After reciting the prayer of thanksgiving, the presbyter prays inaudibly the "Prayer of the Offertory," which is addressed to the Son:
"Master, Lord Jesus Christ, the Co-eternal Word of the undefiled Father, Consubstantial with Him and the Holy Spirit.
For You are the Living Bread which came down from heaven,
You have foreordained to make Yourself the Lamb without blemish, for the life of the world.
We pray and beseech Your goodness, O Lover of mankind.
(Pointing to the Bread)
Cause Your face to shine upon this bread;
(Pointing to the Chalice)
And upon this cup, which we have set upon
(Pointing to the altar)
This Your priestly Table,
(Here he signs the cross over the bread, chalice and altar, saying):
Bless them,
Sanctify them,
Purify and transform them,
(Pointing to the bread) that this bread may become indeed Your holy Body.
(Pointing to the chalice) and the mixture in this chalice become Your precious Blood.
And that they may become to us all for participation and healing and salvation for our souls, bodies and our spirits.
For You are our God and unto You is due all glory, with Your good Father and the Holy Spirit."
Notes
(1) Its language suggests a date towards the end of the fourth
century.
- (2) This prayer is in fact a complete anticipation of the whole Eucharistic action, recited at the offertory. The Eucharistic action contains offertory, consecration and communion, these three parts are so intricately connected as parts of a single action that it is exceedingly difficult to express their meaning separately.
- (3) This prayer reveals the aim of the Eucharistic action that is the communion for participation, healing and salvation for our spirits, souls and bodies, i. e working in our whole life.
- (4) It is called the "Prayer of Covering" for the presbyter, after praying it, covers the paten and the chalice with two linen veils, and then he covers both with the big veil called "Prospherine." Then he places a small folded veil above the prospharine. Then the presbyter and the deacons leave the Sanctuary and kneel before the altar after kissing it and going round it.
It is a wonderful symbol of burying the Life-giving Body of the Lord, as It is buried in linen and placed in the Holy Tomb, "the Altar" which is closed with a big stone "Prospharine," and sealed, then all leave him and return back!
The Holy Body was hidden in the Tomb from the eyes, He Whose divinity never departed from His humanity, and Whose spirit preached unto the spirits in prison, to those who had slept and reposed in hope, to bear them to Paradise.
In the Holy Tomb we do not smell the stink of destructive death, but the savor of the mystery of life-giving death! By His Lifegiving death, He raised the dead and still raises us with Him, not only to enter Paradise after our death, but also to enjoy the "Paradise of Delight" from now.
Thus, the offertory is concluded and the church is contemplating the Lord's burial, so that in the Eucharistic prayer we enter with Him into the glory of His Resurrection receiving His Risen Body as the eternal life, given to all partakers.
Some perceive in this rite not only Christ's burial, but also His flight to Egypt and His dwelling in Nazareth, until He started His
ministry and was crucified.
However, the disappearance of the prosphora is a declaration of the hiding of the reality of the Messiah, and the mystery of His redeeming action, till the time of His resurrection, as He opened the inner sight of the two disciples of Emmaus to understand the scriptures and breathed in His disciples' faces for the same aim.
On the altar, the prosphora is covered so that the Lord may be hidden in our hearts and we are hidden in Him.
Absolution of Ministers
The presbyter and deacons leave the altar, their faces being to the East, they always leave by stepping out with their left foot and enter by stepping in with their right foot first. Then they kneel before the sanctuary, and one of the present presbyters recite the prayer of Absolution of the Ministers. If the Patriarch or a bishop is present he should recite this prayer:
"Your servants, the ministers of this day, the proto-priests, the priests, the deacons, the clergy, all the people and my weakness,
May they be absolved by the mouth of the Holy Trinity; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
And by the mouth of the One, Only, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church, and by the mouths of the twelve apostles, and by the mouth of the ecstatic evangelist Mark, the pure apostle and martyr,
And the Patriarch St. Severus.
Our Master Dioscorus,
St. Peter the martyr and archpriest,
St. Cyril,
St. Basil, and St. Gregory.
And by the mouths of the 318 gathered together at Nicea, the 150 at Constantinople and the 200 at Ephesus. And by the mouth of our father, the archbishop Pope anba... and by the mouth of my abjection,
For blessed and full of glory is Your holy Name, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now...."
In ancient times. God ordered Moses to anoint Aaron and his sons and pray for them before starting the service. Aaron himself before beginning the service prayed for those who served with him, for nobody can enter into the holies of the Lord unless he is purified himself his infirmities.
Thus, nobody, whatever his personality or his priestly rank is, can participate in the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy unless he is absolved first from his sins.
It is wonderful, that through the list of ministers, the presbyter not only mentions his brethren, the presbyters and deacons, and himself; but also the people, for they can't approach this service without purification. Thus, in the Eucharistic service of the Coptic Church the people have an active part in the service and they are not mere hearers.
The mystery of the Eucharist being the mystery of the True Body of Christ, it is also the mystery of the whole Church that is assembled together in her Head, Jesus Christ.