QUOTE: Then the Priest prays, bowing:
O compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and very gracious and true God, look from Your prepared dwelling-place, and hear us Your suppliants, and deliver us from every temptation of the devil and of man; withhold not Your aid from us, nor bring on us chastisements too heavy for our strength: for we are unable to overcome what is opposed to us; but You are able, Lord, to save us from everything that is against us. Save us, O God, from the difficulties of this world, according to Your goodness, in order that, having come to Your holy altar with a pure conscience, we may send up to You without condemnation the blessed Trisagion hymn, together with the heavenly powers, and that, having performed the service, well pleasing to You and divine, we may be counted worthy of eternal life.
Because You holy, Lord our God, and dwell and abide in holy places, we send up the praise and the Trisagion hymn to You, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to all eternity.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal one, have mercy on us.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal one, have mercy on us.
Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal one, have mercy on us.
(The Liturgy of St James- ca 50 AD)
COMMENTARY:
From its earliest days the church’s liturgy had multiple purposes, First, to worship and adore our Triune God, and second, it was to be a form of pedagogy. The liturgy teaches us dogma or doctrine.
In this short prayer we learn about the character of God: compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and very gracious.
We learn that God is everywhere present, aware of all things, and able to act upon all things: from Your prepared dwelling-place, and hear us Your suppliants, and deliver us.
We learn about our frailty and need of rescue from the things that wrongfully attract us: deliver us from every temptation of the devil and of man.
We learn that we need to be saved: withhold not Your aid from us… for we are unable to overcome what is opposed to us; but You are able, Lord, to save us from everything that is against us. Save us, O God, from the difficulties of this world.
We learn that in our worship we are enjoined to the whole church on earth and in heaven: having come to Your holy altar with a pure conscience, we may send up to You without condemnation the blessed Trisagion hymn, together with the heavenly powers.
We learn that there is an eternal life with and in the midst of the triune God: having performed the service, well pleasing to You and divine, we may be counted worthy of eternal life.
To formulate a similar prayer would probably take a room full of theologians, and to teach these theological truths would take several catechism classes. However, in this tiny bit of Holy Tradition we get it all in one paragraph, WOW!
Fr. Carlos,
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog from your comment on Orrologion. My wife and I found the Orthodox Church five years ago after much study and prayer. I hope you continue your journey and discovery of the holy tradition.
The Liturgy of St. James is very rarely used among the Orthodox-- the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem uses it every year on the feast day of St. James (as is appropriate since he was this Church's first bishop), and some monasteries elsewhere use it at this one point of the year as well.
Zac,
ReplyDeleteI love Eastern Orthodoxy, especially its clarity regarding Holy Tradition, the church Fathers, and the ecumenical councils. This clarity has enriched my theological understanding greatly. I can honestly understand why western deviations from Holy Orthodoxy has caused so many western believers to flood into Eastern Orthodoxy of late. And I openly admit, that there are many things about Eastern Orthodoxy that are very attractive.
However, at the same time, I am hopelesly western. And I beleive that there are many like me. For this reason, I long for western Orthodoxy. I am truly convinced that the English(Anglican)church of the 1st millenia possessed this western Orhtodoxy of which I speak. If the true Anglicanism of the 1549 BCP and the Anglican missal is ever fully recovered and allowed to flourish (as I hope it will in ACNA), it will be a great blessing to the world. My dream is to see this to happen, and for Anglicanism to join the rest of the Orthodox world as one church.
Let us Pray to that end.