The Greater Entrance

30. You already know well that your liturgy has two entrances, called the smaller and the greater. The smaller entrance is when the book of the holy Gospel is brought in, but the greater entrance is when the unconsecrated gifts of bread and wine are carried to the holy altar from the small altar or table known as the prothesis on which they were prepared. Accordingly the second sentence of this admonition deals with the greater, not with the smaller entrance. At the greater entrance, the practice of this Rite is for either the deacon or the priest to carry over his head the bread on a paten covered with a veil. The deacon carries the bread when a solemn Mass is celebrated with a deacon as assistant and minister. On such an occasion, he holds the paten with the bread above his head with his left hand and with his right he incenses the priest who is carrying the chalice with wine. When the priest celebrates without a deacon, he is incensed by the lector while he holds the paten with the bread over his head with his left hand and with his right he carries the sacred chalice on a level with his breast. It is at this greater entrance, then, that the people bow, or, in accordance with the different customs of different districts, prostrate themselves, and strike the ground with their foreheads just as if the Body and Blood of Christ the Lord were contained under the appearances of the bread and wine even before consecration. "The people everywhere address and adore the King of Heaven as if He were present in this offering; in Greece they bow very low but avoid bending the knee so as not to appear to imitate the Latins even on weekdays; while in Russia they prostrate themselves and strike the ground with their foreheads" (Peter Arcudius, De Concordia Eccles. Occid. et Orient., bk. 3, chap. 19).