The ritual forms of biblical readings

This article by Father Boris Bobrinskoy, drawn from a lecture given at the Saint Sergius Institute in 2001, examines the liturgical rites surrounding the reading of the Gospel in the Byzantine tradition. Taking both a historical and theological approach, the author successively analyzes the Little Entrance, the singing of the Alleluia, the epicletic prayer, the dialogue between deacon and bishop, and the homily. The central idea is that the customary division between the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharistic Liturgy is too schematic: the former already contains, in a proleptic manner, an epicletic and communal structure that anticipates the Eucharist. The major theological contribution lies in the demonstration of a twofold real presence of Christ — in the Gospel and in the Eucharist — both brought about by the Holy Spirit, which confers upon the Liturgy of the Word its own sacramentality and an irreducible missionary significance.