Ukraine and the Liturgy

The Ukrainian Christians love to tell the story of how they "discovered" the liturgy. In 988 Prince Vladamir of Kiev converted and sent some emmisaries to Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Christianity at the time. They went to Hagia Sophia, a huge Cathedral of sorts, and sent word back to Prince Vladamir, "We did not know whether we were in Heaven or on Earth. Never have we seen such beauty... We cannon describe it, but this much we can say: there God dwells among mankind."

When most people look at the book of Revelation they come out with more questions then answers. Amidst the confusing metaphors used what baffles me is that we can somehow read Revelation and interpret locusts as Russian warplanes armed with nuclear missiles but miss how much of the mass is occuring. What; the mass? As in Catholic Mass? Mass/ Divine Liturgy what ever you want to call it. You want to know what Heavenly worship is going to look like; look at your local Catholic/ Orthodox church on a Sunday morning.

What do I mean by all this? Below is listed from the book of Revelation where a particular part of Mass is found in the worship of Heaven.

• Sunday Worship (1:10)
• A high priest (1:13)
• An altar (8:3-4, 11:1, 14:18)
• Priests, presbyteroi (4:4, 11:15, 14:3, 19:4
• Vestments (1:13, 4:4, 6:11, 7:9, 15:6, 19:13-14)
• Consecrated celibacy (14:4)
• Lamp stands or Menorah (1:12, 2:5)
• Penitence (Chapter 2 and 3)
• Incense (5:8, 8:3-5)
• The book, or scroll (5:1)
• The Eucharistic Host (2:17)
• Chalices (15:7, Ch. 16, 21:9)
• The sign of the cross, the tau (7:3, 14:1, 22:4)
• The Gloria (15:3-4)
• The Alleluia (19:1,3,4,6)
• Lift up your hearts (11:12)
• The Holy, Holy, Holy (4:8)
• The Amen (19:4, 22:21)
• The Lamb of God (5:6 and throughout)
• The prominence of the Virgin Mary (12:1-6, 13-17)
• Intercession of Angels and Saints (5:8, 6:9-10, 8:3-4)
• Devotion to St. Michael the Archangel (12:7)
• Antiphonal Chant (4:8-11, 5:9-14, 7:10-12, 18:1-8)
• Readings from scripture (Ch. 2-3, 5, 8:2-11)
• The priesthood of the faithful (1:6, 20:6)
• Catholicity or universality (7:9)
• Silent contemplation (8:1)
• The marriage supper of the lamb (19:9, 17)

It's funny; as a teenager I often wondered what worship would look like around the throne of God. When I go to Mass on Sunday I'm experiencing it first hand.

P.S. thanks to Dr. Scott Hahn for compiling this list beforehand.