Evaluation of the overtones of the Heavenly Liturgy of the Book of Revelation in our Liturgy

Evaluation of the overtones of the Heavenly Liturgy of the Book of Revelation in our Liturgy

(Discussion based on Rev 4, 8-11; 5, 9-14)

The vision of the Heavenly Liturgy

St. John received the Revelation on "The Lord's Day," that is, on Sunday. One must deduce that on that day, as was the Apostles' custom, he performed "the breaking of bread," i.e., the Divine Liturgy, received Communion and therefore "was in a state of Grace," meaning he was in a special state of inspiration (Rev. 1:10). And so, the first thing that is revealed to him is the continuation of the Liturgy just performed by him, the Heavenly Divine Liturgy. It is this Heavenly Divine Liturgy that St. John describes in the fourth and fifth chapters of the Apocalypse. Any Christian recognizes here the familiar traits of the Sunday Liturgy and the most important attributes of the altar: the Holy of Holies, the seven-branched candelabrum, the censer with smoking incense, the golden chalice, etc. The Sacrificial Lamb of God, as seen by the Apostle, reminds the faithful of Communion in the form of bread laid on the altar. The souls of those martyred for the Word of God, under the heavenly altar evoke the antimins, the special cloth placed in the middle of the altar and into which are sewn relics of the holy martyrs. The elders dressed in white garments with golden crowns upon their heads are like an assembly of the clergy con-celebrating the Divine Liturgy. It should be noted that the very proclamations and prayers heard by the Apostle in Heaven express the quintessence of the exclamations and prayers which the clergy and the choir recite during the main part of the Liturgy. The whitening of the garments of the pious by the "blood of the Lamb" (Ch. 7) alludes to the consecration of the souls of the faithful through the Sacrament of Communion. In this manner the Apostle begins the revelation of the fate of mankind with the description of the Heavenly Divine Liturgy by which he stresses the spiritual meaning of this Liturgy and the necessity of the saints' prayers for us.

Revelation 4:8-11 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing, "Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come." 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, 11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

He heard the song of the four living creatures, of the ministers of the church, which refers to the prophet Isaiah's vision. And here,
1. They adore one God, and one only, the Lord God Almighty, unchangeable and everlasting.
2. They adore three holies in this one God, the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these are one infinitely holy and eternal Being, who sits upon the throne, and lives for ever and ever. In this glory the prophet saw Christ, and spoke of him.

He heard the adorations of the four-and-twenty elders, that is, of the Christian people represented by them; the ministers led, and the people followed, in the praises of God.
Here observe,
1. The object of their worship, the same with that which the ministers adored: Him that sat on the throne, the eternal everliving God. The true church of God has one and the same object of worship. Two different objects of worship, either co-ordinate or sub-ordinate, would confound the worship and divide the worshippers. It is unlawful to join in divine worship with those who either mistake or multiply the object. There is but one God, and he alone, as God, is worshipped by the church on earth and in heaven.

2. The acts of adoration.
(1.) They fell down before him that sat on the throne; they discovered the most profound humility, reverence, and godly fear.
(2.) They cast their crowns before the throne; they gave God the glory of the holiness wherewith he had crowned their souls on earth and the honour and happiness with which he crowns them in heaven. They owe all their graces and all their glories to him, and acknowledge that his crown is infinitely more glorious than theirs, and that it is their glory to be glorifying God.

3. The words of adoration: they said, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power.
(1.) They do not say, We give thee glory, and honour, and power; for what can any creature pretend to give unto God? But they say, thou art worthy to receive glory.
(2.) In this they tacitly acknowledge that God is exalted far above all blessing and praise. He was worthy to receive glory, but they were not worthy to praise, nor able to do it according to his infinite excellences.

4. We have the ground and reason of their adoration, which is threefold:--
(1.) He is the Creator of all things, the first cause; and none but the Creator of all things should be adored; no made thing can be the object of religious worship.
(2.) He is the preserver of all things, and his preservation is a continual creation; they are created still by the sustaining power of God. All beings but God are dependent upon the will and power of God, and no dependent being must be set up as an object of religious worship. It is the part of the best dependent beings to be worshippers, not to be worshipped.
(3.) He is the final cause of all things: For thy pleasure they are and were created. It was his will and pleasure to create all things; he was not put upon it by the will of another; there is no such thing as a subordinate creator, that acts under and by the will and power of another; and, if there were, he ought not to be worshipped. As God made all things at his pleasure, so he made them for his pleasure, to deal with them as he pleases and to glorify himself by them one way or other. Though he delights not in the death of sinners, but rather that they should turn and live, yet he hath made all things for himself. Now if these be true and sufficient grounds for religious worship, as they are proper to God alone, Christ must needs be God, one with the Father and Spirit, and be worshipped as such; for we find the same causality ascribed to him. All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

With Angels and Archangels: Worship in the Book of Revelation

Revelation 5:9-14 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. 13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

Heaven is understood too often as a faraway place with which Christians have no contact until after death. The Book of Revelation, however, helps us to see that heaven is not an "up there" and purely "future" reality, but an accessible and present reality that we participate in through the Divine Service. For where the Holy Trinity comes through His means of grace and is present, there we are brought into the reality of heaven. It is no accident that we often use the scriptural songs of angels in our liturgy (e.g., "This Is the Feast," the Gloria in Excelsis, the Sanctus) and also acknowledge that we sing with them: "Therefore, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying...". The Book of Revelation, because of its recurrent scenes of heavenly worship that are regularly punctuated by hymns of praise, is one of the church's richest resources for understanding her worship.

This amazing open-door-to-heaven scene climaxes with the revelation of the "Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David" who can open the sealed scroll in the right hand of the Father (5:5). One expects to see the spectacular "one like a Son of Man" who appeared earlier to John (1:12-18), but instead he sees in the midst of the throne: "a Lamb who is standing, [bloodied] as though it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes" (5:6). This portrait, without doubt, is the most memorable and powerful among the ever-changing scenes of this book. The entirety of the person and work of Christ is flashed before the eyes of the faithful in order that they see and believe: His almighty divinity (seven horns and eyes), His true humanity (a lamb who died), and His sacrifice for sin on Calvary's cross (slaughtered) that resulted in the resurrection victory (standing and enthroned). Because the Lamb is understood to be of the mystery of the one enthroned God, He is worshipped with words and actions that parallel the earlier worship of the Father: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing" (5:12). The oneness of this Lamb with the Father as the object of worship is further emphasized as the whole cosmos joins in praise: "To Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever" (5:13). Although Revelation overtly confesses the trinitarian nature of God (1:4-5), the Lamb remains the visible focus of the worship of this one true God.
Here, I. The apostle beholds this book taken into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to its being unsealed and opened by him. Here Christ is described, the form in which he appeared. Before he is called a lion; here he appears as a lamb slain. He is a lion to conquer Satan, a lamb to satisfy the justice of God. He appears with the marks of his sufferings upon him, to show that he interceded in heaven in the virtue of his satisfaction. He appears as a lamb, having seven horns and seven eyes, perfect power to execute all the will of God and perfect wisdom to understand it all and to do it in the most effectual manner; for he hath the seven Spirits of God, he has received the Holy Spirit without measure, in all perfection of light, and life, and power, by which he is able to teach and rule all parts of the earth. 3. He is described by his act and deed: He came, and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne, not by violence, nor by fraud, but he prevailed to do it, he prevailed by his merit and worthiness, he did it by authority and by the Father's appointment. God very willingly and justly put the book of his eternal counsels into the hand of Christ, and Christ as readily and gladly took it into his hand; for he delights to reveal and to do the will of his Father.
The apostle observes the universal joy and thanksgiving that filled heaven and earth upon this transaction. All the world has reason to rejoice in this. The song of praise that was offered up to the Lamb on this occasion consists of three parts, one part sung by the church, another by the church and the angels, the third by every creature.

Worship and Adoration in the Syro-Malabar Qurbana

The Church celebrates the paschal mystery of Christ in the holy Qurbana with the sentiments of praise, thanksgiving, adoration and supplication. One of the salient features of the three anaphoras which the Syro-Malabar Church uses is the aspect of praise and thanksgiving. We find this aspect also in the pre and post anaphoral parts of the Qurbana. We try also to make a liturgical analysis to discover the aspects of praise and thanksgiving.

God’s mighty deeds are remembered in praise and thanks. Jews ‘blessed‘ God for His mercies. Christians thank God for all the acts of God. In the Jewish thought to bless a thing and to thank God were synonymous because one blessed a thing by giving thanks to God for it. The Church adopted this style to bless God especially for God’s redemptive acts in Christ.

Eucharistic prayer is an act of praise. Its aim is to glorify God. It is an act of faith because Eucharistic anamnesis is a public proclamation of the saving deeds of God. It professes the faith in God and confesses what God has done in the history of salvation beginning from creation. It is a public acknowledgement, and the Christian Eucharist is an acknowledgement motivated by gratitude. Praise refers to the confession of God’s glory and greatness. Thanksgiving refers to the sentiments of gratitude for the gifts received. Thus Praise and thanksgiving are closely related. In the Eucharistic prayer praise is offered to God for creation, redemption etc and thanks are rendered for these blessings. Eucharistic prayer as thanksgiving rises to God and then turns to the oblation of gifts which is concluded with praise.

We praise God because of several reasons. The basic reason is wonder or admiration when we praise God for something which we received from Him, it becomes thanksgiving. Therefore thanksgiving is a particular kind of praise. Holy Qurbana was called Eucharist or thanksgiving because it had its origin from the formula that was essentially a thanksgiving. Jesus may have added the motives from the salvation history in the blessing over the bread. These motives of praise are the motives of thanksgiving.

Man responds to God through praise and thanksgiving by which he confesses the greatness of His work and His gift to him. Praise seems to dominate when the community is influenced by wonder in the creation of God. Thanksgiving becomes prominent when the prayer focuses on redemption.

All the Eucharistic prayers are basically prayers of praise and thanksgiving. The Jewish barakah serves as their source. To translate the Hebrew word berakah the Greeks use two words –Eulogein and eucharistein. The East Syrian anaphoras follow the basic structure of praise, thanksgiving and supplication. Not only the whole anaphora but also the whole Eucharistic celebration from the beginning till the end is praise and thanksgiving. The preeminence of thanksgiving in Christian worship replaced the blessing of the Jewish prayer categories. Christians understood the importance of thanksgiving for redemption in Christ and that led to the omission of blessing. Eucharistia (thanksgiving) was the classical name for Eucharistic celebration in the early Church.

Liturgy is a sublime act of the Church. Through it the Church expresses her faith. Therefore liturgy becomes the source of our faith and of theology. Syro-Malabar liturgy is an apostolic liturgy which belongs to the patrimony of the universal Church and therefore is to be preserved and cherished.


Conclusion

We see how the church that began the heavenly anthem, finding heaven and earth join in the concert, closes all with their Amen, and end as they began, with a low prostration before the eternal and everlasting God. Thus we have seen this sealed book passing with great solemnity from the hand of the Creator into the hand of the Redeemer.

The book of Revelation ends with the description of the blessed life of the saved peoples (Rev. 21:24-27, 22:12-14 and 17). These are the most glorious and joyful pages of the Bible, showing the Church triumphant in the Kingdom of Glory.

Thus, by gradual disclosure of the fate of the world, St. John's Apocalypse slowly directs the spiritual attention of the faithful towards the Heavenly Kingdom - to the ultimate goal of our earthly wanderings. He speaks of the gloomy events in the sinful world as if he is obliged to do so, and with unwillingness.