All-night vigil. All-Night Vigil: An Interpretation of the Church Liturgy

5. The Structure of the Ancient All-Night Vigil The hypothesis of the existence of this rite is confirmed by the extremely archaic Armenian liturgical material close to the Chaldean Church. Back in 1960, it was studied by the Catholic liturgist Fr. Matheus and proved that the oldest

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Explanation of the Rites of the Divine Liturgy The Proskomedia What happens on the altar over the brought bread is a visual depiction of the Passion of Christ and is performed in remembrance (1 Cor. 11:24–25) of how He suffered and died for us. And thus it is narrated

Order of the Sacred and Divine Liturgy [Proskomidia] Entrance Prayers A priest, preparing to perform the Divine Mystery, must, firstly, be at peace with everyone and have nothing against anyone, and keep his heart, as far as possible, from evil thoughts and from the evening

On the Divine Liturgy (see page 21)

Orders of the Divine Liturgy The Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated at the Liturgy of the Faithful, the third part of the Divine Liturgy, thus being its most important component. From the first years of Christianity in different Local Churches (and even within the same

Place for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy The place for the celebration of the Liturgy is the church consecrated by the bishop in accordance with the Canons. Liturgy cannot be celebrated in a church desecrated by murder, suicide, shedding of blood, invasion by heretics. in a special way

All-night vigil, or Vespers, - 1) a solemn temple service, combining the services of the great (sometimes great), and the first; 2) one of the forms of Orthodox ascetic practice: prayerful wakefulness at night.

The ancient custom of performing an all-night vigil is based on the example of the Holy Apostles.

Nowadays, usually in parishes and in most monasteries, the vigil is held in the evening. At the same time, the practice of serving the Vespers at night has still been preserved: on the eve of the feasts, the Holy and Vigil is performed at night in most churches in Russia; on the eve of some holidays - in the Athos monasteries, in the Valaam Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior, etc.

In practice, the Ninth Hour Service may be performed before the All-Night Vigil.

All-night vigil is served the day before:
- Sundays
- Twelve Feasts
- holidays marked with a special sign in the Typicon (e.g. the memory of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker)
- temple holidays
- any holiday at the request of the rector of the temple or according to local tradition.

Between Great Vespers and Matins, after the litany “Let us fulfill our evening prayer to the Lord,” there is a litiya (from Greek, intensified prayer). In Russian parishes, it is not served on the eve of Sundays.

Vigil is also called the night prayer performed by pious believers in private. Many St. The Fathers consider night prayer a high Christian virtue. St. writes: “The wealth of the farmers is collected on the threshing floor and winepress; and the wealth and mind of the monks - in the evening and night standing before God and in the doings of the mind. ().

V. Dukhanin, from the book “What We Believe”:
We are so immersed in earthly vanity and cares that in order to gain true spiritual freedom, we need a very long worship service. Such is the All-Night Vigil - it takes place in the evenings on the eve of Sundays and holidays and is able to free our souls from the darkness of earthly impressions, dispose us to comprehension of the spiritual meaning of the holiday, to the perception of grace-filled gifts. The All-Night Vigil always precedes the Liturgy, the main divine service of the Church. And if the Liturgy, in its sacramental meaning, symbolizes the Kingdom of the future age, the eternal Kingdom of God (although the Liturgy is not limited to this meaning), then the All-Night Vigil symbolizes what precedes it, the history of the Old and New Testaments.
Vespers begins with Great Vespers, which depicts the main milestones of Old Testament history: the creation of the world, the fall of the first people, their prayer and hope for future salvation. For example, the first opening of the Royal Doors, the burning of the altar by the clergy and the exclamation: "Glory to the Holy, and the Consubstantial, and the Life-Giving, and Indivisible Trinity ..." marks the creation of the world by the Holy Trinity, when the Holy Spirit, symbolized by clubs of incense smoke, embraced the primordial world, breathing into it life-giving force. Then the one hundred and third psalm “Bless, my soul, the Lord” is sung, glorifying the wisdom of the Creator, manifested in the beauties visible world. The priest at this time censes the whole temple and those praying, and we remember the heavenly life of the first people, when God Himself lived next to them, filling them with the grace of the Holy Spirit. But the man sinned and was expelled from paradise - the Royal Doors are closing, now prayer is performed in front of them. And the singing of the verses “Lord, I cry to Thee, hear me” recalls the plight of mankind after the fall, when illnesses, sufferings, needs appeared, and people in repentance sought the mercy of God. The singing ends with a stichera in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos, during which the priest, preceded by a priest-bearer and a deacon with a censer, leaves the northern doors of the altar and solemnly enters through the Royal Doors, which turns our mental gaze to the predictions of the Old Testament prophets about the coming of the Savior into the world. This is how each fragment of Vespers contains a sublime meaning, mainly related to Old Testament history.
And then follows Matins, which means the onset of the New Testament time - the appearance of the Lord into the world, His Birth in human nature and His glorious resurrection. So, already the first verses before the Six Psalms: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men” resembles the doxology of the angels who appeared to the Bethlehem shepherds at the time of the Nativity of Christ (cf.). Of particular importance at Matins is the polyeleos (which means “much-merciful” or “much illumination”) - the solemn part of the All-Night Vigil, which includes the glorification of the mercy of God, manifested in the coming of the Son of God, who saved people from the power of the devil and death. The polyeleos begins with the solemn singing of laudatory verses: “Praise the name of the Lord, praise the servant of the Lord. Hallelujah”, all lamps are lit in the temple, and the Royal Doors are opened as a sign of God’s special favor to people. On the eve of Sundays, special Sunday troparia are sung - joyful songs in honor of the Resurrection of the Lord, telling how angels appeared to the myrrh-bearing women at the Tomb of the Savior and announced to them about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Gospel dedicated to the holiday is solemnly read, and then the canon is performed - a collection of special short songs and prayers dedicated to the event being celebrated. In general, it is worth noting that in addition to the indicated meaning, each All-Night Vigil is dedicated to a specific holiday - an event in sacred history or the memory of a saint or an icon of the Mother of God, and therefore, throughout the entire service, hymns are sung and prayers dedicated to this particular holiday are read. So it is possible to comprehend the meaning of the Vespers not only by knowing the transformative meaning of liturgical actions, but also by delving into the meaning of the hymns of each holiday, for which it is good to familiarize yourself with the content of liturgical texts at home. And most importantly, during the service, learn to pray attentively, with a warm and sincere feeling, because only in this way the main goal of church services will be achieved -.

The Meaning and Structure of the All-Night Vigil

Archpriest Viktor Potapov

Introduction

Jesus Christ rebuked the lawyers of His time for elevating rituals and ceremonies to the level of the highest religious virtue and taught that the only worthy service to God is service “in spirit and in truth” (). Rebuking the legalistic attitude to the Sabbath, Christ said that "the Sabbath is for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (). The most severe words of the Savior are directed against the Pharisees' adherence to traditional ritual forms. But on the other hand, Christ himself visited the Temple in Jerusalem, preached and prayed - and His apostles and disciples did the same.

Christianity in its historical development not only did not discard the rite, but over time established its own complex liturgical system. Is there a clear contradiction here? Isn't it enough for a Christian to pray privately?

Faith only in the soul becomes an abstract, non-life faith. In order for faith to become vital, it must be carried out in life. Participation in temple rites is the realization of faith in our lives. And every person who not only thinks about faith, but lives by faith, will certainly participate in the liturgical life of Christ's Church, go to church, know and love the rites of the Church's divine services.

In the book "Heaven on Earth: Worship of the Eastern Church" arch. Alexander Men explains the need for external forms of worship in human life in this way: “Our whole life in its most diverse manifestations is clothed in rituals. The word "rite" comes from "dress", "clothe". Joy and sorrow, everyday greetings, and encouragement, and admiration, and indignation - all this takes in human life external forms. So what right do we have to deprive our feelings towards God of this form? What right do we have to reject Christian art, Christian rituals? The words of prayers, hymns of thanksgiving and repentance, which poured out from the depths of the hearts of the great seers of God, great poets, great hymn-singers, are not useless for us. Deepening into them is the school of the soul, its upbringing for true service to the Eternal. Worship leads to enlightenment, the exaltation of a person, it ennobles his soul. Therefore, Christianity, while serving God "in spirit and in truth," preserves both rites and cult."

Christian worship in the broadest sense of the word is called "liturgy", that is, common work, common prayer, and the science of worship is called "liturgy".

Christ said: “Where two or three gather in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (). Worship can be called the center of the whole spiritual life of a Christian. When many people are inspired by common prayer, a spiritual atmosphere is created around them, conducive to sincere prayer. At this time, believers enter into a mysterious, sacramental communion with God, which is essential for true spiritual life. The Holy Fathers of the Church teach that just as a branch that has broken off from a tree dries up without receiving the juices necessary for its further existence, so a person who has separated from the Church ceases to receive that power, that grace that lives in the divine services and sacraments of the Church and which necessary for the spiritual life of man.

A well-known Russian theologian of the beginning of the century, a priest, called worship a "synthesis of the arts", because the whole being of a person is ennobled in the temple. Everything is important for an Orthodox church: the architecture, the aroma of incense, the beauty of the icons, the singing of the choir, the sermon and the action.

The actions of Orthodox worship are distinguished by their religious realism and put the believer in close proximity to the main gospel events and, as it were, remove the barrier of time and space between those praying and remembering events.

In the Christmas service, not only is the Nativity of Christ remembered, but indeed, Christ is mysteriously born, just as He is resurrected on Holy Pascha - and the same can be said about His Transfiguration, Entry into Jerusalem, and about the celebration of the Last Supper, and about the passions and burial and Ascension; likewise about all the events from the life of the Most Holy Theotokos - from Her Nativity to the Dormition. The life of the Church in worship is a mysteriously taking place incarnation: the Lord continues to live in the Church in the image of His earthly manifestation, which, having taken place once, continues to exist at all times, and the Church is given to revive sacred memories, to bring them into force, so that we become their new ones. witnesses and participants. All worship in general, therefore, acquires the meaning of the Divine Life, and the temple - places for it.

Part I. Great Vespers

Spiritual Meaning of the All-Night Vigil

In the service of the All-Night Vigil, he communicates to the worshipers a sense of the beauty of the setting sun and turns their thoughts to the spiritual light of Christ. The Church also directs believers to prayerful reflection on the coming day and on the eternal light of the Kingdom of Heaven. The All-Night Vigil is, as it were, a liturgical line between the past day and the coming one.

Structure of the All-Night Vigil

The All-Night Vigil, as the name itself says, is a divine service that, in principle, lasts all night. True, in our time such services that continue all night are rare, mainly only in some monasteries, such as, for example, on Athos. In parish churches, the All-Night Vigil is usually performed in an abbreviated form.

The All-Night Vigil takes believers to the bygone times of the early Christians' nighttime services. For the first Christians, the evening meal, prayer and commemoration of the martyrs and the dead, as well as the Liturgy, were one whole - traces of which are still preserved in various evening services of the Orthodox Church. This includes the consecration of bread, wine, wheat and oil, as well as those cases when the Liturgy is combined into one whole with Vespers, for example, the Lenten Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, the Liturgy of the eve and eve of the feasts of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany, the Liturgy of Great Thursday, Holy Saturday and the night Liturgy of the Resurrection of Christ.

Actually, the All-Night Vigil consists of three services: Great Vespers, Matins and the First Hour. In some cases, the first part of the All-Night Vigil is not Great Vespers, but Great Compline. Matins is the central and most essential part of the All-Night Vigil.

Delving into what we hear and see at Vespers, we are transported to the times of the Old Testament humanity and experience in our hearts what it experienced.

Knowing what is depicted at Vespers (as well as at Matins), it is easy to understand and remember the entire course of the service - the order in which hymns, readings, and sacred rites follow one another.

GREAT VESSEL

In the Bible we read that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but the earth was unorganized (“formless” - according to the exact word of the Bible) and the Life-giving Spirit of God hovered over it in silence, as if pouring living forces into it.

The beginning of the All-Night Vigil - Great Vespers - takes us to this beginning of creation: the service begins with the silent cruciform incense of the Throne. This action is one of the most profound and significant moments of Orthodox worship. It is an image of the breath of the Holy Spirit in the bowels of the Holy Trinity. The silence of the cruciform incense, as it were, points to the eternal rest of the most peaceful Deity. It symbolizes that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who sends down the Holy Spirit from the Father, is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”, and the cross, the weapon of His saving slaughter, also has a transcendent, eternal and cosmic meaning. The Metropolitan, who lived in the 19th century, in one of his sermons on Good Friday emphasizes that "The Cross of Jesus ... is the earthly image and shadow of the heavenly Cross of Love."

initial exclamation

After incense, the priest stands in front of the altar, and the deacon, leaving the royal gates and standing on the pulpit to the west, that is, to those praying, proclaims: "Arise!" and then, turning to the east, he continues: “Lord, bless!”

The priest, making a cross in the air in front of the throne, proclaims: “Glory to the saints, and to the Consubstantial, and Life-giving, and Indivisible Trinity, always, now and forever, and forever and ever.”

The meaning of these words and actions is that the co-servant of the priest, the deacon, invites those gathered to stand up for prayer, to be attentive, to “perk up.” The priest, with his cry, confesses the beginning and the Creator of everything - the consubstantial and life-giving Trinity. Making the sign of the cross with a censer at this time, the priest shows that through the Cross of Jesus Christ, Christians were able to partially see the mystery of the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

After the exclamation “Glory to the Saints…”, the clergymen glorify the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, singing in the altar: “Come, let us bow down to our Tsar God… Christ Himself, Tsar and our God.”

preceptive psalm

The choir then sings the 103rd, "Initial Psalm", beginning with the words: "Bless the Lord, my soul" and ending with the words: "Thou hast made all wisdom!" This psalm is a hymn about the universe created by God - the visible and invisible world. The 103rd psalm inspired poets of different times and peoples. Known, for example, is a poetic arrangement of it, which belongs to Lomonosov. His motives are heard in Derzhavin's ode "God" and in Goethe's "Prologue in Heaven". The main feeling that permeates this psalm is the admiration of a person contemplating the beauty and harmony of the world created by God. God "arranged" the unsettled earth in the six days of creation - everything became beautiful ("very good"). The 103rd psalm also contains the idea that even the most inconspicuous and small in nature conceals not fewer miracles than grandiose.

temple incense

During the singing of this psalm, the entire temple is incense with the royal doors open. This action was introduced by the Church in order to remind believers of the Holy Spirit hovering over God's creation. The open royal doors at this moment symbolize paradise, that is, the state of direct communication between people and God, in which the first people lived. Immediately after the incense of the temple, the royal doors are closed, just as the original sin committed by Adam closed the doors of paradise for a person and alienated him from God.

In all these actions and chants of the beginning of the All-Night Vigil, the cosmic significance of an Orthodox church is revealed, which is a real image of the universe. The altar with the throne symbolizes paradise and heaven, where the Lord reigns; the priests symbolize the angels serving God, and the middle part of the temple symbolizes the earth with humanity. And just as paradise was returned to people by the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so the clergy descend from the altar to the worshipers in brilliant robes, reminiscent of the Divine light with which the clothes of Christ shone on Mount Tabor.

Lamp prayers

Immediately after the temple priest incense, the royal doors are closed, just as Adam's original sin closed the doors of paradise and alienated him from God. Now fallen humanity, in front of the closed gates of paradise, is praying for a return to the path of God. Depicting the penitent Adam, the priest stands in front of the closed royal doors, with his head uncovered and without a brilliant robe, in which he performed the solemn beginning of the service - as a sign of repentance and humility - and reads seven "lamp prayers" to himself. In these prayers, which are the oldest part of the Vespers (they were composed in the 4th century), one can hear the consciousness of a person of his helplessness and a request for guidance on the path of truth. These prayers are distinguished by high artistry and spiritual depth. Here is the seventh prayer in Russian translation:

“God, great and supreme, who alone has immortality, lives in unapproachable light, who created the whole creation with wisdom, divided light and darkness, determined the day for the sun, gave the moon and stars the region of night, honored us sinners and at this hour to bring praise before Your face and eternal glory! O Lover of mankind, accept our prayer like incense smoke before You, accept it like a pleasant fragrance: let us spend in the world this evening and the coming night. Clothe us in weapons of light. Deliver us from the horrors of the night and all that darkness brings with it. And the dream given to us by You for the rest of the exhausted, may it be free from all devilish dreams (“fantasies”). O Lord, Giver of all blessings! Give us, who grieve over sins on our beds and remember Your name at night, enlightened by the words of Your commandments - let us rise in spiritual joy, glorify Your goodness, bring prayers to Your mercy for the forgiveness of our sins and all Your people whom You graciously visited for the sake of prayers Holy Mother of God".

During the reading of the seven lamp prayers by the priest, according to the church charter, the lighting of candles and lamps in the temple is supposed to be an action that symbolizes the Old Testament hopes, revelations and prophecies related to the coming Messiah, the Savior - Jesus Christ.

Great Litany

Then the deacon pronounces the Great Litany. The litany is a particularly fervent prayer that is read on behalf of all believers. The choir, also on behalf of all those present at the service, answers these petitions with the words "Lord, have mercy." “Lord, have mercy” is short, but one of the most perfect and complete prayers that a person can say. It says everything.

The "Great Litany" is often called after its first words - "Let us pray to the Lord in peace" - "Peaceful Litany". Peace is a necessary condition for any prayer, both public and church, and personal. About a peaceful spirit, as the basis of all prayer, Christ speaks in the Gospel of Mark: “And when you stand in prayer, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Heavenly Father may forgive you your sins” (Mark; 11, 25). Rev. said: "Get yourself a peaceful spirit and thousands around you will be saved." That is why, at the beginning of the Vespers and most of his other divine services, he invites the faithful to pray to God with a calm, peaceful conscience, reconciled with their neighbors and with God.

Further, in a peaceful litany, the Church prays for world peace, for the unity of all Christians, for her native country, for the temple in which this service takes place, and in general for all Orthodox churches, and for those who enter them not only out of curiosity, but , in the words of the litany, "with faith and reverence." The litany also commemorates the traveling, the sick, the captives, and hears a request for deliverance from "sorrow, anger, and need." The concluding petition of the Peace Litany says: “Our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Glorious Our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary with all the saints, remembering ourselves, each other and our whole life (i.e. our life) to Christ God.” This formula contains two deep and basic Orthodox theological ideas: the dogma of the prayerful intercession of the Mother of God, as the Head of all saints, and the high ideal of Christianity - the dedication of one's life to Christ God.

The Great (Peaceful) Litany ends with the exclamation of the priest, in which, just as at the beginning of the Vespers, the Holy Trinity is glorified - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

First kathisma - "Blessed is the husband"

Just as Adam turned to God in repentance at the gates of paradise, so the deacon at the closed royal doors begins to pray - the Great Litany "Let us pray to the Lord in peace ..."

But Adam had just heard the promise of God - "the seed of the woman will wipe out the head of the serpent", the Savior will come to earth - and hope for salvation burns in Adam's soul.

This hope is heard in the next chant of the All-Night Vigil. As if in response to the Great Litany, the biblical psalm sounds again. This psalm - "Blessed is the husband" - the first one found in the book of psalms, the Psalms, is, as it were, an indication and warning of believers from erroneous, sinful ways of life.

In modern liturgical practice, only a few verses of this psalm are performed, which are solemnly sung with the refrain "Hallelujah". In the monasteries at this time, not only is the first psalm "Blessed is the husband" sung, but the entire first "kathisma" of the Psalter is read in full. The Greek word "kathisma" means "sitting", since according to the church charter, it is allowed to sit while reading kathisma. The entire Psalter, consisting of 150 psalms, is divided into 20 kathismas or groups of psalms. Each kathisma, in turn, is divided into three parts or "glories", because it ends with the words "Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." The entire Psalter, all 20 kathismas are read at divine services during each week. During Great Lent, the forty-day period preceding Easter, when church prayer is more intense, the Psalter is recited twice a week.

The Psalter has been accepted into the liturgical life of the Church from the first days of its foundation and occupies a very honorable place in it. About the Psalter in the 4th century, the Saint wrote:

“The book of Psalms embraces the useful of all books. She prophesies about the future, recalls the events of the past, gives the laws of life, suggests rules for activity. The psalm is the silence of souls, the guide of the world. The Psalter quenches rebellious and disturbing thoughts... there is comfort from daily labors. The psalm is the voice of the Church and the perfect theology.

Small Litany

Following the singing of the first psalm, the “Small Litany” is pronounced - “Let us pray to the Lord again and again in peace,” that is, “we will pray to the Lord again and again.” This litany is an abbreviation of the Great Litany and consists of 2 petitions:

“Intercede, save, have mercy and keep us, O God, by Your grace.”

"Lord have mercy".

“Our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Glorious Our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, remembering with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and each other and our whole life to Christ our God.”

"You, Lord."

The small litany ends with one of the exclamations of the priest prescribed by the typikon.

At the All-Night Sorrow and repentance of sinned humanity are transmitted in penitential psalms, which are sung in separate verses - with special solemnity and special tunes.

Psalm "Lord, cry out" and incense

After the singing of “Blessed is the husband” and the small litany, verses from the 140th and 141st psalms are heard, beginning with the words “Lord, I cry to Thee, hear me.” These psalms tell about the longing of a man who has fallen into sin for God, about his desire to make his service to God true. These psalms are the most characteristic feature of every Vespers. In the second verse of the 140th Psalm, we encounter the words “May my prayer be corrected, as if it were a censer before Thee” (this prayerful sigh is distinguished into a special touching hymn that sounds during Great Lent at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts). During the singing of these verses, the entire temple is incensed.

What is the meaning of this censing?

The Church gives an answer in the already mentioned words of the psalm: “May my prayer be corrected, like a censer before You, the lifting up of my hand is an evening sacrifice,” that is, let my prayer rise to You (God) like censer smoke; the lifting up of my hands is like an evening sacrifice to Thee. This verse reminds us of that time in antiquity, when, according to the law of Moses, every evening in the tabernacle, that is, in the portable temple of the Israelite people, on their way from Egyptian captivity to the promised land, the evening sacrifice; it was accompanied by the raising of the hands of the one who offered the sacrifice and the burning of the altar, where the holy tablets were kept, received by Moses from God on the top of Mount Sinai.

The rising smoke of incense symbolizes the prayers of the faithful ascending to heaven. When a deacon or priest who performs censing censes in the direction of the worshiper, he in response bows his head as a sign that he accepts censing in his direction as a reminder that the prayer of the believer should also easily ascend to heaven, like incense smoke. Censing in the direction of those who pray also reveals the deep truth that the Church sees in every person the image and likeness of God, a living icon of God, the betrothal to Christ received in the sacrament of Baptism.

During the censing of the temple, the singing of “Lord, cry out ...” continues, and our temple, cathedral prayer merges with this prayer, for we are just as sinful as the first people, and conciliar, from the depths of the heart the final words of the chant “Hear me, God".

Stichera on the Lord cry

Among the further penitential verses of the 140th and 141st psalms “Bring my soul out of prison… From the depths I cry to Thee, Lord, Lord, hear my voice” and so on, there are also voices of hope for the promised Savior.

This hope in the midst of sorrow is heard in the hymns after "Lord, I have cried" - in spiritual songs, the so-called "Stichera on the Lord, I have cried." If the verses before the stichera speak of Old Testament darkness and sorrow, then the stichera themselves (these refrains to verses, as if additions to them) speak of New Testament joy and light.

Stikhira are church songs composed in honor of a holiday or a saint. There are three types of stichera: the first are “stichera for the Lord,” which, as we have already noted, are sung at the beginning of Vespers; the second, which sound at the end of Vespers, between verses taken from the psalms, are called "stichera on the verse"; the third - are sung before the end of the second part of the All-Night Vigil in conjunction with psalms, in which the word "praise" is often used, and therefore are called "stichera in praise."

The Sunday stichera glorify the Resurrection of Christ, the festive stichera tell about the reflection of this glory in various sacred events or the deeds of the saints, for, ultimately, everything in church history is connected with Easter, with the victory of Christ over death and hell. According to the texts of the stichera, one can determine who or what event is remembered and glorified in the services of a given day.

Osmosis

The stichera, like the psalm "Lord, I have called," are also characteristic feature All-night vigil. At Vespers, from six to ten stichera are sung to a certain "voice". Since ancient times, there have been eight voices composed by St. , who labored in the 8th century in the Palestinian monastery (Lavra) of St. Sava the Sanctified. Each voice includes several tunes or melodies, according to which certain prayers are sung during the service. Voices change weekly. Every eight weeks, the circle of the so-called "Osmoglasiya", that is, a series of eight voices, begins again. The collection of all these hymns is contained in the liturgical book - "Oktoih" or "Osmoglasnik".

Voices constitute one of the special striking features of Orthodox liturgical music. In the Russian Orthodox Church, voices come in different chants: Greek, Kievan, Znamenny, everyday.

dogmatists

God's answer to the repentance and hope of the people of the Old Testament was the birth of the Son of God. This is narrated by a special "Mother of God" stichera, which is sung immediately after the stichera in the Lord's cry. This stichera is called "Dogmatik" or "Theotokos dogmatik". The dogmatists - there are only eight of them, for each voice - contain praise to the Mother of God and the teaching of the Church about the incarnation of Jesus Christ and about the union in Him of two natures - Divine and human.

A distinctive feature of dogmatists is their exhaustive doctrinal meaning and poetic loftiness. Here is the Russian translation of Dogmatik 1st Tone:

“Let us sing to Mary the Virgin, the glory of the whole world, who came from people and gave birth to the Lord. She is the heavenly door, sung by incorporeal forces, She is the adornment of believers! She appeared as the sky and as the temple of the Divine - she destroyed the enemy barrier, gave peace and opened the Kingdom (Heavenly). Having Her as a stronghold of faith, we also have the Intercessor of the Lord born from Her. Hold on, people! Be of good cheer, people of God, for he conquered his enemies as the Almighty."

This dogmatist briefly outlines the Orthodox teaching about the human nature of the Savior. The main idea of ​​the Dogmatist of the first voice is that the Mother of God came from ordinary people and Herself was a simple person, and not a superman. Consequently, humanity, despite its sinfulness, nevertheless kept its spiritual essence to such an extent that it turned out, in the person of the Mother of God, worthy to receive into its bowels the Divine – Jesus Christ. The Most Holy Theotokos, according to the Church Fathers, is "the justification of mankind before God." Mankind, in the person of the Mother of God, ascended to heaven, and God, in the person of Jesus Christ, who was born of Her, bowed to the earth - this is the meaning and essence of the incarnation of Christ, considered from the point of view of Orthodox Mariology, i.e. doctrine of the Mother of God.

Here is a Russian translation of another Dogmatik of the 2nd tone:

“The shadow of the law passed away after grace appeared; and as the bush, scorched, did not burn, so the Virgin gave birth - and remained the Virgin; instead of the (Old Testament) pillar of fire, the Sun of Truth (Christ) shone, instead of Moses (came) Christ, the salvation of our souls.

The meaning of this dogmatic is that through the Virgin Mary grace and liberation from the burden of the Old Testament law, which is only a “shadow”, that is, a symbol of the future blessings of the New Testament, came into the world. At the same time, in the dogmatics of the 2nd tone, the “ever-virginity” of the Mother of God is emphasized, depicted in the symbol of the burning bush, taken from the Old Testament. This "burning bush" is the thorn bush that Moses saw at the foot of Mount Sinai. According to the Bible, this bush burned and did not burn, that is, it was engulfed in flames, but did not burn itself.

small entrance

The singing of a dogmatist at the Vespers symbolizes the union of earth and sky. During the singing of dogmatism, the royal doors open as a sign that paradise, in the sense of human communication with God, closed by the sin of Adam, is reopened by the coming to earth of Adam of the New Testament - Jesus Christ. At this time, the “evening” or “small” entrance is made. Through the northern side door of the deacon of the iconostasis, the priest comes out following the deacon, just as the Son of God appeared to people in the forerunner of John the Baptist. The choir ends the evening small entrance with the singing of the prayer “Quiet Light”, in which the words say the same thing that the priest and deacon depict with the actions of the entrance - about the quiet, humble light of Christ, which appeared in the world almost unnoticed.

Prayer "Quiet Light"

In the circle of chants used during divine services in the Orthodox Church, the song "Quiet Light" is known under the name of "evening song", since it is sung at all evening services. With the words of this hymn, the children of the Church "having come into the setting of the sun, having seen the evening light, let us sing to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit of God." From these words it is clear that the singing of the “Quiet Light” was timed to coincide with the appearance of the soft light of the evening dawn, when the believing soul should be close to the feeling of the touch of another high society. That is why in ancient times, at the sight of the setting sun, Christians poured out their feelings and prayerful mood of the soul to their “Quiet Light” - Jesus Christ, Who, according to the Apostle Paul, is the radiance of the glory of the Father (), the true sun of truth according to Old Testament prophecy (), true non-evening, eternal, unsetting light, according to the definition of the Evangelist John.

Small word "Wonmem"

Following the singing of the “Quiet Light”, the serving clergy from the altar proclaim a series of small words: “let us listen”, “peace to all”, “wisdom”. These words are pronounced not only at the All-Night Vigil, but also at other divine services. These liturgical words repeated many times in the church can easily escape our attention. They are small words, but with great and responsible content.

“Wonmem” is the imperative form of the verb “heed”. In Russian, we would say “we will be attentive”, “we will listen”.

Mindfulness is one of the most important qualities in Everyday life. But mindfulness is not always easy - our mind is prone to absent-mindedness, to forgetfulness - it is difficult to force ourselves to be attentive. The Church knows this weakness of ours, which is why she keeps telling us: “Let us listen,” she will listen, we will be attentive, we will collect, strain, tune our mind and memory to what we hear. Even more important: let us tune our hearts so that nothing passes by from what is happening in the temple. To listen means to unload and free oneself from memories, from empty thoughts, from worries, or, in the language of the Church, to rid oneself of "worldly cares."

Greeting "Peace to all"

The small word "Peace to all" is first encountered at the All-Night Vigil immediately after the small entrance and the prayer "Quiet Light".

The word "peace" was a form of greeting among the ancient peoples. Israelis still greet each other with the word "shalom". This greeting was also used during the days of the Savior's earthly life. The Hebrew word "shalom" is multifaceted in its meaning, and its New Testament translators had to experience many difficulties until they settled on the Greek word "irini". In addition to its direct meaning, the word "shalom" contains a number of nuances, for example: "to be complete, healthy, intact." Its main meaning is dynamic. It means "to live well" - in prosperity, prosperity, health, and so on. All this was understood both in a material and spiritual sense, in a personal and social order. AT figuratively the word "shalom" meant good relations between different people, families and nations, between husband and wife, between man and God. Therefore, the antonym, the opposite of this word, was not necessarily “war”, but rather everything that could disrupt or destroy individual well-being or good social relations. In this broad sense, the word "peace", "shalom" meant a special gift that God gave to Israel for the sake of His Covenant with Him, i.e. agreement, because in a very special way this word was expressed in the priestly blessing.

It is in this sense that the word-greeting was used by the Savior. He greeted the apostles with it, as it is narrated in the Gospel of John: “on the first day of the week (after the resurrection of Christ from the dead) ... Jesus came and stood in the midst (of His disciples) and said to them: “Peace be with you!” And then: “Jesus said to them a second time: Peace be with you! As the Father sent me, so I send you.” And this is not just a formal greeting, as often happens in our human life: Christ quite realistically clothes His disciples in the world, knowing that they will have to go through the abyss of enmity, persecution and through martyrdom.

This is the world about which the epistles of the Apostle Paul say that it is not of this world, that it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. That he, this world, is from Christ, for "He is our peace."

That is why, during divine services, bishops and priests so often and repeatedly bless the people of God with the sign of the cross and the words: “Peace to all!”

Prokimen

After greeting all those who pray with the words of the Savior, “peace to all!” followed by "prokeimenon". "Prokeimenon" means "before" and is a short saying from the Holy Scriptures, which is read together with another verse or several verses that complement the thought of the prokeimenon, before reading a large passage from the Holy Scriptures of the Old or New Testament. The Sunday prokeimenon (6th tone), pronounced on the eve of Sunday during Vespers, is proclaimed at the altar and repeated in chorus.

Paremias

"Paremia" literally means "parable" and is a passage from the Holy Scriptures of the Old or New Testament. According to the prescription of the Church, these readings (paroemias) are read on the days of great holidays and contain prophecies about an event or person remembered on that day, or praise for a holiday or a saint. There are mostly three proverbs, but sometimes more. For example, on Great Saturday, on the eve of Easter, 15 proverbs are read.

Special Litany

With the advent of Christ into the world, represented in the actions of the small evening entrance, the intimacy between God and man intensified, and their prayerful communion also intensified. That is why, immediately after the prokeimenon and the readings of paroemias, the Church invites the faithful to deepen their prayerful communion with God through the “extra litany.” Separate petitions of the special litany are reminiscent of the content of the first litany of vespers - the Great, but the special litany is also accompanied by a prayer for the departed. The litany begins with the words “Rtsem all (that is, we will say everything) with all our soul and from all our thoughts ...” For each petition, the choir, on behalf of all the worshipers, answers with the triple “Lord, have mercy.”

Prayer "Voyage, Lord"

After the special litany, the prayer "Vouch, Lord" is read. This prayer, part of which is read at Matins in the Great Doxology, was composed in the Syrian Church in the 4th century.

Pleading Litany

Following the reading of the prayer "Vouchee, O Lord," the final litany of vespers is confessed - "petitionary". In it, each, except for the first two petitions, is followed by the answer of the choir “Give me, Lord,” that is, a more bold appeal to the Lord than the repentant “Lord, have mercy,” which is heard in other litanies. In the first litanies of Vespers, the faithful prayed for the well-being of the world and the Church; about external well-being. In the petitionary litany, there is a prayer for success in spiritual life, i.e. about how to end this day without sin, about the Guardian Angel, about the forgiveness of sins, about a calm Christian death and about being able to give Christ a correct account of your life at the Last Judgment.

worship of heads

After the Petitionary Litany, the Church calls on those praying to bow their heads before the Lord. At this moment, the priest turns to God with a special "secret" prayer, which he reads to himself. It contains the idea that those who bow their heads expect help not from people, but from God, and ask Him to protect those who pray from any enemy, both external and internal, i.e. from evil thoughts and from dark temptations. “Bowing of the head” is an external symbol of the departure of believers under the protection of God.

lithium

Following this, on major holidays and on the days of memory of especially revered saints, a “lithia” is performed. "Lithia" means intensified prayer. It begins with the singing of special stichera, glorifying the feast or saint of the given day. At the beginning of the singing of the stichera “on the lithium”, the clergy depart from the altar through the northern deacon’s door of the iconostasis. The Royal Doors remain closed. A candle is carried ahead. When the lithium is performed outside the church, on the occasion, for example, of national disasters or on the days of memory of deliverance from them, it is combined with prayer singing and procession. There are also funeral litias performed in the porch after Vespers or Matins.

Prayer "Now let go"

After singing the “stichera on the verse”, it reads “Now let go of your servant, Master ...” - that is, the doxology uttered by St. Simeon the God-Receiver, when he received the Divine Infant Christ in his arms in the Jerusalem Temple on the fortieth day after His Nativity. In this prayer, the Old Testament elder thanks God for allowing him before his death to see the Salvation (of Christ), which was given by God for the glory of Israel and for the enlightenment of the Gentiles and the whole world. Here is the English translation of this prayer:

“Now you release (me) your servant, Lord, according to your word, in peace; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.”

The first part of the Vespers is coming to an end. Vespers begins with a remembrance of the creation of the world, the first page of the Old Testament history, and ends with the prayer “Now let go,” symbolizing the end of the Old Testament history.

Trisagion

Immediately after the prayer of St. Simeon the God-bearer, the “trisagion” is read, which includes the prayers “Holy God”, “Holy Trinity”, “Our Father” and the exclamation of the priest “For Yours is the kingdom”.

Following the Trisagion, a troparion is sung. “Troparion” is a short and concise prayer appeal to a saint whose memory is celebrated on a given day or the memory of a sacred event of that day. A specific feature of the troparion is a brief description of glorified person or event associated with him. At Sunday Vespers, the troparion of the Mother of God is sung three times, “Hail, Virgin Mary.” This troparion is sung at the end of Sunday Vespers because the joy of the Resurrection of Christ was proclaimed after the joy of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God. The words of this troparion consist mainly of an angelic greeting to the Mother of God.

If a litiya is performed at the All-Night Vigil, then during the three times singing of the troparion, the priest or deacon censes three times around the table with bread, wheat, oil and wine. Then the priest reads a prayer in which he asks God to “bless the loaves, wheat, wine and oil, multiply them throughout the world and sanctify those who eat from them.” Before reading this prayer, the priest first raises one of the loaves a little and draws a cross in the air over the other loaves. This action is performed in memory of the miraculous feeding of 5,000 people with five loaves of bread by Christ.

In the old days, blessed bread and wine were distributed to those praying for refreshment during the service, which continued "all night", that is, all night. In modern liturgical practice, blessed bread, cut into small pieces, is distributed during the anointing of those praying with blessed oil at Matins (this rite will be discussed later). The rite of blessing the loaves goes back to the liturgical practice of the first Christians and is a remnant of the early Christian "Vespers of Love" - ​​"Agapa".

At the end of the litia, in the consciousness of the graces of God, the choir sings the verse three times: "Be blessed be the name of the Lord from now on and forever." This verse also ends the Liturgy.

The priest ends the first part of the Vespers - Vespers - from the pulpit, teaching the worshipers an ancient blessing on behalf of the incarnate Jesus Christ with the words "The blessing of the Lord is upon you, by His grace and love of mankind always, now and ever and forever and ever."

Part II. MATINS

The services of Vespers and Matins define the day. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we read: “And there was evening and there was morning: one day (). Therefore, in ancient times, the first part of the All-Night Vigil - Vespers - ended late at night, and the second part of the All-Night Vigil - Matins, was prescribed by the church charter to be performed at such hours so that its last part coincided with dawn. In modern practice, Matins most often moves to a later hour in the morning (if it is performed separately from Vespers) or back to the eve of the given day.

Six Psalms

Matins, celebrated in the context of the Vespers, immediately begins with the reading of the Six Psalms, that is, six selected psalms, namely 3, 37, 62, 87, 102 and 142, read in this order and combined into one liturgical whole. The reading of the Six Psalms is preceded by two biblical texts: the Bethlehem angelic doxology - “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men”, which is read three times. Then the verse from the 50th psalm is pronounced twice: "Lord, open my mouth, and my mouth will proclaim Your praise."

The first of these texts, the angelic doxology, briefly but vividly notes the three main and interconnected aspirations of a Christian's life: upward to God, expressed in the words "Glory to God in the highest", in breadth to neighbors in the words "and on earth peace" and in depth of his heart - the aspiration expressed in the words of the doxology "good will towards men." All these aspirations up-in-breadth-deep create in general the symbol of the cross, which is thus a symbol of the ideal of Christian life, giving peace with God, peace with people and peace in the soul.

According to the charter, during the reading of the Six Psalms, the candles in the temple are extinguished (this is usually not practiced in parishes). The ensuing darkness marks that deep night in which Christ came to earth, glorified by angelic singing: "Glory to God in the highest." The twilight of the temple contributes to greater prayerful concentration.

The Six Psalms contains a whole range of experiences that illuminate the New Testament Christian life - not only its general joyful mood, but also the sorrowful path to this joy.

In the middle of the Six Psalm, at the beginning of the reading of the 4th, most mournful, mortal bitterness psalm, the priest leaves the altar and in front of the royal doors continues to read 12 special “morning” prayers to himself, which he began to read back in the altar, in front of the throne. At this moment, the priest, as it were, symbolizes Christ, Who heard the sorrow of fallen mankind and not only descended, but also shared its suffering to the end, which is spoken of in Psalm 87 being read at that time.

The “morning” prayers, which the priest reads to himself, contain a prayer for the Christians standing in the temple, a request to forgive them their sins, give sincere faith in unfeigned love, bless all their deeds and honor the Kingdom of Heaven.

Great Litany

After the end of the Six Psalms and the Morning Prayers, the Great Litany is said again, as at the beginning of the Vespers, at Vespers. Its meaning in this place at the beginning of Matins is that the Intercessor who appeared on earth, Christ, whose birth is glorified at the beginning of the Six Psalms, will fulfill all petitions for spiritual and bodily blessings, which are spoken of in this litany.

Sunday Troparion

After Mirnaya, or as it is also called the “Great” litany, there is singing from the 117th psalm - “God is the Lord, and appear to us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” The church charter appointed the singing of these words in this very place of Matins in order to direct our thoughts to the remembrance of Christ's entry into public service. This verse, as it were, continues the glorification of the Savior, begun at the beginning of Matins during the reading of the Six Psalms. These words also served as a greeting to Jesus Christ at His last entry into Jerusalem to suffer on the Cross. The exclamation "God is the Lord, and appear to us ..." and then the reading of three special verses is proclaimed by the deacon or priest in front of the main, or local icon of the Savior on the iconostasis. The choir then repeats the first verse "God is the Lord, and appear to us...".

Singing and reading poetry should convey a joyful, solemn mood. Therefore, candles are lit again, which were extinguished during the reading of the repentant Six Psalms.

Immediately after the verses “God is the Lord,” the Sunday troparion is sung, in which the feast is glorified and, as it were, the essence of the words “God is the Lord, and appear to us” is explained. The Sunday troparion narrates the sufferings of Christ and His resurrection from the dead - events that will be covered in detail in later parts of the Matins service.

Kathismas

After the Peace Litany, the verses "God is the Lord" and the troparia, the 2nd and 3rd kathismas are read at the Sunday Vespers. As we have already said, the Greek word "kathisma" means "sitting", since according to the church charter, worshipers are allowed to sit while reading kathisma.

The entire Psalter, consisting of 150 psalms, is divided into 20 kathismas, that is, groups or chapters of psalms. Each kathisma, in turn, is divided into three "glories", because each section of the kathisma ends with the words "Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." After each "glory", the choir sings "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, glory to Thee, God" three times.

Kathismas are the expression of a repentant, contemplative spirit. They call for reflection on sins and are accepted by the Orthodox Church as part of her divine services so that the listeners delve into their own lives, into their actions and deepen their repentance before God.

The 2nd and 3rd kathismas read on Sunday Matins are prophetic in nature. They describe the suffering of Christ: His mockery, the perforation of His hands and feet, the stripping of His clothes with casting lots, His death and resurrection from the dead.

The kathismata at the Sunday Vespers lead the worshipers to the central and most solemn part of the service - to the "polyeleos".

Polyeleos

“Praise the name of the Lord. Hallelujah". With these and subsequent words, extracted from the 134th and 135th psalms, the most solemn moment of the Sunday vigil - "polieles" - dedicated to the remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ, begins.

The word "polyeleos" comes from two Greek words, which are translated as "merciful singing": polyeleos consists in singing "Praise the name of the Lord" with the refrain returning at the end of each verse of the psalms "for his mercy is forever", where the Lord is glorified for many mercies to the human race, and above all for its salvation and redemption.

At the polyeleos, the royal doors open, the entire temple is illuminated, and the clergy emerge from the altar, burning the entire temple incense. In these sacred rites, the worshipers really see, for example, in the opening of the royal doors, how Christ rose from the tomb and reappeared among His disciples - an event depicted in the procession of the clergy from the altar to the middle of the temple. At this time, the singing of the psalm “Praise the name of the Lord” continues, with the chorus of the angelic exclamation “Hallelujah” (Praise the Lord), as if on behalf of the angels calling on those praying to glorify the risen Lord.

"Much-merciful singing" - polyeleos, is especially characteristic of the all-night vigil on Sunday and major holidays, since the mercy of God is especially felt here and it is especially appropriate to praise His name and give thanks for this mercy.

To Psalms 134 and 135, which constitute the content of the polyeleos in the weeks preparatory to Great Lent, a short 136th psalm is also added, beginning with the words "On the rivers of Babylon." This psalm tells of the suffering of the Jews in the Babylonian captivity and conveys their sorrow for the lost homeland. This psalm is sung a few weeks before the start of Great Lent so that the "New Israel" - Christians, during the Holy Fortecost, through repentance and abstinence, would strive for their spiritual fatherland, the Kingdom of Heaven, just as the Jews sought to be freed from Babylonian captivity and return to their homeland - the Promised Land.

magnificence

On the days of the Lord's and Mother of God feasts, as well as on days when the memory of a particularly revered saint is celebrated, the polyeleos is followed by the singing of "magnification" - a short verse praising the holiday or saint of the given day. The magnificence is first sung by the clergy from the middle of the temple in front of the icon of the feast. Then, during the censing of the entire temple, the choir repeats this text many times.

Sunday Immaculate

The first to know about the resurrection of Christ, and the first to announce it to people, were angels, so the polyeleos, as if on their behalf, begins with the chant "Praise the name of the Lord." After the angels, the myrrh-bearing wives, who came to the tomb of Christ according to the ancient Jewish custom, learned about the resurrection to anoint the body of Christ with fragrant oils. Therefore, after the singing of the angelic “Praise,” Sunday troparia is sung, telling about the visit of the myrrh-bearing women to the tomb, the appearance of an angel to them with the news of the resurrection of the Savior and the command to tell His apostles about it. Before each troparion, the refrain is sung: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy justification." And finally, the last of the followers of Jesus Christ who learned about His resurrection from the dead were the apostles. This moment in the gospel story is celebrated in the climax of the entire Vespers - in the reading of the Sunday Gospel.

Before reading the Gospel, several preparatory exclamations and prayers are laid. So, after Sunday troparions and a short, "small" litany, which is an abbreviation of the "great" litany, special hymns are sung - "powerful". These ancient hymns consist of verses of 15 psalms. These psalms are called "songs of degrees", since in the Old Testament period of the history of the Jewish people these psalms were sung by two choirs standing opposite each other on the "steps" of the Jerusalem temple. Most often, the 1st part of the power 4th voice is sung to the text "From my youth, many passions fight me."

Prayer preparation for the gospel reading

The climax of the All-Night Vigil is the reading of a passage from the Gospel about the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. According to the church charter, several preparatory prayers are required before reading the Gospel. The relatively long preparation of those praying for reading the Gospel is explained by the fact that the Gospel is, so to speak, a book “with seven seals” and a “stumbling block” for those whom the Church does not teach her to understand and listen to her. In addition, the Holy Fathers teach that in order to get the maximum spiritual benefit from reading the Holy Scriptures, it is necessary for a Christian to pray first. In this case, this is the prayerful introduction to the reading of the Gospel at Vespers.

Prayer preparation for the gospel reading consists of the following liturgical elements: first, the deacon says "be attentive" (let us be attentive) and "wisdom". Then follows the "prokeimenon" of the Gospel that will be read. A prokeimenon, as we have already said, is a short saying from Holy Scripture (usually from some psalm), which is read along with another verse that complements the thought of a prokeimenon. The prokeimenon and the prokeimenon verse are proclaimed by the deacon, and the prokeimenon is repeated three times in chorus.

The doxology “For thou art holy…” and the singing “Let every breath praise the Lord” ends with a polyeleos, a solemn laudatory introduction to listening to the Gospel. This doxology, in essence, has the following meaning: "Let everything that has life praise the Lord who gives life." Further, the wisdom, holiness and goodness of the Lord, the Creator and Redeemer of every creature, is explained and preached by the holy gospel word.

"Forgive wisdom, let us hear the holy gospel." The word "sorry" means directly. This word is an invitation to stand upright and reverently, with reverence and sincerity to hear the Word of God.

Gospel Reading

As we have said more than once, the culminating moment of the All-Night Vigil is the reading of the Gospel. In this reading, the voice of the apostles is heard - the preachers of the resurrection of Christ.

There are eleven Sunday gospel readings, and throughout the year they are alternately read on Saturday night vigils one after another, telling about the resurrection of the Savior and His appearances to the myrrh-bearing women and disciples.

The reading of the Sunday Gospel takes place from the altar, since this most important part of the Orthodox church in this case depicts the Holy Sepulcher. On other holidays, the Gospel is read among the people, because among the church there is an icon of the celebrated saint or sacred event, the meaning of which is proclaimed by the Gospel.

After reading the Sunday Gospel, the priest takes out the Holy Book for kissing; he comes out of the altar as from a tomb, and holds the gospel, showing, like an angel, the Christ whom he preached. The parishioners bow to the Gospel like disciples and kiss it like a myrrh-bearing wife, and they all sing "The Resurrection of Christ Who Seen".

From the moment of polyeleos, the triumph and joy of our communion with Christ has increased. This part of the All-Night Vigil inspires those who pray that in the person of Jesus Christ heaven descends to earth. The Church also inspires her children that, while listening to the hymns of the polyeleos, one must always keep in mind the coming day and with it the Meal of Eternity - the Divine Liturgy, which is not only an image of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, but its earthly fulfillment in all its immutability and fullness.

The Kingdom of Heaven must be met with a spirit of contrition and repentance. That is why, immediately after the joyful hymn “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ,” the repentant 50th psalm is read, beginning with the words “Have mercy on me, O God.” Only on the holy Paschal night and throughout the entire Paschal week, once a year, is permission given for such a completely carefree, restless, and ultimately joyful delight, when the 50th psalm falls out of worship.

The penitential psalm “Have mercy on me, O God” ends with prayer calls for the intercession of the apostles and the Mother of God, and then the opening verse of the 50th psalm is repeated again: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy, and according to the multitude of Thy mercies cleanse my iniquity!”

Further, in the verse “Jesus is resurrected from the tomb, as if he had prophesied (i.e., as he predicted), give us eternal life (i.e., eternal life), and great mercy” - a synthesis of Sunday triumph and repentance is given. “Great mercy”, which Christ renders to the penitent is the gift of "eternal life."

According to the Church, the Resurrection of Christ sanctified the nature of everyone who unites with Christ. This consecration is shown in the most important moving part of the All-Night Vigil - the canon.

Canon

The miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ sanctified human nature. The Church reveals this sanctification to those who pray in the next part of the All-night Vigil after the Gospel reading - the “canon”. The canon in modern liturgical practice consists of 9 odes or cantos. Each song of the canon consists of a certain number of individual troparia or stanzas.

Each canon has some one object of glorification: the Most Holy Trinity, an evangelical or church event, a prayer to the Mother of God, the blessing of a saint or saints of a given day. In the Sunday canons (on Saturday vigils) the resurrection of Christ and the coming sanctification of the world, the victory over sin and death are glorified. The holiday canons detail the meaning of the holiday and the life of the saint, as an example of the transformation of the world that is already taking place. In these canons, the Church, as it were, triumphs, contemplating the reflections of this transfiguration, Christ's victory over sin and death.

The canons are read, but the opening verses of each of his individual songs are sung in unison. These initial verses are called "irmos" (from the Greek. to bind.) Irmos is a model for all subsequent troparions of this song.

The model for the initial verse of the canon - irmos - is a separate event from the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, which has a representative meaning, that is, a prophetic-symbolic meaning for the New Testament. For example, the irmos of the 1st ode recalls, in the light of Christian thought, the miraculous passage of the Jews across the Red Sea; The Lord is glorified in it as the Almighty Redeemer from evil and slavery. The irmos of the 2nd ode is built on the material of the accusatory song of Moses in the Sinai desert, which he uttered to awaken the feelings of repentance among the Jews who fled from Egypt. The 2nd ode is sung only during Great Lent. Irmos of the 3rd ode is based on the thanksgiving song of Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel, for giving her a son. In the irmos of the 4th song, a Christian interpretation is given of the appearance of the Lord God to the prophet Habakkuk in the brilliance of sunlight from behind a wooded mountain. In this phenomenon the Church sees the glory of the coming Savior. In the 5th irmos of the canon, the motif of which is taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah, Christ is glorified as a peacemaker and it also contains a prophecy about the resurrection from the dead. 6th irmos - from the story of the prophet Jonah, who was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a whale. This event, according to the Church, should remind Christians of their immersion in the sinful abyss. This irmos also expresses the idea that there is no such misfortune and horror, among which the voice of one who prays with all his heart would not be heard. Irmoses of the 7th and 8th odes of the canon are based on the songs of three Jewish youths thrown into the fiery Babylonian furnace. This event is a prefiguration of Christian martyrdom. Between the 8th and 9th songs of the canon in honor of the Mother of God, a song is sung, beginning with the words “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior”, with the refrain “Most honorable Cherubim and most glorious without comparison Seraphim.” This glorification of the Mother of God begins with the deacon, who first censes the altar and the right side of the iconostasis. Then, stopping in front of the local icon of the Mother of God on the iconostasis, he raises the censer into the air and proclaims: "The Virgin and Mother of Light, let us exalt in songs." The choir responds with a doxology of the Theotokos, during which the deacon burns the entire church incense. Irmos of the 9th song always glorifies the Mother of God. After the canon, for the last time at the Vespers, the small litany “Let us pray to the Lord in peace” is heard, which is an abbreviated version of the Great or Peace Litany. In the Sunday All-Night Vigil, after the small litany and the exclamation of the priest, the deacon proclaims "Holy is the Lord our God"; these words are repeated three times in chorus.

Svetilen

At this time, in monasteries that strictly adhere to the letter of the church charter, or in those places where the All-Night Vigil really continues “all night” - the sun rises. And this approach of light is marked by special hymns. The first of them is called "light", which has approximately the same meaning: "announcing the approach of light." This chant is also called the Greek word "exapostilary" - a verb that means "I send", because in order to sing these spiritual songs, the singer is "sent" from the kliros to the middle of the temple. It should be noted that the well-known hymns of Passion Week - “I see Thy Chamber, O my Savior”, as well as another luminary of Holy Week “The Prudent Thief” are among the exapostilary luminaries. Of the most famous luminaries of the Mother of God, we will mention the one that is sung on the feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God - "Apostles from the End."

Poems in praise

Following the lamp, a verse is sung - “Let every breath praise the Lord” and the 148th, 149th and 150th psalms are read. These three psalms are called "praise" because the word "praise" is often repeated in them. These three psalms are connected with special stichera, called "stichera in praise." As a rule, they are sung at the end of the 149th Psalm and after each verse of the short 150th Psalm. The content of the “stichera for praise”, like other stichera for Vespers, praises the gospel or church event that is being celebrated on a given day or the memory of a particular saint or saints.

Great Doxology

As we have already mentioned, in ancient times, or even now, in those monasteries where Vespers are actually celebrated “all night”, the sun rises in the second half of Matins. At this time, the Light-Giver Lord is glorified by a special, ancient Christian hymn - "Great Doxology", beginning with the words "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth." But first, the priest, standing in the altar in front of the throne, with the royal doors open, proclaims: "Glory to Thee, who showed us the light."

End of Matins

Matins at the All-Night Vigil ends with the "excessive" and "petitionary" litanies - the same litanies that were read at the beginning of the All-Night Vigil at Vespers. Then the last blessing of the priest and "let go" are given. The priest prayerfully addresses the Mother of God with the words "Most Holy Theotokos, save us!" The choir responds with the Mother of God doxology “The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious Seraphim without comparison ...” Following this, the priest once again glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ with the exclamation “Glory to Thee, Christ God, our hope, glory to Thee.” The choir answers "Glory, and now ..." showing by this that the glory of Christ is also the glory of the Most Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus the Vigil ends, as it began, with the doxology of the Holy Trinity.

Watch

Following the last blessing of the priest, the “First Hour” is read - the last, final part of the All-Night Vigil.

As we have already said, the main idea of ​​Matins is the joyful consciousness of believers that everyone who unites with Christ will be saved and resurrected with Him. According to the thought of the Church, one can unite with Christ only with a sense of humility and awareness of one's unworthiness. Therefore, the All-Night Vigil does not end with the triumph and joy of Matins, but a third part joins it, the third divine service - the First Hour, the service of humble, repentant aspiration to God.

In addition to the First Hour, there are three more hours in the daily liturgical circle of the Orthodox Church: the Third and Sixth, which are read together before the start of the Divine Liturgy, and the Ninth Hour, read before the start of Vespers. From a formal point of view, the content of the clock is determined by the selection of material relevant to a given hour of the day. However, the mystical, spiritual meaning of the clock is quite special, as they are dedicated to the remembrance of the various stages of the passion of Christ. The spirit of these services is always focused and serious, with a Lenten-passionate imprint. Characteristic of the hours is the predominance of reading over singing, in which they are also related to the services of Great Lent.

Topic third hour- betraying the Savior to mockery and beating. Another New Testament memory is connected with the Third Hour - the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. In addition, in the Third Hour we will find a prayer for help, for protection in the external and internal struggle against evil, and repentance, expressed in the 50th psalm "God have mercy on me", which is read at the third hour.

liturgical sixth hour corresponds to the hour when Christ was crucified and nailed to the cross. In the Sixth Hour, as if from the face of a prayer, bitterness is expressed from the militant evil in the world, but at the same time, hope for God's help. This hope is especially strongly expressed in the third psalm of this hour, the 90th, which begins with the words: "He who lives in the help of the Most High, will dwell in the blood of the God of Heaven."

ninth hour- the hour when Christ on the cross gave paradise to the thief and gave His soul to God the Father, and then rose from the dead. In the psalms of the Ninth Hour one can already hear thanksgiving to Christ for the salvation of the world.

Such, in brief, is the content of the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours. But let us return to the final part of the All-Night Vigil - the First Hour.

Its general character, in addition to the memories associated with it of the first stage of the suffering of Jesus Christ, consists in expressing gratitude to God for the coming daylight and guidance on the path pleasing to Him during the coming day. All this is expressed in the three psalms, which are read at the First Hour, as well as in other prayers of this hour, especially in the prayer "Who for all time", which is read at all four hours. In this prayer, believers ask for unity in faith and for true knowledge of God. Such knowledge, according to the Church, is the source of future spiritual blessings for Christians, that is, salvation and eternal life. The Lord speaks of this in the Gospel of John: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Orthodox Church teaches that knowledge of God is possible only through love and unanimity. That is why at the Liturgy, before the confession of faith in the Creed, it is proclaimed: “Let us love one another, but confess with one mind. the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity consubstantial and inseparable.

Following the prayer “Like for all time…”, the priest leaves the altar in a humble form - in one stole, without shiny robes. The temple is in darkness. In such an environment, the priest ends the First Hour, and thus the entire All-Night Vigil, with a prayer to Christ, in which He is glorified as "the true light that enlightens every person who comes into the world." At the end of the prayer, the priest mentions the Mother of God, referring to Her icon on the iconostasis. The choir responds with a solemn hymn from the Annunciation Akathist to Our Lady "The Chosen Governor".

End of the All-Night Vigil

The All-Night Vigil very clearly expresses the spirit of Orthodoxy, which, as the Holy Fathers of the Church teach, "is the spirit of the resurrection, transfiguration and deification of man." In the All-Night Vigil, as in Orthodox Christianity in general, two Easters are experienced: the "Easter of the Crucifixion" and the "Easter of the Resurrection." And the All-Night Vigil, especially in the form in which it takes place on Sundays, is conditioned in its structure and content by the services of Holy and Paschal weeks. Vladimir Ilyin, in his book on the All-Night Vigil, published in Paris in the 1920s, writes about it this way:

“The All-Night Vigil and its soul – the Jerusalem Rule, the “Eye of the Church”, have grown and perfected at the Holy Sepulcher. And, in general, the night services at the Holy Sepulcher - this is the cradle from which a wonderful garden of Orthodox services of the daily circle has grown, the best flower of which is the All-Night Vigil. If the source of the Orthodox liturgy is the Last Supper of Christ in the house of Joseph of Arimathea, then the source of the All-Night Vigil is located at the Life-Giving Sepulcher of the Lord, which opened the entrance to heavenly abodes to the world and exuded to people the bliss of eternal life.

Afterword

So, our series dedicated to the All-Night Vigil is completed. We hope that readers have benefited from our modest work, conceived in order to help the believing soul appreciate the beauty and depth of this wondrous service.

We live in a very vain world, in which it is sometimes difficult to find time to enter the inner cell of our soul for at least a few minutes and enjoy silence, prayer, gather our thoughts in order to think about our future spiritual destiny, to listen to the voice of our conscience and purify the heart in the Sacrament of Confession. The Church gives us such an opportunity during the hours when Vespers are served.

How good it would be to teach yourself and your family to love this service. For a start, it would be possible to attend Vespers at least once every two weeks or once a month. One has only to start and the Lord will reward us with a precious spiritual reward - He will visit our heart, dwell in it and reveal to us the richest, spacious world of church prayer. Let's not deny ourselves this opportunity.

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Vespers

In the Holy Scripture, which is for us, who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and confess the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Revelation and the word of God, the holy commandments are given about love for God and man as the image of God. One of the commandments says: Remember the sabbath day(seventh), to sanctify him; six days you shall work and do all your works, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God(Ex. 20:8-10). In the New Testament, the seventh day is resurrection for us. For Orthodox Christians, Sunday is a holiday, because on this day our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The Resurrection gave the content of the Sabbath rest: peace with God, the restoration in man of the image and likeness of God, communion with God and rest in the Holy Spirit. The Sabbath was a prophecy of rest, a prophecy of the Resurrection, in this sense, an image of eternity. Resurrection is the beginning of eternal life on earth. The Old Testament Passover was embodied in the New Testament Passover, and Saturday became Sunday.

Honoring and sanctifying this seventh day, we fulfill the commandment of God, given in the Old Testament, and receive God's blessing and help from above for the coming week. The time that we spend in worship on Sundays and feast days is for us the tithe that we bring to God for the entire yearly circle of time (see: Mal., ch. 3).

Sunday begins for us on Saturday evening with the service of great vespers and the singing of the 103rd psalm, which symbolizes the creation of the world.

The royal doors open, the priest and deacon burn the altar incense. This means the action of the Holy Spirit, who gave life to primordial matter. The Creator of the world created the whole Universe from it.

Then the deacon goes to the pulpit and invites everyone present in the church to prayer. "Arise," he says, and the choir sings on behalf of the faithful: "Lord, bless." The priest, glorifying the Holy Trinity, proclaims: "Glory to the Holy, Consubstantial, Life-Giving and Inseparable Trinity, always, now and forever and forever and ever." The choir answers: “Amen” and sings Psalm 103: “Bless, my soul, the Lord… Alleluia” 1 .

The priest with the deacon censes the entire church and all the faithful. A prayer is read for the consecration of the censer: “We bring the censer to Thee, Christ our God, for a spiritual fragrance, which You accept on Your heavenly altar and send down to us the grace of Your All-Holy Spirit.” The symbolism of the incense of the temple and the people means the following: just as at the creation of the world the Spirit of God imparted life to the primordial world, so now believers are renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

The clergy enter the altar, the royal doors are closed, as the gates of paradise were closed for a person who has sinned before God.

The deacon, proclaiming a peaceful litany on the pulpit, symbolizes the fallen Adam, expelled from Eden and standing before the closed gates of paradise with repentant prayer. This is how the fall of the first people is remembered, and the 1st kathisma of the Psalter is sung: “Blessed is the man who does not go to the advice of the wicked”, where the reasons for the fall are revealed (after all, the tragedy of the fall occurred on the “advice” of the wicked serpent) and the paths of life and piety are preached.

The hymn "Lord, I cry to Thee, hear me" is reminiscent of the Old Testament sacrifices, depicting the future Redemptive Sacrifice - Christ the Savior. At this time, believers read to themselves the 50th psalm, which tells about humility, and, in particular: Sacrifice to God the spirit is contrite: the heart is contrite and humble God will not despise(Ps. 50, 19). The entire temple is again being incensed, which marks the gospel of Christ Jesus, the True God and the True Man. The choir sings stichera, which reveal the significance of the event now being celebrated. To the song: “Now and ever and forever and ever. Amen" the stichera of the feast is sung and an entrance is made with a censer from the northern doors of the altar. The candle-bearer represents the light of the Old Testament prophets, the deacon - John the Baptist, the priest - Christ the Savior. The deacon makes the sign of the cross with a censer in the royal gates, which means that through the sufferings of the Cross of the Savior, the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven, closed by the fall of the first people, was again opened to believers. This is followed by the hymn “Quiet Light”, which tells about the appearance on the Jordan of Christ the Savior, who was baptized by John, and at that time the voice of God the Father was heard and the Holy Spirit was seen in the form of a dove descending on the Son of God.

Further, hymns, which are called prokeemnes, are proclaimed and sung, paremias are read in the middle of the temple, two litanies are proclaimed - a special one and a supplicatory one, where earthly and heavenly mercy are asked from God. The stichera of a temple or a feast are sung, the clergy go out into the porch, where a litiya is performed - a prayer of a repentant nature, four petitions are pronounced by the deacon and the fifth, final, is the primate. Prayers can offer God petitions for the health of the living and the repose of the departed Orthodox Christians 2 . The clergy return to the center of the temple, the stichera of the feast are sung, and the prayer of the righteous Simeon the God-Receiver is performed on behalf of the abbot, “Now, release Thy servant, Master, according to Thy word in peace…”. This prayer reminds us of the end of the earthly life of each person and sets us up for pious reflections on the responsibility of people before God for their deeds, words and thoughts. The Trisagion is read according to "Our Father", the troparion is sung three times. During this feast, three censings are performed around a table with five loaves, which are blessed by the priest in remembrance of the miraculous multiplication by the Lord Jesus Christ of five loaves for five thousand people in the wilderness. The 33rd psalm “I will bless the Lord at all times” is sung, which speaks of how David, filled with grateful feelings for the Lord God, expresses his intention to glorify the Lord throughout his life. He invites other believers to the same, teaching them the fear of God with fatherly love and trying to convince them that pious people always enjoy the special favor of God, while God’s severe punishment awaits the wicked. The evening service ends with the exclamation of the primate: "The blessing of the Lord upon you," which passes into the morning service.

Matins

Matins begins with the reading of six psalms, a small doxology is sung or read, which symbolizes the night of the Nativity of Christ, so the lights and candles are extinguished. The psalms are of a repentant nature: "To Christ God himself is coming, invisibly and praying for his sins." The believers listen attentively: in the middle of the reading, at the glorification of the name of God, it is necessary to cross yourself three times, without bowing 3. In the middle of the Six Psalms, the priest goes to the pulpit and reads special prayers. It symbolizes Moses who prayed in the wilderness

God for a sinning people. The last 142nd psalm recalls the last days of this world. The Coming of the Lord and the Last Judgment are the last words of the Six Psalms: Do not enter into judgment with Your servant ... and Your Good Spirit will guide me to the land of right(Ps. 142:2, 10). The Spirit of God elevates those who believe in Christ into the Heavenly Kingdom of the Father: If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.(Rom. 8, 9, 11). At the end of the Six Psalms, the believers must cross themselves three times with a bow from the waist. The deacon replaces the priest on the solea and proclaims a peaceful litany - a prayer request - and then says: "God is the Lord ..." with verses, and the choir sings the troparia of the holiday. This means the appearance of God the Word, the Son of God, in the flesh on earth. The reader reads kathismas.

The next part of Matins is polyeleos. The priesthood goes to the middle of the temple through the royal doors to glorify the holiday. Greatness is sung, on the resurrection - the glorification of the Risen Christ. The entire temple is incensed. This means that the joy of the holiday is communicated to all those who pray. The gospel is read according to the day. On Sunday, the Gospel ascends to the pulpit and the song "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ ..." is sung.

Then the worshipers venerate the Gospel or the icon of the feast and approach the primate, who anoints them with consecrated oil. The canon of the holiday is sung and read, consisting of nine songs. The canon is based on the sacred events of the Old Testament and New Testament history. The first song is a laudatory and thanksgiving song of the prophet Moses, reminiscent of the passage of the people of God through the Red Sea. The second song was also composed in honor of the prophet Moses, it has a repentant and accusatory character and is sung only during Great Lent. The third song is in honor of the prophetess Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel. Her fiery-hearted prayer was heard and fulfilled by the Lord. The fourth song is the song of the prophet Habakkuk, who heard the voice of God about the coming of the Savior into the world. The fifth song is the song of the prophet Isaiah, who saw the non-evening light, which marks the appearance of Christ into the world. The sixth song is the song of the prophet Jonah, who foreshadowed the three-day burial and Resurrection of Christ the Savior. The seventh song is the song of the three youths in the Babylonian furnace, who, like the burning bush under Moses, foreshadowed the incorruptible Nativity of Christ. The eighth song is the song of the righteous Nehemiah, to whom, during the restoration of the second temple in Jerusalem, there was a sign - the kindling of the sacred fire on the altar. The ninth song glorifies the Most Holy Theotokos, it is sung: "The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious Seraphim without comparison." According to the ninth song, a luminary is read - a short chant that reflects the meaning of the holiday, and stichera are sung in "praise". The priest proclaims: "Glory

You who showed us the light." The choir sings a great doxology, after which the troparion of the feast is sung. Two litanies are proclaimed by the deacon: the august and the petitionary. Matins ends with the dismissal of the priest. The reader reads the first hour, which is dedicated last hours the life of the Savior, when He was brought into the praetorium from the high priest Caiaphas to Pilate, and there he was unjustly condemned.

Divine Liturgy

The Divine Liturgy, or Eucharist, occupies a central place in the life of a Christian, because it unites a person with God, the Source of Eternal Life. The purpose of our life is spiritual transformation and renewal. It occurs not only through our efforts, but especially through our mysterious union with the God-man, Jesus Christ. The sacrament in which this union takes place is called Communion, and it takes place during the Divine Liturgy, where bread and wine become the true Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, those approaching the Eucharist must adequately prepare themselves. It is necessary to attend the evening service, confess to the priest, read the Rule for Holy Communion. It is necessary to fast before Communion and on the eve, after midnight, do not eat or drink anything.

The Divine Liturgy begins with the reading of the third and sixth hours, during which the priest performs the proskomidia - the preparation of the Holy Gifts for the Eucharist. At the same time, notes about the health of the living and the repose of the dead are read.

During the third hour, we reverently, in tenderness of heart, diligently reflect on how our Savior, judged by Pilate and bound at a marble pillar, received countless reproaches, beatings, and was crowned with a crown of thorns in order to free us from the torment of the devil. The events recalled during the reading of the third hour also include the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles in the form of fiery tongues, with which the Lord enlightened His disciples to preach the Gospel.

During the sixth hour, we diligently meditate reverently in tenderness of the heart, how the Lord carried His Cross to Golgotha ​​and was crucified on it among two robbers, how the soldiers divided His garments and there was darkness over all the earth.

The liturgy begins with the exclamation of the priest "Blessed is the Kingdom...". The primate proclaims the presence of God, glorified in the Trinity in His Kingdom in the earthly Church. We come to church to fully participate in the Holy Mysteries, as well as to offer God our gifts, spiritual and physical. In other words, we enter the Kingdom of God not only to receive something, but also to give something – to give ourselves and our prayer offering, praise and thanksgiving.

When pronouncing the words “Blessed is the Kingdom,” we reverently make the sign of the cross in the name of the Holy and Life-Giving and Indivisible Trinity and, in doing so, we commit our bodies, hearts and souls to God in order to allow Him to reign over us.

The deacon proclaims a peaceful litany, calling on believers in peace with a conscience, with God and with their neighbors, to pray. The great litany, i.e. petition, or supplication, reveals to us God's creation. St. John Chrysostom, who wrote down the order of the Divine Liturgy, wished that we should not be indifferent to what God had created, and at the same time apply prayers, talents and personal sacrifices in order to preserve and rejoice in everything that God has created for us in His kingdom.

According to the petitions of the litanies, we are called, on the one hand, to be together with the sick, with the traveler, with a friend, and so on. and, on the other hand, say from the heart the prayer "Lord, have mercy!", as did the woman convicted of adultery, and blind and paralyzed.

We need the mercy of the Lord, we must be ready to meet Him, so the most frequently repeated words in the liturgy are "Lord, have mercy."

At everyday and great festive services, three antiphons are sung with special refrains. In the first antiphon, the Mother of God is glorified, in the second - the saints, prophets, apostles, martyrs, in the third - the Son of God Himself, wondrous in His Providence and in His saints. By singing the first antiphon, “Prayers of the Theotokos, Savior, save us,” we are reminded that salvation comes into the world through the Mother of God. Most close person who can intercede for us is the Mother of God. All generations call Her the Blessed One.

Remembering our Heavenly Mother, we constantly learn from Her humility, obedience, holiness of life. In the singing of the second antiphon we hear the voices of the prophets and saints who foreshadowed and preached the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We prepare to receive Him with great joy as He enters the royal doors. The introduction of the Gospel during the small entrance to the singing of the third antiphon symbolizes His coming. By singing the third antiphon, we glorify the Lord, who came into the world and took upon Himself people's sins. On holidays, for the most part, pictorial antiphons with the beatitudes are sung:

1) “Bless, O my soul, the Lord, and all my inner name is His holy name.”

2) “Praise, my soul, the Lord; I will praise the Lord in my life.”

3) "In Thy Kingdom, remember us, Lord."

The first antiphon - the 102nd psalm - calls on believers to heartfelt, inner glorification of God, according to the word of the Apostle Paul, that with our hearts we believe in the truth, and with our lips we confess God for salvation. This is also sung in the second antiphon, which calls on believers to confess God with their lips for the salvation of their souls. The hymn “Only Begotten Son and the Word of God! You, being immortal, desired to be incarnated from the Holy Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary for our salvation…”, performed after the second antiphon, reminds us of the Lord's incarnation. The Word becomes flesh and dwells with us in the Kingdom of God - in the Holy Church.

The small litany “Let us pray to the Lord again and again in peace” calls for attention to what happens during the liturgy. Jesus Christ promised: Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.(Matthew 18:20). And further: And if you ask the Father for anything in my name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it(John 14:13-14).

The litany ends with an expression of God's love for the entire human race: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life(John 3:16). We glorify the Holy Trinity: “For God is good and philanthropic, and to You we send glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (from the sanctuary prayers, the third prayer).

During the singing of the third antiphon - the beatitudes - a small entrance is made with the Gospel, which symbolizes the entrance of Christ the Savior to preach His Divine teaching, proclaimed in Sermon on the Mount, in parables of the Kingdom

God, in the manifestation of the power of God - signs and wonders, the healing of the sick and the casting out of demons. Two thousand years ago the world heard the Good News, and now we hear it once again. Just as Christ entered the world, proclaiming salvation, the primate leaves the sanctuary and goes out in procession to the middle of the temple, saying: “Wisdom! Sorry!" These words mean: "Let's stand straight!" To hear Christ and touch Him, people came from all over the earth. Now at the liturgy we are asked to come and do the same - to come to hear Jesus Christ, touch Him and be healed. Christ entered the world, and during the liturgy we are in His presence, we hear Him through the voice of the prophets.

A candle-bearer with a candle signifies the light of New Testament grace. The gospel carried by the deacon means Christ the Savior, the priests mean the holy apostles. The deacon makes the sign of the Cross with the Gospel and enters the altar, which implies that through the sufferings of the Savior on the Cross, the entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven is opened for believers. All clergy enter the altar. During the hierarchal service, the altar, the iconostasis and the people are incense. The troparia of the feast and the Trisagion are sung, during which the clergy move to a high place, which means the completion of the salvation of the entire human race by Christ the Savior, His Resurrection and Ascension to the Heavenly Kingdom to the Heavenly Father.

Through the Trisagion, we offer our sacrifices of praise, as it is said: Through Him let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of a mouth that glorifies His name.(Heb. 13:15). In the priestly prayer of the Trisagion, there is a call to join the angelic forces, the Cherubim and Seraphim in the Trisagion Song, to all the incorporeal powers of Heaven to glorify God, so that through touching and approaching Him, His holiness becomes our holiness.

The deacon leaves the altar to read the Apostolic Epistles - this symbolizes the preaching of the disciples of the Savior, the holy apostles. At the end, "Alleluia" is sung - Angelic song. At this time, everything earthly becomes silent and the heavenly angelic song “Alleluia” is sung, which in translation means: “praise Jehovah - Yahweh.” Here we unite with the heavenly liturgy, when there is a direct manifestation of God and His power, and we praise Him at especially solemn moments: at a small entrance with the Gospel, before reading the Gospel, at a great entrance with the Holy Gifts, when they are placed on the throne, at the exclamation “Holy to the saints”, after Communion of the Holy Gifts of the Body and Blood of the Lord and transferring them to the altar.

Reading the Gospel is a symbol of the fact that the Lord Himself reveals His Divine teaching to us. We need to listen to the Good News and be careful not to act like Judas, who betrayed Christ. Do not let doubt into your heart, like Thomas, and do not deny Christ, like Peter. Each of us must take the Good News into our hearts and repent. And surely Christ will not leave us.

Then two litanies are celebrated - about health and about the catechumens, who are preparing for Baptism. The first prayer is a prayer of intensified supplication. This prayer reminds us of those people who heard Christ during His public ministry and received Him in Jerusalem, in Jericho, or on the road to Emmaus. They followed Christ with special zeal and freely accepted death in His name because He became their Lord and Savior. During the last two thousand years, millions of souls have been converted, received Baptism into Christ and put on Him (see: Gal. 3:27). The rebirth of the soul takes place in the house of God, in the Kingdom of God during the liturgy. Here, once again, we have the opportunity to hear Christ and pray more fervently, remembering our own repentance and baptism.

The prayer for the catechumens is an instruction for us. This is the time to think about your own Baptism and newness of life in Christ Jesus. This is the time to put off the garment of corruption and put on the garment of incorruption, as the apostle Paul writes.

It is a serious mistake to think that we do not need any learning. As Orthodox Christians, we believe that this is why we already have faith and knowledge. It's a delusion. We are like little children and constantly need to be taught, exhorted, and nurtured in the faith through the Church. As soon as we begin to think that we know everything, we move away from the power and grace of God, and this, in fact, leads us to the path of darkness and personal destruction. Each of us belonging to the Kingdom of God needs to open his heart, mind and soul towards the word of God and, like those announced in the early Church, ask the Almighty God to look favorably on each of us, forgive us and unite us with His Holy Church .

The next prayer is called the prayer of the faithful. Knowing human weakness - the ability to fall easily - God offered us another opportunity to pray. We often fall, seeking well-being and stability in life, because, indeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Jesus Christ took with Him His beloved disciples Peter, James and John to the Mount of Olives, to a place called Gethsemane, and told them to wait while He prayed. These people, so faithful and so close to Christ, fell asleep. Three times Jesus found them sleeping. When we are in the Kingdom of God, we are close to God, we love God, we are faithful to Him in our prayer promises, but sometimes in our labors we find ourselves asleep, just like His disciples.

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