1. THE ANTIPHONS,
THEIR PRAYERS AND EKTENIAS
When th.e deacon and people are singing th.e last part of th.e Great
Ektenia, th.e priest recites th.e Prayer of th.e First Antiphon
silently:
0 Lord, our God, whose power is indescribable, whose
glory is incomprehensible, whose mercy is measureless and
whose love for man is beyond words : in your kindness, Lord,
look down upon us and upon this holy Church, and grant
to us and to those who are praying with us the riches of your
mercy and compassion.
As soon as the deacon has finished th.e final ektenia-commendation,
th.e priest sings th.e following doxology, which forms the conclusion to
both the Great Ektenia and th.e Prayer of th.e First Antiphon :
For to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is due all glory,
honor, and adoration, now and always and for ever and ever.
People : Amen.
Then th.e deacon makes a small bow, leaves his place, stands before
th.e icon of Christ and holds his orar with three fingers of his right hand,
while th.e cantors (and/or the people) sing the First Antiphon, or
th.e typica : 1
1
Here we give the First Antiphon which is used for all ordinary Sundays of
the year according to Ruthenian usage. It consists of Ps. 65:I-4, interspersed with
a versicle invoking Our Lady's intercession, as given above. On ordinary weekdays
verses 2, 3, and I6 of Ps. 9I are sung, interspersed with the same versicle. On
major feasts, both the verses from the psalms and the versicle are proper to the
feast. For details, cf. I. Dolnysky, Typik tserky ruskokatolycheskiya (Lvov, I899),
pp. 57, 97, IOI f., I06, IIO, II3, IIS, I20 f.
In the Russian recension of the Liturgy, the First Antiphon for ordinary
Sundays consists of Ps. I03 and ends with the minor doxology, " Glory be to the
Father," etc. (In the Douay Version this is Ps. Io2). For ordinary weekdays,
it is the same as the Ruthenian recension, including the same versicle, except that
the Russian usage inserts also the versicle after the first half of the minor doxology.
For major feasts, they are proper to the given feast. For details, cf. K. Nikolsky,
Posobie k izucheniu Ustava Bogosluzhenia pravoslavnoi tserkvy (St. Petersburg,
1907), pp. 374-384.

2. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth: sing to his name;
give glory to his praise.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God, 0 Saviour,
save us!
Say to God : how terrible are your deeds; in the multitude
of your strength, your enemies shall lie to you.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God, 0 Saviour,
save us!
Let all the earth adore you and sing to you : let it sing to
your name, 0 Most ffigh One.
Through the prayers of the Mother of God, 0 Saviour,
save us!
Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen
(Ps. 65:1-4).
Through the prayers of the Mother of God, 0 Saviour,
save us!
This is the first ofthe three antiphons ofthe Divine Liturgy. It con-
sists in quotations from the psalms, concluding with a doxology
and a refrain-acclamation repeated after each verse. Each of the
antiphons includes a silent prayer recited by the celebrant, and a
small ektenia. When originally introduced into the Liturgy, the
psalms were chanted in full. Later, they were shortened to three
or four verses. The responsorial-antiphonal style of singing gives
the cantors a moment of rest and allows the congregation to parti-
cipate actively without any preparation or written text.
The first four verses of Psalm 65, in the first antiphon for the
ordinary Sunday, are an invitation for all nations to worship God
because of his mighty works, a fitting prayer for the opening of the
Divine Liturgy. The second selection, used on ordinary weekdays
and on the feasts of the Blessed Mother and the saints, is no less
fitting. The themes of the antiphons for the major feasts of Christ
correspond to the particular mystery of each feast. There are eight
such major holy days which have their own proper festive antiphons :
the Exaltation ofthe Holy Cross, Christmas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday,
Easter, the Ascension, Pentecost, and the Transfiguration.

3. Although called " antiphons," these chants are not to be confused
with the Latin Rite's antiphonal singing : two choruses alternating
verse by verse. The Byzantine technique is closer to the older
responsorial method which dominated the field until the fourth
century. A soloist chanted the psalm verse by verse. After each
verse, the people repeated the same refrain or responsum. 1
The
primitive Church inherited this style of singing from the Jewish
people, who followed it in the singing, not only of the psalms, but
also of the other scriptural books. The Jewish refrain was an inter-
polated phrase. The Christian refrain was taken either from the
first verse of the psalm or from the context. Since they were
repeated after each verse, they became familiar to the whole congre-
gation. Chrysostom often refers to them as starting points for
deeper study of the psalms themselves. 8
About this time, there was an independent prayer service, re-
sembling the present canonical hours, which Etheria calls " the first
morning service on Sundays." She witnessed it in Jerusalem
c. A.D. 390, and tells us that after the entrance of the bishop into the
church ofthe Anastas, psalms were intoned by a priest, by a deacon,
and by another cleric, each in turn; to each verse of these psalms,,
the people responded with a refrain; a prayer followed each psalm.
The same plan is found in the Byzantine ~vocp!;Lc;, but at the time
it had nothing to do with the Eucharistic Liturgy.
In the middle of the fourth century, the responses were sung
differently in Antioch : either two choirs, or one choir and the con-
gregation, alternated (whence the name antiphonal - "answering
voice "). The choir began with a short verse, the refrain, and gave
the tune (now called the antiphon in the Latin Rite), and then sang
the first verse of the psalm. The congregation responded by
repeating the introductory verse. The choir then sang the second
verse, and the cJngregation repeated the introductory verse, and so
on, until the end. Two monks, Flavian and Diodore, who were later
to become bishops, introduced this style of singing when they organ-
•Apostolic Constitutions, Book II, 57 (Quasten, Mon. 182).
•E.g., In Ps. n7, esp. l (edit. Montfaucon 5, 317-318); In Ps. 144, l (edir.
cit., 5, 466 E-467); etc.

4. zed an anti-Arian lay movement in Antioch. ' This developed
eventually into the canon of the Byzantine office (see pp. 396 ff.,
below). The Prokeimenon, which comes before the Epistle, is another
variant ofAntiochene antiphonal singing (see pp. 413 ff.). Antiphonal
singing became immediately popular in large congregations in the
great fourth-century churches. Besides the advantages already
indicated, the attendance no longer had to strain to hear the voice of
a single singer. Large city cathedrals soon formed special singing
groups, the schola cantorum.
In the fifth century, the trinitarian doxology, "Glory be to the
Father..., " was added at the end of the psalms.
Antiphonal singing spread throughout Christendom in both the
East and the West. Caesarea was using it, as St. Basil tells us, by
A.D. 379; Milan adopted it probably at the instance of St. Ambrose
(A.D. 389), and finally Rome. It is said that Pope Celestine I
tA.D. 422-432) ordered antiphonal singing at the entrance ceremony. 5
Perhaps Rome set a precedent in the Liturgy by prescribing that
the entrance ofthe celebrant be accompanied by antiphonal singing. •
Such at any rate was the origin of the Latin introit chant. When
singing was introduced into the Syro-Byzantine processional en-
trance, however, it was not the antiphonal singing of the psalms, but
special entrance chants, the eisodika (eto-o3Lxoc), essentially troparia
•Cf. Theodoret, Hist. eccl., IV, 22-24 (PG 42, 1420 C-1422 C [Series graeca]).
• Liber pont. Vita Cae/estini (edit. Duchesne, Liber pont., I, 20). This account
unfortunately is not reliable, but at least we know that antiphony was used at the
Entrance ceremony when this section of the book was written, ergo, prior to the
middle of the sixth century; cf. Batiffol, Let;ons sur la Messe (Paris, 1920), p. 105.
• Paulinus of Nola makes no mention of any singing in the description of the
processional entrance in Carmina, XIV (PL 61, 464-468), c. A.O. 400; nor does
there seem to be any introit in the Rite of Africa. In the East, the processional
entrance of the bishop is known at Laodicea by the middle of the fourth century,
but there is no evidence of singing. In the homilies preached at Antioch (c. A.O.
390) and at Constantinople a few years later, Chrysostom refers to a formal entrance
but mentions no accompanying chant. In fact, if we are to take the " silence "
of the offertory procession, so emphasized by Theodore of Mopsuestia (cf. edit.
Mingana, in Woodbrook Studies Vol. VI, p. 84) as meaningful, it seems that
the Eastern Christians at this time found silent processions most impressive.
Etheria, however, does mention "hymns" during the bishop's procession from
one church to another in Jerusalem; whether these "hymns" continued once
the bishop entered the church, she does not say (cf. Aetheriae peregrinatio, chaps.
24, 25 (CSEL XXXIX, 71 ff., 74 ff.).

5. taken from the canon of the Byzantine Office. Indirectly, they do
have a common origin with the antiphonal singing of Antioch, since
the canons evolved from it (see, p. 391).
The responsorial singing ofthe psalms, that is, the three antiphons,
may have been placed at the beginning of the Liturgy to occupy the
people while they themselves were waiting for the bishop-celebrant's
formal entrance. What had begun as a semi-independent practice
would then have become part of the Liturgy. There is, however,
insufficient documentation on these centuries (fifth to eighth) to
indicate with certainty how the evolution actually occurred. 7
The three antiphons first appear in the eighth century texts of the
Byzantine Liturgy,·and it would seem that they had no connection
with the entrance rite. 8
Isidore Pyromal's redaction of the Liturgy
of St. Basil, for example, merely has the office of the antiphons per-
formed before the entrance of the bishop. 9 The Commentary of
St. Germanus of Constantinople (715-729) fails to mention any link
between the antiphons and the entrance rite when it explains the
mystical meaning of the antiphons as a preparation for the coming
of the Son of God. 10 It is the same with the eighth-century Codex
Barberini, which contains the three antiphons, complete with their
respective prayers of the celebrant almost as they are today. 11
The
antiphons seem never to have been used as entrance chants, as were
the Latin introits : the poetical eisodika (troparia) performed that
function. Surprisingly, the Latin introits and the Byzantine anti-
' There may be an indication of the original function of the psalm-antiphons
in the 97th Canon of St. Basil the Great, describing the beginning of the Coptic-
Alexandrian Liturgy : " When they commence to celebrate the Mysteries. . . they
do not begin before all the people gather together and recite the psahns until
they enter. After the people have congregated, they read from the Epistles, then
from the Acts ofthe Apostles and from the Gospel" (Canons of St. Basil the Great,
edit. I. E. Rahmani, I fasti della chiesa patriarcale Antiochena [Rome, 1920],
p, XIV),
•Codex Barberini, gr. 336, cf. Brightman, LEW, pp. 310-312; for the eighth
century Armenian version of Chrysostom's Liturgy, cf. Aucher, La versione
armena della liturgia di S. Giovanni Crisostomo, XPYCOCTOMIKA, pp. 375-377.
• Goar, Euchologion, pp. 153-154.
10
Edit. N. Borgia, 11 commentario liturgico di s. Germano Patriarca Constant-
inopolitano e la versione latina de Anastasio Bibliotecario [Grottaferrata, 1912],
p. 21.
11 Brightman, LEW, pp. 310-312; so does the early eighth century Armenian
version of Chrysostom's Liturgy, cf. Aucher, op. cit., pp. 375-377.

6. phons, despite their structural similarity and common origin in the
ancient responsorial-antiphonal chanting of the psalms, are not
functionally parallel in the Mass; while the introits and the eisodika,
although exactly parallel, differ in both structure and origin. 12
" I heard this Psalm (Come, let us adore) sung at the beginning
of Mass in the Church of Hagia Sophia at Constantinople," writes
Amalarius of Metz in A.D. 833. 13
Even at this late date in some
churches, the " office of the antiphons " still seems to have been an
independent service before the Divine Liturgy. The ninth-century
Typikon of the Church of Hagia Sophia at Constantinople even
mentions that it may be omitted on those days when the Office of
the Midnight Vigil is celebrated (i.e., before major feasts). 14
In the tenth century, however, the" office ofthe three antiphons"
had become established as an invariable feature ofthe Divine Liturgy
as it is today. Pseudo-Germ.anus, Pseudo-Sophronius, Theodore of
Andida, and others bear ample witness to this. 16
There seems to have remained some doubt as to the exact place
of the priest's silent prayers. A thirteenth century document
prescribes their precise position : the prayer of the first antiphon,
before the doxology of the Ektenia of Peace (the Great Ektema);
the prayer of the second antiphon, before the first Little Ektema;
that of the third antiphon, before the second Little Ektenia. 18
In some churches of the fourteenth century, a second series of
antiphon prayers was used in parallel with the first, 17
only to disap-
pear later.
11 They do have a remote common origin in the Antiochene antiphonal singing
of psalms, but the eisodika trace their immediate origin to the Camm of the By-
zantine Office... which in turn, developed from the antiphonal techniqueI Seep. 397.
1• Amalarius of Metz, Ord. Antiph. C. XXXI (PL 105, I243-I3I6).
u Krasnoseltsev, Typik tserkvy Sv. Sofii v Konstantinopoli, Litopys (Odessa,
1892), p. 227.
1
• Migne (PG 98, 40I-405; 87, 3994; I4o, 40I-4I2).
"MS. of Sophia Library, N. 524, p. 7-8 (Petrovsky, Histoire de la redaction
slave de la liturgie de S. Jean Chrysostome, XPYCOCTOMIKA, p. 875. Cf. also
Euchologion, p. IOI).
17 MS. of Sophia Library, N. 522, pp. I5-I6 (Petrovsky, op. cit., p. 883);
compare also fourteenth century MS. of Moscow Synodal Library, N. 279 in
Krasnoseltsev, Svidinia o nikotorikh liturgicheskikh rukopis'akh Vatikanskoi biblioteki
(Kazan, 1885), p. 298. Cf. also MS. of Esphygmenon Library of year 13o6 cont-
ained in Dmitrievsky, Opysanie liturgicheskikh rukopisej khraniaschikhsia v bibliote-
kakh pravoslanJJgo vostoka, Vol. II, Euchologia [Kiev, I90I], p. 265.

7. Second Antiphon and the Monogenes
After the First Antiphon, the deacon returns to his usual place
(before the royal doors), makes a small bow, and sings:
Again and again in peace let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and protect
us, 0 God, by your grace.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : As we remember our all-holy, immaculate, most
blessed and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever-
virgin Mary, together with all the saints, let us commend
ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our
God.
People: To you, 0 Lord.
In the meantime, the priest recites silently the Prayer of the Second
Antiphon:
0 Lord our God, save your people and bless your inherit-
ance. Guard the fullness of your Church. Sanctify those
who love the beauty of your house; bring them to glory by
your divine power. And do not forsake us who trust in you.
Then the pn:est sings the doxology, concluding both the Prayer of the
Second Antiphon and the Little Ektenia :
For yours is the majesty, and yours is the Kingdom and
the power and the glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now
and always and for ever and ever.
People: Amen.
After making a bow, the deacon leaves his pkzce before the royal
doors and stands before the icon of the Mother of God while the cantors
(and/or the people) sing the Second Antiphon, or the Typika:
0 God, be generous to us, and bless us; make the light of
your countenance shine upon us and have mercy on us.
0 Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to
you : alleluia.

8. That we may know your way upon the earth, your salvation
among all the nations.
0 Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to
you : alleluia.
Let people confess to you, 0 God, let all the people give
praise to you.
0 Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to
you : alleluia. 18
After tlrese verses of tire Second Antiphon, tire cantors (and/or tire
people) sing tire doxology and tire Monogenes hymn.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit, now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
0 only-begotten Son and Word of God, though immortal,
you deigned for our salvation to take flesh ofthe holy Mother
of God and ever-virgin Mary; and, without undergoing
change, you became man. You were crucified, 0 Christ
God, and by your death you trampled down death, you who
are one of the Holy Trinity and are glorified with the Father
and the Holy Spirit : save us!
Repeated many times in the various liturgical services of the
Byzantine Church, the Little Ektenia, so called because of its brevity,
consists in the opening invocation of the Great Ektenia, its petition
for God's protection, commemoration of the Blessed Mother, and
doxology in honor of the Holy Trinity. Here, as in many other
instances, the doxology ending the ektenia also concludes the silent
prayer of the priest. Besides keeping the people occupied during
the priest's silent prayer, the Small Ektenia emphasizes the urgency
ofthese final entreaties.
The " fullness of the Church," mentioned in the Prayer of the
Second Antiphon, refers to those who make up the fullness of
Christ's Church, all the members of the mystical body of Christ,
so that not one of them be lost.
As a preparation to the coming of the Son of God in the Buchar-
18 Since Vatican II, the Second Antiphon with its ektenia has been omitted by
the Ruthenians.

9. istic Sacrifice, the antiphon for ordinary Sundays admirably accom-
modates the meaning of the original verses of Psalm 66, used as a
harvest hymn by the Jews. After the Incarnation and redemption,
the harvest was Messianic : in the Old Law it was a prayer that God
bless Israel, the chosen people, so that the Gentiles would be led to
recognize him; in the New Law it is a prayer that God bless his
chosen ones, the members of his Church, so that the whole world
may acknowledge and revere him as the one true God. The refrain
"0 Son of God, risen from the dead" is the theme of Sunday, the
day specially dedicated to the resurrection of Christ. It is both a
profession of faith in the greatest proof of Christ's divinity, and a
plea for salvation.
Composed as an entrance chant (eisodikon), the celebrated Mono-
genes Hymn (oµovoyev~~) is attributed by the Byzantines to Emperor
Justinian I, 19
and is said to have been written in A.D. 528 when
Patriarch Severus of Antioch was his guest. The Syrian Jacobites
ascribe it to Severus himself and give the date A.D. 512-518. Jus-
tinian certainly ordered its adoption into Byzantine liturgical use in
A.D. 528. 00
The Byzantine and Syrian texts of this hymn differ
somewhat. 11
From Constantinople, the Monogenes spread to the other Churches
of the East, but not without reservation. Because ofpersecution by
Justinian, the Jacobite (Monophysite) Churches of Syria and Egypt
never adopted it. The royalist Greek churches of Antioch and
Alexandria found it desirable, both on account of its doctrinal
content and because of Justinian's reputed authorship. The Arme-
nian Church which had repudiated the Council of Chalcedon tand,
hence, supposedly identified itself with Monophysitism) did accept
the Monogenes hymn when it adopted a revised version of the
Byzantine enarksis. The Slav Church, on the other hand, because
'"His name is also prefixed to it in some codices, e.g., Codex Pal., gr. 367,
fol. 23 (P. de Meester, Les origines et les developpements du texte grec de la liturgie
de S. Jean Chrysostome, XPYCOCTOMIKA, p. 321, n. 2.
•• Theophanes (ninth century), Chronographia (PG 108, 477 B); cf. also Georgius
Cedrenus (eleventh century), Historiarum compendium (PG 121, 729 B).
11
See Brightman, LEW, pp. 365 f., and p. 33, for comparison; also J. Puyade,
O.S.B., "Le tropaire '0 Monogenes,'" in Revue de I'Orient Chretien, xvn (1912),
pp. 253-255).

10. of its Byzantine origin, accepted the whole Byzantine enarksis and
with it the Monogenes hymn, as is evidenced from the earliest
documents. 11
Since the Monogenes hymn is also specifically anti-
Nestorian, the Nestorian Churches do not have it.
The Monogenes hymn was used originally as an entrance chant.
It has survived to this day in that capacity in the Syro-Antiochene,
Alexandrian (Liturgy of St. Mark), and Armenian Churches. 23
Just
when it was changed from its place as an entrance chant to its present
position is unknown, but apparently it was some time after the ninth
century. 2
'
The strongly anti-Nestorian doctrinal content of the hymn can
leave no doubt that it was written to vindicate Christ's consubstanti-
ality with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Nestorius, Bishop
of Constantinople and former disciple of Theodore of Mopsuestia
in the Antiochian School, taught that Christ being a perfect man,
his human nature had its own subsistence, its own autonomy and,
therefore, its own personality; that the Son of God dwelt in the body
of Christ as in a temple or as God dwells in the just. Hence, the
union of the Son of God and his human nature were moral only,
and Christ, one in appearance, was really two persons. Wherefore
Mary should not be called the Mother of God (theotokos), but the
Mother of the man Christ.
The author ofthe Monogenes hymn calls Christ" the only-begotten
Son and Word of God." The Son of God, the Word, did not dwell
in the body ofChrist as in a temple : Christ was the Son of God; he
was the Word of God, as St. John clearly attests," ...and the Word
was God" (John 1:1). Being God, he was immortal, but because
of our salvation, he took upon himself mortal flesh from the virgin
Mother. This is an echo of the Constantinopolitan Creed: " For
n Cf. A. Petrovsky, op. cit., p. 866.
13
So also in the twelfth century ltalo-Greek Liturgy of St. Peter, as seen in the
Codex Rossanensis (Vat. gr., 1970).
" Some authors suggest that the original function of the Monogenes was in the
canonical office. Some time during the seventh or eighth century when the
antiphons became an integral part of the Liturgy of the Catechumens, the
Monogenes was included. E.g., de Meester, Diet. d'Archt!ol. (col. 1613). This
theory could be supported if it could be proved that the Second Antiphon had
once been used as the Third Antiphon just before the Entrance, in which case
the Monogenes could still have been used as an eisodikon.

11. ....
us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, took fiesh
of the Virgin Mary and was made man. " The Son of God became
man by the Incarnation, by taking human nature. Ifa mere" moral"
union existed between him and his human nature, we could not
truly say that he became incarnate, that he became man. For it
would certainly be incorrect to say that God becomes the temple in
which he dwells or that he becomes the just man he elevates through
sanctifying grace. The union between the Son of God and his
human nature is certainly closer than that suggested by Nestorius.
The Monogenes hymn also clearly states that Christ became in-
carnate, " took flesh of the holy Mother of God and ever-virgin
Mary," thereby clearly contradicting the Nestorian heresy. The
hymn emphatically calls Mary the Mother of God (Theotokos); yet,
she never ceased being a virgin.
The hymn then stresses the fact that Christ, when he became man,
was indeed still God :" Without undergoing change. " His becoming
incarnate did not change his divinity. He did not cease being God
by becoming man. If Christ were not one person, and that a divine
one, he would not be God, nor would God have died for us, but
only the man Christ. Such an assumption would subvert the
doctrine of the redemption and the whole scheme of salvation,
because God alone could redeem us adequately. But the Son of
God, Christ, is indeed only one, a divine person. All his actions,
human or divine, are those of one subject, the Son of God. As if
to dispel even the smallest doubt, the Monogenes uses the direct
address, " 0 Christ God, " then continues, " you who are one of the
Holy Trinity. " As such, he is to be "glorified with the Father and
the Holy Spirit. "
In the first and second centuries, the Docetae claimed that Christ
had assumed only an apparent body. For them, all matter was evil,
the product of an evil principle. The Church has always taught
that the Son of God assumed a human nature in reality, not merely
in appearance. When St. John (1:14) says that "the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us," the word " flesh" signifies, as in
other scriptural passages (e.g., Gen. 6:12), the entire nature ofman.
The term " flesh " is used to indicate that which is visible and lowest,
as it were, in human nature, in order to emphasize the reality of the

12. Incarnation and the condescension of the Son of God. The Mono-
genes hymn teaches this same truth when it says that the only-
begotten Son of God, the Word, deigned to take flesh of the Holy
Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary. If Christ had had only an
apparent body, our redemption and Christ's death would also have
been merely apparent. Denying the reality of Christ's body is to
deny the Incarnation and redemption, because without a true body,
Christ would not have been man, nor could he have redeemed us.
The Monogenes hymn proclaims that the Son of God" became man"
and that" by his crucifixion and death he trampled down death"-
another way of saying what Paul said to Timothy : " ...who hath
destroyed death and hath brought to light life and incorruption ... "
(II Tim. 1:10). The reality of Christ's human nature is shown
beyond all doubt by the sufferings and death he endured for us.
The Monogenes hymn also attacks Monophysitism or Eutychi-
anism. Eutyches, Archimandrite ofConstantinople, opposed Nesto-
rianism by defending the substantial unity of Christ to the point of
assigning to him, not only oneness of the Person, but also oneness
ofnature (Monophysitism). Eutyches taught that before the Incar-
nation there were two natures, the divine and human, but after the
Incarnation, only one remained. His disciples, attempting to explain
his doctrine, often speak of the " mixture " of the two natures, of
"absorption" of one in the other, of a "formal union," similar to
that of body and soul.
Scripture, the Fathers, and the Church, teach that Christ is true
God and true man-and so does the Monogenes hymn. Christ can
be true God only if his divine nature remains intact, unchanged;
he is true man only if his humanity remains unchanged. Christ
cannot rightly be called true God or true man unless his divinity and
humanity retain essentially and truly a divine and a human nature.
The words of the hymn, " without undergoing change, " further
elucidate the true doctrine of the Church. If Christ's humanity
were absorbed by his divinity, he would not be true man, neither
would his divinity remain unchanged. Ifboth natures were blended
or mixed together like two different liquids in a container, his
divinity would lose its simplicity and would therefore be changed.
The resulting blend would be neither a divine nor a human nature,

13. neither God nor man. Finally, if the two natures completed each
other through formal um·on, the result would again be neither God
nor man but a compound of both, for the divine nature would have
received from the human nature a complement similar to that which
the soul receives from the body.
The rich doctrinal content of the Monogenes hymn leads to as
many corollaries as there are major doctrinal propositions. Because
ofthe union ofthe attributes ofboth natures in the one divine person
(communicatio idiomatum), Christ as man is the Son of God and has
a right to supreme worship, etc. Some writers see in the Monogenes
hymn a summary of the teachings of St. Athanasius, St. Basil, and
the two Gregorys.
The hymn contains two parts : the praise and glorification of the
God-man with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and a brief petition
for salvation, " save us. " The first part represents a direction
upward, a movement from us to God. We give something. We
give praise and glory to the incarnate God and to the Holy Trinity.
Then we ask for something, salvation. This second part moves as
it were from heaven to earth. From heaven comes the salvation of
us all. Every prayer should follow this pattern, exemplified in the
Our Father. Prayer unites man and God; it is an exchange between
earth and heaven. Prayer goes back and forth between time and
eternity, over the bridge built by the Incarnation. It is by means
of this bridge and only by this bridge that the heavens are again
opened for man. This is the good news which is the Holy Gospel,
the news of great joy which gladdened the angels so on the first
Christmas mom.
Christ is to be glorified together with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, but this glorification rests on love, not on the servile fear that
prompted the worship of God in the Old Dispensation. The
summons to the glorification of God in the New Dispensation rests
on the fact ofthe Incarnation : the only-begotten Son of God became
man and died for us out oflove for us. The call for the glorification
of God in the Old Law was based on the tradition of the Jewish
race, which looked upon the majesty ofGod as it did on the sovereign
power ofan Eastern emperor or king. To the Jewish race, the Lord
Almighty was enthroned above the seraphim and spoke to his people

14. from a pillar offire, the all-powerful King who ruled with a righteous
hand. He was invisible to every eye, but saw all and punished
quickly and severely; he was the severe Judge, unsparing, seated on
:a red throne, glittering with gold and precious stones, costly incense
streaming forth from jeweled censers. The heavens were his throne
:and the earth his footstool. Trembling with fear, the faithful were
to bow before his infinite majesty. The Eastern Christian, because
he believed in the Dispensation of Love, dared to beseech his God
for salvation despite his deep feeling of guilt and sin, despite the
psychology offear and despotism that had been impressed upon him
by the heavy hand of untold centuries.
Up to this point, the Introduction Rite still symbolizes the hidden
life of Jesus in Nazareth. The Monogenes hymn symbolizes the
baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, when the
heavens were opened and the Spirit of God descended upon him
as a dove, and a voice from heaven said : " This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:r6-r7).
The Third Antiphon, Its Prayer and Ektenia
When the singing of the Monogenes is finished, the deacon
Teturns to his usual place before the royal doors and sings the Little
Ektenia:
Again and again in peace let us pray to the Lord.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and protect
us, 0 God, by your grace.
People: Lord, have mercy.
Deacon : As we remember our all-holy, immaculate, most
blessed and glorious Lady, the Mother of God and ever-
virgin Mary, together with all the saints, let us commend
ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our
God.
People: To you, 0 Lord.

15. While the deacon is chanting the ektenia, the priest secretly says the
Prayer of the Tmrd Antiphon :
You gave us grace for these common and united prayers, /
and promised to grant the petitions of two or three gathered
together in your name : fulfill now the petitions of your
servants for their good, granting us the knowledge of your
truth in this world and life everlasting in the world to come.
Then the priest sings the doxology ending the prayer and the Little
Ektenia :
For you are a good God and the Lover of mankind, and
we give glory to you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and
always and for ever and ever.
People : Amen.
The deacon returns to the sanctuary through the south door, and the
royal doors are opened. The cantors (and/or the people) sing the
Third Antiphon or the Beatitudes (on Sunday, where this is customary) :
Come, let us rejoice in the Lord; let us shout with joy to
God our Saviour.
0 Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to
you : alleluia.
Let us come before his presence with praises; and let us
shout with joy to him with psalms.
0 Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to
you : alleluia.
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King over all the
earth.
0 Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to
you : alleluia.
The Byzantine Rite glories in repetitions as a lesson of perse-
verance : " Again and again, let us pray to the Lord. " If we ask
what we should request of God, the Byzantine Church answers that
God help us, save us, have mercy on us, and protect us by his grace.
We pray for salvation. What should we do to attain it? Pray
again and again and give our whole life to Christ through the
mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our "glorious Lady. "

16. The Monogenes Hymn, which had told us of the limitless love of
God manifested through Christ's incarnation and crucifixion, has
just been sung. We now ask once more for divine assistance and
protection in order to attain salvation; we ask for the very life which
pulsed in Christ and runs from him to us.
In the Prayer of the Third Antiphon, the priest reminds Christ
the God-man of his promise when he said : " ...if two of you shall
consent upon earth concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask,
it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven; for where
there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in
the midst of them" (Matt. 18:19-20); (seep. 582 f.). In the cele-
bration of the Divine Liturgy, there are always two or more gathered
in his name, and so their prayers warrant answering, nay, must be
answered in some way, for God has so promised.
In the doxology, the priest gives additional reasons why God
should answer the prayers of his people : " because you are a good
God and the Lover of mankind. " Again, the simplicity of the
doxology defies verbal embellishment. As is the case with many
prayers of the Byzantine Liturgy, one has the feeling that the
expressions are the nearest that human words can come to God's
beauty and simplicity. In simplicity there is beauty. In beauty
there is simplicity. God is both in one!
As the majesty of the Liturgy moves slowly on, the royal doors
are opened in preparation for the Little Entrance and the Third
Antiphon is sung. On Sundays, this consists of Psalm 94:1-3-an
invitation to praise the Lord God with joy. Joyless praise is no
praise at all. Psalm 94 exudes joy in the praise ofYahweh, the great
God and King. The phrase " over all the earth" in verse 3 is a
change from the original" above all gods." The meaning, however,
remains the same.