Melkite Greek Catholic Church

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Letter on the Liturgy
Of His Beatitude, Patriarch Gregorios III,
Of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
For the Melkite Greek Catholic Church

 

To all of you, dear brothers and sisters,
Your Graces the bishops,
Superiors General, Mothers General,
priests, deacons, monks, nuns
and all the sons and daughters
of our Melkite Greek Catholic parishes
in Arab countries, countries of emigration
and throughout the world.

 

 

Chapter Three
Practical Guidance


Basing ourselves on what was said above, we shall review the following guidance and notifications.

  • Printing liturgical books

  • The Patriarchal Liturgical Commission is alone responsible, under the direction of the Patriarch, for ensuring that any books printed are in conformity with the texts received and issued by the patriarchal church.

 

  • The liturgical books mentioned above are legally authorised to be printed and are copyright of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission that had these books published at the Patriarchate’s expense. That is why it is forbidden to publish any liturgical book, leaflet or pamphlet without express written permission from the Patriarch. It is also absolutely forbidden to translate the liturgical books into any other language in any country whether within or outside the patriarchal territory, without such permission.

  • We undertook to scrutinise the liturgical books before publication according to the following method. The draft manuscript is given to the Patriarch and the Patriarch passes it to the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission, which examines it in turn and gives its written report to the Patriarch. If the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission sees that it is in conformity with the books already in use, in accordance with the liturgical line already in force in the Patriarchal Church, it gives its approval, saying, “Nihil obstat. Imprimi potest. Imprimatur,” with the date and protocol number. The Patriarch then studies the opinion of the Liturgical Commission and if he finds that the books are in conformity with the draft manuscript, and if he is in agreement, writes on the copy, “We give the Imprimatur,” again with the date and protocol number. (If there are important matters at stake, it is up to the Patriarch to decide whether to put them to the Synod.) After that, the draft manuscript goes back to its author, who must also have the approval of the local bishop for it to be printed. So the bishop writes on the draft manuscript, “Imprimatur,” with the date and the protocol number of the licence.

 

  • These norms are necessary to preserve the unity of the text, of the rite, its originality and its fidelity to the sacred texts in use. This arrangement is also in conformity with ecclesiastical law, as we showed above and as was explained in the Instruction published by the Congregation for Eastern Churches. The reason for that arrangement is the fact that there were many infractions that happened in the past, as the local authority (the bishop) did not always take care to scrutinise texts properly and to ensure that they were in conformity with the official liturgical texts. So there was a profusion of little publications, booklets in different editions, giving rise to unacceptable chaos in the Church. We shall not allow that to be repeated.

  • Principles of Liturgical Animation in the Divine Liturgy

  • Liturgical animation is the goal of the liturgical restoration. Our Holy Synods have decreed over the last forty years various arrangements, proposals and advice relating to liturgical animation or restoration. We quote here two decrees relating to the Divine Liturgy.

 

  • “The Fathers decided, with some changes, upon the project presented by Metropolitan Neophytos Edelby, at the Synod’s request. This project contains the least number of changes in the words and actions. Often these have to do with eliminating some insignificant repetitions and as far as possible they are in conformity with the most recent experiments conducted in our sister Orthodox Churches and in our own communities. That is why the Holy Synod is decreeing these abbreviations and allowing them to be used from the beginning of 1970. The Liturgical Commission is charged with supervising the printing of a booklet containing the already corrected text. The Synod gives its approval for that being printed whilst granting permission for those who wish, both bishops and priests, to serve the Divine Liturgy according to the full unabbreviated old text.” (Synodal Decree of 1969)

  • “As far as the celebration of the Divine Liturgy is concerned, and the prayers uttered aloud, we have decided as follows: to be said aloud are the prayers of the First Antiphon, the prayer before the Holy Gospel, the prayer that ends “Under thy protection,” the Offertory prayers after the Little Entrance, the first part of the Anaphora, (“It is meet and right...”) and the second part (“With these powers..”) and then the prayer of preparation for Holy Communion, the prayer after the transference of the gifts to the altar (“Let our mouths be filled with thy praise...”) or Prayer of Thanksgiving. Yet in the Liturgy where there is a choir, some changes can be made to this order, according to circumstances. The Synod requires that the prayer to the Holy Spirit after the words of consecration be ended by a deep prostration.(1) ” (Synodal Decree of 1970)

 

  • We, through the patriarchal power invested in us, confirm these two decrees and we sum them up in the liturgical principle decided in the Synod of 2001, and which we consider as an essential element in liturgical animation through its words: “The prayers of the Divine Liturgy are generally pronounced aloud and not said in a low voice. We emphasise the need for the Anaphora prayer to be said aloud, and we leave it up to each celebrant to decide which of the other prayers he wants to say aloud.”

  • Also in 2001 the Synod gave the following definition of liturgical animation, “Liturgical animation means the beautiful, worthy celebration of our liturgical prayers, far from conformism and routine and boring habit, on the one hand and far from chaos and improvisation on the other.”

 

  • In the past our Synods and clergy congresses in our Church envisaged and required several things for liturgical animation, especially having recourse to the changeable elements of the Liturgy of the Word. That principle can be applied especially to the moveable and fixed dominical feasts. Indeed, liturgical animation can be effected by the choice of the moveable liturgical elements, which differ according to the degree of the feast. We exhort everyone to use them and to get used to them for the animation of liturgical life in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy. The book of the Divine Liturgy emphasises in its preface the theological and liturgical principle relating to keeping to one Divine Liturgy at one altar in one church, served by one priest. Indeed only pastoral necessity may require a priest to celebrate two or three liturgies in one day, and only with the permission of the eparchial bishop, always supposing that there is sufficient time between one Liturgy and the next for the priest to celebrate the Liturgy perfectly, without feeling mentally and physically tired or exhausted. (14) Lutfi Laham The Directory of the New Liturgical Books 1992 (Jerusalem 1993 pp. 2-3)

Theology emphasises strongly the unity of the Divine Liturgy and the unity of the concelebrants with the chief celebrant. That means that the Liturgy is one, no matter how great the number of concelebrants may be; and the prayers are those of one and all, whether they are spoken now by the chief celebrant or by one of the concelebrants. Consequently, it is not necessary for each celebrant to say these prayers privately to himself. Actually, the form of the prayers confirms this principle, because they are formulated in the plural: “Receive from us... who stand before thy holy altar...,” even when the priest is celebrating just by himself. Yet there are also prayers proper to the celebrating priest: they relate to the priest’s personal preparation. That is why they are in the singular: “Fill me with the power of thy Spirit...,” “look down upon me, thy sinful and unprofitable servant,” and so on.

Designating one priest or bishop or group to serve the Divine Liturgy is at the basis of our tradition. The others participate in the choir wearing complete clerical dress, under the presiding bishop or superior of a monastery and at the time of communion they put on their epitrakhelion and go up for communion according to the known liturgical rule.
There is no indication in the liturgical book requiring each concelebrant priest to pray all the prayers either to himself or aloud. Today’s practice in the Melkite Church of every priest saying all prayers in a loud or low voice is a habit that has found its way into our Church without a synodal decision...The custom of every priest saying all the prayers himself does not exist in any rite of either East or West. (See Lutfi Laham The Directory of the New Liturgical Books 1992 (Jerusalem 1993 pp. 3-4)

  • The main moveable liturgical elements that help us with animation are the following:

  • Diversifying the Litany of Peace at the great feasts.

  • Modifying the prayers of the first, second and third antiphons.

  • A new order for the entrance hymn or Eisodos.

  • New arrangements for the final troparion and kontakion.

  • A new order for the prayer of the Trisagion and “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ,” and “We bow before thy Cross, O Christ...”

  • Repeating the verses before the Epistle, according to the original usage.

  • Repeating the verses of the Alleluia after the Epistle before the Gospel.

  • Possibility for choosing some Epistle-readings and some Gospel-readings in special circumstances.

  • Keeping the recitation of the ektenia after the Gospel by giving the possibility of varying the requests, prepared beforehand.

  • Varying the prayers that follow the ektenia, or the prayers of the faithful.

  • Reintroduce the kiss of peace, especially on Sundays and feast-days.

  • A new disposition for the hymn, “It is meet and right to call thee blessed, Ever-blessed and Most Pure, and the Mother of our God.” Another Marian hymn could be used.

  • Add to the Koinonikon hymns and psalms and liturgical prayers inspired by the liturgical books, especially for the hymns that are taken from the metaleipsis and other hymns and prayers from the Feast of the Divine Body in the Melkite Church.

  • During the Communion of the faithful and after the acclamation: “Amen. Amen. Amen,” the hymn is sung, “Receive me this day as a communicant...” After that may be also sung other psalms and Biblical hymns suitable to the feast.

  • Re-adopt the custom of saying the name of the person coming up for Communion.

  • A new order concerning a hymn other than “We have seen the true light...”

  • Change or diversify the prayer of thanksgiving.

  • For the days of Lent, instead of the prayer from the ambon, the prayer of the Presanctified should be said.

59.   Practical Applications
In what follows we give advice for applying in practice and using the books of liturgy and discovering the moveable elements and how to modify and diversify, to ensure participation by the faithful in a more lively way and to bring about the hoped for liturgical animation.

         To be sure, these practical arrangements do not change or abolish the known rules of the Typikon printed in the books of the Typikon, but are proposals that we advise being implemented with a great deal of fervour, as they help liturgical animation.

  • The litany of peace at moveable and fixed great feasts in the service of these feasts and at the end of these feasts: we sing four newly composed petitions instead of the four corresponding petitions, after the litany that refers to the episcopate, and the other petitions before and after remain the same.

  • The antiphonal prayers: the following order can be used. On Sundays, either one of the three usual antiphons can be chosen, or one of the new antiphonal prayers. For the fixed and moveable dominical feast-days of the Menaion, the Triodion and the Pentecostarion, we have introduced new antiphonal prayers. For weekdays, we propose the following: on Mondays and Thursdays, the prayer of the first antiphon; on Tuesdays and Fridays, the prayer of the second antiphon, and on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the prayer of the third antiphon.

  • With the antiphons we do the following: on Sundays, for Tones One and Five, we say the verses of the First Antiphon of the week, with the refrain, “At the prayers of the Mother of God...” For Tones Two and Six, we sing the Psalm, “Bless the Lord, O my soul...” with the refrain, “Blessed be thou, O God.” For Tones Three and Seven, we sing the Second Psalm, “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” with the refrain, “I will sing to the Lord while I live; I will sing praise to my God while I exist.” (Psalm 103: 1, 33 LXX) For Tones Four and Eight, we take the Beatitudes, with the refrain, “Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy Kingdom.” (Luke 23: 42) One can also pray the pieces proper to the Resurrection, or some prayers from the hymns that are proper to the Eight Tones of the Resurrection. These hymns can be seen in the services for Sundays.

For the dominical feasts there are special antiphons.
We added a refrain unique to the Feast and it can be sung for all the verses of the three antiphons.
For services for feast-days and every day, the verses of the three antiphons can be read, one after the other.
For weekdays, an antiphon can be prayed each day, with its refrain, according to the following order: Mondays and Thursdays, the First Antiphon with the refrain, “At the prayers of the Mother of God, Saviour, save us;” Tuesdays and Fridays, the second group of verses, with the refrain, “At the intercession of thy saints, save us,” and on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the verses of the third antiphon, with the refrain, “Save us, O Son of God, who art wonderful in thy saints.”

  • We have added a prayer at the Eisodos (Little Entrance). It can be prayed at will.

  • Hymns of the Little Entrance: there are those proper to the dominical feasts, sung during the whole period of the feast and not just on its first day and the leave-taking of the feast.

  • The Troparia: besides the troparia of the saints of the day, the troparia of the weekday cycle can be sung, Monday for the Angels, Tuesday the Fore-runner, Wednesday the Cross and the Holy Virgin, Thursday for the Apostles and Friday for the Cross, Saturday for the Departed and All Saints.

The Kontakia for the weekly cycle can also be sung, as mentioned above. Then comes the final kontakion, so-called because it brings to an end the other kontakia and troparia of the day or feast.

  • We have added another prayer at the Trisagion.

  • Instead of singing of Aghios o Theos, we may sing, “As many of you as have been baptized into Christ...” or “Before thy Cross we bow in worship, O Master...” for the whole octave of the feast and not just on the first and last days.

  • The Prokeimenon that precedes the Epistle and the verses of the Alleluia should be strictly kept to be sung antiphonally between reader and choir or congregation.

It should be understood that the Prokeimena before the Epistle reading on Sundays and feast days, and the verses of psalms with the Alleluia that come afterwards are repeated in a series of eight tones throughout the year.
There are also verses and psalms before the Epistles that are common to Epistles, just as there are troparia to the saints that are common to a martyr, to a saint, a bishop and so forth.

  • The Ektenia: to preserve the structure of the Liturgy, it is vital to preserve the Litany of fervent Supplication even if one is giving a sermon. The Synod of 1969 insisted on keeping this ektenia.

One can make three petitions during this ektenia or all the petitions of this ektenia without modifying anything.
We added forty-five models of special petitions: one can choose what one likes, as the celebrant wishes.
We propose that the priest, with animators, prepare the petitions of this ektenia.
The new special petitions in this book can be prayed either by members of the choir or by other persons and the priest or deacon can round off each petition by the prayer, “We pray thee, hearken and have mercy.” And after the whole collection of requests can be concluded by the request, “Again we pray for them that bring offerings and do good works etc.”
It is desirable for the new petitions to be said very often, and if possible, daily by faithful men and women.

  • The prayers of the Litany of fervent Supplication can be concluded either by the prayer of fervent supplication or by one of the two prayers of the faithful, or by others from the book.

  • “Thine of thine own, we offer unto thee...” This phrase is reserved for the principal celebrant and not to another priest or deacon.

  • The invocation to the Holy Spirit or epiclesis.

One should make a prostration to the ground after the epiclesis.(2)
All the people respond after the consecration of each of the elements, “Amen,” and at the end a threefold, “Amen.”

  • “It is meet and right to hymn thee...” One may sing, instead of “It is meet...” the irmos proper to the dominical feast for the time of the feast and not just on the first and last days.

Where there are two irmoi, one or the other may be sung alternatively.

  • The Litany before the “Our Father:” either the requests of the litany may be said, or the prayer before the Our Father.

In any case, the final request should be kept, “Having asked for the unity of the faith, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, let us commit ourselves and one another, and all our life unto Christ our God.”
It is not desirable to sing, “Grant this, O Lord,” continuously, while the priest or deacon is praying the petitions of the Litany, as the latter cannot be heard by the people. In any case, the exception should never become the rule, or abbreviation becomes the rule, and this is a principle that should be applied at many other points in the Liturgy.

  • The prayers of the Communion of the Faithful. As the faithful come forward, each should say his or her name before receiving Holy Communion.

It is forbidden to say, (instead of “The servant of God receives..,”) “the son of God...” as this phrase refers strictly to the Lord Jesus Christ. (Decree of the Synod 1972)
Some psalms, or other suitable liturgical hymns, may be sung, but after “At thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, receive me today as a communicant…” but not instead of “At thy Mystical Supper...”

  • In the new Liturgy books, we have put some tables to help with liturgical animation. So, the refrain of the antiphon at the Little Entrance, the hymn of the Eisodos, the final kontakion, the Hymn to the Mother of God, “It is truly meet to call thee blessed...” and for the Apolysis.

r)  Facilitating people’s participation in the celebration

    • choir and people alternately responding to different requests during litanies.

    • refrains of the antiphons: choir and people responding alternately

    • encouraging children to take part in processions

    • encouraging people to sing Aghios o Theos once

    • encouraging people to repeat the verses before the Epistle and the Gospel

    • the prayer before the Gospel can be said with the people.

    • enabling the people to participate in the intentions of the ektenia. It can be recited, with the people responding to each of the requests of this ektenia.

    • The prayer before people take Communion can be said together.

    • Also the thanksgiving prayer after people have taken Communion can be said together.

            3. Liturgical animation in liturgical services

  • We hope that the publication of the new books of liturgical services in their beautiful new form in this fine edition will be stimulating for liturgical animation in our Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

  • Liturgical prayers are very rich in their different elements, in psalms and hymns, especially the canons of Orthros (Matins.) These prayers developed under the influence of monasteries and monks, and many clergy, even monks and nuns themselves, cannot really celebrate these prayers and services completely, due to their great length and variety. This has led churches, monasteries and religious and other centres to abridge the services in different ways.

The Liturgical Commission prefers the principle of animation and diversification to abbreviation that often deforms liturgical structure.

  • Here, in what follows, are some pieces of guidance, that we publish here at the beginning of the liturgical books, to be a stimulus to monks and nuns, and to eparchial priests and parishes, for the prayers to gain their fitting place in popular piety, and to animate the Eastern spiritual heritage.

  • The Psalms of the daily office can be varied, by singing them in alternation and spreading them out over the week, so that all the Psalms are recited: in Vespers, Compline, Great Compline, Matins and the Hours too.

  • The “secret” prayers can be prayed aloud, especially before the ekphoneses at Vespers and Matins.

  • The community can be encouraged to participate in the antiphonal prayers, especially in the verses of the Psalms, before the hymns of Vespers and Compline, which we put in bold in the service books.

  • Not everything in the Liturgy (hymns and prayers) is always prayer in the true sense of an invocation. It has a broader meaning: the reporting of historic events, theological and ethical exhortations, meditating on the abundance of the Divine Mercy and the vanity of the things of this world, the gravity of sin and so forth. After that at the end, there is one invocation and intercession: “Grant to our souls thy great mercy...Sing to the Lord, O ye people...Blessed be the God of peace etc.” That is why it is not always desirable to read the prayers in a monotone. Liturgical logic requires there to be a difference between the text itself and the final invocation, through slightly changing the tone of voice or chant.

  • The canon of Matins can be varied, by reading sometimes the canon, sometimes the antiphons, or one of the twenty kathismata of Psalms or a spiritual reading from the Church Fathers or monks, or Church documents or saints’ lives.

  • Distribute the canons of the Paraklitike and the canons of dominical feasts and services over the weekdays, so on one day Odes One and Three could be sung, the next day, Odes Four, Five and Six, a third day, Odes Seven, Eight and Nine. The Ninth Ode of the dominical feasts could also be sung, “Magnify, O my soul...” instead of the hymn to the Mother of God, “It is truly meet...” during  all days of the services of the feast. Again, one could choose a triennial principle: in year A, the first part of the canon could be sung, in year B the second part of the canon, and in year C, the third part of the canon, all the while keeping the ninth ode of the canon.

  • Provide a foil for the style of celebrating services in the community, so that little communities, especially those in pastoral centres and mission centres, can alternate readings and chants. That is why we have put in the Appendix to the liturgical books, the main hymns with annotated music for the Psalter. We have included this music to facilitate its being sung more directly and to encourage these chants to become known to clergy and people: thus it will become an element for unification.

  • Put in place a programme for introducing variety into each week and for each great celebration, especially in monasteries, whilst preserving the basic structure of the services, so that all liturgical components pass in turn during the course of the days and week and nothing is left over or definitively omitted. In the Typikon of our liturgical books, there is a special note for the ecclesiarch, who is responsible for organising the daily liturgical services.

  • It is also requisite for monastic or religious communities to celebrate the services in a complete way, especially during the principal dominical feasts and special feasts. So advisable to take up once more the vigils of the major feasts, the Agrypnia or Pannychis. During this vigil there may be also the artoklasia, the blessing of the five loaves. So we can animate our ancient, original liturgical practices.

  • The celebration of liturgical services, especially vespers in the evening of great feasts or for the Sunday of great feasts can be a component of liturgical animation in parishes. They must be prepared and celebrated beautifully, enabling the faithful to participate in the spiritual meaning of these prayers.

  • The prayers and liturgical chants can be used to animate pastoral or youth meetings, spiritual retreats, congresses so that our rites becomes really popular, loved by our people. We often distort popular customs due to lack of liturgical sense in our pastoral life.

  • There is a preface to each prayer of night and day, in order to assist the understanding of that prayer, its spirituality and symbolism. There is also a special preface for each section of the liturgical books, the Paraklitike, the Menaion, the Pentecostarion. It is important to read them and make use of them for liturgical animation and to explain them to people.

  • We have also divided the prayers into paragraphs, to make them more comprehensible and to allow them to be alternated when being prayed. We also only placed colons and not commas and there are more or less accents and more or less dots, according to the degrees of the feast. We believe that placing accents and dots in Arabic is important for an eloquent reading and for understanding the meaning of the prayers.

  • It is very fine and desirable for members of the choir and for readers to be trained to use the liturgical books, in order to be able to participate in and assist liturgical animation.

 

  • We exhort choirs and singers in order for them to participate in the Church’s progress which is really a pioneering way forward. We count very much on their efforts in that direction. We call upon them to learn the special music of the Psalter. We have published very simple little books for choir members to enable them to learn the chant according to these principles. We ask the choir directors to really take care of the liturgical singing. We exhort and encourage seminarians to learn psalm-singing (psaltiki) so that they remain in touch with the sung text and with the musical annotation, so that it becomes familiar to us all. Today, that has become easier, due to the development of electronic audiovisual methods and techniques. It is also important for there to be in every parish a little liturgical and musical library, containing the liturgical books, books of musical annotation and recordings of liturgical singing. This liturgical renaissance is very important for the service of the liturgical and spiritual life. We also ask choir-leaders really to put into practice the various pieces of advice to be found in our liturgical books and especially to make plenty of room for the participation of the people in the prayers, so that our liturgical prayers and celebrations become a real, lively exchange between priest, deacon, reader, choir and people. We ask our priests to choose persons in each choir, to whom can be given the mission of liturgical animation in every liturgical celebration.

  • We are counting a great deal on liturgical animation to enliven the faith and spread the holy Word of God and the very beautiful Gospel teachings and the texts of the chants that are really a unique school of liturgical teachings. Liturgical animation, singing, reading and celebration are very significant elements for passing on the spiritual message to a great many of our parishes. Whatever the activities that the priest does in his parish, such as for example accompanying groups of children and teenagers, confraternities, yet he can reach a greater number of faithful, boys, girls, men and women through the Divine Liturgy and liturgical services such as Vespers, Matins, Grand Compline, Paraclesis and the Akathist.

 

  • From all that, we see that the role of singing, choir, and means of liturgical animation, so that our celebrations become beautiful and worthy of the great Mysteries that we celebrate and succeed in enabling the teachings of our holy Church to reach the hearts and minds and souls of our faithful, and to animate their feelings and faith. Indeed, the Church, through its liturgical prayers and Divine Liturgy, has the preeminent place to communicate and preserve faith values in our parishes.

  • That is what we intended by this Patriarchal Letter: we want the animation of faith, we are aiming at that; we want there to be a continual new Pentecost through the rites and their content – hymns, eloquent readings, fine preaching, with a very beautiful order and dignity – to preserve the pure, lively, attractive, clear deposit of faith, and for it to become the object of admiration and love for our sons and daughters.

 

  • Basing ourselves on all the above material set out in this carefully elaborated letter about liturgical legislation stemming from the Patriarch and bishops, on liturgical animation in liturgical services and the Divine Liturgy, we give this Patriarchal Decree:

1 Except from Pascha to Pentecost, when kneeling is not allowed in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

2 See footnote 3, however.