HOLY QURBANA
At our church, we celebrate Holy Qurbana every Sunday at 9AM, preceded by morning prayers at 8AM, and followed by Sunday School at 11:30AM.
COVID-19 Update: During the coronavirus stay-at-home orders, we have been conducting our church prayers by phone. To participate, please contact us for the call line phone number.
Rev. Fr. Dr. B. Varghese Professor, Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam
Holy Qurbana is our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ. This faith has been founded on Our Lord’s words during the Last Supper (This is my Body..my Blood..). Following our Lord’s instruction Do this in remembrance of Me, we offer the Holy Qurbana. St. Paul says: “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). Since the apostolic times, Holy Qurbana was the central act of the Sunday worship (cfr. Acts 20:7). Since the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ, St. Paul instructs to participate in it with great devotion and care (1 Cor. 11:27-28).
According to St. Paul, through our participation in the one Eucharistic bread we become one in Christ: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? Because there is one bread, we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:16-17).
In fact, the goal of the incarnation was to unite the humanity as the sons of God, because, as a result of sin, we had become alienated from God. Baptism and Eucharist are the means to bring human beings into union with Christ. Sacraments, daily prayers, Bible reading, the faith of the Church, all have one aim to make us one in Christ. The Church and its arrangements, especially the symbols help us to meditate on Christ and to live in communion with Him and to worship the Triune God.