Elevation of the host

In Christian liturgy the elevation is a ritual raising of the consecrated elements of bread and wine during the celebration of the Eucharist. The term is applied especially to that by which, in the Roman Rite of Mass, the Host and the Chalice are each shown to the people immediately after each is consecrated. The term may also refer to a piece of music played on the organ or sung at that point in the liturgy.

All liturgies have an elevation of the Blessed Sacrament, just before the communion, showing the people, as an act of reverence, what they are about to receive.This elevation was already in use at the time of the Apostolic Constitutions.

In the Byzantine Rite, this elevation takes place as the last ekphonesis (audible exclamation) by the priest before communion. He raises the Lamb (Host) slightly above the diskos (paten) and exclaims: Τὰ ἅγια τοῖς ἁγίοις, i.e. The holy (consecrated) things (the Body and Blood of Christ) for the holy (consecrated) people. In response the people, or rather the choir, acclaim: "One is holy, one Lord, Jesus Christ in the glory of God the Father" or similar words. The phrase "The holy things for the holy people" is found in the Apostolic Constitutions, and also in the Mozarabic Rite, but at a different point.

In the Roman Rite of Mass, this elevation is accompanied by the words Ecce Agnus Dei. Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi (Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sins of the world), echoing the words of John the Baptist in John 1:29.

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