The document discusses the Alleluia chant that takes place before the Gospel reading in the Byzantine Divine Liturgy. It describes how the choir and people sing the Alleluia three times, followed by a verse from Psalms sung by a cantor, and then the Alleluia sung three more times. While this is occurring, the deacon incenses the sanctuary and icons. It also examines the pre-Gospel prayer "O Master and Lover of mankind," which asks God to open the minds and hearts of the congregation to understand the Gospel. The chant and prayer prepare the faithful to hear the reading of the Gospel.

1. THE ALLELUIA CHANT
AND PRE-GOSPEL PRAYER
After the Epistle, the choir and people begin the Alleluia chant and
the versesfrom the Psalms that are proper to the given day. Here
we shallgive those of the first resurrectional tone :
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Verse : God who gives me vengeance and subdues the people
under me (Psalm. 17:48).
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Verse : You who honor the king with deliverance and show
mercy to David his anointed, and to his seed for ever
(Ps. 17:51).
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
While the Alleluia is being sung, the deacon takes the censer, puts
incense into it, approaches the priest, and says :
Bless, sir.
The priest imparts his blessing with the words :
Blessed be our God, now and always, and for ever and
ever. Amen.
After receiving the blessing, the deacon begins the incensing: first,
the holy table from all four sides, then the entire sanctuary and the
celebrant. Leaving the sanctuary through the north door, he incenses
the icons of the iconostas, both choirs and the people. In the meantime
the priest stands before the holy table and silently recites the prayer
before the Gospel.
0 Master and Lover of mankind, make the spotless light
of your divine wisdom shine in our hearts and open the eyes
of our mind to an understanding of the things you teach in
the Gospel. Instill in us also a fear ofyour blessed command-

2. ments, so that trampling upon all the desires of the flesh,
we may begin to lead a spiritual life, both thinking and doing
all that is pleasing to you. For you are the enlightenment
of our souls and bodies, Christ our God, and we give glory
to you, together with your eternal Father and your all-holy,
gracious and life-giving Spirit, now and always and for ever
and ever. Amen.
After completing the incensing, the deacon returns to the sanctuary
through the south door and puts back the censer in its place.
Alleluia! Praise ye Yahweh! This Old Testament doxology,
like cert3in other words from the Hebrew (Amen, Hosanna, etc.) is
left untranslated in the Liturgy. Originally belonging to the Hallel,
the Psalms of Praise, the Alleluia was placed at the close of these
psalms in the Massoretic text, 1
while the Septuagint places it at the
head of each psalm, as does the Vulgate. As used by the Jews, it
was an acclamation, a cry of praise and joy to God. 1
This same
sense of praise and joy is clearly apparent in the saints' use of the
Alleluia in St. John's Apocalypse when they glorify God for his
judgments on the great harlot (Rev. 19:1-15).
In Christian usage, as we see it in the agape outlined by Hippolytus
of Rome but modified by some Eastern source, the Alleluia was to
be a response by the people during the recitation of the Hallel
Psalms (see above, p. 50). This was evidently an adaptation of the
Hallel to the responsorial method employed in the synagogue, where
the signalfor the people's refrain was the cantor's cry," Halleluyah." 8
When was the Alleluia inserted as a refrain into the psalms at the
Liturgy ofthe Catechumens? No one really knows for certain, but
it must have been in the early centuries. The Alleluia chant is
found in all the present Liturgies, except the Ethiopic, in more or
less the same place before the Gospel and in almost the same form. '
1
So also the Novum Psalterium (Pontificii Instituti Biblici).
• Cf. DAL I, 1226-1246.
• Cf. I. Elbogen, Der jildische Gottesdienn in seiner geschllichen Enwicklung
(2nd edit., Frankfurt, 1924), 496.
• For the Armenian, cf. Brightman, LBW, p. 426, lines 1-4; the Syrian,
Brightman, LBW, p. 79, lines 1-10; Chaldean, Brightman, LEW, p. 258, line 29,
p. 259, line 3; Coptic, Brightman, LEW, p. 156, lines 16-21. The Ethiopic Rite

3. Yet, ancient Oriental sources are strangely silent on the point. This
can be explained only if the Alleluia was so intimately connected
with the pre-Gospel psalm chant that it was not specifically distin-
guished, was not even considered separate.
The first Byzantine source to mention the Alleluia before the
Gospel is the Liturgical Commen.tary of St. Gennanus I of Constan-
tinople, dating from the beginning ofthe eighth century. 6 Yet, we
know from Pope St. Gregory that it was already an established
Byzantine custom a full century earlier. In his letter to John of
Syracuse, Pope Gregory mentions that the Alleluia was brought to
Rome from Jerusalem by St. Jerome in the time ofPope St, Damas-
cus (366-384), and that Rome does not sing it as do the Byzantines
but restricts its use. • Thus, we have proofofthe Alleluia beingsung
in the Byzantine Chmch a faft hundred years before any Byzantine
evidence comes to light. By Pope St. Gregory's time, the use ofthe
Alleluia was being restricted in the West, 1
although the original
practice there did not limit its use to seasons ofjoy. 8 This difference
between Byzantine and Roman Churches-where the Alleluia is
excluded from seasons of penance and sorrow-is still clear today.
The only exception to the universal use of the Alleluia in Byzantine
Churches is that it is not sung on Holy Saturday in the Liturgy of
St. Basil.
The method of singing the Alleluia chant is the responsorial-
antiphonal of the Syro-Antiochene Church (see pp. 367ff., above).
bas found a kind of substitute for the Alleluia chant, but this is of recent origin,
cf. S. A. B. Mercer, The Ethicpic Liturgy, its Sources, Developmmt and Present
Form (London, 1915), p. 338, and Brightman, LEW, p. 220, line 20.
• Germanus I of Constantinople, Commentarius liturgicus, n. 29 (edit. N. Borgia,
Il commentario liturgico di s. Germano Patriarca Constantinopolitano e la versione
latina di Anastasio Bibliotecario, p. 25).
• " .•.magis in hac re consuetudinem amputavimus quae hie a Graecis fuerat
tradita "; cf. Ep. 9, II (PL 77, 955-958):
7
About the middle of the fifth century, Sozomen is even under the impression
that at Rome the Alleluia was originally sung only on Easter Sunday (Hist. eccl.,
VII, 19 [PG 67, 1476}); for reliability of the report, see Cabrol (DACL, I, 1236).
Rome probably removed the Alleluia from Quadragesima, as had Spain and
Africa at the time of St. Isidore (De eccl. off., I, 13, 3 [PL 83, 750 f.]). Gregory
the Great seems to have restricted its use further, by eliminating it from Septua-
gesima (cf. Callewaert, Sacris erudiri, 650, 652 f.).
• As late as c. A.D. 400, the Alleluia was still sung at sorrowful solemnities even
at Rome, e.g., at the burial of Fabiola; Jerome, Ep. 77, 12 (CSEL, 55, 48, I. 12).

4. First the Alleluia is sung three times by the choir or people; then a
verse ofthe psalm is intoned by the cantor (or cantors); the Alleluia
is repeated three times by the people. Ifthere is another verse from
the psalm, it is taken by the cantor (or cantors), and finally the
Alleluia is again sung three times by the people. This verse from
the psalm is called an alleluiarian or if more than one, alleluiaria
(or merely the Alleluia). Like the psalm verses of the prokeimenon
before the Epistle, the allelui'aria consisted originally in whole psalms.
They are now reduced to a mere verse or two. Like the prokeimena,
they are accommodated to the given day, feast, or saint. Since they
are variable in the Liturgy, the proper allelui'aria are given in the
Ustav (ordo). The rubrical prescriptions applying to them are too
complicated to be given here.
Although the Alleluia is sung in the Byzantine Rite during times
ofmourning and penitential seasons, it is still a cry ofpraise to God,
overflowing with joy and thanksgiving; it is the cry ofa soul rejoicing
because it will soon hear the Lord, the Master himself, speaking
through the Gospel. This joy of hearing the Master's words
outweighs all considerations of mourning and penance; that
is why the Alleluia is sung in the Byzantine Rite even at funeral
Masses.
The incensing, like the Alleluia during which it is done, is also a
preparation for listening to the reading of the Holy Gospel and is
designed to draw the thoughts of the faithful heavenward. It is
a sign of prayerful reverence and homage to the Gospel of Christ.
It is that and more : the smoke diffusing into every comer of the
church symbolizes the grace of the Holy Spirit, which spreads
throughout the world through the Gospel and the good tidings it
brings. This symbolism reaches back at least eleven centuries, for
St. Germ.anus of Constantinople explains it in essentially the same
way when writing at the beginning ofthe eighth century about the
pre-Gospel incensing. 9
Apparently, this incensingbeforethe Gospel
was not a universal practice in the Greek Church, for, aside from
St. Germanus and a few others, most Byzantine sources up to the
• Germanus I of Constantinople, Commentarius liturgicus, n. 30 (edit. N. Borgia,
op. cit., p. 25).

5. fourteenth century do not mention it. 10 It is notknown when the
Slavs adopted this incensing in their Liturgy, but it was probably
during the early fifteenth century, after the Constitution ofPhilotheus
had been introduced into the Ukraine and Russia. 11
The pre-Gospel prayer, "0 Master and Lover of mankind,"
differs from its seeming counterpart in the Latin Mass, the Munda
cor meum, in that the latter is a personal prayer of the priest for
worthily proclaiming the Gospel, while the former is a prayer for
and in the name of the people (note the first-person-plural forms)
for enlightenment and understanding Christ's truth contained in the
Gospel as well as for the grace to do whatever his word teaches. The
reason for this is obvious : in the Byzantine Rite the office ofdeacon
is still a vital, living part of the Liturgy, and one of its practical
functions is the reading of the Gospel; in the Latin Rite, on the
other hand, the reading ofthe Gospel for the most part falls to the
priest, since the office of deacon has become a transitory, temporary
state, a stage preparatory for the priesthood. 12
Much closer in
meaning and context to the Munda cor meum is the prayer of the
priest while blessing and sending forth the deacon : " May God...
grant you the power ofannouncing his word with great strength," etc.
The prayer " 0 Master and Lover of mankind" seems to have
been borrowed by the Byzantine Church from the Greek Liturgy of
St. James, where it is found in tenth-century texts. 13 It must have
become part of the Byzantine Liturgy about the same time. u In
•• Thus, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom translated by Leo Thuscus
(c. 1200) does not; nor does the Erasmian recension of it, contained in Goar,
Euchologion; and neither does the great Greek liturgist of the fourteenth century,
Nicolas Cabasilas (1371). On the other hand, the Constitution of the Liturgy in
the thirteenth century Typikon of S. Sabba, Cod. Atlwtw-Protat., 72 (A. Dmitri-
evsky, Opysanie liturgicheskikh rukopisej khraniaschikhv bibliotekakh prawslarmago
vostoka, Vol. III, TiPika [St. Petersburg, 1917), p. n9) does mention it at the
Alleluia chant; also Theodore ofAndida in the thirteenth century (PG x40, 440 D).
11
E.g., the early fifteenth-century Liturgikon of Isidore, Metrop0litan of Kiev,
has this incensing; its rubrics are those of Philotheus (cf. Cod. Vat. Slav. N. x4,
fol. I.28).
11 Since Vatican II the diaconate may again become a permanent state.
ta The Greek Liturgy of St. James, Vatican rotukJ 2282 (edit. A. Rocchi, in
A. Mai, NPB, X, ii, p. 47).
14 It is found in the eleventh century Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Codex
Burdett-Coutts III, .µ (edit. C. A. Swainson, Ths Greek Liturgies Chiefly from
Original Authorities [London, x884], p. u7).

6. many churches of the Byzantine Rite, however, there was no prayer
before the Gospel till the fourteenth century. 15
But in many places
where, during these centuries a pre-Gospel prayer was said, it was
this same one; u in others, it differed. 17
The Slav recensions show a similar diversity from the twelfth to
the fourteenth centuries. 18
The Bulgarian version of the Consti-
tution of Philotheus has the prayer as it is today, while its Greek
original, as already noted, does not. However, the Kievan version
of the same Constitution omits it as does the Greek original. 19
Moments like the Alleluia chant represent the ultimate in liturgical
participation. With everyone actively taking part-the priest saying
11
Cf. Codex Barberini, gr. 336 (Brightman, LEW, p. 314); the Liturgy of
Chrysostom trans. by Leo Thuscus, Liturgiae Sive Missae· SS. Patrum Jacobi
Apostoli et fratris Domini, Basilii Magni, e vetusto codice Latinae translationis,
loannis Chrysostomi, lnterprete Leone Thusco (Antwerp, 1562), p. 55; the Erasmian
recension of the same Liturgy (twelfth century) in Goar, Euchologion, p. 105;
the twelfth century MS. Burdett-Coutts, I, IO (Swainson, op. cit., p. 148; the Ordo
of the Liturgy in Cod. 381 of Moscow Synodal Library (Krasnoseltsev, Materialy
dlja istorii chinopslidovania liturgii sv. Joanna Zlatoustago [Kazan, 1889], p. 24);
also the Constitution of Philotheus, Patriarch of Constantinople (1354-1376).
edit. N. Krasnoseltsev, op. cit., p. 56.
16
In the thirteenth century Liturgy contained in MS. N. 719 of Patmos Library
(Dmitrievsky, op. cit., Vol. II, Euchologia [Kiev, 1901], p. 173); in the Typikon
of S. Sabha, Cod. Ahono-Protat., N. 72 (Dmitrievsky, "P· cit., II, p. 266, and III,
p. 120). Thus the Liturgy of St. Basil trans. into Latin by Nicolas Hydruntinus
(edit. F. J. Mone, Lateinische und griechische Memm aw dem 2.-6. Jh. [Frankfurt,
1850], p. 139), though here this prayer is found at the beginning of the Liturgy
together with some other prayers, perhaps a sign that such a prayer was elective.
17 E.g., the thirteenth or fourteenth century MS. of Esphigmenon Library
(Dmitrievsky, op. cit., II, p. 266), and the fourteenth century MS. N. 345 of
Moscow Synodal Library (Gorsky-Nevostrujev, Opysanie s/avianskikh rukopisej
Moskovskcj Synodafnoj bib/ioteky, Vol. III [Moscow, x859], 1, p. 21).
18
Compare, for example, the fourteenth century MS. N. 347 of Moscow
Synodal Library (Gorsky-Nevostrujev, op. cit., III, x, x4) and the fifteenth century
MS. N. 530, p. 37, MS. N. 533, p. 26 of Sophia Library (Petrovsky, Histoire de la
redaction slave de la liturgie de S. Jean Chrysostome, XPYCOCTOMIKA [Rome,
1908], p. 902) with MS. N. 529, p. 48, MS. N. 574, p. 58 of Sophia Library
(Petrosvky, op. cit., p. 902) and the thirteenth century MS. Vat. Slav. No. 9
(0. Horbatsch, De tribus textibus Liturgicis Linguae Ecclesiasticae (Palaeo) Slavicae
in Manuscriptis Vaticanis [Rome, 1966], p. x29).
18 For the Bulgarian version, prepared by Archbishop Euthymius of Timovo
(1375), cf. Krasnoseltsev, "P· cit., p. 55, n. x. The Kievan version is contained
in the Liturgikon of Patriarch Cyprian (1380-1407) preserved in Codex N. 344
of Moscow Synodal Library (Krasnoseltsev, "P· cit., p. 55.) Nor is a pre-Gospel
prayer contained in the fourteenth or fifteenth century Liturgikon of Isidore,
Metropolitan of Kiev, cf. MS. Vat. Slav. N. 14, fol. 8.

7. the pre-Gospel prayer, the deacon incensing, the cantors singing the
verses from the psalms while the people sing the Alleluia as a
refrain-all are joined together in one collective act of worship, in
one mighty crescendo of harmonious, united adoration of the Al-
mighty. Almost nineteen hundred years ago, Oement of Rome had
written to the Corinthians : " ...we are obliged to carry out in fullest
detail what the Master has commanded us to do. . .• He has ordered
the sacrifices to be offered and the services to be held, and this not
in a random and irregular fashion, but at definite times and seasons.
He has, moreover, himself, by his sovereign will determined where
and by whom he wants them to be carried out. . .. Special functions
are assigned to the high priest; a special office is imposed upon the
priests; and special ministrations fall to the Levites. The layman is
bound by the rules laid down for the laity.... " 10
The Byzantine
Church has, indeed, learned its lesson well.