The Mystery of Worship

The Liturgy is a Recognition of God

Philip Schaff the Protestant historian says, "The celebration of the Eucharist has occupied a foremost, central position in Christian worship." And the Evangelic monk Gregory Dix says..."that rite which was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself to be the peculiar and distinctive worship of those who should be His own... has ever since been the essence and core of Christian worship and Christian living - the Eucharist."

To understand the reason why the Liturgy of the Eucharist has occupied this place in the Christian worship since the apostolic age, we ought to understand the notion of the word "worship." True "worship" is not just practicing some ceremonies, singing hymns, reciting prayers, fasting, or offering oblations, but above all it is an acknowledgment of God as the Lover of mankind.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam worshipped God by recognizing Him as his lover. But after his fall, his inner insight was darkened. Hence he escaped from his God, and was unable to hear His voice, as he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." For this reason, God sent Moses' Law based on the "recognition of God as the Lover of mankind." The Ten Commandments begin with revealing God to man, saying, "I am the Lord your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

In worshipping, God asks us nothing except to know Him, and when we really know Him, we shall love Him. He says, "I desire steadfast love not sacrifice, the acknowledgment of God rather than

burnt-offerings."

In the New Testament, the Incarnate Son of God came to us, so as to make us members in His Body, and be acquainted with the reality of the Father and His love through His Son.

Through the Sacrament of Baptism, i.e. the mystery of illumination, we receive the spirit of adoption, for Christ joins us to Himself and allows us to share His relationship with the Father. By that same spirit we can call His Father ours. Thus, our inner man can be elevated to such a supreme level of knowing God that no other creature can reach.

Through the Sacrament of the Eucharist, that is to say the Sacrament of the union with God, the Son of God, the High Priest, holds His Church in Himself mystically, offering His real recognition to God His Father. Thus, in Jesus Christ we attain His own recognition of God, fulfilling the true meaning of the word "worship" which all humanity failed to practice before.

The Son of God offered a unique worship to God His Father, fitting with His relationship as the Only-Begotten Son. He, therefore, obeyed Him unto death on the Cross, and accepted the new life of the Father, although He Himself is the Resurrection. This unique worship is related to the Only-Begotten Son alone, for no one knows the Father except Him, and there never was a moment when Jesus did not wish to open Himself utterly to the reality of His Father.

His acceptance of that death is a supreme acknowledgment that God is the true Father; just as His passage into the new life is an acceptance of His Father without reservation as the Giver of this new life.

Thus, in the Eucharist, the new Adam, i.e. the Head of the whole Church, redirected the entire human race back to God through His practical acknowledgment of His Father. The first Adam's refusal of the acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God resulted in the alienation of man from God; the new Adam represented him to the Father.

Today the Church has nothing to offer to the Father except what His Son can bring through His presence to her, especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the epitome (culmination) of every act of worship the Church endures. It is the act of Christ Himself, offered to the Father in her name, bestowing upon her His own acknowledgment.

For this reason when the Lord entrusted His Church with this sacrament, He went out to Gethsemane saying to His Father, "This is life eternal that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." We have attained eternal life through our illumination of the "acknowledgment."

• We know the Father, "who loved the world, that He gave His Only-Begotten Son...."
• And we acknowledge the Son, Who obeyed His Father and gave Himself up to death. He accepted the new life so that we practice the resurrection in Him and with Him.
• We acknowledge the Holy Spirit, who is sent by the Risen Son, to live with His spirit until we meet Him face to face on the Lord's Day.

It is true that the Holy Scripture leads us to know our God and His plan for our redemption. But the Eucharist speaks to us practically through our reconciliation with God by His Crucified Son. He paid our debt, opening our inner eyes to see His supreme love.

For this reason when the Savior met two of His disciples at Emmaus after His resurrection, and explained to them the Books, clarifying to them the redeeming plan of God from Moses and the Prophets, their hearts were burning within them. But when He took bread and blessed it, and broke it and gave it to them, "their eyes were opened and they knew Him," as their own personal Savior, doing everything on their behalf.

In brief, through the Sacrament of the Eucharist we attain a new practical acknowledgment, by which we offer Christ's worship to His Father as if it is our own. This worship is based, not on the spirit of bondage and fear but on the spirit of adoption, which we practice

through our union with the Only-Begotten Son.

The texts of the early liturgies explain the Eucharist as the mystery of the acknowledgment of God through His Son,

Examples

• We give thanks unto You our Father, for the life and the acknowledgment You had revealed to us through Jesus.
• Let us give thanks to You, the Holy Father, for Your Holy Name that lives in our hearts; and for the knowledge, the faith and the immortality, You have revealed to us through Your Son, Jesus.

Didache

• We praise You, whom the Only-Begotten Son knows, and proclaims to creation... we praise You, whom the Word …knows You, and reveals You to the saints... 3
• Let their souls be blessed by the understanding, the acknowledgment and the mysteries so that they participate in them... Let all of them be blessed through the Only-Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
• Bestow upon our souls a progress in understanding purity and upon our souls acknowledgment through receiving the Body and the Blood...

Euchologium of Serapion

The Liturgy is the Mystery of Sanctification

We may wonder how could someone who has refused holiness and indulged in sin, return to the Holy God to be united with Him and worship Him?

On the eve of His betrayal, after establishing the Holy Supper, Jesus prayed "…for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." For our Sanctification, the Holy One sanctified Himself, "not for the purification of His own soul or spirit,

nor for the participation of the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit is in Him by nature, and He was and is Holy always and will be so forever." But He emptied Himself and took on our humanity and became a representative of man, so that what He did was in our name. Before His incarnation man failed to be sanctified and he could not worship God as God deserved. It is true that man offered burnt offerings, incense, and sacrifices etc., but he failed to offer righteousness, obedience, humility, mercy and love. "I have no pleasure in you," says the Lord Omnipotent, "and I will not accept sacrifices at your hands."

When the Word of God, the Logos, became flesh, He bore us in Himself, so that as the true worship finds its way in Him, it also finds its way in us. He, the Holy One, offered Himself as the only pure acceptable and holy Sacrifice, so that the Father sees us through the Eucharist, i.e. through the body of His Holy Son, sanctified and true worshippers.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons says, "Only the Catholic (universal) Church can offer to God the sacrifice which pleases Him, announced by the prophets, namely the sacrifice of the Eucharist."

Through the Cross, the Church can stand in front of the divine throne, to offer Christ's worship, Christ's love, holiness, obedience, sacrifice etc. as her own.

We can see this notion in the prayers of the sanctification of the ancient liturgies. For example in the Apostolic Tradition, the presbyter recites the prayers of Anamnesis and Epiclesis, saying,

"As we commemorate His holy Passion and His Resurrection we offer the bread and the cup to You.

Giving thanks to You, for You make us worthy to stand in front of You and serve You...

Bestow upon Your saints who take communion... to be filled by the Holy Spirit."

And in the Liturgy of St. Basil, the presbyter prays, "As we

commemorate His holy Passion, His Resurrection...we offer You your offerings from what is Yours."

And the presbyter recites this Epiclesis Prayer: "Let Your Holy Spirit be sent upon us and the gifts... revealing them as holy things for the holy ones."

The Church, as Christ's Body, fulfills all what He has done once for her, for she is one with Him. St. Irenaeus says, "For we offer to Him His own, announcing constantly the fellowship and union of the flesh and spirit."

There can be no separation between Christ and His own Church, for they are one, having one mission and one aim. St. Augustine says that when Christ was on earth, His Church was hidden in Him, and what He did was in her name, and for her sake. Now He ascended to heaven. He is hidden in His Church, so that what she practices is in His name and for His sake.

Finally, we may say that through the Eucharist, the Church is "Christ continuing to live and work in His Secret Body," she offers nothing but that which belongs to Christ, and in Him she offers herself. St. John of Kronstadt says, "The Church is one and the same with the Lord. She is His Body, and of His flesh and bones."