THE HOLY ANAPHORA (OR EUCHARISTIC PRAYER)

It is meet and right to hymn thee, to bless thee, to praise thee, to give thanks unto thee and to worship thee in every place of thy dominion; for thou art God Ineffable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever-existing and eternally the same, thou and thine only-begotten Son and thy Holy Spirit.

Thou it was who didst bring us from non-existence into being and when we had fallen away didst raise us up again, and didst not cease to do all things until thou hadst endowed us with thy kingdom which is to come.

For all these things we give thanks unto thee, and to thine only-begotten Son and to thy Holy Spirit; for all things of which we know and of which we know not and for all the benefits bestowed upon us, both manifest and unseen.

And we give thanks unto thee also for this ministry (liturgy) which thou dost vouchsafe to receive at our hands, even though there stand beside thee thousands of archangels and ten thousands of angels, the cherubim and the seraphim, six-winged, many-eyed, soaring aloft, borne on their wings…

Singing the triumphal hymn, shouting, proclaiming and saying:

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of thy glory: Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

This is one of my favorite prayers from the Divine Liturgy. With this prayer the church is united with the worshiping Angels in glorifying the Holy Trinity.

When I got home from church this morning I found the New York Times to be full of articles about "Intelligent Design" and the place of creationism vs. evolution in school education. Reflecting on the depth of the Holy Anaphora versus the mindset of those who teach evolution as a godless explanation for life caused me to feel sad. It seems obvious to me that both sides of the issue have certain merits and instead of taking sides, it would be much better if both sides would bend a little toward the middle and see the glimpses of truth that they both hold.

Firstly, to those who believe in a fundamental Creationist view; that God created everything at one point in time (over a literal six day period), as final and complete. Should consider that if God created all of humanity from one common pair of ancestors, then evolution explains why there is such a diversity of humanity throughout the world. Each "race" has developed characteristics in response to their natural environment. God's creative act is a constantly on-going process. God is actively involved in the world and did not "set it and forget it."

In Genesis 1:24, the bible says,"And God said. 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to their kinds." This verse becomes BEFORE the creation of Adam and Eve, and describes the process by which the earth become populated, and continues to produce life.

Secondly, to those who stand defiantly on the side of a Godless evolution, they should consider the observable evidence of the complexity and balance of life and see that logically it is unlikely that these incredibly balanced and well defined elements could have simply evolved over time without intervention from some Higher Intelligence with a purpose.

Even Charles Darwin, the "patron saint" of Evolution says, "There is a grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved." - Final Page of "The Origin of Species." - NOTE: The word "Creator" is capitalized in the original text.

Both sides of the issue can be balanced with the truth of scripture. Fundamentalism, on any issue, unbalanced by wisdom and intelligence, is dangerous.