Apolysis

JOHN A. MCGUCKIN

Greek term for “Dismissal,” the short series of prayers and repeated blessings that end an Orthodox service. The Apolysis of the Sunday Divine Liturgy commences with the extended blessing that invokes the resurrected Christ (“May he who rose from the dead, Christ our true God, through the prayers of ...”) and goes on to name a whole list of saints, including the Theotokos, the apostles, the saint who composed the liturgy that is being used (St. Chrysostom, Basil, or James, for example), the church’s patronal saint, and the saints commemorated that day in the calendar. Shorter forms of Dismissal are found in other services of the hours. On weekdays the Apolysis begins without invoking the resurrection as such (“May Christ our true God ...”).