Please remember before you read anything here or elsewhere on Accessible Orthodoxy that this is not authoritative text. This is not canon. This is not your diocesan bishop. It’s just some guy who thinks compulsively about what we are trying to do (wondering why we are doing what seems to reflect the opposite of what we are trying to do). That’s all.
If you will do me the service of hearing me out and filling out the https://forms.gle/1nZ9f9uhUjNh9z9G8 Form, I am more than happy to be a partner in helping you to think through what ails you about deacon service.
I hope to share with you what cannot be fully expressed in writing. I hope to show you what you can see if you look with your spiritual eyes. I hope that you are able to simultaneously see that Liturgy is already perfect because Christ is on the Altar AND we need to make what we see reflect what it already is.
On the one hand, writing anything about how to lead deacons and organize the liturgy is nonsense. Christ is on the Altar. It cannot get any better than that. No matter how much a liturgy service gets under my skin because of our imperfect reflection of the Liturgy as 4. Heaven on Earth because of the spiritual warfare of the 3. Pass the Pacifier Game, I always have to remind myself why I am in Liturgy in the first place.
I AM NOT IN LITURGY TO BE ENTERTAINED. I really don’t like caps in my writing. I find it to be heavy handed, and you may think I’m yelling. Well, 5. Rules are Made to be Broken. I do think we should work to make Liturgy the reflection of Heaven that it should be, but let’s not forget that we will have different definitions of what we mean by that.
Until the final trumpet when we will no longer see God and each other dimly but face to face, we will struggle to understand what God is showing us and/or what others see of God. There is a reason that Liturgy has a set structure, so that while we can modify certain parameters, everyone needs to submit themselves to what we are doing not what I want to do.
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The word "liturgy" comes from the Greek word "λειτουργία" (leitourgia), which is composed of two parts: "leitos" (public, of the people) and "ergon" (work). In ancient Greece, it literally meant "public service" or "work of the people." This etymology beautifully captures the communal nature of liturgical worship - it is not an individual act but rather the collective work of the faithful community.
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[https://drive.google.com/file/d/10m0Utg1s0rAGvETwPWt9qOsuz5nxuGT5/view?usp=drive_link](https://drive.google.com/file/d/10m0Utg1s0rAGvETwPWt9qOsuz5nxuGT5/view?usp=drive_link)
Feel free to use this pdf however you see fit - there is no copywrite. The purpose of the document is to demonstrate the stance that we should take and the relationship we should strive to have with the deacons we serve with, especially the younger ones for whom we are responsible. It is partly inspired by a story called The Rabbi’s Gift that is told by M. Scott Peck in his book A Different Drum: Community Making and Peace (1987).
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https://youtu.be/3z1pIrV2F6c?feature=shared
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Everything you read from this point on is dependent on keeping this in mind that 1) those whom we are serving ARE CHRIST, and 2) we should be serving them as Christ Himself. We must constantly strive to keep Christ at the center even though (especially though) 1. Liturgy will always be dysfunctional!
We will start by doing the little things correctly, like actually bowing (not sitting) when it’s time to bow, because 2. Broken Patrasheel Theory tells us that the little things matter. We will also avoid the 3. Pass the Pacifier game and constantly work together towards living in 4. Heaven on Earth, while still serving in God’s grace and mercy knowing that 5. Rules are Made to be Broken.
With that logical progression in mind, I recommend reading the articles in this order: