Services

"We did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth"

Envoys of Prince Vladimir, when they reported to him their experience in attending the Divine Liturgy in Constantinople's Hagia Sophia

At the center of Orthodox Christian worship is the Divine Liturgy.  In the Divine Liturgy we encounter God, we worship Him, we make petition of Him, and we are fed by Him. The Divine Liturgy is a remembrance.  As Anthony M. Coniaris puts it in Introducing The Orthodox Church:

We remember again a real historical event that has great meaning for us: the life of Jesus.  We do this in obedience to Jesus Who said, "Do this in remembrance of Me."  St. Paul wrote, "As often as you shall drink this cup and eat this bread you shall show forth the death of Jesus till He comes again."

But the liturgy is not just a remembrance.  It is also a making present again today of the life of Jesus so that we are there just as the disciples were there when these great things happened.

The liturgy bridges the gap between what Jesus did two thousand years ago and us today.  It is like the old TV program "You Are There" which enacted great historical happenings and made us feel that we were actually there when they were happening.  The sacrifice on Calvary, for example, is not repeated since the Lamb of God was sacrificed "once only, for all time."  It is made present again mystically in the liturgy through the Holy Spirit so that we are there today.  We don't merely "remember"; we re-member, we as members of His body become present with Him, the Timeless One.

This present again aspect of the Divine Liturgy is important, for several reasons:

• We have been saved but we are also being saved - "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (I Cor. 1:18)

• In Orthodox theology, salvation is not static but rather dynamic.  The word dynamic comes from the Greek word dynamis meaning "power" or "strength".  God is our strength, and without Him we can do nothing.  Without Him actually present during our time of worship our "worship" would in reality be nothing more than a mere gathering of friends, an assembly of earthly and mortal family.  But in the Divine Liturgy we are instead in the midst of a heavenly and powerful and mystical family.  We gather with Him as His children.

• As we gather in the Divine Liturgy to worship Him, we are also fed by Him. Jesus said, "I myself am the living bread come down from heaven . . . for the life of the world." (St. John 6:51)  Jesus is not dead; He is alive.  Part and parcel of being saved is being fed.  In fact, Jesus Himself put it quite plainly to His followers, "Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you . . . for my flesh is real food and my blood real drink." (St. John 6:53-55)  And in case Jesus' use of the word solemnly isn't clear enough, we should also note that the word St. John used in those verses and which we translate as "eat" is not the regular verb "to eat", but a very realistic verb with a rather crude connotation of "munch, gnaw" so apparently Jesus meant it realistically, not "figuratively" as some would try to claim.  His food is for all time, because He is the Eternal One.

There is so much more that is a part of the Divine Liturgy, of course, and much of it may seem unusual for the first-time visitor - bright vestments on the priest, icons on the walls, incense filling the air.  But all of those things are there for a lot of reasons, and with time comes the understanding of what those reasons are.  Just as a web page is inadequate to fully explain what is orthodoxy, so also is a web page inadequate to fully explain the Divine Liturgy.  Which, by the way, is only one of many services which the Orthodox Christian partakes of throughout the year.
 

So come, "taste and see"!  Here at Saints George and Alexandra, we have the following services every week:

• Great Vespers - Saturday, 6 pm

• Matins - Sunday, 8 am

• Divine Liturgy - Sunday, 9:30 am

At other times during the year there are additional services, during which we become present again and re-member other significant events during the time when Christ walked on this earth.  So come, "taste and see" that the Lord is good!
 

Our nature was sick and needed a doctor,
Man had fallen and needed someone to raise him up.
He who ceased to participate in the good needed someone to bring him back to it.
He who was shut in darkness needed the presence of life.
The prisoner was looking for someone to ransom him,
The captive for someone to take his part.
He who was under the yoke of slavery was looking for someone to set him free.

   St. Gregory of Nyssa