The Liturgy of the Word

The first public movement of the Divine Liturgy — historically the “Liturgy of the Catechumens”: the enarxis with its litanies and antiphons, the Little Entrance with the Gospel, the Trisagion, and then the Epistle, the Gospel, and the homily, closing with the dismissal of the catechumens that once divided the two halves of the rite.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Overview

After the quiet preparation of the gifts, the Liturgy opens to the assembly with the blessing of the Kingdom and the Great Litany, moves through the three antiphons with their small litanies, and rises to the Little Entrance, the solemn bringing-in of the Gospel book that once began the Liturgy itself. The Trisagion is sung, and the Church sits to the word of God: the Prokeimenon and the Epistle, the Alleluia and the Gospel, and the homily that breaks the bread of Scripture. This whole first part was in antiquity open to the catechumens, the unbaptized under instruction, who were then dismissed before the mysteries — a dismissal the Liturgy still proclaims. This section walks the movement from the opening blessing to the dismissal of the catechumens.

Files

File Description
the-enarxis-and-the-little-entrance.md “Blessed is the Kingdom”; the Great Litany; the antiphons and small litanies; the Little Entrance with the Gospel; the troparia and the Trisagion
the-readings-and-the-homily.md The Prokeimenon and Epistle, the Alleluia and Gospel, the homily; the litanies and the historic dismissal of the catechumens

See Also