according to Saint John 8:58: :"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am". When Jesus says "I am", this can also be connected with the Name of God or with the preexistence of the Messiah Who was very close to the Creator when He decided to "launch" the world, i.e. time and space.
The human being was the last creature to be created by God, although his body is shaped in a restricted and specific space for a limited period of time which he doest not control in any way. When God declared at Mount Sinai: "Six days shall you labour, and do all your work ["malakhtekha = your mission"], but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God: in it you shall not do any work..." He entrusted the human being the mission to develop and control the earth, beyond any kind of sin. In Hebrew, the meaning of the word is even stronger: "Avodah" relates both to physical and professional tasks in order to earn some money as well as to the service of the Lord.
The Jewish tradition does not make any distinction between the sanctification of God in professional work and during religious services. Therefore the two actions consisting of to make a living and to serve God are very much alike. Jews and Christians know that they are God's co-workers [Eved HaShem], which implies that they assist the Creator Who is the Master of time and space.
As mentioned in Psalm 1:2, God's servant "finds his delight in the Law of the Lord; and in His Law does He meditate [ruminate] day and night", which implies that he is aware of this intimacy with God. But the Jewish traditions also point out that, since this earth is constantly in motion and night turns to day in every part of the world, God's Name is permanently blessed and sanctified in every place throughout our planet and all the galaxies. This is a cosmic and universal celebration that the entire creation utters to the All-Mighty God.
The order of the services or rites definitely shows the deployment of various communities whose in-depth identity also depends on a geographical, historical and cultural environment. But all the rites should never be considered as patterns of repetitive and unchangable acts of praise whose sources could not be traced back over centuries.
Rites are signs of a living and life-giving memory, powerful breathes of communion with God which allow to combine the praising of the Lord with stable gestures, behaviours and words given by God and not really created by the believers. Therefore, a man or a woman of faith is raised by this up-growing joy of liberation and refreshing spirituality as rites help him to search for the Face of the Living God.
We should never dare reduce the creative and powerful strength of the rites and their spotaneity ["rite" comes from a Sacrit root "reit", i.e. "to run" and certainly not "to stay stiff"]. This is a breath which the Oriental traditions developed to a high level of release and forgiveness and not to some bony skeleton of bribbles and ritual gestures, always the same routine as if God could be re-dimensioned according to human parameters.
In fact, the rite aims, within the framework of the liturgical acts, to reveal the fulfillment of the Mystery of Salvation. The Christian believer knows that this cosmic praise shows evidence to the perfect reconciliation accomplished by Jesus Christ in the Pascal offering, associating the whole mankind, beyond His Passion and Death to His Resurrection. The Eucharist is thus the full and living memory in which the Christian Liturgy finds its kernel and highest level. It proclaims the final ingathering of all human beings at the messianic Table and it realizes this ingathering in a mysterious way, e.g. through the highest Sacrament of the Church.
We should keep in mind that every liturgical service or act does show and confirm, in each generation and our days, this final ingathering of the entire creation in the Face of God. The sanctification of time, in the Jewish traditions, maintains the ritual unity of a living praying body living in very different cultural environments, which proves that these prayers are a constant source of unity. The Christian services and Liturgies focusing on the Eucharist as the Great Mystery of the Faith, recalls this cosmic action of praising which appears to be a very specific way of expression in the Eastern Liturgies.
In the course of two thousand years, the community of Israel myseriously accompanied the Christian Creed and did constantly pray, give thanks, supplicate and sanctify God Who shaped all the worlds and the inhabitants of our earth. This fervent Semitic way of addressing to God is the source of all Christian services and Divine Liturgies.
We shall try to show on this site the common fundamentals and parallels because they can help us as Christian Orthodox believers to pave the way to deeper and more sincere prayers of unity.
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