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Liturgy

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	A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual Ritual A ritual is a set of repeated actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions.... such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine church tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches.... and Catholic Mass Mass (liturgy) The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, and in some largely High Church Lutheranism Lutheranism regions, including the Scandinavian and Baltic states countries.... , or a daily activity such as the Muslim Muslim :A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ".... salat Salat ?alat , the Islamic prayer, is one of the Five Pillars of Islam of Sunni Islam and one of the ten Aspects of the Religion of Twelver Shi'a Islam, observed by Muslims in supplication to Allah.... (see Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Oxford Dictionary of World Religions The *Oxford Dictionary of World Religions* is an alphabetical reference work with over 8,200 entries, topic index of 13,000 headings. There is also an introductory essay.... , p.582–3) and Jewish shacharit Jewish services Jewish services are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book.... . As a religious phenomenon, liturgy is a communal response to the sacred through activity reflecting praise, thanksgiving, supplication, or repentance. Ritualization may be associated with life events such as birth, coming of age Coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from adolescence to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition.... , marriage, and death. It thus forms the basis for establishing a relationship with a divine agency, as well as with other participants in the liturgy. Methods of dress, preparation of food, application of cosmetics or other hygienic practices are all considered liturgical activities. Repetitive formal rites, in some ways similar to liturgies, are natural and common in all human activities such as organized sports venues. Etymology The word comes from the Classical Greek Greek language Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European.... word ?e?t?????a (leitourgia) meaning "public work". In the Greek city-states, it had a different sense: some public good which a wealthy citizen arranged at his own expense, either voluntarily or by law. At Athens, the Assembly Deliberative assembly A deliberative assembly is an organization comprising members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions.... assigned liturgies to the wealthy, and there was a law by which any man who had been assigned a liturgy while a richer man had none could challenge him either to undertake the liturgy or to exchange property with him. The church use of the term comes from its frequent and historic use in the Greek text of the New Testament (eg Acts 13:2). It referred to a public and deliberate, well-defined ceremony. It is often translated as "minister" or "worship" in English language Bibles. Christianity Not infrequently in Christianity, a distinction is made between "liturgical" and "non-liturgical" churches based on the elaboration and/or antiquity of the worship, but this obscures the universality of public worship as a religious phenomenon. Thus, even the open or waiting worship of Quakers Religious Society of Friends The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers, was founded in England in the 17th century as a Christian denomination by people who were dissatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity.... is liturgical, since the waiting itself until the spirit moves individuals to speak is a prescribed form of Quaker worship, sometimes referred to as "the liturgy of silence." Typically in Christianity, however, the term "the liturgy" normally refers to a standardized order of events observed during a religious service, be it a sacrament Sacrament A sacrament, as defined in Hexam's Concise Dictionary of Religion is "a rite in which God is uniquely active." Augustine of Hippo defined a Christian sacrament as "a visible sign of an invisible reality." The Anglican Book of Common Prayer speaks of them as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace." Examples of sacram... al service or a service of public prayer Prayer Prayer is the act of communicating with a deity or spirit in worship. Specific forms of this may include praise, requesting divine providence, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one's emotional expression.... . As Peter Paul S.G. Kabigting explanation Liturgy defined as "public duty". External links History, theory, practice