“Strive to intensify your Faith, and during the Divine Liturgy be undistracted and attached to the celebration of the service so that you might be granted to behold the Majesties of God.”
Saint George Karslides
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“People… don’t see what takes place in Church during the Divine Liturgy. Once I was serving and I couldn’t make the Great Entrance because of what I saw. I suddenly felt someone pushing me by my shoulder and guiding me toward the Holy Prothesi. I thought it was the chanter. I turned around and saw a huge wing that the Archangel had laid on my shoulder, and that he was guiding me to make the Great Entrance. What amazing things take place in the Altar during the Divine Liturgy!”
Saint Iakovos Tsalikis of Evia
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“May the Lord grant that you feel delight in being at Church so that you will rush to it, just as people rush into a warm room from the cold.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“The Divine Liturgy is truly a Heavenly Service upon Earth, during which God Himself, in a particular, immediate, and most close manner, is present and dwells with men, being Himself the Invisible Celebrant of the Service, offering and being offered. There is nothing upon Earth Holier, higher, grander, more solemn, more Life-Giving than the Liturgy. The Temple, at this particular time, becomes an Earthly Heaven; those who Officiate represent Christ Himself, the Angels, the Cherubim, Seraphim and Apostles. The Liturgy is the continually repeated solemnization of God’s Love to mankind, and of His All-Powerful mediation for the Salvation of the whole world, and of every member separately: the marriage of the Lamb – the marriage of the King’s Son, in which the bride of the Son of God is – every faithful Soul; and the Giver of the bride – the Holy Spirit.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Do not sit during the Divine Liturgy. Your mind should not fly here and there. As long as you are in the Church, make the decision to devote all of the time to Prayer.”
Saint George Karslides
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“Do you not hear the Lord saying: Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there am I in their midst? Will He be absent, then, when so many people united in love are gathered together?”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“The Divine Liturgy is the way we know God and the way God knows us. Every Divine Liturgy is a Theophany. The Body of Christ appears. Every member of the Church is an Icon of the Kingdom of God. After the Divine Liturgy we must continue to Iconify the Kingdom of God, keeping His Commandments. The Glory of Christ is for Him to bear His fruit in every member.”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“There is nothing on Earth higher, greater of more Holy than the Divine Liturgy; nothing more solemn, nothing more Life-Giving.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Let no one out of laziness or continuous worldly occupations miss these Holy Sunday gatherings, which God Himself handed down to us, lest he be justly abandoned by God… If you are detained and do not attend on one occasion, make up for it the next time, bringing yourself to Christ’s Church. Otherwise you may remain uncured, suffering from unbelief in your Soul because of deeds or words, and failing to approach Christ’s surgery to receive Holy healing.”
Saint Gregory Palamas
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“We Celebrate the Liturgy together. But we must pay what this costs: Each one must be concerned for the salvation of the others. Our life is an endless martyrdom.”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“Christian, all mornings are yours, but Sunday morning belongs to God. Do not forget this.”
Saint Raphael of Mytilene
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“Prayer in Church is important. The best thoughts and feelings come in Church, yes, and the enemy attacks more violently in Church, but with the sign of the Cross and the Jesus Prayer, you drive him away. It is good to stand in some dark corner in church and to Pray to God. ‘Let us lift up our hearts!’ the Priest exclaims, but our mind often creeps along the ground, thinking about indecent things. Fight against this.”
Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
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“Great importance was given to attention and the concentration of the mind during prayer and worship. In his teachings to his spiritual children he stressed this point very much. Also, when he came out of the Sanctuary to cense, during Matins, many times he would be seen censing an empty chair, while in contrast he would not cense certain bystanders. With his spiritual gift he discerned that some of those physically present were actually absent, since their minds were scattered and wandered about here and there, while others who were absent due to illness or other reasons beyond their will were mentally present and Praying during that time.”
Saint Nicholas Planas
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“The Church received many Traditions from the Apostles… The constitution of the Church Services, especially of the Divine Liturgy, the Holy Mysteries themselves and the manner of performing them, certain Prayers and other institutions of the Church go back to the Sacred Tradition of the Apostles.”
Saint Nektarios of Aegina
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“The most powerful Prayer is the Epiclesis (Invocation) of the Holy Liturgy.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“Why is the Creed sung before the changing of the elements into the Body and Blood of the Holy Gifts? Why does the Priest also say the Creed to himself inside the Altar at the same time? In order that those present should believe and remember that the Holy Trinity takes part in the act of the Transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts, and that the Mystery of the Eucharist is the work of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In order also that the Priest himself may celebrate the Holy Sacrament without condemnation and with undoubting Faith in the Mercy and Omnipotence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and afterwards, at the proper time, communicate of it. For at this time especially great Faith is required of the Priest, as then, above all, the enemy uses all his efforts to strike his mind and heart with coldness and unbelief, or to disturb him by doubt.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“The Divine Liturgy is the most gentle educator of the mind, the heart, and the whole personality.”
Saint Justin Popovic
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“Every Liturgy is an atomic bomb dropped on hell.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovic
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“If you only knew how great a Blessing comes from the Divine Liturgy, then you would collect even the dust from the floor of the Church to wash your faces with it.”
Saint Gabriel, the New Confessor of Georgia