www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Vespers, Matins & the Divine Liturgy WE bless GOD???

Hristos a inviat! Christ is risen! Christos Anesti!

I have been wondering for some time now. There is a part in the DL that we say "we, praise thee, we BLESS thee" and other things that I cannot remember at the time.But why do we say we "bless" the Lord?

Thank you, mulţumesc,

Kyrie eleison,

Manuel

An alternative understanding of bless is to give worship to:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bless

and it notes that the term was used to describe the consecration of blood to gods.

You are talking about the last hymn sung at the anaphora (consecration of the eucharist) so in this context it makes a lot of sense to use this word.

Recall also the use of the word in Psalm 133: "Bless ye the Lord in His Holy place" etc.

In the LXX, the base word, as in Psalm 133:1, translating the Hebrew baruk (ברך), bless, is eulogeō. This form is also used in the Greek liturgy and in the other (western) ancient liturgical languages, having the same intrinsic base words; the Slavonic is probably just a calque of the Greek. Thus:

eu - logētos
blaho - sloveno
bene - dictus
good - word/saying