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Questions & Answers

Divine Liturgy

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Prayer, Fasting and Worship › Divine Liturgy

The question

Why is the Liturgy of St. Cyril "backwards," meaning that the prayers of the St. Basil's Liturgy are in the beginning, but in the Liturgy of St. Cyril, they are toward the end?

The answer

The main difference in St. Cyril's Liturgy than in the other two is the order of the litanies. In St. Basil's Liturgy and in St. Gregory's Liturgy, the litanies come immediately after the epiclesis (the change of the elements to the Body and the Blood of the Lord), but in St. Cyril's Liturgy, the litanies precede the epiclesis. This reflects two schools of thought.

In the Coptic mind (St. Cyril), they want to finish all the litanies before the change occurs; then after the change, all the focus is on praising the Lord ONLY.

In the Byzantine mind (St. Basil and St. Gregory), they want to present all their requests to the Lord after the change occurs because of the importance of these petitions.

No one approach is better than the other. It is just two schools of mind.

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

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