Knowledge of the Rite
Knowledge of the Rite
The priest should be well acquainted with the rites of the Church.
If he does not know, there is no harm in asking, or in referring to trustworthy books and studying them.
It is not fitting, because of lack of knowledge, for him to fall into an error that a layperson may point out, or for him to lose people’s trust for this reason, or for the error to affect the traditions and canons of the Church.
It is not permissible for the priest to rely merely on his own personal understanding and thus err—such as introducing something new and unfamiliar, or inventing a rite from himself, or adding words of his own to the Church’s liturgical prayers, or translating the Church’s prayers according to his personal concept, or praying a liturgy that the Church does not use.
Worse than this is to teach the people according to his own personal understanding.
The rite was established by holy fathers of old, and we are all trustees over it. It is not the right of the priest to change it or add to it.
The right of addition belongs to the Holy Synod alone.
It is entrusted before God and the Church with the rites of the Church, its traditions, and its doctrines. If every priest were allowed to change the rites according to his own understanding, the Church would lose the unity of its teaching, and confusion and divisions would occur as a result.
The priest who understands the rite is able to pray with deeper spirituality,
because behind every movement he makes and every action he performs there is a spiritual meaning that he understands from the spirit of the rite and its purpose.
The Priest and the Spirituality of the Rites
The spirituality of the rite leaves an effect on the soul. Therefore, even if the priest does not deliver a sermon during the liturgy, his mere spirituality in performing the rite leaves its impact on the souls of those present in the church.
His prayer from the depths of his heart affects hearts more than a sermon.
I admire what was said about Elijah the prophet, that “he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain” (James 5:17). If his prayer had such a powerful effect in heaven, how much more would its effect be on earth. He prayed a prayer; he did not speak words. A prayer with all that the word “prayer” carries of meaning—a prayer that signifies communion with God, with depth, understanding, and intention.
Even the mere movements of the priest in the church have their effect.
The way he walks, kneels, prostrates, lifts his hands upward, the tone of his voice in prayer—the priest who enters the church in reverence, in fear of God, and kneels before the sanctuary in awe, saying: “But as for me, in the multitude of Your mercy I will enter Your house; I will worship toward Your holy temple in Your fear” (Psalm 5:7). Then he opens the curtain praying, kneels before the altar in reverence, stands and bows, kissing the altar, and then begins the prayer.
So too is the priest’s movement as he raises the incense while passing among the people,
saying from all his heart: “The blessing of the morning incense… the blessing of the Pauline incense be with you all.” The people feel the blessing of the incense and its effectiveness and hasten toward it, because the priest raises the incense just as he raises prayer. In the Old Testament there was an altar called “the altar of incense,” overlaid with gold (Exodus 37:16, 25), and the incense upon it was considered a sacrifice offered to God on behalf of the people.
Thus the priest raises the incense, confident in its power and effectiveness,
just as Aaron raised the incense and the plague was stopped, and God’s wrath against the people ceased (Numbers 16:44–50).
This incense, about which it was said in the Book of Revelation that an angel “stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and he was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand” (Revelation 8:3–4). Yes, this incense which God commanded to be “a fragrant incense” (Exodus 30:35; 37:29), whose sweet aroma ascends before God.
How great is the priest’s reverence as he raises the incense? And how strong is his faith in its effectiveness as he offers it?
By this measure is his spiritual influence while raising the incense, and likewise his spiritual influence during the act of incensing—whether before the icons, asking the intercession of the saints before whom he incenses, with what depth does he do this, and with what spirit?
The problem is that some priestly fathers think that this incensing is merely a duty they perform, just a rite or ecclesiastical order, without entering into the depth of its spirituality—whether in the litanies, before the icons, or before the Gospel.
Likewise is the manner of the priest’s prayer: is it fast or slow, merged or chanted, with understanding and depth, or without understanding or depth?
Often the priest is in a hurry, wanting to finish the liturgy quickly, praying in order to end at the time he desires, without meaning what he says during the prayer. His speed urges the deacons and chanters to the same haste.
There are words he says that perhaps he does not intend or carry out.
For example, in the Litany of the Gospel he says: “Remember, O Lord, those who commanded and charged us to remember them in our prayers and supplications which we lift up to You…” At that moment, does he remember in his mind those who asked him to remember them?
He also says in the same litany: “Heal the sick. Those who have fallen asleep, O Lord, grant rest to their souls.” During this prayer, does he recall before God some names of the sick or the departed?
The priest must realize his responsibility for the people during the liturgy.
He does not pray only for himself, as any person does in his private prayer, but he prays even more for his people and for the Church. As Saint Paul the Apostle says, the fathers are “stewards of the mysteries of God,” and it is required of a steward that he be faithful (1 Corinthians 4:1).
So what is the priest’s work as a steward during his liturgical prayers?
He is God’s steward before the people, and the people’s steward before God.
The people have entrusted him to raise their prayers and requests and present them before God—all people, of every kind, and in every state of need. He raises prayers for them in general and in particular. Many say to the priestly father: “Remember me, our father, in the liturgy. Remember my specific matter and my specific problem.” Here, as a steward for the people, he is supposed to remember all in their needs. Thus we ask:
How faithful is the priest in presenting the needs of the people to God?
How many people does the priest forget who rely greatly on his prayers, thinking that he is fully concerned with their problems just as they are? Their trust may even reach the point that they think he struggles with God on their behalf. Does he disappoint them?
The prayer of the liturgy is the holiest prayer of the Church. It is good for the priestly father to gather the people’s requests and present them before God in his prayers during the liturgy with all depth and care, and to follow them up with God also in many of his private prayers.
Another point in the prayers of the rite is the humility of the priest.
This perhaps appears from the beginning in the “Prayer of Preparation,” in which he says: “You, O Lord, know that I am unworthy, unprepared, and undeserving of this holy service that is Yours, and I have no face to stand and open my mouth… but in the abundance of Your compassion forgive me, I the sinner, and grant me to find grace and mercy in this hour…”
Is this truly the priest’s feeling from the beginning of the liturgy? And does this feeling accompany him throughout the prayer of the liturgy?
After offering the Lamb, he also says: “Grant, O Lord, that this sacrifice may be acceptable for my sins and for the ignorances of Your people.” Does he truly feel that he offers it also for his own sins? Does he remember this while washing his hands before the liturgy and saying: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow,” along with the rest of the prayers?
Does he also remember this while making the prostration before beginning the Liturgy of the Faithful and saying: “I have sinned; absolve me and forgive me”?
Does he remember his sins as well while repeatedly praying that his service may be “without falling into condemnation”?
And does he confess from all his heart when he says near the end of the liturgy: “Remember, O Lord, my weakness, I the sinner, and forgive me my many sins, and because of my sins and the impurities of my heart, do not withhold Your Holy Spirit’s grace from Your people”?
Without doubt, the steps of the serving priest in humility and contrition of heart leave a deep impact on the souls of the people and become an example and a model for them.
Likewise is his spiritual depth while making the sign of the cross and blessing the people—whether in signing the whole congregation with the sign of the cross, or signing a particular person, or granting the blessing to all, or signing the holy oblation.
Two important matters the priest should place in his heart and before his eyes are:
first, his complete faith in the power and effectiveness of the sign of the cross; and second, his personal humility while making the sign of the cross, feeling that the blessing is not from himself but from the cross, and that he is not the giver of the blessing but the conduit of it.
This feeling deepens as he signs the holy Lamb with the sign of the cross and says, “And He blessed it.” It is not he who blesses the Lamb by signing it with the cross by his hand; rather, he also says: “You who blessed at that time, now also bless…” His signing of the cross should be with deliberation, reverence, humility, and seriousness, because some do not sign the cross with such seriousness.
The people clearly perceive the state in which they receive the blessing with spirituality, sensing the power they receive from the priest’s signing of the cross upon them.
The priestly father should also pay attention to the secret prayers he recites during the Divine Liturgy.
These are prayers that no one hears, but God hears them. The priest must say them with understanding and depth, sanctifying every word of them. Among them are the prayers in which he asks for the effect of the readings upon the people, such as the Pauline Epistle or the Praxis, or the prayers specific to the reading of the Holy Gospel; and the secret prayers he says before the final absolution; and the prayers he prays while circling the altar—all of them should be from the depth of his heart.
What are the most important feelings of the priestly father as he prays the litanies,
whether the litanies he says outside the sanctuary or upon the altar?
Imagine when the Litany of Peace for the Church is prayed by all the priestly fathers in all the churches, throughout all the regions of preaching, for the peace of the Church from one end of the world to the other.
What would be the effect of this prayer if the fathers prayed it with depth from all their hearts, with sincere supplication before God, and all the people responded with them from the depths of their hearts saying, “Lord, have mercy”? Would God not respond to all these? Or do some—unfortunately—think that liturgical prayers are merely routine and order, memorized recitation, and hymns?
There is no doubt that liturgical prayers, when prayed by priests and people with spirituality and depth, “avail much in their working” (James 5:16),
and they have their effect in heaven and on earth.
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