Part III. Practices: A. Prayer

PART III — PRACTICES

Prayer

From the very beginning, the Coptic Church was, and still is, essentially a church of Prayer. The tendency towards mysticism so marked within the Egyptians, found an ardent expression in Christianity. Hence, the numerous paths taken by the Fathers : Paths of devotion, adoration, gratitude, conversing and petitioning. These paths are :

(a) THE LITURGY : esteemed the summit of prayers, because it is the Ritual through which the Holy Spirit descends on the Bread and Wine turning them into the actual Body and Blood of the Christ, that is transubstantiates them. This conviction of the factuality of transubstantiation is emphatically expressed by the officiating priest at the end of each Liturgy, and just before he communes — he and the people. He declares : “Amen. Amen. Amen. I believe. I believe. I believe; and I confess to the last breath that this is the Lifegiving Body which Your Only-Begotten Son our Lord, our God and our Saviour, has taken from our Lady and our Queen — all of us — the mother-of-God, the Saint the Pure Mary He has made It one with His Divinity without mixing nor fusion nor change ...

The Liturgies extend in the Coptic Church are :

THE KYRILLIAN : according to tradition, it was handed orally by St. Mark himself, and continued to be orally legated until Abba Kyrillos I wrote it down, putting it in its present form — hence its name. It is so spiritual that it is chanted specifically during Lent and sometimes during Advent too.

THE GREGORIAN : written by St. Gregory the Theologus (or speaker of things divine). He was Bishop of Sazima (Asia Minor) towards the end of the fourth century. This is used on diverse occasions and according to the desire of the officiating priest.

THE BASILIAN : written by St. Basil Bishop of Cappadocia and contemporary with Gregory. It is the one most commonly used.

And because the Liturgy is held in such high esteem, it is preceded by prayers termed “The Lifting-up of the Incense”, which is chanted at two different times : one in the evening and one in the morning. These prayers comprise petitions for the departed, the travellers and the offerings, followed by incensing and praying preliminary to reading the Gospel. After that, prayers are offered for peace, the fathers and all places wherein the Faithful assemble, the Nile, the plants, the wind and the fruits.

It should be noted that all prayers are commenced by the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of Thanksgiving (recorded at the end), and Psalm 51. Also, before beginning the Liturgy, set portions from the Epistles (Pauline and general), the Acts and the Gospel are chanted in Coptic and read in Arabic. Preceding the Gospel, the priest reads from the Synaxarium the resumé of the biography of the saint or (and) the martyr commemorated on that day, the sermon is delivered immediately after the Gospel.

All these prayers and readings are considered the means for climbing towards the height of the summit which is the Liturgy.

(b) THE HORLOGION : (or the Seven Canonical Hours) No one knows the exact date on which they were first used, but we know that the desert Fathers used them as far back as the third century, telling us that they received them from their forebears. These are seven prayers set for certain hours of the day. The Prayers are :

Mattins, said at dawn in commemoration of our Saviour’s Resurrection.

Terce or Morning, said on waking-up in commemoration of Pilate’s verdict condemning our Lord; also the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and Disciples at this hour;

Sexte or midday, said in commemoration of the hour of the Crucifixion.

None or about four in the afternoon, said at the hour when our Redeemer commended His Spirit into the Hands of the Father;

Compline or evening, said at the hour in which the Body of our Lord was taken down from the Cross;

Sleep, said to commemorate the burial of the Christ, and also as a reminder of the end of life;

Midnight, said on three parts, — half an hour separating each — to commemorate our Saviour’s agony at Gethsemane and His going thrice to see His disciples. In addition, the nuns and monks say a specific prayer for their inward peace called “The Prayer of the Curtain”, recited after the Prayer of Sleep.

Each of the seven prayers is begun as usual by the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer of Thanksgiving and Psalm 51. Then each comprises twelve selected psalms; a set portion from the Gospel; petitions relevant to the hour; Lord have Mercy (forty one times) — the number of beatings our Lord endured; the three “Holies”, the Lord’s Prayer and a prayer of absolution — also relevant to the hour. There is a special petition said at the end of all these prayers.

(C) KYAK : This is the Coptic month ending on the eighth of January. According to Coptic reckoning, the Nativity took place on the 29th of Kyak. Consequently, there are prayers chanted on the eves of each Sunday of this month, the bulk of which, is in praise of the Blessed Virgin. These prayers are called “seven and four”, because on each Sunday evening, seven hymns are chanted in honour of the Mother-of-God, and four in praise of the saints or (and) the martyrs whose commemoration falls on that week. In these prayers, the Copts express their gratitude and their glorification of Her Who said : “from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed”. (Luke I : 48).

(d) PASSION WEEK : Lent is highly esteemed among the Copts; it is a time for meditation, and for all those who are able, a time of abstinence from sunrise to sunset. Usually, very frugal meals are served, even for those who cannot keep abstinence. There are additional chants in the Liturgy, and specific songs sung during Communion. The climax of the Lenten devotions is the Passion Week beginning on the afternoon of Palm Sunday and ending on Good Friday. During this week, the pillars of the churches are draped in black ribbons, while the vestments of priests and deacons have violet belt and shoulder straps. These are but the least signs of sadness, for the very tunes of the prayers express the deep sorrow of the Church for the Agony, Her Lord endured. Prayers are chanted every single day during two services : morning and evening. No Liturgies are chanted because the Saviour Whose Body and Blood are partaken of at the end of this Ritual is in the throes of His Agony which He voluntarily endured for the Redemption of mankind. The exception is Maunday Thursday on which the Lord Himself has pledged His Body and His Blood for our ransom. And as Passion Week is the summit of Lent, so Good Friday is the zenith of Passion Week. It is designated by two other names : Great Friday, and Sad Friday. The prayers during this very special day are held from morning till evening unbrokenly. The very last hour of the prayers is spent in taking down the Body of the Christ (represented by His Icon) from the Cross and burying It (on the altar) together with spices, incense and rose petals dipped in rose water.

Yet, when the Church has buried Her Redeemer, She does not go away and leave Him. The faithful go home at six and eat after the day’s abstinence, then they con relax for the space of five hours. After which they go back to Keep Vigil. During this superb night, the whole of the Psalms and the Revelation are read, together with all the prayers recorded in the Old and the New Testoments, as well as that section of Daniel recounting the Story of the three youths in the fiery furnace. All these readings alternate with church prayers of praise and glorification. For the Coptic Church never chants the sad tunes alone, or the joyful ones alone — rather in the midst of Her deep sorrow rings a note of joy, and at Her highest exultation rings a note of sadness. So the extremely sad tunes of Passion Week are intercepted with notes of jubilation. Accordingly the Saturday whereon the Church keeps vigil beside Her buried Lord is called “The Saturday of Joy”. This night vigil ends with the Liturgy which finishes about seven in the morning. The chanting of the Liturgy is resumed because the work of Redemption is consummated.

As for the Easter Service, it begins at seven in the evening and ends about two after midnight. In this grand Ritual, the Church expresses all Her joy and exultation. And during the fifty days, until Pentecost, the traditional greeting among the Copts is “Christos Anesti : Alithos Anesti” (or Christ is risen : He is risen indeed). At such is the joy at the resurrection that there is no fasting at all — not even on Wednesdays and Fridays until Pentecost is celebrated.

On Pentecost Sunday, there are specific prayers chanted in the evening called “The Prayer of Genuflection” which comprises, in addition to the gratitude and glorification, a special prayer for the Departed. It should be noted here that the Departed are mentioned even during the Christmas Service and the Wedding Ritual. Its significance is that the Church Triumphant is closely knit to the Church Militant, or as the saints expressed it : The Church is like unto an army whose vanguard stands before God, and whose rear is on this earth.