The Divine Liturgy: A Commentary in the Light of the Fathers - Tapa blanda

When Christ first spoke about the Mystery of the Divine Eucharist, He called Himself the 'Bread of Life', which came down from heaven to be offered for the life and salvation of the world. Christ, the 'Bread of life' comes down at the moment of the Eucharistic annunciation into the virgin Church, and the holy CHurch becomes the 'good earth and blessed' which brings forth the Bread of life. It is this reality of Christ's descent and His presence within the Church that we experience in the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy is Christ in our midst. The holy Evangelists and the God-bearing Fathers spoke to us of Christ as they experienced Him when He was with them, as they experienced Him as a living reality in the Divine Liturgy: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, con­cerning the Word of life (1 John 1: 1–2). It is from the writings and eucharistic experiences of these saints, who have seen the true Light, who have heard the Word and ‘touched the immaculate head of the Master’, and who are eternally contemporary, that the present commentary is compiled.

Hieromonk Gregorios (in the world Panagiotis Hatziemmanuel) was born in Mytilene in 1936. He studied theology at the University of Athens, and then pursued graduate studies in area of Patristic Theology in Straßburg. After the completion of his studies he returned to Mytilene. There, in August of 1966, he received the Monastic Schema and was ordained to the Holy Diaconate. In September of the same year he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood, and the following month he departed for the Holy Mountain (Athos).

In August of 1968, accompanying the blessed Geronta Paisios and Archimandrite Vasilios, he took up residence at the Sacred Monastery of Stavronikita, and together they organized a new koinovion (cenobitic house). In 1971, Fr. Gregorios received the offikia of Spiritual Father, a ministry which he continues to serve in both Greece and Germany. Since 1980 he has lived, together with his brotherhood, in the Cell of St. John the Theologian, a dependency of the Sacred Monastery of Koutloumousiou.

His systematic engagement with the writings of the Fathers has borne fruit in articles, homilies and approximately 20 books (liturgical, pastoral, catechetical). He is most well-known for his book The Divine Liturgy: A Commentary in the Light of the Fathers, which has gone through multiple editions and been translated into many foreign languages.