Great Litany (Litany of Peace)

The first three petitions set the direction of everything that follows. "In peace let us pray to the Lord. For the peace from above and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord. For the peace of the whole world, for the welfare of the holy Churches of God, and for the union of all, let us pray to the Lord" — each answered by the people's "Lord, have mercy." (The wording here is that of the Orthodox Church in America's service books; other jurisdictions' translations vary slightly.)

Notice the order. "In peace" is not yet a request but a condition: the Church asks her people to stand in peace before asking for anything — reconciled, unhurried, with quieted minds — because prayer made in agitation and enmity is hobbled from the start (Christ says leave your gift and be reconciled first, Matthew 5:23-24). Only then does peace become a petition, and even then it is asked for in Christ's order: first "the peace from above," God's own gift which the world cannot give (John 14:27), then the peace of the whole world. The litany is often called by the Greek name eirenika, "the peace petitions," for exactly this reason; the other traditional name, megale synapte, means the "great joined-together" prayer — many petitions linked into one.

From there the litany moves outward with a thoroughness that surprises newcomers. It prays for "this holy house and for those who enter with faith, reverence, and the fear of God"; for the bishop, the clergy, and all the people; for the country and its civil authorities; for "this city, for every city and country, and for the faithful dwelling in them"; for "seasonable weather, for abundance of the fruits of the earth, and for peaceful times"; for "travelers by land, by sea, and by air; for the sick and the suffering; for captives and their salvation"; and "for our deliverance from all affliction, wrath, danger, and necessity." Weather and harvests stand in the same list as souls and churches: the Church prays for the whole fabric of creaturely life, and prays for the world, not only for herself — obeying the apostle's instruction that intercession be made "for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority" (1 Timothy 2:1-2) — written when the authorities in question were pagan.

The litany then gathers itself: "Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and keep us, O God, by Thy grace." And it ends where Orthodox prayer habitually ends — "Commemorating our most holy, most pure, most blessed and glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and each other, and all our life unto Christ our God," to which the people answer, "To Thee, O Lord." After a dozen requests, the last word is surrender: not "give us," but "we give ourselves." The priest seals the whole with a doxology, for, as the concluding exclamation says, to God are due "all glory, honor, and worship."

The Great Litany opens the Divine Liturgy immediately after the opening blessing, and likewise begins Vespers and Matins; adapted forms open the services of baptism, marriage, and other mysteries, so it is the doorway to nearly all Orthodox worship. Historically its position has moved: in the early Byzantine rite the great intercession of this kind stood after the entrance and readings, and it migrated to the head of the service as the Liturgy's opening rites developed — one reason its scope is so complete, since it was once the Church's principal intercession. A few petitions vary by place and time: the naming of civil authorities differs by country, and petitions have been added in wars, plagues, and droughts — the form is stable, not frozen.

For the worshipper, the Great Litany is the Liturgy's first lesson in scale. Before anything else happens, the Church has already prayed for essentially everyone: the person beside you, the government, the enemy's harvest, sailors, prisoners, the anxious, and the sick. Whoever prays it attentively finds that the Liturgy will not let prayer stay private; the "Lord, have mercy" you offer is on behalf of people you will never meet. It is the assembled Church doing what the litany form does best — stretching a single short cry of mercy until it covers the world.