Dismissal (liturgy)

The Dismissal (Greek: απόλυσις; Slavonic: otpust) is the final blessing said by a Christian priest or minister at the end of a religious service.

In liturgical churches the dismissal will often take the form of ritualized words and gestures, such as raising the minister's hands over the congregation, or blessing with the sign of the cross.

If a bishop is holding his paterissa (crozier) while making the dismissal, he will raise both his right and left hands and trace the Sign of the Cross with both his crozier and right hand, crossing the one in front of the other, then blessing again with the Dikirion and Trikion, as the choir chants, Eis pollá etē, Déspota ("Many years, O Master").

More solemn benedictions, such as that which comes at the end of the Divine Liturgy, will be made with a blessing cross rather than the hand.

At the dismissals used at the Divine Liturgy—whether Greater or Lesser—after commemorating the apostles, the priest adds the name of the saint who is credited with writing the Liturgy: On Sundays, at each of the Great Feasts of the Lord—from the day of the feast until its apodosis (leavetaking)--on each day of Holy Week, and throughout Bright Week there are special phrases which are added at the beginning of the dismissals.