Byzantine Liturgy and Worship: The Prayers of the Christian East

The Byzantine liturgy was the most elaborate and the most influential liturgical tradition in the medieval Christian world. From the great cathedral of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople to the parish churches and monasteries scattered across the empire and beyond, the Byzantines developed a sophisticated system of worship that combined scripture, prayer, hymn, sacrament, and ceremonial in a total experience of the Christian life. The Byzantine liturgy shaped Orthodox worship for more than a millennium, and it remains, in its essentials, the liturgical tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Churches to this day.

This exploration of Byzantine liturgy and worship traces the development of the tradition from its late antique origins through the great liturgical synthesis of the Macedonian and Palaiologan periods, examining the principal liturgical services, the structure of the liturgical year, the music that accompanied the worship, and the theology that gave the Byzantine liturgy its distinctive character.

The Origins of the Byzantine Liturgy

The Early Christian Liturgy

The origins of the Byzantine liturgy can be traced to the late second and third centuries, when the Christian communities of the eastern Mediterranean developed their characteristic forms of worship. The early Christian liturgy included the reading of scriptures, the singing of psalms, the prayer of intercession, and the celebration of the Eucharist, the sacrament of bread and wine understood to be the body and blood of Christ.

The forms of worship developed differently in different regions. The church of Jerusalem, for example, had its own distinctive liturgy, organized around the liturgy of the Holy Sepulchre, while the church of Antioch had its own forms of worship, with an emphasis on the chanting of psalms and the use of antiphonal singing. The liturgy of the Egyptian church, with its strong monastic tradition, had a distinctive form centered on the Desert Fathers and the monastic cycle of prayer.

The development of a specifically Byzantine liturgy is usually associated with the fourth century, when the imperial capital at Constantinople began to take shape as the political and religious center of the eastern Roman world. The liturgy of Constantinople, while drawing on the older traditions of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria, was organized around the imperial cathedral, the Great Church of the Hagia Sophia, and it was shaped by the needs of the imperial court and the great religious festivals of the capital.

St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great

The two principal forms of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, the central service of Christian worship, are attributed to St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great. The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which is the more commonly used, is a shorter and somewhat simplified version of an older liturgy, traditionally attributed to the great preacher John Chrysostom, who served as patriarch of Constantinople in the late fourth century. The Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, attributed to the great fourth-century theologian Basil of Caesarea, is a longer and more elaborate form, used ten times a year, especially during Lent.

The two liturgies share the same basic structure, which can be divided into two main parts. The Liturgy of the Catechumens includes the initial prayers, the reading of scripture, the chanting of psalms, the sermon, and the prayers of intercession. The Liturgy of the Faithful includes the Creed, the Great Entrance, the Anaphora or Eucharistic prayer, the breaking of the bread, and communion. The two parts are separated by a prayer for the catechumens, those preparing for baptism, and a dismissal of the catechumens, which is a vestige of the early practice of admitting only the baptized to the Eucharistic part of the service.

The Structure of the Divine Liturgy

The Proskomedia

The Divine Liturgy begins with the Proskomedia, the preparation of the bread and wine. The priest takes a round loaf of leavened bread, called the prosphora, and cuts out a cube, called the Lamb, which will be consecrated. He also removes particles from the prosphora to commemorate the Theotokos, the saints, the living, and the dead, and places them around the Lamb on the paten. The Proskomedia is a visual image of the whole church, with the Lamb in the center, surrounded by the saints and the faithful of all times and places.

The Liturgy of the Catechumens

The Liturgy of the Catechumens begins with the Great Litany, a series of prayers for the church, the emperor, the city, the sick, and the departed. The prayers are sung by the deacon, and the people respond with the Kyrie eleison, “Lord, have mercy.” The Great Litany is followed by the antiphons, psalms sung antiphonally by the choir, and the Little Entrance, the procession of the Gospel book from the sanctuary to the center of the church.

The readings of scripture follow. The readings are taken from the Old Testament, the Epistles, and the Gospels, and they are appointed for each day of the liturgical year. After the Epistle reading, the choir sings the Cherubic Hymn, and the priest performs the Great Entrance, the solemn procession of the bread and wine from the prothesis to the altar. The sermon follows, often a homily by one of the church fathers, and the prayer of intercession.

The Liturgy of the Faithful

The Liturgy of the Faithful begins with the Creed, the profession of faith, sung by the whole congregation. The Creed is followed by the Anaphora, the central prayer of the liturgy, which includes the words of institution, the recitation of the institution of the Eucharist by Christ at the Last Supper. The Anaphora is the most solemn moment of the liturgy, and it is attended by the ringing of bells and the use of incense.

The communion follows. The priest breaks the Lamb into four parts, a symbolic act that recalls the breaking of the bread at the Last Supper, and he administers communion to the faithful, who receive both the bread and the wine. In the Byzantine tradition, communion is given to infants as well as to adults, and it is normally received after confession and absolution.

The Liturgical Year

The Cycle of Feasts

The Byzantine liturgical year was organized into two interlocking cycles, the movable cycle and the fixed cycle. The movable cycle, which begins with Great Lent and culminates in Easter, is centered on the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, the central mystery of the Christian faith. The fixed cycle, which begins in September with the Indiction, the beginning of the Byzantine civil year, is organized around the great feasts of Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints.

The fixed cycle includes the Twelve Great Feasts, the most important feasts of the Byzantine liturgical year. The Great Feasts of the Lord include the Nativity of Christ (Christmas), the Theophany (Epiphany), the Meeting of the Lord (Presentation), the Annunciation, the Entry into Jerusalem, the Transfiguration, the Elevation of the Cross, the Ascension, and Pentecost. The Great Feasts of the Theotokos include the Nativity of the Theotokos, the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, the Annunciation, the Dormition, and others.

The movable cycle is dominated by the great feasts of Holy Week, including the raising of Lazarus, the entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. The week of Holy Week is the most solemn period of the Byzantine year, and the services of Holy Week, especially the services of Great Friday and Great Saturday, are among the most elaborate of the liturgical year.

The Saints’ Days

The saints’ days form an important part of the Byzantine liturgical year. Each day of the year has its own assigned saints, and the lives of the saints, the synaxarion, are read at the Divine Liturgy. The most important saints have their own special services, including vigils, matins, and the Divine Liturgy.

The cult of the saints was central to Byzantine religious life. The saints were understood to be present with the church on earth, interceding for the faithful and serving as models of the Christian life. The relics of the saints, which were preserved in churches and monasteries throughout the empire, were venerated as sources of healing and protection, and they were often carried in procession on the saints’ feast days.

The Music of the Liturgy

Byzantine Chant

Byzantine chant was the music of the Orthodox liturgy, the sung prayer that gave the Byzantine liturgy much of its emotional power. Byzantine chant was monophonic, sung in unison, with the melody varying according to the mode and the words. The chant was traditionally attributed to the holy man Romanos the Melodist, who is credited with the invention of the kontakion, a long hymn in honor of a saint or a feast.

Byzantine chant developed a sophisticated system of eight modes, with the melodies organized according to complex rules governing the intervals, the cadences, and the relationships between the different modes. The chant was originally transmitted orally, but the introduction of neumes, a system of signs indicating the melodic formulas, allowed the chants to be written down. The neumes were gradually refined into a system of round neumes, which could indicate the precise pitch and rhythm of the melody.

The two principal traditions of Byzantine chant are the chant of the Great Church (the Hagia Sophia) and the chant of the Studios monastery. The chant of the Hagia Sophia, attributed to figures like St. John Chrysostom, is the more formal and elaborate, while the chant of the Studios, attributed to Theodore the Studite, is more monastic and contemplative. The two traditions merged in the later Byzantine period, and the result is the standard Orthodox chant tradition that has been preserved to this day.

Hymnography

The hymns of the Byzantine liturgy were an important element of the worship, and the great hymnographers of the Byzantine church were celebrated figures. The most important was Romanos the Melodist, the sixth-century deacon of the church of the Theotokos in Constantinople, who is credited with the invention of the kontakion. The kontakion is a long hymn, typically consisting of 18 to 24 strophes, each ending with a refrain, and it was the principal literary form of Byzantine hymnography for several centuries.

The kontakion was eventually replaced in popularity by the canon, a more complex form attributed to St. Andrew of Crete in the seventh century and to St. John of Damascus in the eighth century. The canon consists of nine odes, each based on a biblical canticle, and the canon became the principal form of Byzantine hymnography. The great canons of the Byzantine church include the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, sung during the first week of Lent, and the various canons of St. John of Damascus.

The most beloved of all Byzantine hymns is the Akathist Hymn, a hymn to the Theotokos sung during Lent, traditionally attributed to Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople in the seventh century. The Akathist is a masterpiece of Byzantine poetry and theology, and it has been one of the most influential works of the Orthodox liturgical tradition.

The Sacred Space

The Church Building

The Byzantine church was designed to be an image of the heavenly kingdom, and the liturgy celebrated in it was understood to be a participation in the heavenly liturgy celebrated by Christ with his saints. The architecture of the Byzantine church, especially the centralized plan of the cross-in-square, was developed to express the theological vision of the liturgy, and the iconographic program of the church was designed to make the walls and the dome a vision of the kingdom of God.

The principal elements of the Byzantine church included the narthex, the entrance hall, where the catechumens and the penitents stood; the nave, where the faithful gathered; the solea, the raised platform in the center of the church, where the imperial doors and the ambon were located; and the bema or sanctuary, separated from the nave by the iconostasis, the screen of icons that marked off the holy place.

The iconographic program of the Byzantine church was closely tied to the liturgy. The dome was reserved for the image of Christ Pantokrator, the ruler of all; the apse for the Virgin or the Theophany; the vaults and the upper walls for the great feasts of the liturgical year; and the lower walls for the saints. The arrangement of the program was not random but was designed to express the theology of the church and to make the worshipper’s experience of the liturgy a vision of the heavenly kingdom.

The Liturgical Theology

Heaven and Earth United

The theology of the Byzantine liturgy was based on the conviction that the liturgy celebrated in the church is a participation in the heavenly liturgy celebrated by Christ with his saints. The sanctuary, separated by the iconostasis, was understood to be the holy of holies, the place where the heavenly liturgy was celebrated. The icons on the screen were not merely decorations but windows into the heavenly kingdom, the place where the saints and angels worship God.

The use of incense, candles, vestments, processions, and chant was not merely aesthetic but liturgical. The incense, for example, was understood to represent the prayers of the saints ascending to God, and the candles represented the light of Christ shining in the world. The vestments of the priest and the deacon represented the heavenly garments, and the procession of the Gospel book and the gifts represented the heavenly liturgy celebrated on earth.

The theology of the Byzantine liturgy was, in this sense, a theology of participation. The worshipper does not merely attend the liturgy but participates in it, joining the choir of angels and saints in the worship of the Holy Trinity. The liturgy is a foretaste of the kingdom, a participation in the heavenly worship that will be the everlasting life of the saints.

Conclusion

The Byzantine liturgy was one of the great achievements of the medieval Christian world. From the great cathedral of the Hagia Sophia to the parish churches and monasteries of the empire, the Byzantines developed a sophisticated tradition of worship that combined scripture, prayer, sacrament, hymn, and ceremony in a total experience of the Christian life. The tradition they established continues in the Orthodox Christian world to this day, and it remains one of the principal ways in which the Byzantine inheritance shapes the religious life of hundreds of millions of Orthodox Christians.

Byzantine Religion and the Orthodox Church — the broader context
The Akathist Hymn — the greatest Byzantine hymn
The Iconostasis: Evolution and Meaning — the sacred screen
Saints in Byzantine Tradition — the intercessors in heaven
Byzantine Monasticism — the monastic tradition
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople — the first see
Byzantine Icon Veneration and Theology — the theology of images
The Great Schism of 1054 — the split with the West