The Pantocrator of the Melkite Catholic Basilica of St. Paul in Harissa, Lebanon
From the Western Orthodoxy blog:
The priest, standing before the holy table, begins aloud:
BLESSED + is our God, at all times now and always and for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
While the priest incenses the Blessed Sacrament, the people say:
Let the Armies of heaven be present, and all the hosts of the holy angels. Let them stand with fear before their Creator and God, deeply worshiping Him who is most good, Jesus. He who is feared by the Cherubim is present now, in an invisible manner, hidden under the sensible species. We see Him, and we see Him not, for He is the visible and invisible God.
-Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Glory to You, O Lord!
The priest: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Glory to You, O Lord!
R. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Glory to You, O Lord!
Together: O our God and our Hope, glory to You!
While the people are chanting the last Alleluia, the priest incenses. At the end of the chanting, the priest blesses with the covered holy Host saying:
R. Amen.
- May God the Son bless you, + He who gave us the admirable Sacrament of his love.
R. Amen.
- May God the Holy Spirit bless you, + He who sanctified us by his awe-inspiring descent.
R. Amen.
- Glory be to the holy, consubstantial, life-giving and indivisible Trinity, now and always and for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
The priest places the covered Host on the holy table and incenses it while the people say:
IT IS INDEED a tremendous miracle to see God taking flesh and becoming man, and a greater miracle still to see Him suspended on the cross. But the highest of all miracles, O Christ our God, is your ineffable presence under the mystic species. Truly You did institute, through this great Sacrament, a remembrance of all your marvels. How merciful of You, O God, to give Yourself as food to those who fear You! To recall your covenant forever, and to remember your passion and your death until the day of your glorious coming! Let us, O faithful, receive our food and our life, our King and our Saviour, and cry out: "Save, O Lord, those who worship your glorious and venerable presence."
The priest replaces the Host in the tabernacle, while the people recite the
HYMN TO CHRIST IN THE HOLY EUCHARIST
CHRIST, having loved his own, loved them until the end, and gave them his body and blood as food and drink. Therefore let us adore them with veneration and say with fear: "Glory to your presence, O Christ! Glory to your compassion, glory to your condescension, O You who alone are the Lover of Mankind!"
The priest: Glory to You, our God! Glory to You!
- O Christ, our true God, O You who gave us your body and your blood as food and drink for our salvation, through the intercession of your Mother all-pure and of all the saints, have mercy on us and save us! Amen.
Together: Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord, Jesus Christ, our God have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
From Byzantine Daily Worship, ed. Joseph Raya and Jose de Vinck. (Allendale, New Jersey: Alleluia Press, 1969), pp. 402-404.
***
COMMENTARY BY C.A.P: Those astonished by the brevity of this service would do well to be aware that the Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite already features many acts, prayers and ceremonies that testify to a firm belief in the Real Presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, such as the blessing by the priest of the people with the veiled chalice and its contents, the long prayers of preparation for Holy Communion, and the prostration after the Epiclesis that is done by many Greek Catholic (and Eastern Orthodox) priests. Furthermore, the Great Entrance of the Divine Liturgy, by its magnificent ceremonies that render honor to the sanctified bread that is to be transformed into the Body and Blood of Our Lord, witnesses to the faith of Byzantine Christians in the Eucharist.
In addition to the Melkite ritual, the Ukrainians have their own version of Benediction.
In the wake of the process of de-Latinization undertaken by many Eastern Catholic Churches since the 1960's, the rite of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and Corpus Christi processions have largely disappeared from their liturgical lives, even though many great champions of pure Byzantine use such as Andrei Sheptytsky and Joseph Slipyj supported the retention of these acts of worship to the Blessed Sacrament. However, some Melkite and Ukrainian churches continue to have these rites. Keep in mind that many Greek Catholic parishes that set aside the rite of Benediction did so not so much out of any "anti-Latin" prejudice as out of a preference to make use of other Eastern services (Hours, etc.) and devotions (Akathists, for instance).
Posted in honor of Corpus Christi
