In the previous post I suggested that the Readers and Choir are paired off. This is obvious at my former parish in Asheville where all the readers (ordained or not) were in the Choir, not so easily discernible at Holy Trinity in San Francisco where readers (ordained or not) are easily split between the choir and the community of servers behind the iconostasis. But it was very easy to see at the Greek parish in Buffalo where there was no choir: just a group of chanters (ordained or not). The Greek parish in Asheville put the Choir and the Chanters on opposite ends of the kliros looking at each other like opposing armies. They are grouped together by function, however.

The question is what is that Function?

The Priest and Bishop, likewise, are paired off by Function as are the servers and the deacons. The question is what is the function? This is a hard thing to get.

Most Orthodox are skilled in the theological basics of our liturgy. We know, at least, that some how it is about the consecration of the bread and the wine. We read the prayers and we know that we “believe, O Lord, and confess” that the bread and the wine are the Body and Blood of Jesus. Beyond that we may hear some theology in the sermon or other prayers, but that is usually related to our salvation and the healing of the world. If we have read, however, we learn about the duties of the priest or the deacon, the altar servers, bishops, et all.

Many Orthodox (and some not) have read something of the mystical content of our liturgy. We know, at least, that the Priest is standing before us in representation of Christ, uttering the words that Christ uttered. The Bishop, if he is not presiding in his person, is God the Father, before whom the service is celebrated and to whom it is offered. The choir sings of the laity “let us who mystically represent the Cherubim” and the incense is our prayers rising before God.

The function however, is beneath that.

It is the literal meaning of what we do, if you will: the purpose of the duties, the basis of the mystical theology. It’s what of what we do and, truth be told, we do it well or not. We are almost never instructed in the what we do: content to learn by watching and imitating others. Fr J had only one major instruction for me the entire time I read in his parish – and I think I managed to get it right. But he had no suggestion for how to be a reader or how to be a better reader. When I suggested once, to the pastor of a parish, that we needed to read the same texts we had available in the pew… I got a blank stare in response.

What are we doing when we do liturgy? How is our doing related to the idea of the “public work” that is the liturgy? What is the public work we are doing?