The answer
St. Basil the Great stresses the importance of the participation of the congregation in the Divine Liturgy. Their role is not merely to listen, but to participate. Therefore, the Church is careful not to limit the liturgical worship to the priest and the deacons, but she rather encourages worship to be carried out by the whole church. “After the Psalms, the congregation should respond with all their might. If anyone is physically sick and cannot participate, he is not to be blamed. But if he has the strength to participate in worship and is silent, he alone becomes unworthy of the blessing.”1565
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
1565 Monastery of the Syrians, St. Basil the Great: His Life, Asceticism, and Church Canons (Arabic) (St. Mary’s Monastery (Deir al-Sourian), 2003): p. 545.