Languages, teaching, and church service
Dmitrevsky was born in Mikhailov in the Ryazan region. His teaching included Greek, Hebrew, rhetoric, and philosophy, and he worked in ecclesiastical administration. He translated the letter to the Corinthians associated with Clement of Rome. He died in Ryazan in 1823. He was a lay theological writer.[1]
At the Ryazan seminary he taught church music and directed the bishop’s choir, alongside his language teaching. In 1788 he became a translator for the Holy Synod; from 1790 he served as secretary of the Tambov ecclesiastical consistory. Teaching, translation, and administration all preceded the publication of his major liturgical work.[1]
Three kinds of explanation in one work
The work’s title identifies its method. Historical explanation asks about development and precedent; dogmatic explanation connects the service with belief; mystical or symbolic explanation attends to spiritual meaning. These approaches appear together, but they are not interchangeable kinds of evidence. A symbolic interpretation need not be an account of how a rite first arose.[2]
That distinction is one of the most useful things to keep in view while reading. The same action in the service may be considered as part of a sequence, as an expression of doctrine, and as an image of an event in salvation history. The book’s richness comes from that layering.
The chapter on washing the ministers’ hands shows the method at work. Dmitrevsky first recalls the laver of the Old Testament tabernacle, then connects the act with purity of conscience and the psalm recited during washing. He also cites Cyril of Jerusalem’s explanation of its spiritual meaning. The reader moves from an observable action to Scripture and a patristic interpretation within a single short passage.[3]
His discussion of the entrance with the Gospel makes the distinction even more explicit. He gives a historical account of bringing the Gospel book from the sacristy into the assembly for reading, then turns to the mystery represented by the entrance. These are Dmitrevsky’s explanations of the rite. Reading them side by side helps preserve the difference between his reconstruction of its origins and its place in theological contemplation.[3]
Following the service from preparation to completion
Dmitrevsky’s account moves through preparation, the church and its furnishings, the proskomedia, and the liturgy itself. The work received permission for publication in 1803 and was enlarged and corrected in later editions.[1]
Readers new to the service can begin by learning the broad sequence before stopping at every detail. Those already familiar with it may prefer to choose one part and compare the explanation with the prayers. In both cases, the point is to make the text of worship more intelligible. The book can accompany a service book, but its extended commentary has a different function from the prayers themselves.
The English edition begins before the service, with discourses on sacrifice and a gathering of Old and New Testament passages concerning the Eucharist. Chapters on the names and early history of the Liturgy lead into preparation for worship, the church building, vestments, and sacred vessels. Only then does the sustained explanation proceed through the proskomedia, the Liturgy of the Catechumens, and the Liturgy of the Faithful.[3]
Within that sequence, readers can find separate treatments of the Great Litany, antiphons, Gospel entrance, readings, Cherubic Hymn, Great Entrance, Creed, and Eucharistic canon. The account continues through Communion, thanksgiving, antidoron, and dismissal. A historical supplement presents The Book on the Temple associated with Symeon of Thessalonica, giving access to an earlier interpretive voice alongside Dmitrevsky’s synthesis.[3]
For an overview before beginning Dmitrevsky’s commentary, see our guide to the Orthodox Divine Liturgy. It introduces the sequence of the service and distinguishes an explanation of its meaning from instructions for celebrating it.
Books and where to begin
The Explanation of the Divine Liturgy is the work available here. Read it alongside the order of the service, using the contents to locate a particular action or prayer. Its historical language is best understood within the author’s early nineteenth-century setting.
For a focused beginning, read the chapter on preparation for the faithful, then choose a familiar moment such as the Gospel entrance or the Lord’s Prayer. Follow the relevant biblical references and compare the prayer itself with Dmitrevsky’s commentary. Readers seeking the argument as a whole can start with the preliminary discourses on sacrifice and work forward through the service.[3]
A reader’s guide maps the main divisions of the edition. The glossary explains liturgical, theological, and historical terms, while indexes of Scripture, patristic and ecclesiastical authorities, and subjects make it easier to return to a passage. These aids support both sustained reading and consultation during parish study; the extensive commentary is intended to deepen understanding of the service.[3]
Related authors and places
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem offers an early example of teaching connected with Christian initiation. Saint John of Kronstadt represents a later Russian pastoral voice closely associated with liturgical life.