The Divine Liturgy in the Byzant

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom - most common
Liturgy of St. Basil - celebrated 10 times a year. (The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is essentially a shorter form of the Liturgy of St. Basil.)
Liturgy of St. James - rarely used today. Typically celebrated on his feast day (Oct. 23) .
Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of St. Gregory - celebrated on Wednesdays and Fridays of the Great Lent and on the first three days of Holy Week. It is not a true Eucharistic Liturgy, since there is no Consecration. It is more of a Eucharist service that uses the Consecrated Bread reserved from the previous Sunday.

The Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom and of St. Basil the Great consist of three parts: the Preparation, the Liturgy of the Word, and the Liturgy of Sacrifice.

1.The Preparation begins with the priest saying the Prayers of Intention, donning the liturgical vestments, and proceeding to the prothesis. Here, he uses the lance to cut up the prosfora (altar bread) and places them particles on the diskos in a specific arrangement that commemorates: the Lamb of God (Jesus), the Mother of God, Saints of the Old and New Testaments, the clergy, the living and the dead. The priest also prepares the chalice by pouring the wine and adding a few drops of water into it. The asterisk is then opened, placed over the paten, and the chalice and paten with their own veils. Finally both are covered with a larger veil called the aer. The Preparation is symbolic of the birth of Christ and His hidden life before He began to teach publicly.

Sketch of diskos with arranged particles

2. The Liturgy of the Word begins with the priest approaching the Holy Table, opening the royal doors, (at which point the congregation stands), incensing, raising the Book of Gospels and saying "Blessed be the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and ever." This portion of the Liturgy consists of ektenias (litanies), prayers, hymns, psalms, the Little Entrance, tropars, kondaks, an Epistle reading, a Gospel reading, a homily, and another ektenia to prepare the faithful for the Liturgy of the Sacrifice.

Sketch of Little Entrance

Sketch of the Consecration

The Holy Gifts are distributed under the forms of Bread and Wine by means of a small golden spoon. When receiving the Blessed Sacrament, one approaches the priest with hands folded right over left on the breast, and tilts his/her head back and opens his/her mouth. The priest then drops the Blessed Sacrament into the mouth of the recipient. The recipient should not touch the spoon with their mouth or tongue.

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