Public worship, or, as people say, church services, is the main thing for which our churches are intended. Every day the Orthodox Church holds evening, morning and afternoon services in churches. Each of these services consists in turn of three types of services, collectively combined into a daily cycle of services:

vespers - from the 9th hour, vespers and compline;

morning - from midnight office, matins and 1st hour;

daytime - from the 3rd hour, 6th hour and Divine Liturgy.

Thus, the entire daily circle consists of nine services.

In Orthodox worship, much is borrowed from the worship of Old Testament times. For example, the beginning of a new day is considered not midnight, but six o’clock in the evening. That is why the first service of the daily cycle is Vespers.

At Vespers, the Church remembers the main events of the sacred history of the Old Testament: the creation of the world by God, the fall of the first parents, the Mosaic legislation and the ministry of the prophets. Christians give thanks to the Lord for the day they have lived.

After Vespers, according to the Church Rules, Compline is supposed to be served. In a certain sense, these are public prayers for the sleep of the future, in which the descent of Christ into hell and the liberation of the righteous from the power of the devil are remembered.

At midnight, the third service of the daily cycle is supposed to be performed - the Midnight Office. This service was established to remind Christians of the Second Coming of the Savior and the Last Judgment.

Before sunrise, Matins is served - one of the longest services. It is dedicated to the events of the earthly life of the Savior and contains many prayers of both repentance and gratitude.

At about seven o'clock in the morning they perform the 1st hour. This is the name of the short service at which the Orthodox Church remembers the presence of Jesus Christ at the trial of the high priest Caiaphas.

The 3rd hour (nine o’clock in the morning) is served in remembrance of the events that took place in the Upper Room of Zion, where the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, and in Pilate’s Praetorium, where the Savior was sentenced to death.

The 6th hour (noon) is the time of the Lord’s crucifixion, and the 9th hour (three o’clock in the afternoon) is the time of His death on the cross. The above-mentioned services are dedicated to these events.

The main divine service of the Orthodox Church, a kind of center of the daily circle, is the Divine Liturgy. Unlike other services, the liturgy provides an opportunity not only to remember God and the entire earthly life of the Savior, but also to actually unite with Him in the sacrament of Communion, established by the Lord Himself during the Last Supper. According to the time, the liturgy should be performed between the 6th and 9th hour, before noon, in the pre-dinner time, which is why it is also called mass.

Modern liturgical practice has brought its own changes to the regulations of the Charter. Thus, in parish churches, Compline is celebrated only during Lent, and the Midnight Office is celebrated once a year, on the eve of Easter. The 9th hour is extremely rarely served. The remaining six services of the daily circle are combined into two groups of three services.

In the evening, Vespers, Matins and the 1st hour are performed in succession. On the eve of Sundays and holidays, these services are combined into one service called the all-night vigil. In ancient times, Christians actually often prayed until dawn, that is, they stayed awake throughout the night. Modern all-night vigils last two to four hours in parishes and three to six hours in monasteries.

In the morning, the 3rd hour, the 6th hour and the Divine Liturgy are served successively. In churches with large congregations, there are two liturgies on Sundays and holidays - early and late. Both are preceded by reading the hours.

On those days when there is no liturgy (for example, on Friday of Holy Week), a short sequence of pictorial ones is performed. This service consists of some chants of the liturgy and, as it were, “depicts” it. But visual arts do not have the status of an independent service.

Divine services also include the performance of all sacraments, rituals, reading of akathists in church, community readings of morning and evening prayers, rules for Holy Communion.

The study of Sunday worship forms the center and meaning of the year-long course in liturgics. Why? On the one hand, this is connected with the place of Sunday service in worship in general, and on the other hand, with the place of Sunday service in the life of each of us. If we ask ourselves which service we attend most often (of course, if we are not regents or choristers), then we will have to answer that on Sunday. And if a person understands what he hears at the Sunday service, then this is already something, but knowing the Sunday service well is a lot.

Sunday worship, according to the Charter, occupies an extremely important place in church life.

What is the “thought of the Charter”? This idea is not directly expressed anywhere in the Typikon. The thought of the Charter is cast into a certain form, into a certain structure, into certain rules. These rules do not exist for themselves, not like the rules of the road: you need to agree on right-hand or left-hand traffic so as not to collide. You can introduce right-hand drive in one country, left-hand drive in another, it doesn’t matter. But liturgical rules are not an end in themselves; they are a repository of meaning. Every chapter of the Typikon is not just some confusing text or a long-overdue sequence of prayers and chants, it is our teaching in faith and church life. The Typikon creates a certain hierarchy of worship, and this hierarchy is present in everything. There is a hierarchy within one service, there is a hierarchy within a church day, within a week, within a church year. This hierarchy is expressed not in a primitive division into first, second and third places, but in the variety of shades of church services and in their most harmonious, most colorful combination. Having assimilated the structure of the Rule in its entirety, a person begins to live in the same rhythm with it, in the same rhythm with the Church, and gradually all church life and all church teaching enters into himself, into his heart. Gradually, he begins to feel the whole gamut of colors of Orthodox worship, and then he already perfectly understands the place of Easter in the church year, and how to celebrate the Annunciation, and what is the place of the polyeleos saints, and what is assigned to the vigils, how to combine Sunday with different feasts of saints, and how with the Theotokos holidays.

Sunday worship gives us a very clear example of such an opportunity to penetrate into the regulations of the Charter, assimilating their meaning. Thus, the first seven chapters of the Typikon are devoted to a description of the Sunday service - it all begins with the Sunday service. This was not always the case and not in all Typicons, but, in the end, the church charter nevertheless came to this, and one cannot help but see great meaning in this. The Sunday vigil and another version of the Sunday service, without the vigil, give us a sample of holiday services throughout the year. The monthly vigil is not described in such detail as the Sunday one. According to the month's word, Polyeleos is not described at all, but the Sunday service without a vigil, i.e. as close as possible to polyeleus in terms of the month word, is described. It is the Sunday service that provides the model for all the holiday services of the year, and in the Typikon it comes first.

The place of Sunday service in the Charter can be compared with the place of the Resurrection of Christ in the life of every Christian. According to Holy Scripture, without faith in the Resurrection our faith is vain (1 Cor. 15:14). And the Sunday service, of course, has a completely exceptional position in worship. Easter is the pinnacle of the whole year, the center of the year, an incomparable holiday, not even the twelfth, since it is immeasurably larger than any twelfth holiday; it has a huge preparatory period - more than 40 days - and the same after-feast. And the Sunday service is the beginning and culmination of the weekly service; week is the first day of the week. The week begins from its peak, from such a height that not a single day of the week rises to. Let us remember the names of Sunday: “Sunday” does not require explanation, but “week” says that on this day there is no need to do worldly affairs; it is a day dedicated to God. Let us remember the commandment about a day dedicated to God - this is one of the ten commandments. In the Old Testament this is the Sabbath day, for the New Testament people it is Sunday.

The early Christian names of this day are remarkable: “day of the sun,” “eighth day.” The second name is especially surprising, because there are only seven days in a week; but this day does not belong to the week of the created, temporary world. This is a day that belongs not to time, but to eternity, just like the Eucharist. We rush to the service at 7 or 10 o'clock in the morning, knowing that it will last about 2.5 or 3.5 hours, but this is like external knowledge. The Eucharist itself does not belong to time, it belongs to eternity, and into this eternity it transports us from the power of time. The same teaching was probably about Sunday. This is the eighth day - the day of the next century. In ancient times, this particular day was the day of the community meeting, the predominant day for the celebration of the Eucharist. In our Typikon and in the edition that we are now trying to use, this teaching is fully reflected, but it is not set out in some beautiful words or complete formulations, but is contained in a whole collection of rules, which in appearance are formal instructions, and in its essence - precisely that repository, that vessel in which we draw the teaching about the Resurrection. This teaching does not exist on its own, it exists only for us, only to enter our mind, into our heart, into the routine of our lives and become a part of our existence, a very important part.

So, in the first chapter of the Typikon, Little Vespers is described, in the second chapter - the course of the Sunday all-night vigil (in conjunction with the service to the saint without a sign). The third chapter is the Sunday vigil in conjunction with the service to the vigil saint; the fourth chapter is the Sunday service in conjunction with the service to the polyelean saint, the fifth - in conjunction with the service to the sixfold saint and the saint with doxology, the sixth speaks about the number of vigils (not only Sundays) “that occur throughout the summer.” After the Sunday vigils are described, the vigils that occur during the rest of the year are mentioned; it is very clearly shown that the Sunday service is their model. The seventh chapter describes a Sunday service without a vigil, a version of the service when Great Vespers is celebrated, preceded by the ninth hour, then Compline, Sunday Midnight Office and separately Sunday Matins. Let us remember that during the vigil, Great Vespers and Festive Matins are performed together as one service, and Compline and the Midnight Office are absent.

Sunday vigil is never served on its own, only as a Sunday service. This is not only the day of the week, it is also the day of the year, the day of a month. And a holiday falls on Sunday; it could be the Twelfth Feast of the Lord, the Feast of the Theotokos, or the memory of a saint, so it is impossible to consider just one Sunday service; it must be combined with something. The Sunday service will not be combined only with the services of the twelve feasts of the Lord (with the exception of the Presentation), since according to the Rule, on the Lord's feast all Sunday services are canceled. And this testifies to the exceptional importance of the Sunday service, which is always served without fail, except for only one single case, when the Twelfth Feast of the Lord falls on a Sunday. It is the twelve, for example, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem: it is always on Sunday, and there is no Sunday service. Christmas, Epiphany, Transfiguration, Exaltation of the Cross - if they fall on a Sunday, then the Sunday service is cancelled. But the Image Not Made by Hands or the Position of the Savior’s Robe does not cancel the Sunday service; after all, these are not the Twelfth holidays. This is the high level at which an ordinary Sunday day stands in the Typikon system. Only the Lord's Twelfth Feast is higher than it. Everything else is either comparable in importance or much inferior.

Sunday is a small Easter, which we have the happiness of celebrating once a week. But this frequency also has the opposite effect for us: it would seem that we should enjoy Sunday more, appreciate more, wait more, worry more, but for us this day, on the contrary, becomes ordinary. Let us remember, for example, that in the Sunday service of the 6th tone, the first stichera is sung the same stichera that sounds on the first day of Easter during the procession before Easter Matins: “Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, the angels sing in heaven...” When this stichera is sung on Sunday, it immediately smells like Easter. “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ...” - a bright Easter text - stands in the center of Sunday Matins. This is truly a small Easter that does not leave us all year. One wonderful charter member said this: “I would not have the strength to part with Great Easter if there were no Sundays.” They leave the light of Easter for us for the whole year.

The second table shows the distribution of variable parts of the service when combining the Sunday service with the Menaion service for various holiday signs of the Month.

In the Typikon, the sequence of Little Vespers is described in the first chapter; This chapter is very clear and simple, which sets it apart from many other places in the Typikon. This chapter begins with words about how to begin the Sunday service: “Before the sun sets on the Sabbath day, the paraecclesiarch, that is, the candilov-burner, comes (paraecclesiarch means “the elder’s assistant at the temple” - the one who fulfills various needs for the church service; the candilov-burner is the one who who lights the lamps), to the primate (or abbot of the monastery), and worships him, signaling with his coming the time of riveting." Riveting is ringing a bell. Signifying - showing by his very arrival that the time has come to call for service. “And we will take the blessing, coming out, slandering into the small campan.” Already at the very ringing, the blessing of the elder in the monastery is taken. Then the brethren gather, and Little Vespers begins, which we have already discussed, so we will not dwell on it now.

Our Charter many times demonstrates its love for humanity and constant remembrance of the weak human; this chapter is no exception. It ends with the instruction that after Little Vespers one must go to the refectory, where there should be an evening monastic meal. But at the same time, it is necessary to remember that there is service ahead; hence this remark: “and let us eat lightly what is presented to us, so that we do not become burdened with the vigil.” We eat, but we eat little, so that it is not too difficult for us to endure the whole night service. This is not the all-night vigil that we are all so familiar with; it is truly a service from sunset to sunrise (although in the east this time is much shorter than ours). And the Typikon seems to warn: if you eat too much, it will be difficult to endure this service.

The Typikon contains many such remarks that are reminiscent of the instructions of parents to their children, who care about everything at once: both the most important and the more minor; and that the child can withstand the load, and at the same time, that there is a certain hierarchy in his life: what is important and what is less important.

The second chapter of the Typikon is devoted to a description of the Sunday all-night vigil itself. The initial part of this chapter is an amazingly detailed, rare beauty, description of the service. Even more surprising is how inconsistent this description is with how we now, in our parish practice, conduct the beginning of the Sunday service. Historical research shows that, apparently, this charter was never observed in the Russian Church at all, and was recorded in our Typikon as a result of book edits based on Greek models, which, naturally, could not mechanically lead to the exact execution of the instructions of the Greek Typikon.

Let us remember how the vigil begins in our churches. Deacon: “Rise up,” the choir (or in some parishes the deacon again): “Lord, bless,” the priest gives an exclamation Glory to the Saints... clergy sing in the altar Come, let's worship and after this the opening psalm begins. During the opening psalm, the priest, accompanied by a deacon, censes the entire church. The Typicon describes a completely different course of service. I would like everyone to read this and figure it out for themselves, but let’s say two words anyway. The Typikon describes the beginning of the service roughly like this: the brethren gather in the church and sit on benches (at services, benches were very necessary; often you had to sit down, and they were there for everyone to sit. True, the brethren in those monasteries for which the Rules were written were very small, 20-30 people in the church, and everything was completely different from ours.In the East, monastery churches still have so-called stasidia, i.e. special places for the brethren with folding benches, in which you can stand, leaning on the armrests, or you can sit. In parish churches, benches for parishioners are installed everywhere.). The primate (hegumen, abbot) is in his place, in the altar - the leading priest, i.e. that priest whose turn it is to serve on this Sunday. And so the kandilov-burner comes out into the middle of the temple and says: “Rise up.” Various symbolic interpretations of this exclamation have appeared; they say that he calls us to forget about everything, think only about service, perk up; but in reality in Typikon it simply means “stand up” - here you were sitting on the benches, and now stand up, the service begins. After this, the complete censing of the temple begins in complete silence, when everyone is already standing, everyone is gathered, everything is ready for the service, the lamps are burning, incense is burned from the censer, the ringing of this censer is heard - the silent beginning of the service. According to the testimony of those who tried to fully implement this charter, such a beginning has an absolutely amazing effect on a person; This is not like you and I - we ran in and the service immediately began: how can we hear the service or understand it? The typicon speaks of something completely different. Everyone came in advance, and everything is aimed at concentrating, gathering, there is complete silence, and everyone is preparing for common prayer together. This preparation for worship is obviously aimed at maximum concentration and tranquility of the human spirit before the service.

Sunday all-night vigil during the period of Octoechos.

(in conjunction with the service of the saint without sign, sixfold and with doxology, without pre- and post-celebration)

Legend: Who sings/reads:WITH– priest, D – deacon, H- reader, L- face. Liturgical books: WITH - Missal, E– Gospel, A- Apostle, P–

	What is sung and read	sings/ is reading	God- service- new books	Chapter Tipi- kona	Notes
	Blessed be our God...
	Ninth hour				The troparion and kontakion of the passing day are read.
	Small Vespers
	Arise! Lord bless the Glory of the Saints...
	Come, let's worship				Priests at the altar.
	Opening Psalm (103rd)				With choruses: Blessed are you, O Lord; Wonderful are Your works, O Lord; Glory to You, Lord, Who created everything.
	Lamp prayers
	Great Litany
	Ordinary kathisma (1st: Blessed is the man)				The first antiphon is sung on the 8th tone, the second and third on the tone of the week. In parish churches, only the first antiphon is often sung.
	Small Litany [x3]				After each antiphon of kathisma.
	Lord, I have cried (Psalms 140,141,122 and 116)
	Verses on the Lord, I cried				St. without sign: O: 3Vsk + 4East; M:3 Hex. and glorification: O: ZVsk + ZVost; M:4 Glory: M; And now: Dogmatist of the voice.
	Entrance with censer				Priest: prayer of entry. Deacon: Wisdom, forgive me.
	Light Quiet.
	Prokeimenon of the day (Saturday, chapter 6: The Lord reigns...)				Fivefold. According to the instructions of the Typikon, he is proclaimed by the canonarch.
	The Great Litany				Starting with Rtsem's petition, everything...
	Vouchsafe, Lord				In parish churches it is usually sung; according to the instructions of the Typikon, read by the primate or reader.
	Stichera on lithium				Samoglasen of the temple; verse stichera M, if any; stichera of Paul the Amorite (O); Slava: M; And now: B according to the voice of Glory.
	Lithium prayers
	Stichera on verse				Stichera of Octoechos with his poems Slava: M; And now: B according to the voice of Glory.
	Now you let go				In parish churches it is usually sung; according to the instructions of the Typikon, read by the primate.
	Trisagion. Rev. Trinity: Our Father
	Troparion for the blessing of the loaves				Virgin Mary -3.
	Blessing of the Loaves				In parish churches it is sometimes omitted.
	Be the name of the Lord... x3
	Psalm 33				Before the words: They will not be deprived of any good.
	The blessing of the Lord is upon you...
	Reading the Apostolic Writings				In parish churches it is usually omitted.

Psalter, H- Book of Hours, ABOUT– Octoechos, M-Minea, AND– Irmology, T– Explanatory Gospel or Apostle, F- according to the teachings of St. Theodora Studite, AND- Lives, P– Prologue.

Notes:Sun- are Sunday, East– eastern, Krestovsk- Cross Sundays, B- Mother of God, Ev- Gospel [stichera].

Only then, when the priest returns to the altar, does the exclamation sound: Glory to the Saints. With this arrangement of the service, then, while singing the 103rd Psalm, he calmly reads the prayers of light. For us, this is difficult, since it is difficult to simultaneously burn incense in the temple while singing the 103rd Psalm in a very abbreviated manner and somehow still read the prayers of the lamp. In our practice, they are read not on the sole, but in the altar, and you and I do not see how the prayers of the lamp are read on Sunday.

Singing Come, let's worship also amazingly described in the Typikon. Firstly, this is a four-fold chant - three lines familiar to us, and then, as it is said in the Typikon, especially: “Come, let us worship and fall down before Him.” The typikon in this place talks about how loud (there is even a hint of a musical chant) and how it should be sung Come, let's worship. At first, very quietly and quietly, then “a little higher,” then “let’s cut out with a voice,” and also separately - “Come, let us worship and fall down before Him.” According to Typikon, this should be an ascending, expanding singing, which begins very quietly and only then reaches its peak. Something similar happens here at Easter Matins, when everyone is standing in the church, and the clergy in the altar very quietly begin to sing “Thy Resurrection, Christ the Savior, the angels are singing in heaven...” then they sing louder, the Royal Doors open, and the song spills out. around the temple. You feel how the chant can grow, spread in an ever wider stream; This is precisely the dynamics of this small and not the most important chant of the service that the Typikon prescribes.

Psalm 103, another name for it is the opening psalm, is sung with three choruses in the eighth tone. The eighth voice, apparently, was thought of as a very festive and solemn tune. The entire opening psalm must be sung in its entirety (this is a very large text) with a chorus for each verse. First the chorus is sung: “Blessed are you, O Lord,” then “Wonderful are Thy works, O Lord,” and then “Glory to Thee, O Lord, who created all things.” According to eyewitnesses of the statutory service, the singing of this psalm - full, statutory - is unusually difficult and lengthy, it lasts at least 30 minutes (and on Mount Athos the opening psalm is sung for almost an hour and a half) and gives the impression of something majestic, monumental. This, of course, is an amazing psalm, and it would be good for us to get acquainted with its content, and not judge it by those scanty 5 and a half verses that we are privileged to hear in our parish services. It is not yet possible to correct this in our situation, but we can at least know what it really is, fragments of which we hear. The lamp prayers are written down in the same paragraph of the diagram; they must be read during the opening psalm.

The Great Litany is always the first in the service, and the Sunday service is no exception. Number 8 denotes the 1st kathisma, which is very often simply called Blessed is the husband. We know that during one week outside of Lent, the Psalter should be read in its entirety once. Kathismas are distributed by service and by day of the week. The week begins in a week, the week begins on Saturday evening, so on Saturday, Great Vespers, naturally, falls on the 1st Kathisma. According to the Charter, it must be sung in three antiphons, in its entirety. The first antiphon is on the eighth tone (again this festive, beautiful chant), the second and third antiphons are on the bottom tone, i.e. to the voice that begins on this Sunday according to Octoechos. Singing tradition dictates performance Blessed is the husband With Alleluia to each verse (sometimes three times, sometimes once). Litany small (item 9) – for each antiphon. According to the Charter it should be like this: antiphon - litany, antiphon - litany, antiphon - litany. What do we have? 6 verses instead of the entire kathisma and one litany instead of three.

There is no need to think that kathisma Blessed is the husband first at Sunday service only because it has the number 1; it would be wrong to assume only a formal connection with the Sunday service. This kathisma contains a significant number of messianic psalms, i.e. those psalms that can be attributed to prophecies or are somehow connected with our Lord Jesus Christ and the work of saving the human race that He accomplished on earth. Here is the first psalm: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” This psalm is amazingly beautiful. It speaks of a righteous man who has nothing in common with sinners, with the unclean, and then follows a striking image: this righteous man is likened to a tree planted “at the issue of the waters.” What it is? This is a tree that grows near a source - a river or some kind of stream, i.e. where there is a lot of water. It is said that “its leaf will not fall away” - its leaves will not fall off and its fruit will not wither, and it will prosper, like the soul of the righteous, which belongs to the Lord. And then there is a contrast: “Not like wickedness, not like that, but like dust that the wind sweeps up from the face of the earth” - but that’s not how the wicked live, they are like dust that a strong wind raises from the earth. The first psalm is truly beautiful, and one can only regret that we hardly hear it. To whom can the words about the blessed man, the righteous man, be fully applied? Of course, they can be fully attributed only to our Lord Jesus Christ - the One who fully fulfilled the law of the Father and did not deviate from it in any way, had nothing to do with sin. In an expanded sense, every righteous person is likened to Him, but in an absolute sense, of course, this is only the Lord Jesus Christ. Many verses of the 2nd and 3rd psalms are also messianic, so let’s not think that this is a formality - the purpose of the 1st kathisma for Sunday.

Lord, I cried - ordinary psalms from the Book of Hours. All of them must be sung at every service, including Sunday. Next follow the stichera on Lord, I cried. On Sunday, the Charter prescribes the singing of 10 stichera - this is a lot, this, one might say, is the maximum of the normative options for the number of stichera per Lord, I cried, more than this amount occurs in exceptional cases; only twice a year, there are more than 10. This once again testifies to the greatness of Sunday.

The Octoechos consists of eight symmetrical parts: 1st, 2nd, 3rd voice and so on, until the 8th voice. Each voice begins on Sunday and lasts for one week. The week begins on a week, the week begins on Saturday evening. On Saturday evening there is a change of voice. The Sunday service of the voice is a service from that section of the Octoechos, which begins this week. When does the alternation of the Octoechos voices begin? After Pentecost, the first week is the Sunday of All Saints. The eighth voice always falls into it. And the next week is the Sunday of All Saints, who shone in the Russian lands; in this week there is always the 1st voice. And so on throughout the year, without any omissions or abbreviations, the vocal pillar goes on, i.e. alternating voices from 1st to 8th. How do you know what voice is going on today? If a person regents, sings or reads, then he remembers it, but what if he doesn’t remember? There is a desk calendar for this. In Octoechos you need to open the corresponding voice; Saturday evening is the beginning of the Sunday service.

On And now the dogmatic voice is sung. The dogmatist of the voice is the Theotokos, who is in Octoechos, on Saturday evening at Great Vespers at the conclusion of the cycle of stichera on Lord, I cried. These Theotokos have an exceptional, very important meaning in the service, although they are the Theotokos, they have a special name - “dogmatic,” because in most of them, various aspects of the dogma about the birth of the Son of God from the Most Pure Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit are set out. These dogmatists are an indispensable and very significant part of the Sunday service and are almost never canceled. There are perhaps one or two occasions in a church year when the dogmatic voice is not sung per week, but these are rare exceptions.

During the singing of the dogmatist, an entrance is made with a censer. The choir sings The world is quiet, and this is so according to the Charter: at Sunday and holiday services The light is quiet it is sung, the Charter says so: “and we sing”; then the prokeimenon of Saturday is proclaimed, which is in the Service Book or Book of Hours and is heard 5 times during the service, unlike other prokeimenons. Let us remember the prokeimenon at the liturgy: the reader or deacon announced the prokeimenon, the choir sang; reader - verse, choir - prokeimenon, then reader or deacon - half of the prokeimenon, choir finishes singing. Thus, the prokeimenon sounds three times. And the prokeimenon of Saturday has three verses, not one, so it sounds 5 times.

The extreme complete litany begins with the words “Rtsem all.” Vouchsafe, Lord in our tradition the face sings, but according to the Charter Vouchsafe, Lord always read. Then the litany of petition. After it, the litiya begins - the festive litiya. Its full sequence is described in the Service Book, and it begins with the singing of stichera at the lithium. As a rule, the stichera of the temple is sung first: as we move through the temple from the main space to the vestibule, we remember the dedication of the temple. Then follow the petitions of the lithium. According to the Charter, lithium is an indispensable part of the Sunday vigil service, no matter what holiday falls on Sunday: from Saint Without a Sign to the Twelfth Feast of the Theotokos. What do we have? We don’t have this Sunday litia almost anywhere. It will be served if St. Nicholas is on a Sunday, if the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos falls on a Sunday, i.e. as if not for the sake of Sunday, but for the sake of the holiday. But know for sure that there must be a lithium at a vigil, and Sunday vigil is no exception.

Stichera on verse. They always sound. Whether the lithium will be performed or not, the stichera will not be missed. The diagram says O., which means Octoechos. How many are from Octoechos? If it is not indicated how many, it means all that are there. And there are four of them in Octoechos on Saturday at Great Vespers, this is also the maximum number, as many as rarely happens. The usual number of verse stichera is 3, and on Sunday - 4. On Glory the stichera from the Menaion (if any) is sung, and on And now- Theotokos. The main part from Octoechos, the hymn to the saint who on this day, and on And now - Theotokos, as in any church text; be it troparia, stichera, sedalny, canon, luminaries, the last text on And now - always the Mother of God. In some cases - the Master's text, but the conclusion of the cycle is always significant and weighty, like a full stop at the end.

Now you let go - in our tradition the choir sings, but according to the Rules the primate reads it. The fulfillment of the Rule here is difficult to restore, although it contains an absolutely amazing and very important emphasis on this text, which in many ways is the peak of the unchangeable parts of Vespers. This is a key moment in the history of the world - the meeting of the Old and New Testaments. Vespers primarily has the liturgical theme of the aspirations of Israel, the expectation of the Savior, and at the end of Vespers the text that was pronounced when the Old Testament righteous man saw the forty-day-old Child, the Savior of the world, is read. Of course, this is the peak of Vespers. And when this text is read by an elder in a monastery or in a temple, in a community, one who has undoubted moral and spiritual authority, this text certainly sounds very significant and sublime. In addition, the primate is always probably the oldest in age, and so the eldest of all reads the text that the elder then spoke. This would certainly be very wise.

Trisagion Our Father. This frequent sequence of prayers, which occurs at the beginning of many services, is a very concentrated prayer, an intensified prayer, and occurs at the peak of Vespers. Then Virgin Mary three times. This place at Vespers is the place of the troparion. And it is worthy of attention that in the Sunday service at Great Vespers, in place of the troparion there is the hymn of the Theotokos. Of course, those days in Octoechos that are the Lord's - week, Wednesday and Friday - are also the days of the greatest glorification of the Mother of God among the days of the week. It is on weekdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Matins that there is a canon to the Theotokos. On Wednesday at the liturgy, as is known, there is a prokeimenon to the Theotokos: “My soul magnifies the Lord...” but at the Sunday all-night vigil at vespers, in the place of the troparion there is a hymn to the Mother of God. We would venture to say that this is not accidental, because during the week, more than on other days, the Most Holy Theotokos is glorified in the Octoechos service.

The blessing of the loaves occurs only if there is a litiya; if there was no litia, then the blessing of the loaves is omitted.

Be the name of the Lord threefold, the blessing of the priest, Psalm 33 to the words “they will not be deprived of every good,” i.e. not entirely, but until the middle of the psalm.

“The blessing of the Lord is upon you...” is the final blessing of the serving priest. What happens next according to Typikon? “The cellarer, having taken some of the blessed bread and crushed it on a platter, distributes it to the brethren and draws a single cup of wine to everyone equally - from the abbot to the last who are in the monastery.” According to the Charter, at this moment of the service everyone should sit on the benches and receive a piece of blessed bread and a cup of wine. Why? Because it is difficult to serve the whole night, reinforcement of strength is required. The bread and wine that are blessed are not for altar servers, and the oil is not for anointing, but to strengthen the strength of the church people. All this is lost, all this is irreplaceable; and this was the wisdom, logic and amazing philanthropy of the Charter.

At this time there should be the first edifying reading. There are a total of 7 edifying readings at the Sunday all-night vigil, and the first of them is at the junction of Vespers and Matins. At this time, the Apostle or Apocalypse should be read. One hears that the Apocalypse is not read during worship. Yes, the Apocalypse is not divided into conceptions, it is not heard in the liturgy, it is almost never included in the book of the Apostle, but it must be read at the service, and this is reflected in the Typikon. Why so little, why so rarely? There are only two patristic interpretations of the Apocalypse; This is an amazing, mysterious book with seven seals. According to the Charter, it should not be read on a par with the Apostle, but this does not mean that it should not be read at all. And so everyone sits, eats and listens to the first edifying reading. However, the Typikon says that in the spring and summer months one should not eat bread and wine at this time “for the shortness of the night,” because the summer night is shorter and closer to the time of the Eucharist, and if there is an all-night vigil at this time, then the Eucharistic fast before Communion will be too short. Therefore, only in the autumn and winter months does our Typicon prescribe the eating of the loaves blessed at Great Vespers. Let us move on to the continuation of Matins.

So, six psalms. There is no double psalm. Indeed, only at vigils is the double psalmia skipped; in all other cases, it must be obligatory at matins. Another interesting point: Matins begins without an exclamation. Doesn't sound either Blessed be God... neither Glory to the Saints... Blessed be God does not sound, because there is no double psalm, but Glory of the Saints does not sound because Matins “gave” its cry to the beginning of Vespers, and this once again emphasizes that at the vigil, Vespers and Matins constitute a single service, they are merged together: the cry of Matins, and then Vespers is served, followed by Matins, which means something has begun whole, something in common.

Matins

	Six Psalms					According to the instructions of the Typikon, it is read by the primate.
	Morning prayers
	Great Litany
	God the Lord with verses					In the voice of the week. According to the law. Typ., proclaimed by the canonarch.
	Troparion on God the Lord					T: Vsk voice x2 (O); Slava: M, And now: B according to the voice of Slava.
	Ordinary kathismas two					In parish churches, a psalm for Glory is sometimes read.
	For each kathisma:	Small Litany of Sedalny				Sometimes they are not sung, but read by a reader. The Sunday Theotokos of dismissal tone, if another one was sung to God the Lord, is sung instead of the Theotokos according to the 1st kathisma.
		Patristic reading				In parish churches it is usually omitted.
	Blameless (Ps. 118) or polyeleos (Ps. 134, 135)					Everyday temple.
	Troparion for the Immaculates					Blessed are you, Lord... Angelic Council...
	Small litany of Ipakoi voices Patristic reading					In parish churches it is usually omitted.
	Powerful antiphons, voices					Voices 1-7:3 antiphons; Tone 8:4 antiphon.
	Prokeimenon voice
	Let's pray to the Lord. For Thou art Holy...
	Every breath					The last and first verse of Ps. 150.
	Reading the Gospel					It must take place in the altar.
	Resurrection of Christ
	Psalm 50
	Glory: Through the prayers of the apostles... And now: Through the prayers of the Mother of God. .. Have mercy on me, O God... Stichera for Psalm 50					In weeks: Jesus rose from the grave...
	Save, God... Lord, have mercy (12r). With mercy and bounty...
						Service of St. unsigned:	Hex. or praise St.:
						K: O Sun with irm. by 4; K:O Krestovsk on 3; K:O B on 3:K:M on 4	K: O Sun with irm. by 4; K:O Krestovsk on 2; K:O B for 2; K:M for 6
						Private chaos. According to the 3rd song: small litany, kontakion and ikos M; sedal M; Glory, and now: B. Patristic reading (usually omitted). According to the 6th canto: small litany, kontakion and ikos O. Reading of the Prologue (usually omitted). According to the 8th canto: We praise, bless, chaos, the Most Honest According to the 9th canto: small litany, Holy is the Lord our God; Sunday exapostilarium; Slava: Svetilen M.; And now: B resurrection.
	Every breath and psalms of praise (148,149,150)					Psalms are sung.
	Stichera on Khvalitekh					O: 4Vsk, 4Vost (if the sixfold or doxological saints have stichera on Praise, then O: 4Vsk, M: 4 with the slavnik). The last two stichera are sung with their own verses. Glory: Stichera Ev.; And now: Blessed are you...
	Great Doxology
						Voices 1, 3, 5, 7: Today...; voices 2, 4, 6, 8: Resurrection...
	The Great Litany
	Litany of Petition Peace to all Prayer of Adoration
	End of Matins					Great holiday.
	Departure into the porch					With the singing of the temple samoglas (sometimes omitted).
	Announcement Studitovo; Troparion of St.					In parish churches it is usually omitted.
	First hour					Troparion Vsk voice (O); Glory: M. Kontakion Vsk voice (O) (if the Holy Slavosl. - Kontakion M). At the end - a small vacation.

The Great Litany, again the first litany in the service.

God Lord with poetry. Not all of us have the happiness of hearing poetry God Lord on duty. There is a tradition of very indistinct, hasty and careless pronunciation of this text, when verses are read out in a row, and the choir, not paying attention, sings what it is supposed to. But these verses are messianic: “God is the Lord and appeared to us” - this is not an imperative mood, not “appeared to us,” but “appeared to us,” this is the past tense. The liturgical theme of Matins is the appearance of the Messiah, the coming of the Son of God to earth, and the initial words of the Six Psalms “Glory to God in the highest...” are the hymns of the Angels for the Nativity of Christ. Then God Lord with verses - these are the verses of the Messianic 119th Psalm. God the Lord came to earth, we meet Him, we bless Him: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” These verses should sound like a song of victory, like a joyful hymn, but we don’t know them and don’t hear them.

Then troparia on God the Lord, and kathismas. At Sunday Matins the 2nd and 3rd kathismas should always be read (in order: at Vespers the first, at Matins the second and third). Small litanies for each kathisma, the sedal reader reads from the Octoechos.

Then Psalms 134 and 135 are indicated. According to the Typicon, the 134th and 135th psalms should not be sung on all Sundays, although we are accustomed to their constant hearing at the Sunday all-night vigil in our parishes.

Troparion for the immaculate. This is a very familiar text to us, which begins with the words: “Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me by thy justification. Wonder at the council of angels...” These are troparia with verses. “After the blameless” means after the blameless. What is blameless? Immaculate - this is the 17th kathisma, which begins with the words “Blessed are the immaculate on your journey...” This kathisma is the first application in the modern edition of the Book of Hours and should be used in worship every day: at Sunday Matins, at the daily Midnight Office and at Saturday Matins. Now we are familiar with this text only from the funeral service, and the understanding of its place in the service is completely lost. Without having the slightest opportunity or time to translate and interpret this text, it must be noted that the general content of the 17th kathisma can be defined as a confession of ardent and all-encompassing love for the law of God. These are the words of a righteous man who says that the law of God is sweeter to him than honey and more precious than gold and topaz, that only the words of God lead him along the path of life, save him from everything terrible, that his heart belongs only to the Lord. This text, of course, can only be fully put into the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and only in an expanded sense applied to the saints, to members of the Church, or to each of us, who can only sometimes be excited by such feelings. This kathisma is familiar to us from Holy Saturday, where it is not abbreviated, it is read at Matins (at the conclusion of which a procession with the Shroud takes place).

According to the Typikon, this text is a Sunday text, and according to the Jerusalem Rule, the Immaculate Ones should be heard almost every Sunday service. This text is traditionally Sunday, its home place is the week. We never hear blameless at Sunday services; instead of them, the 134th and 135th psalms (more precisely, four verses of them) are sung - polyeleos. We have come to the opposite situation: we must almost always be chaste, but we always have polyeleos. According to the Typikon, which we are guided by, in some periods of the year it is necessary to sing polyeleos, and in others - immaculate, but still more often - immaculate. Polyeleos is sung from the celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross to the pre-celebration of the Nativity of Christ, i.e. from the end of September to the end of December, and from the celebration of Epiphany to the Week of Cheese. Thus, polyeleos are sung in the autumn months and a little in the winter; during the rest of the year, the immaculates should be sung, and only if, according to the Menaion, a polyeleos holiday falls on a Sunday, the immaculates are replaced by the polyeleos. For us, the immaculate ones have disappeared altogether, and we hear them only at funeral services and no longer remember that this psalm from the Sunday service ended up in the funeral service and that it is sung there because farewell to a member of the Church is necessarily a confession of faith in the Resurrection of Christ, the general resurrection and hopes of meeting each other in the future life. For us, this text has long been a funeral text, and we can no longer imagine that its native place is in a completely different order. This is extremely bitter and impoverishes our understanding of the Sunday service.

According to the "Ecclesiastical Eye," i.e. to the pre-Nikon Typikon, preserved by the Old Believers, the immaculate ones should be sung throughout the year (with rare exceptions). During the same periods when the modern Rule prescribes polyeleos, the immaculates are sung, then the troparia for the immaculates, and only then the polyeleos.

Interestingly, the exact opposite happened in the East. According to both the Greek cathedral-parish Typikon and the Athonite Typikon, polyeleos on Sunday are sung only on polyeleos holidays, and except for this case, on all weeks there are chastity (however, in parishes both are usually omitted).

The reality is that it is rare to hear those who are blameless, and the troparions for the virgins have been preserved. They are found not only in the Book of Hours, but also in the Octoechos and in the following Psalter. While singing them, the full incense of the temple is performed, then the small litany. Ipakoi glosa is a very short stanza, almost unknown to us, it is often skipped. Then the voice antiphons are sedate. What it is?

In each voice there are three, and in the 8th voice there are four stanzas, which are called power antiphons. Why sedate? Because they are likened to the psalms of the 18th kathisma, which were sung on the steps of the Jerusalem Temple (degree - level). Why antiphons? Because they must be sung alternately by the right and left faces and, by the way, twice each troparion. The first antiphon of the 4th voice is known more than others: “From my youth many passions have fought me...” but this is only the 4th voice, and only the first antiphon, and in general in the Octoechos there are power antiphons in each voice. You can understand this only by looking into the Octoechos.

The prokeimenon has its own voice in each of the eight Sunday services of the Octoechos. In our parish practice, it is proclaimed by a deacon (according to the Charter, a canonarch). Adjacent to the prokinna Every breath This is a text similar to the prokeme, only common to all voices. Reading the Gospel is connected to the Gospel pillar.

In Octoechos, in addition to the vocal pillar, there is also a gospel pillar, i.e. alternating eleven Gospel readings at Sunday Matins. How to determine which Gospel to read at Sunday Matins today? There is a table in the Octoechos by which this can be determined; whoever cannot do this looks at the desk calendar, there you can always read about Sunday: at Matins the Gospel is such and such. So what do you need to remember? There is a voice pillar, there is a gospel pillar; they are related but not the same; voices - 8, Gospel readings - 11. Three texts in the further course of Matins will depend on the Gospel, which ones - let's say specifically. Resurrection of Christ - natural chant after reading the Sunday Gospel. Psalm 50. Often we do not hear it; our church consciousness cannot comprehend and accommodate this instruction of the Typikon. After such festive singing, how can we read the usual penitential 50th Psalm? We don’t understand this and miss it – this happens in most parishes. Regular singing Glory: Through the prayers of the apostles... And now: Through the prayers of the Mother of God... Then Have mercy on me, God - the first verse from Psalm 50, and then Jesus rose from the grave. Jesus rose from the grave - stichera unchangeable. What does it mean? Looking at the polyeleos, we noted: stichera according to Psalm 50. It is also present at Sunday Matins, but it is common to all voices. Whatever the voice, the Sunday stichera for Psalm 50 is always the same: Jesus rose from the grave...

Save, God... - the deacon's prayer is the same one that was at the litia, if there was a litia. Lord have mercy 12 times.

Canons. Specific rules for connecting canons are indicated in the table. Catavasia for every song.

According to the 8th song it is sung The most honest one. These are verses from the Gospel of Luke - the song of the Most Holy Theotokos “My soul magnifies the Lord...” with a refrain for each of the verses The most honest one. There is an unjustified singing tradition of singing this chant very quietly and tenderly, as if in secret. Meanwhile, the Typikon says: “singing with great voice.” Veleglasno means loudly, joyfully, because the song of the Most Holy Theotokos is one of the biblical songs. As we remember, each song of the canon has its own biblical song: the first - Israel came out of the Red Sea, the second usually does not happen, the third - the prophetess Anna, the fourth - the prophecy of Habakkuk, the fifth - Isaiah, the sixth - Jonah. All Old Testament biblical songs are transformations about the coming of the Savior, about His birth from the Virgin, about the Resurrection (Jonah is an image of the three-day Resurrection of the Lord). There are Old Testament songs - the seventh and eighth (the youths in the cave) and, finally, the ninth - the New Testament. In the canon we relive the expectation and appearance of the Messiah, and therefore the first New Testament song should sound loud, joyful, solemn. We were waiting for Christ, and now He came, we joyfully, with great voice, sing these amazing words of the Most Holy Theotokos. This series is lost for us, and we no longer perceive individual chants in the same way.

Small litanys are pronounced according to the 3rd, 6th and 9th songs of the canon. It’s very easy to remember: the nine songs are divided into three parts, each with a small litany.

What is the chaos for each song? The word "katavasia" comes from the Greek verb katabainw, which means "I go down." Catavasia is a gathering, a coming together, in this case a coming together of faces. Two faces sing something antiphonally, for example, Blessed is the husband the antiphons are sedate, and then go down from the choir, join together and sing catavasia. This is a set of eight irmos of the canon, assigned for a certain period of the year. In the Typikon, the 19th chapter is devoted to chaos: the year is divided into periods, and about each period it is said what kind of chaos operates in it. To make it easier to imagine this, let us remember: the chaos begins at the Introduction Christ is born; these are the irmos of the Christmas canon, and from the Introduction to the giving of Christmas there is a chaos Christ is born.

Holy is the Lord God... - a text read only on Sundays, as well as on Holy Saturday and Lazarus Saturday, which largely repeat the Sunday service.

Exapostilary Sunday and Theotokos Sunday are determined by the gospel pillar, i.e. they are taken not from the service of the voice, from which we sang the stichera, the canon, but from the appendix in which the exapostilary is located, associated with the Sunday Gospel readings.

Every breath this is the festive beginning of psalms of praise. Stichera on praises are added to the psalms of praise.

On Glory the Gospel stichera is taken, which also depends on the Gospel pillar. The Gospel stichera, the Sunday exapostilary and the Resurrection of the Theotokos depend not on the voice, but on the Gospel reading. There are 11 Gospel readings, and there are 11 exapostilarii, Theotokos and Gospel stichera, and all of them are in the Octoechos appendix. You can understand this only by seeing these texts. On And now always “Most Blessed...” – Theotokos, assigned to the Sunday service.

The exclamation before the great doxology and the doxology itself. After him, at the Sunday vigil, the Sunday troparion is always sung, and only this one. But the troparion that is sung is not the one that was sung on God the Lord - it was a Sunday troparion voices each voice has its own. In the first voice it is “The stone is sealed from the Jews...” in the second - “When thou didst descend to death...” in the third - “Let them rejoice in heaven...”, etc. Eight voices - eight Sunday troparions. And in this place another Sunday troparion is sung. How many are there? Two. One for even voices, one for odd voices. And it’s very easy to remember: for odd voices, the troparion begins with a one-syllable word - “Today salvation has come to the world...” for even voices, a troparion is used, beginning with a two-syllable word - “You have risen from the grave and you have torn the bonds of hell to pieces...”

The litany is intense, followed by the litany of supplication, after which the usual end of the service. The Great Dismissal and then the First Hour.

In M. Skaballanovich's book "Explanatory Typikon" there is an interesting chapter about the ideal all-night vigil. At the beginning of the century in Kyiv, the professors of the Academy arose the question of the possibility of a full vigil service with such a huge number of texts, singing the entire canon, the entire 103rd psalm, the entire 1st kathisma and all the polyeleos psalms. They reported their doubts to the students of the Kyiv Theological Academy, and so it was decided to implement it. Volunteers were gathered who would decide to sing from evening until morning and try to serve such an all-night vigil.

The costs for such a service were established: for choir rehearsals it takes 2 months, to compensate for their labor - 300 rubles, to which skeptics objected to the professors that for rehearsals it takes 2 years, and for payment of labor - 3,000 rubles, i.e. there was disapproval and doubt from the very beginning. But there were very energetic students who, as M. Skaballanovich writes, made something votive out of this all-night vigil, i.e. They promised to do their best to make this happen.

Such an all-night vigil was prepared and served. It started at 6 o'clock in the evening and ended around two o'clock in the morning. All instructions of the Charter were followed. Prof. Skaballanovich, who studied all this, but had never been present at such an all-night vigil, suddenly saw how wonderful it all was. He remembers how he listened to the 103rd Psalm in its entirety, which speaks of the entire creation of God, glorifying the wisdom of the Creator and His providence for the world. Let us remember the choruses of Psalm 103: they have a certain ascending structure. The first chorus is simply a statement: “Blessed art thou, O Lord,” the second chorus is a kind of exclamation: “Wonderful are thy works, O Lord”; the third chorus is an even more enthusiastic glorification: “Glory to Thee, O Lord, who created all things.”

Then the entire first kathisma sounded and everything was done as it should be according to the Charter. The climax of the all-night vigil was the singing of the polyelean psalms in their entirety, and they were sung antiphonally in two faces. Antiphonal singing greatly embellishes the service; the choir's strength does not dry out, the choirs pick up each other's singing, and it sounds powerful and cheerful. And then everything was according to the Charter: the entire canon was sung in its entirety. You can imagine: in each song there are 14 troparia (this needs to be multiplied by 8 and added to the chaos and biblical songs). During the singing of the canon, the skeptics who nevertheless came to the all-night vigil approached the head of the service and demanded to stop this dangerous experiment, because the singers would not stand it, but the all-night vigil was served to the end.

Then Skaballanovich writes about how this all-night vigil was received by the parishioners. There was one very lazy student who nevertheless decided to go to this service. He stood for a while and went to his building. He went to bed, but realized that something extraordinary was happening next to him, and returned to the temple. He stood there for a while and got tired again, and went back to his room. And so he left and returned three times, not having the strength to stand, but also not having the determination to leave.

When Professor Skaballanovich went around the worshipers to find out how many people were at the service until the end, he was amazed at the large number of women present at the service. One student told him that she specially prepared for this day and memorized many texts. This chapter concludes with these words: all my acquaintances, who were not warned about the all-night vigil and did not have the opportunity to come, were mortally offended by these professors and forgave them on the condition that if something similar happened again, they would definitely be notified. Professor Skaballanovich writes that a repetition is possible, and suggests next time singing the all-night vigil with a large Znamenny chant, which will lengthen it by 4 hours. The chapter ends with anticipation of this repetition. Whether it was, we do not know.

Temples and monasteries where services are held

Upon entering the temple, the priest in the stole in front of the royal doors begins: “Blessed is our God.” Reader: "Amen." “Glory to Thee, our God”, “Heavenly King”, Trisagion, “Holy Trinity”, “Our Father”, and at the cry of the priest “For Thine is the Kingdom” - “Come, let us worship” and reads the psalms of the 9th hour. According to the psalms - troparia, and according to the Trisagion - kontakion, the same ones that were read that day at the 3rd and 6th hours before the liturgy. With the prayer “Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, long-suffering” and the exclamation “God, gracious to us,” there is no dismissal, but the priest, having put on a veil and opening the curtain of the royal doors, goes out in front of the royal doors and begins Vespers with the exclamation “Blessed is our God.” Reader: "Amen." “Come, let us worship” and the opening psalm “Bless the Lord, my soul.” The priest secretly reads the prayers of the lamp. Great Litany “Let us pray to the Lord in peace.” This litany is usually pronounced by the deacon, if there is one, on the pulpit in front of the royal doors, as well as by the priest, if he serves without a deacon. Then the entire ordinary kathisma will be sung into poetry. The kathisma is sung as follows: the reader reads the first psalm and others until “Glory” and at the end says: “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” and the choir sings: “And now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen,” “Alleluia, alleluia , alleluia, glory to You, O God" (three times), "Lord, have mercy" (three times), "Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit"; the reader: “And now and ever and unto ages of ages, Amen” and reads another “Glory” of kathisma; finishing the second “Glory,” he again says: “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” and the choir sings: “And now and ever and unto ages of ages, Amen,” “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God” ( three times), “Lord, have mercy” (three times), “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”; reader: “And now and ever and unto ages of ages, Amen” and reads the third, last “Glory” of the kathisma and ends it himself: “Glory, and now,” “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God” (three times) . In this way all kathismas will be versified. According to the verse, the small litany “Packs and Packs.”

If there was a vigil that day, then there is no kathisma poetry.

“Lord, I have cried” is sung in the voice of the stichera of Octoechos, and psalms 140, 141 and 129 are read up to the verse “If you see iniquity, O Lord” and then the stichera of Octoechos - 3 and to the saint - 3 with the verses of the psalm; “Glory” - to the saint, if there is a side, “And now” - the Theotokos Octoechos according to the voice of “Glory” and according to the day (at the end of the monthly Menaion); if there is no “Glory” to the saint, then “Glory, even now” is the Mother of God or the Mother of the Cross (on Wednesday and Friday) along with the Menaion.

During the singing of the stichera, the priest or deacon censes the altar, the iconostasis, the faces (choirs), the people and the temple, after which he returns to the royal doors, censes them and two local icons - the Savior and the Mother of God, enters the altar by the southern door and, touching the throne in front , gives away the censer; if a deacon burns incense, then he burns incense after everything and the priest. According to the last stichera - “Quiet Light” and the prokeimenon for the day. “Vouchsafe, O Lord, this evening.” Litany “Let us perform the evening prayer” before the royal doors.

On the stichera are the stichera of the Octoechos with the verses “I have ascended to You,” “Have mercy on us, Lord,” “Glory” to the saint, if there is one, “And now” – the Theotokos according to the voice of “Glory” and according to the day (at the end of the Menaion), and if there is no “Glory” to the saint, then “Glory, even now” is the Mother of God or the Mother of the Cross in the Menaion along with it. “Now you forgive”, the Trisagion, “Our Father” and according to the cry of the priest “For Thy is the Kingdom” - the troparion to the saint, “Glory, and now” - the Theotokos absolution in the voice of the troparion to the saint and according to the day (at the end of the Menaion). If there is no troparion for the saint, then a common troparion for the saint, or martyr, or venerable one. Litany “Have mercy on us, O God,” complete, before the royal doors. According to the litany, the priest or deacon, standing in the same place, exclaims: “Wisdom.” Face: “Bless.” Priest: “Blessed be he.” Face: “Amen. Establish, O God." Priest: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us.” Lik: “The most honest one.” Priest: “Glory to Thee, O Christ God.” Face: “Glory, even now,” “Lord, have mercy” (three times), “Bless.” The priest, turning to the people, gives a complete dismissal. Face - many years.

Then the priest enters the altar, closes the curtain of the royal doors, removes the phelonion and begins Small Compline with the exclamation “Blessed is our God.” Reader: “Amen. Come, let us worship” (three times), Psalm 50, etc. Compline is read among the church in front of the pulpit. According to “Glory in the highest” - the canon of the Theotokos in the Octoechos along. Irmos - once at a time, troparia - as many as there are. According to the canon “It is worthy to eat”, the Trisagion, “Our Father”. At the exclamation of the priest, the troparion to the temple, if the temple of Christ or the Theotokos, then to the day and the general rank and file: if the temple of Christ, then at Compline on Tuesday and Thursday the troparion to the temple is left throughout the year, and on these days they are read first to the day - “Save, Lord, people Yours,” then to the temple of the Mother of God or a saint, then the general rank and file, and the other readings of Compline follow; short leave before the royal doors. Compline ends with the litany “Let us pray for the Great Lord.”

Midnight Office every day. The priest in one stole before the throne proclaims: “Blessed is our God.” Reader. "Amen. Glory to Thee, our God,” “Heavenly King,” the Trisagion, “Our Father,” “Come, let us worship,” and Psalm 50, then kathisma 17, all without verse. “I believe in One God.” A short dismissal before the royal doors and the litany “Let us pray for the Great Lord.”

Matins every day. At the end of the Midnight Office, the priest enters the altar, puts on a phelonion, opens the curtain of the royal doors, accepts the censer and, censing, proclaims: “Blessed is our God.” Reader: “Amen. Come, let us worship” and reads the 19th and 20th Psalms; according to the psalms and Trisagion - troparia “Save, Lord.” While reading psalms and troparions, the priest censes the altar, the entire temple, the faces and the people. At the end of the reading of the troparions, the priest, standing before the throne with a censer, pronounces the litany “Have mercy on us, O God,” a short litany consisting of three petitions. Priest: “Have mercy on us, O God.” Face: “Lord, have mercy” (three times). Priest: “We still pray for the Great Lord.” Face: “Lord, have mercy” (three times). Priest: “We also pray for all the brethren and for all Christians.” Face: “Lord, have mercy” (three times). The priest exclaimed: “For he is merciful.” Lik: "Amen." “Bless you in the name of the Lord, father.” The priest, making the sign of the cross with a censer, proclaims: “Glory to the Saints,” and the reader reads the Six Psalms in the middle of the church in front of the pulpit. The priest, having given the censer, prays before the throne. After the first three psalms, the priest, leaving the altar, secretly reads morning prayers according to the Service Book in front of the royal doors. The Great Litany is pronounced before the royal doors.

“God is the Lord, and has appeared to us” is proclaimed with verses, just like the prokeimenon, and the clergy sings “God is the Lord” in the voice of the troparion to an ordinary saint. Troparion to the saint (twice), “Glory, and now” – Theotokos from the lesser (the Theotokos at the end of the Menaion). Two ordinary kathismas are sung, sometimes three, as directed by the Charter. There are no small litanies for kathismas, and after the verse, the sedals of the Octoechos with the Mother of God or the Mother of the Cross are read or sung. Then - Psalm 50.

There are three canons: Octoechos - two, the first - for 6 with an irmos, the irmos once, the second - for 4, and the saint in the Menaion - for 4 without irmos. There is no katavasia, but only instead of katavasia, the Irmos of Menaion is sung in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 9th cantos. According to the 3rd ode, the litany is small, sedal to the saint with the Theotokos in the Menaion. According to the 6th canto, the small litany, kontakion and ikos to the saint in the Menaion. According to the 8th song we sing “The Most Honest”, in which the priest or deacon censes the altar, the temple, the faces, the people. According to the 9th song “It is worthy to eat”, small litany. The Octoechos is luminous, “Glory” is the saint’s luminary, “And now” is the Theotokos; if there is no lamp for the saint, then “Glory, even now” is the Theotokos or the Theotokos of the Holy Cross. Then Psalms 148, 149 and 150 are read, and the first of them begins with the words “Praise the Lord from heaven” (and not “Every breath”), “Glory to Thee, who showed us the light.” "Gloria". Litany “Let us perform the morning prayer.” On the stichera are the stichera of Oktoechos with the verses “We will be fulfilled in the morning.” “Glory” - to the saint in the Menaion, “And now” - Theotokos according to the voice of “Glory” and according to the day (at the end of the Menaion); if there is no “Glory” for the saint, then “Glory, even now” is the Theotokos from Octoechos along. “There is good”, once; according to the “Our Father,” the troparion for an ordinary saint, “Glory, even now” is the Theotokos absolution from the lesser (at the end of the Menaion or Book of Hours). Litany “Have mercy on us, O God”, complete. Then the priest or deacon: “Wisdom.” Face: “Bless.” Priest: “Blessed be he.” The face: “Confirm, O God,” and immediately the reader reads the 1st hour, and the priest closes the curtain of the royal doors. At the 1st hour after the psalms on “Glory” - the troparion to the daily saint, “And now” - the Theotokos of the hour. According to the Trisagion Kontakion to the Saint. According to the prayer of the priest “Christ, the true Light,” the choir sings (according to the custom of the Russian Church, sanctified by antiquity) to the “Chosen Voivode,” and then the priest before the royal doors proclaims: “Glory to Thee, Christ God.” The face: “Glory, even now,” and the priest says complete dismissal. Face - many years.

At the 3rd and 6th hours the troparion and kontakion are the same as at the 1st hour.

At the Divine Liturgy, there are daily antiphons “There is Good” (in Irmologiya and in the Apostle at the end). If the saint is assigned the hymn of the canon on the Blessed, then the figurative “Bless the Lord, my soul,” and the Blessed Octoechos are read on 4 and the saint, hymn 3, on 4. Entrance with the Gospel.

During the entrance to the Divine Liturgy, the deacon or priest should not loudly proclaim: “Let us pray to the Lord,” so that the clergy would answer: “Lord, have mercy,” but the entrance should occur during the reading or singing of the 3rd antiphon or the Blessed, and “Let us pray to the Lord.” , like the prayer of entry, is said in a low voice. The same entrance occurs at vespers, at which the Gospel is read. This is how the entrance took place in the Great Assumption Cathedral in Moscow, and both the Missal and the Official clearly indicate to say “Let us pray to the Lord” barely audibly.

Entrance: “Come, let us worship... In the holy wonders of the saints singing Ti: alleluia” (once).

Upon entering the troparion to the temple of Christ or the Mother of God, the day and temple of the saint, the ordinary saint; then a kontakion to the temple of Christ, a day, a temple of a saint, an ordinary saint, “Glory” - “Rest with the saints”, “And now” - a kontakion to the temple of the Mother of God, and if it is not there, then “And now” - “Representation of Christians”. If Wednesday or Friday, then the troparia “Save, Lord,” then to the temple of the Mother of God and the temple of the saint and the ordinary saint; kontakion for the day “Ascended to the Cross”; to the temple of a saint, an ordinary saint, “Glory” - “Rest with the saints”, “And now” - to the temple of the Mother of God (the troparion and kontakion are not due to the temple of Christ these days). If the temple is only of Christ, then troparions to the temple, to the day, to an ordinary saint; kontakion for the day, for an ordinary saint, “Glory” - “Rest with the saints”, “And now” - for the temple of Christ. If the temple is only a saint, then at the entrance there are troparions to the day, to the temple of the saint, to an ordinary saint; kontakion on Wednesday and Friday afternoon, and on other days to the temple of the saint, to an ordinary saint, “Glory” - “Rest with the saints”, “And now” - “Representation of Christians”. Prokeimenon, Apostle, Gospel and involved in the day; if it is appropriate for a saint, then after the day it is read to the saint, Alleluia is read before the Gospel to the saint alone. The general order of daily service shown here is a model for all days of the week, except Sunday, unless on these days the feast of the Lord, the Mother of God, the great saint and the temple, having a vigil and polyeleos, occurs.

When there is prayer, the believer bows his head as a sign of humility and respect, makes bows and prostrations to the ground, and can lie prostrate with his head bowed to the ground. The believer, knowing the rules of the church, does all these bows for a reason and not when he pleases. Everything in worship is endowed with meaning and has both external and internal sides. For example, bowing to the ground with the head touching the ground and immediately following this rise has a deep symbolic meaning: because of sin we fell to the earth and thanks to the redemption of Christ we again have the opportunity to be taken to heaven. Among all the prayers and services, Sundays are special

The meaning of Sunday prayer service

It is important to know, for example, that in the church there are days when bowing to the ground is not done; moreover, they are prohibited by the charter. This is caused by the meaning of the event being celebrated. First of all, these are Sunday prayers, polyeleos days, from the feast of Christmas until Epiphany itself, the entire Pentecost from Easter to the day of the Holy Spirit and the days before which the polyeleos solemn all-night vigils take place. The prohibition of bowing on these days was already stipulated at the first Ecumenical Council, where it was clearly stated that this rule applies to the entire church, and prayers on these days should be performed while standing on your feet.

Resolutions of the Councils

The Church places great importance on perfection in services and at home. This is evident from the fact that the decree on how to perform Sunday prayers, spend polyeleos days and Pentecost is repeated in a number of rules. VI also explains in Rule 90 about abstaining from prostrations from the Saturday evening entrance to the Sunday evening entrance. This symbolizes joy and reverence for the resurrection of Christ.

Basil the Great in his writings “On the Holy Spirit” (91 rules) says that at the beginning (1st day) of the week, Sunday prayers must be performed standing and upright, because of the risen Christ and our future resurrection with him, our duty to seek the highest. Therefore, on Sunday, standing directly before God during prayer is a reminder to us of the grace given. This day is called the single eighth day, symbolizing the time following the present - eternity, an endless century. The Church teaches its parishioners to perform Sunday prayers while standing, in order to often remind them of endless life, and not to be remiss in their repose into it.

Purpose of Church Prayer

Celebrating the victory of life over death, Christ over the devil, the church builds a service accordingly on Sunday. Therefore, praying on your knees at Sunday services on these days is unacceptable; it will contradict the whole meaning of the holiday.

It has an edifying purpose for believers when reading the psalms and singing songs. It is important to know about the true teaching of Christ, to become disposed to prayer and repentance. At the same time, it is important to evoke in those praying a feeling of gratitude to God for everything. It is important for the person praying to feel the need for intense prayer for further mercies to us and to receive peace of mind.

Sunday morning prayers in church differ from home prayer in that they are performed by clergy who are legally present in the church and ordained through the sacrament of the priesthood. Through prayer, a Christian enters into mysterious communion with God, and through the sacraments he receives from God grace-filled strength for a righteous life.

Church prayers are connected in a special way. They also include reading psalms and the Holy Gospel. Throughout the service, a certain thought consistently develops.

The essence of Sunday prayer

The article can describe only a few points that reveal the meaning of Sunday prayer. The text of the full liturgy should be looked for in special sources.

About Sunday stichera and troparion

The stichera of the resurrection speak of God bringing the soul out of prison. Turning to Christ, the prayer speaks of His great victory over hell, death on the cross, and the liberation of the dead. The soul of a repentant sinner prays to Christ, the source of life, to have mercy on it and grant the one praying to be with the righteous. From the depths of his heart he calls out to the Lord and asks to hear his voice, a sinner. The soul cries out to God and rejoices at the Resurrection of Christ!

Sunday's troparion speaks of angelic powers and Mary seeking Christ in the tomb. But He is not there - He has risen!

Orthodox worship is unusual! Some of its distinctive features are noticeable as soon as you cross the threshold of the temple, and can be confusing. Its other features become obvious over time. I will provide some background information that may help you feel more confident at an Orthodox service: twelve facts that you need to know when you find yourself in an Orthodox church for the first time.

1. What kind of mess is this?

At the very beginning of the service, you may get the impression that there is confusion in the church: people go to the front of the church, pray in front of the iconostasis (a row of icons standing in front of the altar), kiss various objects, light candles, despite the fact that the service is already in progress. In general, when you entered, the service was already in progress, although it was clearly written on the door: “The Divine Liturgy begins at 9:30.” You were clearly embarrassed that you were late, but these people arrived even later and are now moving around the temple. What's going on here?

On Sundays in the Orthodox Church there is one Eucharistic service* - the Divine Liturgy, preceded by Matins [in the Greek and Slavic Churches the liturgy is served after Matins - ed.]. There is no break between these services; as soon as one ends, another begins, so the start time of the service is indicated tentatively. In total, during a Sunday service, the clergyman spends more than three hours in the altar, “being in the light,” as one priest put it.

Because everyone is constantly on the move, there is never a moment when everyone is sitting in the pews, meekly waiting for the opening verse to begin and watching the hands of the clock approach 9:30. Orthodox believers can arrive at different times of Matins or the beginning of the Liturgy, that is, somewhere within the hour. Whenever they arrive, the service is probably already underway, but this does not prevent them from performing the personal prayers required upon arrival at the temple.

This is distracting for newcomers and can even be perceived as disrespectful, but you soon begin to understand that this is not just a formality, but a deeply personal expression of faith. Of course, this does not justify those who are late, but, unfortunately, punctuality is often absent from the list of virtues of many Orthodox believers.

2. Stand for Christ!

In the Orthodox tradition, believers stand for almost the entire service. Indeed. Some Orthodox churches don't even have chairs, except for a few around the edges of the room for those who need them.

In any case, if you find it too difficult to stand all the time, you can sit down. No one will object, and hardly anyone will pay attention to it. Over time, you will get used to standing for long periods of time.

3. Sim win

It is no exaggeration to say that we are often baptized. We make the sign of the cross at the mention of the Holy Trinity, when we venerate the cross or an icon, and many more times during the Divine Liturgy.

But this does not mean that everyone should behave the same.

Some cross themselves three times in a row, others, having crossed themselves, touch the ground with their right hand. Upon entering the temple, some believers can approach the icon and perform “throwing” - cross themselves, touch the floor with their right hand, and, having done this twice, kiss the icon, and then repeat “throwing” again.

Over time it won't be difficult, but at first it seems like it's only for the initiated and you're afraid of doing something wrong. Rest assured, you don't have to follow their lead immediately.

We cross ourselves with our right hand from right to left, unlike Catholics and Protestants - High Church Anglicans. We fold our fingers in a special way: the thumb and the next two are joined together, and the remaining two fingers are pressed against the palm.

As with all our actions, with this Orthodoxy encourages us to confess our faith. Try to guess what symbol is behind this? (Three fingers folded together symbolize the Trinity, two fingers lowered to the palm - the two natures of Christ, as well as His descent to earth).

This also requires training. But if at first you do not put your fingers together accurately, no one will accuse you of heresy.

4. Kneeling

As a rule, we do not pray on our knees. Sometimes we fall on our faces. But not in the same way as Catholics fall prostrate on the floor. We kneel, rest our hands on the floor and touch it with our foreheads.

It looks like in photographs from some Central Asian worship service, and to representatives of Western culture it seems unprecedented. At first you feel awkward, falling on your face, but everyone else does it naturally and eventually the awkwardness goes away. Women notice that it is more convenient to bow to earth in wide skirts, and it is more comfortable to stand in shoes without heels.

Sometimes we bow to the ground and immediately rise, as during the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, which is often recited during Lent. It happens that we worship and linger for a while, as they do in some communities in some places of the Eucharistic Prayer.

Not everyone prostrates. Some believers kneel, others stand with their heads bowed, and those seated may lean forward and sit hunched over. Standing timidly is also not forbidden. Nobody will pay attention if you don't fall on your face. For Orthodoxy, various forms of expressing personal religiosity are more characteristic than the feeling that you are being watched and may be offended if you do something wrong.

One of the former priests of the Anglican Church in America admitted that his decision to become Orthodox was most influenced by the sight of believers bowing to the ground. He thought then that this is how he should stand before God.

5. I love you and kiss you.

We kiss the shrines.

When we enter a church, we kiss the icons (it is customary for Jesus to kiss the feet, and for saints the right hand). You soon notice that some kiss the Holy Chalice, some kiss the hem of the priest's vestments when he comes by, the clerics kiss his hand when they hand him the censer, at the end of the service we all line up to kiss the cross.

When we say that we “kissed” something, it means that we made the sign of the cross and kissed this object.

Before communion we kiss each other (“Greet one another with the kiss of love (1 Peter 5:14) (today in Russia the kiss of peace is preserved among the clergy - editor’s note). When Catholics and Protestants of the High Church perform the “teaching of peace", they hugging, shaking hands, or lightly touching each other's cheeks - this is a common greeting from representatives of Western culture. The Orthodox have a different culture: Greeks and Arabs kiss on both cheeks, Slavs - three times. Give in to the initiative of those nearby, and try not to bump noses.

To a typical appeal: “Christ is in our midst,” they answer: “He is and will be.” Don't be afraid if you forget what to answer. Here they do not say the usual greeting for Protestants: “May the peace of the Lord be with you,” and it would also be inappropriate to say something like: “What a wonderful church you have.” Kissing peace is a liturgical action, a sign of mystical unity. Leave conversations and communication for later.

6. Blessed and sacrificial bread

Only Orthodox Christians can take communion, but everyone can eat particles of the consecrated bread.

It happens like this: one of the parishioners bakes round bread for communion and an imprint is made on it with a seal. During the preparatory service before the liturgy, the priest cuts out a segment from the seal and sets it aside. It's called "Lamb". The remaining portion of the bread is cut into pieces, placed in a large basket and blessed by the priest.

During the Eucharistic Prayer, the Lamb is transformed into the Body of Christ, and the wine in the Chalice is transformed into His Blood. And then something amazing happens: the priest lowers the Lamb into the Chalice of Wine. When we receive communion, we approach the priest one after another, opening our mouths wide, and he gives us a piece of bread soaked in wine from a golden spoon. He also reads a prayer over us, calling our name or the name of the saint that we received at baptism or confirmation (the sacrament of acceptance into the Church through anointing with sacred oil).

Having passed the priest, we approach the altar boy, who is holding a basket of consecrated bread. People take pieces for themselves or their non-Orthodox friends. If someone treats you with a piece of consecrated bread, do not be alarmed - this is not communion. This is a symbol of brotherhood.

Casual visitors are sometimes offended that they are not allowed to take communion. In Orthodoxy, it is believed that Communion is broader than a personal relationship with Christ. It certifies belief in historical Orthodox doctrine, submission to a particular Orthodox bishop, and allegiance to a particular Orthodox community. There are no privileges here; anyone can become faithful to the Orthodox Church. But the Eucharist is the treasure of the Church, and it is reserved for those who have connected themselves with the Church. This is similar to postponing marital relations until marriage.

Another reason why we protect the Eucharist from public access is that we take it more seriously than many other Christian denominations. We believe that this is truly the Body and Blood of Christ. We do not begin communion without confessing our sins to the priest and making peace with other members of the Church. We abstain from food and drink, even our morning cup of coffee, from midnight before communion.

So, we come to the topic of the post. When newcomers learn about this Orthodox tradition, they usually have a hard time believing it. We abstain from meat, fish, dairy, wine and vegetable oil every Wednesday and Friday, as well as during four periods of the year, the longest during Lent before Easter. In total it takes about six months.

Here, as elsewhere, variations are possible. After consulting with the priest, people decide to what extent they can maintain these fasts, both from a physical and spiritual point of view - excessive strictness can soon lead to frustration and depression. Fasting is a personal matter for each person. As St. said John Chrysostom in his Easter sermon, this is a holiday for everyone who fasted and who did not: “temperate and careless, honor this day alike; you who have fasted and those who have not fasted, rejoice now!”

It is important to note that fasting is not a strict rule, breaking which puts you in terrible danger, and it is not a punishment for sins. Fasting is an exercise for our growth and strengthening, a medicine for the soul.

After consulting with a priest, as a spiritual doctor, you can develop a measure of fasting that will keep you in good shape, but will not break you. Perhaps next year you will be able to handle more. Over time, after experiencing fraternal fasting with a loving community, many people find that they begin to enjoy fasting.

7. Why is there no general confession?

We believe that we do not have the same sins, they are all individual. There is no separate prayer of confession during the liturgy. Orthodox Christians must regularly confess to a priest in person.

The role of the priest is more reminiscent of the role of a spiritual father than in other faiths. They do not simply address him by name, but pronounce him “father” before the name. His wife also has her own specific role as the mother of the parish, and she is also called by a special name, depending on the culture: in Arabic “Khouria”, in Greek “Presbytera”, both of which mean the priest’s wife, and in Russian “ matushka" which means "mother".

Another feature is the Creed, which is recited or sung, depending on the parish. If you say out of habit or intentionally, “And from the Son who proceedeth,” no one will support you. The Filioque appeared in the Creed six centuries after its composition, and we adhere to the original version. Visitors from High Church communities note that we do not bow or kneel at the words “and he who became incarnate.”

We also do not stop exclaiming “Hallelujah” during Great Lent, as the nuns of the Anglican Communion do; moreover, Lenten Matins are especially replete with this exclamation.

8. Music.

About seventy-five percent of the service is occupied by parishioners singing. Orthodox Christians do not use musical instruments during services. The singing is usually led by a small a cappella choir, and the degree to which parishioners participate in the singing varies from parish to parish. The musical style also varies, ranging from single-voice singing in the eastern traditions of the Arab Church to the European sound of four-part harmony in the Russian Church, with many variations in between.

This continuous singing is overwhelming at first, it seems as if you are stepping onto a rapidly moving escalator, and you are carried for an hour and a half until you get off it. Someone rightly noted that the liturgy is one continuous song.

Almost the same thing is sung every week, and this prevents fatigue. Each subsequent Sunday the service changes very slightly, the main prayers and chants are in the same order, and soon you will already know them by heart. Then you will begin to feel the presence of God, which is almost impossible to do at the stage when you switch, now to reading the prayer book, now to the text of the liturgy, now to studying the parish leaflet.

9. Editors are powerless

Isn't it possible to say this more briefly? Why these extra epithets? Is it possible to once again condense this text, even if it is quite accurate and apt? But then it will no longer be an Orthodox service. Orthodox Christians will always try to express themselves as broadly as possible. In the Orthodox faith, there is never too much prayer, and this also applies to its other aspects. When a priest or deacon exclaims: “Let us fulfill our ** prayer to the Lord...”, be sure that you will have to stand for another fifteen minutes.

Initially, the liturgy lasted more than five hours, this shows that people in those days were on fire with their hearts for the Lord. St. Basil the Great, in his edition of the liturgy, reduced its duration to two and a half hours, and later (about 400) St. John Chrysostom further reduced this time to one and a half hours. Usually on Sundays the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, but on some days (Sundays of Great Lent, Epiphany Eve), we serve a longer liturgy of St. Basil the Great.

10. Chosen Voivode

An invariable feature of Orthodox worship is the veneration of the Virgin Mary, the “Invincible Leader” of all Christians. We also call her the Theotokos or Mother of God. She contributed to our salvation by making the incarnation of God into man physically possible. But, despite Her veneration, as it is said in the Gospel: “Behold, from now on all generations will bless Me” (Luke 1:48), this does not mean that we believe in the magical powers of Her or other saints or consider them demigods. When we sing “Most Holy Theotokos, save us,” we do not expect that She will grant us salvation in eternity, but we ask Her prayers for our intercession and growth in faith.

We ask for the prayers of the Virgin Mary and other saints just as we ask for the prayers of each other. They didn’t die, they simply went to another world. We surround ourselves with icons to remind us that all saints participate invisibly in our prayer.

11. Three gates.

In every Orthodox church there is an iconostasis in front of the altar. Iconostasis means “stand for icons” and it can simply represent a large icon of Christ on the right and an icon of the Virgin and Child on the left. In a more well-equipped church, the altar may be a partition decorated with icons. Some types of iconostases block the altar from view, except for those moments when the central gate is open.

The simplest version of the iconostasis with two large icons has three entrances. The central one, directly in front of the altar, is called the Holy or Royal Doors, because during the Eucharist the King of Glory himself comes out to the worshipers through them. The Holy Gates are used only by a priest or deacon with the Chalice in his hands.

On both sides of the icons, if this is a simplified iconostasis, there are doors with angels depicted on them; they are called the Deacon's Gate. They are used by altar servers and other ministers, but it is not allowed to enter or leave the altar unless absolutely necessary. Altar servers - priests, deacons, altar servers - can only be male. Women can participate in all other areas of church life. Women's contributions have been valued on an equal basis with men's since the time of the first martyrs; looking towards the altar, you can always see the Mother of God and other holy women. In many Orthodox churches, women work equally with men: they direct the choir, paint icons, teach lessons, read the Apostle and participate in the parish council.

12. Where should an American go?

Flipping through the Yellow Pages of any metropolis, you can find a large number of Orthodox churches: Greek, Romanian, Russian, Antiochian, Serbian and many others. Is Orthodoxy really that nationally oriented? Are these divisions evidence of theological divisions and schisms? Not at all. All these Orthodox churches are one Church. Nationality indicates under whose jurisdiction the parish falls and to which bishop it reports.

With 6 million Orthodox Christians in North America and 250 million worldwide, the Orthodox community is the second largest of all Christians.

Despite such national diversity, it is striking that Orthodoxy is united on theological and moral issues. Orthodox Christians throughout the world unanimously adhere to the fundamental Christian principles preached by the apostles, which are passed down from generation to generation by bishops - the apostolic successors. In addition, they are faithful to the apostolic principles of morality: abortion and sexual relations outside the family are also considered sins from the Orthodox point of view.

Some might explain this unity as a historical accident. However, we attribute this to the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Why then such a variety of national churches? This nationality clearly reflects geographical features. North America is also a geographical entity; someday we will also have one national church: the American Orthodox Church. This should have been the case initially, but due to complex historical background this did not happen. Instead, each Orthodox ethnic group that emigrated to the United States produced its own church structure. This diversity of Orthodox jurisdictions is nothing more than a temporary misunderstanding; intense prayers and a lot of work are being done to overcome these unnecessary barriers.

Currently, the largest jurisdictions in America are the Greek Orthodox Metropolis, the Orthodox Church in America (Russian origin) and the Antiochian Metropolis (Arab origin). The liturgies in all of them are basically the same, perhaps with some differences in language and music.

At first, Orthodoxy strikes you with its unusualness, but over time this feeling passes. More and more you begin to feel at home in it, and gradually it will lead you to your true home - to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Translated from English specifically for the portal “Orthodoxy and Peace” by Marina Leontyeva