Fr. A. Schmemann's work was given a detailed answer by Fr. Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky in his article: "Ecumenics against the Background of Orthodox Liturgics." 1963. Jordanville, N.I.

Fr. M. Pomazansky writes: "We have dwelt on Fr. A. Schmemann's book in too much detail because in the future, the Orthodox reader will be given liturgical dogmatics, based on the views presented in this book. But if the foundations are so doubtful, can we be sure that the constructions will be made on them?... If we speak of divine services as members of the Orthodox Church, we must have inherent in the understanding of the history of our divine services and its external status quo, as the Church herself lives. This principle is fundamentally at odds with Western Protestant views... And if we keep the Orthodox Creed, if we confess that we are on the right dogmatic path, we must not doubt that both the direction of church life and the liturgical order that have been created on the basis of our Orthodox confession of faith are infallible and correct" (see page 18 of the said work).

The Subject and Task of the Liturgics

The task of liturgics is the scientific explanation of the external forms of worship established in Christianity. Liturgical forms can be considered: 1. from the side of dogmatic, symbolic, and moral; 2. from the practical point of view, to what extent certain forms of worship are applicable to life, and 3. from a historical point of view.

In Western Christianity, in Roman Catholic liturgy, a practical approach to the study of worship has been adopted. This is explained by the nature of Catholicism as a "religion of form". Until recently, Catholic liturgists did not give a complete idea of the liturgy and history. True, at the beginning of the century, some scholars began to systematize liturgical material on the basis of historical data. However, now the Catholic Church has embarked on a path of reform, after the 2nd Vatican Council, starting in the 60s of the twentieth century. Therefore, their divine services were reformed, new customs were introduced, the altar was moved to the middle of the church, the worshippers sit around, and the clergy stand or sit with their backs to the altar, facing the people. At such a service, not only the organ is used, but the use of the guitar and other instruments is allowed, and there are also vocal performances. Thus, Roman Catholicism followed the path of Protestantism. Roman Catholics can now disrupt worship at any time, depending on the circumstances. We know of the meetings of the Pope of Rome with various representatives of other faiths, he participated in prayers even with non-Christians, for example, with pagans, Jews and Mohammedans.

The theoretical approach is more accepted in Protestant liturgics. Protestantism has arrogated to itself the right to create different systems of worship, which are supposed to be in accordance with what is established by Christ and the Apostles, but they reject tradition and discard forms, considering them as ballast. Therefore, their services are expressed in meetings, in the reading of the Holy Scriptures, in sermons and in the singing of cantatas of spiritual verses. And in recent times, since Protestantism is inclined to unite with various denominations, their divine services have acquired the character of ecumenical prayers, where not only Christian confessions, but also non-Christian ones often participate in prayers. The so-called "ecumenical meetings" organized by the "World Council of Churches" lead to the organization of ecumenical prayers, in which, unfortunately, not only Protestants, sectarians and all sorts of other non-Christian religions often take part, but also some Orthodox participants in these meetings.

The main task of Orthodox Liturgics is to explain the liturgy of the Orthodox Church, i.e., to explain the composition and content of all types of worship. As Archimandrite Gabriel correctly points out: "In the explanations of the divine services, the idea must be clearly indicated that visible actions, things connected in order with the performance of this or that sacrament, are signs or instruments and conductors into our soul of the invisible grace of the Holy Spirit; whether the Liturgics will explain the composition and content of various kinds of prayers, the various hours of public worship, it should show that all these church services, in spite of their application to the various needs and circumstances of the earthly life of a Christian, have one main meaning, one essential goal, to detach us as often as possible from earthly vanity and to calm our mind and heart in God, to tear our spirit away from all earthly and worldly things as often as possible and to direct it to the heavenly and divine" (see Archimandrite Gabriel's "Guide to Liturgy," p. 14, Tver, 1886).

Through Orthodox worship, as Archim. Gabriel, we are raised to living communion with God, and this, in turn, is the preparation of believers for eternal communion with Him, in the future life of the age to come, for the blessedness for which man is predestined. Therefore, in the Liturgics it is necessary to approach the explanation of church services from different angles: from the contemplative, educational, spiritual and mysterious, i.e. to comprehend the supersensible in the sensual, "to ascend from the material to the contemplation of the spiritual, to see in the sacraments of the earthly Church the beginning of the heavenly mysteries, in the prayerful service to our Lord the beginning and prototype of our eternal service in heaven, in standing before the Altar the beginning of the glorious standing before the Lord in the life of the age to come, and in the psalmody of the earth-born there is a semblance of the silent singing of the heavenly powers" (Archim. Gabriel, p. 15, Tver, 1886).

At the same time, Liturgics must present an interpretation of the divine service from the dogmatic, moral, and historical side, for without such an approach to the exposition, to the study of the divine service, much in the divine service will appear to us unclear and incomprehensible and unauthoritative.

Liturgics, in explaining the rites of the Orthodox Church, is obliged to indicate the origin of these liturgical rites. It is important for an Orthodox person to know where all the church rites originate, who composed them, in what form they were performed in the ancient Church and how they came down to us. If there were changes in the rites, then what and why? For, knowing the history of the gradual development and completion of church services, it will be easier for us to interpret and explain them to those who do not know it and, at the same time, are interested in this issue. At the present time, the attitude towards our Orthodox services is often unfriendly, and sectarians often attack our rites, saying that our services are now performed differently than they were in the ancient Church. It is pointed out that in the Byzantine period a lot of unnecessary and pompous ritual was allegedly introduced, this is especially attributed to expensive decorations of church utensils, vestments and various ceremonies. But in order to bring the erring ones to their senses or to protect our Orthodox children from such temptation, the Liturgics must show that all the rites in their essential parts originate from the deepest Christian antiquity. They have remained the same as they were in the ancient Church.

But since the Church lives its grace-filled life, the divine services in some of their parts were supplemented and developed. New services were composed for the newly glorified saints, new rites and prayers for all kinds of needs appeared, etc. Church construction was also beautified, just as the outside of the churches were more magnificent, so inside they were decorated with iconography and icon-cases with images of saints and with especially revered or glorified icons. In turn, zealous Christians made offerings to their churches and decorated them with valuable icons, church utensils, and vestments. And these decorations were not the main goal, but the main thing was the desire that the celebration of divine services, and especially the Divine Liturgy, take place in an appropriate environment corresponding to the holiness of these services. Therefore, for the church, for divine services, for offerings to God, zealous Christians tried to bring the best, the most valuable, the most beautiful.

Thus, it is necessary for every Orthodox Christian to know at least briefly the history and origin of the divine service, so that, participating in public worship, he may clearly comprehend its mysterious meaning, for without this he will not know how and for what purpose it is performed, and will not understand its meaning.

But it is even more necessary to study the Liturgics for a pastor of the Church, and especially for those who are preparing to be pastors. Because pastors themselves must not only perform church services with full understanding and reverence, but at the same time they must teach their flock, they must be able to explain everything and indicate to those who are interested where a more detailed explanation of all this can be found, and so on.

Liturgics, as a theological science, and a practical one at that, has a close connection with all other theological sciences related to it. Thus, it is connected with Dogmatic Theology, from which it draws its content. It also, like Dogmatics, explains how dogmatic truths are clearly revealed in divine services, in sacraments and rites, or, speaking of the forms of expression of worship of God, Liturgics indicates the ways of pleasing God in prayers, fasts, and other cases, it also indicates how abstract moral rules must be applied in life, and in this way it is connected with Moral Theology. Liturgics provides homiletics with material for church preaching. Liturgics is constantly connected with Church history, for in explaining the divine services it refers to it. Therefore, it can be clearly observed that there is a close connection between the divine services with which Liturgics is concerned and other elements of spiritual-religious and Christian life, i.e., between the faith, which is concerned with Dogmatics, and Christian activity, which is occupied by Moral Theology.