Kingdom of the Trinity:

The Divine Mass is the secret of the presence of Christ, and therefore it is a revelation of the blessed kingdom “the kingdom of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” because the presence of Christ is the same as the kingdom of God. This presence turns the earth into heaven.

The place where believers gather to give thanks to the Lord is “the abode of His angels, the abode of the archangels, the kingdom of God, heaven itself.”

The goal of our life's journey is the Kingdom. We bless God, that is, we declare that He is our goal, the goal of our lives, and the goal of all creation.

The priest makes this announcement while making the sign of the cross in the Gospel. The first work that the priest performs is the cross. The Divine Mass is the Kingdom of God, to which the cross leads, on which the King of Glory hung.

The cross is the proof that Christ alone is the true king. Through the cross, he opened the kingdom for us.

The people say “Amen” as a sign of their acceptance of the truth contained in the priest’s declaration and they express their longing to taste the Kingdom. “Amen” in Hebrew means “truly.”

The major peace students:

It is the longest litany in the Divine Liturgy.

“In peace we ask the Lord.” Through sin, man entered into chaos, division, and sin, but Christ restored man to unity.

The first thing we ask of God is peace, and peace here is not the peace that humans make with their whims, but the peace that comes from above, because Christ came to us from above to send us true peace that restores reassurance to the troubled soul, peace that accepts every repentant and returning soul. .

“Peace all the world”

We ask God for the world to be in permanent and stable peace, and this is achieved by the supreme peace, and all of this is so that the church will be steadfast in the face of the temptations of the evil one who wants to split the church. As for the unity of all, this results from the bond of the spirit, the bond of peace, and according to Saint Paul the Apostle. “Brothers, strive to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” meaning that we are bound to each other in the bond of love, the bond of Christ the Savior, and in this way we all prepare for Communion, and in this way we also live inner peace with ourselves and outer peace with God and others, and thus we have become A vessel worthy of receiving Christ within us.

“For the sake of this house...”

When a person enters the church, he enters heaven into the presence of God, and there the believer must communicate with God with faith and piety because the service here is the service of the Most High God, our Creator and Savior.

† “For the sake of our Father and our High Priest...”

In the first period of the Byzantine era, the Divine Liturgy began with the minor cycle as we know it today in the Mass. The first liturgical movement was the bishop’s entry into the church, followed by his wearing the priestly robe in the middle of the church, as happens many times today and before the start of the Divine Liturgy. The process of the bishop wearing his robe depicts the event of the incarnation of the Word, and the bishop represents Christ or is the living icon of the Lord.

† “For the sake of this city...”

We ask for the city we live in (the place) and every place in the world. Saint Maximus the Confessor says: “Perfect love extends equally to all people.” And so we pray for the place we live in and the whole world.

† “For the sake of the moderate air... and the fertility of the earth with fruits, and for the sake of the sick, the suffering, the prisoners, and the travelers...”

We notice the Church's thinking here about every individual person, wherever he is and in whatever condition he may be. The Church desires to address each person individually and pray for him and for God to provide him with all the means of a satisfactory and happy life.

† “In order to deliver us from all distress and anger..

We ask God to protect us from all the dangers and temptations of evil (sin and human pleasure are accompanied by pain). God has allowed a person to experience pain in order to heal from the wound of sin. Pain is not a punishment, but rather a medicine that suits the state of sin that the person lives in, since his condition was the result of sin. .

We walk through tribulations towards the Kingdom of God, “for through many tribulations we must enter it.” However, all discipline in the present does not seem to be for joy, but for sorrow, but in the end it produces “peaceful” fruits of righteousness to those who are tamed in it.

† The people respond to all these requests, “Lord, have mercy.” This simple answer carries all of the theology and all of Christian thought. “Have mercy” from the verb have mercy, and this verb in Hebrew means mercy, goodness, compassion, and goodness. That is, we ask God to bestow upon us all His mercies.

† After mentioning the Most Holy One, let us bid farewell....

That is, we ask for the help of the Mother of God and all the saints so that we can entrust our lives and ourselves to the Lord, and just as the Virgin herself vowed, so let us imitate her, placing ourselves as servants of the Lord. “Here I am the servant of the Lord.” Here is a unique teaching that we entrust each other. Every believer is responsible. About the other because we must seek good for others as well as for ourselves according to what we have learned from Christ.

† After that, the priest recites Afshin, ending it with a Trinitarian declaration, “For you are due all glorification, honor, and prostration, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

The “worshippers with us” gathered in the church are those who accepted the divine invitation to dinner. They came in order to participate in the Trinitarian divine presence and participation in this service, and here the word “Amen” comes to confirm that the people seek and prepare for each individual to be a holy house for God.

‡ Endophones:

1. “By the intercession of the Mother of God, O Savior, save us.”

In this hymn, there is a doctrinal teaching about the intercession of the Mother of God. We ask for the intercession of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, so that Jesus may save us (the mother’s request is powerful before the Lord), with the emphasis that salvation comes from Christ the God. As for the Virgin Mary and the saints, they intercede for us before the Lord. The saints are not intermediaries in the sense. The literal meaning of the word is, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, who is the man Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 2:5). Christ is the only mediator, but the saints are living streams through which the grace of the only Redeemer flows.

The intercession of the saints derives its truth from the fellowship that unites believers - members of the body of Christ - just as the members serve one another in the unity of the body (1 Corinthians 12), so believers pray, as the Apostle James wrote in his letter, “The supplication of the righteous has great power in its effect” (5 : 16).

The Virgin Mary became our mother because she gave birth to Christ, who was willing to become a brother to each one of us in his body, and because she is our mother who looks at our need and raises it to the Lord, that is why she is rightly called the fervent intercessor and refuge of the world.

- Again and again in peace we ask the Lord...

This request is not intended to be a repetition of the previous one, but we do not tire of repeating the same words to the Lord. We may ask for the same things, and when His love grants them to us, then we realize that they are not the same as what we had. We repeat the request to obtain the peace that comes from above, so that we may be more prepared to participate in the Lord’s table. .

- “Bless Your Inheritance” by Afshin Al-Andifon.

Chrysostom says: “In the Divine Mass we stand before the Holy Table” with joy, thanking God and the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. “And Christ is also the inheritance of all human beings. We offer Christ to every human being on earth.

The second antiphon:

2. “Save us, Son of God, who... He rose from the dead.”

A doctrinal hymn in which we declare that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that salvation is achieved for us only by the Son of God who rose from the dead, because the one who will come and judge the world is Christ, the Son of God, who vanquished Satan through his death and resurrection. We acknowledge that Christ, the “Son of God,” is a stone. The cornerstone, the stone of our faith on which the church is built. “On this rock I will build my church,” because the church is an extension of the incarnation of Jesus.

“Oh Word of God...”

He incarnated the one at whom the Cherubim and Seraphim tremble from looking at him, and he was pleased to take the form of a servant who created all with a word from him. Jesus Christ was pleased to inhabit the womb of the Mother of God, incarnate of her, in order to achieve for us victory over the evil Satan, so that we may overcome evil, evil, and death.

This hymn, which is a summary of the (orthodox) Orthodox doctrine, dates back to the early sixth century around (536 AD). Christ carried out the process of divine management through incarnation, death, and resurrection without abandoning his divine glory, without abandoning his divinity. This hymn is in the Mass for the Catechumens. Before the Gospel, it resembles the Constitution of Faith (I believe in one God....) in the Mass of the Believers and before the essential speech and Communion. Here the similarity emerges between the Mass of the catechumens, which is based on the spoken and declared word, and the Mass of the believers, which is based on the Word embodied in the Eucharist.

Access:

After the announcement, the choir chants the Tar and Bar of Resurrection, that is, the anthem of victory and victory over death, according to the melody of the week or the Tar and Bar of the Eid or the saint being celebrated. During this procession, the priest prostrates three times in front of the table, accepts the Gospel, goes around with it in procession, and heads towards the royal door in the temple, preceded by candles and the cross. This entry is called isodon (entry) or small entry.

Until the seventh century, the Divine Liturgy began with the introduction of the Holy Gospel (Isodon), and the priest would wear his priestly robe in the place where the church’s tools were kept. From there, he would take the Gospel and enter with the believers into the nave of the church, and the bishop would wear his robe in front of the believers and then enter the temple.

The candle in front of the Gospel refers to John the Baptist, the shining lamp, and the entry means that the priest rises from the earthly things to the Kingdom of God to be the link between God and the people, and with every entry we enter into the Kingdom to ascend to God. “Make our entry coupled with the entry of the holy angels who participate with us in Service and glorify your goodness with us.” Here, Al-Afshin is in the plural form, meaning all of us entering the kingdom, and it also symbolizes Christ’s going out to preach the good news in the world.

The small isodon is an image of the coming of Christ into the world to be the light of the world, preaching the good news of the kingdom, which if we accept, we will return to the kingdom.

† When the priest arrives before the Royal Door, he blesses the temple, making the sign of the cross and saying: “Blessed is the entry of your saints at all times...” referring to the entry of God’s people into the kingdom. The uniqueness of this blessing is “the entry of your saints,” meaning the people of God. Jesus has called us to be saints as He is holy, and this is what the Apostle Paul understood and addressed the believers in many churches and letters “to the saints who are in Ephesus” (1:1).

† The Isodicon priest says, “The special piece of entry,” which is on ordinary days: “Come, let us prostrate and kneel before Christ, our King and God..” It differs depending on the feast we celebrate. Here we prostrate ourselves to Christ, our King and God, aware that there is no other king over our hearts, and He brings us into His Kingdom, where we will taste Him as a declared word (the Gospel), and the other we will receive in the form of His divine body and blood.

† The priest places the Holy Bible on the Holy Table.

† The choristers continue singing the troparia and the troparion of the church owner, whose intercession we always ask for in every mass.

Trisagians:

The priest declares, “For you are holy, O our God, and to you we send glory...” and the choir chants, “Holy is God...” or what is known as the Tri-Holy Hymn. Then the priest Afshin recites the Trisagion, which Saint Germanus interprets by saying: “Holy is God, that is, the Father.” Holy is the Strong, that is, the Son and the Word, because He restrained Satan who was powerful against us, and through the cross he abolished those who had the power of death, and gave us life, power, and authority to trample him. Holy is the Immortal, that is, the Holy Spirit who provides life to all creation.”

The word “holy” is mentioned three times in this song, which is the song of the angels (Isaiah 6:2) and (Revelation 4:8), and the words: God - the strong - who does not die, are from David the Prophet, who said, “My soul thirsts for God, for the strong and living God” (Psalm 42: 2).

The church combined the psalm and the angelic praise and added its request, “Have mercy on us,” to show the compatibility of the two covenants, angels, and humans within the church.

When singing the hymn (The Holy Triangle), the priest approaches the altar and says, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Then he blesses the cathedral, saying: “Blessed are you on the throne of the glory of your kingdom, you who sit on the Cherubim at all times…….” If the bishop is present, he blesses the cathedral, and there is a teaching that we ascend gradually from the world to the interior of the church, to the royal door, to the place of the throne, which represents the throne of God, the throne of Christ, and there is a custom in some churches for the bishop to sit on this cathedral throne, blessing the people on it.

† The bishop blesses the people from the Royal Gate with the “tricari,” that is, the three-candlestick candlestick that indicates the Holy Trinity, and the “tricari,” that is, the two-candle candlestick symbolizing the human and divine natures of Christ. He prays for God to take care of his church, and the bishop, being the image of Christ, blesses and He asks and intercedes with the Lord.

• Prokimenn:

It is the reciting of a verse in the Psalms before reading the chapter of the message. The reader says that the Procimenon is because it introduces us to the secret of the word. Saint Germanus says, “It refers to the revelation of the divine secrets and the previous foretelling of the presence of the King, that is, Christ. Therefore, the Procimenon uses stichons from the Psalms because they tell us about the great things of God.”

• ‡ the message:

The message is taken from the Acts of the Apostles or the Epistles, and this message contains the doctrinal and spiritual teachings inspired by God and answers to the problems that were presented at that time and still are. The message may coincide with an event, holiday, or saint that we celebrate on that day, or it may be arranged according to the Sundays and consecutively in a specific order.

• ‡ Al-Afshin:

While reading the message, Priest Afshin recites before the Gospel, “Shine in our hearts the pure light, the light of your divine knowledge...and open the eyes of our mind so that we may comprehend the teachings of your Gospel..” The Gospel is only comprehended in its depth and essence by the one who has opened his heart to God and is illuminated by the light of God. We ask God to He gives us the grace so that the body and soul become perfect in harmony through enlightenment by the light of the divine word that will be read to us.

• ‡Hallarians:

At the end of the message, the priest greets the reader and chants “Hallelujah,” which is a Hebrew word that means (Hallelujah to God). It is an invitation to us to praise God and rejoice because He will appear to us shortly through the word of the Gospel that will be read to our ears. That is, it is a reaction to His coming. It is a hymn of praise and tribute to the divine revelation that will reveal to us the revelation of Jesus Christ to his church.

• Fumigation:

The Church did not quickly accept this ritual act, because it was common to many religions, and it soon entered the liturgy and became a very ordinary religious ritual practice, with embers and incense turning into a pleasant scent and smoke rising to the sky.

Incense was performed during the chanting of the Hallelujah, but now during the reading of the message, and best of all, when chanting the final Holy of God, the priest blesses the incense and incenses the holy table, the altar, the icons, and the people from the Royal Door.

• Evshin before the Gospel:

This prayer occupies the same place in the mystery of the Divine Word as the invocation of the Holy Spirit in the Anaphora, in which he asks the Father to send His Holy Spirit. Understanding and accepting the Divine Word is not subject to our will alone. The basic condition for understanding is that our “spiritual eyes” secretly open and that the Holy Spirit descend upon us, and this is attested to by the blessing given to the deacon to read the Divine Word.

• Bible reading:

In the minor session, the priest raises the Gospel, covering his face with it, in order to show the believers the face of Christ. Now, by reading the Holy Gospel, he presents his mouth to “the Word” so that the believers can hear “the Word.” So, instead of the priest, people see Christ, and through his mouth, we hear his voice, “the voice of Christ.” Through the noble Gospel, we see Christ in our midst and hear him calling us to his kingdom.

The Gospel in the Orthodox tradition is not only part of the liturgy as a reading material, but it is a book that we respect and honor like an icon and a table, so we incense it and bless the people of God with it.

• Wisdom: Let us be upright:

We must raise our minds above the earthly levels in order to be able to understand the word of God. The priest must converse with God with fervent zeal and piety. The body standing upright is the first sign of zeal and piety, because this is the position of the supplicants, this is the position of the servant drawn to his master to immediately rush to serve him.

• Peace to all of you:

Giving the priest peace refers to granting the grace of non-passion from God to the believers striving for liberation from passions. Christ is in the hand and mouth of the priest, granting the soul of the struggler the peace that is from above. Peace is the name of Christ, nay, Christ is peace itself. This greeting of peace precedes each new section of the Eucharistic Liturgy, as it is given before the reading of the Divine Word. . And the holy kiss of peace. . And the distribution of holy things...to remind us every time that Christ is “among us” and He Himself presides over our Divine Mass because He is “the one who brings, the one who offers, the one who receives, and the one who distributes.”

• And for your soul:

The people who receive the blessing of peace from the priest pray for them, for they are the father and shepherd, so that they too may reap the peace of God.

Sermon, sacred lesson:

The good news comes to bear witness that the divine word was heard, understood, and accepted. The sermon is organically linked to the reading of the Holy Bible, and in the early church it was part of the “community meeting” and the essential liturgical work of the church, and the permanent witness to the Holy Spirit living in the church who guides it to all truth.” John 13 :16.”

There are two aspects to preaching:

• 1- It completes the gift of teaching that was given to the priest to carry out his service in teaching the community.

• 2- The teaching service of the clergy is not separated from the community, which is the source of his grace.

The gift of evangelism is not a personal gift, but rather a gift given to the church to work in the community, where the Holy Spirit descends on the entire church and the task of the head of the ministry is to preach and teach, while the task of the people is to accept this teaching. These two functions emanate from the Holy Spirit and are completed in and through the Holy Spirit. The entire Church received the Holy Spirit, not groups.

The bishop and priest are given the gift of teaching in the Church because they are witnesses to the faith of the Church and because teaching is not their own teaching, but rather the teaching of the Church and the unity of its faith and coming.

In the distant past, the congregation would answer “Amen” after the end of the sermon, confirming that it had accepted the divine word and proving that it was one in spirit with the preacher.

  Mass of the Faithful:

The first part of the Divine Liturgy, known as the Mass of the Catechumens or the Mass of the Word, ends with the sermon and the second part, or the Liturgy of the Faithful, begins. In the first part, Jesus appeared to us through the divine word that we heard in the message, the Gospel, and the sermon. In the past, catechumens or those preparing for baptism would leave the church at this point in the Mass based on the deacon’s invitation for them to leave.

Endemancy:

The beginning of the Liturgy of the Faithful is with the opening of the Andemani to place the holy offerings on it. The Andemansi is a Greek word that means “instead of a table.” It is a metaphor for a rectangular piece of cloth with an icon of Christ on it, and around the image is written the troparia of Good Friday: “The pious Joseph lowered your pure body from the tree...” The sacrifice that will be placed on the Andemansi is nothing but an image of a sacrifice. The cross on which the Lord sacrificed himself as a ransom for all mankind. Part of the relics of a saint is often placed in the corner of the Andemani. Because in the first centuries, the divine sacrifice was held on the tombs of the martyred saints who gave their blood and their lives as a price for their faith in the Lord Jesus. The bishop usually consecrates the indemnity by signing it, in order to indicate the authorization that the bishop gives to the priests so that they in turn carry out the divine service. The bishop’s signature is also a sign of obedience to the Lord and to the bishop, who is an image of Christ, the one high priest, and a symbol of the fellowship that brings together the bishop, the priest, and the parish.

The priest's prayer for himself:

When opening the indemnity, the priest says the following declaration: “Even if we are always protected by your power...”, after which he recites a prayer for himself, “No one is bound by lusts...” in which he declares his unworthiness to serve the holy divine mysteries, and confesses before the Lord that he is a sinful human being. He asks him to purify him and make him worthy to stand before him with the Holy Spirit given to him through the sacrament of the priesthood. The priest is aware that what he will carry with his human hands (the divine body and blood) is beyond what humans deserve, so he asks for the Lord’s help to perform this service. Also, Christ is the one who offers the sacrifice that he once offered and is still offering. Here the priest feels trembling within him, so he asks for help from on high so that the sacrament can be effective in the hearts and lives of the believers.

Cherubicon:

While the priest is reciting the prayer for himself, the choir recites the hymn of the offering, or what is known as the “Cherubim Praise” (O you who represent the Cherubim in secret..). The purpose of this Cherubimian praise is to prepare believers to participate in the holy mysteries. It is an invitation to them to imitate the angels surrounding the divine throne, constantly praising: “Holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6). This hymn calls on us to imitate the Cherubim (who are a group of angels) and sing the praises of the angels, to be detached and to rise above what is worldly and materialistic, and to always keep the Lord in our eyes, as the angels do. The King of all and Lord of all will come in secret and be present among us at the holy table, so we must care about him only “for there is need of one” (Luke 10:42).

Grand entry:

After the singing of Cherubimian praise ends, the priest takes the cup and tray from the altar in a procession inside the church and places them on the Holy Table. These offerings are our offerings that we made on behalf of ourselves and our families, and we must offer our offerings before every Divine Mass in order to all raise our prayers together, as one body of Christ, in praying for everyone. The priest carries our offerings, raises them to the heavenly temple, and enters with them into the kingdom so that we may sit at the Lord’s table in His kingdom and all participate in the sacrifice of Christ. During the procession, the priest announces: “All of you, may the Lord God be remembered in His heavenly kingdom at all times...” Then he raises the presidency of the bishop of the diocese and mentions the living and the dead in whose name the holy sacrifices were offered. We entrust those whom we remember to God. We mention the living and the dead together because nothing in the Church separates those who have fallen asleep and those who are alive. Everyone, living and dead, is alive in Christ Jesus, because Christ is “the God of the living and not the God of the dead” (Matthew 22:23).

Finally, when the priest arrives inside the temple, he places the offerings on the table and places the large curtain over them, indicating the rolling of the stone from the door of the tomb in which Christ was placed.

Requests:

After finishing placing the offerings on the Holy Table, the priest begins reciting a series of requests (let us complete our requests to the Lord) that precede the substantive speech. It is divided into two parts: The first part is answered by the people with, “Lord, have mercy,” and in it the priest asks for sacrifices and to save us from distress, harm, sorrows, and distress. The second part is answered by the people with, “Respond, O Lord.” The priest asks the Lord for peace for our day and to protect our souls and bodies from evil. And that we spend the rest of our lives in the peace that comes from God, and that our lives be Christian, so that our standing before the pulpit of Christ on the last day will be flawless.

The law of gratitude or essential speech:

After the end of the requests, the priest stands at the Royal Door and grants peace and blessings to the people, saying: “Peace to all of you,” thus inaugurating the law of thanksgiving, or what is known as the essential speech. The priest gives us God's peace, because it is good to be at peace with God, with others and with ourselves in these holy moments.

Then the priest declares, “Let us love one another so that we may confess one resolve, and the people respond: “By Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a Trinity of equal essence and inseparable.” In ancient times, upon this announcement, the people would exchange a holy kiss, as the Apostle Paul says: “Greet one another with a holy kiss” (Romans 16:16), and during it they would repeat: Christ is with us and among us. He was, is, and will be. This arrangement is still preserved to this day among the priests in the temple. Because of the love of Christ that is in us, we cannot help but love the stranger standing next to us who will share this one cup with us. The call to love among us opens the essential speech in which we prepare for Communion. Love is not a theoretical topic, but rather an act that is translated into acts of love in which we affirm to the world that we are truly one body, the body of Christ, and that Christ is truly present with us and among us.

The second important thing in this declaration is the connection between declaring our love for one another and declaring our faith in the Holy Trinity. The Church is aware that the basic condition for the single mind, which Christ requires of us, is love that is in the image of Christ’s love for us, in the image of the love of the Most Holy Trinity in whom we declare our faith. Love and faith in the Holy Trinity are linked. Just as the Trinity is in unity emanating from eternal love, so we must be in love with each other as the Trinity in order to become one in Christ. Just as love is a basic condition for our participation in the divine sacrifice, so our common, one faith in the Trinity is a basic condition for this participation. A clear common faith is the basic foundation of common Communion. Therefore, our emphasis on the unity of faith in the Church comes before common Communion. Shared communion with others is the culmination of the process of faith unity and is not a means to reach unity.

Constitution of Faith:

At the end of the chant “By Father, Son, and Spirit...” the priest announces: “The doors, the doors with wisdom, let us listen,” and the people recite the Creed: “I believe in one God...” In the past, the announcement: “The doors are the doors” was a warning to the keepers of the church doors to be vigilant and not allow any of the catechumens preparing for baptism to enter the church after this announcement, because only the baptized have the right to participate in the divine sacrifice. Today, the Declaration calls on us to close all the doors leading to our hearts through which any evil thought might enter that hinders or prevents our participation in the Body and Blood of the Lord, and to open our minds in order to become aware of this faith that we are about to proclaim.

As for the Constitution of Faith, it is specifically the declaration of the basic points of doctrine and orthodox faith about the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Church, baptism, the resurrection of the dead, and life in the age to come. This constitution was introduced into the Divine Liturgy at the beginning of the sixth century because the Church is aware that the unity of faith among the ecclesiastical community is self-evident and necessary, and that this unity is a basic condition for joint communion. This is how St. Ignatius of Antioch described the mystery of the Church as the mystery of unity through faith and love (Magnesia 1:2) becomes clear to us: “For with the heart one believes to God, and with the mouth it is confessed to salvation” (Romans 10:1). Therefore, in every Divine Mass we confess “with one mouth and one heart” our faith. We declare our readiness to accept this God whom we acknowledge in the constitution of faith within us.

While reciting the Constitution of Faith, the priest raises the large curtain that covers the cup and tray and flaps it over them and recites the Constitution of Faith. This flutter is an image of the earthquake that preceded the Lord’s resurrection. He flutters it around until we reach “And he rose from the dead,” where he sets it aside as an image of rolling away the stone from the door of the tomb. Then he takes the small curtain and flaps it around the offerings to symbolize the fluttering of the Holy Spirit, this spirit that will descend upon the offerings so that they become the body and blood of Christ.

After completing the recitation of the Constitution of Faith, the priest announces: “Let us stand well, let us stand in fear, let us listen, let us offer the Holy Eucharist in peace.” In these terrible moments, we must be in a state of readiness, reverence, and awe, in soul and body, to offer the Holy Eucharist. We must stand in readiness, looking towards the heavenly King and saying: “My heart is ready, O God” (Psalm 75:7), and repeating with the Apostle Peter on Mount Tabor: “Lord, it is good for us to be here” (Matthew 17:3). The Lord appears to us in the Divine Liturgy. Through his precious body and blood.

The people answer: “Mercy, peace, sacrifice of praise.” The Lord said: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13). Sacrifice without mercy is meaningless. The sacrifice acceptable to God is the sacrifice that comes from hearts filled with mercy, love, and peace. In order to be ready to make sacrifices we need divine grace. This is what the priest gives us: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:7). This declaration is an indication of the contribution of each of the three hypostases in the work of salvation. The Father, out of His love for mankind, sent His only Son to save the world, and the Son, through His incarnation, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension, gave us the grace of redemption, which is given to us through the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us through baptism and the other sacraments, and creates fellowship between us and Him. He makes us His temples. The Apostle Paul says that in Christ Jesus we have obtained salvation, through which “we have peace with God... through which we also have access by faith into this grace” (Romans 5:1-2). “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). That is why the Apostle Paul placed the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of the declaration.

Then the priest urges us to “set our hearts up.” The priest's invitation to us is that God be our treasure and that we give him our heart. “My son, give me your heart” (Proverbs 23:26). The people respond to this invitation: “It is ours with the Lord.” We cast aside every sin and earthly care and lift up our hearts to God. The priest continues, saying: “Let us give thanks to the Lord.” Isn’t the Divine Mass called the Sacrament of Thanksgiving? The sacrifice is a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for everything He has given us. The people respond to this call by saying: “It is right and obligatory for us to worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit...” Our prostration to the Trinity is the only expression of our gratitude to God for everything He has given us. Knowing God is impossible for us without thanking Him. After everything was accomplished, that is, after granting forgiveness of sins and breaking the sting of death, there was nothing left for man but to praise and give thanks, as if we were granted thanks as a sign of gratitude from God and a paradisiacal joy. While we chant “Right and Duty...” the priest recites a prayer in the name of the believers in which we thank God because He brought us from nothingness into existence, and despite our fall into sin, He granted us salvation. We thank Him for all His good deeds to us, visible and invisible. The Christian person is a grateful servant who always believes that God wants his good, even if he is ignorant of how God works, and believes that every good gift comes from God.

At the end of the Afshin (the priest’s prayer), the priest thanks God for accepting our sacrifice even though thousands of angels stand around him “singing and shouting and shouting and speaking with triumphant praise.” The people chant: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts (Lord of the heavenly hosts). Heaven and earth are full of your glory...” The first part of this song reminds us of the angelic praise that the prophet Isaiah heard (Isaiah 6), where the cherubim and seraphim surround the throne of God and praise continually, saying, “Holy” Holy, Holy, Lord of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. This praise of the angels coincides with the chanting of the children of Jerusalem as they welcomed the Lord as He entered Jerusalem: “Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 21:9). The word “Hosanna” is a Hebrew word, and its equivalent in Syriac is “Hosanna,” which means “Save us, O You who are in the highest.” We cry out to the Father, praying that He grants us salvation, recognizing and blessing Christ who is coming in His name, whom we will receive at the Holy Table in a little while. We will even receive Him like children within us and unite with Him through Communion. The merging of the angelic song with the human one indicates that heaven and earth were united by the incarnation of Christ. In the Divine Mass, we enter the Kingdom, and the angels serve with us, and we repeat their praises like children with pure and pure hearts, because if we are no longer like children, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 18:3). In the Divine Mass, the Church becomes heaven on earth.

While singing this hymn, the priest recites a prayer in the name of all the people standing around him, in which he acknowledges and confesses the holiness and glory of God. This remembrance of what God has done with us is not just a simple presentation of the salvation events like a movie. Rather, it is a revival of these events as if they are happening now and we are part of them. Therefore, the priest repeats this memory in every Mass so that we can live it in every Divine Mass. At the end of the event, the priest announces, while pointing to the lamb (the offering) placed on the tray, which will be transformed into the body of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit pouring on it: “Take, eat, this is my body...” and the people answer, Amen, that is, truly. Then he points to the cup and says: “Drink from it, all of you...” We are now truly at the table of the Last Supper, the table of the Kingdom, with the Lord and His apostles, and we hear the voice of the Lord saying, “Take, eat...drink.”

The Law of Thanksgiving or Substantial Speech - Invoking the Holy Spirit

After the inauguration words, “Take, eat, drink from it all of you...” the priest says: “And since we remember this saving commandment, and all the things that happened for us, the cross, the grave, the three-day resurrection, the ascension to the heavens, the seating on the right, and the glorious second coming as well, which To you from what you have, We will bring it closer to you over everything and regarding everything.” The sacrifice we offer is an extension and remembrance of what the Lord did for us in order to save us. It is also an anticipation of what will happen in the future, that is, our participation in the table of the Kingdom and the glorious Second Coming. In this context, the priest offers sacrifices in the name of the people standing around him. This sacrifice, as we mentioned previously, we offer to God in order to thank Him for everything He has given us. Bread, which is the element of life, we offer to the Lord as a symbol of offering our lives to Him so that He may sanctify us and us enter the Kingdom.

The priest then recites a prayer invoking the Holy Spirit. Raising the prayer in the name of the gathered church, using the first person plural form: “We ask, plead, and ask that you send your Holy Spirit upon us and upon these offerings that have been placed, and make this bread the body of your honored Christ, Amen, and as for what is in this cup the blood of your honored Christ, Amen, transforming them with your Holy Spirit, Amen. Amen. Amen.". In this prayer, we reach the most important and precise moments of the Divine Mass, where the transformation of the offerings into the body and blood of Christ will be achieved. The Divine Mass is an integrated process, and the parts of the Mass are not separate from each other, but rather integrated. Thus, it is not possible to separate the invocation of the Holy Spirit over the offerings from the rest of the parts of the Mass. Otherwise, it would be possible to shorten the Mass to this prayer alone and then Communion. This prayer culminates what we were preparing for in the Mass through our meeting with each other, reading the Gospel and the message, declaring our faith and love, etc. What distinguishes this prayer is the invocation of the Holy Spirit “on us” and on the offerings that are placed. We must become temples of the Holy Spirit.

The priest continues the prayer, emphasizing that the goal of the transmutation of the Lord’s body and blood is “so that they may be for those who receive the soul, for the salvation of the soul, for the forgiveness of sins, and for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit...” We offer the offerings to the Father and He transforms them into the body and blood of His Son, so that our lives may be renewed and we may be deified by receiving the source of life.

The priest resumes his thanks to God for the abundant blessings that he has bestowed upon us through the prophets, apostles and saints. We also thank him “especially for the Mother of God...” and then prays for the departed and for the bishops, priests and the entire world..Then the head priest mentions the bishop of the diocese out loud so that he may keep his word. God is the truth and life and its teacher.

Holy things for the saints:

After reciting the Lord’s Prayer, the priest gives us peace so that we are ready to approach the holy mysteries, and prays that these holy things “will be for the good of us all according to the need of each one of us... and for the healing of the sick.” God alone knows the need of each one of us (Matthew 6:8) and He alone knows our good and what it is. In our hearts. The priest ends his prayer by declaring, “By the grace and compassion of your only-begotten Son and his love for mankind, with whom you are blessed and with your all-holy, good and life-making Spirit...” The priest prostrates before the offerings three times, saying, “In God, forgive me a sinner and have mercy on me,” because he is about to hold the Lord in his hands. Then he raises the lamb with his hands to the priest and announces: “Let us listen to what is holy for the saints.” A call for us to wake up and be careful. Holy things, that is, offerings transformed into the body and blood of the Lord, are worthy only of the saints. But these words are directed to us gathered around the Lord’s table in the church, to those who seek salvation from their sins, ask for the Lord’s mercy, and trust in the Lord.” The prayers in preparation for Communion come in which the believer declares his unworthiness and his dependence on the Lord, His mercy, and his trust in the love of the Lord, “who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

Handling:

The priest lifts the sacred body lamb off the tray and says: “The holy things are for the saints.” The lamb that the priest lifted with his hands is the noble body of the Lord, and it is the holy things, and nothing is more sacred than it. But sacred things cannot be neglected and should only be given to those who deserve them. These words are addressed to all of us because, according to the designation of the Apostle Paul, we are called saints because we are all members of the Body of Christ in the one Church.

“Advance with the fear of God, faith and love.”

Here is the pinnacle of the Divine Mass. The goal of the Divine Mass is Communion, and here are the conditions for the call: fear of God, faith in Him, and love of God and neighbor.

Fear of God means being fully aware that God is the Creator and the compassionate and just Judge. Added to that is right-minded faith, belief in God, the Trinity, and the work of salvation, and finally, love. Love of God and neighbor and love of salvation for ourselves and others.

Communion makes us united with Jesus Christ, and we also become one with the partakers of the same cup. Because Christ Jesus is the one who unites us to each other in truth. We also affirm that in Communion we abide in Christ: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life... abides in me and I in him” (John 6:54-56). Communion is the heavenly bread and food of our lives, and that is why the Holy Fathers recommend frequent Communion.

In contrast to this, we stress and stress the importance of preparing for Communion well. Prayer (prayer before Communion or “Mutalibsi”) firstly brings us into the depth of the ongoing relationship with God, and secondly fasting and abstinence from food since the night before the Divine Mass. Fasting is an expression that neither food nor drink distracts us from communion with the Lord Jesus, whom we consider to be God. The truth and nothing distracts us from it, in addition to it being a kind of spiritual struggle to welcome God Jesus into our hearts. Finally, we prepare ourselves for Communion by asking God for forgiveness and forgiving everyone who has sinned against us, and drawing closer by asking for forgiveness for everyone against whom we have sinned. How can the purpose of Communion be achieved in communion with Christ the God and with others if there remains in our hearts some hatred or hatred towards the other, whoever he may be?! The one cup is an organic marriage to the head of the body (Christ) and a real union with all the members of the body (believers in the church). Communion is an invitation to be coupled with each other in a relationship that links us all to the Lord, to whom be glory.

Completion of handling:

Upon completion of communion with the people, the priest stands at the Royal Door carrying the Holy Cup and says to the people: “This has touched your lips, and your sins will be taken away.” This phrase reminds us of what the angel of the Lord said to the prophet Isaiah: “This has touched your lips, and your iniquity has been taken away, and your sin has been atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7). When receiving Communion, we take the divine ember that carries life, which purifies everyone and burns the undeserving. Only Jesus is able to erase our sins and he is the one who offered himself as an atonement for our sins on the cross.

After Communion, the priest blesses the people with the cup, saying: “Save your people, O Lord, and bless your inheritance.” The priest calls the believers the people of God. We become one of the people of God when we unite with Jesus through Communion and become his brothers. That is, we all become children of God and form the body of Christ: “We who were many became one body because we ate the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17). Then the priest enters the temple and places in the holy cup what remains of the offerings on the tray, which are the parts that represent the Virgin and the saints...and says, “Wash away, O Lord, with your generous blood the sins of your servants mentioned here, through the intercession of the Mother of God and all your saints.” Only the Lord can erase sins. Our sacrifice here is a continuation of the sacrifice of the cross through which Jesus erased our sins and nailed them to the cross.

“We have seen the true light.” This is what the believers chant. Jesus Christ is the light and the truth, and through communion and union with him we become in the light. Indeed, we become children of the light and the truth, and the Holy Spirit dwells within us, who gives us life and makes us His temples. Then we truly worship the Holy Trinity.

Then the priest incenses the cup, saying: “Be exalted, O God, to the heavens, and your glory be upon all the earth.” This is a picture of Christ's ascension to heaven. This ascension takes place in every believer through Communion in a secret way, as through his union with Christ he has become secretly seated with Him at the right hand of the Father and settled in the heart of God. Then the priest transfers the offerings to the altar and recites a prayer of thanksgiving, and we thank the Lord for this blessing that He has given us. We thank Him for giving us the gift of sanctification through His precious blood.

After receiving Communion and returning the offerings to the altar, the priest announces: “Let us go out in peace...” The priest announces the end of the Divine Liturgy and dismisses the faithful in peace. He sends them away carrying the peace of the Lord in their hearts as they go out into the world, into their daily lives, to bear witness to what they saw, looked at, and lived in the Divine Mass, and to fulfill their calling in this life. At the beginning of the Divine Mass, the priest called us to enter the Kingdom and now, at its end, he invites us to return to this world to bear witness to the Kingdom and live the Kingdom in this world. This is our calling and we must fulfill it. Our exit from the church is similar to the disciples’ exit to the good news after the Savior’s ascension to heaven.

Then the priest comes out and stands in front of the icon of the Lord and recites this prayer: “Oh, blessed are those who bless you, O Lord, and sanctify those who trust in you...” He implores God to preserve, bless, and sanctify his people... and the people respond with the song: “Blessed be the name of the Lord...” A name is important, because it calls its owner, and this is how we bless the Lord by blessing his name.

Finally, before we set off, the priest gives us God’s blessing, because without the Lord’s blessing, grace, and mercy, we cannot do anything or continue our calling. Then he supplicates to Christ, who rose from the dead, through the intercessions of the Mother of God and the power of the Holy Cross, and... We were in the kingdom while we were going out into the world, and God will give us the goods of the world by relying on Him and seeking His kingdom first.

This booklet was compiled from the Bulletin of the Archdiocese of Aleppo before it changed the programming and design of its website...