464 Simeon Leiva-Merileakis

impatience for the appearance of her Lord. No doubt this is just the THE SPIRIT AND
way these two back-to-back parables in Matthew were meant to be
read by the Spirit who inspired them. The midnight cry, "Behold, THE BRIDE SAY "COME":
the Bridegroom!" (25:6), could only trigger in Therese, by a daring
inversion, the ardent response, "Welcome, my long-awaited Thie£1" THE ESCHATOLOGICAL
And this is how we, too, ought to do our lectio divina every
day: with patience, passion, and divine humor, allowing ourselves to DIMENSIONS OF THE LITURGY
be wooed by God's Word into the merry dance of grace. D
• John Behr •
SIMEONLEIVA-MERIKAKIS, OCSO, is a Cistercian monk ojSt.joseph's Abbey
in Spencer, Massachusetts.

"The world has put the life of the world to death,

and now we are committed to death. It is now time
for the Lord to work, and he works precisely
through this death, this pure sacrifice."

The subject of this article is the eschatological dimensions ofliturgy. 1

It sounds a very abstract topic, but, as we will see, it is one that takes
us to the very heart of the Christian faith, in a manner that is
challenging, but also hopefully rewarding.
We often speak about the eschatological consciousness of the
early Church: the sense that the first Christians had of living in the
end times, that the Lord was about to return, that the second
coming was imminent. It is then supposed that when the Lord did
not reappear as quickly as had been expected, and some began to die
without ever seeing hi~ return, that there was some kind of crisis of
confidence. And as such, it is then further supposed, the Church had
to modifY her life and self-understanding, from a sense of the
im.n1.ediacy of the second corning to finding a way in which to live

1
A version of this paper was delivered in 2009 at the Notre Dame Center for
Liturgy's summer conference on the topic ofPaul as a liturgical theologian.

Co11t1111111io 38 (Fall 2011). © 2011 by Con1111unio: Internotionol Cot!tolic RelJiew

466 John Behr The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 467

in this world for a longer tin1.e than had been anticipated. In this The apostle Paul, the first Christian writer, 1s very clear
-vvay it is aro-ued the Church reconciled herself to this world and its about all this. He describes himself as
' b '
history; she became an institution rather than a charismatic body, an
institution with its framework and structure, its rites and rituals, so forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies
that it could continue in history, but a history that thereafter is one ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call
of further compromises. of God in Christ Jesus .... [For] our citizenship is in heaven,
I am not sure, however, that there really was such a big and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the
turning point. Certainly there were groups in the early Church who power which enables him even to subject all things to himself
expected the coming of the Lord as a distinct event that was to (Phil3:13-14, 20-21)
happen at a specific time in the not-too distant future. It is recorded
that a Montanist group, for instance, went out to Pepuza (their new Forgetting what lies behind, stretching forward, for our citizenship
Jerusalem) to meet him, and there have been similar groups is in heaven, from it we wait for our Savior, and when he appears he
throughout history. will change our body to be like his. These are very dramatic and
But it seems to me that when we think of the early Church clear words.
as undergoing this kind of change it is because of what we think Paul's first epistle to the Thessalonians is particularly
eschatology should be or is, and then we read that back into the concerned with the teaching about the "coming" of the Lord (again
early Church. For us, now, eschatology is primarily understood as he does not use the term "second"). We are "to wait for his Son
the teaching about the last times, referring to the things yet to from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us
happen, things that will happen in the future, in the last times-the from the wrath to come" (1 Thess 1:10). And Paul beseeches the
eschaton-the teaching about Christ's second coming, the resurrection Lord "so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness
of the dead, judgment, heaven and hell, and so on. We differentiate before our God and Father, at the corning of our Lord Jesus with all
between the first coming and the second coming, two comings with his saints" (1 Thess 3:13, cf. 5:23). And the community that he has
different content: the first coming is his birth from the Virgin and fashioned will be his "crown of boasting," Paul says, "before our
his ministry culminating in his Passion and Ascension; the second Lord Jesus at his coming" (1 Thess 1:19). By the time he writes the
coming is all the other things he will do at the end of time. second letter to the Thessalonians, he warns them that with regard
But is this the best way of thinking about it? Is this the way to the "corning of the Lord and our assembling to met him," we
that the early Christians thought about it? And is this the best way should not be shaken by those who claim that "the day of the Lord
for thinking about the eschatological dimensions ofliturgy, or with has come" (2 Thess 2:1-2).
regard to liturgy in general? If we think in linear, chronological Clearly, Paul and his disciples are waiting for the coming of
terms, with the second corning being something different and yet to the Lord, gathering to meet him as he comes. But equally clearly,
happen, doesn't liturgy become, as it were, some kind of time- this is not simply a matter of waiting for what we tend to call the
warping re-actualizing of the past and anticipation of the future? second coming: Paul simply speaks of it as his "coming." Why?
It is striking that the first Christians did not speak about Why no mention of a ""second" corning?
Christ's second coming. Instead they spoke simply ofhis coming, his Before we get to that, we should also take note of a couple
parousia, about the day of the Lord-the Lord who is, and always is, of other points related to how Paul speaks about the coming of the
the coming one, the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Lord, about his appearance, and how he will change our body to be
Through his Passion, Christ ascended in glory, seated at, or as, the like his. That is, first, the connection between the coming of the
right hand of the Father, leaving us his Spirit-the Spirit through Lord and our own death, initially in baptism (to sin, by taking up
whom we also can approach God as Father, as Abba, leaving us the cross), and then our final death and repose in the grave. Second,
looking to or for Christ's corning.
468 john Behr The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 469

that this death is spoken of in terms of birth. And third, how we, in The Jerusalem above is free and she is our mother, for it is
this way, become the body of Christ written "Rejoice 0 barren one who does not bear, break forth
For Paul our entry into the mystery of Christ, as members and shout, you who are not in travail, for the children of her
of his body, is very clearly through baptism, which is in the image that is barren is more than the children ofher that is married says
of Christ's own death and resurrection and an anticipation of our the Lord." (Gal 4:26-27; Is 54:1)
own death and resurrection (see Rom 6). Through baptism we die
It is revealing that the verse from Isaiah quoted by Paul is the one
to sin and this world once and for all. But as we still have sin
that follows the long hymn of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53,
working within us, and will certainly still die, our life in Christ still
regarding the one marred beyond all human semblance, who has
lies in the future: to the extent that we die to ourselves now, we
borne our iniquities; taken upon himself, as a lamb, all our offences;
begin to live the life of Christ. To paraphrase John the Baptist: we
offering intercession to God for us. This portrayal of the suffering
decrease so that he might increase. And so Paul urges us:
servant is completed in this verse about the barren women bearing
many children, for it is Christ's Passion that results in the birth
Set your Ininds on things that are above, not on things that are
on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in through baptism of many sons of God in the mother Church. It is
God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you will also interesting to reflect on the fact that in the Eastern Orthodox
appear with him in glory. (Col 3:3-4) Tradition, this passage is only read liturgically on Holy Friday after
the body of Christ is taken down from the cross and placed in the
Having died in baptism, our true life lies hidden in Christ: it is not tomb, and that the reading includes Isaiah 54:1, the verse that
yet clear that we have been recreated and conformed to the image modern scholars would identifY as the beginning of another oracle,
of God after the stature of Christ. We are a work in progress; our having nothing to do with what went before.
blueprint, the statue lying in the block of marble waiting to be Being reborn in this way we are the body of Christ:
sculpted, is already in the image of Christ, though for now hidden Christians are those who have been born again in Christ Jesus
with him.. We are being worked on, so that when he appears, we through the Gospel; they are the ones who are having Christ formed
will appear with him. in them. Paul is not only the one who is in travail with them, but is
Or, in his second letter to the Corinthians, he describes us the paradigm of the state to which they are called:
as
I have been crucified with Chlist: It is no longer I who live, but
always carrying in the body the death ofJesus so that the life of Cluist who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live
Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life me. (Gal 2:20)
of] esus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2 Cor 4:10-11)
Having been crucified with Christ, Christ not only now lives in
The life ofJesus manifested is in us, in our mortal flesh, our earthen Paul, but Paul no longer lives. He identifies himself with Christ.
vessels. We are, in a very strong sense (not a metaphor) the body of Born again through, the Gospel in Christ Jesus, or having Christ
Christ. We are witnesses to his presence, his coming. formed in them., Christians are the body of Christ. This is not simply
Our emerging in the stature of Christ is described by Paul, a loose analogy or metaphor. Paul makes the identification without
very dramatically, as a birth: "My little children, with whom I am qualification: "You are the body of Christ and individually mem.bers
again in travail until Christ be formed in you" (Gal4:19). We are of it," he says, all, that is, who "by the one Spirit were baptized into
being born, or rather Christ is being born in us: the apostle, by his the one body" (1 Cor 12:27, 13). Christians are called to be "the
preaching, is our father, and the Church our mother, the Jerusalem_ one body," by living in subjection to the head, Christ, and allowing
from on high, the barren one who gives birth to many children: his peace to rule in their hearts (Col3:15). As members ofhis body,
they depend for their life and being upon their head, who is Christ,
470 john Behr The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 4 71

"the head of the body, the Church" (Col1:18-19, 2:9). By holding Similarly important is the phrase "in accordance with the
fast to the head "the whole body, [is] nourished and knit together scriptures." In fact it is so important that it is repeated twice in one
through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from short sentence and is also preserved in the Nicene-Constantinopolit-
God" (Col 2: 19). And Christians also depend upon one another: an Creed, which is still said at every baptism and celebration of the
"we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually Divine Liturgy: Christ died and rose in accordance with the
n1.em.bers of one another" (Rom 12:5). The grace given to each is scriptures. Clearly the scriptures that he is referring to are not the
for the benefit of the one body, so that everything is to be done in gospels-Matthew, Mark, Luke and John-for they had not even
love for the building up of the one body (1 Cor 12-13). been written when Paul made this statement. Rather the scriptures
In this way Christians are brought into a new relationship in question are what we now call the Old Testament-Law, Psalms,
with God, whereby, sharing in the Spirit bestowed in the risen and Prophets. And so it is with reference to these scriptures that Paul
Christ, they also can call upon God as "Abba, Father." And waiting traditions to us what happened in Ch1ist's Passion.
for our coming Lord with urgency and expectancy, all we can say The only other place where Paul uses this receiving/
is marana tha-Come our Lord (1 Cor 16:22). Or, as at the end of delivering formula is in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26:
the Apocalypse:
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that
The Spitit and the Bride say: Come! ... He who testifies to the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread
these things says, "Surely I am conling soon." Amen. Come, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said "This is my
LordJesus! (Rev 22:17, 20) body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And in
the same way also the cup, after supper, saying "This cup is the
From the beginning, Christians are waiting. Expectancy is every- new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in
thing. remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and
drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

This time it is from the Lord himself that Paul received what he
1. Scripture and Eucharist: coming to know the Coming One delivers to us.
These are the only times Paul uses this formula. Recognizing
There are two other elements in Paul that are important for
the importance of these two elements helps us understand many
understanding what is going on in liturgy, which help us to
other aspects about the Christian faith. For instance, why it is that
understand a very striking aspect of the gospel accounts, and, in
we have our four canonical gospels: they are centered upon the
addition, why the first Christians do not speak of a "second"
crucified and risen Lord, understood and proclaimed through the
c0n1.1ng.
medium of the scriptures, unlike, say, the gospel of Thomas or the
First, a statement that Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 15: various Gnostic gospels.
Most important for our purpose and topic is that these two
I delivered to you as offirst importance what I also received, that
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and elements are central in the gospel accounts of the encounter with the
that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in risen Christ. Most clearly on the road to Emmaus, where the
accordance with the SCliptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, disciples continually fail to understand who Christ is until he opens
then to the twelve. (1 Cor 15:3-5) the books of scripture and breaks bread-only then are their eyes
opened to recognize him. In other words: we meet the risen Christ, the
"I delivered (or 'traditioned') what I received." This is a very coming eschatological Lord, in the opening cif the scriptures and the breaking
significant phrase, one that Paul uses only twice. It is meant to ofbread-i.e. in the Liturgy. This is the eschatological dimension cifliturgy.
indicate that what is about to be said is central to the faith.
472 John Behr The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 473

I emphasize this as strongly as I can, because it is so impor- them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself (Lk
tant (and there is one further aspect to bring out): although the 24.25-27, see also 44-47)
disciples accom.panied Christ for a period of time, although they saw
him working miracles and transfigured on the mountain of Tabor, Without any other comment, Luke continues by describing
and although they heard all sorts of divine teachings from. him (and how these two disciples persuade Christ to stay the evening with
from. his mother about his birth), they all abandoned him at the time them, and how their eyes were opened in the breaking of the bread.
of his crucifixion. In the Gospel of John it is different, and that is But as soon as they recognized him, he disappeared .fi'om their sight, so
another story, but in the synoptic gospels, those of Matthew, Mark, that they were left reflecting on what had happened, saying to each
and Luke, the disciples abandon Christ at the Passion. Peter even other "did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked to us on
denies ever having known him. the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" (Lk 24:32)
Before the Passion, the disciples continually fail to under- It is significant that as soon as the disciples, finally, know in
stand who Christ is-they are very slow to understand (as Christ was truth who Christ is ... he disappears fi'om their sight! So, from the
not slow to point out)! The only exception is Peter's confession on beginning, Christians are left looking for his coming, straining ahead
the road to Caesarea Philippi (Mt 16), though this is the exception ~o ~eet the coming Lord, living in this world while their citizenship
which proves the rule, in that although Peter is given a special 1s m heaven, and, in fact, it is now they who have become his
revelation to n1.ake his confession, he immediately demonstrates that body-being conformed to his image (by taking up the cross), being
he does not understand, for he tries to prevent Christ from going to his presence here on earth, the ones through whom he works. One
Jerusalem to suffer and for this is called "Satan" by Christ. One could even say that he disappears, because if we are his body, we
could say that, in the way the word is used here, "Satan" is the one cannot look upon him elsewhere! We are now his body, manifesting
who gets between Christ and the cross. and realizing his coming!
Moreover, the disciples did not begin to understand when From the beginning, therefore, Christ is known as "the
they discovered the empty tomb. This produced perplexity Coming One," so much so that even within the gospels (written after
instead-had someone taken away the body? An angel is needed to Paul), Jesus Christ is called "the Coming One." John the Baptist sent
explain the empty tomb, telling them that he is risen and directing his disciples to ask Christ: "Are you the coming one, or should we
them to Galilee to meet him there. Nor does meeting the Risen look for another?" And Christ did not give an answer, but pointed
Christ on the road to Emmaus finally convince them, for they did them to signs-the blind seeing, the lame walking-signs that can
not immediately recognize him. And it has only been few days! The only be understood, as Messianic by going back to the scriptures (Mt
two disciples mention that they had hoped that Jesus was the one 11:2-5).
who was going to redeem Israel, but that he had instead been put to But most important, and immediately significant for us, now,
death. They also relate that when some women of their company is the fact that Christ is known only through the opening of the
went to the tomb, they found it empty. Even at this point they still scriptures and the breaking of the bread. The disciples did not come
do not get it. In a very significant sense, once could state that our to know the Lord by "being there" two thousand years ago, on the
faith is not based on the empty tomb or the resurrection appear- other side of world, and so, here and now, we are not at a disadvan-
ances. tage. In fact, we are in the same position today. "Being there" did
And so Christ reproves them: not help them. It is rather reading the scriptures in light of the
Passion and in the breaking of bread that we come to know Christ,
"0 foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the the same as we do today, in the Church. These elements (opening
prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ of scriptures and Eucharist) constitute, as it were, the matrix and the
should suffer these things and enter into his gl01y?" And sustenance of the Christian tradition-the very fabric of our
beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to
liturgical life. We now use the scriptures to praise God for all his
work, especially his definitive work in Christ, praise that culminates
47 4 John Behr The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 47 5

in our eucharistic sacrifice, which is not simply a "thanksgiving 2. Melito of Sardis

n1eal" or a n1.eal remembering some distant past, but the meal of the
kingdom which takes place "on the night in which he was be- Now, everything that we have been talking about-the
trayed." encounter with the risen Christ, the coming eschatological Lord in
For this the meal to be such, requires that we confess our the opening of scripture and the breaking of bread-is exemplified
complicity in his betrayal-now--so that we are also his companions, in an early Christian text, On Pascha, by Melito of Sardis-only
those who share in the broken bread, those for whom the broken published in 1940. Since then there has been a debate about what
bread is "the medicine of immortality" as St. Ignatius put it. We kind of text it is. It was first classified as a "Good Friday Homily,"
need to acknowledge our part in his death, just as Peter must when although it does not really fit into a homelitic genre. It is now
he encounters the risen Christ in the gospel ofJohn. Here, after the recognized as a kind of Haggadah-an exposition of the Passover
Passion, the disciples are back at the lake fishing as if nothing had reading from Exodus, which would accompany the Jewish table rite
happened. Jesus appears at the break of day, but is only recognized known as the Seder, which developed in diasporaJudaism, when the
when he directs them to the place that they can find sustenance and Passover sacrifice was no longer possible at the temple. This makes
find it in abundance. Only then does the beloved disciple say to it, in fact, the earliest liturgical text that we have, and, for that
Peter: "It is the Lord" On 21:4-7). But before Peter can again matter, the earliest representative of a Haggadah that we have.
address Jesus as "Lord," he is confronted by Christ asking him three One must recall that the reading of the Exodus scripture was
times, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" On 21:12, 15-17). never understood as the recalling of a (merely) past event, but as a
Peter has to acknowledge his past, in which he denied Christ three way of inscribing oneself in the same unchanging reality of God. As
times, as part of who he is; he cannot simply return to the more when Joshua urged the Israelites gathered at Shechem to devote
comfortable period before his time as a disciple, and a failed disciple at themselves to the Covenant which God had made with their fathers,
that. Only in this way can he once again be "Peter," the "rock" (the
meaning of the name "Peter" in Greek); only in this way can his past
they speak of this as having happened to themselves ash 24). a
Melito begins immediately following on from the reading of
failure be brought to a good conclusion in his work as an apostle. the scripture of the Exodus, and takes it to be speaking of Christ
These two episodes are linked in the gospel of John by its (i.e., directly, without the intermediary of a gospel text)
description of their settings: Peter denies Christ while warming
himselfbeside "a charcoal fire" Qn 18:18, anthrakia); likewise, when 1 The Scripture of the Exodus of the Hebrews has been read,
he professes his love for Christ it is again by "a charcoal fire" Qn and the words of the mystery have been declared,
21 :9), one that, together with the meal, was provided for them. This how the sheep was sacti.ficed
is surely not accidental, for the gospel of John is otherwise very and how the people was saved,
sparse in such details. It is meant to recall the experience of Isaiah and how Pharaoh was flogged by the mystery.
(who saw the glory of Christ and spoke of him, cf. Jn 12.41): after 2 Therefore, well-beloved, understand,
his vision of the enthroned Lord in the heavenly temple, Isaiah cried how the mystery of the Pascha
out "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and is both new and,,old
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have eternal and provisional,
seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." But then he saw a seraphim place perishable and imperishable
in his mouth a burning coal (anthraka) taken from the altar, with the mortal and immortal.
words: "Behold this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away 3 It is old with respect to the law
and your sins forgiven" (Is 6: 1-7). new with respect to the word.
Provisional with respect to the type
yet everlasting through grace.
It is perishable because of the slaughter of the sheep,
476 John Behr The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 4 77

imperishable because of the life of the Lord. He is grace, in that he saves.

It is mortal because of the burial in the ground, He is father, in that he begets.
ilmnortal because of the resmTection from the dead.
He is son, in that he is begotten.
4 For the law is old He is sheep, in that he suffers.
but the Word is new. He is human, in that he is buried.
The type is provisional, He is God, in that he is raised up.
but the grace everlasting.
The sheep is perishable, 10 This is Jesus the Christ,
but the Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. An1en.
not broken as a lamb but raised up as God,
is imperishable. This is a wonderful preface in praise of Christ, understanding him. in
For though led to the slaughter like a sheep, terms of the scriptural account of the Exodus.
he was no sheep.
Though speechless as a lamb, Melito then begins again by saying that he will re-narrate the
neither yet was he a lamb. account:
For there was once a type, but now the reality has appeared.
11 This is the mystery of the Pascha,
5 For instead of the lamb there was a son, just as it is written in the law, which was read a little while ago.
and instead of the sheep a man; I shall narrate the scriptural story,
in the man was Christ encompassing all things. how he gave command to Moses in Egypt,
when wanting to flog Pharaoh
6 So the slaughter of the sheep and to free Israel fi·om flogging
and the sacrificial procession of the blood, through the hand of Moses.
and the writing of the law encompass Christ,
on whose account everything in the previous law took place, It continues with a fuller exposition of the scriptural story, seeing in
though better in the new dispensation. all its details the reality of Christ. It is, for instance, because of
Christ's blood that the angel turns away from the dwellings with
7 For the law was a word,
and the old was new, lamb's blood smeared across the lintels: it is not that the angel does
going out from Sion and Jerusalem, not like the smell of lamb's blood, but rather that he sees in the
and the cmmnandment was grace, blood of the lamb the reality of the blood of Christ.
and the type was a reality, This is then followed by a more universal depiction of
and the lam.b was a son, salvation history, beginning with humanity in Eden and the
and the sheep was a man, continuation of the way in which humanity continued in sin, but
and the man was God.
also the way in which Christ was also present, already working, in
8 For he was born as a son, types, our salvation ..
and led as a lam.b,
and slaughtered as a sheep, 59 If you wish to see the mystery of the Lord
and buried as a man, Look at Abel, who is likewise slain,
and rose fi·om the dead as God, at Isaac, who is likewise tied up,
being God by his nature and a man. at Joseph, who is likewise traded,
at Moses, who is likewise exposed,
9 He is all things. at David, who is likewise hunted down,
He is law, in that he judges. At the prophets who likewise suffer for the sake of Christ.
He is word, in that he teaches.
478 John Behr The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 479

And then the first half of the oration comes to an end: Who will contradict me?"

65 Many other things were proclaimed by many prophets 102 "It is I," says the Christ,
concerning the mystery of the Pascha, who is Christ, "I am he who destroys death,
to whom be the glory for ever. and triumphs over the enemy,
Amen. and crushes Hades,
and binds the strong man,
The second half of the oration begins with the words: and bears humanity off to the heavenly heights."
"It is I," says the Ch1ist.
66 This is the one who comes from heaven onto the earth for
103 "So come all families of people,
the suffe1ing one,
adulterated with sin,
and wraps himself in the suffering one through a virgin womb,
and receive forgiveness of sins.
and comes as a a 1nan.
For I am your freedom.
He accepted the suffering of the suffering one,
I am the Passover of salvation,
through suffering in a body which could suffer,
I am the lamb slaughtered for you,
and set free the flesh from suffering.
I a1n your ransom,
I am your life,
Recent scholars have seen in these words, "This is the one who I am your light,
comes (aphikomenos) from heaven," an allusion to the aphi!<Comen, the I am your salvation,
piece of bread broken off from the main loaf at the Passover Seder I a1n your resunection,
ofJudaism, hidden, and brought in towards the end. This aphikomen I am your King.
-"coining one"-is taken as a messianic symbol. Melito clearly I shall raise you up by my light hand,
I will lead you to the heights ofheaven,
identifies the Paschal Lamb with Jesus.
There shall I show you the everlasting Father."
Now the oration continues with a cry against Israel for not
having recognized him, but having instead crucified him. This seems 104 He it is who made the heaven and the earth,
to us to be anti-Semitic (the Jewish community in Sardis would and formed humanity in the beginning,
have just finished their Passover meal when the Christians gathered who was proclaimed through the law and the prophets,
to celebrate their Pascha). But the invective against Israel is always who took flesh from a virgin,
in the second person: Melito is saying to his community: you did who was hung, on a tree,
who was buried in earth,
not recognize him-you stand convicted. It is only as convicted that who was raised from the dead,
they are then able finally to recognize him as their Savior. And so, and ascended to the heights ofheaven,
the oration concludes with Melito speaking in the person of Christ: who sits at the light hand of the Father,
who has the power to save all things,
100 The Lord clothed himself with humanity, through whom the Father acted from the beginning and forever.
and with suffeling on behalf of the suffeling one,
and bound on behalf of the one constrained, 105 This is the alpha and omega,
and judged on behalf of the one convicted, this is the beginning and the end,
and bulied on behalf of the one entombed, the ineffable beginning and the incomprehensible end.
rose from the dead and cried out aloud: This is the Chlist,
this is the King,
101 "Who takes issue with me? Let him stand before me. this is Jesus,
I set free the condemned. this is the commander,
I gave life to the dead. this is the Lord,
I raise up the entombed. this is he who rose from the dead,
480 john Behr The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 481

this is he who sits at the right hand of the Father, Christians, in this world. And all that we then do, as Christians, has
he bears the Father and is borne by him.
To him be the glory and the might for ever. Amen. the character of passage.
Thus, as Fr. Alexander Schmemann repeatedly pointed out,
This is a wonderful text, exemplary of what happens in liturgy, and the liturgy of the Church (and therefore the Church herself, as the
especially the eschatological dimensions of liturgy. We began by sacrament of the assembly) begins when we leave our houses and
standing to celebrate the Passion, the Exodus of Christ, understood beds, leaving behind our present life and concrete world to enter a
in the light of the books of Old Testament being opened in the light new community with a new life. Liturgy thus begins as a separation,
of Christ. This then moves seamlessly into the celebration of the as passage. In the Orthodox liturgy, the opening preliminary
Paschal Lam.b, the coming one-identified with the aphikomen-the dialogue between the Priest and the deacon also speaks of the
part of the loafhidden at the beginning of the meal and brought out ineffectiveness of our own actions and the need for God to work:
towards the end. And then, in and through all of this, Christ, the "It is time for the Lord to work" (cf. Ps 119:126: "It is time for the
coming one, is now present, speaking in the person of Melito Lord to work, because they have made void the Law"). We can do
himself. This is realized eschatology in action, even now when it is nothing. The world has put the life of the world to death, and now
read as a text almost two thousand years later. we are committed to death. It is now time for the Lord to work,
and he works precisely through this death, this pure sacrifice.
The liturgy begins with an affirmation of the goal of our
3. Sacrament as passage journey: "Blessed is the Kingdom." We then enter, passing from this
world in which the altar and the temple have been destroyed, to the
From everything that we have seen so far, it is clear that at only remaining altar that is Christ himself. Born again through the
the center of the Christian faith, and of our experience of the preaching (as Paul travails with those who receive his words as the
Christian faith, and especially the way that faith is expressed in the Word of God), celebrating this with the "Alleluia," we then
life ofliturgy, stands the notion of passage-transitus-exodus: Christ continue with the Great Entrance by laying aside all worldly cares,
passing out of this world through his Passion, but passing back into so that we can receive the King of all, accompanied by the angelic
it through those who follow in the footsteps of their suffering God, host, lifting up our hearts and give thanks to God, in all and for all.
through their own passage in the waters ofbaptism and the incorpo- In being returned, the world has once again become God's gift to
ration into Christ by the Eucharist: we decreasing that he might us, and it is indeed very good.
increase; we no longer living, but Christ living in us; we providing
the space in which and through which God enters into and works
within this world. 4. The passage and Eucharist cif the martyrs
The crux or turning point of these reciprocal passages is the
intersection of time and eternity, the space where we n1.eet the With the sacramental, liturgical life of the Church under-
coming eschatological Lord and become his body, so giving the stood as passage, it is understandable how our own passage must be
liturgy, as the matrix and nourishment of Christian life, its eschato- understood in sacramental terms. Christian life begins with death:
logical dimension, enabling us to enter into the paradise of the dying to sin in baptism as a "likeness" of Christ's death (Rom 6:5),
Kingdom. The world that God created, affirming that it was very and it finds fruition in the eucharistic self-offering of the Christian
good, is the same world that put him, its Creator and source oflife, in their own bodily death in witness to Christ.
to death, so condemning itself to death. But by following him to his A striking example of this is how a martyr such as St.
Passion, we can now return to this world and affirm its goodness. Ignatius of Antioch understood his impending martyrdom, his
His action thus becomes the basis for all our life and action, as passion, as a eucharistic offering. Taken under guard from Asia
Minor to Rome to be put to death there, he nevertheless writes to
 The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 483
482 John Behr

the Christians at Rome, beseeching them not to interfere with his of our true nature, but we should know what God can do and
what benefits human beings, and that we should never mistake
impending nurtyrdom: the true understanding of things as they are, that is, of God and
of the human being. (Against the Heresies 5.2.3)
Suffer n1e to be eaten by the beasts, through whom I can attain
to God. I am God's wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild There is clearly a close relationship between the process that leads to
beasts that I may be found pure bread of Christ. (Rom 4)
the Eucharist and to the Resurrection: it is by receiving the
There is a clear eucharistic allusion in his words. He continues by Eucharist, as the wheat and the vine receive the fecundity of the
comparing this eucharistic self-offering to a birth, and in fact as his Spirit, that we are prepared, as we also make the fruits into the bread
and wine, for the resurrection effected by theW ord, at which point,
becoming truly human:
just as the bread and wine receive the Word and so become the
It is better for me to die in Christ Jesus than to be king over the Body and Blood of Christ, the Eucharist, so also our bodies will
ends of the earth. I seek him who died for our sake. I desire him receive immortality and incorruptibility from the Father. Our own
who rose for us. The pains ofbirth are upon me. Suffer me, my death, because of Christ's sacrifice, can take on a eucharistic
brethren; hinder me not from living, do not wish me to die. Do character, and in the economy of God, making human beings in his
not cive to the world one who desires to belong to God, nor image-the image of God that is the crucified and risen Lord-this
b
deceive .
hirn. with material things. Suffer me to rece1ve th e pure whole work can be described as the Eucharist of God.
liaht· when I shall have arrived there, I shall become a human
b~ing (anthropos). Suffer me to follow the example of the passion One can see a similar eucharistic dimension in the accounts
of my God. (Rom 6) of the martyrs. For instance, in the Martyrdom of Polycarp the entire
narrative of his suffering is clearly based on that of Christ (and it is
For St. Ignatius, undergoing death in witness to Christ, the "perfect explicitly said that it is described in this way): Polycarp waits to be
human being" or the "new human being" (Smyrn 4.2; Eph 20.1), betrayed, rather than putting himself forward (1); the captain of the
is a birth into a new life, which means to emerge as Christ himself, police is called Herod (6); Polycarp is led into the city sitting on an
a fully human being. ass (8); before his passion, Polycarp offers a great prayer (14)-which
St. Ireneaus quotes St. Ignatius' words about being the wheat is replete with eucharistic imagery; and, strikingly, when he is being
of Christ and develops the imagery: burnt, it is described as bread being baked (15). After he is finally
put to death, his disciples desire to have fellowship with his holy
Just as the wood of the vine, planted in t~e e_arth, bore fiuit in flesh (17), making clear that they do not worship him as they do
its own time, and the grain of wheat, falling mto the earth and Christ, the Son of God, but they love the martyrs "as disciples and
being decomposed, was raised up by the Spirit of God who
imitators of the Lord" (17); and finally his bones are taken, and put
sustains all, then, by wisdom, they come to the use of humans,
and receiving theW ord of God, become Eucharist, which is ~he in an appropriate place:
Body and Blood of Christ; in the same way, our bod1es,
nourished by it, having been placed in the earth and decompos- There the Lord will permit us to come together according to
inab in it , shall rise in their time, when theW ord of God bestows our power in gladness and joy, and celebrate the birthday ofhis
on them the resurrection to the glory of God the Father, who martyrdom, both in memory of those who have already con-
secures immortality for the mortal and bountifully bestows tested, and for the practice and training of those whose fate it
incOITUptibility on the corruptible (cf 1 Cor 15:53), because the shall be. (18)
power of God is made perfect in weaJa:ess (cf 2 ~or 12:9), that
we may never become puffed up, as 1f we had life from our- The other aspect that we observed in the Pauline material about the
selves, nor exalted against God, entertaining ungrateful thoughts, "coming" of the Lord, was the connection between our passage out
but learning by experience that it is from his excellence, and not
of this world through our own death, a death which is understood
from our own nature, that we have eternal continuance, that we
should neither undervalue the true glory of God nor be ignorant as birth and Christ's entry into this world. This is again seen in the
484 John Behr
( The Eschatological Dimensions of the Liturgy 485

t
martyrdom literature, in particular in the very dramatic account of
the persecution of Christians in Gaul in the year 177 AD (probably
written by Irenaeus) known as "Letter from the churches ofVienne
and Lyons to their brethren in Asia and Phrygia" (found in Ecclesias-
l Through their continued life the dead were made alive, and the
witnesses (martyrs) showed favor to those who had failed to
witness. And there was great joy for the Virgin Mother in
receiving back alive those who she had miscarried as dead. For

l
through them the majority of those who had denied were again
tical History5.1-3). During the first round in the arena, some of the brought to birth and again conceived and again brought to life
Christians "appeared to be unprepared and untrained, as yet weak and learned to confess; and now living and strengthened, they
and unable to endure such a great conflict." About ten of these, the went to the judgment seat. (EH 5.1.45-6)
letter says, proved to be "stillborn" or "miscarried," causing great
sorrow to the others and weakening the resolve of those yet to
t The Christians who turned away from making their confession are

l
undergo their torture (EH 5.1.11). However, these stillborn simply dead: their lack of preparation has meant that they are
Christians were encouraged through the zeal of the others, especially stillborn children of the Virgin Mother, the Church. But strength-
the slave girl Blandina, the heroine of the story (more lines are ened by the witness of others, they also are able to go to their death,
devoted to her than to any other figure, and she is named, while her and so the Virgin Mother receives them back alive-finally giving
mistress remains nameless). She personifies the theology of martyr- t birth to living children of God. The death of the martyr, the letter
dom based on Christ's words to Paul: "My strength is made perfect says later on, is their "new birth" (EH 5.1.63), and the death of the
in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). Blandina is specifically described as so martyr is celebrated as their true birthday.
"weak in body" that the others were fearful lest she not be able to
make the good confession; yet ***
[she] was filled with such power that even those who were These reflections on the mystery of Christ, its hermeneutical
taking turns to torture her in every way from dawn until dusk basis and its eschatological character, are intended to make the
were weaty and beaten. They themselves admitted that they experience of liturgy, and the reality of what is enacted and
were beaten ... astonished at her endurance, as her entire body perfected in its celebration, more accessible and dynamic. The
was mangled and broken. (EH 5.1.18) passage, or transitus, that lies at the basis of the sacraments and of the
Church herself, is the very heart of our faith, incarnating the
Not only is she, in her weakness, filled with divine power by her
presence of God in the body of Christ, the temple of the Spirit,
confession, but she becomes fully identified with the one whose
now, in us. We stand at the intersection of time and eternity, and
body was broken on Golgotha: when hung on a stake in the arena,
always will do, l.n so far as we also take up the cross and follow
she seemed to hang there in the form of a cross, and by her Christ, to bring his peace and love to this broken and fallen world,
fervent prayer she aroused intense enthusiasm in those who were enabling it to be the paradise that God intended. The early martyrs
undergoing their ordeal, for in their torment with their physical show us the way that our life and death are to be the entry of Christ
eyes they saw in the person of their sister him who was crucified into the world and the "coming" of the eternal kingdom into time
for them, that he might convince all who believe in him that all and space. Ours is agreat task indeed. 0
who suffer for Christ's sake will have eternal fellowship in the
living God. (EH 5.1.41)
JOHN BEHR, an Orthodox priest and theologian, is Dean and Professor of
Patristics at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary in New York.
Through her suffering, Blandina becomes identified with Christ (she
no longer lives, but Christ lives in her). Her passage out of this
world is his entry into it. And this is again a birth. After describing
her suffering, and that of another Christian called Attalus, the letter
continues: