How do we "bless" God?

edited November 2006 in Coptic Orthodox Church
Hey everyone,

During the Liturgy, we say "Amen. Amen. Amen. Your death, O Lord, we proclaim. Your holy resurrection and ascension, we confess. We praise You, we bless You, we thank You, O Lord, and we entreat You, O our God."

I'm confused on what it means when we say "we bless You". How do we bless Him? Aren't we the ones being blessed by Him?

Thanks

Comments

  • very good question esakla i've been wondering about that for a while. any responses guys?
  • Definition of Bless

    1. to consecrate or sanctify by a religious rite; make or pronounce holy.
    2. to request of God the bestowal of divine favor on: Bless this house.
    3. to bestow good of any kind upon: a nation blessed with peace.
    4. to extol as holy; glorify: Bless the name of the Lord.

    (from dictionary.com)

    In the Divine Liturgy, we say "we bless you" because we are exalting Our Lord. We are proclaiming that He is holy and that He is above all things. We are sanctifying Him, saying that He is set apart, and that we glorify His holy name.

    I hope I helped.


    Please forgive me and pray for me,

    Godhlpme3691

  • I asked my parents, and here's the explanation i got, im bad at explaining, but here's what my mother said:

    When we say the birds, the trees (etc..) "bless the Lord", we are not saying that somehow these things will give blessing to the Lord because they have some blessing to give. In fact, what we are saying is this:

    We don't give Him blessing NOR do we sanctify Him! He is already blessed AND sanctified from Himself!

    When we say "bless him " we use the word "bless" as the opposite of the word "Curse". I.e. Yours is the Blessing! As in :"Yours is the Power and the Glory" - its to Him the Blessing.

    Bless the Lord O you trees, winds and fire etc.. means to Him is the Blessing!

    Attribute the blessing to him (i.e. He is the blessing to which your existance is blessed).! I think it's a translation thing from arabic. Because, in arabic, the meaning would be that , even though the wording may be as simple as "Bless the Lord O rivers...".

    Listen, one thing is for sure: no one is going to sanctify the Lord!! How can u say that on tasbeha.org? I said less heretical things and I got crushed?? I said : "I love catholics" and i nearly got ex-communicated from the Coptic Church....

    This is site is funny, its so similar to many islamic ways of thinking... in islam, they seem to think that the more the say "Allahu Akbar" the greater "Allah" is becoming.. the less they say it, the more he deflates... we don't work that way in the orthodox faith.That's for sure!!
  • One thing is certain:

    No one who has ever published a message on tasbeha.org is blessing the lord!!

    That's for sure!!
  • ...uhmm im just confused. everytime we read this in liturgy i've stopped concentrating bout the mass, and thinking of what it means, and i still dont know. ...you can get ex-communicated for loving catholics?
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