Liturgy: Definitions

Magisterial Definitions Mediator Dei (1947): “The sacred liturgy is…the public worship which our Redeemer as Head of the Church renders to the Father as well as the worship which the community of the faithful renders to its Founder, and through Him to the heavenly Father. It is, in short, the worship rendered by the mystical body of Christ in the entirety of its Head and members.”

Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963): “The liturgy, then, is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. It involves the presentation of human sanctification under the guise of signs appropriate to the senses and its accomplishment in ways appropriate to each of these signs. In it full public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and members.”

Theological Definitions George Florovsky (Russian Orthodox): “Christian worship is the response of men [sic] to the Divine call, to the ‘mighty deeds’ of God, culminating in the redemptive act of Christ…. Christian worship is primarily and essentially an act of praise and adoration, which also implies a thankful acknowledgement of God’s embracing Love and redemptive loving-kindness.”

Nikos A. Nissiotis (Greek Orthodox): “Worship is not primarily man’s [sic] initiative but God’s redeeming act in Christ through his Spirit, [stressing the] absolute priority of God and his act” [which humans can only acknowledge[.

Cyprian Vaggagini: “The liturgy is the complexus of the sensible signs of things sacred, spiritual, invisible, instituted by Christ or by the Church; signs which are efficacious, each in its own way, of that which they signify; by which signs God (the Father by appropriation), through Christ the Head and Priest, and in the presence of the Holy Spirit, sanctifies the Church; and the Church as a body, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, uniting herself to Christ her Head and Priest, through Him renders her worship to God (the Father by appropriation).”