{"id":15843,"date":"2018-12-04T22:23:29","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T19:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/?p=15843"},"modified":"2018-12-04T22:46:57","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T19:46:57","slug":"the-epiclesis-part-three-the-epiclesis-how-to-experience-the-epiclesis-in-the-liturgy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/the-epiclesis-part-three-the-epiclesis-how-to-experience-the-epiclesis-in-the-liturgy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Epiclesis \/Part three: The Epiclesis \u2013 How to experience the Epiclesis in the Liturgy\/"},"content":{"rendered":"
25 November 2018<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Epiclesis is the invocation of the Holy Spirit both on us and on the gifts. It has three parts:<\/p>\n

1) The priest kneels and implores God in a spirit: \u201cSend down the Holy Spirit upon us<\/u>\u201d<\/em> (Note: Throughout the Epiclesis, the chorus sings the antiphon<\/u>: \u201cWe praise You…\u201d<\/em> or there is silence).<\/p>\n

God promises through the prophet Ezekiel (37): \u201cBehold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 We beseech in spirit: Lord, give us the Spirit of repentance, that we may live!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI will put sinews on you\u201d \u2013 Put sinews on us \u2013 the gift of prayer!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI will bring flesh upon you\u201d \u2013 Fill us with the power of Your commandments!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI will cover you with protective skin\u201d \u2013 Give us living communities!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI will put Spirit in you, and you shall live\u201d \u2013 Put the fullness of the Spirit in us, that we may live! Ye-ho-shu-aaa<\/em><\/p>\n

2) The priest stands up, approaches the altar, extends his hands over the gifts and entreats silently: \u201cSend down<\/strong> Your Holy Spirit upon these gifts here present.\u201d<\/em> He realizes that he is in God\u2019s presence in the pillar of light, where God\u2019s almighty power works. Then three times silently he calls on the name of the Saviour, Yehoshua.<\/p>\n

When calling on God\u2019s name for the first time, he turns to God with the confession: You have created me and keep me in existence. Second time: Jesus, You have redeemed me by Your death on the cross. And in the third invocation of God\u2019s name (Yehoshua) he realizes that now the Holy Spirit is making present<\/u> Christ\u2019s death on the altar. Then he makes the sign of the cross over the blessed bread, saying quietly, \u201cAnd make this bread the precious Body of Your Christ.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thereupon, when breathing in, he unites with the Holy Spirit, and breathing out onto the bread, he says in thought, \u201cChanging it by Your Holy Spirit!\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Then he says quietly, \u201cAmen!\u201d<\/em> The words of Jesus are fulfilled: \u201cThis is My body, which is given for you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Again, he realizes the reality of God\u2019s omnipotence and pronounces three times God\u2019s name Yehoshua. With the first invocation he turns to God again, confessing: You have created me, You keep me in existence. In the second invocation: Jesus, You have redeemed me by Your death on the cross. And in the third invocation of God\u2019s name (Yehoshua), he realizes that the Holy Spirit, by His almighty power, now works the Transubstantiation (Consecration) in a mysterious way. The priest makes the sign of the cross over the chalice and says quietly, \u201cAnd [make] that which is in this chalice the precious Blood of Your Christ.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> He unites with the Holy Spirit again when breathing in and when breathing out onto the chalice he says in thought, \u201cChanging it by Your Holy Spirit!\u201d<\/em><\/strong> And he adds quietly, \u201cAmen!\u201d<\/em> The words of Jesus are fulfilled: \u201cThis is My blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Then, for a short while, he offers Christ\u2019s Body and Blood to the Heavenly Father with faith for himself \u201cand for many\u201d<\/em><\/u>.<\/em><\/p>\n

3) The priest descends the altar, kneels and bows to the ground (he can even touch the ground with his forehead), knowing that the real Body and the real Blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ are on the altar. He remains kneeling in the awareness that the words of the Epiclesis, \u201cChanging them by Your Holy Spirit!\u201d<\/strong><\/em> refer even to the baptized and to many. By the prophetic authority, given by God to Ezekiel (37:9), he turns to the Spirit of God with a supplication for those who, though baptized, are spiritually dead<\/u>. He implores in silence:<\/p>\n

\u201cCome<\/strong>, O Spirit, and breathe<\/strong> on these slain, that they may live in the east<\/u>!\u201d<\/em> and slowly utters God\u2019s name with faith again (Yehoshua)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat they may live in the south!<\/u>\u201d (Yehoshua)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThat they may live in the west!<\/u>\u201d (Yehoshua)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThat they may live in the north!<\/u>\u201d (Yehoshua)<\/em><\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the Epiclesis, the priest emphasizes in a low voice: \u201cChanging them by Your Holy Spirit!\u201d<\/em> and adds: \u201cAmen, amen, amen!\u201d<\/em> The Epiclesis is thus accomplished.<\/p>\n

The priest stands up and worships Christ, present on the altar, with fragrant incense, and also censes the people \u2013 the Mystical Body of Christ.<\/p>\n

Note: This is one of the ways how to experience the Epiclesis, as practised in some monasteries.<\/p>\n

The name of God is emphasized and invoked in the whole Scripture. Our salvation is in this holy name (cf. Rom 10:13).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

+ Elijah<\/p>\n

Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate<\/p>\n

+ Methodius OSBMr \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 + Timothy OSBMr<\/p>\n

Secretary Bishops<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Download:\u00a0The Epiclesis \/Part three: The Epiclesis \u2013 How to experience the Epiclesis in the Liturgy\/ (25\/11\/2018)<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

25 November 2018 The Epiclesis is the invocation of the Holy Spirit both on us and on the gifts. It has three parts: 1) The priest kneels and implores God in a spirit: \u201cSend down the Holy Spirit upon us\u201d (Note: Throughout the Epiclesis, the chorus sings the antiphon: \u201cWe praise You…\u201d or there is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[34,32,140],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15843"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15843"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15860,"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15843\/revisions\/15860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vkpatriarhat.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}