First Time at a Divine Liturgy

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Timmay

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Hey there,

So this morning I attended my first Divine Liturgy today, at Sacred Heart Byzantine Catholic Church in Livonia, MI. I’ve been wanting to explore the many Eastern churches in the area (I grew up within a few miles of 5 or 6, before moving out to this side of town last year) to get a feel for the fullness of our one Catholic Church, but for a number of reasons it’s just never happened.

I have to say I loved it. I didn’t always know what was going on, but the parts I did were beautiful, obviously rich in tradition and symbolism (though I didn’t know what they all were). Having no prior exposure to any of the Eastern rites (outside of going to school within a large Chaldean population), I just stood and sat when everyone else did, followed along in the ‘missal’, and prayed and responded with as much as I could.

Afterwards I was invited to the parish hall for coffee and donuts, and I really wanted to go and ask some questions, but unfortunately I had to jet back for a meeting with my superior. Out of pure habit, I didn’t account for the liturgy being longer than an hour (I’m not complaining; I’ve just been conditioned by Masses that never last longer than an hour 😉 ). So I was hoping some people here could answer some questions I had.

Oh, and I want to apologize ahead of time if I don’t use proper vocabulary… All I know are latin-rite terms, so please bear with me, and feel free to correct me.
  1. Is there a tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament is kept in repose? I was looking for it, to know if I should genuflect or not, but didn’t see anything that looked like one. I watched what others did as they entered the church, but didn’t see much consistency; some venerated a number of icons and bowed before sitting, others went right to their pew.
  2. I was surprised that nobody knelt during the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration. There were kneelers, and the missal/guide I was following said to kneel, but everyone stayed standing. Was this something specific to this parish? A ‘latinization’ as I’ve seen it called in other posts?
  3. Was today a particular Marian feast in the Byzantine Church? The priest and deacon wore blue vestments, there was a lot of mentions of the Theotokos, and there was an icon of the Theotokos out on display in the main aisle, before getting to the sanctuary. I looked in the bulletin afterwards, and it just listed today as the 25th Sunday after Pentecost.
  4. Do we latin rite visitors really stand out that much? 🙂 A very nice helpful gentlemen approached me just before the liturgy started and explained a few things to me (like how to receive Communion, thankfully) and offered me some pamphlets afterwards. And before communion, the priest made an announcement to all the latin rite visitors on how to receive communion, but was looking right at me. Not that I mind; I was grateful for the help, I just thought I was blending in a little better than that.
That’s all for the moment. I plan to read up on liturgy over the next few weeks and then go back again. I’m sure I’ll have more questions as I go. These were just the ones that jumped out at me. Thanks in advance for any and all help!
 
  1. Is there a tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament is kept in repose? I was looking for it, to know if I should genuflect or not, but didn’t see anything that looked like one. I watched what others did as they entered the church, but didn’t see much consistency; some venerated a number of icons and bowed before sitting, others went right to their pew.
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It was on the Altar.
  1. I was surprised that nobody knelt during the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration. There were kneelers, and the missal/guide I was following said to kneel, but everyone stayed standing. Was this something specific to this parish? A ‘latinization’ as I’ve seen it called in other posts?
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We stand because of the Ressurection of Christ.
  1. Was today a particular Marian feast in the Byzantine Church? The priest and deacon wore blue vestments, there was a lot of mentions of the Theotokos, and there was an icon of the Theotokos out on display in the main aisle, before getting to the sanctuary. I looked in the bulletin afterwards, and it just listed today as the 25th Sunday after Pentecost
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It was the leave taking of the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. We alway venerate icons - the particular feast is in the center. Then during our Liturgy, there are several hymns for the Theotokos.
  1. Do we latin rite visitors really stand out that much? 🙂 A very nice helpful gentlemen approached me just before the liturgy started and explained a few things to me (like how to receive Communion, thankfully) and offered me some pamphlets afterwards. And before communion, the priest made an announcement to all the latin rite visitors on how to receive communion, but was looking right at me. Not that I mind; I was grateful for the help, I just thought I was blending in a little better than that.
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No, it is not that you stand out, it is just easier for someone coming to visit, it we give heads up. It is less confusing, so you are better able to enjoy what you are tasting a lot more. Also, it is good to welcome visitors, helping them to feel more comfortable, and know it is ok if you like to just watch and partake. We have all the same Sacraments, but the presentaion can seem quit a bit different, yet they are the same along with awesomeness of the mystery and mercy of our Lord.
 
Good questions! (I see now that I’ve posted that I’m a minute late and Pani Rose has already said the same thing. :))
Timmay said:
  1. Is there a tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament is kept in repose? I was looking for it, to know if I should genuflect or not, but didn’t see anything that looked like one. I watched what others did as they entered the church, but didn’t see much consistency; some venerated a number of icons and bowed before sitting, others went right to their pew.
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There is a tabernacle and it is usually shaped like a church and on the altar. There is not a theology of venerating the Eucharist outside of receiving it in Communion and there is a tradition of not kneeling on Sundays out of celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Those two together explain why you didn’t see anyone genuflecting.
  1. I was surprised that nobody knelt during the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration. There were kneelers, and the missal/guide I was following said to kneel, but everyone stayed standing. Was this something specific to this parish? A ‘latinization’ as I’ve seen it called in other posts?
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The kneeling is the latinization and this parish has apparently returned to their tradition of standing on Sundays despite a history there of kneeling. You might point out that their people’s book should be updated to reflect their return to the traditional eastern practice.
  1. Was today a particular Marian feast in the Byzantine Church? The priest and deacon wore blue vestments, there was a lot of mentions of the Theotokos, and there was an icon of the Theotokos out on display in the main aisle, before getting to the sanctuary. I looked in the bulletin afterwards, and it just listed today as the 25th Sunday after Pentecost.
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Wednesday was the feast of the entrance of the Mother of God into the temple. They probably were wearing the blue vestments in honor of that feast. The only rubrical liturgical color code the east has is light or dark, so they can wear blue anytime. If that’s their best or only vestments, they might wear them more frequently.
  1. Do we latin rite visitors really stand out that much? 🙂 A very nice helpful gentlemen approached me just before the liturgy started and explained a few things to me (like how to receive Communion, thankfully) and offered me some pamphlets afterwards. And before communion, the priest made an announcement to all the latin rite visitors on how to receive communion, but was looking right at me. Not that I mind; I was grateful for the help, I just thought I was blending in a little better than that.
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Any visitors stand out because the community is so small that they recognize new comers. If you seem to be a liturgical Christian (you catch on at the litany, you know parts of prayers, you make the sign of the cross), you are most likely a Latin visitor.
 
Ahh, in regards to the feast this week…

** From the ProtoEvangelium of St. James the Apostle:**
… And, behold, Joachim came with his flocks; and Anna stood by the gate, and saw Joachim coming, and she ran and hung upon his neck, saying: Now I know that the Lord God has blessed me exceedingly; for, behold the widow no longer a widow, and I the childless shall conceive. And Joachim rested the first day in his house.
  1. And on the following day he brought his offerings, saying in himself: If the Lord God has been rendered gracious to me, the plate on the priest’s forehead will make it manifest to me. And Joachim brought his offerings, and observed attentively the priest’s plate when he went up to the altar of the Lord, and he saw no sin in himself. And Joachim said: Now I know that the Lord has been gracious unto me, and has remitted all my sins. And he went down from the temple of the Lord justified, and departed to his own house. And her months were fulfilled, and in the ninth month Anna brought forth. And she said to the midwife: What have I brought forth? and she said: A girl. And said Anna: My soul has been magnified this day. And she laid her down. And the days having been fulfilled, Anna was purified, and gave the breast to the child, and called her name Mary.
  2. And the child grew strong day by day; and when she was six months old, her mother set her on the ground to try whether she could stand, and she walked seven steps and came into her bosom; and she snatched her up, saying: As the Lord my God lives, you shall not walk on this earth until I bring you into the temple of the Lord. And she made a sanctuary in her bed-chamber, and allowed nothing common or unclean to pass through her. And she called the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews, and they led her astray. And when she was a year old, Joachim made a great feast, and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and all the people of Israel. And Joachim brought the child to the priests; and they blessed her, saying: O God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations. And all the people said: So be it, so be it, amen. And he brought her to the chief priests; and they blessed her, saying: O God most high, look upon this child, and bless her with the utmost blessing, which shall be for ever. And her mother snatched her up, and took her into the sanctuary of her bed-chamber, and gave her the breast. And Anna made a song to the Lord God, saying: I will sing a song to the Lord my God, for He has looked upon me, and has taken away the reproach of mine enemies; and the Lord has given the fruit of His righteousness, singular in its kind, and richly endowed before Him.
CON’T
 
Who will tell the sons of Rubim that Anna gives suck? Hear, hear, you twelve tribes of Israel, that Anna gives suck. And she laid her to rest in the bed-chamber of her sanctuary, and went out and ministered unto them. And when the supper was ended, they went down rejoicing, and glorifying the God of Israel.
7. And her months were added to the child. And the child was two years old, and Joachim said: Let us take her up to the temple of the Lord, that we may pay the vow that we have vowed, lest perchance the Lord send to us, and our offering be not received. And Anna said: Let us wait for the third year, in order that the child may not seek for father or mother. And Joachim said: So let us wait. And the child was three years old, and Joachim said: Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are undefiled, and let them take each a lamp, and let them stand with the lamps burning, that the child may not turn back, and her heart be captivated from the temple of the Lord. And they did so until they went up into the temple of the Lord. And the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her, saying: The Lord has magnified your name in all generations. In you, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel. And he set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her.
8. And her parents went down marvelling, and praising the Lord God, because the child had not turned back. And Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there, and she received food from the hand of an angel…
newadvent.org/fathers/0847.htm
 
Great questions for your first visit to our Divine Liturgy!

We stand at the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration because Sunday is the Day of the Lord’s Resurrection. In the Byzantine Catholic Churches, kneeling is a sign of pennance and standing it the proper posture for praise. (the books you were using may be an older version which stated to kneel.

There are many devotions to the Blessed Mother the Theotokos. You may have noticed that just after the consecration that we said: *“It is truly proper to glorify you, O Theotokos, Ever Blesssed, Immaculate and the Mother of our God…More honorable than the Cheribum, more glorious than the Seraphim. Who a virgin gave birth to God the Word, you truly the Theotokos, we magnify.” * (typed this by memory).
This is said frequently at many of our prayer services and of course, during the Divine Liturgy.

It is proper to venerate the icons when entering the church. It is to show respect and thanks. Icons are not pictures but ‘Theology in Color’ Icons are ‘written’ not painted..

I am sure everyone here on this Forum can help you understand and appreciate what we can offer those of the Western Church. That both East and West traditions make up the whole of the Catholic Church.
 
Edwin1961 said:
It is proper to venerate the icons when entering the church. It is to show respect and thanks. Icons are not pictures but ‘Theology in Color’ Icons are ‘written’ not painted..
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How does one properly venerate the icons?
 
Edwin1961 said:
We stand at the Eucharistic Prayers and Consecration because Sunday is the Day of the Lord’s Resurrection. In the Byzantine Catholic Churches, kneeling is a sign of pennance and standing it the proper posture for praise. (the books you were using may be an older version which stated to kneel.
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Thats interesting to me, because i recently went to a Divine Liturgy at a Greek Orthodox Church in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and they kneeled during consecration.

Wouldn’t the Church of Constantinople be significantly less “latinized”? I assumed that was the norm, but now that i know otherwise, I’m wondering why they did it.

<> 🙂
 
I se that most of your questions have been answered so let me tell you a little about that particular parish.

The name itself is what we call a “latinization”. The Sacred Heart traditions are almost exclusively Western. The building in Livonia is a latinization. They have few icons in comparison with many Byzantine Churches. They have no dome unless they have built one in the last year or so.

Yet, they were in many ways at the vanguard of reclaiming Byzantine chant and other parts of our patrimony. I suppose that every Byzantine Church is at some point along a continuum of reclamation.

I’m glad to note that they don’t kneel any longer. I suspect that change came with their new priest. Their former priest is one of the dearest men I’ve ever met. He helped the congregation move along in a good fashion toward reclaiming our patrimony but I suspect that some things were left alone to keep peace in the house.

Welcome to the most beautiful liturgy on earth…or is that heaven?

CDL
 
GregoryPalamas said:
Welcome to the most beautiful liturgy on earth…or is that heaven?

CDL
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😃 Now I know you know CDL that when we enter those doors we are no longer on our time, but on God’s alone. :extrahappy:Leave your watches at home! Heaven and earth unite in this time - present to man at the celebration of the Divine Liturgy - as the Triune God brings his Word and Eucharist to feed his people. All of creation rejoices as we worship together, both those Church Triumphant and Church Militant at the feet of our Lord. God is good!
 
Code: 
Eastern-Rite Catholicism: Its Heritage and Vocation       
  ***By****** Robert F. Taft***
…This view of the liturgy as a participation in the celestial worship of our glorified Heavenly King finds unmistakable expression in the Byzantine offertory rite of the Great Entrance, when the clergy bear the sacred offerings in procession from the altar of preparation to the altar of sacrifice. The Cherubic Hymn sung during the procession expresses the symbolism in which the whole cult is immersed, enjoining the faithful to associate themselves with the heavenly choirs and share in their eternal view:
Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim and sing the thrice-holy hymn to the life-giving Trinity now put aside every earthly care, so that we may welcome the King of all who comes escorted by invisible hosts of angels. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
​
Even more explicit, perhaps, is the ritual for the consecration of a church:
O Lord of heaven and earth, who with ineffable wisdom…has appointed the order of the priesthood on earth as a symbol of the angels’ service in heaven . . . fill with Your divine glory this temple erected to Your praise, and show forth the holy altar erected therein as the Holy of Holies, that we who stand before it, as before the dread throne of Your Kingdom, may serve You uncondemned.
​
This insistence on participation in the heavenly liturgy is not a sentimental evasion into the unreal, but a confession of faith in what is most real, our life in Christ. And the stress on the completion of our transfiguration after death gives a sense of triumph to our faith, which begins this process during life…
byzantines.net/books/eastern-rite.htm
 
Leave-taking of a feast,
this means that the festal period is over. The propers are sung from the original feast on this day at the Leave-taken of that particular feast day. Leave-taking=end of festal period.
Just threw this in because Rose mentioned it was a leave-taking day.
 
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