“The doors, the doors! In wisdom let us attend!” (The Divine Liturgy)
Initially this was an order to the doorkeepers to be certain that all who were not baptized had gone from the church, and only the faithful were welcome to remain for the Holy Communion. Doors closed and doors open provide powerful symbols to ponder.
“Let us attend,” means, “Pay attention.” What follows is profoundly serious. It is now time to stop daydreaming, if you had been doing so.
“In wisdom” is more than being alert. Deep thinking is required. What follows is not for lightweights. All that we know of the Unknowable and all that has been revealed to us from the Inconceivable Transcendent One are about to be expressed.
We would do well to meditate on the gates of Heaven at this moment of the Divine Liturgy. Many anecdotes are directed at gaining entry to Paradise; but access to God’s Kingdom is indeed a serious matter. The exclamation divides the liturgy in two parts:
A. Everything until now has been a preparation. God in Trinity is blessed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have enumerated our concerns, beseeching Him to grant us all that is in our best interests. We have prayed in the time-honored tradition of our spiritual ancestors mainly in the words of the Psalms. We have listened to the readings from the Holy Apostles as well as the teachings and ministry of Jesus Christ as revealed by the sacred evangelists. An ordained teacher explained the inner meaning of those holy writings. By now we should comprehend and affirm the essential message that has been revealed to us concerning the gospel of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
B. Having understood the basic elements of the Orthodox Christian faith, we are ready to recite, chant or sing the proclamation of that faith agreed upon by the entire Church, the Nicene Creed. In centuries past, those brought to baptism were taught on that day the Creed. It serves as an oral litmus test proving one’s Christian credentials. Those not baptized have no knowledge of its divine sublime truths.
Of course we must take into account living in an era when words hardly have meaning, when many will say or pretend to believe any or everything, or just as bad, when they no longer explore the intent of the Church’s theologians to discover what we mean by what we declare. But if indeed a person does not comprehend what he or she is proclaiming, or if he cannot honestly affirm the articles of faith as the Church professes them, he must not receive Holy Communion until he reconciles himself with the Church’s doctrines. The great Spanish novelist Miguel de Unamuno wrote a novella about a priest who had a spasm and died precisely during the confession of faith, because he was unable to proclaim with his heart what he no longer was convinced to be true.
Those who share a common understanding of the revelation about God in Christ Jesus have become united in the true faith; more, they are members of His family, blood brothers and sisters in a literal sense. That’s why it’s appropriate to give some sign of our union with one another in Christ. The clergy in the altar area kiss each other thrice, and in some of our churches they make an attempt to pass the greeting along to those in the nave; but it would take an effort to overcome the distance we seem to feel appropriate to our social comfort level. At least on Pascha night we exchange the kiss of peace with one another, and the revival of that sacred tradition would be appropriate for every Divine Liturgy. Do we not know that each Sunday is in effect a “little Pascha?” So why not do each Sunday what we do par excellence at the Feast of all Feasts? Perhaps one day in another Kingdom we shall find ways to express the affection we should be sharing here on earth.