Page 119 - The Sacred and Divine Liturgy

Following the exclamation Let us love one another, the priests, standing in their place, make three bows at the words I will love You, O Lord... and then every celebrant comes before the Holy Table, kisses the part of the aer covering the discos while saying Holy God, the part covering the chalice saying Holy Mighty, and the holy table with – Holy Immortal... then approaches the Hierarch, joining together with his right hand and answers Christ is in our midst with He is and ever shall be, kisses him on his right shoulder, then on his left, then his right again. The priests greet one another in a similar fashion, with the senior in rank saying Christ is in our midst, and the young­ er responding with He is and ever shall be.20
At the exclamation, The doors, the doors all the priests lift up together the aer and wave it over the head of the Hierarch. When the Hierarch has finished venerating it, the priests on the left release, while the priests standing on the right receive the aer, and the most senior priest then proceeds to fold it and plac­ es it alongside the other gifts.21
The Hierarch, holding the dikiri and trikiri, exclaims The grace of our Lord... and so on. We should mention that bless­ ing with the trikiri and dikiri at this moment is not the custom with the Greeks. According to the tradition of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Hierarch ordinarily blesses with a single hand. The Hierarch blesses with the cross at The grace of our Lord... and at And may the mercies of our great God..., after the Gos­ pel with the dikiri, and before the dismissal with the trikiri. He blesses with both hands when his acclamations are sung and after the washing of hands at the Cherubic hymn.22
20 V. Nikolajević, Veliki tipik, p. 264.
21 V. Nikolajević, Veliki tipik, p. 264. In the contemporary Greek Archieratikon, we
read: The Hierarch says the same with a lower voice, bowing before the gifts, while the priests lifting up the aer gently sway it over the gifts and head of the Hierarch, at the words And who ascended into Heaven... (Contemporary Greek Archieratikon, p. 288).
22 G. Violakis, The Typicon of the Great Church – protheoria.
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