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Holy Catechism
Nikolaos Voulgaris, tr. Daniel, 1893
Concerning Mutual Love and the Confession of Faith
Peace be to all. Let us love one another.
Closely following the blessed Paul, the Priest thus far, as we have seen, offered to the God of all Supplications, Prayers, Intercessions, Thanksgivings: he proceeds with the celebration of the Mystery; and as “through the cup of blessing which we bless, and the Bread which we break, we who are many are one body, because all partake from the one Bread” (i Cor. x. 16, 17), so he stirs up all to mutual concord, and strict confession of one faith; since there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in us all” (Eph. iv. 5, 6), and Love is united with the Confession of the Faith.
Let us love each other, that we may make confession with unanimity.
Since according to the Chosen Vessel himself (1 Cor. xiii. i): “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and though I have prophecy, and know all Mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, yet have not Love, I am nothing: I have become sounding brass:” apart from Love, Faith is vain, Prayer is vain, the Eucharist is, so far as we are concerned, vain. “By prayer (Cabasilas made a note about this, ch. 25) and by mutual love, and the confession of the Faith, the Priest fits himself, and makes ready for the Celebration, and disposes himself for grace.”
Let us love one another.
In old times the salutation was manifold, which on these occasions took place in the church. “Let the bishop salute the church and say, The Peace of God be with you all; and let the clergy salute the bishop, the laymen the laymen, the women the women,” so we read in the Apostolical Constitutions. And not only in those earliest times, but also many ages after, the ceremony of the Salute followed here in the Liturgy.1 So we have the order of the holy Council of Laodicea, “And after the Presbyters have given the Peace to the Bishop, then shall the lay people give the Peace, and so proceed with the holy offering.” Now the lay people’s salute is omitted so far as the Liturgy is concerned. “And another arrangement prevailed at that time in the Divine Rite: and in modern days these things are transferred to another service.” This is the comment of Balsamon in his interpretation of the Laodicean Council itself. Peace, namely, the salute; the holy kiss, which the Lord’s Brother spoke of: Dionysius calls it the most sacred salute; Germanus of Constantinople, the bond of peace. I said, so far as the Liturgy is concerned, because the Apostolic Salute of the triumphant Resurrection of the Crucified prevails everywhere in our day; and with joy the Church celebrates the kiss of “Christ is risen,” on the Day of Bright Raiment. As also the Emperor used to offer his subjects the cheek to kiss during the singing of Let us embrace each other, by the Catholic Church. “The Emperor sits upon his throne,” says the Curopalates, “the Grand Domestic bearing the sword, and all the Princes enter, each one to the very last, and salute first the right foot of the Emperor, then his right hand, and last his right cheek.” The account how “Christ is risen” was kept at court at Constantinople, is translated by Nadab the Agmonian, in the interpretation made by him of the Curopalates himself.
And the Princes used to kiss the Emperor’s foot, because of the supremacy of the royal estate; his right hand, “because the King is the Lord’s Anointed, and is the defender and champion of the Church,” explains the Thessalonian; his cheek, because king and soldier, rich and poor, are in Christ of equal account.
Let us love one another.
The salutation, Let us love one another, shows, according to S. Germanus, “love towards all, and towards ourselves mutually, and the concord that is to be with God, and the outstripping of the senses, and the manifestation of the spiritual, and that of the Holy Symbol of the Faith, and the fresh succession of the Divine Mystery.” And not only do the Bishops salute each other, as we saw in Balsamon, but likewise the presbyters and all those joined in the ministry, particularly the foremost of the Chief Priests, about whose lowliness at this most awful and holy hour, Symeon of Thessalonica in the Temple thus speaks: “The Celebrant desires prayer from all, bowing himself down, knowing himself as he does, and trembling at his work, and drawing back, and fulfilling what the Apostle says, Confess your transgressions one to another, and pray ye for one another. For he is not bold as regards himself, being only man.” But the High Priest says to those who salute him, God be in the midst of us. And to him his fellow ministers reply, He is and will be, “because God is love.” 1 John iv. 8.
The doors, the doors; let us attend in wisdom.2
After the bond of love follows at once the Confession of the Faith. “Because through a right confession in regard to the Trinity, and to that One of the Trinity Who was incarnate for us, the union has been effected: and this is the Confession which united us to the Angels, that we ought to love one another, and that Christ was sacrificed for love.” Symeon, and the blessed Germanus.
The doors! the doors!
“Away with the thoughts of our minds. In wisdom, that is in the Son and Word of God, and unto the wisdom of the divine Creed set forth by the holy God-in spired Fathers, let us pay attention in God’s Church.” And Cabasilas says: “In this wisdom he bids them open wide all the doors: open your mouths, he says, in this wisdom, which is the Symbol of the Faith,” the twelve Articles namely of the Orthodox Faith.
Notes
- Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. Myst. 5. “Then the deacon cries, ‘Welcome one another, and let us salute each other’ [perhaps it should be written, we salute.] Think not that that kiss is conformable to what takes place in the market-place with ordinary friends; the kiss certainly is not of this sort; it mingles the souls with one another, and pledges them to all forgivingness: so the kiss is a sign of the souls being mingled, and banishing all resentment. Therefore Christ said, If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave thy gift at the altar, and go thy way first, and be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. The kiss then is reconciliation, and so is holy, as somewhere the blessed Paul cries out, saying, Salute one another with a holy kiss; and Peter, with the kiss of love.’ The salute of the laity ceased, as it appears, when they left off communicating frequently. (Holy Ritual, § 197.)
- The words “Let us attend in wisdom” do not belong to “The doors, the doors,” but the former are an exhortation to the faithful to attend to the Confession of the Faith; the latter an exhortation to the doorkeepers to close the doors, and that no one should thenceforth enter or quit the church. Such is the interpretation of the Holy Ritual, § 198. And that this is correct is herein clear, that in more ancient times the doors were at once closed after the departure of Catechumens. (See above our author at the opening of this 3rd part, p. 145. Compare also Dionys. Eccl. Hier. iii.) Consequently in the Liturgy of the Lord’s Brother, the deacon after saying, “Let none of the Catechumens, let none of the Uninitiated, let none of those who cannot join our prayers remain: take note of each other,” adds, at once, “The Doors;” but the exclamation, “Let us attend in wisdom,” he utters also in that Liturgy before the Creed. The great Basil however and Chrysostom after they had arranged to transfer the closing of the doors to the time of the Creed, when the Celebration of the Unbloody Sacrifice is actually to begin, (whence also after the Great Entrance they contain the supplication, “For this holy house and those who in faith are entering it,” which proves that even then they permitted the faithful to enter,) accordingly transposed the exhortation to the Doorkeepers to precede immediately the other exhortation to the faithful. And whereas I have referred to the petition, For this holy house, &c., I observe that in the Liturgy of the Presanctified, the Euchologies have this petition improperly inserted after the Great Entrance between the words, “For the precious Gifts presented and presanctified, let us beseech the Lord,” and the prayer “That our man-loving God, Who accepted them,” &c.; in the liturgical books on the other hand, “That our manloving God,” &c., is altogether wanting. And priests and deacons should take care to say this prayer, “That our man-loving God,” &c. immediately after, “For the precious Gifts presented and presanctified,” &c., as the explanation thereof; and the words, “For this holy house,” &c., they should either say next, as some actually do, and as is found in the Hierodiaconicon, printed in 1845, or leave them out. Because the dislocated position of this petition in the Euchologies, and the consideration that in this Liturgy the doors are to be shut at once after the dismissal of the Catechumens or those preparing for baptism, now that the partaking of the presanctified precious Gifts approaches, convince me that the petition we are speaking of was added afterwards.