The Divine Liturgy that we see is an image or icon which is linked directly to the heavenly worship that takes place outside of time in eternity. Whenever we celebrate the Divine Liturgy we are lifted up into heaven and are present at the worship of the angels and the saints at the throne of God. In our celebration of the Divine Liturgy here in this life, we try to reflect the glory of that heavenly worship. Therefore we decorate the Church with as much beauty as we can, the singing and chanting should sound like the songs of the angels inasmuch as we can do so. The clergy and those serving in the altar wear vestments that are unlike our daily garments. The priest stands as an icon of Jesus Christ and the deacon is the image of the archangel proclaiming the mysteries of God and presenting before God the needs and desires of men. The servers in the altar represent the cherubim and seraphim – those angelic orders which surround the throne of God constantly singing His praises.

We have been blessed over the past few months with having an abundance of altar servers – sometimes too many to fit in the altar at once. In order to increase the beauty of the services and decrease the chaos of so many hands, we will be creating two separate teams of altar servers which will alternate weeks in the altar. Because these servers represent the angels, we have named these two teams: Seraphim and Cherubim. Beginning with the first Sunday in October these teams will alternate serving. On the calendar each week the team assigned to serve will be noted. On the weeks when your child’s team is to serve, please make sure that they are there early – at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy (that’s 9:30am) so that they can prepare properly for their duties that day.

To begin with the teams will be as follows:

Seraphim – Nataniel, U-el, Johann, Simeon

Cherubim – Alexander, Constantine, Mark, Andre

The make up of these teams may change as need dictates, however, we will do everything possible to inform parents ahead of time should that occur. There will be one altar manager who will be in the altar every week (presently that will be Luke) who will provide direction and consistency for the teams.