Sunday, December 2, 2012

The Angelic Liturgy

This icon depicts the angels
carrying the gifts
for the Great Entrance.

            Angels fill the Divine Liturgy. The Little Entrance recalls the concelebration of angels. The Great Entrance recalls the angelic escort of the King. In the Anaphora, the triumphal hymn is introduced as angelic praise of God, to which we add our Liturgy. These symbols of angelic presence in the Liturgy reveal the reality that the Liturgy takes place also in heaven where angels ceaselessly worship God. Liturgy is not only material, but also spiritual, not only human, but also angelic. Angels remind us that to worship our spiritual God liturgically “in truth,” we must worship him “in spirit” (John 4:24).

Posted by John R.P. Russell at 12:00 AM
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Most Popular Posts this Month

  • The Morality of Birth Control
      Introduction There are few issues so disputed within the Church and between Christians of all kinds as the morality of birth control. Mos...
  • A Needle is a Needle and a Camel is a Camel.
    on Luke 18:18-27 I saw a comic strip recently. There's a preacher character standing in the pulpit before his congregation, rather...
  • Iconography of the Devil
    Roman Catholic images of Satan often depict him as a horned, muscular, bat-wing ed man in combat with Michael, whose feast is today   ( ri...
  • Swaddling Clothes
    "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room...
  • Where the Body is
    Jesus leaves us today with a discomforting and obscure image: “where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.” [1] … I think...
  • The Prayer
    Two blind men follow Jesus, “crying aloud, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David’” (Matt 9:27). And later they call him “Lord” (9:28). And Jesus ...
  • Theocracy
    There was a Polish movement recently to proclaim Jesus Christ the King of Poland . Jesus Christ is already the King of Poland, ...

Most Popular Posts of All Time