“…For We Have Done Nothing Good Upon the Earth…”

From the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great

Last Sunday, 29 March 2015, being the Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast, the Divine Liturgy of our Father among the Saints, Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia (+379) was celebrated for the last time on a Sunday, the Lord’s Day that is, in this Anno Domini (i.e. “Year of our Lord”) 2015. The next time we shall celebrate it again will be during Holy Thursday and Saturday, and not on a Sunday, that is not until Next Year’s (2016) First Sunday of the Great Fast.

The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil, chronologically and by use, predates that of Saint John Chrysostom. It was more common in the Ancient Church, at least within the First Millennium, until that of Chrysostom gradually became more popular in Constantinople, late in the First Millennium, and became thereby more widespread in use. To this day, the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is the most common liturgy used in the Byzantine Orthodox Church, throughout the year, with the exception of when the Divine Liturgies of Basil and Gregory Dialogos replace it. Thus in modern history, most of us erroneously associate the 2 non-Chrysostom Liturgies with the Great Fast (Sundays of Basil, and Presanctified of Gregory on Weekdays), for in the Ancient Church the Liturgies and their use was more flux than nowadays, and there were even more common Liturgies associated with Saint James, Mark, and others. Therefore when we speak of liturgies and their use, we must realize that we are applying our current practices, and not seeing them in light of the historic life of the Church, at least within the First Millennium.

In our day and age, the practice of celebrating the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil (unfortunately) is limited to 10 Times per year and sometimes this is not fully practiced in all churches, because the Paramon (i.e. Preparation/Pre-Feast) of the Nativity & Holy Theophany cannot be celebrated with St. Basil’s Liturgy, that is, when these Feasts fall on a Saturday or Sunday. 

In any case, “nowadays” St. Basil’s is celebrated thusly:

5 Sundays of the Great Fast

Great & Holy Thursday

Great & Holy Saturday

Paramon of the Nativity

Paramon of Holy Theophany

January 1^ST – Feast & Repose of Saint Basil

In essence, since most people come to Church on Sundays, they only would be able to enjoy the glorious liturgy of Saint Basil 5 Times during the 5 Sundays of the Great Fast. To the liturgically illiterate, they recognize the Basilian Liturgy with only one aspect, namely, that it is longer in duration. These would normally complain to the Priest about the duration of the Liturgy. But to the liturgically literate, and more importantly the faithful, that is those who prayerfully follow along with the Priest with their Service Books open in front of them, they instead look forward to these celebrations, and attentively/prayerfully participate in this glorious liturgy.

To many scholars who wish to meticulously dissect the Basilian Liturgy, either to identify it or differentiate from the Chrysostomite Liturgy, they see only two major differences—besides the duration in length—and these would be:

1.     The Longer Basilian Anaphora Prayer, which basically takes the form of Scriptural Salvation History, that is, it summarily retells the whole story from a Biblical perspective of what transpired from Adam to Christ, leading to the Last Supper, and,

2.     The Different Formulae of Consecration at the Epiclesis Prayer, whereas the Chrysostomite uses the term “change” the Basilian substitutes with “show”

But what do scholars know? They only expend countless hours digging through manuals and manuscripts only to summarize their viewpoints in theses and dissertations. In short, they do not live and pray the liturgies, and that is why they fail to see the other distinctive elements in the Basilian Liturgy, that is, other than the 2 pointed above. You see the Divine Liturgy, in the teaching of the Memory Eternal Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, cannot be reduced to a mere text, or else it becomes a lifeless corpse. The liturgy is and must be lived, practiced, by anticipation and with participation, and most importantly, with a prayerful mind and heart. Is it any wonder that he referred to the liturgy of the Eucharist as an "organism"?

The Prayers of the Basilian Liturgy are quite different from those of the Chrysostomite Liturgy: They are much more profound, beseeching in essence, intercessory in supplication, penitential in nature, and in my humble opinion, they point out the real relationship between God and Man, the former as Creator, and the latter as created. The “other” long Prayer associated with the Basilian Liturgy is the one said during the chanting of the Megalynarion, in which supplications are made for all, especially family members (i.e. children, parents, husbands, wives, etc.).

It is not my attempt to present in here a full account of the Basilian Liturgy as I admit I am not a scholar (and I do not wish to be). Doing so would require several books. I am simply a prayerful Priest who wishes to invite people to participate more during the Divine Liturgy, so that they can read along in their minds the same prayers which every Priest says during the Divine Liturgy. But I wish to point out in this reflection a simple prayer said during the Epiclesis (i.e. the “calling upon” the Holy Spirit to do His work). To that extent, it would be most expedient if I provide this prayer in 3 languages, with my own emphases in Bold:

“Because of this, O all-holy Master, we also, Thy sinful and unworthy servants, whom Thou hast made worthy to minister at Thy holy Altar, not through our own righteousness, for we have done nothing good upon the earth, but because of Thy mercies and compassion, which Thou hast richly poured out upon us, dare to draw nigh to Thy holy Altar, and, presenting unto Thee the antitypes of the holy Body and Blood of Thy Christ, we pray Thee and call upon Thee, O Holy of Holies, by the favor of Thy goodness, that Thy Holy Spirit may come upon us and upon these Gifts here set forth, and bless them and hallow them, and show…”

لأجل هذا أيُّها السيِّد الكليُّ قدسه، نجسر نحن أيضاً عبيدك الخطأة غير المستحقِّين، الذين قد أُهِّلنا لخدمة مذبحك المقدَّس، لا من أجل برِّنا، لأنَّنا لم نصنع شيئاً من الصلاح على الأرض، بل من أجل مراحمك ورأفاتك التي أفضتها علينا بسخاء، أن ندنو إلى مذبحك المقدَّس. وإذ وضعنا رسمَي جسد مسيحك ودمه المقدَّسين، نسألك ونطلب إليك، يا قدوس القدِّيسين، أن يحلَّ بمسرَّة صلاحك روحك القدُّوس علينا، وعلى هذه القرابين الموضوعة، ويباركها، ويقدِّسها، ويُظهِر...

“Διὰ τοῦτο, Δέσποτα, Πανάγιε καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ καὶ ἀνάξιοι δοῦλοί σου οἱ καταξιωθέντες λειτουργεῖν τῷ ἁγίῳ σου θυσιαστηρίῳ, οὐ διὰ τὰς δικαιοσύνας ἡμῶν, οὐ γὰρ ἐποιήσαμέν τι ἀγαθὸν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰ ἐλέη σου καὶ τοὺς οἰκτιρμούς σου, οὓς ἐξέχεας πλουσίως ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, θαρροῦντες προσεγγίζομεν τῷ ἁγίῳ σου θυσιαστηρίῳ, καὶ προθέντες τὰ ἀντίτυπα τοῦ ἁγίου Σώματος καὶ Αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ σου, σοῦ δεόμεθα, καὶ σὲ παρακαλοῦμεν, Ἅγιε, Ἁγίων, εὐδοκίᾳ τῆς σῆς ἀγαθότητος, ἐλθεῖν τὸ Πνεῦμά σου τὸ Ἅγιον ἐφ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ προκείμενα Δῶρα ταῦτα, καὶ εὐλογῆσαι αὐτά, καὶ ἁγιάσαι, καὶ ἀναδεῖξαι…”

The bold text in this prayer is my humble reflection, which is also the title of this blog. This is a Priestly prayer, and therefore it applies first and foremost to the Celebrant, whether he is a Priest or Bishop. But it does not stop here. It likewise applies to the participants, the faithful attendants of the Divine Liturgy itself.

For one thing, in the Orthodox Church, the Priest, unlike in other traditions, cannot celebrate the Liturgy on his own, because he is simply not allowed. The Divine Liturgy is a corporate functions, done with a Celebrant (i.e. Priest or Bishop) present, in the company of the Faithful. In the Orthodox Church, there are no "Individual Liturgies" or "Clergy (alone) Liturgies", etc. In the Orthodox Church you need both: The Faithful present, as well as the Celebrant. This is what constitutes the word "Liturgy" which from the Greek Λειτουργια it basically stands for the "corporate worship/work of the people" of God. Thus, all of the prayers during the liturgy that are said by the Celebrant are in the First Person Plural -- that guarded by Thy might we may ascribe glory -- and so on. The only exceptional prayer in the Divine Liturgy which takes the First Person Singular form is the Priestly Prayer during the chanting of the Cherubic Hymn, because this prayer applies strictly to the Celebrant. But apart from this one prayer, the liturgical function of the Celebrant in the Orthodox Church can be described primarily as twofold: He prays for and with the people.

We turn now to the highlight of this reflection, the Priestly Prayer during the Epiclesis, which says: "For we have done nothing good upon the earth." To the shallow observer, this statement appears futile and destructive, and the best reaction would probably be to simply ignore it. But to the spiritually mature, this is a very profound statement. It is a relational statement, stating the exact relationship between God and man. The two are not at odds, but instead are set in comparison: One is the Creator whereas the other is the created; one is Good, Perfect, and Holy, therefore the other must be in need of these. The two cannot be equal, and will never be. One depends on the other, and therefore this relationship is synergistic (from the Greek, which means working together). Only the spiritually mature can comprehend and understand this statement, and humbly accepts it.

The profundity of this short sentence is preceded by the statement: "Not through our own righteousness."  This at last explains it all. It all has to do with Saint Paul's teaching concerning righteousness, vis-á-vis his Epistle to the Romans. Righteousness, as was understood by the Judaism at the time of Christ, was simply the function of doing good, accomplished by any person. Abraham, they believed, was righteous because he did what was good in the sight of God. Here Saint Paul interjects to reject this notion. To him, Abraham's good deed alone did not justify him. Rather, it was Abraham's obedience to the Almighty which resulted in the good deed hence "it was accounted to him as righteousness." Abraham, therefore, was not essentially good, only his obedient response resulted in the good deed, which became his righteousness.

The same applies to all of us, and not only to Abraham. Are we not, the faithful, children of Abraham? Did not the Theotokos confess this in her Magnificat, saying: "...to our forefathers, to Abraham and his posterity forever"? Did not the rich man, condemned and tormented and separated in Hell as he was, refer to him as "Father, Abraham"? Therefore, applying the teaching of Saint Paul to our own lives, we too must become obedient and faithful as Abraham was, then and only then our deeds can be accounted as righteous, in the sight of God. The good that we do is not innate, because there is nothing innately good in us. Instead, it is a reflection of God's goodness in us. This is how things transpired in the lives of the men and women in Scripture, in the actions of the Prophets, Patriarchs, Apostles, and Saints. None of them was innately good, created perfectly, free from sin and corruption. They all needed God in their lives, and so do we.

The good that we do must always reflect God's goodness in us, and not erroneously be a reflection of us. We must mirror God in our words, in our lives, and in our actions. Apart from God there is no righteousness that can be everlasting, but with God all things are possible. Together, by having faith and becoming obedient to God, we can say like Saint Paul: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

To Him therefore, Christ our True God, be glory forever and ever. Amen.