Historical Prospective

of the Liturgy-Part VIII

DIVINE LITURGY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

WASHING HANDS

Ipodiakonos Zoran j. Bobic

Washing hands:

Washing of the hands prayer:

I will wash my hands among the innocent and I will walk

around your altar, 0 Lord, that I may hear the voice of

your praise and tell of all your wondrous deeds. Lord,

I have loved the beauty of your house and the dwelling place

of your glory. Destroy not my soul with the wicked, nor

my life with men of blood, in whose hands are iniquities;

whose right hand is filled with bribes. But I have walked

in my innocence; redeem me, 0 Lord, and have mercy on

me. My foot has been set in righteousness; in the churches

I will bless you, 0 Lord (Ps. 25:6-12).

Washing hands: History

Oriental Rites, the priest washes his hands at least twice when celebrating Mass;

Religious motives rather than utility prompted the Jewish custom of washing before the

Thanksgiving at the end of a meal;

Our Lord, for example, took advantage of this custom to wash the feet of the apostles

at the end of the Last Supper;

His action, too, was symbolic rather than practical (John 13:2-12);

…every pious Jew washed his hands before he prayed;

Early Christians also washed their hands on entering

the church;

Its utilitarian purpose and symbolism;

Symbol of the purity of souls dedicated to God;

Washing hands: History

Cyril of Jerusalem: designates the purity and blamelessness of our actions;

Chrysostom: …he stresses the cleanliness of the soul that should go with it;

Some time before the eighth or ninth century;

Slav branch of the Byzantine Rite followed its mother Rite;

The first clear reference to Psalm 25;

Some kind of formula seems to have

accompanied the washing of the hands;