Bishop celebrating Divine Liturgy in Greek-Catholic church in Presov, eastern Slovakia. A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. Prešov ( known also by alternative names) is a City in eastern Slovakia. Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy or Catholic Mass, or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat (see Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, p. A ritual is a set of actions often thought to have Symbolic value the performance of which is usually prescribed by a Religion or by the Traditions The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion Ṣalāt ( Arabic: صلاة‎, pl ṣalawāt, Qur'anic Arabic: صلوة ṣalawah) (also munz in Pashto and The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions is an alphabetical reference work with over 8200 entries topic index of 13000 headings 582–3). Not infrequently in Christianity, a distinction is made between "liturgical" and "non-liturgical" churches based on the elaboration and/or antiquity of the worship, but this obscures the universality of public worship as a religious phenomenon. ^[1] Thus, even the open or waiting worship of Quakers is liturgical, since the waiting itself until the spirit moves individuals to speak is a prescribed form of Quaker worship, sometimes referred to as "the liturgy of silence. "^[2] Typically in Christianity, however, the term "the liturgy" normally refers to a standardized order of events observed during a religious service, be it a sacramental service or a service of public prayer. A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a Rite in which God is uniquely active Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate with a Deity or spirit

As a religious phenomenon, liturgy is a communal response to the sacred through activity reflecting praise, thanksgiving, supplication, or repentance. Ritualization may be associated with life events such as birth, coming of age, marriage, and death. Coming of age is a young person's transition from Adolescence to Adulthood The age at which this transition takes place varies in society as does the nature It thus forms the basis for establishing a relationship with a divine agency, as well as with other participants in the liturgy. Methods of dress, preparation of food, application of cosmetics or other hygienic practices are all considered liturgical activities. Repetitive formal rites, in some ways similar to liturgies, are natural and common in all human activities such as organized sports venues.

Etymology

The word comes from the Classical Greek word λειτουργία (leitourgia) meaning "public work". Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly In the Greek city-states, it had a different sense: some public good which a wealthy citizen arranged at his own expense, either voluntarily or by law. At Athens, the Assembly assigned liturgies to the wealthy, and there was a law by which any man who had been assigned a liturgy while a richer man had had none could challenge him either to undertake the liturgy or to exchange property with him. A deliberative assembly is an Organization, comprising of members that uses Parliamentary procedure for making decisions

The church use of the term comes from its frequent and historic use in the Greek text of the New Testament (eg Acts 13:2). It referred to a public and deliberate, well-defined ceremony. It is often translated as "minister" or "worship" in English language Bibles.

See also

• Christian liturgy
• Divine Liturgy
• Mass (liturgy)
• Jewish services

References

• Bowker, John, ed. (1997) Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-213965-7.
• Jones, Cheslyn, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yarnold, eds. (1978) The Study of Liturgy. London: SPCK.
• "What Do Quakers Believe?". Quaker Information Center, Philadelphia, PA, 2004.

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia article
• Orthodox Tradition and the Liturgy
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Liturgy
• Contemporary Christian Liturgy Website History, theory, practice
• The Indult Tridentine Rite of Mass
• Work of the People
• Liturgical Studies-Korean Online Community