BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.1//EN TZID:America/Edmonton X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Edmonton BEGIN:VEVENT UID:4718@holymartyrpeter.ca DTSTART;TZID=America/Edmonton:20250518T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/Edmonton:20250518T120000 DTSTAMP:20211027T221518Z URL:https://holymartyrpeter.ca/events/divine-liturgy-2025-05-18/ SUMMARY:Divine Liturgy DESCRIPTION:The Divine Liturgy\nThe word liturgy means common work or commo n action. The Divine Liturgy is the common work of the Orthodox Church. It is the official action of the Church formally gathered together as the ch osen People of God. The word church\, as we remember\, means a gathering o r assembly of people specifically chosen and called apart to perform a par ticular task.\n\nThe Divine Liturgy is the common action of Orthodox Chris tians officially gathered to constitute the Orthodox Church. It is the act ion of the Church assembled by God in order to be together in one communit y to worship\, to pray\, to sing\, to hear God’s Word\, to be instructed in God’s commandments\, to offer itself with thanksgiving in Christ to God the Father\, and to have the living experience of God’s eternal king dom through communion with the same Christ Who is present in his people by the Holy Spirit.\n\nThe Divine Liturgy is always done by Orthodox Christi ans on the Lord’s Day which is Sunday\, the “day after Sabbath” whic h is symbolic of the first day of creation and the last day—or as it is called in Holy Tradition\, the eighth day—of the Kingdom of God. This is the day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead\, the day of God’s jud gment and victory predicted by the prophets\, the Day of the Lord which in augurates the presence and the power of the “kingdom to come” already now within the life of this present world.\n\nThe Divine Liturgy is also c elebrated by the Church on special feast days. It is usually celebrated da ily in monasteries\, and in some large cathedrals and parish churches\, wi th the exception of the week days of Great Lent when it is not served beca use of its paschal character.\n\nAs the common action of the People of God \, the Divine Liturgy may be celebrated only once on any given day in an O rthodox Christian community. All of the members of the Church must be gath ered together with their pastor in one place at one time. This includes ev en small children and infants who participate fully in the communion of th e liturgy from the day of their entrance into the Church through baptism a nd chrismation. Always everyone\, always together. This is the traditional expression of the Orthodox Church about the Divine Liturgy.\n\nBecause of its common character\, the Divine Liturgy may never be celebrated private ly by the clergy alone. It may never be served just for some and not for o thers\, but for all. It may never be served merely for some private purpos es or some specific or exclusive intentions. Thus there may be\, and usual ly are\, special petitions at the Divine Liturgy for the sick or the depar ted\, or for some very particular purposes or projects\, but there is neve r a Divine Liturgy which is done exclusively for private individuals or sp ecific isolated purposes or intentions. The Divine Liturgy is always “on behalf of all and for all.”\n\nBecause the Divine Liturgy exists for no other reason than to be the official all-inclusive act of prayer\, worshi p\, teaching\, and communion of the entire Church in heaven and on earth\, it may not be considered merely as one devotion among many\, not even the highest or the greatest. The Divine Liturgy is not an act of personal pie ty. It is not a prayer service. It is not merely one of the sacraments. Th e Divine Liturgy is the one common sacrament of the very being of the Chur ch itself. It is the one sacramental manifestation of the essence of the C hurch as the Community of God in heaven and on earth. It is the one unique sacramental revelation of the Church as the mystical Body and Bride of Ch rist.\n\nAs the central mystical action of the whole church\, the Divine L iturgy is always resurrectional in spirit. It is always the manifestation to his people of the Risen Christ. It is always an outpouring of the life- creating Spirit. It is always communion with God the Father. The Divine Li turgy\, therefore\, is never mournful or penitential. It is never the expr ession of the darkness and death of this world. It is always the expressio n and the experience of the eternal life of the Kingdom of the Blessed Tri nity.\n\nThe Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Orthodox Church is called th e Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom. It is a shorter liturgy than the so-ca lled Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great that is used only ten times during t he Church Year. These two liturgies probably received their present form a fter the ninth century. It is not the case that they were written exactly as they now stand by the saints whose names they carry. It is quite certai n\, however\, that the eucharistic prayers of each of these liturgies were formulated as early as the fourth and fifth centuries when these saints l ived and worked in the Church.\n\n\nSaint Basil the Great\n\n\nSaint John Chrysostom\n\nIn the New Testament Church Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God\, and it is the Christian gospels and apostolic writings which are proclaimed and meditated at the first part of the Divine Liturgy. And in t he New Testament Church\, the central saving event is the one perfect\, et ernal and all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ\, the one great High Pr iest who is also the Lamb of God slain for the salvation of the world\, th e New Passover. At the Divine Liturgy the faithful Christians participate in the voluntary self-offering of Christ to the Father\, accomplished once and for all upon the Cross by the power of the Holy Spirit. In and throug h this unique sacrifice of Christ\, the faithful Christians receive Holy C ommunion with God.The Divine Liturgy has two main parts. The first part is the gathering\, called the synaxis. It has its origin in the synagogue ga therings of the Old Testament\, and is centered in the proclamation and me ditation of the Word of God. The second part of the Divine Liturgy is the eucharistic sacrifice. It has its origin in the Old Testament temple worsh ip\, the priestly sacrifices of the People of God\; and in the central sav ing event of the Old Testament\, the Passover (Pascha).\n\nFor centuries i t was the practice of the Church to admit all persons to the first part of the Divine Liturgy\, while reserving the second part strictly for those w ho were formally committed to Christ through baptism and chrismation in th e Church. Non-baptized persons were not permitted even to witness the offe ring and receiving of Holy Communion by the faithful Christians. Thus the first part of the Divine Liturgy came to be called the Liturgy of the Cate chumens\, that is\, the liturgy of those who were receiving instructions i n the Christian Faith in order to become members of the Church through bap tism and chrismation. It also came to be called\, for obvious reasons\, th e Liturgy of the Word. The second part of the Divine Liturgy came to be ca lled the Liturgy of the Faithful.\n\nAlthough it is generally the practice in the Orthodox Church today to allow non-Orthodox Christians\, and even non-Christians\, to witness the Liturgy of the Faithful\, it is still the practice to reserve actual participation in the sacrament of Holy Communio n only to members of the Orthodox Church who are fully committed to the li fe and teachings of the Orthodox Faith as preserved\, proclaimed and pract iced by the Church throughout its history.\n\nIn the commentary on the Div ine Liturgy which follows\, we will concentrate our attention on what happ ens to the Church at its “common action.” By doing this we will attemp t to penetrate the fundamental and essential meaning of the liturgy for ma n\, his life and his world. This will be a definite departure from the int erpretation of the Divine Liturgy which treats the service as if it were a drama enacted by the clergy and “attended” by the people\, in which e ach part stands for some aspect of Christ’s life and work (e.g.\, the pr othesis stands for Christ’s birth\, the small entrance for the beginning of his public ministry\, the gospel for his preaching\, the great entranc e for Palm Sunday\, etc.). This latter type of interpretation of the Divin e Liturgy is an invention\, which\, although perhaps interesting and inspi ring for some\, is nevertheless completely alien to the genuine meaning an d purpose of the Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox Church.\n\n[Source] CATEGORIES:Services LOCATION:Holy Martyr Peter the Aleut Orthodox Church\, 1802 33 Ave SW\, Cal gary\, AB\, T2T 1Y9\, Canada X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=1802 33 Ave SW\, Calgary\, AB\, T2T 1Y9\, Canada;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Holy Martyr Peter the Ale ut Orthodox Church:geo:0,0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Edmonton X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Edmonton BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250309T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:MDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR