Metropolitan Kallistos: Heaven on Earth

Oh [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the title of my second talk is heaven on earth the inner meaning of the Divine Liturgy in my first talk I invited you to renew your sense of wonder before the miracles of Christ's resurrection and we reflected how through our prayer especially Jesus Prayer we can experience a continuing sense of the presence of the risen Christ now in this my second talk I invite you to renew your sense of wonder before the miracle of the Eucharist a great Eucharistic priest in Russia at the start of the 20th century st. John of Kronstadt used to say the Eucharist is a continual miracle central to any experience of the risen Christ is Holy Communion it is through the offering of the Eucharist through communion in Christ's body and blood then we come to live our life in the RISM tribe one of the great liturgical commentators on the divine liturgy in Byzantium in the 14th century Saint Nicholas kvass Allah says of the Eucharist this is the final mystery and beyond this it is not possible to go know can anything be added to it so let us think of some ways in which we might deepen our understanding of this final mystery first thing is let us reflect on the meaning of the word liturgy itself there is a Chinese saying what would you do if you were emperor of the whole world and invested with supreme power and the answer is I would make people use words with precision so then what does this word literal here liturgy mean sometimes it's explained as meaning Oregon through the work of the people that I think is dubious etymology but it is good theology a liturgy in classical Greek and it means necessarily have a religious application means a shared corporate action something done by many persons in communion something that we can only do together so if the Eucharist is termed the Divine Liturgy then this signifies that at the service there are no passive spectators there are only active participant the legacy do not share the liturgy they do it together with the clergy so entering into the inner meaning and spirit of the Divine Liturgy let's reflect on this corporate shared character of the service and a shared action the Eucharist reflects the very essence of what it is to be a person in Greek the word for person is Caruso Kong and that means the countenance I am only truly a person if I face other persons if I look into their eyes and let them look into mine I am only a person if I greet other parcels personhood denotes communion it is social it is dialogic to be a person is to be in relationship there is no true person unless there are at least two persons in communication with one another the essence of personhood can be summed up in the phrase I need you in order to be my self now all of this is reflected in the divine literature and the first thing that we notice about the liturgy isn't on Chrysostomos and Basile is that hardly ever in the service do we use the word I the characteristic liturgically is always when we and that is particularly clear in the epiclesis or invocation of the Holy Spirit at the high point in the liturgy the high point of the consecration of the bread and wine the epiclesis runs we offer you this spiritual worship without shedding of blood and we are we pray and we beseech you send out your Holy Spirit on and on these gifts yes at fall those words are said only by the celebrant but very significantly involves the total congregation in what he is saying he does not say I offer but he says as we offer and you can notice the same point in the Lord's Prayer which follows immediately after the shortly after the epiclesis end before the communion the in the Lord's Prayer we say our five times we say our three times we say we once but never at all do we say the Lord's Prayer me mine or I so the story I often like to recall from Dostoevsky one of my favorite all-purpose anecdotes about an old woman and an onion dear I've told you this story some of you before no matter you can hear it again dr. Johnson said people need more often to be reminded rather than instructed and my own teacher in Oxford professor Henry Chadwick used to say people like to be told what they already know and they think their fyke cezzah which may or may not be true anyway to come back to Dostoyevsky this is a story in The Brothers Karamazov about an old woman and an onion once one time there was an old woman she died you mean much to her surprise she woke up to find herself in a lake of fire looking out she saw her guardian angel walking on the bank and he called out there has been some mistake I am a very respectful old lady I should not be here in this lake of fire so the angel turned her and said well do you ever remember an occasion when you did something to help someone else and she replied after sunport yes once I was gardening and a beggar came by and I gave her an onion excellent said the angel reaching into his robes I happen to have that very onion with me now and so he produced it and she took the other end of the onion and he began to pull her out of the lake of fire press it was a shallot rather than Ananya now he was not the only person in the lake of fire and when you ever saw what was happening a cold you drowned her and hung on in the hope of being called out as well this did not please the old woman at all he began to heat and shout let go let go it's a few who's being pulled out it's me it's not your onion it's mine and when she said it's mine the onions snapped in two and she fell back into the lake of fire and those I am told she still is now that was also else he ends his story but I would add what a pity that the old woman did not say once it's my onion but it's our onion would it not have been strong enough to pull them all out of the lake of fire but in saying it's mine not yours she was denying her essential personhood and she was being very our liturgical now it's true occasionally we say aye and the liturgy we say I believe in the Creed originally in the text of the Creed as passed by the ecumenical councils we began we believe but then the Creed was transferred to baptism and used as a profession of faith by the candidate being baptized or by his godparent and then naturally since it was a personal expression of faith the baptismal candidate said I believe from baptism that was introduced into the liturgy but it might be good to restore we believe the priest says I in the prayers during him of the chair of him but those are private priests prayers that were never said in the hearing of the people so naturally he says I and before communion we say I believe Lord and I confess but those prayers before communion actually belong for the service of preparation appointed to be said by each Christian in her or his home before coming to the liturgy and so because they are essentially private prayers all the prayers of the congregation they use the singular not I but we that is the spirit of the liturgy a shared action of cooperative n this is brought out by what the priest does three times in the course of the service when he arrives with all the service has begun he says the prayers of preparation in front of the icon screen and then before entering the sanctuary he turned and barns towards the west end of the church at that time usually nobody has yet arrived so there's no one else to bow back except the angels are dead later on join the hymn of the cherubim before he goes to the table of preparation to bring the gifts of bread and wine in procession and to place them on the holy table once more he bowels to the people and by this time I hope you're all that and they bow back and in a third time though this is not always visible if the doors are closed in the curtain drawn before receiving Communion once more the celebrant vows to the people and if they see him they bow back what does this mean is this just an exchange of greetings surely not it is much more important than that he's not just buying to be from saying please to see you and they are not just buying back to say yes we're happy to be here it's much more serious what he is saying to the people as he vows either in words or in his heart is forgive me and what they say when they bow back in their hearts if not in words is forgive us so that threefold bowing between the celebrant and the people is an exchange of mutual forgiveness we cannot act alone without the people he needs to extend forgiveness to them and he needs to receive from them there our forgiveness the phrase I use just now applies exactly I need you in order to be myself the priest needs the people in order to celebrate the holy mysteries and the mutual forgiveness expresses exactly that more clearly this is brought out in what it said before the Creed then I love one another that with one mind we may confess Father Son and Holy Spirit Trinity one in essence and undivided there can be no true confession of faith in God the Trinity no true celebration of the Divine Liturgy without mutual love so when the priest says let us love one another he is again saying by implication I need you and that is very evident also in the dialogue just before the beginning of the great prayer of offering the anaphora the celebrant says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all and the congregation reply and with your spirit an exchange of mutual greeting mutual blessing and then the celebrant invites the people let us lift up our hearts literally let our hearts be on high and people accept this invitation we lift them to the Lord they say and then the celebrant says let us give thanks to the Lord and that could also be translated let us celebrate the Eucharist to the Lord and then the people accept once more his invitation expressed their consent saying it is meet and right and he takes that out in the Eucharistic prayer which begins of the word that is meet and right to praise thee this is unfortunately obscured in many churches when the choir do not just sing it is meet and right but they sing it is read and right to worship Father Son and Holy Spirit 21 in essence and undivided that is a prop those words have been inserted necessarily the point is not it is reason right to worship the Trinity though it is a deviation right to do so but the meaning of the phrase is it is needed right to give thanks to the Lord the words refer exactly back to what the priest has just said when he says let us give thanks to the Lord so what the people are doing there is to accept the priests invitation to give their active consent it's in John Chrysostom commenting on this saying everything in the Eucharistic Thanksgiving is shared in common the police does not celebrate the Eucharist alone but the whole people give thanks with him for after he has replied to their greeting they give their consent by answering it is meet and right and are only there does he begin the Eucharistic Thanksgiving everything is shared in common the celebrant asks permission from the Manatee before he begins the anaphora he needs their consent he needs their active participation he needs them in order to perform his part in the liturgy there's a shared action and this element of sharing and solidarity is expressed above all by the people when they say amen amen means it is truly served the word spoken the action performed is so definite firmly established and it's an active commitment when you say our men it is truly so for me when you say our men you are saying I involved myself in the words spoken the action performed I commit myself to it I make it my own so when you are saying it is a men you are expressing your participation in the liturgy you are indicating how the liturgy is a shared action we are all doing something together then comes after the words of institution this is my body amen this is my blood amen and then at the epiclesis the invocation of the Holy Spirit there is a three-fold are men in the service books it says this is to be said by the Deacon that dates from the time when the prayers were said in a low voice were not heard by the people but in churches where the prayers are said aloud and Charlie it's a good thing that they should be the people could all say our men committing themselves to the epiclesis and in the early church when you receive Communion when the priest said the body of Christ you replied all men and when you then went to the Deacon to drink from the chalice and he said the blood of Christ you said our man so our men is a vital word in the dealing our membership together emphasizing that the Eucharist is a shared action now how in practice can we make the Eucharist more truly corporate the most important ways of course frequent communion that we all receive communion together we are expressing our solidarity in a common action you've only a few babies and children receive communion the Solidarity is far less evident so I'm fully in favor of frequent communion but not of casual communion this though I accept this is a lost cause over here in the United States I would say if you want to make the Divine Liturgy more a shared action taken the fuels out of a church made a great fun part however few benches along the wall when people are standing together as you would find in Russia or Serbia at the Divine Liturgy a normal sense of people involved in a common action when you're sitting in pews you've become the audience however as I say I accept that's probably a lost cause I think it's very good when the processions the little entrance with the gospel the great entrance with the holy gifts go right around the church which is the Greek practice not just out of one door and in by another along the sole there by going in procession through the whole church who gather all the people in I'm certainly in favor of saying the priests were allowed especially in the anaphora and it's a good thing to exchange the kiss of peace throughout the congregation I know that is done in some churches and also welcomed much more congregational singing now good in this church have a very fine choir and I don't want to restrict its activities and there are certainly parts of the service which is appropriate for the choir to sing but couldn't there be other parts where everybody sings together when I first went to Russia in the days of communism when were few church is open and they were crowded packed to the doors I recall being deeply moved when I heard the whole congregation singing the Creed together a great roar of voices so what are your suggestions but whatever we do let us experience the liturgy as a shared action so far I've been speaking of the Liberty more in the horizontal dimension the unity of the whole congregation celebrant and people together now I'd like to speak a little about the vertical dimension of the Divine Liturgy as an action involving not just the visible congregation but the total church one of the best-known of the by Danton commentaries on the Divine Liturgy the work attributed to some Germanos of Constantinople written in the eighth century states is opening chapter the church is an earth and they have in which the heavenly God dwells and moons and earthly heaven we are to think of the liturgy always as heaven on now this vertical dimension of the liturgy is brought out in things that are said right at the start of the liturgy and usually these words are not allowed by the congregation and that's to be regretted because in many ways they express the meaning of all of this to follow when the wall is ready the celebrant raises his hands the ancient gesture of prayer to heaven and he says glory be to God on high and on earth peace goodwill among men and then after that the deacon if there is a deacon and there would be one says to the celebrant it is time for the Lord to act let's think about those two phrases because they emphasize the unity of Earth and heaven here on earth and in the heavenly places there is a single liturgy and in both the earthly and the heavenly liturgy there is the same celebrant Christ himself glory be to God on high and on earth peace goodwill among men there you have two levels on high in heaven and here you know on earth and let's think about this the earthly liturgy takes place in a particular spot the heavenly liturgy does not take place in a particular spot the heavenly liturgy takes place everywhere because heaven is not a place in geographical space heaven is a level of reality the earth it is it takes place as an event in time the heavenly liturgy does not begin or end it goes on fire for eternity the authenticity takes place verbally through words and gestures the heavenly liturgy takes place ontologically Christ does not say the heavenly liturgy but he is the heavenly liturgy in the earthly liturgy virgin people offer bread and wine in the heavenly liturgy Christ offers himself now what happens at the Eucharistic consecration is through the affinities through the invocation of the Holy Spirit the two levels are united our offering is taken up into Christ's offering into Christ self offering and identified with it bread and wine become the Savior's body and blood now we use metaphorical language we say either up or down but the meaning remains the same and the consecration we go up to heaven heaven comes down to earth the same in truth is expressed in both meticles as the consecration the realms of Earth and heaven are long separated but each realm embraces the other one single liturgy in both and heaven the glory on high becomes peace on st. John Chrysostom repeatedly emphasizes this unity when he says the church is the place of the angels of the Archangels the kingdom of God heaven itself when the priest invokes the Holy Spirit says krzyston angels attend him and the whole sanctuary is strong with the heavenly powers the drawing a side of the transyl curtains after the epiclesis of the Holy Spirit he continues symbolizes the opening up of heaven itself and the approach of the heavenly host II the choir of angels coming out to meet you ascend to heaven so this is the deep meaning of that phrase right at the beginning of the service glory to God on high and on earth peace goodwill among men as Chrysostom says those in heaven and those on a form a single pestle assembly their shared Thanksgiving one single choir and the same point is brought out in the world to follow when the Deacon says it is time for us to start but he doesn't actually say that he says it is time for the Lord to act in some versions of the liturgy that phrase is rendered it is time for us to offer sacrifice to the Lord that is grammatically impossible though less probable it is in fact a quotation from psalm 118 alias 119 verse 126 and in almost all the modern translations of the Bible and also in the King James Bible that phrase is translated it is time for the Lord to act so I think that is the true meaning of that phrase in the literature what is doing for us to do something but it's time for the Lord to do something so the liturgy we learn from that phrase is not really words but an action and it's not merely our action but the action of the Lord the earthly liturgy is one with the heavenly liturgy because at both there is only a single celebrant Christ himself the one high priest of the new government present on earth invisibly but with immediate presence and power we the clergy and the people are no more than calm celebrants with him so every time you will come to the divine liturgy say in your heart in one way or another it is time for the Lord to act every time who comes the Divine Liturgy see with the eyes of your heart Christ Himself standing in front of the holy table and offering the holy gifts there are the moments when this is emphasized the unity of heaven and earth for example at the little entrance the entrance with the book of the Gospels but celebrant says a prayer in a low voice not heard by the people make with our entry an entry of your holy angels together with us praising thee and celebrating the divine liturgy when some seraphim of sarov was a deacon he once saw with the eyes of his heart Christ entering the church from the west and accompanied by all the angels by the great swarm of bees he said and when he turned as deacon after the little entrance to say to the people to the ages of Ages he's all Christ with the angels coming up through the church approaching the sanctuary and then Christ went up to his icon on the screen and he entered into the icon and for many hours since heard of him could not speak or move the vision had such an impact on him what sincere of him saw then happens at every celebration of the Divine Liturgy if we had some seraphim's faith as we should see it so at little entrance we are making an entry move the holy angels with christ himself and this is also brought out at the great entrance the celebrant says in the prayer before the great entrance you addressing Christ are the one who offers and the one who is offered Christ as the priest Christ is also the offering Christ is the one celebrant on earth and in heaven again the kiss apiece we say Christ is in army and in the hymn of the channel room itself usually it's translated we go mystically represent the charity but word represent is a bit feeble and doesn't really express the true meaning of the Greek the Greek says eat our care of him mr. cozy comments on tears which is we who mystically our icons of the charity now an icon is not just a representation the icon presupposes meeting encounter participation through the icon we meet the person depicted from the icon of the nativity or the Transfiguration we share in the mystery that is shown there the whole point is that the icon acts as a meeting place a means of unity and encounter so if we are icons of the cherubim it doesn't just mean we represent them but it means that we are sharing in the same action what the care of them are doing in heaven we are doing on earth there is one single Eucharist one undivided action above and below in heaven and on earth and this participation of the heavenly powers in our earthly worship is what I very clearly in what his time with the great entrance in the presanctified liturgy now the powers of heaven worship with us invisibly so exactly there is a single petrol assembly we must remind ourselves of all this when we attend the Divine Liturgy we are never alone we are always taken up into an action far greater than ourselves it is never just a question of this earthly congregation small or large but always at every Divine Liturgy the things are present the angels are present the mother of God is present Christ itself is present it is the action of the total charge heaven on earth and that indeed is true of all our acts of worship while they did the Divine Liturgy or whether it is other services the first Orthodox service that I have attended was the vigil service in the Russian Church in London and I felt very powerfully then the aggresses of the heavenly powers and the total charge I felt at that service I didn't understand it because it's all in slavonic I felt however with absolute conviction the unity of heaven on earth that we were being taken out as I said into an action greater than ourselves and it was that experience of worship as heaven on earth that brought me to join the Orthodox Church and let me give another example one I was celebrating in Oxford a fullness of the anointing of the sick BF carry on in our church there for an elderly lady who was however well enough to come to church and so she came to be anointed in church instead of my going to her home she hadn't much longer to live then we have one other person there now the woman of the parish who was reading and seeing and we were the three of us holding candles and as we celebrated the service it was evening it grew dark outside the end of the service I saw some Greek visitors standing at the back so I went to talk to them and they said to me where are all the others and I said to them what do you mean we came over here they said and we didn't like to come inside because we could see reflected through the windows a great crowd of people holding candles and we could hear a large choir singing oh I said it's only being the three of us but then I thought later in all our acts of worship the liturgy the vigil any sacramental action it is never just the three of us always the total Church is present but we don't always have eyes of faith to see that thank you [Music] [Music] Oh 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Length: 49min 50sec (2990 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 03 2017