2024-04-24 - Subdeacons & Readers Meeting
Spiritual Topic: 1 Kings 8
- Everyone has a role to execute
- From verse 1-8, you see that everyone has their role and responsibilities to execute
- The Levites are the ones who carry the tabernacle and the ark and the furnishings; the priests are the ones who offer sacrifices, etc.
- "Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven" (22)
- See Solomon's stance when he prays, how he spreads his hands toward heaven. This is a BIBLICAL stance. When we stand to pray, we should use these biblical stances. Others might cross their arms to resemble the Cherubim when they pray. These are good
- Also be mindful of where your eyes are when you are serving the Sanctuary. Your eyes are toward the altar and the Gifts on the altar. They are not with the church doors and who is coming in or going out, but focused on the Sanctuary and the service of the Sanctuary
- Offering Sacrifices
- In 1 Kings 3, we read that Solomon offered 1000 burnt offerings in a night... burnt offerings are a lot of work and not easy... slaying of an animal, skinning it, butchering it. It's not like mixing water, flour and yeast to make several orbanas. It's a very laborious task, and yet Solomon offered 1000 that night. And the Lord rewarded him with whatever he requested (which was wisdom).
- See the dedication to the service - now, whenever we have any minor inconvenience, it is very easy to send a message in the group "I can't make it today" - and we justify to ourselves "there are many people who can cover me" - but we must be serious and dedicated in our service
- See the dedication to the ritual - now, we may ask "who cares if I kiss the altar or don't kiss the altar when I leave before the absolution... it won't make a difference" - but we must be serious and dedicated to our rituals
- In 1 Kings 3, we read that Solomon offered 1000 burnt offerings in a night... burnt offerings are a lot of work and not easy... slaying of an animal, skinning it, butchering it. It's not like mixing water, flour and yeast to make several orbanas. It's a very laborious task, and yet Solomon offered 1000 that night. And the Lord rewarded him with whatever he requested (which was wisdom).
Ritual Topic: Bright Saturday
Administrative Portion
- Pascha Languages
- Early Morning and Evening Prayers are in English
- Mid-Day Prayers are mixed language
- Covenant Thursday and Good Friday are mixed
- Readers: make sure to clearly and completely say the conclusion of your reading... Some people say a few words and walk away "Do not love the world or the things in the world..." - Not so, but rather, read the WHOLE conclusion clearly in the microphone.
- The conclusion to the Gospel of the Agpeya "Glory be to God forever. Amen." should be said by Abouna when he is present
- In general, when Abouna is not present, it should be the highest rank (i.e. the subdeacon) who leads any Agpeya Prayers, says Glory be to God, etc.
- Altar Service: make sure the microphones are off when not saying a response. Make sure the microphones are on when saying a response.
- Saturday Service: Deacon Responses and Leaders outside should be using the wireless microphones. The condenser microphones are not made to be moved around, and are not made for individual use. Those are meant to pickup the voices of a group or chorus.
- Subdeacons: When distributing the Psalms of the Agpeya, distribute a psalm to each person from each hour. So for example when Abouna says "The Prayers of the Third Hour" then go and distribute all of the third hour psalms. After Abouna says "The Prayers of the Sixth Hour", then go and distribute all of the sixth hour psalms.
- Agpeya use: we will acquire some Agpeyas for the Elementary and Middle School deacons to pray their psalms