The Liturgy is translated asa"common cause". In what consist it? It consists in the process of creation of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Liturgy is a mystical construction site where the Orthodox people erect a universal Body of Christ and participate in great Project of God, in spiritual construction of Eternity. The body of Christ is the whole Church, earthly and heavenly; it is a unique system whose purpose of existence is a construction of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Kingdom of the future century.

It is called “future century” because of its project goal, its integral realization. In fact, the Kingdom of Heaven has already come 2000 years ago, and now it exists, in present time, in parallel with our earthly life. The earthly church is a prothesis where occurs a purification of spiritual bricks. The Heavenly church is already a construction site. Here the grace, prepared on earth through the mysteries of the earthly church, is embedded into the walls of the Heavenly Jerusalem. That'showitis.

The liturgy, in fact, is a most interesting and unusual affair, imbued with true mysticism, and if we do not come to church just to be present and to shake hands, but to participate, by our mind and heart, in this greatdivine office, then such factors as physical fatigue, the sense of time simply disappear, that is to say, there is a real change in the space-time characteristics. The liturgy can be compared to a lift or a flying ship. In particular moment, during the Cherubic Hymn, a mysterious connection of Heaven with earth occurs. People, with their hearts, ascend to Heaven, straight to God's Throne, where seraphim and cherubim are. Andif your heartis set up correctly, then all this invisible mysticism, which occurs in the Liturgy, begins to soundmiraculously in our heart. However, to perceive this inaudible angelic liturgical life, it is still necessary to tune to it the day before, at least.

In general, all life should be liturgical. Before the Divine Office, our soul must be in peace and anticipation of the upcoming meeting with the mystery. Now we’ll be with God who is Love. You must understand that while entering the church, we enter the blessed kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is a mystical Kingdom of Love and relationship with God is not the same as with people. The Lord Almighty is our loving Heavenly Father, He has a special attitude towards humans, and He treats them with love, with a special love that can be compared to the love for children, for offspring.

God is Light and Love, and you must come to church with an internal disposition and appropriate thoughts in mind, our thoughts should be light. Do not project onto God our poor human quality, we receive what we believe. Therefore, always keep in mind the main idea that we must achieve a spiritual ascension and it is necessary to come light to church, that is to say, we must be like an angel inside. First of all, we must get rid of all earthly difficulties, it is necessary to prepare the soul for a flight: confess all sins, all that weighs on conscience, nothing should disturb inside, the horizon should be net, all problems between people and God must be resolved before, and then the prayer will be light from the beginning.

The soul is alive, there are spiritual meadows with grasses rising to God within the soul, and these herbs do not appear automatically, they need time to get up. It is living process, like a plant growth. In everyday life, our inner spiritual flora is abandoned, because we do not take care of, we do not look after its growth. When we begin to take care of our inner world, the Eucharistic herbs are encouraged and begin to lift, stretch up and our heart becomes lighter. And it is lighter for us to assist to divine office, because it was already done preliminary work. The spiritual flora must always be standing like soldiers in service and tender toward Christ-Sun, then, while entering the church, we’ll already have the wings, we’ll be in a state of anticipation of the flight. It's like a date with your loved one, when we love, we run with all legs to date; the love for God is a little different, everything rises at higher level, in principle, incomparable with human love. It is in this state that we must come to church: with a pure heart, on the one hand, and as for a date,on the other.

Let us now talk briefly about the structure of the Divine Office. The essence is simple: it is based on an idea of the construction site, idea of the dispensation of grace. The Liturgy is composed of several parts that reflect the process. The Proscomedia means a "gift". It happens here a preparation of the Holy Gifts on the prothesis. In the old church, the prothesis (the altar of offerings or offering table) was out of the altar, in a special annex building, because the altar is a heavenly world and the prosthesis is an earthly world. The altar is a heavenly church and the prothesis is an earthly church.

The prothesis is a factory of building materials; the altar is a building under construction, which makes all the difference. On the prothesis are prepared the spiritual bricks, the Holy Gifts, which are transferred then on the throne. When we see the solemn procession at Great Entry, this means that Holy Gifts are transported from earth to heaven, it’s all. Therefore, the Cherubic Hymn is singing right now. And when, already in alter, the Holy Spirit descends on Gifts, they are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, and thus become the holy bricks of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Heavenly Kingdom is Jesus Christ, His Body and Blood; this is a divine-human living organism, not a city. Then, while we commune, accept in ourselves the divine and human nature of Christ, the dispensation of grace occurs, that is to say, the construction of Heavenly Jerusalem directly in our hearts.

Thus, through the symbolism of the Liturgy, we are shown the essence of the Christian life; to live in Christ, we must constantly integrate our life in the particular ways of Christ, which are Truth and are reflected in the scenario of the Liturgy. So, firstly comes the proscomedia. This means that we must offer our whole life to God: "Give ourselves and our lives to Christ our Lord." Our earthly existence is a prosthesis, on which are crucified our sins. We still suffer like Christ and go through fiery trials to come out purified, to become the burnt bricks of grace; this is a meaning of our life on earth. The atonement is a mutual and continuous process.

Jesus Christ does not save or redeem anyone automatically, so we must proceed to the Communion once our inner work is already carried out, with a modifiedway of thinking, which isan essence of repentance, in fact. And the suffering is a redeeming part of our life, it must have already been experienced, reinterpreted, and we need to come light to God, putting aside all earthly concerns.

The liturgy of the catechumens follows after proscomedia. Here, the Liturgy continues to evolve in the space of earthly existence, this is a time of the earthly mission of Saviour, the time of our whole life, which is going on, so to speak, in a world separated from God, in a state of the Old Testament. Nevertheless, Christ has already come, He has already preached, and the Kingdom of Heaven hasapproachedand the Royal Gate is already open. And the whole Church, at this time, with all humanity, lives in expectation of Saviour, which is an Accession of the King of Glory, and before the beginning of the main part of the Liturgy, the catechumens, those who have not yet matured to the perception of the Body of Christ and whose soul has not yet enveloped by spiritual flora, by leaves, capable to perceive the Eucharistic light, these people, still not prepared to the highest flights, are requested to withdraw. And in ancient times, even the doors of the church were closed, in direct sense, like before launching of a spaceship.

And further, since the Cherubic Hymn, begins the liturgy of the faithful.Here, the whole church rises to Heaven and remains there until the end of the divine office, that is to say, in the mystical and metaphysical plane, the Communion isn’t carried out on earth, but directly in the Kingdom of Heaven near the real Throne of God Who is invisibly and personally present in the church. This is the same stoic Jesus Christ, the sweetest Lamb and Almighty Creator of all being, The Only True God. Here, in short, the essence of the Liturgy and the Eucharist. The Communion is not just the Body and Blood of Christ; Christ is not only a God-man in His physical body.

The Body of the Saviour is a living nature of the Kingdom of Heaven, the whole Heavenly Jerusalem, the Kingdom of Eternity, which is why Communion is a living brick of God's love that we put into our heart and thus we build our home on the common land of the Heavenly Kingdom of the Holy Trinity, and we do it with Christ, with the Holy Mother of God, the saints, the angels, with our priests, our brothers and sisters. This is why the Liturgy is a common and important cause of our lives.

 

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# On the Liturgy: simple and clear explanationsMilan 2017-10-15 21:46
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