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Spirituality and Communion in the Orthodox Liturgy

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In Spirituality and Communion, Staniloae presents the liturgical life of the Church as a spiritual experience that deepens our communion with God and neighbor. [...] When we participate in the Eucharistic sacrifice, Christ empowers us to present ourselves as spiritual sacrifices to the Father, united with the Son’s sacrifice. As the Church—the Body of Christ—is sacrificed to the Father, we, its members, grow into the likeness of Christ, are clothed with grace, and the love of the Father descends upon us. —From the Foreword by Fr. Radu Bordeianu 

Dumitru Staniloae (1903–1993) was a Romanian Orthodox priest, theologian, and professor. He was the author of more than 1,000 works, many of which have been translated into English, including "The Experience of God" (Holy Cross Orthodox Press) and "The Holy Trinity: In the Beginning There Was Love" (Holy Cross Orthodox Press). Proclaimed a saint by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2025, St. Dumitru’s feast day is October 4, the day he fell asleep in the Lord.

 

Contents

FOREWORD vii

INTRODUCTION xiii

PREAMBLE

A. The church building: image of cosmic and human creation 1

1. The meaning of cosmic creation as a potential

developing Church 8

2. The human being as church and the human person as priest

within the church 11

B. The church building proper: heaven on earth or the liturgical center

of creation 18

1. The holiness of the church building 19

2. The church building: the space consecrated by God’s very

presence and by His descent within it 22

3. Ascension toward God symbolized and aided by the architecture

of the Orthodox church building 29

4. Through its consecration, the church receives God within it as the

One who fulfills His saving work 40

C. Holy icons in the Orthodox worship 51

1. Justification of holy icons 51

2. The purpose of holy icons in the Orthodox Church 67

3. Placement of holy icons in the church 78

D. The modes of Christ’s presence in the worship of the Church 85

ON THE HOLY LITURGY

CHAPTER ONE

Proskomedia or the service of the pre-offering of the gifts for Christ’s

holy sacrifice 117

CHAPTER TWO

The Liturgy proper: the joint progress within the kingdom

of the Holy Trinity 149

1. The Liturgy of the catechumens or of the calling

and teaching 149

2. The praise of the promised Kingdom of the Holy Trinity

as an exhortation for and a beginning of one’s progress

toward it 151

3. The threefold series of fervent supplications (litanies) 185

4. The small entrance or Christ’s coming out to preach

and the praise of God’s holiness 210

5. Christ’s preaching: the reading of the Epistle

and of the Gospel 225

6. The litany after the reading of the Gospel and the prayers

for the deceased and for the catechumens 236

CHAPTER THREE

The Liturgy of the faithful or of the Sacrifice and of Holy Communion

1. The litanies for the faithful and the two prayers of the priest as

preparation for the offering and the transformation of the gifts

of the faithful into the unbloody Sacrifice 261

a. The first litany and prayer for the faithful 261

b. The second litany and prayer for the faithful 268

2. The prayer of the priest in which he asks directly to be

deemed worthy of offering Christ Himself as sacrifice 271

3. The Great Entrance 272

4. The litany and prayer of the priest before the Creed 285

5. The love among the faithful and the recitation of the Creed 292

6. Anamnesis as preparation for the presentation of the gifts

to God and for their sanctification 306

a. Introduction to the anamnesis that prepares

the gifts for the transformation 306

b. The two parts of the anamnesis 315

c. The offering of the gifts of bread and wine 339

d. Epiklesis (the invocation of the Holy Spirit) and

the transformation of the gifts into the body

and blood of Christ in a state of sacrifice 345

7. The supplications addressed to God after the transformation 368

8. The preparation of the Holy Gifts for Holy Communion 409

9. Holy Communion for eternal life 413

10. Praises, thanksgivings, and the new supplications addressed to

God after Holy Communion 462

CONCLUSIONS 483

NOTES 487

Product Description

Paperback:

508 Pages

Publisher:

Holy Cross Orthodox Press

ISBN:

978-1-960613-08-0

Product Dimensions:

6x9 inches

Author

Dumitru Staniloae

Publication Year:

2025
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