Liturgy

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A liturgy comprises a prescribed ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular group or event. In religion, it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), or a daily activity such as the Muslim Salats (see Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, p.582-3). Anglican, Orthodox, Lutheran, or other groups, when using the words "the Liturgy", are normally referring to a standardized order of events observed during a religious service, often including the Eucharist. The open or waiting worship of Quakers is an example of a non-liturgical service because there is no minister or structured order of events.

Methods of dress, preparation of food, application of cosmetics or other hygienic practices are all considered liturgical activities. Repetitive formal rites, in some ways similar to liturgies, are natural and common in all human activities such as organized sports venues.

In the Christian church, liturgical churches are those that use a well-defined liturgy dating to the second century and earlier, in which many of the words and music used follow basic patterns each time the service is conducted. Most Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches are liturgical while most others are to a far lesser extent. So-called non-liturgical churches usually follow a common worship sequence from one service to the next, with several elements common to many such services. These elements often include readings from the Bible, hymns, a sermon, offerings of money, and at certain times, Holy Communion.

The historic Christian liturgies are direct evolutions from pre-Christian worship in synagogues. Invocations, singings of the Psalms, readings from the Prophets, benedictions and other elements all remain intact. As such, so-called non-liturgical services are also directly evolved from historical liturgies, with several elements remaining similarly intact.

1 Etymology
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Etymology

The word comes from the Classical Greek word λειτουργία (leitourgia) meaning "public work". In the Greek city-states, it had a different sense: some public good which a wealthy citizen arranged at his own expense, either voluntarily or by law. At Athens, the Assembly assigned liturgies to the wealthy, and there was a law by which any man who had been assigned a liturgy while a richer man had had none could challenge him either to undertake the liturgy or to exchange property with him.

The church use of the term comes from its frequent and historic use in the Greek text of the New Testament (eg Acts 13:2). It referred to a public and deliberate, well-defined ceremony. It is often translated as "minister" or "worship" in English language Bibles.