Aspasmos (Pre - Anaphora)

The church asks for us (the litanies), the deacon urges us to listen to God with wisdom, and we recite the apostolic creed. Now at the end of the Liturgy of the Word, the presbyter reveals our reconciliation with God through His Son. This is the last thing the catechumens hear before their going out, and it is the foundation on which the Liturgy of the Faithful is built.

The Aspasmo's Prayer (Prayer of Reconciliation)

The presbyter washes his hand three times, turns westward, and wrings his hands before the congregation saying that he has sinned and asking them to forgive him. They answer that they have sinned and need forgiveness. Then he prays the Aspasmos' Prayer.

Some presbyters use the Aspasmos' Prayer of the Liturgy of St. Gregory or that of St. Cyril (St. Mark). These prayers have the same meaning. The person confesses that he had sinned and that God sent His prophets for him, and lastly He sent His Beloved Only-Begotten Son, Who grants us reconciliation with God.

The presbyter says

O God, Great and Eternal, Who made man in incorruption;

And death, which entered into the world by the envy of Satan,

You have destroyed by the life-giving manifestation of Your Only-Begotten Son, our Lord, our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ...

And has filled the earth with heavenly peace, for which hosts of angels glorify You, saying:

Glory be to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

The Liturgy of St. Basil

…Adam was deceived by the enemy (Satan) disobeying Your holy

commandment. When You wanted to put him back to his previous rank, You did not trust an angel, an archangel, a patriarch or a prophet for his salvation, but You incarnated without changing Your divine nature, and was likened unto us in everything except sin. You became a Mediator between us and the Father and removed the barrier and demolished the previous enmity.

You reconciled the earthly creatures with the heavenly hosts and united both in one...

The Liturgy of St. Gregory

The Apostolic Kiss

Through the Prayer of Reconciliation the deacon urges us to kiss one another, saying: "Pray for perfect peace, for love and for the holy Apostolic kiss." We cannot enjoy reconciliation with God in Jesus Christ and the peace with the Holy Trinity unless we have peace with one another.

This "Kiss of Peace" which is still exchanged in our Coptic Church, was used from the apostolic age, but it disappeared from other churches.

St. Justin in the second century mentioned the liturgical kiss as an immediate preparation for the Eucharist, as a conclusion of the prayers before the Eucharistic celebration. By means of this spiritual kiss, they affirmed that they really wanted to be one family. It also means that if one wished to bring a gift to the altar, he ought first to reconcile with his brother.

The Syrian Didiscalia of the Apostles says that the deacon cried aloud, while the kiss was actually being exchanged, "Is there any man who keeps aught against his fellow?" as a final precaution so that even at the last moment the bishop may make peace between them.

Fr. Dix says that the apostolic kiss of peace "now stands in its primitive position only among Copts and Abyssinians."

Nikolai Gogol describes this liturgical kiss saying that a long time ago all those who were present in church kissed one another, men

kissed men, women kissed women, saying "Christ is between us," and others replying, "He is and will be."

Do not think that this kiss is like that which friends are accustomed to give one another when they meet in the agora. This is not such a kiss. This kiss unites the souls together and destroys all resentment. This kiss is a sign of the union of souls.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem

It is the sign of peace. The outwardly shape of the lips expresses what is in our hearts.

St. Augustine

By this kiss people make a kind of profession of the unity and charity which they have among themselves. It is not fitting for those who form one body in the church that any one of them should hate any of his brothers who share in the faith.

Fr Theodore of Mopsuestia

Other Kinds of Kisses in the Church

• 1- In the Coptic Church, the people kiss the hand of the bishop and the presbyter; and the clergymen exchange the kiss of peace. A kiss of this sort is a sign of veneration, not to the presbyter himself, but indirectly to our Lord Christ.
• 2- It was the custom that the neophyte kisses the hand of the bishop immediately after Confirmation, and the bishop himself would kiss him, as a symbol of that "fellowship of the Holy Spirit," of which the communion of the Church is the only consequence and the outward sign. Then the neophyte passes by the faithful in the church, who greet him with a kiss as a sign of "brotherhood" in Jesus Christ. Now being a member of the Body of Christ he can receive and give the spiritual kiss, i.e. the peace of Christ.
• 3- Kissing the altar, Gospel, and icons, is simply a sign of veneration to the holy objects, related to the Lord.

The Holy Fear

At the end of the Prayer of Reconciliation the deacon urges us

to bring our offerings and to stand up with fear; he says: "Offer, offer, offer (the oblation) in order, Stand in awe, and look towards the East. Let us attend."

Or "Let us stand up,

Stand in decency,

In fellowship,

In peace,

In God's fear,

In trembling and reverence.

Lift up your eyes you clergymen and you congregation,

In a prayer of thanks,

Quietly and peacefully,

Towards the East,

To see the Body and Blood of Immanuel our God placed on the altar,

Angels and Archangels are watching,

The Seraphim with six wings, and Seraphim, who are full of eyes, all of them are covering their faces in reverence,

For the wonder of His unseen and inaudible glory...."

Kinds of Fear

The holy Fathers distinguished three kinds of fear:

• 1- The fear of the servants who work so that they may not be punished.
• 2- The fear of the hired people who work in order that they may receive a salary.
• 3- The fear of the sons who work because they love and respect their beloved fathers.

In the liturgy we fear God as His children. We believe that through the power of the blood of our Lord we will not be punished, and we do not expect earthly rewards. We are but sons, waiting to be received in the divine bosom of God.

We also know very well that the altar, especially at the moment of consecration is tremendously fearful.

• Man should stand in the presence of God with fear and trembling.
• (It is) with veneration that we must approach these most fearful

The Dismissal of the Catechumens

In the pre-Nicene church, the deacons proclaimed the dismissal of the catechumens before the intercessory prayers 2. They were, however, dismissed before or after the intercessions. They had the right to hear the Gospel, but as they had not yet received the Spirit of adoption, therefore they could not join in offering the Eucharistic prayer.

In Egypt - according to the Euchologium of Serapion - in the fourth century or even perhaps before this date, the catechumens who had received the faith but were not yet baptized, received blessing from the bishop before their dismissal.