by Archpriest Alexander Rudakov
Published in 1890 in Saint Petersburg

Introductory Concepts

§ 1. Understanding of the Divine Services.

The Divine Services of the Orthodox Church are comprised of all those prayers and sacred rites, through which Orthodox Christians convey to God their feelings of faith, hope and love, and by means of which they approach Him in a mystical communion and by which they receive from Him grace-endowed power to live a holy life. There are particular Divine Services, which are served for one or several persons for some particular reason, and there are communal services which are served for all the peoples of the Church, for the requirements of all those people. The communal services may be further distinguished as those that are constant, which are served for all Christians at the appropriate times, such as: the Liturgy, Vespers, Mattins, etc; and those that are periodic , which are served at the request of, or for the requirements of, the separate members of the Church. These are called Needs, such as: the funeral service, blessing of waters, and so on.

§ 2. The Origin of the Divine Services.

Man began to serve God from the very moment that he recognized Him. And he recognized God even when God appeared to him in Paradise and gave him the commandment not to eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and that of resting on the seventh day, and when He blessed his marital union with Eve. The Divine worship of the first people in Paradise was in no way essentially different from present-day church services, in that it was the free outpouring of their reverent feelings before God. Furthermore, the Divine commandment about the seventh day and the forbidden tree already laid the foundation for the appointed ordinances regarding the Divine services. After the fall of man, a new institution was added, that of offering sacrifice. These were made on all festive occasions, when it was fitting to thank God for the benefactions received from Him, or in order to ask Him for help, or to be merciful for sins that had been committed. The joining of sacrifice with prayers suggested to the people that God could only accept their prayers because of the sacrifice, which indeed in time to come the promised Seed of the woman (see Gen.3:15, i.e.Christ) would offer. During the time of the Patriarchs, from Adam to Moses, when the Church consisted of just one or several families, the Divine services were led by the heads of those families, that is the Patriarchs, where and when they determined. At the time of Moses, however, when the descendents of Israel had become a whole people, the Divine services began to be conducted by persons from among the whole race, and then too their celebration was set in order and was conducted at designated places and times by consecrated persons, and it took on its own form. Jesus Christ, in commanding the Apostles to celebrate the Mysteries instituted by Him, to preach the Gospel to the whole world, and to lead the particular and community prayers, thus laid the foundation of the New Testament Divine services. Its composition and character were more fully determined by the Apostles. Already during their time, as is evident from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, there were special places for the assembly of the faithful, which we now call churches; the Divine services were conducted by Bishops, presbyters and deacons who had been appointed by them through ordination; the day of the Resurrection was the time for the Divine services; the Divine services were made up of prayer, chanting, reading the word of God, preaching and celebration of the Mysteries (sacraments), and particularly the Mysterion of the Eucharist. The final composition of the Christian Divine service was achieved by the successors of the Apostles, in accordance with the precept given them: Let all things be done decently and in order. (1 Cor. 14:40)

… to be continued