the divine liturgy
“When it was evening, He sat at table with the twelve disciples…. Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat; this is My body. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you; for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:17-20; 26-28, 30).
“This Eucharistic Supper and the Lord’s commandments concerning it were held sacred by the Apostles; for when they met together, they spent the time in prayer, in the singing of sacred hymns, and in receiving the Divine Communion of Christ. That is, they celebrated the Holy Eucharist. This custom became the cornerstone of the new Christian community.”
–Fr. John A. Peck
REGULAR SERVICES
SUNDAYS – DIVINE LITURGY
9:00am Orthros. The morning service of the Church is called Orthros in Greek (morning), or Matins (Latin). It opens with the reading of six morning psalms and the intoning of the Great Litany.
10:00am Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy is always held by Orthodox Christians on the Lord’s Day which is Sunday, the “day after Sabbath” which is symbolic of the first day of creation and the last day – or as it is called in Holy Tradition, the eighth day – of the Kingdom of God. This is the day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, the day of God’s judgment and victory predicted by the prophets, the Day of the Lord which inaugurates the presence and the power of the “kingdom to come” already now within the life of this present world.
SATURDAYS – GREAT VESPERS
5:00pm Great Vespers (Second and fourth Saturdays of the month). In the Orthodox Church the liturgical day begins in the evening with the setting of the sun, for the evening came first, and then the morning – “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day” (Gen. 1:5).
The Vesper service in the Church always begins with the chanting of the evening psalm: “…the sun knows it’s time for setting, Thou makest darkness and it is night….” (Psalm 104: 19-20) This psalm, which glorifies God’s creation of the world, is man’s very first act of worship, for man first of all meets God, the Creator.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES
In addition to regular services, Feast Days (such as the Annunciation, the Nativity, Theophany are celebrated with special services and Great Lent has its own schedule of services. Please check the Calendar page for the most current schedule of upcoming services.
LIVE STREAMS OF SERVICES AVAILABLE
St. Barnabas provides livestream (and recorded) video of services via its YouTube channel.
This video stream is a discretionary offering intended only for those who are homebound. Active participation and presence in communal services in the Orthodox Tradition is theologically essential, and this live stream service is not a substitute for real physical life in the Church.