The Badarak Begins: Procession Into the Church
and Up to the Altar
Led by the candle-bearers and altar servers, the celebrant enters the sanctuary
from the vestry while the people sing, Khorhoort khoreen, "Profound
mystery." The "mystery" is Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, who became a human being in order to fill us personally with his divine
blessings, and with eternal life.
The Divine Liturgy begins not in the elevated altar space known as the bema
(khoran), but among the people. Before the prayers at the altar, the
priest again acknowledges his weakness and human frailty. As a visible
sign that he relies on God to forgive his sins and make him worthy to worship
God, the celebrant washes his hands, silently reciting Psalm 26: "I
will wash my hands in innocence; and will go around your altar, O Lord."
[4]. He then turns toward the people and confesses his sinfulness,
asking them to pray that God forgive him. [5].
Only then, in the words of Psalm 100, does the assembly offer its first
expression of praise, "Make a shout to the Lord, all lands; serve the
Lord with gladness." [6]
Alternating the verses of Psalm 43, the priest and deacons go up to the
altar, where the celebrant prays for the first time, "…in this
dwelling of holiness, this place of praise; in this habitation of angels,
this place of the expiation of mankind; before these holy signs and the
holy place that hold God up to us and are made resplendent…" [7]
>> Behind the Closed Curtain
