8/8/2019 Holy Eucharist Speech
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Your understanding of the celebration of the Holy Eucharist
Beloved Achen, parents, brothers and sisters in Christ,
The subject given to me is to speak about my understanding of
the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist.
According to the Orthodox tradition, the Holy Eucharist is
called the "sacrament of sacraments".
It is also called the "sacrament of the Church." The Eucharist
is the center of the Church's life.
Everything in the Church leads to the Eucharist, and all things
flow from it. It is the completion of
all of the Church's sacraments and the source and the goal of
all of the Church's doctrines and
institutions. The other word for Holy Eucharist is Holy Qurbana.
The word Qurbana itself comes
from the Aramaic word meaning basically to offer.
Now let me explain the structure of the Holy Eucharist.
First of all, it starts with the preparation rites or tuyobo
which is the vesting of the celebrant
and the preparation of the bread and wine on the altar. Next is
the public celebration or pre-
anaphora. The pre-anaphora begins with a solemn procession
around the altar. After the
procession, the priest begins the Trisagion, which is addressed
to Christ.
Next is the reading of the scriptures. In the early Church, the
Scripture reading was followed by
the sermon, a custom still followed by many Churches. Sermon is
an important element of the
worship and it aims at explaining the meaning and relevance of
the text that was read. This is
followed by the Promiun -Sedraand the Blessing of the Censor.
Sedra is a series of prayers and
meditations. Promiun is the introduction to Sedra. Then as the
first step of the censing of the
whole church, the celebrant offers incense and blesses the
censer. The blessing of the censer in
the name of the Holy Trinity implies that we offer our prayers
to the Triune God.
Next is the chanting of the Nicene Creed that is followed by the
offering of the Holy Qurbana
otherwise known as the Anaphora which means offering. Next is
the kiss of peace and the lifting
up of the veil. Kiss of peace is exchanged in accordance with
our Lords words to reconcile each
other before offering a sacrifice which is quoted in Matthew
5:23-24. The lifting up of the veil
symbolizes that the life-giving and heavenly mysteries are
revealed through the Holy Qurbana.
This is followed by the Trinitarian blessing and the
introductory dialogue where the priest says
the prayer of thanksgiving.
Following the prayer of thanksgiving is the words of Institution
wherethe celebrant signs cross
over the bread and wine proclaiming the institution of the
Eucharist by Christ in His Last Supper.
Next is the Anamnesis or the Commemoration of the salvific works
of Jesus. After this is the
invocation of the Holy Spirit followed by the tubden and the
fraction ceremony. Tubden consists
of six sets of intercessory prayers and the fraction ceremony is
the preparation for thecommunion. Then the Lords Prayer is said
followed by an invitation to receive the Holy Qurbana,
as well a warning about its sacredness. Then the priest first
receives the communion, followed by
all those who are in the Madbaha. Then the Holy Mysteries are
brought to the people followed by
the thanksgiving prayer where the priest gives thanks to God for
His abundant mercy. With the
dismissal, the celebration is concluded.
From this structure we understand that in the Qurbana we
celebrate the life, passion, death, and
resurrection of Jesus. Through the Qurbana, we praise and thank
the Father for the sacrificial
