Liturgy of Preparation

'a setting forth')[1] or Proskomedia (Προσκομιδή Proskomidē 'an offering, an oblation'), is the name given in the Eastern Orthodox Church[note 1] to the act of preparing the bread and wine for the Eucharist.

A prosphoron is a round loaf of leavened bread baked in two layers to represent the two natures of Christ.

The priests and deacons celebrating the liturgy stand together in front of the holy doors of the iconostasis, venerate the icons, and say special entrance prayers before they enter into the altar.

[note 2] At the end of these prayers, they bow to the throne of the bishop who oversees the church, or, if it is a monastery, the abbot, acknowledging the authority of their spiritual superiors, without whose permission they may not celebrate the divine services.

For each vestment, the priest blesses it, kisses the cross on it, and dons it reciting a Biblical verse, usually from the Psalms.

Then, cutting on all four sides of the square seal on the prosphoron, he removes a cube (the Lamb), taking from both layers of the loaf, and places it in the center of the diskos.

Among the Slavic peoples, it is customary for the laity to offer small prosphora in commemoration of those living and the departed whom they would like to have prayed for during the Liturgy.

They hand these to the priest together with their list of names, and he takes particles out (living from the top of the loaf, departed from the bottom) and place them on the diskos.

For the last commemoration, the priest takes out a particle for himself, saying: "Remember, O Lord, mine unworthy self, and pardon me every transgression, whether voluntary or involuntary."

[4] Afterwards, the deacon performs a full censing of the prothesis, the holy table, the sanctuary, the entire church and the people while he recites the following hymn and Psalm 50 quietly to himself: In the Tomb with the body, and in Hades with the soul, in Paradise with the thief, and on the Throne with the Father and the Spirit, wast thou, O Christ, who art everywhere present and fillest all things.When a bishop is serving the divine liturgy, one of the priests and the deacons and lower clergy vest[note 6] and the Liturgy of Preparation is performed as normal with a few omissions which are later performed by the bishop: the other clergy who are serving are not commemorated, the concluding Prayer of Offering is not said, and the offerings are not censed.

When the liturgy neither immediately follows matins nor is in conjunction with vespers, the reading of the hours generally does not commence until after the arrival of the bishop.

During the great litany the bishop himself recites the Prayer of Offering omitted earlier from the usual order of the prothesis.

Just before the Great Entrance, the bishop commemorates those whom he wishes, taking out particles from a special prosphoron that has been prepared for him.

However, on Wednesdays and Fridays the faithful may receive Holy Communion from the reserved Mysteries (Sacrament) at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

In order to provide for these services, on the Sunday before, the priest must cut out extra Lambs for each Presanctified Liturgy that there will be during that week.

They all involve the entry of the clergy, vesting and preparing the Gifts of bread and wine, accompanied by appropriate prayers.

The Altar of Prothesis , set with the diskos (left), chalice (right) and other implements needed for the Liturgy of Preparation. The Lamb sits on the diskos (paten). To the left are Prosphora for the Theotokos , the saints, the living and the departed.
Prosphora prepared for the Liturgy of Preparation. The large loaves on the left are the five principal prosphora; the smaller loaves on the right are for the commemorations of the living and the dead by the faithful (Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, London).
Liturgy of the preparation just before conclusion.
the Lamb and particles placed on the diskos . The large triangle to the viewer's left of the Lamb is the particle for the Theotokos; to the right of the Lamb are the particles for the nine ranks (saints); below the Lamb are the particles commemorating the living and the departed.
Subdeacon reading the names of the living and the departed during the Liturgy of Preparation.
The diskos and chalice covered by the Aër at the conclusion of the Proskomedie.