The Faith of the Liturgy

by Dimmitri Christou

Published with consent of the author.

There are a number of premiss A.C. Calivas’ addresses in his short article. Calivas, in a coherent manner, structures his article into a number of distinct passages. Beginning with the idea that the “Church is primarily a worshipping community”, Calivas’ expands his article to discuss an amount of interdependent topics, et al., how the Church celebrates her faith in the Liturgy, the dualistic nature of prayer, how God is present in the Liturgy, exercising the priestly office through the Liturgy, the Liturgy as the recapitulating basis for all of mankind, ad-infinitum. Calivas’ article is an extensive piece of literature, though easily read, dealing specifically with the personal, communal, existential, epistemological, ontological, and theological consequences of the Liturgy both in and through Creation. “It is through the Liturgy”, as Calivas explains, that we “[…] reaffirm our ultimate identity, purpose, and destiny…”[1] The purpose of this short article will be to understand just how we may come to realize our “identity”, “purpose”, and “destiny” through the Liturgy of the Orthodox faith.

1. The Church is Primarily a Worshipping Community

“The Church”, as Calivas’ explains at the beginning of his article, “[…] owes her being to Christ. She is his Body. And the Church, as the Body of Christ, depends constantly on the Holy Spirit through whom the eschaton breaks into history, the catholicity of the Eucharistic community is manifested, and the mystery of communion is experienced.”[2] Here Calivas’ elucidates the common Orthodox perspective on matters pertaining to ecclesiology. By quoting John Zizoulas, Calivas’ expands upon the aforementioned quotation by saying that the Church is in fact both “Christological” and “ecclesiological” by nature. For just as the Holy Spirit miraculously impregnated the Theotokos, making the incarnation of the Logos possible, encapsulating the Word as both God and man in the Person of Jesus Christ, so too is the Church hypostatically analogous in nature to the God-man Jesus Christ, for it is the Eucharist which is both truly the God-man Jesus Christ’s Body and Blood. Divinely impregnated with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church is Christ’s divine institution through which Creation participates “in the mystery of salvation.” It is by the Holy Spirit that the Church is enlivened. Following this line of thought, Calivas continues on to say “The Holy Spirit is the source of all prophetic and charismatic gifts”,[3] of which are consequentially consummated “through the sacraments of baptism/ chrismation, the Eucharist, and ordination, in which the mystery and presence of Christ are contained.”[4] By virtue of the Holy Spirit the Church is brought to life. Though, by means of the Liturgy, where we as a “primarily worshipping community”, is the gap between God and man properly fulfilled. Here Calivas’ distinctly illustrates how communion with God is made existentially, epistemologically, and ontologically possible. Calivas’ notes, quoting St. Basil, “The way to divine knowledge ascends from the one Spirit through the one Son to the one Father, Likewise, natural goodness, inherent holiness, and royal dignity reaches us from the Father through the Only-begotten [Son] to the Spirit.”[5] It is through the Liturgy, Calivas’ explains, that the “Church expresses her self-identity, preserves her traditions, and manifests the mystery of unity in diversity of her members.”[6] Furthermore, it is specifically through the Liturgy, which Calivas’ continues on to conclude, that the “Church actualizes the whole of God’s divine plan”[7] making knowledge of God, experience, and salvation possible. Worship as such is intrinsically soteriological, made specifically achievable by the Holy Spirit Who guides the Church.

2. The Church Enacts and Celebrates her Faith through the Liturgy

In the second section of Calivas’ article we are told “the Church invites us to continually discover, experience, and realize our true and eternal mode of being. The Liturgy is the Church’s faith in motion, the unique setting in which she remembers and celebrates the revealed truths about God and the created order that she, by grace, knows, loves, and proclaims.”[8] The Church enacting and celebrating her faith through the Liturgy, according to Calivas, is not merely an institutional process but rather a divine reality, upon which and through material nature can be understood by persons from a theologically revelatory and intimate perspective. “The Liturgy”, Calivas’ explains, “recommends, instills, and imparts a particular vision of faith and way of life. It builds faith and forms identity, both personal and communal.”[9] We as human beings can then participate as real individuals in the total life of the Church. The Liturgy is therefore to be understood as the celebration of ultimate truth through which we as human beings partake in a relatively dependent manner. However, there are essentially two kinds of text which accentuate the Liturgy, biblical and ecclesial. In regard to the totality of the Biblical texts, Calivas’ notes, “The Biblical texts include the repertoire of readings from the Old and New Testaments, the Psalms, and the several canticles or songs of the two Testaments.” While, regarding the totality of the other text, which Calivas’ refers to as “ecclesial”, there are “collections of prayers, hymns, and rubrics that have been incorporated into the liturgical books of the Church”[10], of which being made known prior, were composed by “[…] various gifted, inspired, devout, and saintly persons…”[11] The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostomos, the great Orthodox Saint, is a perfect example, fitting of Calivas’ preceding description.

The Church enacting and celebrating her faith through the Liturgy is nonetheless specifically soteriological in nature, being defined by its “essential elements”, which have been named above; the Liturgy therefore “belongs to the whole Church.” For, the salvation of the world cannot be restricted to a particular people group but rather is complementarily actualized by the entire Church, as Calivas’ explains by quoting Acts 15:22, “which receives it and prays through it."[12] The bare essentials of the Liturgy, as such, cannot be dependent on the independent part but rather must be dependent on the entire whole.

3. The Two Ways of Prayer – Personal Devotion and Communal Worship

Thus far Calivas’ has explained how the experience of the Church is made possible by the Holy Spirit and what the essential components of the Liturgical text are in fact composed of. However, in the third section of Calivas’ article, the nature of personal prayer and communal worship is scrutinized. Here Calivas’ begins by explaining that “Communion with God and neighbor beings with our willingness to see and accept the truth that an authentic human being is above all a worshipping being who feels the irresistible urge to converse with the Author of life, who has loved him first.”[13] Calivas, while quoting Father Georges Florovsky, tells us that “Christian worship” is specifically a “personal act” which is properly realized “only within the community, in the context of common and corporate life.”[14] Calivas, quoting Father George Florovsky, says,

Personal devotion and community worship belong intimately together, and each of them is genuine and authentic, and truly Christian, only through the other… Common prayer presupposes and requires personal training. Yet, personal prayer itself is possibly in the context of the Community, since no person is Christian except as a member of the Body. Even in the solitude, ‘in the chamber’ (Mt. 6:5), a Christian prays as a member of the redeemed community, the Church.[15]

Following this line of reasoning, Calivas’ continues on to define the two “primary and necessary conditions that both establish and define the spiritual experience as well as nurture the inner life of the Christian.” That is specifically personal prayer and communal worship. Though, as Calivas’ chases this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, the theologian outlines a specific danger that an individual consequentially comes across when taking either of each conditions for granted. Calivas, while quoting Father Boris Bobrinskoy, explains, “Personal prayer degenerates into individualistic pietism and anarchic ecstasy when cut off from the liturgical rhythm of the Church. Liturgical prayer becomes impersonal, formalistic and superficial, unless it is inwardly experienced and vitalized by the private prayer of the believers.”[16] Such is the underlying reason why Calivas’ subsequent to the above quotation explains that the Church proposes that the Christian participate in regular communal worship while attempting to motivate the individual to grow in his or her prayerful life through the “acts of devotion of the Church.”[17] Acts of devotion include, “commitment to the Gospel, and loyalty to the true faith, the daily reading of the Holy Scriptures and other edifying texts, the struggle against passions, fasting, and works of justice, love, and charity.”[18] Christian spirituality is in fact complimentarily multifaceted.

However, as Calivas typifies, it is of the utmost importance that a Christian does not disregard the fact that He is both personally and communally a member of the Body of Christ. Such is the main focus of the third section of Calivas’ article. For it is through this dependent membership that true Christian life, doctrine, and worship, is realized. Quoting, Father George Florovsky once again, Calivas explains, “Christian existence is intrinsically corporate. [To] be Christian means to be in the Community, in the Church and of the Church.”[19] It is through personal devotion that we Christian’s prepare for communal worship. To separate ourselves from either of each or from both would be entirely detrimental to our spirituality, violating the spirit and form of Orthodoxy both in practice and theory.

4. God is Present to his People in the Liturgy

Here, in the fourth section of Calivas’ article, it is explained that “The Liturgy is more than texts, words, gestures, and rubrics. It is the meeting ground of heaven and earth. It is the place where the people meet the self-giving of God and where, through this encounter, they meet their own human lives in unexpected form.”[20] In this section of the article, Calivas’ notes, that “The Liturgy is, first of all, an act of God.”[21] This is made specifically evident in the Liturgy where it is said, “For you, Christ our God, are the Offerer and the Offered, the One who receives and is distributed.”[22] The Liturgy cannot be said to be mere ritual but an act received and predicated in Christ. In further support of this general remark, Calivas’ notes, that it is “In the Liturgy” that “[…] the Son and Word of God, Jesus Christ, is present to his people, fulfilling his promise to be in their midst when they gather together in his Name.”[23] Because the Liturgy is not merely an act which is brought to life by the work of man, that our faith is not a circular exercise in religious ritual, in and of itself but rather by God it can therefore be said that “The Liturgy allows us to experience a reality greater than ourselves and greater than death. It brings us before the beauty, glory, and unending life of God.”[24] We can then rightfully say that therefore we as persons created in the Image of God are defined by the Liturgical worship of the Church predicated in Christ. For it is by virtue of Liturgical worship that we come to participate in the divine nature, restoring the original nature and intended purpose of our being, as God’s children created in His Likeness.

As Calivas’ tells it, “In the Liturgy we discover and experience the love of God. The Spirit of God enables us to make our confessions of faith and offer God joyful adoration, praise, and thanksgiving on accounts of his great goodness, holiness, and glory.”[25] It is specifically through the Liturgy that we as human persons are “enabled”. While it is more than evident that God is present as the One Who initiates contact in the Liturgy. As such, the Liturgy enacts within our personhood an experiential state which offers “petitions, intercessions, and supplications on account of God’s tender mercy and compassion.”[26] The Liturgy helps us to see and experience what would otherwise be unknown, that as a result allows us to then sincerely approach God as human beings, made in His Likeness. Orthodox Liturgical worship is specifically formed to infiltrate the heart of man to act as air for the lung and blood for the heart.

5. Exercising the Priestly Office through the Liturgy

Calivas in the fifth section of his article begins by saying that “by drawing us unto himself through his salvific work, Christ has made us into kings and priests, that is to say, into a people who are under the rule of God and are mediators between him and the rest of humanity.”[27] Calivas is at this point quoting Revelation 1:5-6. Certainly in this section of Calivas’ article the authoritative nature of the priestly office is taken into regard. Though, prior to engaging the nature of the authority of the priestly office, Calivas’ begins by deliberating upon a number of Biblical passages related to the communal nature of the Church. Calivas’s starts by explaining that spiritual worship is communal by quoting the Divine Liturgy, where it is said, “We also offer to You this spiritual worship for the whole world, for the holy catholic, and apostolic Church, and for all those living in purity and holiness.”[28] (Anaphora of St. John Chrysostom) Though, Calivas continues forth by explaining that because the Church is an organic community, while paraphrasing St. John Chrysostom, “each member has both a particular and a common activity.” In favour of this point of view Calivas’ quotes Col. 2:2, which says that we are “united in love”. Calivas is making a clear point: “No one is useless, no one is a spectator, everyone has a role, because the liturgy is the work of all the people.” The Liturgy is thus all inclusive.

However, it must be understood that there is a distinction between the royal priesthood of all believers and the ministerial priesthood of the Church. Both roles in regard to the priesthood are grounded in the Person of Christ as the High Priest and Mediator of the New Covenant. Either of the two can be lightly disregarded—that much can be said with certainty. Irrespective, it is the ministerial priesthood which is specifically “perpetuated” in the Church through three orders. For the sake of equivocation, it is the ministerial priesthood which exists primarily in the order of bishop, presbyter, and deacon. However, it must be understood that the ministerial priesthood finds its source in and through the Liturgy. Calivas explains, “The clergy, however, do not possess any individual power apart from or independent of the ministry of laity.”[29] The ministerial priesthood is not an authoritative branch unless it is joined to the tree as a whole.

“Through the Liturgy”, Calivas tells us, “[…] clergy and laity alike enter into an intimate personal relationship with the Triune God, and according to his promise, he comes to dwell in us and we in him so that we may experience a unity that surpasses all understanding, becoming one with him and one with another.”[30] (Jn. 14:23, 15:4, 17:21) This line of reasoning exemplifies the communal nature of the Liturgy by its bare essence. Thus is the reason why we pray during the Eucharist saying, as Calivas’ notes, “And unite us all to one another who become partakers of the one Bread and the Cup in the communion of the Holy Spirit.”[31] (Anaphora of St. Basil) It is the Holy Spirit which “brings us into communion with Christ and forms Christ’s mind in us.”[32] While , “True worship transforms us into a living sacrifice, into persons who live for God…”[33] For it is in the Liturgy that “Holy Spirit draws near to us to enliven us continually, both as persons and as a community, that we may be united with the glorified body of Christ, in order to become like him.”[34] It is through the Holy Spirit in the Liturgy that ministerial authority is bestowed.

6. The Liturgy is a Formative, Restorative, and Transformative Experience

There are three distinct categories Calivas’ introduces to the discussion, the formative environment, the restorative environment and the transformative environment. Each of which category exists in the content of the Liturgy and its essential expression. Calivas’ begins the discussion by quoting Susan Wood who explains,

Within the liturgy we come to know ourselves and God because the liturgy orders our relationships: my relationship to others within the body of Christ sacramentally constituted within the eucharist, my relationship to God as recipient of God’s graciousness, my relationship to the world by being not only sent, but missioned and commissioned to live ethically within history what has been experience in the metahistorical time and space of the liturgy. In short, in the liturgy we do not acquire knowledge about God; we acquire knowledge of God.[35]

As Calivas continues on to explain, recounting Susan Wood’s position on the matter, “The Liturgy is not so much an object of knowledge as it is a source of knowledge and understanding…”[36] The Liturgy can be understood as such for it is precisely because the “Liturgy communicates to the people meaning and purpose of life…”[37] For the Liturgy is ultimately our window onto the spiritual world, our participation in the life of Christ…”[38]Similarly, the Liturgy is understood to serve as the bridge between heaven and earth, where through the “liturgy we are in communion with the holy ones of the faith, who have gone before us to their rest in God’s eternal realms.”[39] Though, the Liturgy must be understood as that which forms a Christian into a celebrating and prayerful Christian, restoring the person to their original purpose and nature and transforming them as such. As Calivas notes, “In the liturgy is where we simultaneously begin…”[40] as it is in the Liturgy that we come to “encounter Christ”. Through knowledge of the Son and Word of God we become more Christ-like. Here it can be said rightfully that the Liturgy “is the place in which God works to change the very core of our being making us by grace what he is by nature.”[41] (2 Pt. 1:4) It is through the Liturgy that we come to effectively know Christ while it is by way of the Liturgy that we come into true knowledge of Christ, through the whole of “the Church’s teaching, life, and liturgy.”[42]

7. The Liturgy Brings us to the Threshold of another World

As it is understood, we do not merely commemorate Christ by venerating His tribulation during Holy Week. But rather we participate in His tribulation during Holy Week. For example, Calivas’ touches upon this idea of participation in the seventh section of his article where it is written, “Through the liturgy we share truly in the reality of the Christ-event in a symbolic, iconic, and sacramental manner.”[43] Christ can be said to draw us into Himself during Holy Week, for example, where the period of Pascha leads to our rebirth as we die and rise again with Christ.
As such, we can truly say that we meet and come to experience God in an existentially particular manner. This is why Calivas’ concludes, following St. Athanasius’ position on the matter, that Creation, which was subject to “corruption” and “death” as a result of the “ancestral sin” has now been liberated “from the proclivity to decay by the resurrection of Christ.”[44]

8. The Liturgy is a Study of Life

The Liturgy can be said to illumine information otherwise unknown by mankind, except by direct revelation. But, where the Gospels are incapable of communicating divine Grace, the Liturgy grants “access by faith, into divine grace, by which we are sanctified and made victors over sin and death.”[45] The Words of Scripture, divorced from their Liturgical context, become nothing more than words about God rather than the Words of God. Though, it is the Word of God which drives us to repentance through the Liturgy, as Calivas’ explains.[46] “The liturgy heightens our awareness of the profound mysteries of the life as it increases the depth and breadth of the meaning and the purpose of human existence.”[47] While the “prayer of the Church confronts us with the universality of human moral failure and names all our collective and personal sins—spiritual, intellectual, and canrnal—that estrange us from one another and from the intimate presence of God and make us into imposters.”[48] Calivas’ illustrates particularly that sin violates the sense of man, allowing man to see light where there is only darkness. Concentrating on this fact, Calivas’ explains that this immature focus of mankind is the result of what the devil has accomplished, where the “ontological condition” of man has been degraded by being made susceptible to death and corruption, subsequent to the fall in the Garden of Eden.

It must be understood that Christ has trampled death by death; that he “has healed our dreadful brokenness and tragic unfulfillment. Death has been swallowed up in victory and life has been liberated.”[49] (1 Cor. 15:54-55) The Liturgy brings to light the true condition of mankind by illuminating his condition. We are weak but it is through the Liturgy that we come into communion with God, such that as a result our nature can be restored to its unique and intended design.

9. The Liturgy Enlivens our Ecclesial Identity

The underlying premise promoted in section 9 of Calivas’ article is related to the ecclesial identity, where we as Christians are understood to be members of a Body. This Body spoken of is not analogous to any type of body or group of individuals, however. For, as Calivas’ explains, the Church “transcends all manner of biological and social exclusiveness, we subsist in a manner that differs from the biological and historical.”[50] The identity of our existence is ecclesial rather than merely evolutionary, as John Zizoulas explains, as our identity is grounded in the “victory of Christ”.[51] In this manner, due to the significance of Christ’s incarnation and atoning work, are we as human persons to be understood and recognized.

10. The Tension between the Present and the Future

The Church, as Calivas explains, “realizes her true identity and actualizes herself as the bride and body of Christ. She enters continually into an intimate union with Christ, who is her head, the Mediator of the new covenant and the High Priest of the good things to come.”[52] (Heb. 9:11, 15) In this manner we can begin to discuss the unity present in Christ and how the Church is specifically focused on the end times. As Calivas’ explains, “For this reason the end times both order and fuel the Church’s life and ministry, her diakonia to the world.” Moving forward, as Calivas’ notes, the age we live in is expresses two images. “We look back to the central events of the Gospel and forward to the Parousia of the Lord, the final consummation when “we shall always be with the Lord.”[53] (1 Thes. 4:17) There is present within the formal and material nature of the Liturgy a dualistic parallel. Through the left eye of the Church we look back to the history pertaining to the life of Jesus Christ, encapsulated in the Gospels. While, through the right eye of the Church, we look forward to the second coming, the consummation of the world to come. “This fact provides”, as Calivas explains, “the Church with the courage to endure the long haul of history, to struggle to remain steadfast in the faith, and to ‘rejoice always…’”[54] (1 Thes. 5:16) The tension between the present and the future can be seen as two sides of the same coin both defined by the Person of Jesus Christ. Though, as Christians, we should not fear the future but rather embrace it, even if the future is guarded by destruction or peace. Just as the Word condescended Himself, joining to Himself a human nature in the Person of Jesus Christ, that is to free us from our sin to fulfill God’s divine plan, so too does the Church, defined by the condescension of the Word steer forward, looking toward the future eschaton, allowing us to be united with God. The Church is “anchorned in the realities of God’s kingdom.”[55]

11. The Liturgy Exhorts us to Imitate God’s Love and Holiness

The Liturgy establishes a specific frame of mind in the individual Christian person. Allowing us to grow as Icons of Christ, as the Liturgy predicates specific forms of “affection” and “love”, Christian’s become more holy by way of the experiential Christological nature of the Liturgy. This is the main point of the 11th section in Calivas’ article. As Calivas’ explains while quoting Saliers,

On the other hand, our intentions and actions fall short, and our affections are rarely pure motives for well-doing in actual everyday life. But just at this crucial point, Christian liturgy in its texts, symbols, and ritual acts recognizes this gap, offering truthful repentance and reconciliation.[56]

It becomes quite clear, following what has been said prior, that while we begin to participate in the God-man Jesus Christ by way of the Liturgy so too do we become more Christ-like as a result. The Liturgy is, “[…] an iconic and sacramental enactment of salvation”[57] that consequentially helps “[...] bring clarity of purpose to one’s thoughts, emotions, motivations, decisions, and actions.”[58] The Liturgy cannot be disregarded for what it is by its mere expression. Instead the Liturgy must be understood, experienced, and appreciated, by what it is through its content and spirit. To partake in the Eucharist is to conform your will to that of Christ’s and as a result become renewed in and through Him. Though, to become more Christ-like is to become more communal. Such that to truly be a Christian is to become Christ-like, whuch is only possible in common communion in the Liturgy. Calivas’ tells us here that, “Enlivened by the Holy Spirit, we come to realize that being is life, and that life is communion, and that communion is love.”[59] It must be understood that the Liturgy is hardly static, but rather is a “dynamic event” which defines who we are progressively over time as we come to be defined by the God-man Jesus Christ in the Liturgy.

12. Learning to Love, Know, and Live the Liturgy

“The deepest and most personal of human experiences begin in the heart”[60] Calivas’ declares, as he echoes the common Hebrew idiom found in the Old Testament, that “the heart was considered as the organ of reasoning, the seat of intellectual and moral life.”[61] This statement is surely certifying as we come to realize that to Orthodox Christians the heart of man is more than merely a biological organ, a chunk of matter designed to pump blood in accordance with its purpose and function. But that, rather, the heart, is instead, understood as the “the spiritual center” which “[…] comprises the human person and much more.”[62] Here the heart is understood to be the defining organ of the being of man. The heart is understood as such for it is emotion which generally precedes the understanding, meaning we come to feel before we understand is an undeniable fact. Here, Calivas’ says, “We can say, therefore, that one feels worship before understanding it. Its beauty attracts and moves the soul before one seeks to understand it in all its depth and wonder.”[63] It is not the dogmatic theological distinctions which come prior to belief in God but rather right relationship with Him. It is the “attractiveness, the clarity, the transparency, and the splendor of the ritual” which comes to bring joy to the heart of the Christian before that of theological differentiation. Though, as Calivas ‘ notes, “[…] it would be wrong to think that every Christian in every instance experiences the Church’s liturgy…” This much can be said with certainty. For not each and every human being who comes to be brought to life receives life. At many points in time we suffer and as a result our life begins to change. Just as the weather changes so does our experience as a worshiping Christian who wishes to actualize their spirituality.

Nonetheless, as Calivas’ begins to explain, “[…] because it is through the Liturgy that we live and breathe our Christian faith…” it is also through the Liturgy that we come to understand. Struggle is inherent to Christian life, while the Liturgy must be “[…] loved, studied, analyzed, learned, and above all, lived.” The very nature of what the Liturgy forms and structures sincere ontological reform in the human person not just as a human being but as a man, created in the Image of the Likeness of God.

There are a number of premiss A.C. Calivas’ addresses in his short article. Calivas, in a coherent manner, structures his article into a number of distinct passages. Thus far we have addressed each and every distinct premise of the article, going into great detail by quoting Calivas’ literature while expanding upon what he has said. Beginning with the idea that the “Church is primarily a worshipping community”, Calivas’ expands his article to discuss an amount of interdependent topics, et al., how the Church celebrates her faith in the Liturgy, the dualistic nature of prayer, how God is present in the Liturgy, exercising the priestly office through the Liturgy, the Liturgy as the recapitulating basis for all of mankind, ad-infinitum. All of which have been summarized. Calivas’ article is an extensive piece of literature, though easily read, dealing specifically with the personal, communal, existential, epistemological, ontological, and theological consequences of the Liturgy both in and through Creation.

Bibliography:

[1] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 22.

[2] Ibid., p. 1.

[3] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 3.

[4] Ibid., p. 2.

[5] Ibid., p. 2.

[6] Ibid., p. 2.

[7] Ibid., p. 3.

[8] Ibid., p. 3.

[9] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 3.

[10] Ibid., p. 4.

[11] Ibid., p. 4.

[12] Ibid., p. 4.

[13] Ibid., p. 4.

[14] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 4.

[15] Ibid., p. 4.

[16] Ibid., p. 5.

[17] Ibid., p. 5.

[18] Ibid., p. 5.

[19] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 5.

[20] Ibid., p. 6.

[21] Ibid., p. 6.

[22] Ibid., p. 6.

[23] Ibid., p. 6.

[24] Ibid., p. 7.

[25] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 7.

[26] Ibid., p. 7.

[27] Ibid., p. 8.

[28] Ibid., p. 8.

[29] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 8.

[30] Ibid., p. 9.

[31] Ibid., p. 9.

[32] Ibid., p. 10.

[33] Ibid. p. 10.

[34] Ibid. p. 10.

[35] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 10.

[36] Ibid., p. 11.

[37] Ibid., p. 11.

[38] Ibid., p. 11.

[39] Ibid., p. 11.

[40] Ibid., p. 12.

[41] Ibid., p. 12.

[42] Ibid., p. 13.

[43] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 13.

[44] Ibid., p. 14.

[45] Ibid., p. 14.

[46] Ibid., p. 14.

[47] Ibid., p. 15.

[48] Ibid., p. 15.

[49] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 16.

[50] Ibid., p. 17.

[51] Ibid., p. 17.

[52] Ibid., p. 18.

[53] Ibid., p. 18.

[54] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 18.

[55] Ibid., p. 19.

[56] Ibid., p. 19.

[57] Ibid., p. 19.

[58] Ibid., p. 19.

[59] Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy, p. 20.

[60] Ibid., p. 21.

[61] Ibid., p. 21.

[62] Ibid., p. 21.

[63] Ibid., p. 21.

Calivas, A.C., Essays in Theology and Liturgy – Vol. 3: Aspects of Orthodox Worship, Brookline, 2003, pp.1-22: “The Liturgy: The Church’s Faith in Motion”.

Originally published by the Saint Justin the Philosopher Foundation for Orthodox Christian Apologetics

Source:  https://www.facebook.com/notes/saint-justin-the-philosopher-foundation-for-orthodox-christian-apologetics/the-faith-of-the-liturgy/320446871365287