A Study of the Divine Liturgy
Class 6

Texts: Isabel Hapgood, Service Book; Nicholas Cabasilas, Commentary on the Divine Liturgy

Liturgy of the Catechumens - The Three Antiphons

1. Two Different Sets of Antiphons

A. The ancient cathedral rite - Pss. 91, 92, and 94 . These are the texts that Cabasilas comments on. We still use selected verses from these psalms for the daily antiphons. You will find these antiphons in the Great Horologion (HTM) on pp. 148 and 149. They are also in the little red Book of Hours from HTM.

B. The typicon of St. Savvas (current usage) - Pss. 102 and 145, the Beatitudes


II. The Antiphons, the Priestly Prayers, and the Commentary by Cabasilas

1. Section 15 - Of the antiphonary chants and their accompanying prayers

1. In the first two paragraphs, Cabasilas discusses the exclamation (ekphonesis) of the priest at the conclusion of the Litany of Peace.

a. God’s fulfillment of our petitions is just not because we deserve His gifts, but because justice demands that He be given all glory.

b. The prayer read by the priest is not audible, but the final doxology is, in order to join the people to the prayer of the priest. They unite themselves to the prayer by the “Amen.”

c. The prayer of the First Antiphon begins with the reference to this theme: God’s glory.

2. The first antiphon, again, begins by declaring the primacy of praise and thanksgiving.

3. The prayer of the second antiphon prays for the Church, and especially for those who have adorned Her holy house (the church building). The doxology, again, refers to God’s glory and dominion.

4. The prayer of the third antiphon is a prayer for those praying with the priest - the congregation - that the Lord will fulfill their petitions in fulfillment of Christ’s promise to be where “two or three are gathered” in His name.

5. At the third antiphon, the Gospel is carried in procession to the altar. The priest prays for the holy angels to come and enter with him to offer the sacrifice.

B. Section 16 - A summary of the general significance of the sacrifice

Before he goes on to comment on each antiphon separately, Cabasilas recurs to the subject of entire meaning of the Liturgy.

1. The entire service (“the sacrifice”) is a figurative representation of the economy of Christ’s redemptive work. As we go through the Liturgy step by step, the author will comment on the symbolic meaning of each stage of the service.

2. The chants and readings do have another purpose - to act as purification and preparation of the faithful to receive the Mysteries, but they also have the symbolic purpose of representing the earlier stages of Christ’s redemptive work: His early hidden life (the proskomedia and the first two antiphons), the beginning of His public ministry (the entrance with the Gospel), and His preaching (the Scripture readings).

C. Section 17 - The meaning of the first antiphon

1. The first chant begins, again, with glorification. “It is good to give praise unto the Lord, and to chant unto Thy Name, O Most High” (Ps. 91: 1). This refers to the Father and the Son: The Son is “the Lord” and the Father is the “Most High.”

2. The rest of the commentary on this psalm relates to the second verse and the final verse: “To proclaim in the morning Thy mercy, and Thy truth by night…” and “”…upright is the Lord our God, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

a. Mercy and truth refer to the Son’s katabasis- “…the Son’s becoming nothing, His poverty, His works and sufferings while in the flesh…”

i. His mercy is shown in His compassion to our wretchedness

ii. His truth is shown in the fulfillment, in reality, of the types of the Old Testament iii. The psalm also refers to the manifestation of God’s judgment and justice.

D. Section 18 - The meaning of the singing of prophecies at the beginning of the Liturgy [also the 2nd antiphon]

1. The second antiphon celebrates the glory the Son received as the result of His self-emptying, and those things which He accomplished by His Passion and Death

2. In the symbolic structure of the Liturgy, the first two antiphons, by using the prophetic texts, indicate that in His hidden life and the early stages of His ministry, the full meaning of the Lord’s redemptive work was not understood; thus the recourse to the prophetic writings (i.e., the psalms), which predict Christ’s suffering and glorification in veiled language.

3. Verse 1: “The Lord is King, He is clothed with majesty.” - All the inhabitants of heaven and earth must acknowledge His kingship, for “All power has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28: 18).”

4. Verse 2: “For He established the world which shall not be shaken…” - the author says that “This establishment is the name given to faith.” Matthew 28: 18 is immediately followed by Matt. 28:19 - “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name…”. So the proclamation of Christ’s dominion is immediately linked to faith and baptism.

5. Verse 7: But faith is not enough. Thus the psalmist adds, “Thy testimonies are made very sure…” This refers to the keeping of the commandments. In Matthew 28, Christ confirms this, saying, immediately after the command to baptize, “…teaching them to keep all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

6. The concluding verse is “Holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord, unto length of days” - The house (the church building) is not empty, but contains the Master of the house in person. The Lord promised in Matthew 28 that He would be with us always. St. Paul says that the Church is the “house of the living God (I Tim. 3:15).” After redemption comes sanctification.