Urgent Questions

samuelgg

I have these questions i need answered urgently... Please help...

1. What are (a) the main differences, and (b) the main similarities between the Major and the Minor Lordly feasts?

2. At the end of the "Prayer of Reconciliation," Abouna (the priest), by the help of the deacon, uncovers the Altar, and the "Prospherine," which is the cloth cover that was once covering the Altar is then removed, and placed behind the Arc. What does this act symbolise?

3. At which point exactly in the Divine Liturgy are the bread and wine transformed into the actual Body and Blood of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ?

4. Before praying the "Fraction Prayer", Abouna (the priest) moves over to the left of the Altar, and bows down before the Body and Blood, as he says to the congregation: "Peace be with you all." He does not turn around to the congregation, and bless them with the sign of the cross, as he had previously done every time he said that same phrase, throughout the entire Liturgy up to this point. Why?

5. In which part exactly of the rite of the "Passion Week" is the following Bible reference read: [John 13:1-17]? Be as specific as you can.

Thankyou very much for your help. if youa re unsure of an answere please indicate in your response.

Please Pray for me,

Samuel

PS I am very grateful for your assisatnce

EgYpTiAnMaTT91

I can answer a couple of your questions.

2. If I'm thinking of the same part that you are, then it symbolizes the Resurrection.

3. I'm pretty sure (97% sure) that it's when we bow down after saying "Amen", then Abouna says "The Holy Body", then we reply and say "We worship your Holy Body", and so on.

I hope that helped.

GBU

Ebezyacon

1)   The difference between the major and minor feast, The major feast is related directly with Jesus Christ and has direct effect on the faith like the Christmas and Easter but the minor feast not that as Jesus Christ entering the temple or escaping of the holy family to Egypt.
2)   Rising the “Oprosphareen” indicate to raising the stone over the cave by the angle after the resurrection of Jesus Christ to prove the resurrection.
3)   The Divine Liturgy are the bread and wine transformed into the actual Body and Blood when the priest say “ He makes this bread his holy body”
4)   The priest moves left As Jesus Christ is present and the Blessing for the congregation coming from him only

mmatt95

5: the gospel u refer to is read during the Lakaan on the ninth hour of the covenant thursday, which is during the Liturgy of the blessing of the water...it's the gospel reading that speaks about the Lord Jesus washing the feet of his apostle's,

hope that helped :)

AvvaAntoni

Hello Samuelgg, I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability, and if anyone has a better explaination I wouldn't mind hearing it.

Ok your first question:
[quote author=samuelgg link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19625 date=1107238759]1. What are (a) the main differences, and (b) the main similarities between the Major and the Minor Lordly feasts?

The seven Major feasts of our Lord are:
1) Nativity (Christmas)
2) Epiphany (Baptism)
3) Annunciation
4) Palm Sunday (Entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem)
5) Resurrection (Easter)
6) Ascension
7) Pentacost

The seven minor feats of our Lord are:
1) Circumcision
2) First miracle at the wedding of Cana of Galilee
3) Entrance of our Lord into the Temple
4) Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday)
5) Entrance of our Lord into Egypt
6) Transfiguration of Our Lord
7) (I cannot remember it sorry)
I believe ebezyacon gave a fair explaination for their differences when he says:
[quote author=Ebezyacon link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19631 date=1107254613]The difference between the major and minor feast, The major feast is related directly with Jesus Christ and has direct effect on the faith like the Christmas and Easter but the minor feast not that as Jesus Christ entering the temple or escaping of the holy family to Egypt.

The second question:
[quote author=samuelgg link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19625 date=1107238759]2. At the end of the "Prayer of Reconciliation," Abouna (the priest), by the help of the deacon, uncovers the Altar, and the "Prospherine," which is the cloth cover that was once covering the Altar is then removed, and placed behind the Arc. What does this act symbolise?

This act symbolizes that after the burial of our Lord for three days, He ressurects from the dead. As you see, the prospherine represents the stone that was put on the door of the tomb of our Lord and if you notice, abouna puts a cloth in a triangle shape on top. This represents the seal of the Emperor. So in summary, the removing of the prospherine represents the ressurection of our Lord.

Third question:
[quote author=samuelgg link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19625 date=1107238759]3. At which point exactly in the Divine Liturgy are the bread and wine transformed into the actual Body and Blood of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ? ?

The bread and wine are transformed just before the Deacon says: Worship God in fear and trembling. By saying that, the deacon is telling everyone to bow down in front of our Lord, which means that the bread and wine have transformed.

Fourth question:
[quote author=samuelgg link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19625 date=1107238759]4. Before praying the "Fraction Prayer", Abouna (the priest) moves over to the left of the Altar, and bows down before the Body and Blood, as he says to the congregation: "Peace be with you all." He does not turn around to the congregation, and bless them with the sign of the cross, as he had previously done every time he said that same phrase, throughout the entire Liturgy up to this point. Why?

Once more ebzyacon has a good explaination for this question when he says:
[quote author=Ebezyacon link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19631 date=1107254613]The priest moves left As Jesus Christ is present and the Blessing for the congregation coming from him only
If you notice when there is a clergy in higher authority present in the church (for example a bishop or the Pope), he is the one that gives all the blessings. Likewise, what greater blessing can we get except from the Lord himself. So the priest moves to the left so the Jesus may give the blessing.

Finally the last question:
[quote author=samuelgg link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19625 date=1107238759]5. In which part exactly of the rite of the "Passion Week" is the following Bible reference read: [John 13:1-17]? Be as specific as you can.

I believe Hos erof answered the question when he said:
[quote author=Hos Erof link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19633 date=1107266181]
the gospel u refer to is read during the Lakaan on the ninth hour of the covenant thursday, which is during the Liturgy of the blessing of the water...it's the gospel reading that speaks about the Lord Jesus washing the feet of his apostle's,

I hope this helped, even if all I did was restate what everybody else said.

I ask that you please keep me in your prayers
Avvaantoni

mmatt95

[quote author=AvvaAntoni link=board=4;threadid=1163;start=0#msg19639 date=1107274904]
This act symbolizes that after the burial of our Lord for three days, He ressurects from the dead. As you see, the prospherine represents the stone that was put on the door of the tomb of our Lord and if you notice, abouna puts a cloth in a triangle shape on top. This represents the seal of the Emperor. So in summary, the removing of the prospherine represents the ressurection of our Lord.


good summary tony :),
u'll also notice that this Prospherine has small bells attached to them, so when the deacon/clergy lift up the prospherine it makes some noise, representing the earthquake that shook up the place, our church has the coolest details in it's rites lol ;D

beshoyrm

lol thats a cool fact :D ;D