On the Importance of Attending the Divine Liturgy

By Fr. Seraphim Johnson (+2009) in response to a question from an Orthodox Christian

Question: Many Protestants, and some Orthodox, feel that it is all right sometimes not to attend Divine Liturgy, but just to pray at home. Is this the Orthodox view?

Fr. Seraphim’s Answer:

Actually, for several reasons this is not the Orthodox view. We can approach this question in several ways, one of which is to see what the Church’s canons have to say about it. The 80th canon of the Fifth and Sixth Ecumenical Councils says that if a Christian stays away from services for three weeks in a row without a serious reason (sickness, no services, etc.), that Christian is excommunicated from the Church. The commentators on the canons explain this by saying that either such a person is not really a believer, or else they have contempt for the Church’s divine worship. Now, you may note that this canon does not actually require attendance every week, but it is still hard to imagine that any serious Christian would willingly avoid the Divine Liturgy on a Sunday when it is being offered unless he or she had a very serious reason.

To help answer this question, we need to consider what happens in the Divine Liturgy. In his works St. Dionysius the Areopagite offers us a beautiful picture of the hierarchy which unites all creation around God. The Angels closest to God’s throne convey God’s grace to those below them, and so on, all the way down to our own hierarchies on earth, which include those of the bishop, priest, and deacon and also of the faithful, the catechumens, and those outside the Church. Our times of private prayer bring us into God’s presence, and they are vital for our Christian life; but the worship of the Church teaches us about the order of God’s creation—His hierarchies and our place in them. In the Divine Liturgy each Christian present has an essential hierarchical role, one for which he or she has been created by God and one which no one else can fill if he or she is absent. That role is his or her participation in the Heavenly Liturgy which is constantly performed before God’s throne, the one in which our Lord Jesus Christ is the Heavenly Lamb offered once for all eternity to reconcile us with God. No matter how small and unimpressive our earthly temples may be, when the Divine Liturgy is being celebrated in them, they share in the glory of Heaven itself. If we were like the Angels, we would spend all our time praising God and offering Him our worship—participating in the Heavenly Liturgy. But we are weak and fallen, and we cannot concentrate on God all the time, so the Church sets aside times when we celebrate the Divine Liturgy to allow us to participate in the worship of Heaven and to take our rightful, promised place for a short while in the midst of the heavenly hierarchies. It may seem to us that the Liturgy is celebrated anew each week, but in fact each Liturgy is a participation in the one offering our dear Saviour made for us all on the Cross. Every time we go to Liturgy, we are standing again at the Cross of Christ and we are worshipping Him with the Angels in Heaven. Our hope must be that when we die, we will be able to join the Heavenly Hosts in their unceasing contemplation of God and praise for Him; and we prepare for this by participating in the Liturgy now on earth and by the great privilege offered us in the Liturgy of partaking of the Lord’s Body and Blood. You see, we are not only allowed to share in the Heavenly Liturgy, we are allowed to unite ourselves to our Saviour by eating and drinking His Body and Blood.

Now, let’s ask some questions in turn: Would you willingly pass up the opportunity to prepare for your place in Heaven by participating now week by week in the Heavenly Liturgy? Do you want to become what God created you to be, to occupy the position in His holy hierarchy for which you were designed and which only you can fill? Do you want to be filled with God’s grace through sharing in the Lord’s Body and Blood? If so, then how can you let anything but the most serious obstacles keep you from the Divine Liturgy each week? It should be clear that even if the Church does not require our attendance at the Liturgy every week under threat of excommunication, no serious Christian would willingly miss sharing in this great Mystery of the heavenly worship and the Body and Blood of our Saviour.