Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as the day of the martyric death of two remarkable hierarchs of the Russian Church of the 20th century, the Metropolitans Kirill of Kazan and Joseph of Petrograd!

Perhaps any person, upon entering a church, will feel that it is a special place, dedicated to the glorification of God, and that in such a place we are called to behave especially calmly and reverently. When a church service is being performed, this feeling is naturally magnified. We understand that there are certain rules of behaviour for being in church and that there are even moments during the service when it is improper to put up candles, venerate the icons, or, in general, walk around aimlessly. These rules help preserve that grace-filled atmosphere in church. The problem is that not everyone knows these rules, or sometimes we forget them. In fact, this isn’t such a serious problem because the service itself, through some of its words or exclamations spoken by the deacon or priest, points us in the right direction. All we have to do is listen carefully. Today let’s take note of some of these instructional exclamations.

The first such exclamation at the Liturgy are the words of the deacon or priest: “Wisdom, aright!” The meaning of theses words is as follows: right now something special, filled with spiritual meaning or wisdom will take place or be read or sung; therefore stand up straight, have your children stand up, and focus your attention on the service. After this exclamation the small entrance is made, and afterwards the troparia and kontakia are sung. These hymns are important because they are appointed for a certain day or feast, and explain the meaning of the feast or say something about the saint of the day.

После этого возгласа совершается малый вход, а потом поются тропари и кондаки. Эти песнопения важны потому что они относятся к настоящему дню или празднику, раскрывают суть праздника или рассказывают насчет святого.

Before the reading of the Gospel or Epistle we almost always hear the words “Let us attend,” that is, let’s attentively listen, and “wisdom.” With this exclamation the deacon once again reminds us that something especially important will be read and that therefore it behooves us to stand up and concentrate on what is being said.

The final exclamation that we’ll note today is the following: “Let us stand well. Let us stand with fear. Let us attend, that we may offer the holy oblation in peace.” It is immediately clear that this exclamation is different from the others. It is longer, more precise, and gives the exact reason for why we need to stand well, with fear and attention. To stand well means to be upright, to reverently focus our whole physical body onto prayer towards God. To stand with fear means to have the fear of God, i. e. to understand that we are standing as if face-to-face with our Creator, and to be terrified that through our inattention we could miss out on the opportunity to, as much as this is possible, worthily glorify God. The phrase “Let us attend” we have already discussed. The final part of this exclamation explains why we must act in such a way, namely because now we will be praying that the Lord God accept our offering of bread and wine, sanctify it, send down upon it His Holy Spirit, and make it His Body and Blood. Without a doubt, how could we not stand with utmost attention and the fear of God at such a moment?!

As you can see, the words of the divine services are good markers for when we are to stand calmly and attentively, listening to what is being read or sung. At such moments, it’s also important to draw our children’s attention to what is going on. Let’s pray to our Lord that we learn to mindfully follow along at the church services, and at the same time teach our children to do the same. In such a way, we will be doing our part to preserve that grace-filled feeling in church of which we are so fond.

priest Alexis