A Manual of the Orthodox Church's Divine Services

Preliminary Ideas

The Nature of Divine Service

By Divine Service the Orthodox Christian Church means a series of prayers, recited or sung in a given order, with certain ceremonies, by means of which prayers, Orthodox Christians glorify God and His Saints, express their thanks and offer their petitions, and through the performance of which they receive from God mercies and the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Divine service is private or domestic when it is performed in private by one or several persons; it is public when it is performed in the name of the whole Church, or of a community of Christians, by persons authorized to do so. The prayers used in public worship are divided into two categories: those for permanent services, i.e., services performed daily for the benefit of all Christians, and those for occasional services, i.e., services which are performed only on certain occasions, according to the special needs of the faithful, and therefore are called tréba, a word which, translated, means need.

The Origin of Divine Service

Divine service made its appearance on earth simultaneously with man. The goodness and almightiness of the Lord impel men to glorify and thank Him; the consciousness of their wants prompts them to address their petitions to Him. And as man consists of both body and soul most closely united, therefore prayer is expressed in words and accompanied by certain motions of the body, and, vice-versa, external objects arouse a prayerful inclination in man. In this way, private worship originated and developed, varying as to prayers and rites.

But men came together and formed communities, and this gave rise to uniform prayers for all the members of one community, and for these common prayers, there were gradually appointed: place, time, order of services and persons to perform them. In this way, as human society became organized, public worship also developed.

In Old Testament times, previous to Moses, divine service was of the private, domestic type. The paterfamilias — the patriarch — on behalf of his entire family or kin (tribe), selected the place, appointed the time and laid down the order of prayer. Even then, certain customs already began to harden into rules which the patriarchs themselves observed, following their fathers’ example. But since Moses’ time, the Israelites had a public worship, instituted by God Himself, with temple, priests and rites. Jesus Christ, the founder and the Head of the Christian Church, while Himself complying with all the regulations of Jewish worship, did not give to His disciples any definite ritual. But He instituted the Sacraments, commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel, taught them how to pray, promised to be present in the gatherings of Christians assembled in His name, and thereby laid the foundation of His Church’s public worship. Thus it was that, immediately after Christ’s ascension to Heaven, a certain order of public worship gradually began to develop in the Christian community. In the Apostles’ lifetime already, certain holy persons were consecrated, certain places were appointed for divine service, and a ritual was instituted for those offices during which the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist are administered. Furthermore, the principal rites were devised to accompany the celebration of the other Sacraments, even to the appointing of the times for common prayer, certain feast-days and fasts. The persecutions which the Christians suffered during the first three centuries hindered them from composing an entire ritual for public worship and making it uniform for all Christians; such a ritual was fully developed and finally established only when Christianity was proclaimed the ruling religion of the Roman Empire.

External Signs Used In Divine Service

Several of the external signs of prayer are common to all men; such are: inclinations of the body, as low as the waist or all the way to the ground, kneeling, bowing of the head, lifting up of the hands. All these gestures express devotion to God, humility, repentance, supplication for mercy, gratitude, and reverence.

But apart from these universal expressions of prayerful feeling, Orthodox Christians, when praying, use a sign which belongs exclusively to them: the sign of the Cross. This sign, according to oldest custom, we make in the following manner: the thumb, the index and the middle finger of the right hand we join together, while we bend down the third and little fingers till they touch the palm of the hand. Having arranged the fingers in this manner, we touch with them first the brow, then the breast, and after that, first the right shoulder and then the left, thus making on our persons the sign of the Cross. By this sign we express our faith in the things which Christ the Saviour taught us and did for us. By joining the three fingers, we express our faith in the Most Holy Trinity, consubstantial and indivisible; by the two fingers bent to the palm of the hand we express our belief in the descent to earth of the Son of God, and in His having assumed humanity without divesting Himself of His divinity, thus uniting both natures in Himself, the divine and the human. By touching our brow, breast and shoulders, we express our belief that the Triune God hath sanctified our thoughts, feelings, desires and acts. Lastly, by making on our persons the sign of the Cross, we express our belief that Christ hath sanctified our soul and saved us by His sufferings on the Cross.

Plan of a Russian Orthodox Church of the most usual type.

A. The Sanctuary.

0. The Ikonostas (Screen).

1. The Altar Table.

2. The Table of Oblations.

3. The Bema (High Place).

4. The Vestry.

5. The Royal Gates.

6. The South Door.

7. The North Door.

8. The Ambo.

9. The Cleros (Choirs).

10. The Soleas.

11. The Nave, or Body of the church.

12. The Vestibule.

13. The Bell-tower.

14. The Porches.

The Christian Church Building

Names of the Various Church Buildings and Their Origin

We give the name of Temple or House of God to a building specially consecrated to God, or to a separate part of a building so consecrated, where Christians assemble to offer up to God their common prayers, and to receive from Him His grace through the Holy Sacraments. Because the totality of Christians taken together forms the Church, therefore the buildings in which they assemble for common prayer are likewise called churches.

Every church is consecrated to God and sanctified in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, and is therefore entitled a temple or church of God. But apart from this general designation, each church has its own particular appellation, such as: Church of the Holy Trinity, of the Resurrection of Christ, of the Holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, of St. Andrew the First-called, of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Special names are given to churches erected on some particularly memorable occasion, because churches are frequently dedicated to the memory of some event or other out of the life of the Saviour or of His Mother, or else of some Saint who is especially honored in some given locality, or whose name was borne by the chief founder of the church.¹

When one town or city holds several churches, one of them receives the title of general or universal (sobór) because, on solemn feast days, not only the church’s own parishioners, but people from all parishes assemble there for divine service also. In large cities there frequently are several general churches. That in which is situated the episcopal cathedra or throne is called Cathedral.

Together with the organization on earth of the community of believers in Christ, Christian churches made their appearance as gathering places for these believers. The Apostles and the early Christians endured persecution for their faith from the heathen, and for that reason used to assemble for prayer in private houses; but even in such houses they used to set apart for worship one room on which they looked with reverence, as on a place where the Lord was present by His grace. When the Christians increased in numbers and room was lacking in private houses for their gatherings, while they were not permitted to build special temples for their own worship, they began to meet together to offer their prayers to God in woods, in mountain gorges and in caves, or, if they lived in cities or in the neighborhood of cities, they assembled in the underground cemeteries known by the name of catacombs. So long as they were persecuted for their faith they could not decorate the places where they assembled, even though they wished to do so. Still, impelled by their pious feelings, they used, in the place of decorations, certain allegorical signs or symbols, intelligible to them alone. Thus, on the walls of the catacombs, they represented the Cross of Christ by the sign T; sometimes they drew a square block of stone and on that, a door, seeing in this a semblance of Christ, Who is the rock of salvation and the door through which whosoever passeth shall be saved. Frequently again, Christ was represented in the shape of a fish, because the Greek word for fish, ichthys, is composed of the initials of the words: Iesous Kristos Theou Huios Soter, which means Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. Still more frequently, He is represented as a Lamb, or as a Shepherd carrying a sheep upon His shoulders. The Resurrection was depicted as the whale ejecting a man (the Prophet Jonah) out of its maw. At a later time they began to draw the portraits of martyrs somewhere about their tombs in the Catacombs. At that time, they performed divine service in garments of the ordinary cut, only they wore their best and most ornamented clothes, preferably white ones. When Christians were allowed to publicly profess their faith, they began to build temples, or churches. Sometimes they transformed existing buildings into churches, adapting them to their requirements. But they mostly erected special buildings, which differed from others both in external appearance and internal arrangement. The first churches built by Christians differed from our modern churches in that they had no screen (iconostás), but the sanctuary was separated from the body of the church only by a curtain, or even merely a railing. Besides which, large extensions were added to the ancient churches for the use of catechumens, i.e., persons who had not yet received Holy Baptism, but were preparing to receive it and were undergoing elementary instruction in the Christian faith.

External Appearance of Churches

The most generally accepted shape for Christian churches is the oblong, in imitation of a ship. By giving their churches such a shape, Christians express the thought that, as a ship, under the direction of a good helmsman, carries men through stormy seas into a peaceful harbor, so the Church, governed by Christ, saves men from drowning in the deep waters of sin and brings them into the Kingdom of Heaven, where there is neither sorrow nor sighing. Churches are frequently built in the shape of a cross, to show that Christians obtain salvation through faith in Christ crucified, for Whose sake they themselves are ready to suffer all things. Sometimes a church is given the shape of a circle in token that the Church of Christ (i.e., the community of those who believe in Christ) shall exist through all eternity and. that it will for ever and ever unite the faithful with Christ, for the circle is the emblem of eternity. Sometimes, again, the shape is that of an octagon—the shape of a star—in token that, as a star shows a man his way on a dark night, so the Church helps him to walk along the path of righteousness amid the darkness of iniquity which encompasses him. The latter two shapes are not so often used, as they are inconvenient for the inner arrangement of the church.

The entrance into a church is almost always from the west, the church itself being turned with its main part towards the east, in token that the Christian worshippers enter from the darkness of impiety into the light of truth (the East being the symbol of light, good, truth; while the West is the symbol of darkness, evil, error). This rule is departed from only if a building formerly erected for another purpose is changed into a church, or if a church is arranged in a private house, where the entrance and the main portion are located according to convenience.

On the roof there are usually one or several cupolas (towers with rounded or pointed roofs), signifying that Christians should detach themselves from earthly attachments and aspire heavenward. These cupolas are sometimes called crests or summits. One crest or cupola signifies that the community of Christians has only one head—Christ; three cupolas are erected in honor of the Most-Holy Trinity; five point to Christ and the four Evangelists, who left for us descriptions of Christ’s life; while seven indicate the seven sacraments (through which we receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit), and the seven Ecumenical Councils, by the ordinances of which Christians are guided to this day; nine crests remind us of the nine classes of angels who dwell in Heaven, whom Christians wish to join in the Kingdom of Heaven while thirteen crests signify Christ and His twelve Apostles. Every cupola, or, where there is none, the roof, is surmounted with a Cross, the instrument of our salvation.

The Internal Arrangement of Churches

The interior of a church is divided into several compartments: (1) the Sanctuary, where divine service is performed; (2) the Chapel of the Prothesis, containing the Table of Oblations, for the reception and be organized for travelers, it became usual for bishops to consecrate only the upper boards of the altar, or even only linen or silken cloths, which, after signing them with their name, they sent to newly-built churches, or gave to people who were starting on a journey. Later on, an Antimins became a necessary feature of every altar, even in such churches as had been personally consecrated by bishops. Into every Antimins is sewed a particle of some holy relic (i.e., of the incorruptible remains of Saints’ bodies), in memory of the fact that in early times Christians used to assemble for divine service on or by the tombs of martyrs, and in token that the Saints, being near to God, intercede for us with their prayers. If the church is consecrated by a bishop, the relic is placed under the center of the altar, upon a stand in a special small casket, to keep it from injury; it is wrapped in a silken cloth called pleiton, which means a wrap.

THE ALTAR.

1. The Tabernacle or Ciborium.

2. A Seven-Branched Candelabrum.

3. The Dikirion.

4. The Trikirion.

5. and 6. The Fans.

7. The Ciborium (to take the Sacrament to the sick).

8. The Gospel.

9. The Cross.

10. The Antimins.

11. The Altar Table.

12. A Lampada (vigil lamp).

Indispensable attributes of the altar are the Cross and the Gospel.² The Cross is laid there as a sign of Christ’s victory over the devil and of our deliverance, and the Gospel, because it is the book which contains the Word of Christ, by following which we may obtain salvation. In the first ages of Christianity, before the execution of criminals by crucifixion had been abolished, Christians used Crosses adorned with ornaments, but without the representation of Christ crucified; sometimes they painted on it only a Lamb, either standing at the foot of the Cross or carrying one.

The Gospel which is kept on the altar always has a beautiful binding, in the middle of which is a representation of Christ Saviour (mostly of the Resurrection), while the corners are occupied by the four Evangelists. These are represented with their respective symbols, in other words, their characteristics, i.e., signs which allude to the contents of the books they wrote. With the Apostle Matthew we see the face of a man or an angel, in token that Matthew describes Jesus Christ principally as the Son of Man, the descendant of Abraham, as the Messiah expected by Israel, of Whom the prophets wrote. The Evangelist Mark represented Christ as the One Sent of God, possessed of almighty power, the King of all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, and therefore his symbol is the lion, the mighty king of beasts. The Evangelist Luke, because he represented Christ as the Saviour of all mankind, Who offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of men, is symbolized by the bull, the animal which the Jews used to sacrifice. The Evangelist John has given us more fully than the other Apostles the lofty doctrine of Christ as the Son of God; hence, he is associated with the eagle, the bird which soars high and fixes its gaze on the Sun.

Besides the Cross and Gospel, there stands on the altar an ark or tabernacle, in which are preserved the Holy Gifts (the Body of Christ, saturated with His Blood), reserved for giving communion to the sick, and to others at times when it is not lawful to celebrate the Liturgy. These tabernacles are sometimes made in the shape of a coffin, or a sepulchral cave, in which case they are called Graves; at other times in the shape of a temple. A temple-shaped tabernacle, used in old times, was called Sion or Jerusalem.³ All tabernacles alike are called cibória. The ciborium, used to carry the Holy Gifts into a private house, in order to give communion to a sick person, is a casket with several compartments. In one is placed a very small casket containing particles of the Holy Gifts. In another there is a small chalice with a tiny spoon, and in a third, a small vessel with wine and a sponge to clean the chalice