Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as with the completion of the second week of St. Philip’s fast!

Throughout this year, on various weeks, we have looked into different parts of the Divine Liturgy. In the summer we discussed in detail the Beatitudes, while in the fall, over the course of three separate weeks, we talked about the psalms that are sung at the beginning of the Liturgy (102/103, 145/146) as well as those particular exclamations that help draw our attention to the church service at the most important moments. Today, let’s discuss the prayer ‘O Only-begotten Son’ which is sung at the end of the Second Antiphon, that is after psalm 145/146 and before the singing of the Beatitudes.

According to church tradition, this theological hymn to Jesus Christ was composed by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. St. Justinian reigned in the middle of the 6th century, when the Church was occupied by Christological questions, i. e. questions about the person and being of Jesus Christ. This hymn, beautifully and succinctly and, at the same time, precisely and clearly, explains who Jesus Christ is. The words ‘Only-begotten Son and Word of God, Who art immortal’ and ‘Thou who art one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit,’ clearly explain that Jesus Christ is God. By the words ‘incarnate of the holy Theotokos’ and ‘became man’ it is shown that He was also a most real person. The rest of the words of the prayer reveal why the Son of God became a man, namely, to destroy death though His own death on the Cross. It’s very beautiful, is it not?!

At first glance, it may seem strange that such a theological text is placed between the Biblical texts of the poetic psalms and the didactic and simple in form Beatitudes. In their style they are very different, and don’t seem fit together all that well. Despite this, there are actually good reasons why this hymn is sung exactly where it is.

Let’s remember that the Divine Liturgy is, first and foremost, the mystery of the consecration of Bread and Wine, which become the Body and Blood of our Saviour, as well as our communion with God through our eating of this Body and this Blood. But not everyone present at the Liturgy communes of the Life-Giving Mysteries; therefore, the first part of the Liturgy, called the Liturgy of the Catechumens, is instructive. Any person, be he a communicant or not, can glean much of value. From this point of view, it is understandable why ‘O Only-begotten Son’ is sung.

We can also remember that we can understand the whole service, from beginning to end, in an allegorical sense. The Liturgy represents the whole of salvation history. Therefore, when we hear the psalms at the beginning of the service, we can remember the Old Testament prophets and the hope of the Jewish nation of seeing its Saviour. The singing of ‘O Only-begotten Son’ after the psalms represents the incarnation of God the Word and His birth from the most-blessed Mary. Following this, the Beatitudes are sung, the Small Entrance (when the Gospel book is solemnly brought out of the altar) is made, and the Epistle and Gospel are read, all of which can all be understood as an image of Christ teaching. In such a way, here too it is completely logical why ‘O Only-begotten Son’ is sung at that exact place in the Liturgy.

Today, let’s pray to our Saviour, the Only-begotten Son and Word of God, who is glorified equally with the Father and the Holy Spirit, so that we may traverse the remainder of Advent successfully and reach the festive day of His Nativity.

priest Alexis