Liturgy of Preparation
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"Prothesis" redirects here. For the architectural term, see Prothesis (altar).
The Liturgy of Preparation, also Prothesis (Greek Προθησις a setting forth) or Proskomedia, is the name given in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Byzantine-rite Eastern Catholic Churches to the act of preparing the bread and wine for the Eucharist.
[edit] Ceremony
Before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, the priest, often assisted by a deacon, puts on his vestments, takes a prosphora, cuts it into a cube (known liturgically as 'the Lamb') with a special liturgical knife called the spear, and places it on the diskos. He also cuts particles of bread either from the same loaf (typical Greek custom) or from four others (typical Russian custom) to commemorate the Theotokos, the various saints, the living, and the dead.[1] He then mixes wine with a little water in the chalice, covers the diskos and the chalice with veils, and censes them (see F. E. Brightman, Liturgies Eastern and Western, 1896). This ceremony is carried at the prothesis part of the altar.
[edit] External link
- The Vesting and Prothesis from the website of the Orthodox Church in America, with photos and descriptions.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.
![[1]](http://www.kosovo.com/proskomidija.jpg){kind=link}