With Faith and Love, Draw Near

I recently celebrated my name day of St. Elizabeth Fyodorovna. My husband, son, and I attended a Saturday Divine Liturgy to celebrate my patron and blessed example of how one draws near to Christ.

It is known that St. Elizabeth Fyodorovna loved the Divine Liturgical services. Similarly, I myself have loved the Divine Liturgy since I was a child. Having memorized it quite young, it resulted in me thoroughly immersing myself in learning as many forms of chant as I could find later on in my adult life.

A particularly fond memory is Fr. Symeon helping to guide me through Presanctified Liturgy services that our OCF held on Friday nights on SIUC campus during Great Lent in 2010. Those were grueling grad school days and the service at the end of the week was a welcome and edifying change of pace from the week’s studies. During this particular service, I found myself reflecting on some of my patron saint’s remarks on the Divine Liturgy. While many had assumed her conversion to Holy Orthodoxy was due to political or familial influence because of her marriage to Grand Duke Sergei, St. Elizabeth was quick to credit another source. “…I feel it brings me nearer to God... You tell me that the outer brilliance of the church charmed me... in that you are mistaken—Nothing in the outer signs attracted me—no—the service, the service, the outer signs are only to remind us of the inner things”.

“We who mystically represent the Cherubim and who sing the thrice holy hymn.”

The Divine Liturgy is in its very nature an elevation and offering of what we have been given by God and giving it back to God. This is true of the bread and wine which is offered and made into the body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But this is also true of ourselves. God has given us life and the breath of the Holy Spirit. We offer ourselves, our very breath, to participate with the angelic hosts in the Divine Liturgy.

“Let us lay aside all earthly cares.”