Our Holy Father Tarasius, Archbishop of Constantinople (806)
Great Fast Day 11
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 6:1-12; Vespers – Genesis 5:1-24; Proverbs 6:3-20
According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Isaiah 6:1-12
Read the passage again. When you come across vivid imagery, pause for a moment and imagine what it might look like. Close your eyes if you need to. Wonder at the awesomeness and glory of what you see. The seraphim, the voice of the Lord, the burning coal—there is a lot of imagery, so this may take a little while. Continue reading the reflection after you have done this exercise.
Transfer the beauty, the awesomeness, and the glory from Isaiah’s vision to the Divine Liturgy. I suggest this because this same imagery is used within the Liturgy. Isaiah’s encounter with the Heavenly Powers and the Lord God Himself in this vision can be seen as an image of what happens when we participate in the Liturgy.
In the Divine Liturgy, the border between heaven and earth and between eternity and temporality is blurred. We take a step into eternity and heaven descends to us below. The angels, like the seraphim described in Isaiah’s vision, join us in our worship of the Almighty. Our union with the angels is most obviously realized when we sing ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth’.
We, like Isaiah, are aware of our unworthiness and sinfulness. We proclaim our unworthiness in the prayers of the Liturgy and in the private prayers before communion. But, as Isaiah was cleansed of his sins when the angel placed the burning coal in his mouth, we are forgiven of our sins when the Holy Mysteries of Christ’s Body and Blood are placed in our mouths and burn away our sins. After Holy Communion, the priest says the words of the seraphim immediately before blessing the people with the chalice “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
Finally, commissioning. After Isaiah receives forgiveness via the cleansing by burning coal, the Lord speaks to him and gives him his mission. In the Liturgy, we receive Christ and then we are sent to bring into the world what we have received. Like Isaiah, we are called to be prophets and bring the message of redemption to a hostile world.