Entrance Prayers - Bishop

Bishop

When a bishop will be celebrating the Divine Liturgy (which, in that case is called a "Hierarchical Divine Liturgy"), his entrance prayers are much more solemn. Instead of the ritual being done quietly, it takes place publicly, with the congregation assembled and the choir chanting hymns. All of the other clergy arrive early, before the bishop. The deacons and servers receive blessings and vest in the manner described above. However, only the priest who will be performing the Liturgy of Preparation (traditionally, the youngest priest in terms of the date of his ordination) will say the entrance prayers with the deacons in the manner prescribed above, vest, and begin the Liturgy of Preparation; the other priests remain in choir dress.

The bishop is formally received in the church before the Little Hours. The bells ring as the bishop approaches the church, and the clergy come out of the altar (sanctuary). The priest who celebrated the Liturgy of Preparation carries a tray covered with an aër on which is placed a blessing cross. The protodeacon carries the censer. Other servers carry the dikirion and trikirion, the bishop's crozier and a standing candlestick.

The bishop enters the church clothed in his monastic habit and klobuk, and carrying his walking stick. As he enters the narthex, a server takes his walking stick and the subdeacons place the episcopal mandyas on him as the choir chants Axion Estin (or, if it is one of the Great Feasts, the Ninth Irmos of the canon of the feast). The bishop kisses the blessing cross and holds it for each of the priests to kiss. The last to kiss the cross is the youngest priest, who receives it again on the tray. The bishop is then handed his crozier and the clergy go in procession to the ambon in front of the iconostasis. Instead of saying his own vesting prayers, the prayers are recited aloud for him by the protodeacon, and the bishop venerates the icons. He then turns and blesses as the choir sings Ton Despotin. He then stands on the kathedra (a platform in the center of the temple) and the priests each come to him, receive a blessing, and return to the altar to vest. The subdeacons remove the bishop's mandyas and place his episcopal vestments on him.