At the end of the Divine Liturgy, after the Communion and the Thanksgiving for the Sacraments, the priest turns towards the people and, coming out of the sanctuary, says: "Let us depart in peace." We must remember that in early days these words marked the end of the Liturgy, and the faithful were asked to return to their homes "in peace."

The word "peace" appears often in the prayers of the Church. The Church is the great champion of peace. It was peace which the angels proclaimed on the night of the Nativity as they sang: 'Glory to God on high and peace on earth.' Christ frequently spoke of peace: "I leave you peace, My peace I give to you: I give it to you not the way the world gives." The Church calls for peace as it begins the Liturgy and other services with the Litany of Peace: "In peace let us pray to the Lord." In his War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy misinterprets these words when he takes the word "peace" to mean "the community of men". The actual meaning of these words is the invitation to pray to the Lord in peace, with the tranquility of mind. "For the peace from above" is not peace given to us by the world, peace achieved through peace negotiations and treaties; it is the peace given to us by Christ. But we also pray "for peace in the whole world", because nothing so dims the rejoicing of the Church as raging enmity in the world.

This peace is not the peace which is simply the opposite of war. Politicians, who so readily use the word "peace" and who so frequently abuse it do not recognize that the most peaceful places in the world are cemeteries, not conference tables at which the word "peace" appears in all shapes and forms. The "peace" of which the Church speaks, with which it sends its congregation into the world after the Liturgy, is a different peace. It cannot be taken away by anyone; it is capable of filling the hearts and minds of men even on battle- fields, in wars, revolutions, catastrophes. It is an inner peace. It is certainly not individual or personal; it is the peace of which St. Seraphim spoke when he said: "keep the spirit of peace within yourself and a thousand around you will be saved." So it is the peace which cannot be concentrated upon, or contained within one, but which uses one as a conduit through which to reach "a thousand" other hearts as affirmed by St. Seraphim.

So it is the peace to which the priest calls the worshippers as he sends them off on their worldly business after the Divine Service. In the early days of the Church, there no doubt existed a kind of spiritual insatiability. People were loath to leave this "heaven on earth." And so the priest's words 'let us depart in per are answered by the people "in the name of the Lord" - with God's name, in the name of God. And the priest responds to this request by ending his dialogue with the people with the words "let us pray to the Lord" and by reading the last prayer for the Church, the people, for peace...