Liturgy (shorter ancient recension)

LITURGY OF SAINT BASIL EXCERPT FROM THE ALEXANDRIAN LITURGY OF SAINT BASIL, FROM A GREEK-ARABIC CODEX.

Prayer of the Veil

Another prayer from the divine Liturgy of the Apostle and brother of the Lord, James.

O God who, on account of your great and ineffable love for mankind, sent your only-begotten Son into the world, that he might bring back the wandering sheep, do not turn away from us sinners who offer unto you this fearful and unbloody sacrifice. For we do not trust in our own righteousness, but in your good mercy, by which you acquire our race. We beseech your goodness, and we fall before you, that this mystery, instituted for us for salvation, may not become a condemnation to your people, but may instead be for the blotting out of sins, for the renewal of souls and bodies, and for your good pleasure—to you, God and Father, and to your only-begotten Son, and to your good, life-giving, and consubstantial Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Prayer for Peace

Pray for the peace of the one, holy Church, etc. Which is from the ends of the inhabited world to the ends thereof, and for all the peoples, and all the flocks. Grant the peace which is from heaven to the hearts of us all; but grant us also the peace of this life. The king, the military orders, the rulers, the councils, the common people, our neighbors, our comings and goings, all ^D

^A adorn with every peace. King of peace, grant us your peace; for you have given all things to us. Possess us, O God; for besides you we know no other; we call upon your name. Vivify the souls of us all through your holy Spirit; and may the death of sin not prevail against us your servants, nor against all your people.

Prayer for the Pope

Prayer for the congregation

Prayer of the kiss of peace of St. Basil

^A in an odor of sweetness, send down upon us in return the grace of your Holy Spirit. Yea, O God, look upon us, and regard this reasonable worship of ours, and accept it, as you accepted this true worship from your holy apostles. Thus, also from our hands, who are sinners, accept these gifts set before you in your goodness, O Lord, and grant that they may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, for the expiation of our own offenses and the ignorances of your people, and for the rest of the souls of those who have fallen asleep. That we also, who are humble, and sinners, and your unworthy servants, being deemed worthy to minister blame- ^B lessly at your holy altar, may receive the reward of faithful and prudent stewards, and may find grace and mercy in the fearful day of your just and good retribution. And now, grant us peace in all things and in every way; and bestow upon us your love, O Lord our God, for unfeigned brotherly love, that we may love one another fervently from a pure heart. Purify us from all defilement, from all guile, from all malice and craftiness, and from the death-bearing remembrance of injuries, and deign, O Master, to make us all worthy to greet one another with a holy kiss, that we may, free from condemnation, be partakers of your immortal and heavenly gift, through the compassions of your only-begotten Son, with whom you are blessed and glorified together with all the saints.

Another prayer of the kiss.

O God, who are great and eternal, who created man in incorruption, and who didst abolish death, which had entered into the world through the envy of the devil, by the life-giving presence of your only-begotten Son, and didst fill the earth with peace from heaven, for which the armies of angels glorified you, saying: ^C «Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men»; fill our hearts with that good will of your peace. Deign to purify us from all defilement, from all malice and craftiness, and from the death-bearing remembrance of injuries; and make us all worthy to greet one another with a holy kiss, so that, immune from condemnation, we may be partakers of your immortal and heavenly gift in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom to you be glory and honor, etc.

Another prayer of the kiss.

The magnificence of your gifts, O Master, surpasses every power of speech and imagination of the mind. ^D For those things which you hid from the wise and prudent, you revealed to us, who are little ones. And the prophets and kings, desiring to see them, saw them not, which things you have granted to us sinners to administer and be sanctified by them. You have set before us the dispensation of your only-begotten Son, and the celebration of this sacrifice, in which not legal blood, not

^A a justification of the flesh, but a spiritual lamb is offered, and the sword is rational and incorporeal. Offering therefore this sacrifice to you, we beseech you, O lover of mankind, purify our lips and deliver our mind from every material mixture. Send down upon us the grace of your Holy Spirit, and count us worthy to greet one another with a holy kiss, so that we may partake without condemnation of your immortal and heavenly gift in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom, etc.

The kiss of peace is given. The Deacon says: Let us stand properly. The Priest says aloud: The Lord be with you all. The People: And with your spirit. The Priest: Let us lift up our hearts. The People: We lift them up to the Lord. The Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord. The People: It is meet and right. The Priest: It is meet and right; it is meet and right; it is truly meet and right.

The Beginning of the Oblation

O Being, Master Lord, God of truth, existing before the ages and reigning into the ages: who dwell in the heights unto the age, and look upon the humble: who made heaven, and earth, and sea, and all things that are therein: the Father of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, through whom you made all things, ^B visible and invisible: who sits upon the throne of the holy glory of your kingdom: who are worshiped by every holy power. The Deacon says: You who are sitting, arise. The Priest: To whom stand by angels and archangels, principalities and powers, thrones, dominions, and virtues. The Deacon says: Look to the east. Who surround you, the many-eyed Cherubim, and the six-winged Seraphim, forever praising, crying out, and saying: The Deacon says: Let us attend. The People: Holy, holy, holy Lord Sabaoth. Holy, holy, holy are you truly, O Lord our God, who created us and set us in the ^D paradise of delight. But when we had transgressed your commandment through the deception of the serpent, and had fallen from eternal life, and had been exiled from the paradise of delight, you did not cast us off unto the end, but you unceasingly visited us through your holy prophets, and in the end of these days you shone upon us who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, through your only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, who, having taken flesh from the Holy Spirit and from our holy Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, and having become man, showed us the ways of salvation, granting to us heavenly re

^Ageneration through water and the Spirit, and made us for himself a peculiar people; he sanctified us with thy Holy Spirit. He who loved his own who were in the world, gave himself as a ransom to death which reigned over us, in which we were held, sold under sin; and having descended through the cross into Hades, he rose from the dead on the third day; and having ascended into heaven, he sat at thy right hand, O Father, having appointed a day of retribution, in which, being manifested, he will judge the world in righteousness, and render to each according to his deed. The people say: According to thy mercy, O Lord, and not, etc. The priest: But he left to us this great mystery of godliness. For when he was about to surrender himself to death for the life of the world, The people say: We believe. He took bread into his holy, spotless, and blessed hands, and having looked up to the heights of heaven, to thee his own Father, our God and the God of all; and having given thanks, he blessed, he sanctified. The people: Amen. He broke it, and gave it to his holy disciples and apostles, saying: "Take, eat. This is my body, which for you and for many is broken and given for the remission of sins. Do this in remembrance of me." In like manner also the cup, after they had supped, having mixed [it] with wine and water, he gave thanks, he blessed, he sanctified. The people: Amen. He tasted, and again gave it to his holy disciples and apostles, saying: "Take, drink of it all of you. This is my blood of the new testament, which for you and for many is poured out for the remission of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim my death and confess my resurrection and ascension, until I come." The people say: Amen, amen, amen. Thy death, O Lord, etc. The priest says: Being mindful, therefore, also we ^B of his holy passion, and of his resurrection from the dead, and of his ascension into heaven, and of his sitting at the right hand of thee, God and Father, and of his glorious and fearful second coming, from thy own gifts we offer to thee thine own, in all, and for all, and in all. The people say: We praise thee, we bless thee. The deacon says: Bow your heads to God with fear.

^A The priest says secretly: We pray and beseech thee, O lover of mankind, good Lord, we thy sinful and unworthy servants, and we worship thee by the good pleasure of thy goodness, that thy Holy Spirit may come down upon us thy servants, and upon these thy proposed gifts, and sanctify and show them to be the Holy of Holies. Deacon: Let us attend. People: Amen. The priest says aloud: And make this bread indeed the precious body of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and for eternal life to those who partake of it. People: Amen. The priest: And this cup, the precious blood of the New Testament of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and for eternal life to those who partake of it. People: Amen. Kyrie eleison, thrice. And make us worthy, O Lord, to partake of thy holy mysteries, for the sanctification of soul, and body, and spirit, that we may become one body and one spirit, and may find a part and inheritance with all the saints who have pleased thee from the beginning of time. Remember, O Lord, thy holy, only, catholic Church, and grant her peace, which thou hast acquired with the precious blood of thy Christ. In the first place, remember, O Lord, our holy Father the Archbishop, Abba N., Pope and Patriarch of the great city of Alexandria, whom thou dost vouchsafe to grant to thy holy Churches in peace, safe, honorable, healthy, long-lived, rightly dispensing the word of truth, and shepherding thy flock in peace. Remember, O Lord, the orthodox presbyters, and every order of deacon, and the ministry, and all who preserve virginity, and all thy most faithful people. Remember us, O Lord, that thou mayest have mercy upon us all at once. People: Have mercy upon us, O God the Father Almighty. The priest: Have mercy upon us, O God the Father Almighty, thrice. People: Kyrie eleison, thrice. The priest: Remember also, O Lord, the salvation of this our city, and those who dwell in it in the faith of God. Remember, O Lord, the air, and the fruits of the earth. Remember, O Lord, the rains, and the seeds of the earth. Remember, O Lord, the flooding of the river waters according to measure. Make glad also and renew the face of the earth: sate its furrows, multiply its fruits. Grant us

^A its produce. Present it to us for sowing and for harvest; and now, in your blessing, bless it. Rule over our life. Bless the crown of the year of your goodness for the sake of the poor of your people, for the sake of the widow and the orphan, for the sake of the stranger and the sojourner, ^B and for the sake of us all who hope in you and call upon your holy name; for the eyes of all hope in you, and you give them their food in due season. Deal with us according to your goodness, you who give food to all flesh. Fill our hearts with joy and gladness, so that, always having all sufficiency in everything, we may abound in every good work, to do your holy will. The people say: Lord, have mercy. The priest says: Remember, O Lord, those who offer to you these precious gifts, and those for whom, and by whom, and for what purposes they have brought them, and grant them all a heavenly reward; for it is the command, O Master, of your only-begotten Son that we should partake in the memory of your saints. Deign also, O Lord, ^C to remember those who from ages past have pleased you: the holy fathers, patriarchs, apostles, prophets, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, and every righteous spirit perfected in the faith of Christ. Especially the all-holy, most glorious, immaculate, hypersanctified Mother of our Lord and ever-virgin Mary. The holy glorious prophet, forerunner, Baptist, and martyr John. The holy Stephen, first of deacons and first of martyrs. And the holy and blessed Father our Mark, the apostle and evangelist; and our holy Father the Wonderworker Basil. The holy N., whose memory we celebrate on this day, and the whole choir of your saints, by whose prayers and intercessions have mercy on us also, and save us for the sake of your holy name which has been called upon us. The deacon reads the diptychs. The priest says in himself: Likewise, O Lord, remember all those in the priestly order who have rested before us, ^D and those of the lay state; deign to grant their souls rest in the bosoms of our holy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Induct and gather them into a verdant place, by the water of rest, in the paradise of delight, whence pain, and sorrow, and sighing have fled, in the splendor of your saints. And after the diptychs the priest says: To those, O Lord, whose souls you have received, grant rest there, and deign to transfer them into the kingdom of heaven. But as for us, who are dwelling here as strangers, preserve us in your faith, and lead us into your kingdom, granting us your

^A peace at all times, so that in this, as in all things, your most holy, precious, and blessed name may be glorified, exalted, praised, blessed, and sanctified, with Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. People: As it was. Deacon: Descend, deacons. Priest: Peace be to all.

Preface to the Fraction

Prayer at the Fraction, of Saint Basil

Another Prayer at the Fraction

^A cherubim and seraphim, and all the multitude of the heavenly powers. You who have sanctified these proposed gifts through the descent of your All-Holy Spirit: cleanse us from our hidden and manifest sins, and every thought displeasing to your goodness, put far from us. Sanctify our souls, bodies, and spirits, and our consciences, that with a pure heart and illuminated soul, we may dare with confidence and without fear to call upon you, the heavenly God, holy Father, and to say, etc.

Another Prayer at the Fraction

You who have granted to us the grace of adoption through the laver of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, now also grant that without simulation or hypocrisy, with a pure heart and a conscience full of confidence, and with lips that do not stumble, we may call upon you, Abba Father; so that, casting aside the vanity of ethnic babbling and Jewish folly, we may have the strength, in a humble voice as befits Christians, to offer to you the supplication of prayer, according to the saving institution of your only-begotten Son; and in the sanctification of soul, body, and spirit, we may dare fearlessly to call out to the uncreated, beginningless, and endless Lord of all, the heavenly God, holy Father, and to say, etc.

The people say the Lord's Prayer; and after the Lord's Prayer, the priest says: Yes, O good and lover-of-good Father, lead us not into temptation, nor let any iniquity rule over us; ^B but deliver us from indecent works, and thoughts, and movements, and glances, and touches, and drive away the tempter in vain. ^C Suppress also the natural and bodily movements within us, and entirely restrain from us the urges that draw us to sin; through our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom, etc.

The deacon: Bow your heads.

Prayer of the Bowing of the Head

O God, who so loved us, and granted to us the dignity of adoption, that we might be called and are the children of God, heirs indeed of you, the Father, and co-heirs of your Christ; incline, O Lord, your ear, and hear us who bow to you our heads; and cleanse our inner man, as your only-begotten Son, whom we are about to receive, is pure. Let fornication and unclean thought flee, on account of the God born of the Virgin; let vanity and that ancient evil, pride, flee, on account of him who for our sake humbled himself; let timidity flee, on account of him who suffered in the flesh and set up the trophy of the cross; let vainglory flee, on account of him who was struck with palms and scourged, and did not turn his face away from the shame of spittings; let envy, and murder, and dissension, and hatred, ^D flee on account of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world; [end of page 1645-1646 contribution]

^A let anger and the memory of injuries flee from him who nailed to the cross the handwriting of our debts; let demons and the devil flee from him who triumphed over the malignant principalities and stripped the powers of darkness. Let every earthly thought flee from him who has been taken up into the heavens: so that we may thus purely become partakers of the most pure mystery, and be sanctified in our entirety, in soul, body, and spirit; and having become of one body, fellow-partakers, and of one image with thy Christ, let our mouth be filled with praise and our lips with exultation, that we may praise thy glory, O Father, and that of thy only-begotten Son, who exists forever, through whom and with whom, etc.

*Another prayer of Saint Basil after the Our Father.* For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now, etc. ^B Diaconus: Incline your heads to God.

*Prayer of the inclination of the head.* Dominator Lord, Father of mercies and God of all consolation, bless those who have inclined their heads to thee, and sanctify, guard, strengthen, and confirm them in power. Turn them away from every evil work, and join them to every good work, and grant that they may receive these immaculate and vivifying mysteries immune from condemnation, for the remission of sins, for the communion of the Holy Spirit, through grace, mercies, and kindness, etc. ^C

*Another among the Egyptians from the Liturgy of the Presanctified of the Apostle Mark, after the reception of the holy mysteries.* The gifts of thy beneficence are perfected, which are the fearful and super-blessed mysteries of thy only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. We have confessed his salutary passions, we have preached his vivifying death, we have believed in his holy third-day resurrection from the dead. The mystery is completed. We give thanks to thee, O Lord, God, Almighty Father, because thy great mercy is upon us, and thou hast accomplished for us those things into which the angels desire to look. ^D We supplicate and beseech thy goodness, O lover of mankind, that thou wouldst purify us all who prostrate ourselves before thee, and unite us to thyself through the participation of thy divine mysteries, and that we may be filled with thy Holy Spirit, and firmly established in thy right faith. Let us be filled with the desire for thy true love, and glorifying thee everywhere in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom, etc. Diaconus: Let us attend to God with fear. Sacerdos: Peace to all. Dominator, Lord, God, Almighty Father, who

heals our souls, and bodies, and spirits. You commanded Peter, the chief of your holy disciples and apostles, through the mouth of your only-begotten Son, our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, who said to him: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it; and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." ^B We therefore, your servants, my fathers and brothers, priests and Levites, and all your faithful people, prostrate before your holy glory in this holy hour, bearing your precious cross, let us all be loosed and freed by the mouth of me a sinner, through your all-holy, good, and loving Spirit. O God, through your Son who took away the sin of the world, begin the reception of the repentance of your servants from them, unto the light of knowledge and the propitiation of sins; for you do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should return and live; for you are the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, long-suffering, and of great mercy, and true, taking away iniquities, and injustices, and sins. And if we have sinned against you in word or in deed, remit, forgive, and pardon us, as a good and loving God. "For if you, O Lord, O Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand? Because with you there is propitiation;" for you are the propitiation of our sins, the illumination and Savior of our souls. ^C O God, set us all free, and free all your people from every sin, every denial, and blasphemy, from every curse and imprecation, from magic, sorcery, perjury, and idolatry; from anathema and cursing, from division, from the flying arrow, from the lamentation of the just and the unjust, and from every encounter with heretics and heathens. Grant us, O Master, mind, understanding, and strength to flee unto the end from every evil work of the adversary, and grant us to do what is pleasing to you. Write our names with all the choir of your saints in the kingdom of heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom and with whom, etc.

The priest lifts up the spoudikon, and cries out: ^D The holy things for the holy. The people say: Lord, have mercy. (thrice). One is the holy Father, one is the holy Son, one is the holy Spirit. Amen. The priest says: The Lord be with you all. The people say: And with your spirit. The priest says: Blessed be the Lord forever. The people say: Amen.

^A The priest says the confession: The holy body, and precious blood, truly, of Jesus Christ, Son of God. Amen. The people say: Amen. The holy, precious body, and blood truly of Jesus Christ, Son of God. Amen. The people say: Amen. The body and blood of Emmanuel our God, this is truly so. Amen. The people say: Amen.

I believe, I believe, I believe, and I confess even unto my last breath, that this is the life-giving flesh of your only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. He took it from our holy Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, and made it one with his divinity, without mixture, without confusion, and without change. He also witnessed the good confession under Pontius Pilate, and he surrendered this same flesh for us all upon the wood of the holy cross, by his own will. I truly believe that his divinity was never at all separated from his humanity, not for a moment, or in the twinkling of an eye. He gave it for deliverance, and for the remission of sins, and for eternal life to those who partake of it. I believe that it is indeed so. Amen.

The people say: Amen.

The deacon says: In peace and charity, etc. ^B The priest in a loud voice: Through whom and with whom it is fitting that all glory, honor, and adoration be to the Father and the holy Spirit, now, etc. ^C The priest says Psalm 50 and the prayer for the communion appropriate to the day.

The deacon says: Assemble and enter, deacons, with modesty.

Prayer of Thanksgiving, after the reception of the holy mysteries.

The deacon says: Stand for prayer.

The priest says: Peace to all.

The people say: And with your spirit.

The deacon says: Pray for, etc.

The people say: Lord, have mercy.

The priest says this prayer: Our mouth has been filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation, on account of the reception of your holy mysteries, O Lord. Those things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not risen into the heart of man, you have prepared, O God, for those who love your holy name, ^D and you have revealed these things to the babes of your holy Church. Yes, O Father, for so it was well-pleasing before you. Blessed are you, O God, Father of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, through whom, etc.

The deacon says: Bow your heads.

Prayer of the Bowing of the Head

Prayer for the Forty Days of the Holy Fast

Prayer of Dismissal, at the Imposition of Hands