Having thus prepared those present for the feelings of the due Eucharist, the priest raises their thoughts and hearts from earthly thoughts to the throne of the Heavenly King, and therefore proclaims: woe are our hearts! - they unanimously respond to this, in the words of the clergy: Imams to the Lord! and then the priest, following the example of the Savior, who brought thanks to God the Father before the Last Supper, together with the flock, begins general thanksgiving, proclaiming: We thank the Lord! and at the head of the flock, prostrating himself before the throne of the majesty of God, he exclaims with her: It is worthy and righteous to worship the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, etc.
But in order to portray to those who are coming all the holiness and solemnity of this thanksgiving, all the height of the Thanked One and the purity of feelings required by this gratitude, the priest reminds them how in the heavenly world they thank and praise the Lord all the powers of heaven, constantly singing, crying out, calling out and speaking to Him a victorious song. they add to them the earthly magnification of the glory of God, poured out from the lips of the Jewish youths: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest!
The words of the priest are singing, crying, calling and speaking, according to the explanation of St. Patr. Herman, refer to the four animals standing, according to the Revelation of St. John the Theologian, around the throne of God Almighty, and constantly exclaiming: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts, of which the Eagle, like a bird, marks the creation in general singing; Taurus in the image of his lowing is blatant; Leo, by the nature of his cry, calling, and finally, Man, by his ability to speak, speaking. To depict the voices of all of them, the deacon, when the priest pronounces these words, lifts a star from the paten and strikes it crosswise on its edges, precisely in those places where the Evangelists are depicted, symbolically accompanied by these Apocalyptic animals. The addition of the words of the Jewish youths to the words of the heavenly servants means that at this time the liturgy and the Angels themselves, with all the heavenly powers, are in concelebration with people to give thanks to the Lord, which is confirmed by the prayer secretly read at this time by the priest.
After the proclamation of this Seraphim song, the priest, having given praise to God, together with the heavenly powers and the people present on earth, dares to begin the most important part of the Eucharist. He, following the example of the Savior, with secret prayer to God the Father and offering thanks for all the good deeds of God the Son, begins to proclaim with His words, pointing to the bread lying on the paten: Take, eat, this is My body, and so on. and, pointing to the chalice: Drink of it, all of you, this is My blood of the New Testament, and so on. The deacon, at the same time as the priest, pointing to the Gifts, says: Behold the Lamb of God, take away the sins of the world, and the clergy, after both exclamations of the priest, affirmatively concludes them with the word Amen, i.e. truly! Then the priest, recalling all the images of people’s salvation, i.e. the cross, the tomb, the resurrection, the ascension into heaven, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, the sending of the Holy Spirit, and finally the second coming, proclaims: Yours from Yours, what is offered to You from everyone and for everything, i.e.
We bring these gifts to You, in memory of the great sacrifice of Your mercy that You made for us, and we bring them to You on behalf of and for all those whom You redeemed with Your Most Pure Blood. Saying these words, the priest or deacon raises the paten and chalice, holding his hands crosswise, as a sign of the death of atonement on the cross; The clergy, on behalf of those present, continues these thanksgivings with the words: We sing to You, we bless You, we thank You, Lord, and we pray to You, our God.
Then, the priest, strengthened by prayers and remembrance of the actions of Christ, begins to perform the Sacrament itself: with a prayer for the sending of the Holy Spirit, he first places an image of the cross on top of the paten, with the words: And create therefore this bread the honorable body of Thy Christ; then over the chalice, with the words: And in this chalice, the honorable blood of Thy Christ, and finally, over both, with the words: Having transposed by Thy Holy Spirit, and having accomplished this, he prostrates himself before the Holy Gifts, as if before the Lord Himself, for from that moment they become the true body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, or in the words of St. John Chrysostom: The Sacrifice that unites the world the heavenly with the vale, that is, all the faithful in heaven and earth, among themselves and with Christ.
But, since the blessed inhabitants of heaven are holy, and those on earth still pray for the remission of sins, then for each of these two parts of the human race the priest makes sacrifices: for the first, thanksgiving, and for the second, propitiatory and cleansing. Thanksgiving for the forefathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs and all the saints, in whose persons the Church has gained confidence in eternal bliss; predominantly, or fairly, before all of them, for the Most Holy and Most Pure Mother of God, as for being closest to God, whose name, as a result, the priest pronounces out loud, exclaiming: Fairly about the Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed Lady of Our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, and the clergy replies: It is worthy to eat, as in truth, and so on. The propitiatory one, for those who have fallen asleep in the faith, for whose souls, according to St. Cyril of Jerusalem, there is great consolation when prayer is said for them at the holy and terrible sacrifice.
And finally - the Purification - for all the living who ask for mercy for their sins; at the same time, the priest proclaims: First, remember, Holy Lord, the Governing Synod, etc., and the clergy concludes: everyone and everything.
The priest concludes all these comprehensive sacrifices with the prayer: and grant us with one mouth and one heart to glorify and glorify Your Most Honorable Name! And as the clergy, on behalf of those present, confirms this with the word of readiness Amen (let there be), then the priest calls upon them: the mercy of God and our Savior Jesus Christ!
This is followed by a litany in which the deacon encourages those present to pray for the offered and consecrated Gifts, in order to receive through them Divine grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit, etc., and the priest concludes these prayers with an appeal to the Lord Jesus: and grant us, Master, with boldness, without condemnation, to call on You, Heavenly God the Father, and to say the prayer that You He adopted us as His own and which He Himself taught to us to turn to You.
The clergy sings the Lord's Prayer, at the end of which the deacon invites them to bow their heads to the Lord, which those present do as a sign of filial fear and reverence, and the priest at this time reads a secret prayer in which he asks the Lord to mercifully look from heaven on those who have bowed their heads to Him and bless them for worthy communion, not for the sake of their own merits, but only with grace and generosity and love for mankind. His only begotten Son.
During the prayer of Our Father, the deacon girds himself crosswise with an orarium, preparing himself for a more free service during communion, and with this position depicting the orarion, the six-winged Seraphim, covering their faces before the greatness of the glory of the Lord. Having thus prepared to present himself to the Throne of God, the deacon proclaims Vonmem! At this exclamation, the priest, lifting the Divine Lamb from the paten, which means His elevation to the cross, says: Holy of Holies, meaning with these words that just as Christ, whose body believers have to taste, is Holy, so those who partake of true union with Him must be holy. And therefore, the deacon’s proclamation before this One relates directly to this, meaning that only Saints, that is, true Christians, should partake of the Most Holy Sacrament, and its meaning is the same: let us understand, judge, believe ourselves.
To this terrible statement of the priest, those present, remembering the soothing words of the Savior to His disciples, who despaired of salvation: what is impossible for men is possible for God (Luke 18:27), - with humility cry out: One is Holy, One is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the Glory of God the Father, expressing by this that none of them in their own strength - but all, through Jesus Christ, acquire holiness.