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The Liturgy of the Blessed Apostles.


The Liturgy of the Blessed Apostles.

Composed by St. a.d.aeus and St. Maris, Teachers of the Easterns.1

On common days they sing the Psalm (xv.), Lord, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle? entire with its canon,3 of the mystery of the sacraments.

Responsory5 at the chancel, as above: Who commanded, etc.

To the priest, etc.

And proceeds:- Laid are the renowned holy and life-giving mysteries upon the altar of the mighty Lord, even until His advent, for ever.Amen.

Praise, etc.

Thy memory, etc.

Our Father, etc.

The apostles of the Father, etc.

Upon the holy altar, etc.

They who have slept, etc.

Matthew Mark, Luke, etc.13

The Creed.14

The Priest in secret:- Holy, holy, holy art Thou, O Lord God Almighty; the heavens and the earth are full of His glory and the nature of His essence, as they are glorious with the honour of His splendour; as it is written, The heaven and the earth are full of me, saith the mighty Lord.

Holy art Thou, O God our Father, truly the only one, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Holy art Thou, Eternal Son, through whom all things were made. Holy art Thou, Holy, Eternal Spirit, through whom all things are sanctified.

Woe to me, woe to me, who have been astonied, because I am a man of polluted lips, and dwell among a people of polluted lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the mighty Lord.How terrible to-day is this place! For this is none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven; because Thou hast been seen eye to eye, O Lord.

Now, I pray, may Thy grace be with us, O Lord; purge away our impurities, and sanctify our lips; unite the voices of our insignificance with the sanctification of seraphim and archangels. Glory be to Thy tender mercies, because Thou hast associated the earthly with the heavenly.22

The Priest repeats these words once and again, and at each interval unites his hands over his breast in the form of a cross. He kisses the altar in the middle, and receives with both hands the upper oblation; and looking up, says:- Praise be to Thy holy name, O Lord Jesus Christ, and adoration to Thy majesty, always and for ever. Amen.

For He is the living and life-giving bread which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the whole world, of which they who eat die not; and they who receive it are saved by it, and do not see corruption, and live through it for ever; and Thou art the antidote of our mortality,36 and the resurrection of our entire frame.37

XV.38

XVI. Praise to Thy holy name, O Lord. (As above.)

Obsignation or final benediction: May our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we have ministered, and whom we have seen and honoured in His renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries, Himself render us worthy of the splendid glory of His kingdom, and of gladness with His holy angels, and for confidence before Him, that we may stand at His right hand.

And on our entire congregation may His mercies and compassion be continually poured out, now and always, and ever.

On the Lord's day and on feast-days: May He Himself who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavens, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and prepared us for His kingdom, and called us to the desirable good things which neither cease nor perish, as He promised to us in His life-giving Gospel, and said to the blessed congregation of His disciples-Verily, verily I say unto you, that every one who eateth my body and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him, and I will raise him up at the last day; and he cometh not to judgment, but I will make him pass from death to eternal life:

May He Himself now bless this congregation, and maintain our position, and render glorious our people who have come and rejoiced in receiving His renowned, holy, life-giving, and divine mysteries; and may ye be sealed and guarded by the holy sign of the Lord's cross from all evils, secret and open, now and always.

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