BEATITUDE

BEATITUDE – (1) Literally, “exalted happiness. Blessings promised to individuals for various reasons. (2) “ The nine fold blessing of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount is called the Beatitudes ^{(Matt. 5:3-12).}  (3) Salutation addressed to an Orthodox Patriarch (“Your Beatitude”).  (4) Liturgically, the Blessedness replace the third antiphon at Divine Liturgy. (All that remains from the antiphon is the entrance verse “Come, let us worship…” ^{(Ps. 94 [95]:6)} with its refrain.) The term Beatitudes (or stichera at the Beatitudes) also refers to the troparia inserted between these verses according to the Typikon, a practice begun in Constantinople in the 12th century.