Divine Liturgy…
Meaning? A public sacred act!
What we do to keep alive within us the existence-presence of Christ, as He indicated by saying: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Of course, there are also natural and legal functions that are in no way… sacred. Here we are discussing the Divine and Sacred (as sometimes explanatorily added) Liturgy.
Who… performs-offers the Divine Liturgy?
The Church… That is, the entire Body of Christ. Meaning? Clergy, Laity, Catechumens (when they existed). ALL TOGETHER. That is why all prayers are in the plural form. The priest offers (having been ordained for this) the Eucharist on behalf of EVERYONE… not ipso jure. That is why the celebration of the Eucharist without the people is inconceivable (extraordinary circumstances do not overturn the theology and order of the Ecclesiastical Body). Private Liturgy!?
The usual text of our Liturgy, the one titled that of Saint John Chrysostom (as if he sat alone—self-contradictory by the verbal plurals!—and wrote a Liturgy and then said to us “take it...”), co-celebrates the entire offering of the Eucharist, with intertwined (meaningfully and ritually) prayers between clergy and laity, who in the logical and procedural flow of the Liturgy jointly offer the gifts for sanctification, jointly offering the blessings.
Dark times, illiteracy, and theological ignorance have unfortunately left us distortions, tragic superstitions, murderous ignorance, and “magical participation” in worship, things that become burdens obstructing the relationship with the living space of Christians, which is the Divine Liturgy. Therefore, we publish the text of the Holy Eucharist consecutively in (almost) continuous flow, so that it can be understood even by those who deliberately insist on traditional mistakes, or the parochialism of the Ecclesiastical Body!! The Liturgy of Christians is ONE text, ritually performed by TWO SIDES. The priests and the people, inseparably united.
