The Liturgy in Orthodox Life

The opening section: what the Divine Liturgy is, and which liturgies the Orthodox Church serves. It sets the frame within which every later movement of the rite is read — the Eucharist as the Church’s self-realization and its entrance into the Kingdom, and the family of Orthodox liturgies (Chrysostom, Basil, the Presanctified, St. James).

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Overview

Before walking the Liturgy in its order, this section establishes two things. First, what the Divine Liturgy is: not one service among many but the act in which the Church becomes herself — the Eucharistic synaxis in which the gathered people are made the Body of Christ and lifted into the Kingdom of God, the meaning that Fr. Alexander Schmemann placed at the center of twentieth-century liturgical theology. Second, which liturgies the Orthodox Church actually serves: the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom on most days, the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great ten times a year, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts on the weekdays of Great Lent, and the rare Liturgy of St. James — with a first, both-sides look at what “of Chrysostom” and “of Basil” mean historically.

Files

File Description
what-the-divine-liturgy-is.md The Eucharistic synaxis as heaven on earth; leitourgia, “the work of the people”; the Liturgy as the Church’s self-realization (Schmemann)
the-liturgies-of-the-orthodox-church.md Chrysostom, Basil, the Presanctified, and St. James — who serves what and when; a first both-sides note on the traditional attributions (§3.5)

See Also