This is why the Church must safeguard the eucharist from new introductions. I remember in one of my first visits to Mount Athos I heard a psalm of lament being sung during holy communion. I expressed my surprise to the Prior of the monastery, and when he looked into it they found that this order had been introduced in the nineteenth century. As soon as they realised this, they took it out again and restored the original order. You simply cannot sing ‘my soul is ailing from many sins’ during the most joyous and majestic eschatological moment of holy communion. We must sing ‘Praise the Lord in the highest, Alleluia’. There can be no hymn more triumphant than ‘Alleluia’. We cannot introduce changes without risk to the image of the eschaton, which is what this gathering is. The very fact that you go to Church, and take your place in this assembly, means that you are part of this image of the end times, which the whole Church presents to the world.
