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Text Box: THE BASILIAN FATHERS (The Society of Clerks Secular of Saint Basil) Saint Mary Magdalene Orthodox Church: We finally decided to discard the duplicate set of keys to Saint Mary Magdalene which we kept at Holy Innocents. No sense in keeping keys to doors that have not existed for about two years. + THE REALITY OF THE SACRIFICE WE OFFER A Portion of the Gregorian (Western) Rite Divine Liturgy of The Society of Clerks Secular of Saint Basil There are but a few realities which we should maintain constantly before us, particularly in the Divine Liturgy. But they are most important and all who participate in the Divine Liturgy should maintain these matters in their constant attention. Immediately after the Epiklesis in the Gregorian (Western Rite) Divine Liturgy you, the Priest, pray: C. Wherefore, O Lord, we Thy servants, as also Thy holy people, calling to mind the blessed Passion of the same Christ Thy Son our Lord, His Resurrection from the dead and glorious Ascension into heaven, offer unto Thy most excellent Majesty of Thy gifts bestowed upon us a pure + sacrificial victim, a holy + sacrificial victim, a spotless + sacrificial victim, the holy + bread of eternal life and the + chalice of everlasting salvation. When we pray, “calling to mind . . .”, we acknowledge the reality that this our present Sacrifice is the very same Sacrifice as the Passion and Death of the now risen Jesus Christ, God. Many jurisdictions retain the word host instead of sacrificial victim, but host today is not readily known to have the same meaning it did during the early part of the last century. Host in English

Text Box: of the present most commonly means either a large group of people, or a little round piece of bread. In the last century it also had the meaning of a little round piece of bread, or of a large group of people, but in the early part of the last century it was readily known that the word “host” came from the Latin “hostium” meaning sacrifice or victim or sacrificial victim. So in the Divine Liturgy we state that which we offer is not a large group of people, nor a little round piece of bread, but The Sacrificial Victim, Jesus Christ, God. It also is the reason why we place the Epiklesis immediately before these prayers and immediately after the Words of Institution, for if these prayers were placed before the Epiklesis we would be offering as a sacrificial victim that which has not yet been changed into the Sacrificial Victim Jesus Christ, God. You then pray: C. Upon which vouchsafe to look with a favorable and serene countenance, and to accept them as Thou wert graciously pleased to accept the gifts of our patriarch Abraham, and that which Thy high priest, Melchisedech offered unto Thee, a holy Sacrifice, a spotless Victim What were the sacrifices of Abraham? Two are most memorable. The meal offered to the three travelers, the three angels, the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. We and our flocks also are on a journey, and all require sustenance on that journey. What is that sustenance? That sustenance is foreshadowed in the second most memorable sacrifice of Abraham, the sacrifice of his son. For our sustenance is also a Son, the Son of God, who actually was sacrificed, though Abraham's son was withdrawn from the sacrifice by God at the last instant. How do we receive this sustenance? We receive it in the appearance of bread, the sacrifice of Melchisedech. Who was Melchisedech? A most mysterious figure: the King of Salem, King of Peace, High Priest of God, relative of

Text Box: Abraham, who overcame the three witches, the greatest of evils, foreshadowing the overcoming of Evil by the Sacrifice of the Eternal High Priest, the Son, of the Son Himself, even unto this very day on the Cross in the Eternal Now and under the appearance of bread in the Divine Liturgy of today. But we do not receive this sustenance in any form under the Law of Moses, for slaughter was completed as a form of sacrifice with the slaughter of The Lamb of God which ended the Old Covenant and began the New Covenant. And you end this portion of the Divine Liturgy with: C. We humbly beseech Thee, Almighty God, to command that these things be borne by the hands of Thy Holy Angel to Thine Altar on high, into the presence of Thy Divine Majesty, that so many of us as shall partake at this Altar, of the most Sacred + Body and + Blood of Thy Son, may be filled with all heavenly [+] benediction, through the same Christ our Lord. R. Amen. Who is that Angel which we beg God send to carry the Sacrifice to God’s Altar on high? That Angel is the very same High Priest, the Priest who originally made the Offering and who is the Sacrifice Itself: Jesus Christ, God. Who else could be God’s Holy Angel? No one else could so be. These prayers are very important for they state with extreme clarity that which has just been done by us, Priests, and what we beg be done on our behalf and the behalf of all those present and all those whom we represent. These are but a few things to remember. But if these things are not reality we may as well gather for a communal meal of pizza and wine. We must also remember that these prayers differ slightly in order and form from those of The Holy Anbaphora in the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, which has but a short

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