There are so many things to speak about at Holy Pascha. This year, I
would like to invite you to reflect with me on the gift of worship and
the integrity of the Divine Liturgy. Since the Liturgy itself is a type
of the eternal "wedding banquet" of the heavenly bridegroom, Jesus
Christ, and the earthly bride, the Church, it is also a type of Pascha
whenever and wherever it is served.
We often use the term "offering worship to God" and, with the psalmist
and the Liturgy, "a sacrifice of praise." And yet, we proclaim in the
Anaphora: "Thine own of thine own, we offer unto Thee." What, indeed,
can we offer to God? Our life? But He gave us life. Our bodies? But He
created our bodies from the dust of the earth. Our souls? He breathed
the soul into us in the beginning. Nor can we claim the Divine Liturgy
as our own offering, because it was given by the Holy Spirit to man. We
do not worship God for His sake. He has no need of our worship. Even
the act of worship was given to us by God for our own sakes. It is our
compass and chart in our voyage through this earthly life. Yet we learn
at the very beginning of the Scripture what we can offer to God: a
heart pure and full of love, for this was the difference between the
offering of Righteous Abel and that of Cain. As the procession hymn of
Pascha says, "that we may glorify Thee in purity of heart." But once
again, we ask God to give us the gift of a pure heart, and it is from
Him that we learn the meaning of love.
What, therefore, can we offer to the Author of Life, the One from Whom "every good and every perfect gift cometh down….?" The answer is there in the Liturgy, at the Anaphora: "Thine own of Thine own we offer unto Thee." We can say no more even when we offer ourselves to Him.
The Liturgy, as God’s gift to us, conveys a deep sense of eternity. This timelessness is expressed symbolically even in those actions which originally had a clearly practical purpose. While the Liturgy focuses us on Holy Communion in the present, it is also eschatological. It is a type of the eternal "wedding feast" of the heavenly Bridegroom and His Church. Moreover, there is a profound "alpha" and "omega" in the Liturgy, for it encompasses both the beginning and the end of mankind’s earthly history. The altar is a likeness of paradise, that point of place and timelessness wherein God fellowships with man in a unique manner. Here, Christ our God will be present not only spiritually but also physically in the Holy Communion. This is the paradise from which we fell and the paradise to
which we may return at the consummation of time.
It is some of those symbolical actions in the Liturgy that I would like to contemplate with you this year as we approach Holy Pascha. It is true that, originally, these one or two actions that we will think about had purely practical purposes. The divine grace which has shaped our Liturgy
has transformed these actions into meaningful symbols of timelessness and the presence of God. These actions which some rationalists think of as anachronisms, in fact help to link together the revelations of the God of creation, the God Who revealed Himself to Israel, acting in history, the
God of our redemption and the God Who will manifest Himself at the end of the ages. In observing how these practical, mechanical actions have been transformed into revelation, we may also gain some understanding about how we are also transformed by and through the divine grace which permeates the Liturgy. In this way, we may become more alive to the Liturgy which is always alive for us.
When we speak of contemplation, we understand that we are entering into a spiritual frame of mind, not a rationalistic one. To contemplate the Liturgy in a spiritual frame of mind requires some humility on our part. The Liturgy is a gift, and by contemplating it, we can draw to our hearts
the full blessings and power of this gift.
It is said that the fans (rapide) which stand at the back corners of the holy table have no purpose. "They were used to fan insects away from the holy gifts and the priest. They could be got rid of now." But let us look at the symbolic aspect for a moment. The fans are traditionally metal
icons of cherubim. They stand on either side of the tabernacle which rests on the holy table. They will accompany the Gospel book, on both sides of it, during the small entrance, and when the Gospel is stood upright before the tabernacle after it is read, the cherub fans will be on either side of
it. Let us think about this for a moment in our contemplation of the Liturgy. It was such icons of cherubim, made of beaten gold, that stood on either side of the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant when God first revealed the design of His temple. God informed Israel that He would be
present with them on the mercy seat, between the two icons of the cherubim. The icons of these angelic beings on either side of this throne of mercy were the symbolic proclamations of His presence. He was not visible on the mercy seat, nor confined to it, nor circumscribed by the
temple. And yet, He chose to have these symbolic revelations presented before us for our sake, as a means of focusing us, uniting us and leading us toward paradise–toward Himself. For this reason, the Psalms, giving measure to these symbols, speak of God as "riding upon a cherub"(Ps.18:10), invokes God as the "Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the Cherubim, shine forth" (Ps. 80:10), and sings, "He sitteth between the Cherubim; let the earth be moved" (Ps.90:1).
Thus the cherub fans which stand behind the holy table, on either side of the tabernacle, the upraised Gospel book and later, the communion chalice itself, have a deep scriptural significance and a long history in the revelation and worship of God. When the priest approaches the "high place"
behind the holy table during the Cherubic Hymn, he recites the prayer, "Blessed art Thou on the throne of the glory of Thy kingdom, Thou Who sittest upon the cherubim, always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages." Moreover, we end the Cherubic hymn with, "that we may receive the King of
all Who comes invisibly upborne by the angelic hosts…" (a reference to both Ps.18:10 and Is.6:3 and the tenth and second chapters of Ezekiel and to Revelation 4:8, in which the cherubim "rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.").
God told Moses that He would be present on the mercy seat between the two icons of cherubim. He has likewise promised us His true presence in the consecrated Gifts in the Chalice, which will also sit on the holy table between the two cherub fans. It is our God, the risen and ascended Christ Who is present on the mercy seat of the holy table, imparting to us the greatest of all mercies. We are given the gift of participating in His very Person, in His victory over death and over the power of the evil-one. Here, we partake of the eternal Pascha, experiencing the fulfilment of all the promises of God. In all this, we see the two cherub fans not as some anachronism, but as a revelation of the continuity of the unfolding revelation of God’s presence, first in Paradise with our ancestors, and
then in the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple of the old covenant, now fully present in the temples of the new covenant, and present on either side of Christ our God at the Second Coming and the beginning of the eternal day. We see once more into Paradise as we gaze through the open royal doors into the altar and see the throne — the holy table —with the two icon fans of the cherubim on either side of it. There is yet another profound spiritual moment and revelation is what has been proclaimed by some as another anachronism. The aer is the cloth that is used to cover both the diskos and chalice until the consecration of the Gifts. During the chanting of the Symbol of Faith, it is lifted from the holy vessels and waved in an undulating or hovering fashion over them. In many Orthodox churches, the priest then turns to the faithful and blesses them with the aer saying, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all." How can we not think of the Holy Spirit and His work among God’s people when we see this? How can we not call to mind that, in the beginning, the Holy Spirit "hovered over the waters" bringing forth life from the primordial waters? This same Holy Spirit overshadowed Moses and the
Hebrews, leading them to freedom through the waters which He parted for them to pass over. Is it possible to observe this "waving of the aer" and not recall that the Holy Spirit appeared as an undulating or hovering light, similar to a dove, at the baptism of Christ, revealing to us that
this same Spirit hovers over our own baptismal water, giving us new birth through water and the Spirit? Shortly, the priest will pronounce the blessing over this same diskos and chalice saying, "Make this bread the body of Thy Christ….Make that which is in this chalice the precious blood of Thy Christ….changing them by Thy Holy Spirit." And so shall He change us all by that same Holy Spirit, being "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2Cor.3:18).
Above all, brothers and sisters, the Divine Liturgy brings us into communion, both spiritual and physical, with the Christ of Pascha, the victorious and risen Lord. The Liturgy is the Pascha that we participate in every week and on every feastday. It is not merely type and symbol, but a present reality, a living presence of the source of life Himself. It is an entry into eternity, a gift of healing, the hope of resurrection and of life everlasting.
Today on Holy Pascha, the queen and crown of feasts, every Liturgy of the year, in every time and place, is encompassed and exalted. Today we are focused on the victory, the light and the life of each Liturgy and every receiving of Holy Communion. Today, the Holy Church is permeated with this
eternal light and uncreated life and our hearts and spirits are renewed in the Holy Spirit. Today we proclaim to the world that which we know, Him Whom we have experienced, Whom we have touched with our lips and now have dwelling in our hearts. Today we proclaim with faces unashamed and hearts renewed in grace, that Christ is risen.
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!