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Holy Catechism
Nikolaos Voulgaris, tr. Daniel, 1893
Of the Prayer Following the Entrance
Let us fill up our prayer to the Lord.
Let us fill up, means, let us complete; and the word does not refer to the entirety of the Holy Liturgy, since as pertains to the Transubstantiation and formal part of the Mystery, we are able to assert that it has not yet begun. This offering pertains only to the Prefatory portion of the divine Service of the Initiated; and this advances till it is ended. But what is Prefatory matter in each Mystery, what is appended matter, and what constitutes the form, we said at the beginning.
Next follows the prayer which the great Basil and he of the golden words name the Prayer of Presentation, differing from the Presentation which we spoke of in the first part, and also from the Presentation which takes place later. Respecting these, I observe that in the praise and ritual worship of the God Who is celebrated in Trinity, the maker of all nature, the hallower and completer of Mysteries, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Who, according to S. Germanus, in his Sacred Rites, seals and changes and perfects the holy elements set forth when offered by the hand of the priests, through the Father’s good-will, and the Son’s purpose, and the Holy Spirit’s invisible presence, the Presentation is also threefold. The first Presentation is concluded with the Mystic Prayer, which we entitle the Prayer of the Prothesis. “O God, our God Who didst send forth the heavenly Bread, the food of the whole world, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, to be Saviour and Redeemer and Benefactor, blessing and sanctifying us: do Thou bless this Prothesis,” &c.
The second likewise, being itself a mystic prayer of Presentation, is now said after the depositing of the divine gifts on the holy Table.
O Lord our God Almighty, Who only art holy, Who receivest the sacrifice of praise from them that call on Thee with their whole heart; accept likewise our petition, and bring it to Thy holy Altar. And enable us to offer Thee gifts and spiritual sacrifices for our sins and for the ignorances of the people; and grant us to find grace before Thee, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to Thee, and that the good Spirit of Thy grace may rest upon us, and upon these presented gifts, and upon all Thy people.
The third Presentation, as most special, takes place both aloud and secretly; at the time, namely, when the priest, trembling in voice and hands and heart, and like the Patriarch Jacob, changing his hands crosswise, says aloud, “Thine own of Thine own we offer Thee in respect of all and for all;” then secretly, “Moreover we offer to Thee this reasonable and unbloody service, and entreat Thee, and pray and supplicate, send down Thy Holy Ghost on us, and on these presented gifts.” Now I called this Presentation more special, because it occurs, as you see, at the time of the hallowing of the Mysteries.