The Procession and the Beginning of the Liturgy
of the Word (Synaxis or Midday Office)
When the altar and the Eucharistic gifts have been prepared, the curtain
opens and the deacons lead the priest in a procession around the altar and
down into the nave. The priest offers incense to the main and side
altars, the baptismal font, the sacred icons, and all the people.
As the priest makes his way around the church, the faithful come up to him,
kiss the hand cross and say, Heeshescheer yev zees arachee anmah kareenun
Asdoodzo [Remember me, too, before the immortal Lamb of God]. This
is an acknowledgment that during the Divine Liturgy we encounter "the
Lamb of God," Jesus Christ himself. The people ask that the priest
pray for them in the presence of Jesus.
The procession marks the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word. Everything
until this point has been a preparation for the Liturgy of the Word and
the Eucharist, the two components of the Badarak. The Liturgy of the
Word concerns the Word of God, Jesus Christ. He comes to his people
in the public reading of the Bible, and especially when the deacon solemnly
chants a passage from one of the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).
Every prayer, psalm, hymn and ritual during this part of the Divine Liturgy
is related to Jesus Christ as the Word, the supreme expression of God.
This idea is inspired by the Gospel according to John: "In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" [John
1:1].
>> A Hymn to Jesus Christ the Only-Begotten
Son of God
