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Greek Orthodox Catechism
Constantine Callinicos, London, 1926
Part III. Ceremonial, 32. Our Father
Recite the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father, Which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Why do you take the Lord’s Prayer as the basis and starting point of the Third part of the Catechism?
Because the Third part of the Catechism deals with the worship of God. And, as prayer is the kernel, essence and soul of worship, a more perfect and complete model of which does not exist than the prayer which we have inherited from the Lord, and which is hence called the Lord’s Prayer; therefore the Lord’s Prayer I take as the basis and starting-point of the Third part of the Catechism.
And what do you mean by worship?
By worship I mean the reverent attitude of the religious soul towards the Omnipresent God, and the manifest expression, by words and movements, of its dependence on Him. The worshipper of God recapitulates, so to speak, in his actions the great dogmas of his faith. He raises his eyes to Heaven, recognising the existence of an infinite God. He makes the sign of the Cross, declaring that he has found salvation in the blood of the Redeemer. He bows his head, leaving his future to the Providence of the Omnipotent Father. He falls on his knees, asking for the forgiveness of sins. He rises and stands erect, showing thereby his rising from sin and his belief in the resurrection of the dead. He breaks into prayer in prose, which is presently borne on the wings of music, and is sung in harmony by a large congregation, proclaiming the origin of all from one common Creator. And, while, in this way, worship is joined to the Dogmatical part of the Catechism, on the one hand, it is joined, on the other hand, to the Ethical part too. Because worship is the first duty of man to his Maker and Preserver, the duty, of which the regular performance nourishes - and preserves all the other duties; because faith, hope, love, justice to one’s neighbour, and even our individual purity find their strongest support in it: for this reason, wherever Christian virtues flourish, there also the worship of God is continued unceasingly; but a withdrawal from the holy congregations, leaves the religious feeling unnourished; and so, by its gradual degeneration, morality also, which is indissolubly connected with it, fades away.
What is the extent of divine worship?
Divine worship varies in its extent in many ways according to the number of individuals taking part in it, and according to the acts of ritual which are interwoven in it. Sometimes one person alone in the privacy of his home, praying quietly, performs his morning or evening worship; at another time, two, or three, or more persons gathered under the same roof, whisper together their family prayer; and again, at some other time, hundreds or thousands of people in a large congregation with one accord worship the Lord of All within the same Church. Now a few heartfelt words, such as “God have mercy upon me” (Luke xviii. 13) constitute the whole contents of it. And now it spreads out into a long Service of one or two hours, animated by many chanting voices, beautified by lights, flowers, incense and other symbolical decorations, executed by reverent celebrants, captivating all our senses, and carrying them to the heights. For that reason we shall proceed little by little to the study of our subject. We shall begin with prayer in general, which constitutes the very core of worship and, mounting gradually through its different expressions, we shall find our resting place in the Divine Liturgy, the most imposing and powerful of holy Services.