TheDismissal (Greek:απόλυσις;Slavonic:otpust) is the finalblessing said by aChristianpriest orminister at the end of a religious service. Inliturgical churches the dismissal will often take the form of ritualized words and gestures, such as raising the minister's hands over the congregation, or blessing with thesign of the cross. The use of a final blessing at the end of a liturgical service may be based upon thePriestly Blessing prescribed for thekohanim in theTorah (Numbers 6:23–27).
In theEastern Orthodox Church, blessings by thepriest will occur at both the beginning and the end of each service, and there may be otherbenedictions during the course of the service. The final benediction is the dismissal, and will often entail mention of thefeast day orsaint being commemorated that day.
The priest will bless with his right hand, and the bishop will bless with both hands. In both cases, the hand is held so that the fingers form the initialsIC XC (the abbreviation for "Jesus Christ" in Greek), and at the concluding words he traces theSign of the Cross in the air with his hand. If abishop is holding hispaterissa (crozier) while making the dismissal, he will raise both his right and left hands and trace the Sign of the Cross with both his crozier and right hand, crossing the one in front of the other, then blessing again with theDikirion and Trikion, as the choir chants,Eis pollá etē, Déspota ("Many years, O Master"). More solemn benedictions, such as that which comes at the end of the Divine Liturgy, will be made with a blessing cross rather than the hand.
Dismissals are of two types: the Greater Dismissal and the Lesser Dismissal.[1] The Greater Dismissal is used at the end of theDivine Liturgy,Vespers andMatins.
The general form of the Greater Dismissal is as follows:
* At the Great Dismissal, the priest will insert a special phrase according to the day of the week:
On Sundays and fromPascha until itsapodosis (leavetaking), it comes at the very beginning:
On Wednesdays and Fridays, it is inserted after mentioning the Mother of God:
On the other days of the week it is inserted before mentioning the patron saint:
The Lesser Dismissal is used services at which the Greater Dismissal is not called for, such as theLittle Hours andTypica,Compline,Midnight Office, etc. It does not mention the commemoration of the day of the week (except on Sundays), the patron saint of the church or the saint of the day.
The Lesser Dismissal is as follows:
On Sundays and from Pascha until its apodosis, the phrase,May He Who rose from the dead... is inserted at the beginning of the Lesser Dismissal; however, none of the other weekday phrases are used.
When used at the end of theLiturgy of Preparation andPrayers of Thanksgiving after Communion the saint who composed the Liturgy is inserted after mention of the Mother of God (see next section).
At the dismissals used at the Divine Liturgy—whether Greater or Lesser—after commemorating the apostles, the priest adds the name of the saint who is credited with writing the Liturgy:
On Sundays, at each of theGreat Feasts of the Lord—from the day of the feast until itsapodosis (leavetaking)--on each day ofHoly Week, and throughoutBright Week there are special phrases which are added at the beginning of the dismissals. These are used at both the Lesser and the Greater Dismissals, and are inserted before the words:Christ our true God....
The phrases used on the Great Feasts of the Lord (excluding Palm Sunday and Pascha) are not said on Sundays, but are replaced with the normal Sunday phrase:May He Who rose from the dead... Furthermore, on the Great Feasts of the Lord, and from Palm Sunday throughThomas Sunday (the Sunday after Easter) neither the patron saint of the church nor the saint of the day are mentioned in the dismissal.