The Enarxis of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy

Millions of Christians - both Orthodox and Greek Catholic - celebrate the Eucharist according to the Byzantine Rite on a daily basis. And yet there is still no sufficient scholarly study of the Enarxis or beginning of this celebration. Hence I intend to research, write, and publish a much-needed monograph entitled "The Enarxis of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy," in which I shall trace the historical development of the Enarxis. The beginning of the Byzantine Eucharist includes the Opening Blessing of the priest; a litany with a series of petitions proclaimed by the deacon; psalmody in the form of three antiphons; and the so-called Small Entrance or procession of the clergy out from and back into the sanctuary. All these liturgical units were interpolated toward the end of the first millennium in geographical areas of the Byzantine cultural sphere and for reasons that remain, in large part, unclear. It is my objective to uncover the historical context of, and liturgico-theological motivations for, these additions. As a topic largely unexplored in depth, the Byzantine Enarxis necessitates pioneer research of extant Greek and Old Slavonic manuscripts of the 8th -15th centuries found in the Vatican Library in Rome, and at several archives in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I have already begun this manuscript research on previous research trips to Rome, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, and have published extensively on related topics. This includes a monograph on the Opening Rites of the Byzantine hierarchal Divine Liturgy, "The Byzantine Hierarchal Divine Liturgy in the Proskinitarij of Arsenij Suxanov," published in 2010 in the prestigious series, Orientalia Christiana Analecta, volume 286, and a lengthy article on the Opening Blessing of the Byzantine Liturgy, presently in press in the scholarly journal Studia Liturgica. This, however, is only the beginning of what remains to be explored. For this reason I am applying for FWF funding for a period of three years, beginning with February 2013, at which time my work contract as University Assistant at Vienna University will expire. Although I will need to travel to the aforementioned archives for an additional look at the sources, most of my work of analysis and writing will be carried out here at Vienna University with its abundance of libraries containing the needed secondary literature. The final months of my work in Vienna will be dedicated to preparing a manuscript of the monograph for publication (correction of proofs, composition of the Index, etc.) in the series Orientalia Christiana Analecta.

This project, The Enarxis of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, enabled me to discover a new approach, both to the subject at hand, the gathering- and entrance-rites at the beginning (enarxis) of the Byzantine celebration of the Eucharist, and to the ways and technological means by which I share my knowledge of it. While academic research of these rites had heretofore accumulated much valuable, textual evidence of their historical development, it has had little impact where it is needed most: in liturgical practice, among the broader public of Byzantine-Rite worshippers. So my research led me, first, to reposition my original focus, moving it from losing itself in the many, various historical disparities in the manuscript-tradition, to identify their two most significant elements and their implications: 1. The non-verbal factors of the celebration (e.g., the movement and placement of the clergy and people); and 2. The liturgical roles of presiding celebrant, deacon, people, psalmists, etc. This revised, more-coherent focus then led me to begin revising the way I wrote about the subject, which can and should be accessible to, and consequential for, the broader public of liturgical practitioners. I am still in the process of revising my written work, that it be useful and understandable to the non-academic layperson. But in the process of this revision, which will result in a more accessible monograph in the future, I have experimented with sharing the results of my research in a series of video-lectures online, one of which can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/159611378 (password: synaptewithsister). I believe it is important for the academic community in general, but particularly for scholars of my field of Liturgy, which means a work for/by the people, to reach the people where they are. And nowadays that is, increasingly, online, in the Internet. My video-productions are helping me revise my monograph, so that it can provide a deeper, more comprehensive look at the historical development for the people whose attention has already been caught in the videos. The most significant aspect of the historical evolution of this beginning, which was gradually interpolated ca. between the 4th and 12th c. into the original, simpler beginning of Divine Liturgy, is a regrettable shift in the roles of people and clergy: Whereas originally the clergy and people gathered and entered the church together, ritually establishing their coming together as Church, the subsequent development entirely lost sight of the entrance of the people, which is no longer a part of the celebration. Nor does the presiding celebrant greet the people at the beginning of the celebration, as he once did, in the 4th c., when the very first words of the celebration were his greeting, Peace be unto you all, and the peoples response, And to Your spirit. Thus we can establish a significant distancing between clergy and people, throughout the historical development, which has broader implications for church-being today, especially for the cultures of countries (like Russia, Greece, Romania, etc.) in which the liturgy and leaders of the church play a formative role in society.