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Answer:
Dr. Alexander Roman
alex@unicorne.org
Your questions raise a series of important
points having to do with how laity mesh their busy, daily lives with the
life in Christ as members of the Church.
To miss the Divine Liturgy on the Day of the Resurrection (the Lord's Day
or Sunday) due to very pressing matters that we have little or no control
over is certainly no sin by any means.
Historically, lay people who were too ill to come to Church often prayed
at home by saying the Psalms and other liturgical prayers, including the
Jesus Prayer.
People who live in areas where there is no priest for regular celebration
of the Divine Liturgy often gather together for "Reader's Services" or
worship according to the Hours of the Church by those not in Holy Orders.
There is also the "Typika" or a service that contains important elements
of the Divine Liturgy, but without, of course, the Eucharistic Canon, that
can, and should, be said by laity whenever we can, even daily if possible.
The yearly calendar of feasts of the Orthodox Church is a celebration of
the life of our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. By participating in
the liturgical life of His Body, the Church, we participate in the process
of Christ's plan for our salvation and sanctification (Theosis).
The Church invites us to this participation whenever we can. In one sense,
we are invited to even daily participation.
In the practical sense, we strive to "make the time" to participate in
Divine worship on certain days affirmed by the Church as especially
important since their celebration allows us to partake of the life of
Grace that they signify and contain as salvation events.
The first day of the week was and still is called the "Day of the
Resurrection" and every Sunday of the year is, in fact, a "little Pascha"
on which we celebrate Christ's rising from the dead. All Christians should
make it a high priority to attend the Divine Liturgy and Holy Communion
each and every Lord's Day.
We should prepare well for it by prayer and fasting and take part in the
liturgical services, including the Hours that precede the Divine Liturgy.
All that is required of us is but a little preparation and spiritual
wakefulness - the rewards for our efforts are simply, well, Heavenly!
The highest day of the Christian year is, of course, the Day of Pascha
itself, the Source and Fount of the year - and of our salvation.
Liturgically, this day is in a class by itself.
But together with Pascha, there are the all-important Feasts that the
Church celebrates in a most solemn manner since they are crucial salvation
events and we, as Christians, need the Grace that comes from our
liturgical participation in them.
The Catechism of St Peter Mohyla of Kyiv prescribed Confession and Holy
Communion four times in the year during the four major Fasts that include:
Holy Pascha, the Nativity of our Lord, the Dormition of the Mother of God
and the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Other feasts include: the feast of Pentecost, the Theophany or Baptism of
our Lord in the river Jordan, the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple, the
Annunciation, the Holy Transfiguration, the Nativity of the Theotokos, the
Exaltation of the Precious Cross, the Protection of the Theotokos, the
Entrance of the Theotokos.
There are feasts that our parish or region may especially celebrate - and
should we. The feast of our patronal Namesake should likewise be kept, if
we can. I once worked for a very pious Orthodox employer by the name of
Vladimir. He took St Vladimir's Day off to attend Divine Liturgy and Holy
Communion - and he did so again in February for the feast of St Vladimir
the martyred Metropolitan of Kyiv! It is always good to have a close
relationship with the patron saint whose name we bear.
The liturgical calendar of our Church was also influenced by the work
patterns of the people.
People tended to come to Church more often in the summer months and this
was natural for an agrarian society based on planting of crops and the
harvest cycle. The Church certainly had plenty of holy-days in those
months for people to make use of through liturgical celebration, such as
the three "Feasts of the Saviour" in August, the feast of the patron
saints of bee-keepers, Sts. Zosimas and Savvatius Solovetsky on August 7
and the like.
I think this is a rule that can also apply to us. There are times when our
work life is so involved that we do miss the Divine Liturgy.
But when the "dictatorship of busyness" subsides in our lives, then we
should feel free to participate in the life of the Church even above and
beyond what we feel is our "duty."
In Greece and other Orthodox countries, there are icons out in the
Churches that are there to allow busy people an opportunity to come in,
say a prayer and reverence the icon of their choice with a kiss.
Our life in the Body of Christ that is the Church should be like that. We
don't need to be told when to go to Church etc. To attend a service, even
during the week, when there is no "obligation" to do so, is, I find, among
the most meaningful moments of personal worship.
For we then give to God of our own free time, voluntarily, simply because
we love Him and want to live in Him through the liturgy.
As St Gregory of Narek once wrote, "I continue in my prayers not because
of love for the gifts, but because of love for the Divine Giver!"
God bless you in your walk with Christ in His Church.
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