The Preparation of the Gifts

The proskomedia (prothesis) is the rite by which the priest prepares the bread and wine before the public Liturgy begins. This file describes the rite in order: the five prosphora, the cutting of the Lamb from the first loaf to the words of Isaiah 53, the piercing of the Lamb and the pouring of wine and water, and the removal of the commemorative particles for the Theotokos, the nine ranks of saints, the living, and the departed, all arranged on the diskos around the Lamb.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Where and When

The proskomedia (Greek proskomidē, “the bringing/offering”; also prothesis, “the setting-forth”) is performed quietly by the priest, and the deacon if one serves, at the table of oblation (prothesis; Slavonic zhertvennik), a small altar standing to the north (left) of the holy table within the sanctuary, while the reader chants the Third and Sixth Hours in the church. It is thus complete before the Liturgy proper begins with “Blessed is the Kingdom.” Historically this was not always an elaborate rite: the preparation of the gifts grew from a simple selection and setting-out of bread and wine into the developed ceremonial of the mature Byzantine synthesis, taking substantially its present form in the later medieval period (Taft, The Byzantine Rite, Liturgical Press, 1992, ch. 5; Wybrew, The Orthodox Liturgy, SVS Press, 1990, ch. 7). The commentary of St. Germanus of Constantinople already interprets the prothesis theologically in the eighth century, though the fuller rite described here reflects later development (Germanus, On the Divine Liturgy, trans. Paul Meyendorff, SVS Press, 1984, §§21–22, 37–38).

The Prosphora and the Lamb

The bread of the Liturgy is prosphora (offering-loaves): leavened wheaten bread — the East retains leavened bread as against the Latin unleavened host — stamped on top with a seal bearing the letters IC XC NI KA (“Jesus Christ conquers”) in a cross-divided square. Slavic practice commonly uses five loaves, recalling the five loaves of the feeding of the multitude (Matthew 14:17–21), though the number of loaves used for commemoration varies by tradition (Hapgood, Service Book; hub essay, Orthodoxy: The Divine Liturgy).

From the first prosphora the priest cuts the central square stamped portion — the Lamb (Greek amnos; Slavonic Agnets) — which alone will be consecrated to become the Body of Christ. As he cuts, he says the words of the Suffering Servant: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a blameless lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away” (Isaiah 53:7–8, LXX; cf. Acts 8:32–33). He cuts crosswise into the underside of the Lamb saying “Sacrificed is the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world” (cf. John 1:29), and pierces its right side with the liturgical lance (lonche) saying, “One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34). At these words wine and a little water are poured together into the chalice — the water mingled with the wine recalling the blood and water from the Lord’s side (John 19:34), an ancient and near-universal custom (Cyprian, Epistle 63, on the mixed cup; Cabasilas, A Commentary on the Divine Liturgy, trans. Hussey and McNulty, SPCK, 1960, ch. 8). The Lamb is set upon the diskos (paten), stamp downward, ready to be lifted and broken at the fraction (Holy Communion: the preparation and the Lord’s Prayer).

The Commemorative Particles

Around the Lamb the priest arranges particles cut from the other prosphora, so that the diskos becomes an image of the whole Church gathered about her Lord (see the symbolism of the prothesis). The arrangement, as described in Slavic service-books, is:

  • The Theotokos. From the second prosphora a triangular particle is removed in honor of the Most Holy Mother of God and placed at the right of the Lamb (to the Lamb’s own right), with the words of Psalm 44/45:9, “The queen stood at thy right hand, arrayed in a vesture of inwoven gold” (Divine Liturgy, order of the proskomedia; Hapgood, Service Book).
  • The Nine Ranks. From the third prosphora nine particles are removed and placed at the Lamb’s left in three columns of three, for: (1) St. John the Baptist and Forerunner; (2) the prophets; (3) the apostles; (4) the hierarchs (naming Basil, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom); (5) the martyrs; (6) the venerable monastics; (7) the unmercenary healers (Cosmas and Damian and the rest); (8) the ancestors of God Joachim and Anna, and the saint of the day; and (9) the author of the Liturgy being served — St. John Chrysostom or St. Basil the Great (order of the proskomedia; Wybrew, The Orthodox Liturgy, 1990, ch. 7).
  • The Living. From the fourth prosphora particles are removed for the living: the ruling bishop and the episcopate, the priesthood and diaconate, the civil authorities, and all Orthodox Christians whom the priest commemorates by name, including from the commemoration lists (zapiski) submitted by the faithful.
  • The Departed. From the fifth prosphora particles are removed for the departed, beginning with the founders of the church and the reposed hierarchs and continuing with all the reposed named by the faithful.

All these particles are placed on the diskos below and around the Lamb. The priest then covers the diskos with the asterisk (a small metal star that keeps the veils from touching the particles), sets a small veil over the diskos and another over the chalice, and covers both with the large veil, the aer, censing the gifts and reading the prayer of the prothesis, which asks God to “remember, as good and the Lover of mankind, those who brought these gifts, and those for whom they were brought” (Divine Liturgy, prayer of the prothesis; Hapgood, Service Book; Cabasilas, Commentary, ch. 10).

The Particles at the Communion

The theology of the particles is completed only later in the Liturgy. After the communion of the faithful, all the commemorative particles — those of the saints, the living, and the departed — are swept from the diskos into the chalice, into the Blood of Christ, while the priest prays: “Wash away, O Lord, by thy holy Blood, the sins of all those here commemorated, through the prayers of thy saints” (the reception and thanksgiving; Divine Liturgy, prayer at the consuming of the gifts). Thus the commemoration made at the preparation is brought to its end in the Blood of the Savior — the whole Church, named at the prothesis, cleansed in the one sacrifice. It should be noted that the particles for the saints and the faithful are not themselves consecrated as the Body of Christ (only the Lamb is); they are offerings of commemoration, brought into contact with the Blood at the end (Cabasilas, Commentary, ch. 10; Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 1992). The full meaning of this gathering is drawn out in the companion file on the symbolism of the prothesis.

See Also

References

  • Germanus of Constantinople. On the Divine Liturgy. Trans. Paul Meyendorff. Popular Patristics Series. Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 1984. (The mystagogy of the prothesis.)
  • Cabasilas, Nicholas. A Commentary on the Divine Liturgy. Trans. J. M. Hussey and P. A. McNulty. London: SPCK, 1960. (The preparation of the gifts; the mixed chalice; the particles.)
  • Taft, Robert F. The Byzantine Rite: A Short History. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992. (The development of the proskomedia.)
  • Wybrew, Hugh. The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite. Crestwood, NY: SVS Press, 1990. (The order of the particles and the nine ranks.)
  • Hapgood, Isabel Florence. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church. Various editions. (The text and rubrics of the proskomedia.)
  • Cyprian of Carthage. Epistle 63 (to Caecilius, on the mixed chalice). Trans. ANF, vol. 5.
  • Scripture: Isaiah 53:7–8 (LXX); John 1:29; 19:34; Acts 8:32–33; Matthew 14:17–21; Psalm 44/45:9 (LXX).