… Drink of it, all»” (Mt 26:26-27)… Do all eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of the Lord according to His commandment? In our Orthodox world, in some places in church—you could roll a ball and there’d be no one; at universities—there are no communicants; not to speak of other Christian confessions… We are preoccupied with ourselves. What is happening among us! O our divine faith! Divine Orthodoxy, shining brighter than the sun, conquered for us by apostolic blood, by hierarchical blood, by martyr’s blood, by monastic blood, and by the blood of all the righteous, come to us! O most precious pearl! O treasure hidden in the field (in the heart and in the Church)! O renewal! O incorruptibility! O light! O divine salt! O brilliantly shining sun! O life itself, eternal! O reconciliation, perfected with a righteous God, of sinful men! O golden chain to heaven! O golden ladder to heaven!

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Since sin in all its forms has permeated the entire being of man—soul and body—and has become mixed and mingled with him, the Lord, the wise Creator and Physician, was pleased to heal mankind—with like by like. The Physician Himself became mixed with the one being healed and gave him to taste His most pure Body and His most pure Blood and united with him His Godhead and humanity.

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Mankind has been defiled and corrupted by all kinds of sins: the blood is infected with all the passions, and man is unclean in all his blood, marrow, and bones. Only the most holy Virgin Mother of God alone was and is pure in her most pure and virginal blood, from which the Son of God became incarnate. In order to be freed from all the filth of sin and for the renewal of human nature, it was necessary for the wise, just, and almighty Physician to establish the Mystery of Baptism and of Communion in His Body and Blood, and they were established by Christ the Savior Himself.

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“«The Only-Begotten Son, O good Father, Thou hast sent cleansing into the world.»” There is in the world a terrible uncleanness that destroys the soul and body of man, defiles, darkens, and eternally separates him from God, the Source of Life, and it can be cleansed by nothing save the Blood of the Son of God, poured out for the sins of the world. This Blood was appointed before all ages in God’s Counsel for the cleansing of the world, that is, of believers and of the faithful, and was foreshadowed in the Old Testament in the bloody sacrifices of goats and calves. But the Old Testament sacrifices cleansed only bodily uncleanness, not that of the soul. The Blood of the Son of God cleanses both soul and body, but only those people who with faith and repentance approach the Mystery of Communion. Believe then, repent, be cleansed, and be healed!

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O hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes! O cursed pettifoggery against the sinless God, walking in the flesh among His disciples on the earth! Simple in heart, humble disciples of Christ, following the Savior through a sown field, hungry, were plucking ears of grain, rubbing them in their hands and eating on the Sabbath day (Mt 12). Of course, such an apparent violation of the commandment of the Sabbath found enemies in the malevolent Pharisees, and they began to grumble about the transgression of the Sabbath, but the Lord, rebuking their hypocrisy and envy, defended the justice of His disciples. But let me ask you, O man: do you feel a spiritual hunger and thirst for the life-giving, supernatural grain and seed of twofold nature—the natural and vital—the Flesh and Blood of Christ the Giver of Life, the true heavenly Bread, who gives life to the world? If you do not feel this saving hunger, it means you are spiritually dead. A man beginning to recover or a healthy man naturally feels hunger and thirst. How many such corpses are there in Russia, in the Orthodox Church, who do not feel this saving thirst? Darkness upon darkness! An innumerable multitude of intellectuals never partake of Communion, many of the common people very rarely, many receive Communion only once a year. And the Lord daily calls: “«Take, eat… drink all of you…»” And there are none eating and drinking!

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Inexpressible majesty and unspeakable gift—Communion in the most pure Body and Blood of the Son of God! What depth of falling and corruption through sin, what extremity of the means of restoration of the fallen, renewal of the corrupted, cleansing of the greatest defilement of sin, which by nothing can be cleansed save only by the invaluable, most pure, and all-cleansing Blood of the Holiest of all the holy, the Son of God. On this Mystery of Salvation we must meditate day and night, for it we must give unceasing thanks and praise, and strive to correspond to it with all our strength, desires, and the fulfillment of all of God’s saving commandments. “«Heaven was afraid and the ends of the earth were amazed, because God appeared in the flesh to mankind.»” O what love! O what condescension! O what justice, wisdom, what sanctification, deification, what elevation of our nature beyond all the heavens!

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Glory to You, O Lord, for Your divine Mysteries, with which You clothe me as with divine raiment and power. Truly the greatest, divine adornment for a true communicant, priest or layman—are the divine Mysteries. What honor You have bestowed, O Lord, upon the Orthodox Christian people, entrusting and giving to it Your divine Blood, the entirety of Your Godhead and Manhood, enriching and deifying every human being. What love are we obliged to have toward You, O Lord, what thanksgiving, in what mutual love we ought to live, how we must love and “esteem” each other “above” “ourselves” (Phil 2:3)! I thank You, O Lord, for all Your unspeakable mercies.

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Priests and deacons, both of parishes and of cities—do they receive Communion worthily at every Liturgy? No, many do so unworthily. God sees what they think and do. O Lord, You righteous Judge of all, do not condemn us, the unworthy, who often receive Communion from the Chalice of Your holy Body. Behold, we are all unworthy of Your awesome, transcendent, and life-giving Mysteries. Let Your boundless mercy cover our sins!

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Do you value, O priest, who celebrates daily and performs the Liturgy, the fruits of Communion in the holy, life-giving, awesome, and transcendent Mysteries? Do you feel the cleansing of sins, renewal, enlightenment, rebirth, sanctification, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, the easy yoke and the light burden (Mt 11:30), freedom of spirit, and joy in the Holy Spirit? Blessed are you if you feel all this and give thanks to God. Kindle within yourself the gift of God; do not be indifferent, unmoved, ungrateful. Through the feeling of gratitude you will be deemed worthy of greater grace. Improve yourself; in all things strive toward the perfection of life and virtue, so that you may be deemed worthy to hear from the Lord: “Good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” Amen (Mt 25:21).

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You, priest of God, minister of the Most High Creator, serve the Liturgy with fear and proper preparation, especially if you serve daily. Watch what you are making of your belly, which becomes daily, through Communion in the holy, life-giving Mysteries of Christ, a temple of God—is it not an instrument of gluttony and greed, an instrument of the Devil, through whose belly he drew mankind into Hell and subjected it to a curse? Hold fast to the fast commanded by the Savior; watch over yourself and others, and save yourself and the people.

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“Let a man examine himself” before he wishes to receive Communion in the Holy Mysteries, and then let him receive the heavenly Bread, the Body of Christ, and drink from the Cup of Life, “for whoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord” (1Cor 11:28-29). Therefore, those desiring Communion, examine yourselves, examine your conscience, remembering your sins—condemn yourselves before the Terrible Judgment, for if we would examine ourselves, that is, carefully review our lives and correct ourselves, then we would not be condemned.