www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Vespers, Matins & the Divine Liturgy Differences in Presanctified Liturgy (Antiochian v. Greek)

For a variety of reasons during this Great Lent I have participated in the Presanctified Divine Liturgy in both the Antiochian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox jurisdictions and have noted many significant differences in practice:

• In Antiochian practice the PreSanctified is usually preceded by 9th Hour and Typica.

In Greek practice it is not.

• In Antiochian practice the PreSanctified Lamb is transfer from the Holy Table to the Prothesis during the final stanza of Psalmody with great ceremony: The Psalm is paused at the words “arise, O Lord, and enter the ark of Thy holiness” and the congregration prostrates until the preparation of the gifts is complete. Sometimes a bell is rung to signal the beginning and the end of the prostration.

In Greek practice the transfer occurs during the first stanza without pause or prostration.

• In some Antiochian practice a censing of the Iconostasis and the congregation takes place following the final refrain of the slow “Let My Prayer Arise”. This censing takes place in total silence.

• In Antiochian practice the Prayer of St. Ephraim (with prostrations) is said twice:
1) Immediately following the Entrance
2) Immediately following the Entrance with the Presanctified Gifts.

In Greek practice the Prayer of St. Ephraim is not said at any point.

• In Antiochian practice there are six petitions with three-fold Kyries are said at the Litany of the Catechumens

In Greek practice only two such petitions are offered.

So this is my question:

Are these differences due to Antiochian accretions or Greek truncations; or, perhaps, a little of each?

I think mainly Antiochian accretions.

Christ is in our midst!!

I have a copy of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts that was used in a Russian parish I attended while at university. I was told it was the complete Russian usage. It shows the Prayer of St. Ephraim recited once, after the Entrance with the Presanctified Gifts.

I thought I would add that for reference here. Apparently there is much variance in the serving of this Liturgy. The Slavic Recension seems to be longer than Greek usage. It also seems that there are local variations within each Recension.

I wonder how the Old Believer books compare. I also wonder how the full Ruthenian Recension compares since Metropolitan Gregory of ACROD once stated that their usage is older than both Russian and Greek usage.

The Ruthenian Recension Služebnik is available at Sluzebnik 1952 [archive.org] -- The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified, pages 401-458.

The BCC's (present) 2009 liturgicon has the PRAYER OF SAINT EPHREM immediately following the SOLEMN EVENING PSALM. From its Foreword:

The Prayer of St. Ephrem is not in the Ruthenian Recension. The interim Passaic liturgicon (1998) had it before the beginning of the liturgy itself. Prior to that the Levkulic version had it within the liturgy.

Also, see Re: A comparison:

Regarding the Prayer of St. Ephraim:

I had a conversation a couple of days ago with one of my mentoring Priests (AOA) who has served on many continents and a mid many local traditions.

His take is that the Prayer of St. Ephraim is said at the conclusion of every weekday Lenten liturgy; therefore if the Presanctified Divine Liturgy (PDL) is preceded by 9th Hour and Typika the prayer is said after each (both) of those preparatory services.

The PDL itself is really three services:

1) Vespers (from "Blessed is the kingdom" through "Gladsome Light"
2) The Prokeimenon through the Great Entrance (which concludes the Proskemedia)
3) Communion

So the Prayer of St. Ephraim is said at the conclusion of the first two sections.

Why not once again at the conclusion of the Communion service? Because when the PDL is served on a Friday the Lenten Weekday comes to a close with Communion...no longer being in Lent the Prayer of St. Ephraim would not be appropriate at that time. Why not, then, on Wednesdays only? Answer - It could be confusing to the faithful.

One thing is certain: Since St. Ephraim was Syrian his prayer is held especially dear by those Orthodox Christians whose Patriarchal throne is in Damascus.