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Deacon Seraphim on the Proskomedia: The Hidden Start of the Divine Liturgy
41:35
What the video says
Deacon Saraphim explains the Proskomedia, the service of preparation before the Divine Liturgy, which begins hours before the public service. The clergy pray for mercy and forgiveness, vest with scriptural prayers, and prepare the bread and wine on the table of preparation.
The priest cuts the Lamb from the prosphora using words from Isaiah and John's Gospel, places commemorative particles for the Theotokos, saints, and the faithful around it, making the discos an icon of the whole church. The gifts are covered with the star and veils while prayers reference the Nativity, creation, and the Holy Spirit, showing Christ's saving work at the center of history.
The service ends with censing and the opening proclamation "Blessed is the Kingdom," inviting the assembly into communion with the risen Lord.
Key moments
- The Divine Liturgy is the same repeated service week after week, and the faithful spend their lives doing this thing.
- Serving at the holy table is the greatest thing in the deacon's life; everything else in his life has been brought into relationship with what happens at the altar.
- Unless you have attended liturgy faithfully three or four times, you should not watch further; explanation without participation files the mystery away without entering it.
- "Liturgy" (leitourgia) means a public work done on behalf of the people, not "the work of the people"; the Divine Liturgy begins and ends as Christ's work for us.
- Clergy arrive hours early, pray beginning prayers, venerate icons, and the priest asks God to strengthen him to stand uncondemned before the fearful altar.
- The priest cuts the Lamb from the prosphora marked with IC XC NIKA, speaking Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant with each cut while the deacon says "Let us pray to the Lord."
- Commemorative particles are placed around the Lamb: first for the Theotokos at the Lamb's right hand, then for nine ranks of saints, then for the living and departed faithful by name.
- Covering the gifts moves backward through salvation history: the star over the Lamb recalls Bethlehem, the veils recall creation and the Holy Spirit brooding over the waters.
Deacon Seraphim begins a mini-series on the Divine Liturgy by explaining the Proskomedia, the service of preparation that takes place hours before the public worship. He describes how the clergy arrive early, say beginning prayers, venerate icons, and vest while reciting scriptural prayers. The priest asks God to strengthen him to stand uncondemned before the altar.
At the table of preparation, the priest cuts the Lamb from the prosphora marked with IC XC NIKA, speaking Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering servant with each cut while the deacon says, "Let us pray to the Lord." Commemorative particles are placed around the Lamb: first for the Theotokos at the Lamb's right hand, then for nine ranks of saints, then for the living and departed faithful by name, making the discos an icon of the whole Church.
Covering the gifts moves backward through salvation history: the star over the Lamb recalls Bethlehem, the veils recall creation and the Holy Spirit brooding over the waters. The service ends with censing and the opening proclamation "Blessed is the Kingdom," inviting the assembly into communion with the risen Lord. Deacon Seraphim emphasizes that "liturgy" (leitourgia) means a public work done on behalf of the people, not "the work of the people"; the Divine Liturgy begins and ends as Christ's work for us.
He also advises that unless a person has attended liturgy faithfully three or four times, they should not watch further, because explanation without participation files the mystery away without entering it. He notes that serving at the holy table is the greatest thing in his life and that everything else has been brought into relationship with what happens at the altar.