WORSHIP

THE DEFINITION AND THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE WORSHIP

Worship is faith in action. Georges Florovsky: "Christianity is a liturgical religion. The

Church is first a worshipping community. Worship comes first, doctrine and discipline second".
Orthodoxy sees people as liturgical creatures who are fully complete when glorifying God.

1. The definition of worship. Its essence

Cult - colo-colere (to cultivate, care for, respect, adore).
Cult/worship means any form or religious act intended to put man in contact with God,
expressing, on the one hand, honor or respect towards God, and on the other hand, mediating the
sanctification of man or the sharing of divine grace.
The essence of worship consists in feeling that we are in front of God and that we come into
contact with Him, by invoking His name, by prayer or by other actions.
The worship is a component of religion. It exists in the human being - to honor the elderly,
to thank those who have done good to us; the more we praise God.

2. Internal worship and external worship

Internal worship - respect and honor remain hidden only in the soul, translated only in inner
forms (piety, moral virtues, contemplation, religious meditation).
External worship - externalized internal cult, in visible forms (religious acts, rites). Only at
this stage, the cult is complete and fully corresponds to human ends, in its double psychophysical
existence.
Worship is ritual. The internal worship becomes external. From an idea, it becomes a
phenomenon. From an individual character, it acquires a social, community character.

3. Public worship and private worship

According to the subject (the people who practice it), the worship can be:
- Private or personal - when it is practiced by each individual, independent of the religious
society in which he is integrated
- Public or collective - when it is practiced in whole groups of persons, united by the same
religious conviction. This is the official worship of the Church.
Public divine worship
- it is exercised through the mediation of the clergy, consecrated servants, liturgical persons
(higher clergy and lower clergy)
- It is officiated at certain times, on predetermined days and times, fixed and mandatory for
the whole community.
- It is officiated in the church, i.e. in places intended for gathering and public prayer
- It is officiated according to certain rules - typicon; according to rules, fixed and stable
verbal forms and formulas, written in service books
Public and private divine prayer/worship are not mutually exclusive, but complement each
other - man is both an individual and a public (social, community) being.