The Liturgy is not a static experience, but a dynamic journey. A journey to and through the kingdom of heaven. It is our entry into another reality. These first words of the Liturgy announce to us where we are and in whose presence we stand. Again we say, man is unique.
Man alone prays.
Read the words, pray them, remember the things asked and prayed for in them. Make these public petitions as the quiet concerns of the heart. This often heard response for mercy from God is the simplest and most pure of prayers. It is also the foundation of our tradition of the Jesus Prayer in the ascetic life of all Orthodox Christians. It is our tradition at certain points of the Divine Liturgy for the faithful to make the sign of the Cross.