On Wednesday, September 23, Very Rev. Mitred Archpriest Dr. Mark Morozowich, director of the Bishop Basil Losten Center for Ukrainian Church Studies, delivered the 19th Annual Pope Benedict XVI Lecture in the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. At the invitation of Father Edward Mazich, Seminary Rector, he addressed the seminary, college, and monastic communities on “Heavenly Worship in Earthen Vessels: Anamnesis in Eastern and Western Liturgical Traditions.”
Fr. Mark developed the Church’s teaching that worship on earth is a real participation in the heavenly worship, offered through Christ the High Priest. Drawing on Scripture, especially the Letter to the Hebrews, and unfolding its links to the Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), he focused on paragraphs 7 and 8 to illustrate the concept of anamnesis. Anamnesis is the liturgical entering into Christ’s Paschal Mystery, His cross, death, and resurrection, which is ever present. He stressed that our worship calls each of us to a renewal when we enter into liturgical prayer: our response to God’s invitation is to enter into His healing and saving love. Father gave varied examples from both Eastern and Western liturgical traditions that convey this truth and engage us directly.
Throughout, he returned to the image of his title. God draws human beings, fragile earthen vessels, into heavenly worship in body and soul alike, as the Church’s prayers for healing before Communion attest. A lively discussion period followed, allowing for further reflection on this great mystery.
