33. On this occasion likewise a solemn procession through the church is made. The deacon carries above his head the sacred pyx in which is contained the sacrament under the appearance of bread, while the priest carries in his hands a chalice containing wine mixed with water which has been blessed but not consecrated. If the priest celebrates alone-since he does not always have the assistance of a deacon in saying Mass-he carries the pyx in his left hand over his head and holds the chalice in his right, proceeding in this way from the small to the larger altar. This is stated by Arcudius in the work already mentioned, bk. 3, chap. 58: "The Greeks have the custom in liturgies of the Presanctified of placing the Sacrament on a paten on a small altar of offering, and of pouring wine into a chalice without prayers before the ceremony begins. Then about the middle of the Mass, the priest, if he is celebrating alone, holds the paten above his head, takes the chalice in his right hand, and brings them to the larger altar, etc. But if the priest is celebrating this kind of Mass with the assistance of a deacon, it is customary for him to give the paten with the Sacrament to the deacon who carries it above his head, while he himself takes the chalice and follows after the deacon." At that point the people bend the knee, beat the breast, and adore the consecrated Bread carried by the priest or by the deacon, as We have mentioned above.

It is claimed that this is why people offer the same reverence during the greater entrance, when the bread and wine which are not yet consecrated are carried through the church in a rite of supplication. This is indeed the problem, and it is on the basis of this that criticisms have been leveled against the greater entrance. Nicolas Cabasilas writes: "If, however, there are some who prostrate themselves on the ground when the priest enters with the gifts, and adore and address these gifts as if they were the Body and Blood of Christ, these people have been confused by the entrance of the presanctified gifts and do not understand the difference between the two kinds of sacrifice; for in the first kind the gifts are not sanctified and not yet perfected at the entrance, while in the second kind they are perfected and sanctified and are the Body and Blood of Christ" (in Expositione Liturgiae, chap. 24). Later Arcudius gives this account: "Therefore the people through not understanding the difference between the two kinds of liturgy behave in the same way at ordinary and presanctified liturgies. And so they make a serious mistake, since of course when the priest carries the true Body of Christ on the paten at liturgies of the Presanctified, it is right that they prostrate themselves on the ground and adore it. But at sacrifices of the other kind, they should behave with more restraint since the offertory in these cases is made before the consecration" (Op. cit. bk. 3, chap. 19). In later chapters of this book, Arcudius refutes Gabriel, Archbishop of Philadelphia, a voluminous defender of this rite. Even Goarius, in the passage quoted above, considered it necessary to adduce some appropriate arguments in defense of this rite.

The following passage occurs in the latest edition of a work called Perpetuitas Fidei Catholicae de Sacramento Eucharistiae, adversus Claudium vindicata, p. 68: that "the Greeks, far from not adoring the sacrament of the Eucharist, are rather obliged to cleanse themselves, thereby demonstrating that they do not pass beyond the limits of what is right and do not honor still unconsecrated bread and wine with the same acts of adoration as they use to reverence them after consecration." Le Brun asserted without hesitation that the nature of the rite called for some measure of reformation. In relating that he observed with his own eyes the performance of this ceremony among the Armenians, Tournefort (vol. 3, pp. 411f) expresses a certain indignation. Chardon in the passage noted above cites from the writings of Tournefort and Fr. Le Brun, but then leaves the point of the question undecided. So the fathers of the council held at Zamosc in 1720, in their decree de celebratione Missarum, sect. 4, unhesitatingly prohibited any genuflection or bowing of the head while still unconsecrated bread and wine were being brought from the small altar to the main altar. "The synod forbids all genuflection and bowing of the head while the bread of oblation is being brought for consecration from the smaller altar to the main altar during the period of the offertory. It commands the parish priests to admonish the people on this matter, to prevent their exposure to the danger of idolatry." In making this decree, the fathers may have had in mind the incident related in 2 Kings 18 of Ezechiah, King of Judah, who broke the bronze snake made by Moses because the children of Israel burned incense for it even up to his time.