People: Save us, O Son of God, who arose from the dead, to You we sing: Alleluia (3).

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Only begotten Son and Word of God, Immortal One, Who for our salvation deigned to be incarnate by Your Birth, taking flesh from the Holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, without change You became man. Being crucified, Christ our God, You conquered death by trampling death. As one of the Holy Trinity, Who is glorified together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us!

Priest does small litany as before, concluded by(in a low voice): Lord, You have given us grace to offer these common prayers with one heart. You have promised to grant the requests of two or three gathered in Your name. Fulfill now the petitions of Your servants for their benefit, giving us the knowledge of Your truth in this world, and granting us eternal life in the world to come. (aloud) For You are a good and loving God, and to You we give glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages.

People: Amen.

(The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, pp. 5-7)

The second antiphon is the first section of the Divine Liturgy that includes material that changes according to the Church calendar (underlined above). Since every Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection, we sing that Christ arose from the dead. For weekday liturgies that celebrate the saints we call Him “wondrous in His saints.” At Christmas (December 25) we sing, “Who was born of the Virgin” at Theophany (January 6), “Who was baptized in the Jordan by John” for the Annunciation (March 25), “Who became flesh for us” on Palm Sunday, “Who sat upon the colt of an ass” for the Ascension, “Who rose from our midst to the heavens in glory” for the Transfiguration (August 6), “Who was transfigured on Mount Tabor” and for the Elevation of the Cross (September 14), “Who was crucified in the flesh.” The only time when we sing this antiphon for someone other than Christ is Pentecost, when we address the Holy Spirit, the Good Comforter.

You might have noticed that the antiphons are sung together with verses from the psalms. This shows that the Christian liturgy has Jewish roots. The Jewish Liturgy used psalms extensively, and they were sung antiphonally (alternating between two choirs). Christians interspersed psalm verses with a Christian refrain, and concluded with, “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen,” followed by a Christian hymn. The second antiphon is a perfect example of the above, and the hymn, “Only begotten Son,” goes back to the sixth century, being written by the emperor-theologian Justinian. It describes in a very concise form the person of Christ: He is the only Son of God, begotten by the Father before all ages, the Word of God, immortal and yet putting on mortal flesh from the Holy Theotokos, who carries Him in her womb and gives birth to Him, and yet remains a virgin. He becomes a man, and yet does not change in His Divinity. This is the mystery of Christ’s person: He is both God and man, both immortal and mortal, both without beginning and conceived by the Holy Spirit, almighty like God but also sharing in our weakness.

The silent prayer of the second antiphon recalls that Christ has promised to be present with and fulfill the request of even two or three people gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20), but only those requests that are beneficial to them and their salvation. The priest is asking the Lord to supply us with an abundance of knowledge of His Truth in this world, and with life eternal in the world to come. According to the holy evangelist John (John 17:3), life eternal is precisely to know the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent, so as our knowledge of God grows, we go from mortality to immortality.

The final doxology of the second antiphon emphasizes a different aspect of our God: His goodness and love of man. Only God truly deserves to be called good, because only God knows what is good for us and is always ready to bestow it upon us. What we think is good, and what we wish for, sometimes brings us more evil than good, and our love many times spoils the ones we love, but God’s love always brings us closer to Him and cleanses us of all evil.

Amen - so be it!