Dear Friends,

The Priest at the Altar

by Father Lev Gillet (1893-1980)

The Christian priest is first of all the one who performs a sacrifice; but he is such only by virtue of his participation in the sacerdotal (priestly) act of our unique and sovereign High Priest, Jesus Christ.

The Holy Gifts (bread & wine) prepared at the prothesis (preparation) and consecrated at the altar are “offered.” This means that Jesus Christ Himself is offered, or rather offers Himself through the act of the priest, to His Father for the life and salvation of the world. When the priest raises the Holy Gifts and declares: “Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee on behalf of all and for all” (“Yev uzkooys I koyotz…”), he reaches the central moment of his vocation.

At this moment he manifests the ultimate purpose of his vocation and of his service on behalf of the world as a whole. He offers the Victim who saves mankind. Blessed is the priest who, at that moment, is aware that he has fulfilled his own personal destiny and reached the very goal of his life!

At that moment, we are all spiritually plunged into the Blood of Christ. We become, through the Divine Liturgy, participants in His Passion, Death and Resurrection. Every Eucharist (Divine Liturgy), in some sense, represents both for the priest and for those who take part in it, an act of “suicide.” The old, sinful Adam is immolated, sacrificed. The New Man in Jesus Christ replaces him. The egotistical person we were before ceases to exist. Thus it should be, in any event, if we truly participate in the Divine Liturgy.

When we leave the Church after the service, we should be other than we were when we entered. Tragically, most Christians don’t know what the Liturgy demands of them. The priest should be more aware than they. He, at least, should know, if he accomplishes the offering in Spirit and in Truth, that each time he approaches the altar to offer the sacrifice of Christ, he himself will die in order to be born anew.

From the Desert Fathers

Abba Theonas said, “When we turn our spirit from the contemplation of God, we become slaves of carnal passions.”

Abba Theophilus, the archbishop, came to Scetis one day. The brethren who were assembled said to Abba Pambo, “Say something to the archbishop, so that he may be edified.” The old man said, “If he is not edified by my silence, he will not be edified by my speech.”
       

+ + + + +

With prayers.
Hayr Simeon
July 13, 2008