The “little” or “small” entrance presents the Gospel. This is what is sometimes referred to as the “Liturgy of the Word” or “of the Catechumens”. It is still part of the entry procession (“Blessed is the entrance of your saints...”, “Come, let us worship...”, chanting of brief, thematic hymns). The Trisagion or antitrisagion is chanted here. The Apostolic and Gospel lectionaries are employed, preceded by the Prokeimenon and separated by the Alleluiarion. The homily is offered immediately after the Gospel reading.
Follow the movement from the Gospel procession to the readings, then consider how you hear and receive the word of God.
Read the introduction and use the terms below whenever a word is unfamiliar.
Read the seven Scripture selections. Each source link opens the complete selected passage.
Read the three Fathers’ comments, and choose one connection to notice at the next Liturgy.
Try an optional study question, then record an observation or question in your notes.
Terms used in this lesson
Little Entrance
The procession in which the clergy carry the Gospel book into the sanctuary. It prepares the congregation to hear God’s word in the Scripture readings.
Trisagion
The hymn that calls God holy three times: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.” It is sung before the Scripture readings.
Antitrisagion
A hymn sung in place of the Trisagion on certain feast days. Examples include the hymn about being baptized into Christ and the hymn venerating His Cross.
Prokeimenon
A short scriptural refrain, usually from the Psalms, with an accompanying verse, sung before the Epistle reading.
Alleluiarion
The singing of Alleluia with psalm verses after the Epistle and before the Gospel. It prepares us to hear the Gospel.
Epistle
The apostolic Scripture reading before the Gospel, taken from Acts or a New Testament letter.
Scripture selections for the entrance and the readings
Read these passages alongside the Church’s praise, the incense and the proclamation of Scripture. Follow each source link to read the complete selection.
Isaiah 6:3
In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. The house was full of His glory. Around Him stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
SAAS (Orthodox Study Bible Old Testament) · Verses 1–3
St. Isaiah’s vision invites us to notice God’s holiness and the praise of the seraphim as we join in the Church’s worship.
Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
NKJV (Orthodox Study Bible New Testament) · Complete selected verses
St. John’s vision joins incense with the prayers of the saints. Read it beside St. Symeon’s commentary on incense before the Gospel.
Again He said to me, “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words I have spoken to you, and listen with your ears. Go! Go to the captives, to the children of your people, and you shall speak to them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord,’ whether they listen or whether they refuse.”
SAAS (Orthodox Study Bible Old Testament) · Verses 10–11
God calls the prophet to receive His words into the heart and listen with his ears. What helps you prepare to listen attentively?
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
NKJV (Orthodox Study Bible New Testament) · Complete verse
The Gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed to all nations. St. Symeon connects the readings with the sending of the apostles and their proclamation to the world.
Hear, my children, the instruction of your father, And pay attention, that you might know his thinking; For I offer a good gift to you; Do not forsake my law.
SAAS (Orthodox Study Bible Old Testament) · Complete selected verses
The invitation to hear and retain instruction gives us a way to reflect on the teaching we receive in the Church.
The Church’s teaching. The proclamation of the Gospel. The counsel we receive.
Read each commentary slowly, and return to something you hear in the service.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Lectures on the Christian Sacraments, p. 68
Do you see these venerable arrangements of the Church? Do you view her order and discipline, the reading of the Scriptures, the presence of the pious, the course of teaching? Then let the place affect you, let the sight sober you. Depart in good time now, and enter tomorrow in better.
What helps you return to church better prepared to hear its teaching?
St. Symeon of Thessaloniki
The Liturgical Commentaries: Explanation of the Divine Temple
Entering and incensing around the sacred altar typifies the presence of the Spirit, who came to us from heaven after Christ had ascended to heaven... Then the apostolic words are read, an act which represents the sending of the apostles to the nations... The reading of the Gospel itself manifests the proclamation of the Gospel in the whole world by the disciples, which took place after the Ascension of the Lord. Therefore, first the Epistle is proclaimed, and then the Gospel, because the disciples, having first been strengthened, were sent out, then they proclaimed the Gospel as they went throughout the whole world. Before the Gospel there is incense because the grace of the Spirit is given by the Gospel in the whole world.
Course handbook, p. 10.
A question to carry into the service
What do you notice in the order of the Epistle and Gospel, and in the incense before the Gospel?
St. Maximos the Confessor
The Church’s Mystagogy, p. 198
The divine readings from the sacred books reveal the divine and blessed desires and intentions of God most holy. Through them each one of us receives, in proportion to the capacity which is in him, the counsels by which he should act, and we learn the laws of the divine and blessed struggles in which by consistent fighting we will be judged worthy of the victorious crowns of Christ’s kingdom.
Course handbook, p. 11.
A question to carry into the service
What counsel do you hear in the readings for something you face this week?
Further studyAdditional Scripture and early Christian teaching
Explore these optional readings and commentaries alongside the lesson.
Additional Scripture readings
Nehemiah 8:1–8
Further reading
Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites helped the people to understand the Law; and the people stood in their place. So they read distinctly from the book in the Law of God; and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading.
SAAS (Orthodox Study Bible Old Testament) · Verses 7–8; read the complete gathering in verses 1–8
A gathered assembly hears the Law, and readers and teachers help the people understand. Read this beside the Scripture readings and the homily.
Homily 11 on the Gospel of John · §1, before John 1:14
What then is it that I require of you? That each of you take in hand that section of the Gospels which is to be read among you on the first day of the week, or even on the Sabbath, and before the day arrive, that he sit down at home and read it through, and often carefully consider its contents, and examine all its parts well, what is clear, what obscure, what seems to make for the adversaries, but does not really so; and when you have tried, in a word every point, so go to hear it read.
Complete question and answer from §1
St. John Chrysostom encourages the faithful to read and consider the appointed Gospel before coming to hear it in church. Preparing at home can help us listen and understand more attentively.
What could you read before the next service to help you listen more attentively?
St. Justin Martyr
First Apology · Chapter 67: the Sunday assembly
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.
Complete sentence on the Sunday readings and instruction from chapter 67
St. Justin Martyr describes Scripture being read at the Sunday gathering and instruction following the reading. His account witnesses to the early place of readings and exhortation in Christian worship.
What helps you receive the readings with attention?
What might it mean to leave the service better prepared to live what you have heard?
How does St. Symeon’s account of the Epistle and Gospel help you notice their order?
Notes, observations & questions
Keep something you noticed, or a question for the next parish meeting.
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Importing merges the backup with your notes. It keeps existing text. Notes do not sync automatically between devices.
Sources
The Bible editions are the Orthodox Study Bible: St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint (SAAS) for the Old Testament and NKJV for the New Testament. Scripture excerpts are labelled; source links open the complete selected passage in a new tab.
Scripture in Service: A Parish Study of the Divine Liturgy, Lesson 5, printed pp. 10–11
