Divine Liturgy
What is the Synaxarium?
The Synaxarium is the Church's daily reading of saints' lives, feasts, and commemorations. During the Liturgy, it is read after the apostolic readings and before the Psalm and Gospel.
The Synaxarium shows how Scripture has been lived in the Church through martyrs, bishops, monastics, confessors, and faithful servants. It is arranged by the Coptic calendar so the Church remembers holy lives and events on their appointed days.
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight.
Why It Belongs In Worship
The Liturgy is offered with the whole Body of Christ. Remembering the saints teaches that holiness is possible, costly, and real. The saints are not treated as separate from the Gospel; they are the fruit of Christ's grace in the life of the Church.
The placement of the Synaxarium is meaningful. The Church hears the apostolic readings, then remembers those who lived the apostolic faith, then rises toward the Psalm and Gospel. Doctrine, witness, and worship are held together.
How To Listen
Listen for the virtue being displayed: repentance, courage, mercy, endurance, ascetic struggle, confession of faith, or love for Christ. Some historical details may be unfamiliar, but the spiritual point is clear: Christ forms holy people in every generation.
The Synaxarium also teaches the faithful to keep time as the Church keeps it. The year is marked by feasts, fasts, martyrs, bishops, monastics, and the events of salvation. Reading it in the Liturgy trains the people to remember the works of God and the witnesses who followed Him.
- Coptic Rites (3): Liturgy of the Word, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Teaching slides on the Pauline, Catholic Epistle, Praxis, Synaxarium, Gospel litany, Creed, and related rites.
- Why are there multiple readings during the Liturgy?, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Pastoral answer naming the Pauline Epistle, Catholic Epistle, Praxis, Synaxarium, and Holy Gospel as the five readings.
- Saints and Intercession in the Liturgy, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Pastoral answer on commemorating saints and asking their intercessions.
- Martyrdom, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Diocesan overview of martyrdom in the history and spirituality of the Church.
Synaxarium: The liturgical book of saints' lives and commemorations read in church so the faithful remember the witnesses who lived the Gospel before them.
Confession: The sacrament of repentance in which a person confesses sins before God in the presence of the priest and receives absolution and guidance.