The Fellowship with the Heavenly Community…… The offering of the Eucharist is divine, and when we partake it, it opens before us heavenly realms which overcome us, and thus we repeat the liturgical prayer “When we stand in Thine Holy place, it is like being in Paradise”.It is here on the altar, O Lord where Thou art, that heaven and man find one another, Behold! The place is filled with a host of angels and saints. The fellowship with the heavenly hosts…….. The Eucharist is a fellowship Between God and the believers, as well as a fellowship between the seen and unseen Church, and a fellowship between those who have struggle and the ones who have completed their struggle in faith. If we believe that the Lord Christ is Himself present on the altar, then we consequently believe that angels and archangels stand before him, as we repeat in the prayers of liturgy, in a heavenly fellowship. In St Basil’s Liturgy, the priest says addressing the Lord on the altar, “Thou are the One who stand before Thee the many eyed cherubim’s, and six winged seraphim’s praising God without ceasing saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of hosts, earth and heaven are full of thy glory……..” St John Chrysostom said, “……………..all the hosts of heaven attend and participate in the hymn of praise, and the place nearest to the altar is crowed with angels who came to give praise to the offering………the angles make supplication with the priest……..and the fire of the Holy Spirit descends and behold the blood gushes from the side of the unblemished Lamb to be collected in the cup for our sanctification…….therefore how do you, Oh Christian dare to attend the offering without due reverence and awe……for the Church is none other than heaven itself. Fellowship in remembering the saints…….. The prayers of the liturgy reveal the fellowship which exists between the believers alive and the believers departed after completing their course in faith. The Church prays for the forgiveness of their sins, invoking upon them the mercy of the Lord if at any moment of their lives they fell victims of human weakness that the Lord may forgive them what they had forgetfully committed in His sight (1 John 5:16,17) In the liturgy of St Gregory, the priest says, “Render me worthy to stand before Thine Holy Altar without exposing myself to Thy damnation. That I may raise the unbloody offering with a clean heart, for the forgiveness of my own sins and the short comings and failings of Thine people, that our forefathers and brethren who have died in the Orthodox Faith may rest content”. In the prayer of commemoration, in the liturgy of St Basil, the priest says, “For this, O Lord, is the Thy Son’s commandment, that we together remember Thy saints. Remember, O Lord, all the saints who have pleased Thee since the creation. Our Holy Fathers and forefathers, the prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs and confessors and the souls of all saints who died in the faith, may their souls find rest in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob……..all the ones whose names we mentioned or failed to mention, who are in the mind of each one of us, and those whom we have forgotten, grant that they should find rest in paradise, in eternal life in the heavenly Jerusalem”. The fellowship in the Eucharist is further clarified by the fact that after the commemoration prayer, the priests raises his voice in the most humble words of prayer of intercession for the deceased saints, mentioning that he and the congregation are not worthy for such a fellowship. He says, “We, our Lord, are not worthy to intercede for them, but they who are present before Thy Holy Son, should intercede for our weakness, and humility. Forgive our sins; turn Thy eyes from our transgression for the sake of Thine great name after which we are called”. Thus heaven and earth are brought together in a unbreakable harmony and fellowship. The angels in heaven and our fathers and mothers, who departed in the faith, pray for us that our faith may be perfected, and the struggling Church makes intercession for them. The Church, in the holy union and fellowship, gives a prominent place to the Virgin Mary, whose name is mentioned prayers recited silently or loudly, in addition to the singing to certain hymns in her praise.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 16:57:26 +0000
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