Customary public worship performed by a religious group
"Liturgist" redirects here. For the academic discipline, see
Liturgics
.
Liturgy
is the customary public ritual of
worship
performed by a religious group.
Liturgy
can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by
Christians
.
[1]
As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a
communal
response to and participation in the
sacred
through activities reflecting
praise
, thanksgiving, remembrance,
supplication
, or
repentance
. It forms a basis for establishing a relationship with
God
.
Technically speaking, liturgy forms a subset of
ritual
. The word
liturgy
, sometimes equated in English as "
service
", refers to a formal ritual enacted by those who understand themselves to be participating in an action with the divine.
Etymology
[
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]
The word
liturgy
(
), derived from the technical term in
ancient Greek
(
Greek
:
λειτουργ?α
),
leitourgia
, which means "work or service for the people" is a literal translation of the two
affixes
λ??το?, "leitos", derived from the
Attic
form of λα?? ("people, public"), and ?ργον, "ergon", meaning "work, service".
In origin, it signified the often expensive offerings wealthy Greeks made in service to the people, and thus to the
polis
and the state.
[2]
Through the
leitourgia
, the rich carried a financial burden and were correspondingly rewarded with honours and prestige. Specific
leitourgia
were assigned by the
polis
, the State, and during Rome's domination, the Roman Imperial authorities as "gifts" to the state and the people. Their performance became obligatory in the course of the 3rd century AD, as a form of taxation. The holder of a Hellenic
leitourgia
was not taxed a specific sum, but was assigned to subsidise a particular ritual, which could be performed with greater or lesser generosity or magnificence. The chief sphere remained that of civic religion, embodied in the festivals:
M.I. Finley
notes "in
Demosthenes
' day there were at least 97 liturgical appointments in Athens for the festivals, rising to 118 in a (quadrennial)
Panathenaic year
."
[3]
Groups of rich citizens were assigned to subsidise civic amenities and even warships. Eventually, under the
Roman Empire
, such obligations, known to Romans as
munera
, devolved into a competitive and ruinously expensive burden that was avoided when possible.
Munera
included a wide range of expenses having to do with civic infrastructure and amenities; festivals and games (
ludi
) and imperial obligations such as highway, bridge and aqueduct repair, supply of various raw materials, and feeding troops in transit.
Buddhism
[
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]
Buddhist liturgy is a formalized service of veneration and worship performed within a
Buddhist
Sangha
in nearly every traditional denomination and sect in the Buddhist world. It is often done one or more times a day and can vary among the
Theravada
,
Mahayana
, and
Vajrayana
sects.
The liturgy mainly consists of
chanting
or reciting a
sutra
or passages from a
sutras
, a
mantra
(especially in Vajrayana), and several
gathas
. Depending on what practice the practitioner wishes to undertake, it can be done at a temple or at home. The liturgy is almost always performed in front of an
object or objects of veneration
and accompanied by offerings of light, incense, water, and food.
Christianity
[
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]
Frequently in
Christianity
, a distinction is made between "liturgical" and "non-liturgical" churches based on how elaborate or formal the worship; in this usage, churches whose services are unscripted or improvised are called "non-liturgical". Others object to this distinction, arguing that this terminology obscures the universality of public worship as a religious phenomenon.
[4]
Thus, even the
open
or
waiting
worship of
Quakers
is liturgical, since the waiting itself until the Holy Spirit moves individuals to speak is a prescribed form of Quaker worship, sometimes referred to as "the liturgy of silence".
[5]
Typically in Christianity, however, the term "the liturgy" normally refers to a standardised order of events observed during a religious service, be it a
sacramental
service or a service of public
prayer
; usually the former is the referent. In the ancient tradition, sacramental liturgy especially is the participation of the people in the work of God, which is primarily the saving work of Jesus Christ; in this liturgy, Christ continues the work of redemption.
[6]
The term "liturgy" in Greek literally means to "work for the people", but a better translation is "public service" or "public work", as made clear from the origin of the term as described above. The early Christians adopted the word to describe their principal act of worship, the Sunday service (referred to by various terms, including Holy Eucharist, Holy Communion, Mass or Divine Liturgy), which they considered to be a
sacrifice
. This service, liturgy, or ministry (from the Latin "ministerium") is a duty for Christians as a priestly people by their baptism into Christ and participation in His high priestly ministry. It is also God's ministry or service to the worshippers. It is a reciprocal service. As such, many Christian churches designate one person who participates in the worship service as the liturgist. The liturgist may read announcements, scriptures, and calls to worship, while the minister preaches the sermon, offers prayers, and blesses sacraments. The liturgist may be either an ordained minister or a lay person. The entire congregation participates in and offers the liturgy to God.
Islam
[
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]
Sal?t
("prayer",
Arabic
:
????
?al?h
or
gen
:
?al?t
; pl.
?????
?alaw?t
) is the practice of physical and compulsory prayer in
Islam
as opposed to
dua
, which is the Arabic word for
supplication
. Its importance for
Muslims
is indicated by its status as one of the
Five Pillars of Islam
.
Salat is preceded by
ritual ablution
and usually performed five times a day. It consists of the repetition of a unit called a
rak?ah
(pl.
raka??t
) consisting of prescribed actions and words. The number of obligatory (
fard
)
raka??t
varies from two to four according to the time of day or other circumstances (such as Friday congregational worship, which has two rakats). Prayer is obligatory for all Muslims except those who are
prepubescent
,
menstruating
, or in
puerperium
stage after childbirth.
[7]
Judaism
[
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]
Jewish liturgy is the
prayer
recitations that form part of the observance of Rabbinic
Judaism
. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the
siddur
, the traditional Jewish prayer book. In general, Jewish men are obligated to pray three times a day
within specific time ranges (
zmanim
)
. while, according most modern Orthodox authorities, women are only
required
to pray once daily, as they are generally exempted from obligations that are time dependent. All public prayer requires a
minyan
, a quorum of 10 adults, to be present.
Traditionally, three prayer services are recited daily:
- Shacharit
or
Shaharit
(???????), from the
Hebrew
shachar
or
shahar
(?????) "morning light",
- Mincha
or
Minha
(???????), the afternoon prayers named for the flour offering that accompanied sacrifices at the
Temple in Jerusalem
,
- Arvit
(????????) or
Maariv
(????????), from "nightfall".
Additional prayers:
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"liturgy"
.
Oxford English Dictionary
(Online ed.).
Oxford University Press
.
(Subscription or
participating institution membership
required.)
- "2.a. A form of public worship, esp. in the Christian Church; a collection of formularies for the conduct of Divine service."
- ^
N. Lewis, "
Leitourgia
and related terms",
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
3
(1960:175?84) and
6
(1965:226?30).
- ^
Finley,
The Ancient Economy
2nd ed., 1985:151.
- ^
Underhill, E.,
Worship
(London: Bradford and Dickens, 1938), pp. 3–19.
- ^
Dandelion, P.,
The Liturgies of Quakerism
, Liturgy, Worship and Society Series (Aldershot, England and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005).
- ^
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1069 (London: Chapman, 1994).
- ^
Multicultural Handbook of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics
, p. 43, Aruna Thaker, Arlene Barton, 2012
Further reading
[
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]
- Baldovin, John F., SJ (2008)
Reforming the Liturgy: a Response to the Critics
. The Liturgical Press
- Bowker, John, ed. (1997)
Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
0-19-213965-7
.
- Bugnini, Annibale, (1990)
The Reform of the Liturgy 1948–1975
. The Liturgical Press
- Dix, Dom Gregory (1945)
The Shape of the Liturgy
- Donghi, Antonio, (2009)
Words and Gestures in the Liturgy
. The Liturgical Press
- Johnson, Lawrence J., (2009)
Worship in the Early Church: an Anthology of Historical Sources
. The Liturgical Press
- Jones, Cheslyn, Geoffrey Wainwright, and Edward Yarnold, eds. (1978)
The Study of Liturgy
. London: SPCK.
- Marini, Piero, (2007)
A Challenging Reform: Realizing the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal
. The Liturgical Press
- Scotland, N. A. D. (1989).
Eucharistic Consecration in the First Four Centuries and Its Implications for Liturgical Reform
, in series,
Latimer Studies
, 31. Latimer House.
ISBN
0-946307-30-X
- "What Do Quakers Believe?"
. Quaker Information Center, Philadelphia, PA, 2004.
External links
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]