The Presanctified Liturgy
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By Fr. David Petras
When the priest celebrates the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts during the Great Fast (Lent), before the Our Father is sung, he prays, “O God of mysteries beyond human thought and vision ... you have revealed to us the service of this liturgy.” This does not mean that the Presanctified Liturgy was revealed directly by God, but it is perfectly understandable why it would be considered divinely and not humanly inspired. This Liturgy may certainly be considered a manifestation of the Christian genius of the Eastern Church of Constantinople, a part of its theological and liturgical heritage.
The origins of the Presanctified Liturgy in history is not recorded, nor do we know who wrote its prayers and arranged its order. The first records we have of it are from the sixth century when it is mentioned in the life of St. Gregory the Chozebite. The Council of Trullo in the year 692 made it the prescribed practice of the Byzantine Church, “On all days of the holy fast of Lent, except on the Sabbath (Saturday), and the Lord’s Day (Sunday) and the holy day of the Annunciation, the Liturgy of the Presanctified is to be said. (Canon 52)” The Liturgical Instruction of January 6, 1996, written by the Sacred Congregation of the Eastern Churches, reaffirms this law, observing that its disuse is due to “Latin influence.” They then give a reason, “Considering that the joyous and festive dimension of the Eucharist, experienced as an event and not as a habit, was alive in Christian antiquity and is maintained in many Eastern liturgies, the forsaking of such practices contributes to diminishing the full meaning of the Divine Liturgy, which is celebrated in an integral and solemn way at the conclusion and as a seal of a whole journey of preparation (paragraph 63).”
The Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated during the Great Fast for two reasons: the necessity of abstinence and the need for nourishment. The Great Fast is a time when we have the opportunity to become aware of our complete dependence on God and our need for redemption. The secular world today, which is very commercial, is suspicious of that message, it wants us to feel good about ourselves so that we become contented consumers. However, the story of Adam and Eve reveals the human choice to put ourselves and our own self-image before God, who created us to be in his image and likeness. Fasting in itself cannot save us, but only reveal how dependent we are on God, because we are able to undertake it only by his grace. However, it makes it possible for him to free us from slavery to our own desires, leaving us open to his activity in the depths of our souls.
If we are attentive to the deepest meaning of the eucharistic prayer, we understand that this prayer is the presence of the resurrection of our Lord. During the time of the Great Fast, an event of such over-powering joy would break the spirit of repentance and compunction that prepares us to die and rise with our Lord in the coming annual celebration of the Paschal Mystery on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. During the Great Fast, therefore, we sing a more somber Liturgy that expresses our desire for forgiveness and union with God and we partake of the eucharist that has been consecrated on the previous day of the Lord. St. John Chrysostom said, "The mystery at Easter is not of more efficacy than that which is now celebrated. It is one and the same. There is always the same grace of the Spirit. It is always a Passover." (On 1 Timothy 5:3) At the Presanctified Liturgy, we abstain from the joyful celebration of the Passover, and our experience, instead, is one of passing through the desert. After his baptism, our Lord went out into the desert to struggle with Satan and conquer evil for the sake of the human race. In the Great Fast (Lent), therefore, we follow him into the spiritual desert of abstinence from the Resurrection joy to struggle with evil in our own lives.
We can defeat this evil, though, only in union with our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why, even though we fast from the joy of the anaphora, we still must receive the nourishment of the eucharist, because we can live and conquer evil only in Jesus Christ. In the Presanctified Liturgy, therefore, we pray, in the Prayer before the Our Father, “As we are given life by [these holy gifts], may we be united with Christ Himself, our true God, who said, 'Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. (John 6:56)” In the fast, then, we all eat the same spiritual food which is the body of Christ. For us, as for the Israelites, God brings water from the rock, that is, he renews our spirits from the hardness of disbelief and despair.
One of the most wondrous truths about God is his ability to bring good out of evil, faith out of doubt, hope out of despair, love out of hatred, life out of death. The Presanctified Liturgy is a penitential rite in which we humble ourselves before God through the gesture of prostration, but are exalted as his people through our union with his eucharist. Therefore, we continue to pray before the Our Father: “With Christ Your Word living in us, and walking in our midst, O Lord, may we become the temple of Your all-holy and adorable Spirit.”
At the end of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, we pray, “During forty days, you gave Moses, your faithful servant, the tablets of the Law inscribed by your divine hands. Good Master, grant that we also may fight the good fight, finish the course of the fast and remain in the true faith. Give us the power to crush the heads of invisible servants by conquering sin, that without reproach we might worship your holy resurrection.” Through the Presanctified Divine Liturgy, we journey through a spiritual desert with the Israelites, the people of God. The manna the Israelites ate as nourishment is a foreshadowing of our true food, the body and blood of Christ, in whom alone we can win victory over the powers of evil.