Divine Liturgy. What time does church service start on weekdays and Sundays?

You can pray to God in any place, because God is everywhere. But there are special places where it is more convenient to pray and where the Lord is in a special, gracious way.

Such places are called temples of God and are sometimes called churches. A temple is a consecrated building in which believers gather to praise God and pray to Him. Temples are called churches because Orthodox Christians gather in them to pray and sanctify themselves with the sacraments. Temples in which clergy from other nearby churches gather for solemn worship are called cathedral.

In their external structure, the temples of God differ from other ordinary buildings. The main entrance to the temple is always from the west, that is, from the side where the sun sets; and the most important part of the temple, the altar, always faces east, to the side where the sun is in the morning. This is how God’s churches are built for the purpose of reminding Orthodox Christians that from the east the Christian faith spread throughout the universe; to the east of us, in the land of Judea, the Lord Jesus Christ lived for our salvation.

Temples end with one or more domes crowned with crosses to remind us of the Lord Jesus Christ, who accomplished our salvation on the cross. One chapter on the Church of God preaches that God exists unit Three chapters mean we bow to God one in three persons. Five chapters depict the Savior and the four evangelists. Seven chapters are built on churches to signify, firstly, the seven saving sacraments by which Christians are sanctified to receive eternal life, and secondly, the seven ecumenical councils at which the rules of Christian doctrine and deanery were approved. There are temples with 13 chapters: in this case they depict the Savior and His 12 apostles. Christian churches have at their base (from the ground) either the image of a cross (for example, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow) or the image of a circle; the cross is to remind people of Him crucified on the cross, the circle is to indicate to people that whoever belongs to the Orthodox Church can hope to receive eternal life after death.

The Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of Solomon, according to the command of God, were divided inside into three parts. In accordance with this, our churches, for the most part, are divided inside into three sections. The first part from the entrance is called porch. In ancient times, here stood the catechumens, that is, those preparing to be baptized, and the penitents, who for grave sins were excommunicated from communion in the sacraments and prayer along with other Christians. The second part of the temple occupies the middle of it and is designated for the prayer of all Orthodox Christians, the third part of the temple - the most important thing - is altar.

Altar means heaven, the place of God's special dwelling. It also resembles paradise, in which the first people lived before sin. Only persons with holy orders can enter the altar, and then with great reverence. Others should not enter the altar unnecessarily; the female sex does not enter the altar at all to remind us that for the first sin of the first wife Eve, all people lost heavenly bliss.

altar throne- This is the main shrine of the temple. On it the sacrament of communion of the body and blood of Christ is performed; this is the place of the special presence of God and, as it were, the seat of God, the throne of the King of glory. Only deacons, priests and bishops can touch the throne and kiss it. A visible sign that on St. The Lord is invisibly present on the throne, the Gospel and the cross are served on it. Looking at these sacred objects, we remember the heavenly Teacher Christ, who came to save people from eternal death by His life, death and resurrection.

More on St. the throne is antimens. This word is Greek, which means in Russian: instead of the throne. The antimension is a sacred scarf depicting the burial of the Lord. He is always consecrated by the bishop and placed on the throne, as a sign of the bishop's blessing, to perform the sacrament of communion on the throne on which he is located. When it is consecrated by the bishop, particles of the relics of the holy martyrs are placed in the antimension in memory of the fact that ancient churches in the first centuries of Christianity were built over the relics of St. martyrs. The antimension is laid out only during mass, when the sacrament of consecration of St. gifts. At the end of the liturgy, it is folded and wrapped in another scarf called orton, reminiscent of the bandage that was on the head of the Savior when He lay in the tomb.

Visible on the throne tabernacle, usually built in the form of a small temple or in the form of a tomb. Its purpose is to keep St. Gifts, i.e. the Body and Blood of Christ, for the communion of the sick. It resembles the Holy Sepulcher.

On the left side of St. The throne is usually located in the altar of St. altar, less important than St. throne. It is intended for preparing bread and wine for the sacrament of communion and is reminiscent of the Bethlehem cave, the deposit of the Savior and the Holy Sepulcher.

For St. the throne, between it and the eastern wall of the altar, the place is called the mountain, or an exalted place, and means the seat of the Lord and His seat at the right hand of God the Father. In the middle of it no one can sit or stand except the bishop, depicting Christ Himself. Between St. the throne and the royal doors can pass through, and then only for sacred rites, persons consecrated, such as deacons, priests, bishops. Clergymen, much less any of the laity, cannot walk there, as a sign of respect for the path along which His saints pass. gifts King of glory, Lord.

The altar is separated from the prayer temple by an iconostasis. It has three doors leading to the altar. The average ones are called - royal gates, because through them in St. the King of glory and the Lord of lords passes by in gifts. The middle gate is more worthy of reverence than the others, because through it St. gifts and through them it is not allowed to enter ordinary people, but only to the sanctified.

The Annunciation of the Archangel St. is depicted on the royal doors. Virgin Mary, because from the day of the Annunciation the entrance to heaven is open to us, lost by people for their sins. St. is also depicted on the royal doors. evangelists, because only thanks to the evangelists, these witnesses of the Savior’s life, we know about the Lord Jesus Christ, about the salvation of His coming for us to inherit heavenly life. The Evangelist Matthew is depicted with an angelic man. This expresses distinctive property his Gospel, namely, that the Evangelist Matthew preaches in his Gospel primarily about the incarnation and humanity of Jesus Christ by descent from the line of David and Abraham. The Evangelist Mark is depicted with a lion as a sign that he began his Gospel with a narrative about the life of the Baptist John in the desert, where, as is known, lions live. The Evangelist Luke is written with a calf to also remind us of the beginning of his Gospel, which first of all tells about the priest Zechariah, the parent of St. Forerunners, and the duty of the Old Testament priests mainly consisted of sacrificing calves, sheep, etc. The Evangelist John is depicted with an eagle to mean that by the power of the Spirit of God, like an eagle soaring under heaven, he was exalted in his spirit to depict the Divinity of the Son of God, whose life on earth he described visually and in accordance with the truth.

The side door of the iconostasis on the left side of the royal gates is called the northern door, the door on the right side of the same gate is called the southern door. Sometimes the holy archdeacons are depicted on them with the instruments of their suffering: Stephen, Lawrence, because through these doors the deacons have entrance to the altar. And sometimes angels and other holy people are depicted on the northern and southern doors, of course, for the purpose of pointing us to the prayers of St. saints of God, through whom we will eventually be awarded entry into heavenly villages.

Above the royal doors, for the most part, there is an icon of the Last Supper to remind of that Zion upper room great And covered, where the Lord established the sacrament of communion, which continues to this day in St. altars of our churches.

The iconostasis separates the altar from the second part of the temple, where all worshipers take place. Iconostasis with St. icons should remind Christians of heavenly life, to which we must strive with all the strength of our souls in order to dwell in the heavenly Church together with the Lord, the Mother of God and all the saints. By the example of their lives, the saints of God, depicted in large numbers on the iconostasis, show us the way to the kingdom of God.

The holy icons to which we bow are of the most ancient origin in the Church. The first image of the Lord, according to legend, came from His own pure hands. The Prince of Edessa, Avgar, was ill. Hearing the miracles of the Savior and not being able to see Him personally, Abgar wished to have at least an image of Him; at the same time, the prince was sure that from just looking at the face of the Savior he would receive healing. The princely painter arrived in Judea and tried in every possible way to copy the divine face of the Savior, but due to the brilliant lightness of the face of Jesus he could not do this. Then the Lord called the painter, took the canvas from him, wiped His face, and the wonderful, miraculous face of the Lord was displayed on the canvas. The holiday for this icon is set on August 16.

On all icons of the Savior, three letters are written in His crowns: w, O, H. These letters are Greek, meaning that He- existing, eternal. Since the time the faith of Christ was brought from Greece to Russia, Christian antiquity has not changed these letters to Slavic ones, of course, out of respect and memory for the country from which we were enlightened by the faith of Christ. There is a legend that the icons of the Mother of God and the apostle. Peter and Paul were written by the evangelist Luke. When her first icon was brought to the Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven and Earth was pleased to say the following consoling words: with this image may the grace and power of My Son and Mine be. Several icons of the Mother of God are attributed to Evangelist Luke, of which the best known are: Smolenskaya, located in the Smolensk Cathedral, and Vladimirskaya, located in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral. On each icon of the Mother of God four letters are written under the titles: m r. Oh. These are again the Greek words in abbreviation: Mithir Feu, And they mean in Russian: Mother of God. We bow to icons not as God, but as St. images of Christ, Most Rev. Mother of God and St. pleasers. The honor of icons goes to the one whom it depicts; whoever worships an image worships what is depicted on it. As a sign of special reverence for God, the Mother of God and St. saints of God, depicted on St. icons, they are decorated with metal vestments, pure wax candles are placed in front of them, oil is burned and incense is burned. A burning candle and lighted oil in front of the icon mean our love for the Lord, Most Holy. Theotokos and St. saints of God depicted on icons. Venting before icons, in addition to reverence, serves as a sign of offering our prayers to God and St. His saints. May my prayer be corrected, like incense before You! This is how a Christian prays to God together with the entire Church.

The place elevated by several steps between the choirs is called salty. Pulpit on the solea it is arranged opposite the royal doors for the offering of litanies and the reading of St. gospel; This is also where teachings are given. The pulpit resembles the stone of the Holy Sepulcher and an angel sitting on the stone preaching about the resurrection of Christ. No one stands on the pulpit except those ordained to the priesthood.

Banners are erected near the choirs, which signify the victory of Christianity over idolatry. They have become part of every Orthodox church since the time of the Roman Tsar, Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine, when the Christian faith was declared free from persecution.

Of the sacred vessels, the following are of greater significance: chalice And paten. Both are used during the liturgy during the celebration of the sacrament of communion. From the chalice we are honored by means of a spoon to receive the body and blood of Christ under the guise of bread and wine. The chalice resembles that St. the cup from which the Lord communed with His disciples at the Last Supper.

The paten, usually visible to us on the head of the deacon during the liturgy, when the saints are transferred. gifts from the altar to St. throne. Since part of the prosphora, or a lamb, is placed on the paten, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the paten depicts either the manger in which the born Savior was laid, or the Holy Sepulcher, in which the most pure body of our Lord lay after death.

The chalice and paten are at one time covered with covers made of brocade or silk. So that the cover, which during the liturgy relies on the paten, does not touch the lamb and other parts of the prosphora, is placed on the paten star, reminiscent of that wonderful star that was visible at the birth of the Savior.

For the communion of Christians with the body and blood of Christ it is used liar.

Copy, by which St. the lamb and parts are taken out from other prosphoras, resembles the spear with which the body of our Savior was pierced on the cross.

Sponge(walnut) is used for wiping the paten and chalice after consuming St. gifts. It resembles the sponge that Jesus Christ was given to drink on the cross.

Divine services of the Orthodox Church in ancient times were performed throughout the day nine times, that's why there were all nine church services: ninth hour, vespers, compline, midnight office, matins, first hour, third and sixth hours, and mass. Currently, for the convenience of Orthodox Christians, who do not have the opportunity to visit the temples of God so often due to home activities, these nine services are combined into three church services: Vespers, Matins and Mass. Each individual service includes three church services: at vespers the ninth hour, vespers and compline entered; Matins consists of Midnight Office, Matins and the first hour; mass begins at the third and sixth hours and then the liturgy itself is celebrated. For hours These are short prayers, during which psalms and other prayers appropriate for these times of the day are read for mercy on us sinners.

The liturgical day begins in the evening on the basis that at the creation of the world there was first evening, and then morning. After vespers Usually the service in the church is dedicated to a holiday or saint, whose remembrance is performed on the next day according to the arrangement in the calendar. On every day of the year, either some event from the earthly life of the Savior and the Mother of God or one of the saints is remembered. saints of God. In addition, each day of the week is dedicated to a special memory. On Sunday a service is held in honor of the risen Savior; on Monday we pray to St. angels, on Tuesday is remembered in the prayers of St. John, the Forerunner of the Lord, on Wednesday and Friday a service is held in honor of the life-giving cross of the Lord, on Thursday - in honor of St. Apostles and St. Nicholas, on Saturday - in honor of all saints and in memory of all departed Orthodox Christians.

The evening service is held to thank God for the past day and to ask for God's blessing for the coming night. Vespers consists of three services. Read first ninth hour in memory of the death of Jesus Christ, which the Lord accepted according to our reckoning of time at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and according to the Jewish reckoning of time at 9 o’clock in the afternoon. Then the most evening service, and is accompanied by Compline, or a series of prayers that Christians read after the evening, at nightfall.

Matins begins midnight office which took place in ancient times at midnight. Ancient Christians came to the temple at midnight to pray, expressing their faith in the second coming of the Son of God, who, according to the belief of the Church, would come at night. After the Midnight Office, Matins itself is immediately performed, or a service during which Christians thank God for the gift of sleep to calm the body and ask the Lord to bless the affairs of every person and help people spend the coming day without sin. Joins Matins first hour. This service is so called because it departs after the morning, at the beginning of the day; behind it, Christians ask God to direct our lives to fulfill God’s commandments.

Mass begins with reading the 3rd and 6th hours. Service three o'clock reminds us how the Lord, at the third hour of the day, according to the Jewish account of time, and according to our account at the ninth hour of the morning, was led to trial before Pontius Pilate, and how the Holy Spirit at this time of the day, by His descent in the form of tongues of fire, enlightened the apostles and strengthened them for the feat of preaching about Christ. Service of the sixth The hour is so called because it reminds us of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ on Golgotha, which according to the Jewish reckoning was at 6 o'clock in the afternoon, and according to our reckoning at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. After hours, mass is celebrated, or liturgy.

In this order, divine services are performed on weekdays; but on some days of the year this order changes, for example: on the days of the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, on Maundy Thursday, on Good Friday and Great Saturday and on Trinity Day. On Christmas and Epiphany Eve watch(1st, 3rd and 9th) are performed separately from mass and are called royal in memory of the fact that our pious kings are in the habit of coming to this service. On the eve of the holidays of the Nativity of Christ, the Epiphany of the Lord, on Maundy Thursday and on Holy Saturday, mass begins with Vespers and is therefore celebrated from 12 noon. Matins on the feasts of Christmas and Epiphany are preceded by Great Compline. This is evidence that the ancient Christians continued their prayers and singing throughout the night on these great holidays. On Trinity Day, after mass, Vespers is immediately celebrated, during which the priest reads touching prayers to the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. And on Good Friday, according to the charter of the Orthodox Church, to strengthen the fast, there is no mass, but after hours, performed separately, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, vespers is served, after which the funeral service is carried out from the altar to the middle of the church shroud Christ, in remembrance of the taking down of the body of the Lord from the cross by the righteous Joseph and Nicodemus.

During Lent, on all days except Saturday and Sunday, the location of church services is different than on weekdays throughout the year. Departs in the evening Great Compline, on which in the first four days of the first week the touching canon of St. Andrei Kritsky (mephimons). Served in the morning Matins, according to its rules, similar to ordinary, everyday matins; in the middle of the day the 3rd, 6th and 9th are read watch, and joins them vespers. This service is usually called for hours.

Most often during worship we hear litanies pronounced by a deacon or priest. A litany is a drawn-out, fervent prayer to the Lord God for our needs. Litany four: great, small, severe and supplicant.

The litany is called great by the number of petitions with which we turn to the Lord God; Each petition ends with singing on the choir: Lord have mercy!

The Great Litany begins with the words: let us pray to the Lord in peace. With these words, the priest invites believers to pray to the Lord, making peace with everyone, as the Lord commands.

The following petitions of this litany read as follows: Let us pray to the Lord for peace from above and the salvation of our souls, i.e. about peace with God, which we have lost as a result of our grave sins, with which we offend Him, our Benefactor and Father.

Let us pray to the Lord for the peace of the whole world, for the welfare of God’s holy churches and the unity of all; With these words we ask God to send us harmony, friendship among ourselves, so that we avoid quarrels and enmities that are contrary to God, so that no one offends the churches of God, and so that all non-Orthodox Christians who have separated from the Orthodox Church unite with it.

About this holy temple, and those who enter it with faith, reverence and fear of God(in that) Let's pray to the Lord. Here we pray for the temple in which the service is performed; It must be remembered that the Holy Church deprives of its prayers those who immodestly and inattentively enter and stand in the temple of God.

About the Most Holy Governing Synod, and about His Eminence(Name), Let us pray to the Lord for honorable presbytery, deaconship in Christ, for all the clergy and people. The Holy Synod is a meeting of archpastors who are entrusted with the care of the Orthodox Greek-Russian Church. Presbytery is the name of the priesthood - priests; diaconate - deacons; The church clergy are the clergy who sing and read in the choir.

Then we pray for the Sovereign Emperor and His Consort, the Empress
Empress, and about to all the Royal House, that the Lord subdue all our enemies to our Sovereign, scold those who want.

Man’s sin not only removed him from God, destroying all the faculties of his soul, but also in all surrounding nature left his dark traces. We pray in the Great Litany for the blessing of the air, for the abundance of the fruits of the earth, for times of peace, for those floating, traveling, sick, suffering, captives, for delivering us from anger and from all needs.

When listing our needs, we call on Our Lady and all the saints for help and express to God our devotion to Him in these words : our most holy, most pure, most blessed, glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, with all the saints, remembering ourselves and each other, and our whole life ( life) Let us surrender to Christ God!

The litany ends with the exclamation of the priest: for all glory is due to You and so on.

The Small Litany begins with the words: packs(again) and let us pray to the Lord again in peace and consists of the first and last petition of the great litany.

The special litany begins with the words: everyone smiles, i.e. Let's say everything, with all our hearts and with all our thoughts. What we will say is complemented by the singers, namely: Lord have mercy!

The name “pure” was given to this litany because after the petition of the priest or deacon it is sung three times: Lord have mercy! Only after the first two requests Lord have mercy! sung once at a time. This litany begins once after Vespers and once before Matins with the third petition: have mercy on us, God! The last petition in the special litany reads like this: We also pray for those who are fruitful and virtuous in this holy and all-honorable temple, those who work, sing and stand before us, expecting great and rich mercy from You. In the first times of Christianity, pilgrims brought various aids to the Church of God for church services and divided them among the poor people; they also took care of the temple of God: these were fruit bearing And virtuous. Now zealous Christians can do no less good through brotherhoods, guardianships, and shelters, established in many places at the churches of God. The toiling, the singing…. These are people who care about the splendor of the church through their work, as well as through intelligible reading and singing.

There is also Litany of Petition, so called because most of the petitions in it end with the words: we ask the Lord. The chorus answers: give it, Lord! In this litany we ask: day of all things perfect, holy, peaceful and sinless - the angel is peaceful ( not formidable, giving peace to our souls), faithful mentor ( guiding us to salvation), guardian of our souls and bodies - forgiveness and forgiveness of sins and transgressions ( falls caused by our inattention and absent-mindedness) ours, - kind and useful to our souls and the world, - the rest of our life in peace and repentance, - Christian death(bring true repentance and receive Holy Communion ) painless ( without severe suffering, with preservation of a sense of self-awareness and memory), not shameful(not shameful) peaceful(characteristic of pious people who part with this life with a peaceful conscience and a calm spirit) and a good answer at the terrible judgment of Christ. After the exclamation, the priest, turning to the people with a blessing, says: peace to all! That is, let there be peace and harmony between all people. The choir responds with mutual goodwill, saying: and to your spirit, i.e. We wish the same for your soul.

Deacon's exclamation: bow your heads to the Lord reminds us that all believers are committed to bowing their heads in submission to God. At this time, the priest, through prayer read secretly, brings down the blessing of God from the throne of grace to those who are coming; therefore, whoever does not bow his head before God is deprived of His grace.

If the litany of petition is read at the end of Vespers, then it begins with the words: let's do it evening prayer our Lord, and if it is said at the end of Matins, then it begins with the words: Let us fulfill our morning prayer to the Lord.

At Vespers and Matins various sacred songs are sung, called stichera. Depending on the time of the service the stichera are sung, they are called stichera I cried to the Lord or stichera on a poem, sung at Vespers after the litany of petition, if there is no litia; also called stichera laudable; which are usually sung before great doxology.

Troparion there is a sacred song, in brief but powerful terms, reminding us of either the history of the holiday or the life and deeds of the saint; sung at vespers after Now you let go, after the morning after God the Lord and appear to us... and reads on the clock after the psalms.

Kontakion has the same content with the troparion; read after song 6 and on the clock after the Lord's Prayer: Our Father…

Prokeimenon. This is the name of a short verse from a psalm, which is sung in the choir several times alternately, for example: The Lord reigns, clothed in beauty(i.e. Dressed in splendor). Prokeimenon sung after The light is quiet and at Matins before the Gospel, and at Mass before readings from the books of the Apostles.

On Sundays and holidays, a special service to God is performed in the evening (and in other places in the morning), usually called the all-night vigil, or all-night vigil.

This service is called so because in ancient times it began in the evening and ended in the morning, therefore, the entire pre-holiday night was spent by believers in church in prayer. And nowadays there are such saints. monastery, where the all-night vigil lasts about six hours from its beginning.

The custom of Christians to spend the night in prayer is very ancient. The apostles, partly following the example of the Savior, Who more than once in His earthly life used the night time for prayer, partly out of fear of their enemies, had prayer meetings at night. The first Christians, fearing persecution by idolaters and Jews, prayed at night on holidays and days of remembrance of martyrs in country caves, or so-called catacombs.

The All-Night Vigil depicts the history of the salvation of the human race through the coming to earth of the Son of God and consists of three parts, or sections: Vespers, Matins and the first hour.

The beginning of the all-night vigil takes place like this: the royal doors are opened, the priest with a censer and the deacon with a candle cense the St. altar; then the deacon speaks from the pulpit: arise, God bless! The priest says: glory to the holy, consubstantial, life-giving and indivisible Trinity always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Then the priest calls on the faithful to worship Christ the King and our God; The singers sing selected passages from Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, my soul... Lord My God, thou art greatly exalted ( i.e. Very) ... There will be waters on the mountains... Wonderful are Your works, O Lord! With wisdom you have created all things!...Glory to Thee, O Lord, who created all things. Meanwhile, the priest and the deacon, having censed the altar, go around the entire church with a censer and cense St. icons and worshipers; after this, towards the end of the singing of Psalm 103, they enter the altar, and the royal doors are closed.

This singing and the actions of the priest and the deacon before they enter the altar remind us of the creation of the world and the happy life of the first people in paradise. The closing of the royal doors depicts the expulsion of the first people from paradise for the sin of disobedience to God; The litany, which the deacon says after closing the royal doors, recalls the joyless life of our forefathers outside paradise and our constant need for God's help.

After the litany, we hear the singing of the first psalm of King David: Blessed is the man who does not follow the counsel of the wicked, and the way of the wicked will perish, work(serve) Fear the Lord and rejoice in Him with trembling; Blessed are all who hope nan ( on him) . Arise, Lord, save me, my God; Salvation is the Lord's, and Your blessing is upon Your people.. Selected passages from this psalm are sung in order to depict both the sorrowful thoughts of our forefather Adam on the occasion of his fall, and the advice and admonitions with which our forefather Adam addresses his descendants in the words of King David. Each verse from this psalm is separated by an angelic doxology hallelujah what does it mean from Hebrew praise God.

After the small litany, two touching prayers are sung to the Lord God: Lord, I called to You, hear me. Hear me, Lord, Lord, I have cried to You, hear me; Hear the voice of my prayer, always cry to You, hear me, Lord! ( Psalm. 140)

May my prayer be corrected as incense before You, the lifting of my hand as an evening sacrifice. Hear me, Lord!

May my prayer come like incense before You; the raising of my hands shall be the evening sacrifice. Hear me, Lord!

This singing reminds us that without God’s help it is difficult for a person to live on earth; he constantly needs God's help, which we remove from ourselves by our sins.

When those who follow the singing sing Lord I cried prayers called stichera, is accomplished evening entrance.

It is performed as follows: during the last stichera in honor of the Mother of God, the royal doors are opened, first the candle-bearer with a burning candle leaves the altar with a burning candle, then the deacon with a censer and the priest. The deacon censes St. icons of the iconostasis, and the priest stands on the pulpit. After singing the Theotokos hymn, the deacon stands at the royal doors and, depicting the cross as a censer, proclaims: wisdom, forgive me! The singers respond with the following touching song of the holy martyr Athenogenes, who lived in the 2nd century after Christ:

Quiet light of holy glory, Immortal Father in heaven, Holy, Blessed, Jesus Christ! Having come to the west of the sun, having seen the evening light, we sing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of God. Thou art worthy at all times to sing the voices of reverends, O Son of God, giving life: with the same the world glorifies Thee.

The quiet light of the holy glory, the Immortal Father in heaven, Jesus Christ! Having reached sunset, having seen the evening light, we sing praises to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit of God. You, Son of God, life giver, are worthy to be sung at all times by the voices of the saints. Therefore the world glorifies You.

What does the evening entrance signify? Taking out the candle means the appearance before the coming of Christ by St. John the Baptist, whom the Lord Himself called lamp. The priest, during the evening entrance, depicts the Savior who came into the world to atone for the guilt of man before the Lord. Deacon's words: wisdom forgive me! They instill in us that we must, with special attention, standing observe sacred actions, praying to the Lord to forgive us all our sins.

While singing The light is quiet the priest enters the altar, kisses St. throne and stands on a high place, turning his face to the people. With this action he depicts the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven and His enthronement in all glory over the world, therefore the singers follow the singing The light is quiet sing: The Lord reigned and clothed himself with beauty, i.e. That Jesus Christ, after His ascension, reigned over the world and was clothed in beauty. This verse is taken from the psalms of King David and is called the prokeemne; it is always sung on Sunday. On other days of the week, other prokeimnas are sung, also taken from the psalms of David.

After the prokemna, on the twelfth and Mother of God holidays and on holidays in honor of the holy saints of God, especially those revered by us, we read proverbs, or small three readings from the books of the Old and New Testaments appropriate for the holidays. Before each proverb the exclamation of the deacon wisdom indicates the important content of what is being read, and with the deacon’s exclamation let's remember! It is suggested that we should be attentive while reading and not be mentally entertained by foreign objects.

Litiya and blessing of the loaves

Following the strict and petitionary litanies, sometimes on more solemn holidays a litany and blessing of the loaves are performed.

This part of the all-night service is performed as follows: the priest and deacon leave the altar to the western part of the church; in the choir the stichera of the holiday are sung, and after them the deacon prays for the Sovereign Emperor, the Sovereign Empress and for the entire Reigning House, for the diocesan bishop and all Orthodox Christians, that the Lord will preserve us all from troubles and misfortunes. The litia is celebrated on the western side of the temple in order to announce the holiday to the penitents and catechumens, who usually stand in the vestibule, about the holiday and to pray with them for them. Here is the reason to pray for the lithium about every Christian soul that is in sorrow and grief, in need of God's mercy and help. Litia also reminds us of the ancient religious processions that the leading Christians performed during public disasters at night for fear of being persecuted by the pagans.

After the lithium after the stichera sung on poetry, after the dying song of Simeon the God-Receiver, and when the troparion of the holiday is sung three times, the blessing of the loaves is performed. In the first times of Christianity, when the all-night vigil continued until dawn, to strengthen the strength of those praying, the priest blessed bread, wine and oil and distributed them to those present. As a reminder of this time and for the sanctification of the faithful, and at the present time the priest prays over the 5 loaves, wheat, wine and oil and asks God to multiply them and so that the Lord sanctifies the faithful who eat from these loaves and wine. Oil (oil), consecrated at this time, is used to anoint those praying during the all-night vigil, and wheat is used for food. The five loaves consecrated on this occasion are reminiscent of the miracle that the Lord performed during His life on earth, when He fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves.

The first part of the all-night vigil ends with the words of the priest: The blessing of the Lord be upon you, by grace and love for mankind always, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen.

At this time there is a ringing sound, reminiscent of the end of Vespers and the beginning of the second part of the All-Night Vigil.

The second part of the All-Night Vigil is Matins, following Vespers. It begins with a joyful song of angels on the occasion of the Nativity of Christ: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Behind it is read the Six Psalm, which contains six psalms of King David, in which this pious king prays to God to cleanse people from the sins with which we offend God every minute, despite His constant providence for us. During the reading of the Six Psalms, the priest, first in the altar and then on the pulpit, prays to God to send God’s mercy to people. The priest's humble exit from the altar to the pulpit indicates the quiet, solitary life of the Lord Jesus in Nazareth, from which He only occasionally came to Jerusalem to pray during the holidays. The Six Psalms ends with an exclamation in honor of the Triune God: Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, glory to You, O God!

After the great litany, pronounced during the Six Psalms, a verse from the psalms of King David is sung four times: God is the Lord and has appeared to us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, indicating the appearance of the Savior to people as a Teacher and Wonderworker.

Then the troparion of the holiday is sung and two kathismas are read.

Kathismas- these are the sections of the psalms of the king and the prophet David, which are the sections in Psalter 20. These sections of the psalms are called kathisma, because while reading them, those praying in the church are allowed to sit. Word kathisma from Greek it means seat. Each day a different kathisma is read, so that over the course of a week the entire psalter is read.

After each kathisma, a small litany is pronounced by the clergyman. Then the most solemn part of the all-night vigil begins, called polyeleos much mercy, or a lot of oil. The royal doors open, large candles in front of St. The icons that were extinguished during the reading of the sixth psalm and kathisma are rekindled, and a song of praise to God from Psalms 134 and 135 is sung on the choir: Praise the name of the Lord, praise the servants of the Lord, hallelujah! Blessed be the Lord from Zion(where in ancient times there was a tabernacle and a temple) alive in Jerusalem, hallelujah! Confess to the Lord ( confess your sins) as good ( because He is good) for His mercy endures forever, hallelujah! Confess to the God of heaven that He is good, that His mercy endures forever, hallelujah! The priest and the deacon perform censing throughout the church. The opened royal gates signify to us that an angel has rolled away the stone from the Holy Sepulcher, from where a new eternal life has shone for us, full of spiritual joy and joy. The clergy walking around the church with a censer reminds us of St. the myrrh-bearers who went to the tomb of the Lord on the night of the resurrection of Christ to anoint the body of the Lord, but received joyful news from an angel about the resurrection of Christ.

On Sundays, after singing the laudatory verses of Psalms 134 and 135, in order to better impress upon those praying the thought of the resurrection of Christ, troparia are sung, in which the reason for our joy about the resurrection of Christ is expressed. Each troparion begins with words glorifying the Lord: blessed art thou, Lord, teach me by thy justification(i.e., Your Commandments). The Sunday polyeleos ends with the reading of St. Gospel about one of the appearances of the risen Savior. The Holy Gospel is carried into the middle of the church, and the believers kiss the Holy Gospel. the Gospel, having (at the same time) in mind all the benefits of the risen Lord. At this time, the choir sings a song of invitation to worship the resurrection of Christ:

Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. We worship Your Cross, O Christ, and we sing and glorify Your holy resurrection: for You are our God; isn't it(except) We don’t know anything else for You, we call Your name. Come, all the faithful, let us worship the Holy Resurrection of Christ. Xie(Here) For joy has come to the whole world through the cross, always blessing the Lord, we sing His resurrection: having endured crucifixion, destroy death through death.

The polyeleos on the twelfth feasts and feast days of the holy saints of God differs from the Sunday polyeleos in that after the laudatory verses of Psalms 134 and 135, the clergy go to the middle of the temple, where the icon of the holiday is placed on a lectern, and a magnification is sung, with verses in honor of St. the myrrh-bearing women are not sung. The Gospel is read, having application to the day of the holiday; worshipers in the temple kiss St. the icon on the analogue and are anointed with the oil consecrated during the litia, but not St. peace, as some in ignorance call this oil.

After reading the Gospel and a prayer to the Lord God for mercy on us sinners, usually read by a deacon before the icon of the Savior, we sing canon, or a rule for glorifying God and the saints and for asking for God’s mercy through the prayers of God’s holy saints. The canon consists of 9 sacred songs, modeled after those Old Testament songs that were sung by righteous people, starting with the prophet Moses and ending with the parent of the Baptist John, the priest Zechariah. Every song is sung at the beginning irmos(in Russian - connection), and at the end confusion(in Russian - convergence). Name of the song chaos accepted because, according to the regulations, both choirs come together to sing it. The content of irmos and katavasia is taken from those songs on the model of which the entire canon is compiled.

Song 1 is modeled after the song that the prophet Moses sang after the miraculous passage of the Jewish people through the Red Sea.

2 the song is modeled after the song that the prophet Moses sang before his death. With this song the prophet wanted to incite the Jewish people to repentance; like a song repentance, according to the charter of the Orthodox Church, is sung only during Great Lent. At other times, after the first song in the canon, the third song immediately follows.

3 song is modeled after the song sung by the righteous Anna after the birth of her son Samuel, a prophet and wise judge of the Jewish people.

Song 4 is modeled after the song of the prophet Habakkuk.

Song 5 of the canon contains thoughts taken from the song of the prophet Isaiah.

6 the song is reminiscent of the song of the prophet Jonah, which he sang when he was miraculously delivered from the belly of the whale.

The 7th and 8th songs are modeled after the song sung by the three Jewish youths after their miraculous deliverance from the kindled Babylonian furnace.

After the 8th song of the canon, the song of the Mother of God is sung, divided into several verses, after which the song is chanted: The most honorable cherub and the most glorious seraphim without comparison, without corruption(disease) Who gave birth to God the Word, the real Mother of God, we magnify You.

9. The song contains thoughts taken from the song of the priest Zechariah, which he sang after the birth of his son, the Forerunner of the Lord John.

In ancient times, Matins ended with the onset of day, and after the singing of the canon and the reading of Psalms 148, 149 and 150, in which St. King David enthusiastically invites all nature to glorify the Lord, the priest thanks God for the light that has appeared. Glory to You, who showed us the light, says the priest, turning to the throne of God. The choir sings great a praise to the Lord, beginning and ending with the song of St. angels.

Matins, the second part of the all-night vigil, ends with a deep and petitionary litany and dismissal, usually pronounced by the priest from the open royal doors.

Then the first hour is read - the third part of the all-night vigil; it ends with a song of thanksgiving in honor of the Mother of God, composed by the inhabitants of Constantinople for their deliverance through the intercession of the Mother of God from the Persians and Avars who attacked Greece in the seventh century.

To the chosen victorious Voivode, for having been delivered from the evil ones, let us sing thanksgiving to Thy servants, the Mother of God. But as you have an invincible power, free us from all troubles, and let us call to You: Rejoice, unmarried Bride.

To You, who prevails in battle (or war), we, Your servants, the Mother of God, offer songs of victory (solemnity), and as those delivered by You from evil, songs of gratitude. And you, as having invincible power, deliver us from all troubles, so that we cry to you: Rejoice, Bride, who has no groom among men.

Liturgy, or mass, is a divine service during which the sacrament of St. communion and a bloodless sacrifice is offered to the Lord God for living and dead people.

The sacrament of communion was established by the Lord Jesus Christ. On the eve of His suffering on the cross and death, the Lord was pleased to celebrate the Easter supper together with His 12 disciples in Jerusalem, in memory of the miraculous exit of the Jews from Egypt. When this Passover was celebrated, the Lord Jesus Christ took leavened wheat bread, blessed it and, distributing it to the disciples, said: Take, eat: this is My body, which was broken for you for the remission of sins. Then he took a cup of red wine and, giving it to the disciples, said: drink of it, all of you: this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. After that the Lord added : Do this in My remembrance.

After the Lord’s ascension, His disciples and followers carried out His will exactly. They spent time in prayer, reading divine scriptures and receiving Holy Communion. the body and blood of the Lord, or something similar, performed the liturgy. The most ancient and original order of the liturgy is attributed to St. to the Apostle James, the first bishop of Jerusalem. Until the fourth century after the Nativity of Christ, the liturgy was performed without being written down by anyone, but the order of its celebration was passed on from bishop to bishop and from them to the presbyters, or priests. In the fourth century St. Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia for his spiritual wisdom and works for the benefit of St. Church of Christ nicknamed Great, wrote down the order of the liturgy as it came down from the apostles. Since the prayers in the Liturgy of Basil the Great, usually read secretly in the altar by the performer, are long, and as a result of this the singing was slow, then St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, called Chrysostom for his eloquence, noticing that many Christians did not stand through the entire liturgy, shortened these prayers, which made the liturgy shorter. But the liturgy of Basil the Great and the liturgy of John Chrysostom in their essence do not differ from one another. The Holy Church, condescending to the weaknesses of the believers, decided to celebrate the Liturgy of Chrysostom throughout the year, and the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is celebrated on those days when we need intense prayer on our part for mercy on us. So, this last liturgy is celebrated on 5 Sundays of Great Lent, except for Palm Sunday, on Thursday and Saturday of Holy Week, on Christmas Eve and Epiphany Eve and in memory of St. Basil the Great, January 1, upon entering the new year of life.

Chrysostom's Liturgy consists of three parts that have different names, although this division is during mass and is invisible to the person praying. 1) Proskomedia, 2) Liturgy of the Catechumens and 3) Liturgy of the Faithful - these are the parts of the mass. During the proskomedia, bread and wine are prepared for the sacrament. During the Liturgy of the Catechumens, the faithful, through their prayers and the clergy, prepare to participate in the sacrament of communion; During the Liturgy of the Faithful, the sacrament itself is celebrated.

Proskomedia is a Greek word, what does it mean? bringing. The first part of the liturgy is called so from the custom of ancient Christians to bring bread and wine to church to perform the sacrament. For the same reason this bread is called prosphora, which means from Greek offering. Five prosphoras are consumed at proskomedia in memory of the Lord’s miraculous feeding of 5,000 people with 5 loaves. Prosphoras are made in two parts in appearance in memory of the two natures in Jesus Christ, divine and human. At the top of the prosphora there is a depiction of St. a cross with the following words inscribed in its corners: Ic. Xp. neither. ka. These words mean Jesus Christ, the Conqueror of death and the devil; neither. ka. The word is Greek.

Proskomedia is performed as follows. The priest and the deacon, after praying in front of the royal doors for cleansing them from sins and for giving them strength for the upcoming service, enter the altar and put on all sacred clothes. The vesting ends with the washing of the hands as a sign of the spiritual and physical purity with which they begin to serve the liturgy.

Proskomedia is performed on the altar. The priest uses a copy of the prosphora to highlight the cubic portion required to perform the sacrament, with the recollection of prophecies relating to the Nativity of Christ and the suffering of Jesus Christ. This part of the prosphora is called the Lamb, because it represents the image of the suffering Jesus Christ, just as before the Nativity of Christ He was represented by the Passover lamb, which the Jews, by the command of God, slaughtered and ate in memory of deliverance from destruction in Egypt. The Holy Lamb is placed by the priest on the paten in memory of the saving death of Jesus Christ and is cut from below into four equal parts. Then the priest thrusts a spear into the right side of the Lamb and pours wine combined with water into the chalice in memory of the fact that when the Lord was on the cross, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out of the pierced side.

A Lamb is placed on the paten in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of heaven and earth. The church hymn sings: Where the King comes, there is His order. Therefore, the Lamb is surrounded by many particles taken from other prosphoras in honor and glory of the Most Holy Theotokos and the holy people of God, and in memory of all people, both living and dead.

The Queen of Heaven, the Most Holy Mother of God, is closest to the throne of God and constantly prays for us sinners; as a sign of this, from the second prosphora prepared for the proskomedia, the priest takes out a portion in memory of the Most Holy Theotokos and places it on the right side of the Lamb.

After this, on the left side of the Lamb are placed 9 parts taken from the 3rd prosphora in memory of 9 ranks of saints: a) John the Forerunner of the Lord, b) prophets, c) apostles, d) saints who served God in the rank of bishop, e) martyrs, f) saints who achieved holiness through life in St. monasteries and deserts, g) those without money who received from God the power to heal the illnesses of people, and for this they did not take a reward from anyone, h) the daily saints according to the calendar, and the saint whose liturgy is celebrated, Basil the Great or John Chrysostom. At the same time, the priest prays that the Lord, through the prayers of all the saints, will visit people.

From the fourth prosphora, parts are taken out for all Orthodox Christians, starting with the sovereign.

Parts are taken from the fifth prosphora and placed on the south side of the Lamb for all those who died in the faith of Christ and the hope of eternal life after death.

The prosphoras, from which parts were taken out to be placed on the paten, in memory of saints and Orthodox Christians, living and dead, are worthy of a reverent attitude on our part.

Church history presents us with many examples from which we see that Christians who reverently ate prosphora received sanctification and help from God in illnesses of soul and body. The Monk Sergius, being incomprehensible in the sciences as a child, through eating part of the prosphora given to him by one pious elder, became a very smart boy, so that he was ahead of all his comrades in the sciences. The history of the Solovetsky monks tells that when a dog wanted to swallow a prosphora lying accidentally on the road, fire came out of the ground and thereby saved the prosphora from the beast. This is how God protects His shrine and thereby shows that we should treat it with great reverence. You need to eat prosphora before other food.

It is very useful for them to remember the living and dead members of the Church of Christ during the proskomedia. The particles taken from the prosphora at the divine proskomedia for the commemorated souls are immersed in the life-giving blood of Christ, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all evil and is powerful to beg from God the Father for everything we need. Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, of blessed memory, once before he was preparing to serve the Liturgy, another time, just before the start of the Liturgy, they asked him to pray for some sick people. At the liturgy, he took out parts from the prosphora for these sick people, and they, despite the doctors’ sentence to death, recovered (“Soul Floor. Read.” 1869 Jan. Dept. 7, p. 90). St. Gregory the Dvoeslov tells how a deceased person appeared to a pious priest well-known in his time and asked to remember him at mass. To this request, the one who appeared added that if the sacred sacrifice alleviated his fate, then as a sign of this he would no longer appear to him. The priest fulfilled the demand, and no new appearance followed.

During the proskomedia, the 3rd and 6th hours are read to occupy the thoughts of those present in the church with prayer and remembrance of the saving power of the suffering and death of Christ.

When the commemoration is completed, the proskomedia ends with a star placed on the paten, and it and the chalice are covered with covers of a common veil, called air. At this time, the altar is censed and a prayer is read by the priest, so that the Lord will remember all those who brought their gifts of bread and wine to the proskomedia and those for whom they were offered.

Proskomedia reminds us of two main events in the life of the Savior: The Nativity of Christ and the Death of Christ.

Therefore, all the actions of the priest and the things used at the proskomedia recall both the Nativity of Christ and the death of Christ. The altar resembles both the Bethlehem cave and the Golgotha ​​burial cave. The paten marks both the manger of the born Savior and the Holy Sepulcher. The coverings and the air serve as a reminder of the swaddling clothes of both infants and those in which the deceased Savior was buried. The censing marks the incense brought by the Magi to the born Savior, and the aromas that were used were at the burial of the Lord by Joseph and Nicodemus. The star symbolizes the star that appeared at the birth of the Savior.

Believers prepare for the sacrament of communion during the second part of the liturgy, which is called Liturgy of the Catechumens. This part of the liturgy received this name because, in addition to those who are baptized and admitted to communion, catechumens are also allowed to listen to it, i.e. those preparing for baptism and repentants who are not allowed to receive communion.

Immediately after the reading of the hours and the performance of the proskomedia, the liturgy of the catechumens begins with the glorification of the kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity. The priest in the altar to the words of the deacon: bless, lord, answers: blessed is the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen.

This is followed by the great litany. After it, on ordinary days, two pictorial psalms 142 and 145 are sung, separated by a small litany. These psalms are called figurative because they very clearly depict the mercies of God shown to us by the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. On the twelve feasts of the Lord, instead of pictorial psalms, they are sung antiphons. This is the name of those sacred songs from the psalms of King David that are sung alternately on both choirs. Antiphonal, i.e. countervoice, singing owes its origin to St. Ignatius the God-Bearer, who lived in the first century after the Nativity of Christ. This St. The apostolic husband in revelation heard how the angelic faces alternately sang in two choirs and, imitating the angels, established the same order in the Antiochian Church, and from there this custom spread throughout the entire Orthodox Church.

Antiphons - three in honor of St. Trinity. The first two antiphons are separated by small litanies.

On ordinary days after the second pictorial psalm, and on the twelve feasts of the Lord after the second antiphon, a touching song is sung to the Lord Jesus: The only begotten Son and Word of God, immortal, and willing for our salvation to be incarnate from the Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, immutably ( true ) become man, crucified, Christ God, trampling death by death, one of the Holy Trinity, glorified to the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us. This song was composed in the fifth century after the birth of Christ by the Greek emperor Justinian to refute the heresy of Nestorius, who wickedly taught that Jesus Christ was born an ordinary person, and the deity united with Him during baptism, and that therefore the Most Holy Mother of God is not, according to his false teaching, the Mother of God, but only the Mother of Christ.

When the 3rd antiphon is sung, and on ordinary days - when the Savior’s teaching on the beatitudes is read, or blessed, V. The royal doors open for the first time during the liturgy. Presenting a burning candle, the deacon carries through the northern door from the altar to the pulpit of St. Gospel and, asking the priest standing on the pulpit for a blessing to enter the altar, he says in the royal doors: wisdom, forgive me! This is how the small entrance is made. He reminds us of Jesus Christ, who appeared with the sermon of St. gospel. A candle carried before St. Gospel, marks St. John the Baptist, who prepared the people for the worthy acceptance of the God-man Christ, and whom the Lord Himself called: a lamp burning and shining. The open royal doors mean the gates of the heavenly kingdom, which opened before us along with the appearance of the Savior into the world. Deacon's words: wisdom, forgive me, mean to point us to the deep wisdom contained in St. Gospels. Word sorry invites believers to reverent standing and worship of the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, immediately after the deacon’s exclamation, the choir of singers convinces everyone to worship the Accomplisher of the salvation of the world. Come let's worship, the choir sings, and let us fall to Christ, save us, Son of God, singing Ti Alleluia. Anyone who responded to the call of St. would act frivolously. The Church would not respond with low worship of its great benefactor, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our pious ancestors, when singing this verse, all threw themselves to the ground, even our God-crowned All-Russian Sovereigns themselves.

After the troparion and kontakion for the holiday or holy day, the deacon at the local icon of the Savior prays: Lord save the pious and hear us. The pious are all Orthodox Christians, starting with the persons of the Royal House and the Holy Synod.

After this, the deacon stands at the royal doors and, turning to the people, says: and forever and ever. These words of the deacon complement the exclamation of the priest, who, blessing the deacon to give praise to God by singing the Trisagion, speaks before the words Lord save the pious exclamation: For Thou art holy, our God, and to Thee we send glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever. The deacon’s address to the people at this time indicates to all those praying for the time of singing the Trisagion hymn, which must be sung with silent lips and forever and ever!

The choir sings: Holy God, holy Mighty, holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

The origin of this sacred song is remarkable. There was a strong earthquake in the city of Constantinople; Believers performed prayer services in the open air. Suddenly one boy from folk tops was lifted into heaven by a storm, and there he heard the singing of St. angels who, glorifying the Holy Trinity, sang: Holy God, Holy Mighty(strong, omnipotent), holy immortal! Having descended unharmed, the boy announced his vision to the people, and the people began to repeat the angelic song and add have mercy on us, and the earthquake stopped. The described event happened in the fifth century under Patriarch Proclus, and from that time the Trisagion hymn was introduced into all services of the Orthodox Church.

On some days, such as Lazarus Saturday, Holy Saturday, Holy Week, Trinity Day, and the eves of Christmas and Epiphany, instead of the Trisagion, the words of the Apostle Paul are sung: Elites were baptized into Christ, put on Christ, hallelujah! This singing reminds us of the time of the primacy of the Church, when in these days the baptism of catechumens was performed, who from paganism and Judaism passed into Orthodox faith Christ's. This was a long time ago, and this song is sung to this day, to remind us of the vows that we made to the Lord under St. baptism, do we fulfill them holyly and observe them. On the day of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord and during Great Lent on Sunday of the 4th week, the veneration of the cross, instead of the Trisagion, the following is sung: We bow to Your Cross, Master, and we glorify Your holy resurrection.

For the Trisagion Song; after the prokeme, there follows the reading of the apostolic epistles, with which they enlightened the world when they went around the entire universe to teach it the true faith in St. Trinity. Each of these shows that the apostolic preaching of the word of God filled the entire universe with the fragrance of Christ’s teaching and changed the air, infected and spoiled by idolatry. The priest sits at the high place, signifying Jesus Christ, who sent the apostles before Him to preach. Other people have no reason to sit at this time, except due to great weakness.

The reading of the divine works of Christ is offered to us from His gospel following the apostolic epistles, so that we learn to imitate Him and love our Savior for His ineffable love, like the children of our father. We must listen to the Holy Gospel with such great attention and reverence, as if we were seeing and listening to Jesus Christ Himself.

The royal doors, from which we heard the good news about our Lord Jesus Christ, are closed, and the deacon again invites us with a special litany to intense prayer to the God of our fathers.

The time is approaching for the celebration of the most holy sacrament of communion. The catechumens, as imperfect, cannot be present at this sacrament, and that is why they must soon leave the assembly of the faithful; but first the faithful pray for them, so that the Lord enlightened them with the word of truth and united them with His Church. When the deacon speaks about the catechumens during the litany: announcement, bow your heads to the Lord, then the faithful are not obliged to bow their heads. This address of the deacon directly applies to the catechumens, if they are standing in the church, as a sign that the Lord is blessing them. During the litany of the catechumens, it develops into St. on the throne there is an antimension necessary for the performance of the sacrament.

The command for the catechumens to leave the church ends the second part of the liturgy, or the liturgy of the catechumens.

The most important part of the mass begins - Liturgy of the Faithful when the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to sacrifice and eat food(food ) true. What a clear conscience everyone who prays needs to have at this time! Let all human flesh remain silent and stand with fear and trembling Such a great mood of prayer should be present in those praying.

After two short litanies, the royal doors open, the Church inspires us to become like St. angels in reverence for the shrine;

Even as the Cherubim secretly form, and the Life-giving Trinity sings the Trisagion, let us now put aside all worldly cares, so that we will raise up the King of all, invisibly delivered by the angels, alleluia!

Mysteriously depicting cherubim and chanting the Trisagion hymn to the Life-giving Trinity, let us put aside all concern for everyday things in order to raise the King of all, whom the angelic ranks invisibly carry, as if on spears (dori) with the song: Hallelujah!

This song is called the Cherubic song, both from its first initial words and because it ends with the song of the cherubim: allilia. Word Dorinoshima depicts a man who is guarded and accompanied by bodyguards-spearmen. Just as the kings of the earth are surrounded by warrior bodyguards in solemn processions, so the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven, is served by ranks of angels, heavenly warriors.

In the midst of the Cherubic song, the so-called great entrance, or transferring those prepared at the proskomedia of St. gifts - bread and wine, from the altar to St. throne. The deacon carries the paten with St. on his head through the northern door. A lamb, and the priest a chalice of wine. At the same time, they remember in turn all Orthodox Christians, starting with the Sovereign Emperor. This commemoration is performed on the pulpit. Those standing in the temple, as a sign of respect to St. gifts that have been transformed into the true body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, bow their heads, praying to the Lord God that He will remember them and those close to them in His kingdom. This is done in imitation of the prudent thief, who, looking at the innocent suffering of Jesus Christ and, recognizing his sins before God, said: remember me, Lord, when you come into Your kingdom.

The Great Entrance reminds a Christian of the procession of Jesus Christ to free suffering and death for the sinful human race. When the liturgy is celebrated by several priests, during the great entrance they carry sacred objects that resemble the instruments of Christ’s suffering, for example: an altar cross, a spear, a sponge.

The Cherubic Hymn was introduced into the liturgy in 573 AD. Chr., under Emperor Justinian and Patriarch John Scholasticus. At the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great on Maundy Thursday, when the Church remembers the Last Supper of the Savior, instead of the Cherubic Song, a prayer is sung, usually read before the reception of St. Mysteries of Christ:

Your Last Supper is today(now) O Son of God, accept me as a partaker; for I will not tell the secret to Thy enemies.(I'll say) no kissing(kissing) I will give you, like Judas, like a thief, I will confess to you: remember me, Lord, in your kingdom. On Holy Saturday, instead of the Cherubim, a very touching and touching song is sung: Let all human flesh be silent, and let it stand with fear and trembling, and let nothing earthly in itself think: the King of kings and Lord of lords comes to sacrifice and be given as food (food) to the faithful; And before this came the faces of angels with all principality and power, many-eyed cherubs, and six-faced seraphim, covering their faces, and crying out the song: Alleluia. Angels by nature do not have either eyes or wings, but the name of some of the ranks of angels, many-eyed and six-winged, indicates that they can see far and have the ability to quickly move from one place to another. Beginnings and powers- these are angels appointed by God to protect those in authority - the leaders.

Holy gifts, after they are brought from the pulpit to the Holy. altar, supplied to St. throne. The royal doors are closed and covered with a curtain. These actions remind believers of the burial of the Lord in the garden handsome Joseph, closing the burial cave with a stone and placing guards at the tomb of the Lord. In accordance with this, the priest and deacon in this case depict the righteous Joseph and Nicodemus, who served the Lord at His burial.

After the litany of petition, the believers are invited by the deacon to unite in brotherly love: let us love one another, that we may be of one mind, i.e. Let us all express our faith with one thought. The choir, complementing what the deacon said, sings: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Trinity consubstantial and indivisible. In the ancient times of Christianity, when people really lived like brothers, when their thoughts were pure, and their feelings were holy and immaculate - in these good times when the proclamation was made let's love each other, the pilgrims standing in the temple kissed each other - men with men, and women with women. Then people lost their modesty, and St. The Church abolished this custom. Nowadays, if several priests serve mass, then in the altar at this time they kiss the chalice, paten and each other’s shoulder and hand, doing this as a sign of unanimity and love.

Then the priest takes away the curtain from the royal gates, and the deacon says: doors, doors, let us sing of wisdom! What do these words mean?

In ancient Christian Church During the Divine Liturgy, deacons and subdeacons (church ministers) stood at the doors of the Church of the Lord, who, having heard the words: doors, doors, let us sing of wisdom! No one should have been allowed into or out of the church, so that during these holy moments any of the infidels would not enter the church and so that there would be no noise or disorder from the entry and exit of worshipers in the temple of God. Recalling this wonderful custom, St. The Church teaches us that, hearing these words, we hold tightly the doors of our minds and hearts, so that nothing empty or sinful comes to mind, and something evil and unclean does not sink into our hearts. Let us reek of wisdom! these words are intended to arouse the attention of Christians to a meaningful reading of the creed, which is pronounced after this exclamation.

While singing the creed, the priest himself reads it quietly in the altar and, while reading, raises and lowers it (oscillates) air(veil) over St. cup and paten as a sign of the gracious presence of the Spirit of God over St. gifts.

When the creed is sung in the choir, the deacon addresses the praying people with the following words: Let us become kind, let us become fearful, let us bring holy offerings to the world, that is, we will stand decorously, we will stand with fear and we will be attentive, so that with a calm soul we offer the Lord a holy offering.

What an exaltation of St. Does the Church advise us to bring it with fear and reverence? The singers on the choir respond to this with the words: mercy of the world, sacrifice of praise. We must offer the Lord gifts of friendship and love and constant praise and glorification of His name.

Following this, the priest, being in the altar, addresses the people and gives them gifts from each person of the Holy Trinity: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, he says, and the love of God and the Father and the sacrament(presence) May the Holy Spirit be with you all! At this time, the priest blesses the believers with his hand, and they undertake to respond to this blessing with a bow and, together with the choir, say to the priest: and with your spirit. Those in the church seem to say this to the priest: and we wish your soul the same blessings from God!

The priest's exclamation: woe we have hearts, means that we all must direct our hearts from earth to God. Imams(we have) to the Lord our hearts, our feelings, - the praying people answer through the mouths of the singers.

In the words of the priest: thank the Lord, the sacrament of communion begins. The singers sing: it is worthy and righteous to worship the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, consubstantial and inseparable. The priest secretly reads a prayer and thanks the Lord for all His benefits to people. At this time, it is the duty of every Orthodox Christian to bow to the ground to express his gratitude to the Lord, since not only people praise the Lord, but angels glorify Him, the song of victory is singing, crying, calling and speaking.

At this time there is good news to the so-called worthy then, so that every Christian who for some reason cannot be in church, at the service of God, hearing the bell strikes, crosses himself and, if possible, makes several bows (whether at home, in the field, on the road - it doesn’t matter), remembering that in In the temple of God at these moments a great, holy action is taking place.

The song of the angels is called victorious as a sign of the Savior’s defeat of evil spirits, these ancient enemies of the human race. Angel song in heaven sung, chanted, invoked and spoken. These words denote the image of the singing of angels surrounding the throne of God, and indicate the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, described by him in the 1st chapter of his book. The Prophet saw the Lord sitting on a throne, which was supported by angels in the form of four animals: a lion, a calf, an eagle, a man. The one who sings here means the eagle, the one who cries - the calf, the one who calls - the lion, the one who speaks - the man.

To the exclamation of the priest: singing a song of victory, crying out, calling out and saying, the choir responds for all those praying by pointing to the words of the angels’ song itself: Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, heaven and earth are filled with Your glory. The prophet Isaiah heard angels singing in this way when he saw the Lord on a throne high and exalted(6th chapter of the prophet Isa.). Pronouncing a word three times holy angels indicate the trinity of persons in God: Lord of Hosts- this is one of the names of God and means the Lord of the forces, or heavenly armies. Heaven and earth are filled with Your glory, that is heaven and earth are full of the glory of the Lord. The song of the angels, these heavenly singers of the glory of God, is joined by a human song of praise - the song with which the Jews met and accompanied the Lord when He had a solemn entry into Jerusalem: Hosanna in the highest(save us, you who live in heaven), blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest!

Following this, the priest pronounces the words of the Lord spoken to him at the Last Supper: take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you(suffering) for the remission of sins. Drink of it, all of you, this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.. By pronouncing the word twice by those praying Amen we express before the Lord that indeed at the Last Supper the bread and wine given by the Lord were the true body of Christ and the true blood of the Lord.

The most important action begins in the last (3) part of the liturgy. At the altar, the priest takes the paten in his right hand, the chalice in his left and, raising the holy gifts, proclaims: Yours from Yours offering to You for everyone and for everything. These words of the priest have the following meaning: To you, the Lord God, we offer Yours gifts, that is, bread and wine, given to us by You about all people living and dead and for all good deeds. In response to this proclamation, the choir sings to the Holy Trinity: We sing to You, we bless You, we thank You, O Lord, and we pray to You, our God. At this time, the priest, with the raising of his hands, prays that the Lord God the Father (the first person of the Holy Trinity) would send down the Holy Spirit (the third person of the Holy Trinity) on himself and on St. our gifts, bread and wine. Then, blessing St. bread, says to God the Father: and make therefore this bread the venerable body of Thy Christ; blessing St. cup, he says : And in this cup is the precious blood of Thy Christ: blessing the bread and wine together, he says: changed by Your Holy Spirit, Amen, three times. From this moment, bread and wine cease to be ordinary substances and, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, become the true body and true blood of the Savior; only types of bread and wine remain. Consecration of St. gifts are accompanied by a great miracle for a believer. At this time, according to St. Chrysostom, angels descend from heaven and serve God before St. His throne. If the angels, the purest spirits, reverently stand before the throne of God, then the people standing in the temple, every minute offending God with their sins, at these moments must intensify their prayers so that the Holy Spirit will dwell in them and cleanse them from all sinful filth.

After the consecration of the gifts, the priest secretly thanks God that He accepts for us the prayers of all the holy people, who constantly cry out to God about our needs.

At the end of this prayer, the touching song of the clergy I'll eat for you ends, the priest says out loud to all those praying: a lot about our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Most Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. With these words, the priest calls on those praying to glorify the ever-present prayer book for us before the throne of God - the Queen of Heaven, Most Holy. Mother of God. The choir sings: It is worthy that we truly bless Thee, the Mother of God, ever-blessed and most immaculate, and the Mother of our God, the most honorable cherub and the most glorious seraphim without comparison, who gave birth to God the Word without corruption, the real Mother of God, we magnify Thee. In this song the Queen of heaven and earth is called blessed, since She, having been worthy to be the Mother of the Lord, became for Christians permanent subject praise and glorification. We magnify the Mother of God immaculate for Her spiritual purity from all sinful defilement. Further in this song we call the Mother of God the most honest cherub and the most glorious without comparison seraphim, because She, in quality as the Mother of God, surpasses the highest angels - cherubim and seraphim - in closeness to God. The Holy Virgin Mary is glorified as having given birth to God the Word without decay in the sense that She, both before birth, during birth and after birth, remained forever virgin, which is why it is called Ever-Virgin.

During the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great instead worthy another song is sung in honor of the Mother of God: Every creature rejoices in You, O full of grace.(creation), angelic council, and the human race and so on. The creator of this song is St. John of Damascus, presbyter of the monastery of St. Savva the Sanctified, who lived in the 8th century. On the twelve feasts and on the days of Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday, to the exclamation of the priest: a lot about the Most Holy, Irmos 9 songs of the festive canon are sung.

While singing these songs in honor of the Mother of God, believers, together with the clergyman, remember deceased relatives and friends, so that the Lord may rest their souls and forgive them their voluntary and involuntary sins; and the living members of the Church are remembered by us when the priest exclaims: first remember, Lord, the Holy Governing Synod and so on, that is, the shepherds who govern the Orthodox Christian Church. The clergy responds to these words of the priest by singing: and everyone and everything, that is, remember, Lord, all Orthodox Christians, husbands and wives.

Our prayer for the living and the dead has the highest power and meaning during the liturgy at this time, because we ask the Lord to accept it for the sake of the bloodless sacrifice that has just been performed.

After the priest said aloud the prayer that the Lord would help us all glorify God with one mouth, and the good wishes of the priest, so that the mercy of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ has never ceased for us, - the deacon pronounces a litany of petition. We pray to God together with the priest, that the Lord would accept the offered and consecrated gifts, like the smell of incense on His heavenly altar, and send down to us His divine grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit. This prayer is joined by other petitions to God for the gift of everything necessary for our temporary and eternal life.

At the end of the litany, after a brief prayer from the priest for the granting of courage (boldness) to cry out to the heavenly God and Father without condemnation, the singers sing the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father and so on. As a sign of the importance of the petitions contained in the Lord’s Prayer, and to signify the awareness of their unworthiness, everyone present in the church at this moment bows to the ground, and the deacon girds himself with an orar for the convenience of communion, and also depicting with this action angels covering their faces with wings in reverence to St. secrets.

After the exclamation of the priest, there come minutes of remembrance of the Last Supper of the Savior with His disciples, suffering, death and burial. The royal doors are closed with a curtain. The deacon, awakening the worshipers to reverence, says: let's remember! And the priest in the altar, lifting St. The lamb over the paten says: holy of holies! These words inspire us that only those who have been cleansed of all sins are worthy of receiving the Holy Mysteries. But since none of the people can recognize themselves as pure from sin, the singers answer the priest’s exclamation: there is one holy, one Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father, amen. The Lord Jesus Christ alone is sinless; He, by His mercy, can make us worthy of receiving Holy Communion. Tain.

The singers sing either whole psalms or parts of them, and the clergy receive St. secrets, eating the body of Christ separately from the Divine blood, as was the case at the Last Supper. It must be said that the laity received communion in the same way until the end of the 4th century. But St. Chrysostom, when he noticed that one woman, having taken the body of Christ in her hands, took it to her house and there used it for sorcery, he commanded that the Holy Spirit be taught in all churches. the body and blood of Christ together from a spoon, or spoon, directly into the mouths of those receiving communion.

After the communion of the clergy, the deacon places into the chalice all the particles taken for health and repose, and at the same time says: wash away, Lord, the sins of those remembered here with Your honest blood, with the prayers of Your saints. Thus, all parts removed from the prosphora enter into the closest communion with the body and blood of Christ. Each particle, imbued with the blood of Christ the Savior, becomes, as it were, an Intercessor before the throne of God for the person for whom it was taken out.

This last action ends the communion of the clergy. By breaking the Lamb into parts for communion, by inserting part of the St. body into the blood of the Lord, the suffering on the cross and death of Jesus Christ are remembered. Communion of St. the blood from the chalice is the flow of the Lord's blood from His most pure ribs after His death. Closing the curtain at this time is like rolling a stone on the hump of the Lord.

But this very veil is taken away, the royal doors are opened. With a cup in his hands, the deacon shouts from the royal doors: approach with the fear of God and faith! This is the solemn appearance of St. gifts depicts the resurrection of the Lord.

Believers, aware of their unworthiness and in a feeling of gratitude to the Savior, approach St. the mysteries, kissing the edge of the chalice, as if the very rib of the Savior, which exuded His life-giving blood for our sanctification. And those who have not prepared to unite with the Lord in the sacrament of communion should at least bow before St. gifts, as if to the feet of our Savior, imitating in this case the myrrh-bearer Mary Magdalene who bowed to the ground to the risen Savior.

The Savior did not live long on earth after His glorious resurrection. The Holy Gospel tells us that on the 40th day after the resurrection He ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father. These events from the life of the Savior, dear to us, are remembered during the liturgy, when the priest carries St. from the altar. cup into the royal doors and says, turning to the people: always, now and ever and unto ages of ages. This action shows us that the Lord always abides in His Church and is ready to help those who believe in Him, as long as their petitions are pure and useful to their souls. After the small litany, the priest reads a prayer, named after the place where it was said behind the pulpit. After it there is a dismissal, pronounced by the priest always from the royal doors. The liturgy of Saints Basil the Great or John Chrysostom ends with the wish for long life to all Orthodox Christians.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, or simply the Presanctified Mass, is a service during which the sacrament of transmuting bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord is not performed, but the faithful partake of the Holy Communion. gifts previously sanctified at the liturgy of Basil the Great or St. John Chrysostom.

This liturgy is celebrated during Lent on Wednesdays and Fridays, in the 5th week on Thursday and during Holy Week on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. However, the liturgy of presanctified gifts on the occasion of temple holidays or holidays in honor of St. the saints of God can be performed on other days of Great Lent; only on Saturday and Sunday it is never performed on the occasion of the weakening of fasting on these days.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was established in the first times of Christianity and was celebrated by St. the apostles; but she received her real appearance from St. Gregory Dvoeslov, a Roman bishop who lived in the 6th century AD.

The need for its establishment by the apostles arose in order not to deprive Christians of St. The Mysteries of Christ and during the days of Great Lent, when, according to the requirements of fasting time, there is no liturgy celebrated in a solemn manner. The reverence and purity of life of the ancient Christians was so great that for them going to church for the liturgy certainly meant receiving St. secrets. Nowadays, piety among Christians has weakened so much that even during Great Lent, when it appears great opportunity Christians to lead a good life, there are no signs of those willing to begin the Holy Spirit. meal at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. There are even, especially in common people, a strange opinion that at the presanctified mass the laity cannot partake of St. The Mysteries of Christ is an opinion not based on anything. True, infants do not receive Holy Communion. The mystery behind this liturgy is because St. the blood, which only infants partake of, is in connection with the body of Christ. But the laity, after proper preparation, after confession, are awarded St. The Mysteries of Christ and during the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts consists of Lenten 3, 6, and 9 hours, vespers and the liturgy itself. Lenten liturgical hours differ from ordinary ones in that, in addition to the prescribed three psalms, one kathisma is read at each hour; a distinctive troparion of each hour is read by the priest in front of the royal doors and sung three times in the choir with prostrations to the ground; At the end of each hour the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian: Lord and Master of my life! Do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, covetousness and idle talk; Grant me the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Your servant. O Lord, O King, grant me to see my sins and not condemn my brother, for blessed art thou unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Before the presanctified liturgy itself, an ordinary vespers is celebrated, at which, after the stichera sung on Lord I cried, is being done entrance with censer, and on holidays with the Gospel, from the altar to the royal doors. At the end of the evening entrance, two proverbs are read: one from the book of Genesis, the other from the book of Proverbs. At the end of the first paremia, the priest turns to the people at the open gate, making a cross with a censer and a burning candle, and says: the light of Christ enlightens everyone! At the same time, believers fall on their faces, as if before the Lord Himself, praying to Him to enlighten them with the light of Christ’s teaching in order to fulfill the commandments of Christ. Singing may my prayer be corrected the second part of the presanctified liturgy ends, and the actual litany begins Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

Instead of the usual cherubic song, the following touching song is sung: Now the powers of heaven serve with us invisibly: behold, the King of glory enters, behold, the secret sacrifice is completed. Let us approach by faith and love, so that we may be partakers of eternal life. Alleluia(3 times).

In the midst of this song takes place great entrance. Paten with St. Lamb from the altar, through the royal doors, to St. The throne is carried by a priest at his head, he is preceded by a deacon with a censer and a candle-bearer with a burning candle. Those present fall prostrate to the ground in reverence and holy fear of St. gifts, as before the Lord Himself. The Great Entrance at the Presanctified Liturgy is of particular importance and significance than at the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom. During the presanctified liturgy, at this time the already consecrated gifts, the body and blood of the Lord, the sacrifice perfect, Himself the King of glory, that is why the consecration of St. there are no gifts; and after the petitionary litany, pronounced by the deacon, it is sung Lord's prayer and communion with St. gifts to clergy and laity.

Beyond this, the liturgy of the presanctified gifts has similarities with the liturgy of Chrysostom; Only the prayer behind the pulpit is read in a special way, applied to the time of fasting and repentance.

In order to take part at the royal table, you need decent clothing for this; and to participate in the joys heavenly kingdom Sanctification is necessary for every Orthodox Christian, imparted, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, by Orthodox bishops and priests, as immediate successors to the ministry of the apostles.

Such sanctification of Orthodox Christians is communicated through sacred rites that were established by Jesus Christ Himself or His Saint. the apostles, and which are called sacraments. The name of these sacred rites as sacraments was adopted because through them, in a secret, incomprehensible way, the saving power of God acts on a person.

Without the sacraments, the sanctification of a person is impossible, just as the operation of a telegraph is impossible without a wire.

So, whoever wants to be in communion with the Lord in His eternal kingdom must be sanctified in the sacraments... There are seven sacraments accepted by the Orthodox Church: baptism, confirmation, communion, repentance, priesthood, marriage, consecration of oil.

Baptism is performed by a priest, in which the person being baptized is immersed three times in consecrated water, and the priest says at this time: a servant of God or a servant of God is baptized(name is said ), in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. An infant enlightened by baptism is cleansed of the sin communicated to him by his parents, and an adult who receives baptism, in addition to original sin, is also freed from his voluntary sins committed before baptism. Through this sacrament, a Christian is reconciled with God and from a child of wrath is made a son of God and receives the right to inherit the kingdom of God. From this baptism by the holy fathers of the Church is called door to the kingdom of God. Baptism, by the grace of God, is sometimes accompanied by healing from illnesses of the body: this is how St. Apostle Paul and Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir.

Those who are about to receive the sacrament of baptism are required to repentance for one's sins and faith in God. To do this, he solemnly, out loud to the whole people, refuses to serve Satan, blows and spits on him as a sign of contempt for the devil and disgust from him. After this, the person preparing for baptism makes a promise to live according to the law of God, as expressed in St. Gospel and other sacred Christian books, and pronounces a confession of faith, or, what is the same, symbol of faith.

Before immersion in water, the priest crosswise anoints the person being baptized with consecrated oil because in ancient times anointed with oil preparing to fight in spectacles. The person being baptized prepares to fight the devil throughout his entire life.

The white robe worn by the baptized person signifies the purity of his soul from sins received through holy baptism.

The cross placed by the priest on the baptized person indicates that he, as a follower of Christ, must patiently endure the sorrows that the Lord pleases to assign him to test faith, hope and love.

Circling the baptized person three times with lighted candles around the font is done as a sign of the spiritual joy he feels from being united with Christ for eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

Cutting the hair of a newly baptized person means that from the time of baptism he has become a servant of Christ. This custom was taken from the custom in ancient times of cutting the hair of slaves as a sign of their slavery.

If baptism is performed on an infant, then the recipients are vouched for his faith; Instead, they pronounce the symbol of faith and subsequently undertake to take care of their godson so that he maintains the Orthodox faith and leads a pious life.

Baptism is performed on a person ( united, symbol. Faith) once and is not repeated even if it were committed by a non-Orthodox Christian. In this latter case, it is required from the performer of baptism that it be performed through threefold immersion with the exact pronunciation of the name God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The church historian Socrates tells about one extraordinary case, in which the Providence of God miraculously testified to the uniqueness of the sacrament of St. baptism. One of the Jews, turning in appearance to Christian faith, was granted the grace of St. baptism. Having later moved to another city, he completely abandoned Christianity and lived according to Jewish custom. But, wanting to laugh at the faith of Christ or, perhaps, seduced by the benefits that the Christian emperors acquired for the Jews who turned to Christ, he again dared to ask for baptism from a certain bishop. This latter, not knowing anything about the wickedness of the Jew, after instructing him in the dogmas of the Christian faith, began to perform the sacrament of St. on him. baptism and ordered the baptismal basin to be filled with water. But at the same time, as he, having performed preliminary prayers over the font, was ready to immerse the Jew in it, the water in the baptismal chamber instantly disappeared. Then the Jew, convicted by Heaven itself of his sacrilegious intention, prostrated himself in fear before the bishop and confessed before him and the whole Church of his wickedness and his guilt (Abbr. Histor., ch. XVIII; Resurrection. Thu. 1851, p. 440 ).

This sacrament is performed immediately after baptism. It consists of anointing the forehead (forehead), chest, eyes, ears, mouth, hands and feet with the consecrated myrrh. At the same time, the priest says the words: seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Holy Spirit, imparted in the sacrament of anointing, gives a Christian strength to perform good deeds and Christian deeds.

Myrrh, a combination of several aromatic liquids mixed with fragrant substances, is consecrated exclusively by bishops during the liturgy on Thursday of Holy Week: In Russia, St. myrrh is prepared in Moscow and Kyiv. From these two places it is sent to all Russian Orthodox churches.

This sacrament is not repeated over Christians. During coronation, Russian kings and queens are anointed with St. world, not in the sense of repeating this sacrament, but in order to impart to them the deep grace of the Holy Spirit, necessary for the passage of the extremely important royal service to the fatherland and the Orthodox Church.

In the sacrament of communion, a Christian receives the true body of Christ under the guise of bread, and the true blood of Christ under the guise of wine and unites with the Lord for eternal life.

It certainly takes place in the church, on St. altar, at the liturgy, or mass: but the body and blood of Christ, in the form of spare saints. gifts can be brought into homes for the communion of the sick.

In view of the importance and saving power of this sacrament, St. The Church invites Christians to partake of the body and blood of Christ as often as possible. Every Christian, at least once a year, must sanctify himself with this most holy sacrament. Jesus Christ himself speaks about this: eat My flesh and drink My blood to have an eternal life, i.e. It has in itself eternal life or a guarantee of eternal bliss (Ev. John 6:54).

When the time comes for the reception of St. of the Mysteries of Christ, a Christian must approach the holy chalice decorously and bow one day to the ground Christ, who is truly present in the mysteries under the guise of bread and wine, fold his hands crosswise on his chest, open his mouth expansively so as to freely receive the gifts and so that a particle of the most holy body and a drop of the purest blood of the Lord does not fall. Upon acceptance of St. The Mystery Church commands the communicant to kiss the edge of the holy cup, like the very rib of Christ, from which blood and water leaked. After this, the communicants are not allowed to bow to the ground for the sake of protection and honor accepted by the saint. The Mystery will not be received by St. antidor, or part of the consecrated prosphora, and grateful prayers to the Lord are heard.

He who eats Me, and he will live for My sake, said our Lord Jesus Christ (John VI, 57). The truth of this saying was most strikingly justified in one case, which Evagrius narrates in his church history. According to him, in the Church of Constantinople it was the custom for the remaining communion of the clergy and people of St. gifts to teach children who were taught reading and writing in schools. For this purpose, they were called from schools to church, in which the clergyman taught them the remains of the body and blood of Christ. One day, among these youths, the son of a Jew who was engaged in making glass appeared, and, due to the unknown of his origin, St. Tain with other children. His father, noticing that he had delayed more than usual in school, asked him about the reason for this delay, and when the simple-minded youth revealed to him the whole truth, the wicked Jew became furious to the point that in the heat of rage he grabbed his son and threw him into a fiery furnace, which melted glass. The mother, not knowing this, waited for her son for a long time and in vain; Not finding him, she walked around crying through all the streets of Constantinople. Finally, after searching in vain on the third day, she sat at the door of her husband's workshop, sobbing loudly and calling on her son's name. Suddenly she hears his voice speaking to her from the hot stove. Delighted, she rushes to it, opens its mouth and sees her son standing on hot coals, but not at all damaged by the fire. Amazed, she asks him how he could remain unharmed in the midst of the scorching fire. Then the boy told his mother everything and added that a majestic wife, dressed in purple, had descended into the cave, breathed coolness on him and gave him water to put out the fire. When the news of this came to the attention of Emperor Justinian, he, at the request of mother and son, ordered St. to enlighten them. baptism, and the wicked father, as if fulfilling the words of the prophet about the bitterness of the Jews, became dumb in heart and did not want to imitate the example of his wife and son, which is why, by order of the emperor, he was executed as a son-killer (Evagr. Ist. Tser., book IV, ch. 36. Sunday Thu. 1841, p. 436).

In the sacrament of repentance, a Christian confesses his sins before a priest and receives invisible permission from Jesus Christ Himself.

The Lord Himself gave the apostles the power to forgive and not absolve the sins of people who sin after baptism. From the apostles this power, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, was granted to bishops, and from them to priests. To make it easier for someone who wants to repent during confession to remember his sins, the Church assigns him fasting, i.e. Fasting, prayer and solitude. These means help Christians come to their senses in order to sincerely repent of all voluntary and involuntary sins. Repentance is then especially useful to the penitent when it is accompanied by a change from a sinful life to a pious and holy life.

Confess before receiving St. The Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ are prescribed by the statutes of the Orthodox Church from the age of seven, when we develop consciousness and with it responsibility for our deeds before God. To help a Christian wean himself from a sinful life, sometimes, according to the reasoning of his spiritual father, penance, or such a feat, the fulfillment of which would remind one of his sin and contribute to the correction of life.

The cross and the Gospel during confession signify the invisible presence of the Savior Himself. The placing of the epitrachelion on the penitent by the priest is the return of God's mercy to the penitent. He is accepted under the grace-filled protection of the Church and joins the faithful children of Christ.

God will not allow a repentant sinner to perish

During the cruel Decian persecution of Christians in Alexandria, one Christian elder named Serapion could not resist the temptation of fear and the seduction of the persecutors: having renounced Jesus Christ, he sacrificed to idols. Before the persecution, he lived impeccably, and after his fall, he soon repented and asked to be forgiven his sin; but zealous Christians, out of contempt for Serapion’s act, turned away from him. The turmoil of persecution and schisms of the Novatians, who said that fallen Christians should not be accepted into the Church, prevented the shepherds of the Alexandrian Church from experiencing Serapion’s repentance in a timely manner and granting him forgiveness. Serapion became ill and for three days in a row had neither language nor feeling; Having recovered somewhat on the fourth day, he, turning to his grandson, said: “Child, how long will you keep me? Hurry, I ask you, give me permission, quickly call one of the elders to me.” Having said this, he again lost his tongue. The boy ran to the presbyter; but since it was night, and the presbyter himself was sick, he could not come to the sick man; Knowing that the penitent had long been asking for remission of sins, and wishing to release the dying man into eternity with good hope, he gave the child a particle of the Eucharist (as happened in the primal Church) and ordered it to be placed in the mouth of the dying elder. Before the returning boy entered the room, Serapion again became more lively and said: “Have you come, my child? The presbyter could not come himself, so quickly do what you were ordered and let me go.” The boy did as the presbyter ordered, and as soon as the elder swallowed a particle of the Eucharist (the body and blood of the Lord), he immediately gave up the ghost. “Isn’t it obvious,” St. Dionysius of Alexandria remarks in response to this in a reproach to the Novatians, “that the penitent was preserved and kept in life until the moment of resolution?” (Church. East. Eusebius, book 6, chapter 44, Resurrection Thurs. 1852, p. 87).

In this sacrament, the Holy Spirit, through the prayerful laying on of hands by the bishops, ordains the rightly chosen one to perform divine services and instruct people in faith and good deeds.

Persons performing divine services in the Orthodox Church are: bishops, or bishops, priests, or priests, and deacons.

Bishops are the successors of the holy apostles; they ordain priests and deacons by the laying on of hands. Only that bishopric and priesthood has grace and apostolic power, which, without the slightest interruption, originates from the apostles themselves. And that bishopric, which had a break in its succession, an interval, as if emptiness, is false, arbitrary, graceless. And this is the false bishopric of those who call themselves Old Believers.

The deacon does not perform the sacraments, but assists the priest in worship; the priest performs the sacraments (except for the sacrament of the priesthood) with the blessing of the bishop. The bishop not only performs all the sacraments, but also appoints priests and deacons.

The senior bishops are called archbishops and metropolitans; but the grace that they have due to the abundance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the same as that of bishops. The eldest of the bishops are the first among equals. The same concept of dignity applies to priests, some of whom are called archpriests, i.e., First Priests. Archdeacons and protodeacons, found in some monasteries and cathedrals, have the advantage of seniority among their equal deacons.

In monasteries, monastic priests are called archimandrites, abbots. But neither the archimandrite nor the abbot have the grace of a bishop; they are the eldest among the hieromonks, and the bishop entrusts them with the management of the monasteries.

Among other sacred rites of bishops and priests, their hand blessing. In this case, the bishop and priest fold their blessing hand so that the fingers depict the initial letters of the name of Jesus Christ: Ič. 35;č. This shows that our shepherds teach blessing in the name of Jesus Christ Himself. God's blessing descends upon the one who reverently accepts the blessing of a bishop or priest. Since ancient times, people have irresistibly strived for sacred persons in order to be blessed with the sign of the cross at their hands. Kings and princes, St. testifies. Ambrose of Milan, bowed their necks before the priests and kissed their hands, in the hope of protecting themselves with their prayers (On the Dignity of the Priesthood, Chapter 2)

Sacred vestments of a deacon: a) surplice, b) orari, worn on the left shoulder, and c) instruct, or sleeves. Orarem deacon excites people to prayer.

Sacred Robes of a Priest: sacristan, stole(in Russian nashanik) and felonion. The epitrachelion for the priest serves as a sign of the grace he received from the Lord. Without the epitrachelion, no service is performed by the priest. The phelonion, or chasuble, is worn over all clothing. Honored priests receive the bishop's blessing to use during divine services legguard, hanging on a ribbon on the right side, under the felonion. As a difference, the priests wear the award on their heads skufji, kamilavki. Unlike deacons, priests use pectoral crosses, installed by the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich in 1896, over their own clothes and church vestments.

Sacred vestments of a bishop or bishop: sakkos, similar to the deacon's surplice, and omophorion. Sakkos is the ancient clothing of kings. Bishops began to wear sakkos after the 4th century AD. Chr. The ancient Greek kings adopted this clothing for the archpastors out of respect for them. That is why all the saints who lived before the 4th century are depicted on icons wearing phelonions, which were decorated with many crosses. The omophorion is worn by bishops on their shoulders, on top of the sakkos. The omophorion is similar to the deacon's orarion, only wider, and means that Christ, having sacrificed Himself on the cross, presented people to God the Father pure and holy.

In addition to the clothes we have indicated, the bishop wears club, which is visible on the icons of saints on the right side in the form of a scarf, with a cross in the middle. The club is a spiritual sword, it depicts the power and duty of the bishop to act on people with the word of God, which is called in St. scripture with the sword of the Spirit. The club is given to archimandrites, abbots and some honored archpriests as a reward.

During divine services, the bishop wears a miter on his head, which is also assigned to archimandrites and some honored archpriests. Interpreters of church services assign the miter a reminder of the crown of thorns placed on the Savior during His suffering.

On his chest, over his cassock, the bishop wears panagia, i.e. an oval image of the Mother of God, and a cross on a chain. This is a sign of bishop's dignity.

During bishop's service it is used mantle, a long robe worn by a bishop over his cassock as a sign of his monasticism.

The accessories of the bishop's ministry include: rod(cane), as a sign of pastoral authority, dikiriy And trikirium, or two-candlestick and three-candlestick; The bishop overshadows the people with dikiriy and trikyriy, expressing the mystery of the Holy Trinity in one God and two natures in Jesus Christ, the source of spiritual light. Ripidy used during hierarchal service in the form of metal cherubs in circles on the handles in the image of concelebration with the people of the cherubs. Round carpets, called after the eagles embroidered on them eaglets, depict in the bishop the power of the bishopric over the city and a sign of his pure and right teaching about God.

In the sacrament of marriage, the bride and groom, in the likeness of the spiritual union of Christ with the Church (the community of believers in Him), are blessed by the priest for mutual cohabitation, the birth and raising of children.

This sacrament is certainly performed in the temple of God. At the same time, the newlyweds are betrothed to each other three times with rings and are surrounded by the saints of the cross and the Gospel (based on analogies), as a sign of mutual, everlasting and inextricable love for each other.

Crowns are placed on the bride and groom both as a reward for their honest life before marriage, and as a sign that through marriage they become the founders of new offspring, according to ancient name, princes of the future generation.

A common cup of red grape wine is served to the newlyweds as a sign that from the day of their blessing by St. They should have a common life as a church, the same desires, joys and sorrows.

Marriage should be entered into either by mutual consent of the bride and groom, or with the blessing of the parents, since the blessing of the father and mother, according to the teaching of the word of God, approves the foundation of houses.

This sacrament is not obligatory for everyone; It is much more salutary, according to the teachings of the word of God, to lead a celibate life, but a pure, immaculate life, following the example of John the Baptist, the Blessed Virgin Mary and other holy virgins. Those who cannot lead such a life have a blessed marriage established by God.

Divorce between husband and wife is condemned by the teachings of the Savior.

Christ the Savior, the physician of our souls, did not leave those obsessed with serious bodily illnesses without His gracious care.

His holy apostles taught their successors - bishops and presbyters - to pray over sick Christians, anointing them with blessed wood oil combined with red grape wine.

The sacred act performed in this case is called consecration of oil; it's called unction, because seven priests usually gather to perform it in order to strengthen the prayer for the granting of health to the sick. According to need, one priest also administers unction to the sick person. At the same time, there are seven readings from the Apostolic Epistles and the Holy Gospel, which remind the sick person of the mercy of the Lord God and His power to grant health and forgiveness of voluntary and involuntary sins.

Prayers read during the sevenfold anointing of oil instill in a person strength of spirit, courage against death and firm hope of eternal salvation. The very grains of wheat, usually supplied during the consecration of oil, inspire the patient with hope in God, who has the power and means to grant health, just as He, in His omnipotence, is able to grant life to a dry, apparently lifeless grain of wheat.

This sacrament can be repeated many times, but many modern Christians have the opinion that the consecration of oil is a farewell to the future afterlife, and that after performing this sacrament one cannot even get married, and therefore rarely does anyone use this holy, multi-useful sacrament. This is an extremely erroneous opinion. Our ancestors knew the power of this sacrament, and therefore resorted to it often, with every difficult illness. If, after the consecration of oil, not all the sick recover, then this happens either because of the sick person’s lack of faith, or because of the will of God, since even during the life of the Savior not all the sick were healed, and not all the dead were resurrected. Whoever of the special Christians dies, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, receives forgiveness for those sins for which the patient did not repent in confession to the priest due to oblivion and weakness of the body.

We should be grateful to the all-good and all-generous God, Who has deigned to establish in His Church so many life-giving springs, abundantly pouring out His saving grace upon us. Let us resort as often as possible to the saving sacraments, which provide us with the various kinds of Divine help we need. Without seven sacraments, committed over us in the Orthodox Church by the legitimate successors of St. apostles - bishops and elders, salvation is impossible, we cannot be children of God and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

The Holy Orthodox Church, which cares for its living members, does not leave our departed fathers and brothers without its care. According to the teaching of the word of God, we believe that the souls of the dead will again be united with their bodies, which will be spiritual and immortal. Therefore, the bodies of the dead are under the special protection of the Orthodox Church. The deceased is covered cover meaning that he, as a Christian, and in afterlife is under the shade of St. angels and the protection of Christ. placed on his forehead crown with the image of the Savior, the Mother of God and John the Baptist and the signature: Holy God, holy Mighty, holy Immortal, have mercy on us. This shows that he who has completed his earthly career hopes to receive crown of truth by the mercy of the Triune God and by the intercession of the Mother of God and St. John the Baptist. A prayer of permission is placed in the hand of the deceased to commemorate the forgiveness of all his sins. Saint Alexander Nevsky, during his burial, accepted the prayer of permission as if alive, straightening his right hand, thereby showing that such prayer is also needed by righteous people. The deceased is covered earth. By this action of the clergyman, we surrender ourselves and our deceased brother into the hands of God’s providence, who pronounced the final verdict on the sinful forefather of all mankind, Adam: You are earth and you will go back to earth(Genesis 3:19).

The state of the souls of people who died before the general resurrection, not the same: the souls of the righteous are in union with Christ and in the foreshadowing of that bliss that they will fully receive after the general judgment, and the souls of unrepentant sinners are in a painful state.

The souls of those who died in faith, but did not bear fruits worthy of repentance, can be helped by prayers, alms, and especially by offering for them the bloodless sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ himself said: whatever you ask in prayer in faith, you will receive(Matt. 21, 22). St. Chrysostom writes: almost died through alms and good works, for alms serve to deliverance from eternal torment (42 demons. On the Gospel of John).

For the dead, memorial services and lithiums are held, in which we pray for the forgiveness of their sins.

The Holy Church decided to commemorate the deceased on the third, ninth and fortieth day after his death.

On the third day we pray that Christ, resurrected on the third day after His burial, will raise our deceased neighbor to a blessed life.

On the ninth day, we pray to God that He, through the prayers and intercession of the nine ranks of angels (Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Authorities, Principalities, Archangels and Angels), would forgive the sins of the deceased and canonize him among the saints.

On the fortieth day, a prayer is made for the deceased, so that the Lord, who suffered temptation from the devil on the fortieth day of His fast, would help the deceased to shamelessly withstand the test at the private court of God, and so that He, who ascended to heaven on the fortieth day, would take the deceased to the heavenly abodes!

St. Macarius of Alexandria provides another explanation for why these particular days are designated by the Church for special commemoration of the dead. Within 40 days after death, he says, the soul of a person goes through ordeals, and on the third, ninth and fortieth day it is ascended by angels to worship the Heavenly Judge, who on the 40th day assigns it a certain degree of bliss or torment until the general final judgment; Therefore, the commemoration of the deceased these days is especially important for him. Word of St. Macarius was published in “Christian Reading” in 1830 for the month of August.

To commemorate the dead, everyone in general, the Orthodox Church established special times - Saturday, known as the parent ones. There are three such Saturdays: Meat-eating in the meat-eating, otherwise motley week before Lent; since on the Sunday following this Saturday the Last Judgment is remembered, then on this Saturday, as if before the most terrible judgment, the church prays before the Judge - God, for pardon for her dead children. Trinity- before Trinity Day; after the triumph of the Savior’s victory over sin and death, it is fitting to pray for those who have fallen asleep in faith in Christ, but in sins, so that the dead may also be rewarded with resurrection for bliss with Christ in heaven. Dmitrovskaya- before St. Day Great Martyr Demetrius of Selun, i.e. Before October 26. The Moscow prince Dimitri Donskoy, having defeated the Tatars, this Saturday commemorated the soldiers who died in battle; Since that time, commemoration has been established on this Saturday. In addition to these Saturdays, we have other commemorations: on Saturdays of the second, third and fourth weeks of Lent. The reason for this is the following: since in ordinary times the commemoration of the dead is performed daily, but during Great Lent this does not happen, because the full liturgy, with which it is always connected, does not occur daily during Great Lent, then St. The Church, in order not to deprive the dead of their saving intercession, established, instead of daily commemorations, to perform three general commemorations on the indicated Saturdays, and precisely on these Saturdays because other Saturdays are dedicated to special celebrations: the Saturday of the first week - to Theodore Tyrone, the fifth - to the Mother of God, and the sixth is the resurrection of the righteous Lazarus.

On Monday or Tuesday of St. Thomas Week (2 weeks after the Bright Resurrection of Christ), the remembrance of the dead is performed with the pious intention of sharing the great joy of the Bright Resurrection of Christ with the dead in the hope of their blessed resurrection, the joy of which was announced to the dead by the Savior Himself when He descended to hell to preach victory over death and brought out the souls of the Old Testament righteous. From this joy - the name Radonitsa, which is given to this time of remembrance. On August 29, on the day of remembrance of the beheading of John the Baptist, the soldiers are commemorated as having laid down their lives for the faith and fatherland, like John the Baptist - for the truth.

It should be noted that the Orthodox Church does not offer prayers for unrepentant sinners and suicides, because, being in a state of despair, stubbornness and bitterness in evil, they find themselves guilty of sins against the Holy Spirit, which, according to the teachings of Christ, will not be forgiven neither in this century nor in the next(Matt. 12:31 - 32).

Not only the temple of God can be a place for our prayer, and it is not through the mediation of the priest alone that God’s blessing can be brought down on our deeds; every home, every family can still become home church, when the head of the family, by his example, guides his children and household members in prayer, when family members, all together, or each separately, offer their prayers of petition and gratitude to the Lord.

Not content with the general prayers offered for us in churches, and knowing that we will not all rush there, the Church offers each of us, like a mother to a child, special ready-made food home, - offers prayers designated for our home use.

Prayers read daily:

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayer of the publican mentioned in the Gospel parable of the Savior:

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Prayer to the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, prayers for the sake of Your Most Pure Mother and all the saints, have mercy on us. Amen.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity:

Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee.

Heavenly King, Comforter, Soul of truth, who is everywhere and fulfills everything, treasure of good things, and giver of life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from all filth, and save, O blessed One, our souls.

Three prayers to the Holy Trinity:

1. Trisagion. Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us(three times).

2. Doxology. Glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

3. Prayer. Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse our sins; Master, forgive our iniquities; Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy name's sake.

Lord have mercy(three times).

The prayer called the Lord's, because the Lord Himself pronounced it for our use.

Our Father, who art in heaven; Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors: and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

When you wake up from sleep in the morning, think that God is giving you a day that you could not give to yourself, and set aside the first hour, or at least the first quarter of an hour, of the day given to you, and sacrifice it to God in grateful and benevolent prayer. The more diligently you do this, the more firmly you will protect yourself from the temptations that you encounter every day (words of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow).

A prayer read in the morning, after sleep.

To You, Master who loves mankind, having risen from sleep, I come running, and I strive for Your works with Your mercy, and I pray to You: help me at all times in every thing, and deliver me from all worldly evil things and the devil’s haste, and save me, and bring us into Your eternal kingdom. For you are my creator, and the provider and giver of every good thing, in You are all my hope, and I send glory to You now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Prayer to Our Lady.

1. Angelic greeting . Theotokos, Virgin, rejoice, gracious Mary, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have given birth to the Savior of our souls.

2. The glorification of the Mother of God. It is worthy to eat as you truly bless Thee, the ever-blessed and immaculate Mother of God and the Mother of our God. The most honorable cherub, and the most glorious seraphim without comparison, who gave birth to the word of God without corruption, the real Mother of God, we magnify Thee.

In addition to the Mother of God, the intercessor of Christians before the Lord, everyone has two intercessors for us before God, prayer books and guardians of our life. This is, firstly, angel ours from the realm of disembodied spirits, to whom the Lord entrusts us from the day of our baptism, and, secondly, the saint of God from among the holy men of God, also called angel, whose name we bear from the day of our birth. It is a sin to forget your heavenly benefactors and not offer prayers to them.

Prayer to the angel, the disembodied guardian of human life.

Angel of God, my holy guardian, given to me from God from heaven for my protection! I diligently pray to you: enlighten me today, save me from all evil, guide me to good deeds and direct me on the path of salvation. Amen.

Prayer to the holy saint of God, by whose name we are called from birth.

Pray to God for me, holy servant of God(say name) or holy saint of God(say name) as I diligently resort to you, a quick helper and a prayer book for my soul, or first aid and prayer book for my soul.

The Sovereign Emperor is the father of our fatherland; His service is the most difficult of all the services that people undergo, and therefore it is the duty of every loyal subject to pray for his Sovereign and for the fatherland, that is, the country in which our fathers were born and lived. The Apostle Paul speaks in his letter to Bishop Timothy, ch. 2, art. 1, 2, 3: I beg you, first of all, to make prayers, supplications, petitions, thanksgivings for all people, for the Tsar and for everyone who is in power... This is good and pleasant before our Savior God.

Prayer for the Emperor and the Fatherland.

Save, Lord, your people, and bless your inheritance: granting victories to our Blessed EMPEROR NIKOLAI ALEXANDROVICH against resistance, and preserving your residence through your cross.

Prayer for living relatives.

Save, Lord, and have mercy(therefore briefly offer a prayer for the health and salvation of the entire Royal House, the priesthood, your spiritual father, your parents, relatives, leaders, benefactors, all Christians and all servants of God, and then add): And remember, visit, strengthen, comfort, and with your power grant them health and salvation, for you are good and a lover of mankind. Amen.

Prayer for the dead.

Remember, Lord, the souls of your departed servants(their names), and all my relatives, and all my departed brethren, and forgive them all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, giving them the kingdom of heaven and the communion of your eternal good things and your endless and blissful life of pleasure, and create for them eternal memory.

A short prayer said before the honest and life-giving cross of the Lord:

Protect me, Lord, by the power of your honorable and life-giving cross, and save me from all evil.

Here are the prayers that every Orthodox Christian needs to know. It will take a little time to slowly read them, standing in front of the holy icon: May God’s blessing on all our good deeds be a reward for our zeal for God and our piety...

In the evening, when you go to sleep, think that God gives you rest from your labors, and take away the firstfruits from your time and peace and dedicate it to God with pure and humble prayer. Its fragrance will bring an angel closer to you to protect your peace. (Words by Philar. Metropolitan of Moscow).

During evening prayer the same thing is read, only instead of the morning prayer, St. The Church offers us the following prayer:

Lord our God, who have sinned in these days, in word, deed, and thought, as he is good and a lover of mankind, forgive me; grant me peaceful sleep and serenity; Send Your guardian angel, covering and keeping me from all evil; for You are the guardian of our souls and bodies, and to You we send glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever and ever, Amen.

Prayer before eating.

The eyes of all trust in You, Lord, and You give them writing in good time, You open Your generous hand, and fulfill every animal’s good will.

Prayer after eating.

We thank Thee, Christ our God, for Thou hast filled us with Thy earthly blessings: do not deprive us of Thy heavenly kingdom.

Prayer before teaching.

Most gracious Lord, bestow upon us the grace of Your Holy Spirit, bestowing and strengthening our spiritual strength, so that, by heeding the teaching taught to us, we may grow to You, our Creator, for glory, as our parent for consolation, for the benefit of the Church and the Fatherland.

After the lesson.

We thank You, Creator, for You have made us worthy of Your grace to listen to the teaching. Bless our leaders, parents and teachers, who lead us to the knowledge of good, and give us strength and strength to continue this teaching.

Students of the sciences and arts should turn to the Lord with special zeal, for He gives wisdom, and from His presence knowledge and understanding(proverbs 2, 6). Most of all, they must preserve the purity and integrity of their hearts, so that the light of God may enter the soul without being obscured: For wisdom does not enter into the soul of an evil artist; it dwells below in a body guilty of sin(Prem. 1, 4). Blessedness of purity of heart: like this not only the wisdom of God, but they will also see God Himself(Matt. 5:8).

Due to the close connection between spirit and body, a person cannot help but express outwardly the movements of his spirit. Just as the body acts on the soul, communicating to it certain impressions through the external senses, so in the same way the spirit produces certain movements in the body. A person’s religious feeling, like all his other thoughts, feelings and experiences, cannot remain without external detection. The totality of all external forms and actions expressing the inner religious mood of the soul forms what is called “worship” or “cult.” Worship, or cult, in one form or another, is therefore an inevitable part of every religion: in it it is manifested and expressed, just as it reveals its life through the body. Thus, worship - it is the outward expression of religious faith in sacrifices and rituals.

Origin of worship

Worship, as an external expression of a person’s inner aspiration towards, dates back to the time when a person first learned about God. He learned about God when, after the creation of man, God appeared to him in paradise and gave him the first commandments about not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17), about observing rest on the seventh day (Genesis 2: 3) and blessed his marriage (Gen. 1:28).

This primitive worship of the first people in paradise did not consist in any specific church rites, as at present, but in the free outpouring of reverent feelings before God, as their Creator and Provider. At the same time, the commandment about the seventh day and about abstinence from the forbidden tree laid the foundation for certain liturgical institutions. They are the beginning of our and. In God's blessing of the marriage union of Adam and Eve, we cannot help but see the establishment of a sacrament.

After the fall of the first people and their expulsion from paradise, primitive worship received its further development in the establishment of the ritual of sacrifice. These sacrifices were of two kinds: they were performed on all solemn and joyful occasions, as an expression of gratitude to God for the benefits received from Him, and then when it was necessary to ask God for help or beg for forgiveness for sins committed.

The sacrifice was supposed to constantly remind people of their guilt before God, of the original sin weighing on them, and of the fact that God could hear and accept their prayers only in the name of the sacrifice that the seed of the woman, promised by God in paradise, would subsequently bring to atone for their sins , that is, the Savior of the world, Messiah-Christ, who has to come into the world and accomplish the redemption of humanity. Thus, the divine service for the chosen people had a propitiatory power, not in itself, but because it was a prototype of the great sacrifice that the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified on the cross for the sins of the whole world, once had to make. In the times of the patriarchs, from Adam to Moses, worship was performed in the families of these patriarchs by their heads, by the patriarchs themselves, in places and at times at their discretion. From the time of Moses, when the chosen people of God, the Old Testament Israel, who kept the true faith in the One God, increased in number, worship began to be performed on behalf of the entire people by specially appointed persons, who were called high priests, and Levites, as the book of EXODUS tells about this. and then the book of LEVIT. The order of Old Testament worship among the people of God was determined with all the details in the ritual law given through Moses. By command of God Himself, the prophet Moses established a certain place (the “tabernacle of the covenant”), and times (holidays, etc.) for the performance of worship, and sacred persons, and its very forms. Under King Solomon, instead of a portable temple-tabernacle, a permanent, majestic and beautiful Old Testament temple was erected in Jerusalem, which was the only place in the Old Testament where worship of the true God was performed.

Old Testament worship, determined by law, before the coming of the Savior, was divided into two types: temple worship and synagogue worship. The first took place in the temple and consisted of reading the Decalogue and some other selected passages of the Old Testament Holy Scripture, offerings and sacrifices, and, finally, hymns. But, in addition to the temple, from the time of Ezra, synagogues began to be built, in which the Jews felt a special need, deprived of participation in temple worship and did not want to be left without public religious edification. Jews gathered in synagogues on Saturdays to pray, sing, read the Holy Scriptures, as well as to translate and explain worship for those born in captivity and who did not know the sacred language well.

With the coming into the world of the Messiah, Christ the Savior, who sacrificed Himself for the sins of the whole world, the ritual Old Testament worship lost all meaning and it was replaced by the New Testament, which was based on the greatest Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, established at the Last Supper by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and bearing the name of the Holy Eucharist, or the Sacrament of Thanksgiving. This is the Bloodless Sacrifice, which replaced the Old Testament bloody sacrifices of calves and lambs, which only prefigured the One Great Sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who takes upon Himself the sins of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself commanded His followers to perform the sacraments established by Him (Luke 22:19; Matt. 28:19), to pray private and public (Matt. 6:5-13; Matt. 18:19-20), to preach everywhere in world His Divine Gospel teaching (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15).

From this celebration of the sacraments, prayers and preaching of the Gospel, the New Testament Christian worship was formed. Its composition and character were more fully determined by St. Apostles. As can be seen from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, during their time special places for prayer meetings of believers began to appear, called in Greek ???????? - “churches,” because members of the Church gathered in them. So the Church, a collection of believers united into a single organism of the Body of Christ, gave its name to the place where these meetings took place. Just as in the Old Testament, starting from the time of Moses, divine services were performed by certain, appointed persons: the high priest, priests and Levites, so in the New Testament, divine services began to be performed by special clergy appointed through the laying on of hands of the Apostles: bishops, presbyters and deacons. In the book. In the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles we find clear indications that all these main three degrees of priesthood in the New Testament Church originate from the Apostles themselves.

After the Holy Apostles, worship continued to develop, replenished with more and more new prayers and sacred chants, deeply edifying in their content. The final establishment of a certain order and uniformity in Christian worship was accomplished by the apostolic successors according to the commandment given to them: “Let all things be done in order and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).

Thus, at present, the worship of the Orthodox Church consists of all those prayers and sacred rites with which Orthodox Christians express to God their feelings of faith, hope and love, and through which they enter into mysterious communion with Him and receive from Him grace-filled powers for the holy and godly worthy of a true Christian life.

Development of Orthodox worship

The New Testament Christian religion, due to its close historical connection with the Old Testament, retained some forms and very much of the content of the Old Testament worship. The Old Testament Jerusalem temple, where Christ the Savior Himself and Sts. went to on all the major Old Testament holidays. Apostles, was originally a sacred place for the first Christians. The Old Testament sacred books were accepted into Christian public worship, and the first sacred hymns of the Christian Church were the same prayer psalms that were so widely used in Old Testament worship. Despite the ever-increasing purely Christian songwriting, these psalms have not lost their significance in Christian worship in all subsequent times, right up to the present day. The hours of prayer and feast days of the Old Testament remained sacred for Christians in the New Testament. But only everything accepted by Christians from the Old Testament Church received a new meaning and special signification in accordance with the spirit of the new Christian teaching in full, however, agreement with the words of Christ the Savior that He came “not to break the law, but to fulfill,” that is, “to replenish,” to put into all new, higher and deeper understanding (Matt. 5:17-19). Simultaneously with their visit to the Jerusalem temple, the Apostles themselves, and with them the first Christians, began to gather especially in their homes for the “breaking of bread,” that is, for a purely Christian service, in the center of which was the Eucharist. Historical circumstances, however, forced the first Christians relatively early to completely and completely separate from the Old Testament temple and synagogue. The temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70, and Old Testament worship with its sacrifices ceased altogether after that. The synagogues, which among the Jews were not places of worship, in the proper sense of the word (worship could be performed only in one place in the Jerusalem temple), but only places of prayer and teaching meetings, soon became so hostile to Christianity that even Jewish Christians stopped visiting them. And this is understandable. Christianity, as a new religion, purely spiritual and perfect, and at the same time universal in the sense of time and nationality, naturally had to develop new liturgical forms in accordance with its spirit, and could not limit itself to the Old Testament sacred books and psalms.

“The beginning and foundation of public Christian worship, as Archimandrite Gabriel points out well and in detail, was laid by Jesus Christ Himself, partly by His example, partly by His commandments. Carrying out His Divine ministry on earth, He establishes the New Testament Church (Matt. 16:18-19; 18:17-20; 28:20), chooses the Apostles for it, and in their person, successors to their ministry, shepherds and teachers (John. 15:16; 20:21; Eph. 4:11-14; 1 Cor. 4:1). Teaching believers to worship God in spirit and truth, accordingly, He Himself, first of all, represents an example of organized worship. He promises to be with believers where “two or three are gathered together in His name” (Matt. 18:20), “and to be with them always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). He Himself prays, and sometimes the whole night (Luke 6:12; Matt. 14323), He prays with the help of external visible signs, such as: raising His eyes to heaven (John 17:1), kneeling (Luke 22 :41-45), and chapters (Matt. 26:39). He stimulates others to prayer, indicating in it a grace-filled means (Matt. 21:22; Luke 22:40; John 14:13; 15:7), divides it into public (Matt. 18:19-20) and home (Matt. 6:6), teaches His disciples prayer itself (Matt. 4:9-10), warns His followers against abuses in prayer and worship (John 4:23-24; 2 Cor. 3:17; Matt. 4:10). Next, He proclaims His new teaching of the Gospel through the living word, through preaching and commands His disciples to preach it “to all nations” (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15), teaches a blessing (Luke 24:51; Mark 8 :7), lays on hands (Matt. 19:13-15) and finally defends the holiness and dignity of the house of God (Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:15). And in order to communicate Divine grace to people who believe in Him, He establishes the sacraments, commanding them to baptize those who come to His church (Matt. 28:19); in the name of the authority given to them, he entrusts them with the right to bind and solve the sins of people (John 20:22-23); especially between the sacraments he commands to perform the sacrament of the Eucharist in His remembrance, as an image of the Calvary sacrifice on the cross (Luke 22:19). The apostles, having learned from their Divine Teacher the New Testament service, despite their primary focus on preaching the word of God (1 Cor. 1:27), quite clearly and in detail defined the very order of external worship. Thus, we find indications of some accessories of external worship in their writings (1 Cor. 11:23; 14:40); but the greatest part of it remained in the practice of the Church. The successors of the Apostles, pastors and teachers of the church, preserved the Apostolic decrees regarding worship and, on the basis of these, in times of calm after terrible persecutions, at Ecumenical and local councils, they determined in writing the entire, almost down to detail, constant and uniform order of worship, preserved by the church to this day "("Guide to Liturgics," Archimandrite. Gabriel, pp. 41-42, Tver, 1886).

According to the decree of the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem (chapter 15 of the book of Acts), the ritual Mosaic law in the New Testament is abolished: there can be no bloody sacrifices, because the Great Sacrifice has already been brought to atone for the sins of the whole world, there is no tribe of Levi for the priesthood, because in In the New Testament, all people redeemed by the Blood of Christ became equal to each other: the priesthood is equally available to everyone, there is not one chosen people of God, for all peoples are equally called into the Kingdom of the Messiah, revealed by the sufferings of Christ. The place to serve God is not only in Jerusalem, but everywhere. The time of serving God is always and unceasingly. At the center of Christian worship becomes Christ the Redeemer and His entire earthly life, saving for humanity. Therefore, everything borrowed from the Old Testament worship is imbued with a new, purely Christian spirit. These are all the prayers, chants, readings and rituals of Christian worship. The main idea is their salvation in Christ. Therefore, the central point of Christian worship has become the Eucharist, a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

Too little information has been preserved about exactly how Christian worship was performed in the first three centuries during the era of severe persecution by the pagans. There could be no permanent temples. To perform divine services, Christians gathered in private houses and in burial caves underground in the catacombs. It is known that the first Christians held prayer vigils in the catacombs throughout the night from evening until morning, especially on the eves of Sundays and great holidays, as well as on the days of remembrance of the martyrs who suffered for Christ, and these vigils usually took place at the tombs of the martyrs and ended Eucharist. Already in this ancient period, there were definitely liturgical rites. Eusebius and Jerome mention Justin's book of Psalms - "Singer," which contained church hymns. Hippolytus, Bishop Ostian, who died around 250, left behind a book in which he sets out the apostolic tradition regarding the order of ordaining a reader, subdeacon, deacon, presbyter, bishop, and regarding prayers or a short order of worship and commemoration of the dead. It is said about prayers that they must be performed in the morning, at the third, sixth, ninth hour, in the evening and at the announcement of the loop. If there cannot be a meeting, let everyone sing, read and pray at home. This, of course, presupposed the existence of corresponding liturgical books.

The meaning of Orthodox worship

This value is extremely high. Our Orthodox worship teaches the faithful, edifies them, and educates them spiritually, giving them the richest spiritual food, both for the mind and for the heart. The annual cycle of our worship sets out to us in living images and teachings almost the entire history, both the Old Testament and, especially, the New Testament, as well as the history of the Church, both universal and, in particular, Russian; here the dogmatic teaching of the Church is revealed, striking the soul with reverence for the greatness of the Creator, and moral lessons of truly Christian life are taught that purify and elevate the heart in the living images and examples of the saints. saints of God, whose memory is glorified by the Holy Church almost daily.
Both the entire internal appearance and structure of our Orthodox church, and the services performed in it, vividly remind those praying of that “heavenly world” to which all Christians are destined. Our worship is a genuine “school of piety,” completely taking the soul away from this sinful world and transferring it to the kingdom of the Spirit. “Truly the temple is earthly,” says the greatest shepherd of our time, Saint Fr. John of Kronstadt, “for where the throne of God is, where terrible sacraments are performed, where they serve with people, where the constant praise of the Almighty is, there truly is heaven and the heaven of heaven.” Whoever listens attentively to the divine service, who consciously participates in it with his mind and heart, cannot help but feel the full force of the powerful call of the Church to holiness, which is, according to the word of the Lord Himself, the ideal of Christian life. Through his worship, St. The Church is trying to tear us all away from all earthly attachments and passions and make us those “earthly angels” and “heavenly people” whom she glorifies in her troparions, kontakions, stichera and canons.

Worship has a great regenerating power, and this is its irreplaceable significance. Some types of worship, called “sacraments,” have an even more special, special meaning for the person receiving them, for they give him a special grace-filled power.

The most important service is the Divine Liturgy. The great Sacrament is performed on it - the transformation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord and the Communion of the faithful. Liturgy translated from Greek means joint work. Believers gather in church in order to glorify God together “with one mouth and one heart” and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. So they follow the example of the holy apostles and the Lord Himself, who, having gathered for the Last Supper on the eve of the betrayal and suffering of the Savior on the Cross, drank from the Cup and ate the Bread that He gave them, reverently listening to His words: “This is My Body...” and “This is My blood...”

Christ commanded His apostles to perform this Sacrament, and the apostles taught this to their successors - bishops and presbyters, priests. The original name of this Sacrament of Thanksgiving is Eucharist (Greek). The public service at which the Eucharist is celebrated is called liturgy (from the Greek litos - public and ergon - service, work). The Liturgy is sometimes called mass, since it is usually supposed to be celebrated from dawn to noon, that is, in the pre-dinner time.

The order of the liturgy is as follows: first, the objects for the Sacrament (Offered Gifts) are prepared, then the believers prepare for the Sacrament, and finally, the Sacrament itself and the Communion of the believers are performed. Thus, the liturgy is divided into three parts, which are called:

• Proskomedia
• Liturgy of the Catechumens
• Liturgy of the Faithful.

Proskomedia

The Greek word proskomedia means offering. This is the name of the first part of the liturgy in memory of the custom of the first Christians to bring bread, wine and everything necessary for the service. Therefore, the bread itself, used for the liturgy, is called prosphora, that is, an offering.

The prosphora should be round, and it consists of two parts, as an image of the two natures in Christ - Divine and human. Prosphora is baked from wheat leavened bread without any additions other than salt.

A cross is imprinted on the top of the prosphora, and in its corners are the initial letters of the Savior’s name: “IC XC” and the Greek word “NI KA”, which together means: Jesus Christ conquers. To perform the Sacrament, red grape wine is used, pure, without any additives. Wine is mixed with water in memory of the fact that blood and water poured out from the Savior’s wound on the Cross. For proskomedia, five prosphoras are used in remembrance that Christ fed five thousand people with five loaves, but the prosphora that is prepared for Communion is one of these five, because there is one Christ, Savior and God. After the priest and deacon have performed the entrance prayers in front of the closed Royal Doors and put on sacred vestments in the altar, they approach the altar. The priest takes the first (lamb) prosphora and makes a copy of the image of the cross on it three times, saying: “In remembrance of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” From this prosphora the priest cuts out the middle in the shape of a cube. This cubic part of the prosphora is called the Lamb. It is placed on the paten. Then the priest makes a cross on the bottom side of the Lamb and pierces its right side with a spear.

After this, wine mixed with water is poured into the bowl.

The second prosphora is called the Mother of God; a particle is taken out of it in honor of the Mother of God. The third is called nine-order, because nine particles are taken out of it in honor of John the Baptist, the prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, saints, unmercenaries, Joachim and Anna - the parents of the Mother of God and the saints of the temple, the day saints, and also in honor of the saint whose name Liturgy is celebrated.

From the fourth and fifth prosphoras, particles are taken out for the living and the dead.

At the proskomedia, particles are also taken out from the prosphoras, which are served by believers for the repose and health of their relatives and friends.

All these particles are laid out in a special order on the paten next to the Lamb. Having completed all the preparations for the celebration of the liturgy, the priest places a star on the paten, covering it and the chalice with two small covers, and then covers everything together with a large cover, which is called air, and censes the Offered Gifts, asking the Lord to bless them, remember those who brought these Gifts and those for whom they were brought. During the proskomedia, the 3rd and 6th hours are read in the church.

Liturgy of the Catechumens

The second part of the liturgy is called the liturgy of the “catechumens,” because during its celebration not only the baptized can be present, but also those preparing to receive this sacrament, that is, the “catechumens.”

The deacon, having received a blessing from the priest, comes out of the altar to the pulpit and loudly proclaims: “Bless, Master,” that is, bless the assembled believers to begin the service and participate in the liturgy.

The priest in his first exclamation glorifies the Holy Trinity: “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.” The choristers sing “Amen” and the deacon pronounces the Great Litany.

The choir sings antiphons, that is, psalms, which are supposed to be sung alternately by the right and left choirs.

Blessed are you, Lord
Bless, my soul, the Lord and all that is within me, His Holy Name. Bless the Lord, my soul
and do not forget all His rewards: He who cleanses all your iniquities, He who heals all your illnesses,
who delivers your belly from decay, who crowns you with mercy and bounty, who fulfills your good desires: your youth will be renewed like an eagle. Generous and merciful, Lord. Long-suffering and abundantly merciful. Bless, my soul, the Lord and all my inner being, His Holy Name. Blessed be you Lord

And “Praise, my soul, the Lord...”
Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord in my belly, I will sing to my God as long as I am.
Do not trust in princes, in the sons of men, for there is no salvation in them. His spirit shall depart and return to his land: and on that day all his thoughts shall perish. Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob as his helper; his trust is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and everything that is in them; keeping the truth forever, bringing justice to the offended, giving food to the hungry. The Lord will decide the chained; The Lord makes the blind wise; The Lord raises up the downtrodden; The Lord loves the righteous;
The Lord protects strangers, accepts the orphan and the widow, and destroys the path of sinners.

At the end of the second antiphon, the song “Only Begotten Son...” is sung. This song sets forth the entire teaching of the Church about Jesus Christ.

Only Begotten Son and the Word of God, He is immortal, and He willed our salvation for the sake of incarnation
from the holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, immutably made man, crucified for us, Christ our God, trampled upon by death, the One of the Holy Trinity, glorified to the Father and the Holy Spirit,
save us.

In Russian it sounds like this: “Save us, Only Begotten Son and Word of God, Immortal One, who deigned to be incarnated for the sake of our salvation from the Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, who became man and did not change, crucified and trampled death by death, Christ God, one of the Holy Persons Trinity, glorified together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.” After the small litany, the choir sings the third antiphon - the Gospel “beatitudes”. The Royal Doors open to the Small Entrance.

In Your Kingdom, remember us, O Lord, when You come to Your Kingdom.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for to them is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are those who cry, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blesseds of mercy, for there will be mercy.
Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for these shall be called sons of God.
Blessed is the expulsion of truth for the sake of them, for those are the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile you, and mistreat you, and say all sorts of evil things against you, who lie to Me for my sake.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven.

At the end of the singing, the priest and the deacon, who carries the altar Gospel, go out to the pulpit. Having received a blessing from the priest, the deacon stops at the Royal Doors and, holding up the Gospel, proclaims: “Wisdom, forgive,” that is, he reminds the believers that they will soon hear the Gospel reading, therefore they must stand straight and with attention (forgive means straight).

The entrance of the clergy into the altar with the Gospel is called the Small Entrance, in contrast to the Great Entrance, which takes place later at the Liturgy of the Faithful. The Small Entrance reminds believers of the first appearance of the preaching of Jesus Christ. The choir sings “Come, let us worship and fall before Christ.” Save us, Son of God, risen from the dead, singing to Ti: Alleluia.” After this, the troparion (Sunday, holiday or holy) and other hymns are sung. Then the Trisagion is sung: Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

The Apostle and the Gospel are read. When reading the Gospel, believers stand with their heads bowed, listening with reverence to the holy gospel. After the reading of the Gospel, at the special litany and the litany for the dead, the relatives and friends of the believers praying in the church are remembered through notes.

They are followed by the litany of the catechumens. The liturgy of the catechumens ends with the words “Catechumen, come forth.”

Liturgy of the Faithful

This is the name of the third part of the liturgy. Only the faithful can attend, that is, those who have been baptized and have no prohibitions from a priest or bishop. At the Liturgy of the Faithful:

1) the Gifts are transferred from the altar to the throne;
2) believers prepare for the consecration of the Gifts;
3) the Gifts are consecrated;
4) believers prepare for Communion and receive communion;
5) then thanksgiving is performed for Communion and dismissal.

After the recitation of two short litanies, the Cherubic Hymn is sung. “Even though the cherubim secretly form and sing the Trisagion hymn to the Life-giving Trinity, let us now put aside all worldly cares. As if we will raise up the King of all, the angels invisibly bestow ranks. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia". In Russian it reads like this: “We, mysteriously depicting the Cherubim and singing the trisagion of the Trinity, which gives life, will now leave concern for all everyday things, so that we can glorify the King of all, Whom the invisibly angelic ranks solemnly glorify. Hallelujah.”

Before the Cherubic Hymn, the Royal Doors open and the deacon censes. At this time, the priest secretly prays that the Lord will cleanse his soul and heart and deign to perform the Sacrament. Then the priest, raising his hands up, pronounces the first part of the Cherubic Song three times in an undertone, and the deacon also finishes it in an undertone. Both of them go to the altar to transfer the prepared Gifts to the throne. The deacon has air on his left shoulder, he carries the paten with both hands, placing it on his head. The priest carries the Holy Cup in front of him. They leave the altar through the northern side doors, stop at the pulpit and, turning their faces to the believers, say a prayer for the Patriarch, bishops, and all Orthodox Christians.

Deacon: Our Great Lord and Father Alexy, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', and Our Most Reverend Lord (name of the diocesan bishop) Metropolitan (or: Archbishop, or: Bishop) (title of the diocesan bishop), may the Lord God always remember in His Kingdom , now and ever, and unto ages of ages.

Priest: May the Lord God remember all of you, Orthodox Christians, in His Kingdom always, now and ever, and forever and ever.

Then the priest and deacon enter the altar through the Royal Doors. This is how the Great Entrance takes place.

The brought Gifts are placed on the throne and covered with air (a large cover), the Royal Doors are closed and the curtain is drawn. The singers finish the Cherubic Hymn. During the transfer of the Gifts from the altar to the throne, believers remember how the Lord voluntarily went to suffer on the cross and die. They stand with their heads bowed and pray to the Savior for themselves and their loved ones.

After the Great Entrance, the deacon pronounces the Litany of Petition, the priest blesses those present with the words: “Peace to all.” Then it is proclaimed: “Let us love one another, that we may confess with one mind” and the choir continues: “Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, Trinity, Consubstantial and Indivisible.”

Following this, usually by the entire temple, the Creed is sung. On behalf of the Church, it briefly expresses the whole essence of our faith, and therefore should be pronounced in joint love and like-mindedness.

Symbol of faith

I believe in One God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible. And in the One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, Who was born of the Father before all ages. Light from light, true God from true God, born uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, to Whom all things were. For our sake, man, and for our salvation, who came down from heaven, and became incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became human. Crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried. And he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. And again the coming one will be judged with glory by the living and the dead, His Kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Life-Giving Lord, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is glorified, who spoke the prophets. Into one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. Amen.

After singing the Creed, the time comes to offer the “Holy Offering” with the fear of God and certainly “in peace,” without having any malice or enmity towards anyone.

“Let us become kind, let us become fearful, let us bring holy offerings to the world.” In response to this, the choir sings: “Mercy of peace, sacrifice of praise.”

The gifts of peace will be a thanksgiving and praise offering to God for all His benefits. The priest blesses the believers with the words: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love (love) of God and the Father, and the communion (communion) of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” And then he calls: “Woe is the heart we have,” that is, we will have hearts directed upward to God. To this the singers on behalf of the believers respond: “Imams to the Lord,” that is, we already have hearts directed toward the Lord.

The most important part of the liturgy begins with the words of the priest “We thank the Lord.” We thank the Lord for all His mercies and bow to the ground, and the singers sing: “It is worthy and righteous to worship the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity.”

At this time, the priest, in a prayer called Eucharistic (that is, thanksgiving), glorifies the Lord and His perfection, thanks Him for the creation and redemption of man, and for all His mercies, known to us and even unknown. He thanks the Lord for accepting this bloodless Sacrifice, although He is surrounded by higher spiritual beings - archangels, angels, cherubim, seraphim, “singing a victory song, crying out, calling out and speaking.” These last words secret prayer the priest speaks loudly out loud. The singers add to them the angelic song: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, the heavens and the earth are filled with Your glory.” This song, which is called “Seraphim,” is supplemented by the words with which the people greeted the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem: “Hosanna in the highest (that is, he who lives in heaven) Blessed is he who comes (that is, he who walks) in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”

The priest pronounces the exclamation: “Singing the song of victory, crying, crying and speaking.” These words are taken from the visions of the prophet Ezekiel and the apostle John the Theologian, who saw in revelation the Throne of God, surrounded by angels having different images: one was in the form of an eagle (the word “singing” refers to it), the other in the form of a calf (“crying”) , the third in the form of a lion (“calling”) and, finally, the fourth in the form of a man (“verbally”). These four angels continually cried out, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts.” While singing these words, the priest secretly continues the prayer of thanksgiving; he glorifies the good that God sends to people, His endless love for His creation, which manifested itself in the coming to earth of the Son of God.

Remembering the Last Supper, at which the Lord established the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the priest loudly pronounces the words spoken by the Savior at it: “Take, eat, this is My Body, which was broken for you for the remission of sins.” And also: “Drink of it, all of you, this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.” Finally, the priest, remembering in secret prayer the Savior’s commandment to perform Communion, glorifying His life, suffering and death, resurrection, ascension into heaven and second coming in glory, loudly pronounces: “Thine from Thine, what is offered to Thee for all and for all.” These words mean: “We bring Your gifts from Your servants to You, O Lord, because of everything we have said.”

The singers sing: “We sing to You, we bless You, we thank You, Lord. And we pray, our God.”

The priest, in secret prayer, asks the Lord to send His Holy Spirit on the people standing in the church and on the Offered Gifts, so that He would sanctify them. Then the priest reads the troparion three times in an undertone: “Lord, who sent down Thy Most Holy Spirit at the third hour by Thy Apostle, do not take Him away from us, who is good, but renew us who pray.” The deacon pronounces the twelfth and thirteenth verses of the 50th Psalm: “Create in me a pure heart, O God...” and “Do not cast me away from Thy presence...”. Then the priest blesses the Holy Lamb lying on the paten and says: “And make this bread the honorable Body of Thy Christ.”

Then he blesses the cup, saying: “And in this cup is the precious Blood of Thy Christ.” And finally, he blesses the gifts along with the words: “Translating by Your Holy Spirit.” In these great and holy moments, the Gifts become the true Body and Blood of the Savior, although they remain the same in appearance as before.

The priest with the deacon and the believers bow to the ground before the Holy Gifts, as if they were the King and God himself. After the consecration of the Gifts, the priest in secret prayer asks the Lord that those receiving communion be strengthened in every good thing, that their sins be forgiven, that they partake of the Holy Spirit and reach the Kingdom of Heaven, that the Lord allows them to turn to Himself with their needs and does not condemn them for unworthy communion. The priest remembers the saints and especially the Blessed Virgin Mary and loudly proclaims: “Extremely (that is, especially) about the most holy, most pure, most blessed, most glorious Our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary,” and the choir responds with a song of praise:
It is worthy to eat, as you are truly blessed, the Mother of God, the Ever-Blessed and Most Immaculate and the Mother of our God. We magnify You, the most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim, who gave birth to God the Word without corruption.

The priest continues to secretly pray for the dead and, moving on to prayer for the living, loudly remembers “first” His Holiness the Patriarch, the ruling diocesan bishop, the choir answers: “And everyone and everything,” that is, asks the Lord to remember all the believers. The prayer for the living ends with the exclamation of the priest: “And grant us with one mouth and one heart (that is, with one accord) to glorify and glorify Your most honorable and magnificent name, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.”

Finally, the priest blesses everyone present: “And may the mercies of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ be with you all.”
The litany of petition begins: “Having remembered all the saints, let us pray again and again in peace to the Lord.” That is, having remembered all the saints, let us again pray to the Lord. After the litany, the priest proclaims: “And grant us, O Master, with boldness (boldly, as children ask their father) to dare (dare) to call upon Thee Heavenly God the Father and speak.”

The prayer “Our Father...” is usually sung after this by the entire church.

With the words “Peace to all,” the priest once again blesses the believers.

The deacon, standing at this time on the pulpit, is girdled crosswise with an orarion, so that, firstly, it would be more convenient for him to serve the priest during Communion, and secondly, to express his reverence for the Holy Gifts, in imitation of the seraphim.

When the deacon exclaims: “Let us attend,” the curtain of the Royal Doors closes as a reminder of the stone that was rolled to the Holy Sepulcher. The priest, raising the Holy Lamb over the paten, loudly proclaims: “Holy to the holy.” In other words, the Holy Gifts can only be given to saints, that is, believers who have sanctified themselves through prayer, fasting, and the Sacrament of Repentance. And, realizing their unworthiness, believers answer: “There is only one holy, one Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.”

First, the clergy receive communion at the altar. The priest breaks the Lamb into four parts just as it was cut at the proskomedia. The part with the inscription “IC” is lowered into the bowl, and warmth, that is, hot water, is also poured into it, as a reminder that believers, under the guise of wine, accept the true Blood of Christ.

The other part of the Lamb with the inscription “ХС” is intended for the communion of the clergy, and the parts with the inscriptions “NI” and “KA” are for the communion of the laity. These two parts are cut by a copy according to the number of those receiving communion into small pieces, which are lowered into the Chalice.

While the clergy are receiving communion, the choir sings a special verse, which is called “sacramental,” as well as some chant suitable for the occasion. Russian church composers wrote many sacred works that are not included in the canon of worship, but are performed by the choir at this particular time. Usually the sermon is preached at this time.

Finally, the Royal Doors open for the communion of the laity, and the deacon with the Holy Cup in his hands says: “Approach with the fear of God and faith.”

The priest reads a prayer before Holy Communion, and the believers repeat it to themselves: “I believe, Lord, and confess that You are truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who came into the world to save sinners, from whom I am the first.” I also believe that This is Your Most Pure Body and This is Your Most Honest Blood. I pray to You: have mercy on me and forgive me my sins, voluntary and involuntary, in word, in deed, in knowledge and ignorance, and grant me to partake without condemnation of Your Most Pure Mysteries, for the remission of sins and eternal life. Amen. Thy secret supper this day, Son of God, receive me as a partaker, for I will not tell the secret to Thy enemies, neither will I give Thee a kiss like Judas, but like a thief I will confess Thee: remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom. May the communion of Your Holy Mysteries be not for judgment or condemnation for me, Lord, but for the healing of soul and body.”

After communion, they kiss the lower edge of the Holy Chalice and go to the table, where they drink it with warmth (church wine mixed with hot water) and receive a piece of prosphora. This is done so that not a single smallest particle of the Holy Gifts remains in the mouth and so that one does not immediately begin to eat ordinary everyday food. After everyone has received communion, the priest brings the chalice to the altar and lowers into it particles taken from the service and brought prosphoras with a prayer that the Lord, with His Blood, would wash away the sins of all who were commemorated at the liturgy.

Then he blesses the believers who sing: “We have seen the true light, we have received the heavenly Spirit, we have found the true faith, we worship the indivisible Trinity: for she who saved us is.”

The deacon carries the paten to the altar, and the priest, taking the Holy Cup in his hands, blesses those praying with it. This last appearance of the Holy Gifts before being transferred to the altar reminds us of the Ascension of the Lord to heaven after His Resurrection. Having bowed to the Holy Gifts for the last time, as to the Lord Himself, the believers thank Him for Communion, and the choir sings a song of gratitude: “May our lips be filled with Thy praise, O Lord, for we sing Thy glory, for Thou hast made us worthy to partake of Thy Divine, immortal and life-giving Mysteries; keep us in Thy holiness, and teach us Thy righteousness all day long. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”

The deacon pronounces a short litany in which he thanks the Lord for Communion. The priest, standing at the Holy See, folds the antimension on which the cup and paten stood, and places the altar Gospel on it.

By loudly proclaiming “We will go out in peace,” he shows that the liturgy is ending, and soon the believers can go home quietly and in peace.

Then the priest reads the prayer behind the pulpit (because it is read behind the pulpit) “Bless those who bless Thee, O Lord, and sanctify those who trust in Thee, save Thy people and bless Thy heritage, preserve the fulfillment of Thy Church, sanctify those who love the splendor of Thy house, Thou glorify them with Thy Divine by strength and do not forsake us who trust in Thee. Grant Thy peace, to Thy Churches, to the priests and to all Thy people. For every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from You, the Father of lights. And to You we send glory, and thanksgiving, and worship, to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.”

The choir sings: “Blessed be the name of the Lord from now on and forever.”

The priest blesses the worshipers for the last time and says dismissal with a cross in his hand, facing the temple. Then everyone approaches the cross to, by kissing it, confirm their fidelity to Christ, in whose memory the Divine Liturgy was performed.

Daily worship

Divine services of the Orthodox Church in ancient times were performed throughout the day nine times, that’s why there were all nine church services: ninth hour, vespers, compline, midnight office, matins, first hour, third and sixth hours, and mass. Currently, for the convenience of Orthodox Christians, who do not have the opportunity to visit the temples of God so often due to home activities, these nine services are combined into three church services: Vespers, Matins and Mass. Each individual service includes three church services: at vespers the ninth hour, vespers and compline entered; Matins consists of Midnight Office, Matins and the first hour; mass begins at the third and sixth hours and then the liturgy itself is celebrated. For hours These are short prayers, during which psalms and other prayers appropriate for these times of the day are read for mercy on us sinners.

Evening service

The liturgical day begins in the evening on the basis that at the creation of the world there was first evening, and then morning. After vespers Usually the service in the church is dedicated to a holiday or saint, whose remembrance is performed on the next day according to the arrangement in the calendar. On every day of the year, either some event from the earthly life of the Savior and the Mother of God or one of the saints is remembered. saints of God. In addition, each day of the week is dedicated to a special memory. On Sunday a service is held in honor of the risen Savior; on Monday we pray to St. angels, on Tuesday is remembered in the prayers of St. John, the Forerunner of the Lord, on Wednesday and Friday a service is held in honor of the life-giving cross of the Lord, on Thursday - in honor of St. Apostles and St. Nicholas, on Saturday - in honor of all saints and in memory of all departed Orthodox Christians.

The evening service is held to thank God for the past day and to ask for God's blessing for the coming night. Vespers consists of three services. Read first ninth hour in memory of the death of Jesus Christ, which the Lord accepted according to our reckoning of time at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and according to the Jewish reckoning of time at 9 o’clock in the afternoon. Then the most evening service, and is accompanied by Compline, or a series of prayers that Christians read after the evening, at nightfall.

Matins

Matins begins midnight office which took place in ancient times at midnight. Ancient Christians came to the temple at midnight to pray, expressing their faith in the second coming of the Son of God, who, according to the belief of the Church, would come at night. After the Midnight Office, Matins itself is immediately performed, or a service during which Christians thank God for the gift of sleep to calm the body and ask the Lord to bless the affairs of every person and help people spend the coming day without sin. Joins Matins first hour. This service is so called because it departs after the morning, at the beginning of the day; behind it, Christians ask God to direct our lives to fulfill God’s commandments.

Mass

Mass begins with reading the 3rd and 6th hours. Service three o'clock reminds us how the Lord, at the third hour of the day, according to the Jewish account of time, and according to our account at the ninth hour of the morning, was led to trial before Pontius Pilate, and how the Holy Spirit at this time of the day, by His descent in the form of tongues of fire, enlightened the apostles and strengthened them for the feat of preaching about Christ. Service of the sixth The hour is so called because it reminds us of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ on Golgotha, which according to the Jewish reckoning was at 6 o'clock in the afternoon, and according to our reckoning at 12 o'clock in the afternoon. After hours, mass is celebrated, or liturgy.

In this order, divine services are performed on weekdays; but on some days of the year this order changes, for example: on the days of the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, on Maundy Thursday, on Good Friday and Great Saturday and on Trinity Day. On Christmas and Epiphany Eve watch(1st, 3rd and 9th) are performed separately from mass and are called royal in memory of the fact that our pious kings are in the habit of coming to this service. On the eve of the holidays of the Nativity of Christ, the Epiphany of the Lord, on Maundy Thursday and on Holy Saturday, mass begins with Vespers and is therefore celebrated from 12 noon. Matins on the feasts of Christmas and Epiphany are preceded by Great Compline. This is evidence that the ancient Christians continued their prayers and singing throughout the night on these great holidays. On Trinity Day, after mass, Vespers is immediately celebrated, during which the priest reads touching prayers to the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. And on Good Friday, according to the charter of the Orthodox Church, to strengthen the fast, there is no mass, but after hours, performed separately, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, vespers is served, after which the funeral service is carried out from the altar to the middle of the church shroud Christ, in remembrance of the taking down of the body of the Lord from the cross by the righteous Joseph and Nicodemus.

During Lent, on all days except Saturday and Sunday, the location of church services is different than on weekdays throughout the year. Departs in the evening Great Compline, on which in the first four days of the first week the touching canon of St. Andrei Kritsky (mephimons). Served in the morning Matins, according to its rules, similar to ordinary, everyday matins; in the middle of the day the 3rd, 6th and 9th are read watch, and joins them vespers. This service is usually called for hours.

Details about the service at “Pravmir”:

Films about Orthodox worship

Divine Liturgy – the heart of the Church

Orthodox Divine Service

Easter of Christ. Bright Week

Conversations with the priest. How to understand Orthodox worship

Orthodox worship- this is a set of rites performed primarily in church and under the leadership and primacy of a priest (bishop or priest).

Worship is divided into two main types: general and private.

General services are performed regularly, in accordance with the requirements of the Charter, while private services are intended to satisfy the urgent needs of believers and are performed when necessary.

Some worship services(for example, services, prayers, etc.) can be performed outside the church, as well as (in rare cases) by the laity without a priest. Temple worship is mainly determined by the liturgical circles: daily, weekly (sedemic), eight-week osmoshnaya, annual fixed, annual moving circles. Outside these circles there are services, prayer services, etc.

Initially Divine services were performed freely in open places. There were no holy temples or sacred persons. People prayed with words (prayers) that prompted them own feeling and mood. By the command of God, during the time of the prophet Moses, a tabernacle was built (the first Old Testament temple to the One, True God), sacred persons were elected (high priest, priests and Levites), sacrifices were determined for different cases and holidays were established (Easter, Pentecost, New Year, Day of Atonement, etc.).

The Lord Jesus Christ, who came to earth, taught to worship the heavenly Father in every place, nevertheless often visited the Old Testament temple in Jerusalem, as a place of special, gracious, presence of God, took care of the order in the temple and preached in it. His holy apostles did the same until the open persecution of Christians by the Jews began. In the time of the apostles, as can be seen from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, there were special places for meetings of believers and for the celebration of the Sacrament of Communion, called churches, where worship was performed by bishops, presbyters (priests) and deacons appointed through Ordination (in the sacrament of the priesthood).

The final arrangement of the Christian Divine services was accomplished by the successors of the apostles, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and according to the commandment given to them by the apostles: “everything must be decent and orderly”(1 Cor. 14:40). This established order Divine services strictly preserved in our holy Orthodox Church of Christ. Orthodox Church Divine service is called service or service to God, consisting of reading and singing prayers, reading the Word of God and sacred rites (rites), performed according to a certain order, that is, order, led by a clergyman (bishop or priest).

From home prayer to church Divine service differs in that it is performed by clergy, legally appointed for this purpose through the sacrament of the priesthood by the Holy Orthodox Church, and is performed primarily in the temple. Church Orthodox-public Divine service has the goal, for the edification of believers, in reading and hymns, to set forth the true teaching of Christ and to dispose them to prayer and repentance, and in persons and actions to depict the most important events from sacred history that took place for our salvation, both before the Nativity of Christ and after the Nativity of Christ. In this case, it is meant to arouse in those praying gratitude to God for all the blessings received, to strengthen the prayer for further mercies from Him to us, and to receive peace of mind for our souls. And most importantly, through Divine service Orthodox Christians enter into mysterious communion with God through the celebration of the sacraments Divine service, and especially the sacraments of Holy Communion, and receive from God grace-filled strength for a righteous life.

A church service is the combination, according to a special plan, into one composition of prayers, sections from the Holy Scriptures, chants and sacred actions to clarify a specific idea or thought. Thanks to the fact that in every Orthodox service Divine services a certain thought is consistently developed, each church service represents a harmonious, complete, artistic sacred work, designed to, through verbal, song (vocal) and contemplative impressions, create a pious mood in the souls of those praying, strengthen a living faith in God and prepare an Orthodox Christian to the perception of Divine grace. Finding the guiding thought (idea) of each service and establishing a connection with its component parts is one of the points of study Divine services.

The order in which this or that service is presented is called in liturgical books the “order” or “addition” of the service. Every day is a day of the week and at the same time a day of the year, so for every day there are three kinds of memories:

1) memories of “daytime” or hourly memories, connected to a known hour of the day;

2) “weekly” or weekly memories, connected to individual days of the week;

3) “annual” or numerical memories connected to certain numbers of the year.

Thanks to the threefold kind of sacred memories that occur every day, all church services are divided into three circles: daily, weekly and annual, and the main “circle” is the “everyday circle”, and the other two are additional.

Daily cycle of worship

Daily circle Divine services are called those Divine services which are performed by the Holy Orthodox Church throughout the day. The names of the daily services indicate at what hour of the day each of them should be performed. For example, Vespers indicates the evening hour, Compline - the hour following the “supper” (that is, the evening meal), Midnight Office - at midnight, Matins - at the morning hour, Mass - at lunch, that is, midday, the first hour - at ours means the 7th hour of the morning, the third hour is our 9th hour of the morning, the sixth hour is our 12th hour, the ninth is our third hour of the afternoon.

The custom of prayerful consecration of these particular hours in the Christian Church is of very ancient origin and was established under the influence of the Old Testament rule of praying in the temple three times during the day to make sacrifices - morning, afternoon and evening, as well as the words of the Psalmist about glorifying God “in the evening, morning and noon " The discrepancy in the count (the difference is about 6 hours) is explained by the fact that the eastern count is adopted, and in the East, sunrise and sunset differ by 6 hours compared to our countries. Therefore, the 1st o'clock in the morning of the East corresponds to our 7 o'clock and so on.

Vespers, performed at the end of the day in the evening, is therefore placed first among the daily services, because according to the image of the Church, the day begins in the evening, since the first day of the world and the beginning of human existence was preceded by darkness, evening, twilight. With this service we thank God for the passing day.

Compline- a service consisting of reading a series of prayers in which we ask the Lord God for forgiveness of sins and that He would give us, as we go to sleep, peace of body and soul and save us from the wiles of the devil during sleep. Sleep also reminds us of death. Therefore, in the Orthodox service at Compline, those praying are reminded of their awakening from eternal sleep, that is, of the resurrection.

Midnight Office- the service is intended to be performed at midnight, in remembrance of the Savior’s night prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. The “midnight” hour is also memorable because “at the midnight hour” in the parable of the ten virgins the Lord timed His second coming.This service calls on believers to always be prepared for the Day of Judgment.

Matins- a service performed in the morning, before sunrise. The morning hour, bringing with it light, vigor and life, always arouses a feeling of gratitude towards God, the Giver of life. With this service we thank God for the past night and ask Him for mercy for the coming day. In the Orthodox morning service, the coming of the Savior into the world is glorified, bringing with Him new life to people.

First hour, corresponding to our seventh hour of the morning, sanctifies the day that has already come with prayer. At the first hour, we remember the trial of Jesus Christ by the high priests, which actually took place around this time.

At three o'clock e, corresponding to our ninth hour in the morning, we remember the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, which took place at approximately the same time.

At the sixth hour, corresponding to our twelfth hour of the day, we remember the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, which happened from the 12th to the 2nd hour of the day.

At the ninth hour, corresponding to our third pm, we remember the death on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, which occurred around 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

Mass or Divine Liturgy there is the most important worship service. On it, the entire earthly life of the Savior is remembered and the Sacrament of Communion, established by the Savior Himself at the Last Supper, is performed. The Liturgy is served in the morning, before lunch.

All these services in ancient times in monasteries and hermits were performed separately, at the appointed time for each of them. But then, for the convenience of believers, they were combined into three services: evening, morning and afternoon.

Evening 1. Ninth hour (3 pm). 2. Vespers. 3. Compline.

Morning 1. Midnight Office (12 o'clock at night). 2. Matins. 3. First hour (7 a.m.).

Day 1. Third hour (9 a.m.). 2. Sixth hour (12 noon). 3. Liturgy.

On the eve of major holidays and Sundays, an evening service is performed, which combines: Vespers, Matins and the first hour. This Divine service called the all-night vigil (all-night vigil), because among the ancient Christians it lasted all night. The word "vigil" means: being awake.

Weekly circle of worship th

Wanting to make my children as pure, pious and focused as possible. The Holy Church gradually attached prayerful remembrance not only to every hour of the day, but also to every day of the week. Thus, from the very beginning of the existence of the Church of Christ, the “first day of the week” was dedicated to the memory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and became a solemn joyful day, i.e. holiday.

IN Monday(the first day after Sunday) ethereal forces are glorified - Angels, created before man, the closest servants of God;

In Tuesday- Saint John the Baptist is glorified as the greatest of all prophets and righteous people;

IN Wednesday the betrayal of the Lord by Judas is remembered and, in connection with this, a service is performed in memory of the Cross of the Lord (fast day).

IN Thursday glorified St. Apostles and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

IN Friday the suffering on the cross and the death of the Savior are remembered and a service is performed in honor of the cross of the Lord (fast day).

IN Saturday- a day of rest, - the Mother of God, who is blessed every day, is glorified, the forefathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, the righteous and all the saints who have achieved rest in the Lord. All those who have died in true faith and hope for resurrection and eternal life are also remembered.

Annual circle of services

As the faith of Christ spread, the number of Holy Persons increased: martyrs and saints. The greatness of their exploits provided an inexhaustible source for pious Christian songwriters and artists to compose various prayers and hymns, as well as artistic images, in memory of them. The Holy Church included these emerging spiritual works as part of church services, timing the reading and singing of the latter to coincide with the days of remembrance of the saints designated in them. The range of these prayers and chants is extensive and varied; it unfolds for the whole year, and every day there is not one, but several glorified saints.

Manifestation of God's mercy to famous people, area or city, for example, getting rid of a flood, earthquake, attack from enemies, etc. gave an indelible reason to prayerfully commemorate these incidents.

Thus, every day of the year is dedicated to the memory of one or another saint, important events, as well as special sacred events - holidays and fasts.

Of all the holidays in the year, the largest is the holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ (Easter). This is a holiday, a holiday and a triumph of celebrations. Easter occurs no earlier than March 22 (April 4, New Art.) and no later than April 25 (May 8, New Art.), on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. Then there are twelve great holidays in the year established in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, which are called the twelve. There are holidays both in honor of great saints and in honor ethereal Forces heavenly - angels.

Therefore, all the holidays of the year, according to their content, are divided into: the Lord's, the Mother of God and the saints. According to the time of celebration, holidays are divided into fixed ones, which occur every year on the same dates of the month, and moving ones, which, although they occur on the same days of the week, fall on different dates of the month in accordance with the time of Easter celebration.

According to the solemnity of the church service, holidays are divided into great, medium and small. Great holidays always have an all-night vigil; Average holidays are not always the case.

The liturgical church year begins on the 1st, September of the old style, and the entire annual cycle Divine services is being built in relation to the Easter holiday.

Composition of the church service

In order to understand the order and meaning of church services, it is more convenient to first understand the meaning of the prayers. The alternating prayer books of the daily, weekly and annual circles are called “changing” prayer books. The prayers found at each service are called “unchanging.” Each church service consists of a combination of unchanging and changing prayers.

Unchanging Prayers which are read and sung at every service are as follows:

1) Beginners prayers, that is, prayers with which all services begin and which are therefore called in liturgical practice "Regular start";

2) Litany

3) Exclamations

4) Vacations or vacations.

Normal start

Each service begins with the priest's call to glorify and give praise to God.

There are three such inviting invitations or exclamations:

1. “Blessed be our God always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.”(before the start of most services);

2. “Glory to the Holy, and Consubstantial, and Life-Giving, and Indivisible Trinity always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages”, (before the start of the all-night vigil);

3. “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.”(before the start of the liturgy).

After the exclamation, the reader, on behalf of all those present, expresses in words "Amen"(truly) consent to this praise and immediately begins to glorify God: “Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee”.

Then, to prepare ourselves for worthy prayer, we, following the reader, turn with prayer to the Holy Spirit ( "King of Heaven"), Who alone can give us the gift of true prayer, so that He may dwell in us, cleanse us from all filth and save us. (Rom. VIII, 26).

With a prayer for cleansing we turn to all three Persons of the Holy Trinity, reading:

A) "Holy God";

B) "Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit";

IN) "Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us";

G) "Lord have mercy";

D) "Glory... even now".

Finally, we read the Lord’s Prayer, i.e. "Our Father". In conclusion, we read three times: “Come, let us worship and fall before Christ” and move on to reading other prayers that are part of the service.

The normal starting order is:

1. The priest's exclamation.

2. Reading "Glory to Thee, our God".

3. "King of Heaven".

4. "Holy God"(three times).

5. "Glory to the Father and the Son"(small doxology).

6. "Holy Trinity".

7. "Lord have mercy"(Three times)

"Glory even now".

8. "Our Father";

9. "Come, let's worship".

Litany

During Divine services we often hear a series of prayer requests, pronounced protractedly, slowly, proclaimed by a deacon or priest on behalf of all those praying. After each petition the choir sings: "Lord have mercy!" or "Give it, Lord". These are the so-called litanies, from the Greek adverb ektenos - “diligently.”

Litanys are divided into several types:

1) Great Litany

2) Special Litany

3) Petitionary Litany

4 ) Small Litany

5) Litany for the dead or Funeral.

Great Litany

The Great Litany consists of 10 petitions or sections:

1. “Let us pray to the Lord in peace” . 


This means: let us call upon our prayer meeting the peace of God, or the blessing of God, and under the shadow of the face of God, addressed to us with peace and love, we will begin to pray for our needs. In the same way, let us pray in peace, having forgiven mutual offenses (Matthew V, 23-24).

2. “Let us pray to the Lord for peace from above and the salvation of our souls”. 


“Peace from above” is the peace of earth with heaven, the reconciliation of man with God, or receiving forgiveness of sins from God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The fruit of forgiveness of sins or reconciliation with God is the salvation of our souls, which we also pray for in the second petition of the Great Litany.

3. “For the peace of the whole world, the welfare of God’s holy churches and the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord”. 


In the third petition we pray not only for a harmonious and friendly life between people on earth, not only for peace in the entire universe, but also for a wider and deeper peace, this is: peace and harmony (harmony) in the whole world, in the fullness of all God's creations (heaven and earth, seas and “everything in them,” angels and people, living and dead). Second subject of the petition; welfare, i.e. peace and well-being of God's holy churches or individual Orthodox societies. The fruit and consequence of the prosperity and well-being of Orthodox societies on earth will be extensive moral unity: agreement, unanimous proclamation of the glory of God from all the elements of the world, from all animate beings, there will be such a penetration of “everything” with the highest religious content, when God is “perfectly in everything”

(1 Cor. XV, 28).

4. “For this holy temple, and for those who enter it with faith, reverence and fear of God, let us pray to the Lord.”

Reverence and fear of God are expressed in a prayerful mood, in putting aside worldly cares, in cleansing the heart from enmity and envy. On the outer side, reverence is expressed in bodily cleanliness, in decent clothing and in abstaining from talking and looking around. To pray for the Holy Temple means to ask God so that He never departs from the temple with His grace; but he preserved it from desecration by enemies of the faith, from fires, earthquakes, and robbers, so that the temple did not lack funds to maintain it in a flourishing state. The temple is called holy by the holiness of the sacred actions performed in it and by the gracious presence of God in it, from the time of consecration. But the grace that abides in the temple is not available to everyone, but only to those who enter it with faith, reverence and fear of God.

5. “For this city, (or for this whole) every city, country, and those who live in them by faith, let us pray to the Lord.” . 


We pray not only for our city, but for every other city and country, and for their inhabitants (because according to Christian brotherly love, we must pray not only for ourselves, but also for all people).

6. “For the goodness of the air, for the abundance of earthly fruits and times of peace, let us pray to the Lord.”

In this petition, we ask the Lord to give us our daily bread, that is, everything necessary for our earthly life. We ask for favorable weather for the growth of grain, as well as peacetime.

7. “For those who are sailing, traveling, the sick, the suffering, the captives, and for their salvation, let us pray to the Lord.” 


In this petition, the Holy Church invites us to pray not only for those present, but also for those absent: those on the road (swimming, traveling), the sick, the ailing (that is, the sick and weak in body in general) and the suffering (that is, chained to the bed of a dangerous illness) and about those in captivity.

8. “Let us pray to the Lord that we may be delivered from all sorrow, anger and need.” 


In this petition we ask the Lord to deliver us from all sorrow, anger and need, that is, from grief, disaster and unbearable oppression.

9. “Intercede, save, have mercy, and preserve us, O God, with Your grace.”

In this petition, we pray to the Lord to protect us, preserve us and have mercy through His mercy and grace.

10. “Let us commemorate ourselves, and each other, and our whole life to Christ our God.”. 


We constantly call upon the Mother of God in litanies because She serves as our Intercessor and Intercessor before the Lord. After turning to the Mother of God for help, the Holy Church advises us to entrust ourselves, each other and our whole life to the Lord. The Great Litany is otherwise called “peaceful” (because in it peace is often asked for people). In ancient times, litanies were continuous prayers in form and common prayers of all those present in the church, evidence of which is, by the way, the words “Lord have mercy” following the deacon’s exclamations.

The Great Litany

The second litany is called "pure", that is, strengthened, because for every petition pronounced by the deacon, the singers respond with triple "Lord have mercy".

Extraordinary The litany consists of the following petitions:

1. “We rejoice with all our hearts, and with all our thoughts we rejoice. Let us say to the Lord with all our souls and with all our thoughts:..."(further we explain what exactly we will say).

2. “Lord Almighty, God of our father, we pray to You, hear and have mercy. Lord Almighty, God of our fathers, we pray to You, hear and have mercy.”

3. “Have mercy on us, O God, according to Your great mercy, we pray to You, hear and have mercy. Have mercy on us, Lord, according to Your great goodness. We pray to You, hear and have mercy.”

4.“We also pray for all the Christ-loving army. We also pray for all the soldiers, as defenders of the Faith and the Fatherland.”

5. “We also pray for our brothers, priests, priests, and all our brotherhood in Christ. We also pray for our brothers in service and in Christ.”

6. “We also pray for the blessed and ever-memorable saints of the Orthodox Patriarchs, and the pious kings, and the pious queens, and the creators of this holy temple, and for all the Orthodox fathers and brothers who have reposed before them, who lie here and everywhere. We also pray for St. Orthodox Patriarchs, about the faithful Orthodox kings and queens; - about the always memorable creators of the Holy Temple; about all our deceased parents and brothers buried here and in other places.”

7. " We also pray for mercy, life, peace, health, salvation, visitation, forgiveness and forgiveness of sins of the servants of God to the brethren of this Holy Temple. In this petition, we ask the Lord for bodily and spiritual benefits to the parishioners of the church where the service is being held.”

8. “We also pray for those who bear fruit and do good in this holy and all-honorable temple, those who work, sing and stand before us, expecting great and rich mercy from You. We also pray for people: “fruit-bearing” ( those. bringing material and monetary donations for liturgical needs in the temple: wine, oil, incense, candles ) and “virtuous”(i.e., those who make decorations in the temple or donate to maintain the splendor of the temple, as well as those who do some work in the temple, for example, reading, singing, and about all the people who are in the temple in anticipation of great and rich mercy.

Litany of Petition

Petitionary The litany consists of a series of petitions ending with the words “we ask the Lord”, to which the singers respond with the words: "God grant".

The litany of petition is read as follows:

1.“Let us fulfill our (evening or morning) prayer to the Lord. Let us complete (or supplement) our prayer to the Lord.”

2. “Intercede, save, have mercy and preserve us, O God, by Your grace. Protect, save, have mercy and preserve us, O God, by Your grace.”

3.“Day (or evening) perfection of everything, holy, peaceful and sinless, we ask the Lord. Let us ask the Lord to help us spend this day (or evening) expediently, holy, peacefully and sinlessly.”

4.“We ask the Lord for a peaceful, faithful mentor, guardian of our souls and bodies. Let us ask the Lord for the Holy Angel, who is the faithful mentor and guardian of our soul and body.”

5.“We ask the Lord for forgiveness and forgiveness of our sins and transgressions. Let us ask the Lord for forgiveness and forgiveness of our sins (heavy) and sins (light).

6. “We ask the Lord for kindness and benefit to our souls and for peace. Let us ask the Lord for everything that is useful and good for our souls, for peace for all people and the whole world.”

7. “End the rest of your life in peace and repentance, we ask the Lord. Let us ask the Lord that we may live the remaining time of our lives in peace and a calm conscience.”

8.“The Christian death of our belly, painless, shameless, peaceful, and a good answer at the terrible judgment of Christ, we ask. Let us ask the Lord that our death be Christian, that is, with confession and Communion of the Holy Mysteries, painless, shameless and peaceful, that is, that before our death we make peace with our loved ones. Let us ask for a kind and fearless answer at the Last Judgment.”

9.“Having remembered our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and each other and our entire life to Christ our God.”

Small Litany

Small The litany is a shortening of the great litany and contains only the following petitions:

1. “Back and back (again and again) let us pray to the Lord in peace.”

2.

3.“Having remembered our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary with all the saints, we will commend ourselves and each other, and our whole life to Christ our God.”

Sometimes these great, special, small and petitionary litanies are joined by others, compiled for a special occasion, for example, on the occasion of burial or commemoration of the dead, on the occasion of the consecration of water, the beginning of teaching, or the onset of the New Year.

These litanies with additional "changing petitions"are contained in a special book for prayer chants.

Funeral Litany

Great:

1.“Let us pray to the Lord in peace.”

2. “Let us pray to the Lord for peace from above and for the salvation of our souls.”

3. “For the remission of sins, in the blessed memory of those who have passed away, let us pray to the Lord.”

4.“For the ever-memorable servants of God (name of the rivers), peace, silence, blessed memory of them, let us pray to the Lord.”

5. “Let us pray to the Lord to forgive them every sin, voluntary or involuntary.”

6.“For those who are not condemned to appear before the terrible throne of the Lord of glory, let us pray to the Lord.”

7. " Let us pray to the Lord for those who cry and are sick, and who long for Christ’s consolation.”

8.“Let us pray to the Lord to free them from all illness and sorrow and sighing, and to let them dwell where the light of the face of God shines.”

9.“Oh, that the Lord our God will restore their souls to a place of light, to a place of greenness, to a place of peace, where all the righteous abide, let us pray to the Lord.”

10.“Let us pray to the Lord for their number in the bosom of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.”

11.“Let us pray to the Lord that we may be delivered from all sorrow, anger and need.”

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

13. “Having asked for the mercy of God, the kingdom of heaven, and the remission of sins for ourselves, we will hand over each other and our whole life to Christ our God.”

Small And Triple the funeral litany consists of three petitions in which thoughts are repeated Great Litany. Exclamations while the deacon on the solea pronounces litanies, the priest in the altar reads prayers to himself (secretly) (there are especially many secret prayers in the liturgy), and pronounces them loudly at the end. These ends of the prayers, spoken by the priest, are called "whoops." They usually express the reason why we, praying to the Lord, can hope for the fulfillment of our prayers, and why we have the boldness to turn to the Lord with petitions and thanksgivings.

According to immediate impression, all exclamations of the priest are divided into initial, liturgical and litany.

In order to clearly distinguish between the two, you need to carefully understand the exclamations of the litanies. The most common exclamations are:

1. After the great litany: “ Yako(i.e. because) All glory, honor and worship is due to You, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.».

2. After the special litany: “For God is merciful and a lover of mankind, and to You we send up glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.”.

3. After the litany of petition: “As God is good and a lover of mankind, we send up glory to You, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.”

4. After the small litany: “For Thine is the dominion, and Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.”

5. “For You are the God of mercy and generosity and love for mankind, and to You we send up glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages.”

6. “For blessed be Thy Name, and glorified Thy kingdom, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.”

7. “For You are our God, and to You we send up glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.”

8. “For You are the King of the world and the Savior of our souls, and to You we send up glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages.”

However, in addition to the above, there are several more exclamations that contain the same thoughts as the eight exclamations noted. For example, during the all-night vigil and prayer service the following exclamations are also uttered:

A) “Hear us, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and those who are in the sea far away: and be merciful, merciful, O Master, for our sins and have mercy on us. For You are merciful and lover of mankind, and we send up glory to You, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Hear us, God our Savior, You, in Whom they hope in all the ends of the earth and in the distant sea, and being merciful, be merciful to our sins and have mercy on us, because You are a merciful God who loves mankind and we send up Glory to You...”

b) “By the mercy, and generosity, and love for mankind of Thy only begotten Son, with whom art thou blessed, with Thy most holy, and good, and life-giving spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. According to the mercy, generosity and love for mankind of Your Only Begotten Son, with whom You are blessed (God the Father) with Your Most Holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit.”

V) “For you are holy, our God, and you rest among the saints, and we send up glory to you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Because You are Holy, our God, and you dwell in the saints (by Your grace) and we send up glory to You. Funeral exclamation: For You are the resurrection and the life and rest of your departed servants (name of the rivers), Christ our God, and to You we send up glory, with Your beginningless Father, and Your most holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.”

Vacations

Each church service ends with special prayer chants, which together make up vacation or vacation.

Order release next.

The priest says: "Wisdom", i.e. we will be careful. Then, turning to the Mother of God, he says: .

The singers respond with the words: “The most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim”... Thanking the Lord further for the perfect service, the priest says out loud: “Glory to Thee, Christ God, Our Hope, Glory to Thee”, after which the singers sing: "Glory even now", “Lord have mercy” (three times), "Bless".

The priest, turning his face to the people, lists all the Saints through whose prayers we turned to God for help, namely:

1. Mother of God

2. Holy Week

3. Holy day

4. Holy Temple

5. Holy local region

6. Godfather of Joachim and Anna.

Then the priest says that through the prayers of these saints the Lord will have mercy and save us. Let go believers receive permission to leave the temple.

Changing Prayers

As already mentioned, in the Church selected passages from the Holy Scriptures and prayers written by pious Christian poets are read and sung. Both are included in church services to depict and glorify the sacred event of the three circles of worship: daily, weekly and annual. Readings and chants from holy books are named after the book from which they are taken. For example, psalms from the book of Psalms, prophecies from books written by prophets, the Gospel from the Gospel. The changing prayers that make up sacred Christian poetry are found in church liturgical books and bear different names.

The most important of them are the following:

1)Troparion- a song that briefly depicts the life of a Saint or the history of a holiday, for example, well-known troparia: “Your Nativity, O Christ our God”, “Thou art transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God...”, “The rule of faith and the image of meekness.”

The origin and meaning of the name “troparion” is explained differently:

a) some derive this word from the Greek “tropos” - disposition, image, because the troparion depicts the lifestyle of a saint or contains a description of a holiday;

b) others from “trepeon” - a trophy or a sign of victory, which indicates that the troparion is a song proclaiming the victory of a saint or the triumph of a holiday;

c) others derive from the word “tropos” - trope, that is, the use of a word not in its own meaning, but in the meaning of another object due to the similarity between them; this kind of word use is indeed often found in troparia; saints, for example, are likened to the sun, moon, stars, etc.;

d) finally, the word troparion is also derived from “tropome” - they changed, since the troparia are sung alternately in one or the other choir, and “trepo” - I turn it, since “they turn to other prayers and relate to them.”

2) Kontakion(from the word “kontos” - short) - a short song depicting some individual feature of the celebrated event or Saint. All kontakia differ from troparia not so much in content as in the time at which they are sung during the service. An example of a kontakion would be - "Virgo today...", “To the elected Voivode...”

Kontakion- derived from the Greek word “kontos” - small, short, which means a short prayer in which the life of a saint is briefly glorified or a memory of some event in brief main features. Others - the name kontakion is derived from the word that names the material on which they were previously written. Indeed, originally “kontakia” was the name given to bundles of parchments written on both sides.

3) Greatness- a song containing the glorification of a Saint or a holiday. The Greatness is sung during the all-night vigil before the holiday icon, first by the clergy in the middle of the temple, and then repeated several times in the choir by the singers.

4) Stichera(from the Greek “stichera” - multi-verse) - a chant consisting of many verses written in the same meter of versification, most of them preceded by verses of the Holy Scriptures. Each stichera contains the main idea, which is revealed in various ways in all stichera. For example, the glorification of the Resurrection of Christ, the Entry into the Temple of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Apostle. Peter and Paul, John the Evangelist, etc. There are many stichera, but they all have different names, depending on the time of their performance during the service.

If the stichera is sung after the prayer "Lord I cried", then it is called “I cried out in verse to the Lord”; if the stichera is sung after verses that glorify the Lord (for example, “Let every breath praise the Lord”), then the stichera is called stichera "on praise". There are also stichera "on the poem", and the stichera of the Theotokos are stichera in honor of the Mother of God. The number of stichera of each category and the verses preceding them varies - depending on the solemnity of the holiday - then 10, 8, 6 and 4. Therefore, the liturgical books say - “stichera for 10, for 8, for 6”, etc. These numbers indicate the number of verses of the psalm that should be sung with stichera. Moreover, the stichera themselves, if they are missing, can be repeated several times.

5) Dogmatist. Dogmatists are special stichera that contain the teaching (dogma) about the incarnation of Jesus Christ from the Mother of God. And prayers that primarily speak about the Most Holy Theotokos are called by the general name “Theotokos.”

6) Akathist- “nesedalen”, a prayer service, especially singing of praise in honor of the Lord, the Mother of God or the Saint.

7) Antiphons- (alternate singing, countervoice) prayers that are supposed to be sung alternately on two choirs.

8) Prokeimenon- (lying in front) - there is a verse that precedes the reading of the Apostle, Gospel and proverbs. The prokeimenon serves as a preface to the reading and expresses the essence of the person being remembered. There are many prokeimenes: they are daytime, holiday, etc.

9) The verse involved, which is sung during the communion of the clergy.

10) Canon- this is a series of sacred chants in honor of a Saint or a holiday, which are read or sung during the All-Night Vigil at the time when those praying kiss (attach) the Holy Gospel or the icon of the holiday. The word “canon” is Greek, in Russian it means rule. The canon consists of nine and sometimes fewer parts called "cantos". Each song in turn is divided into several sections (or stanzas), of which the first is called “irmos”. The Irmos are sung and serve as a connection for all the following sections, which are read and called the troparia of the canon. Every canon has a specific subject. For example, in one canon the Resurrection of Christ is glorified, and in another - the Cross of the Lord, the Mother of God or some Saint. Therefore, the canons have special names, for example, "resurrection canon", canon « Life-giving Cross» , "Canon of the Mother of God", "canon to the Saint". In accordance with the main subject of the canon, special refrains are read before each verse. For example, during the Sunday canon the chorus: “Glory to Thee, Our God, glory to Thee...”, at the canon of the Theotokos, chorus: "Most Holy Mother of God, save us".

Liturgical books

First place in number Liturgical books occupy: Gospel, Apostle, Psalter and prophetic books. These books are taken from Holy Scripture – Bible, that's why they're called sacred and liturgical.

Then follow the books: Service Book, Book of Hours, Breviary Book, book of prayer songs, Octoechos, Menaion Menaion, General Menaion, Festive Menaion. Lenten Triodion, Colored Triodion, Typikon or Charter, Irmologium and Canon.

These books were compiled on the basis of Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, by the fathers and teachers of the Church. And they are called church and liturgical.

Gospel- This The Word of God. It consists of the first four books of the New Testament, written by the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Gospel contains a description of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ: His teaching, miracles, suffering on the cross, death, glorious resurrection and His ascension to heaven.

Liturgical Gospel has the peculiarity that, in addition to the usual division into chapters and verses, it is also divided into special sections called “conceptions”. At the end of the book there is an index: when to read this or that.

Apostle is called in church language a book containing the subsequent books of the New Testament: the Acts of the Holy Apostles, the conciliar epistles and the epistles of the Apostle Paul (except for the book of the Apocalypse). The book of the Apostle, like the Gospel, is divided, in addition to chapters and verses, into “conceptions,” with an indication at the end of the book of when and which “conception” to read. Psalter- book of the prophet and king David. It is so called because most of the psalms in it were written by St. prophet David. In these psalms, St. the prophet opens his soul to God, all his joys, sorrows, repents of his sins, glorifies God’s endless perfections, thanks Him for all His mercies and good deeds, asks for help in all his undertakings... That is why the Psalter is used during Divine services more often than all others liturgical books. The book of Psalms for use in Divine services is divided into twenty sections called “kathismas,” and each “kathisma” is divided into three parts, called “glories.”

Book of Prayer Songs contains rites of prayers (prayer chants) for different occasions.

Octoechos or Osmiglasnik contains chants (troparia, kontakion, canons, etc.), divided into eight tunes or “voices.” Each voice, in turn, contains hymns for the entire week, so that the services of the Octoechos are repeated once every eight weeks. The division of church singing into voices was accomplished by the famous hymnist of the Greek Church, St. John of Damascus (VIII century). The Octoechos is attributed to him and compiled, although it should be noted that St. took part in the composition of the Octoechos. Mitrofan, Bishop of Smyrna, St. Joseph the hymnographer and others.

Menaea Menstrual contains prayers in honor of saints for every day of the year and solemn services for the feasts of the Lord and the Mother of God, falling on a specific day of the month. According to the number of 12 months, it is divided into 12 separate books.

Menaea General contains hymns common to a whole group of saints, for example, in honor of prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, etc. It is used during Divine services in the event that a separate service has not been compiled for any saint in the Menaion of the Month.

Menaea Festive contains the services of the Great Holidays, extracted from the Menaion of the Month.

Triodion Lenten contains prayers for the days of Great Lent and for the preparatory weeks for it, starting from the week of the Publican and the Pharisee and until Easter. The word "triode" is Greek and means three songs. This book and the following Triodion Tsvetnaya received this name because they contain incomplete canons, consisting of only three songs, instead of the usual nine songs of the canon.

Triodion Colored contains hymns from the day of Holy Easter to the week of All Saints (i.e., until the 9th Resurrection, counting from the day of Easter).

Irmology contains chants selected from various canons, called irmos (irmos is the initial chant of each song of the canon).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We have already said that liturgy- the main, most important service, during which the Sacrament is performed Eucharist, or Sacrament of Communion. This Sacrament was first performed by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself on the eve of His suffering, on Maundy Thursday. The Savior, having gathered all the apostles together, gave praise to God the Father, took bread, blessed it and broke it. He gave it to the holy apostles with the words: Take, eat: this is My Body. Then He took the cup of wine, blessed it and gave it to the apostles, saying: Drink of it, all of you: for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.(Matthew 26, 28). The Lord also commanded the apostles: Do this in My remembrance(Luke 22:19). Even after the resurrection of Christ and His ascension to Heaven, the apostles performed the Sacrament of Communion. During the Eucharist (Greek. thanksgiving) each time what the Lord did at the Last Supper is actually accomplished. We mysteriously, under the guise of bread and wine, partake of the Divine Himself - Body and Blood of the Savior. He abides in us, and we abide in Him, as the Lord said (see: John 15:5).

The Eucharist is also called A bloodless sacrifice, because she is an image of the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ made for us on Calvary. He accomplished it once, having suffered for the sins of the world, was resurrected and ascended to Heaven, where he sat down at the right hand of God the Father. The sacrifice of Christ was offered once and will not be repeated. With the establishment of the New Testament, Old Testament sacrifices ceased, and now Christians perform the Bloodless Sacrifice in remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ and for the communion of His Body and Blood.

The Old Testament sacrifices were only a shadow, a prototype of the Divine sacrifice. The expectation of the Redeemer, the Liberator from the power of the devil and sin is the main theme of the entire Old Testament, and for us, the people of the New Testament, the sacrifice of Christ, the Savior’s atonement for the sins of the world, is the basis of our faith.

The Holy Gifts are a fire that burns up every sin and every defilement if a person strives to receive communion worthily. We receive communion for the healing of soul and body. When starting communion, you need to do it with reverence and trembling, realizing your weakness and unworthiness. “Although you eat (eat), O man, approach the Master’s Body with fear, so as not to be burned: for there is fire,” says the prayers for Holy Communion.

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes about how the Lord enlightened one young man, Dmitry Shepelev, and showed that the true Body of the Savior is served in Holy Communion: “He was brought up in the Corps of Pages. Once during Great Lent, when the pages were fasting and already beginning the Holy Mysteries, the young man Shepelev expressed to a comrade walking next to him his decisive disbelief that the Body and Blood of Christ should be in the chalice. When the secrets were taught to him, he felt that there was meat in his mouth. Horror seized the young man: he stood beside himself, not feeling the strength to swallow the particle. The priest noticed the change that had taken place in him and ordered him to enter the altar. There, holding a particle in his mouth and confessing his sin, Shepelev came to his senses and used the Holy Mysteries taught to him” (“Fatherland”).

Often, spiritual people and ascetics experienced phenomena of heavenly fire descending on the Holy Gifts during the celebration of the Eucharist. Yes, the Sacrament of Communion, the Eucharist is the greatest miracle and mystery, as well as the greatest mercy for us sinners, and visible evidence that the Lord established a New Covenant with people in His Blood (see: Luke 22:20), sacrificing for us cross, died and rose again, spiritually resurrecting all humanity with Himself. And we can now partake of His Body and Blood for the healing of soul and body, abiding in Christ, and He will “abide in us” (see: John 6:56).

Origin of the liturgy

Since ancient times, the sacrament of communion, the Eucharist, has also received the name liturgy, which is translated from Greek as common cause, common service.

The holy apostles, disciples of Christ, having accepted from their Divine Teacher the commandment to perform the Sacrament of Communion in remembrance of Him, after His Ascension they began to break bread - the Eucharist. Christians continued constantly in the teaching of the Apostles, in fellowship and the breaking of bread and in prayers(Acts 2:42).

The order of the liturgy was formed gradually. At first, the apostles celebrated the Eucharist in the very order that their Teacher taught them. In apostolic times the Eucharist was united with the so-called agape, or meals of love. Christians ate food and were in prayer and fraternal fellowship. After the supper, the breaking of bread and communion of the believers took place. But then the liturgy was separated from the meal and began to be performed as an independent sacred rite. The Eucharist began to be celebrated inside sacred churches. IN I-II centuries The order of the liturgy was apparently not written down and was transmitted orally.

What are the liturgies?

Gradually, different localities began to develop their own liturgical rites. Served in the Jerusalem community Liturgy of the Apostle James. It took place in Alexandria and Egypt Liturgy of the Apostle Mark. In Antioch - the liturgy of Saints Basil the Great and John Chrysostom. All these liturgies are united in their meaning and meaning, but differ in the texts of the prayers that the priest offers during the consecration of the Holy Gifts.

Now in the practice of the Russian Orthodox Church they usually perform three orders of liturgy. These are the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the liturgy of St. Basil the Great and the liturgy of St. Gregory the Great.

This liturgy is celebrated on all days of the year, except for the first five Sundays of Great Lent and weekday Lenten days. Saint John Chrysostom compiled the rite of his liturgy based on the previously compiled liturgy Saint Basil the Great, but shortened some prayers.

Liturgy of St. Basil the Great

According to the legend of Saint Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, Saint Basil the Great asked God “to give him the strength of spirit and mind to perform the liturgy in his own words. After six days of fiery prayer, the Savior appeared to him miraculously and fulfilled his request. Soon Vasily, imbued with delight and divine awe, began to proclaim: “Let my lips be filled with praise,” “Take in, Lord Jesus Christ our God, from Thy Holy Dwelling,” and other prayers of the liturgy.”

Liturgy of St. Basil is being done ten times a year:

on the eve of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany (on the so-called Christmas and Epiphany Christmas Eve), on the day of remembrance of St. Basil the Great on January 1 (January 14, new style), on the first five Sundays of Great Lent, on Holy Thursday and on Holy Saturday.

Liturgy of St. Gregory the Dvoeslov, or Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

During the Holy Pentecost of Great Lent, the service of the full liturgy ceases on weekdays. Lent is a time of repentance, crying over sins, when all festivity and solemnity are excluded from worship. And therefore, according to church rules, on Wednesday and Friday of Lent Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. The Holy Gifts, with which believers receive communion, are consecrated at the Liturgy on Sunday.

In some Local Orthodox Churches, on the day of remembrance of the Holy Apostle James (October 23, old style), a liturgy is served according to his rite.

Sequence and symbolic meaning of the liturgy

The order of performing the full liturgy (that is, not the liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts) is as follows. First, the substance for celebrating the Eucharist is prepared. Then the believers prepare for the Sacrament. And finally, the Sacrament itself is performed - the consecration of the Holy Gifts and the communion of believers. The Divine Liturgy thus has three parts: proskomedia; Liturgy of the Catechumens; Liturgy of the Faithful.

Proskomedia

This word is Greek and translated means bringing. In ancient times, members of the early Christian community themselves brought before the liturgy everything necessary for the Sacrament: bread and wine. The bread used during the liturgy is called prosphora, which means offering(in ancient times, Christians themselves brought bread to the liturgy). In the Orthodox Church, the Eucharist is celebrated on prosphora made from leavened (yeast) dough.

Used for proskomedia five prosphoras in memory of the miraculous feeding of five thousand people by Christ.

For communion, one prosphora (lamb) is used. For the Lord also gave communion to the apostles, breaking and distributing one loaf. The Holy Apostle Paul writes: there is one bread, and we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of one bread(1 Cor 10:17). The Lamb is crushed after the transfiguration of the Holy Gifts, and the clergy and all those preparing for communion receive communion with it. During the liturgy, red grape wine is used, as it resembles the color of blood. Wine is mixed with a small amount of water as a sign that blood and water flowed from the Savior’s pierced rib.

Proskomedia is performed at the very beginning of the liturgy in the altar while the reader is reading the hours. Exclamation "Blessed be our God" pre-reading three o'clock, is also the initial exclamation of the proskomedia. Before the liturgy there is a sequence three and six o'clock.

Proskomedia is a very important part of the Divine Liturgy, and preparation of the Gifts for consecration has a deep symbolic meaning.

Let us remind you: the proskomedia is performed on altar.

From Lamb prosphora priest with a special knife called a copy, cuts out the middle in the shape of a cube. This part of the prosphora has the name Lamb as a sign that the Lord, as the Immaculate Lamb, was slain for our sins. From the bottom of the Lamb is cut crosswise with the words: “The Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world for the worldly belly (life) and salvation.” The priest pierces the right side of the Lamb with a spear, saying the words: one of the soldiers pierced His ribs with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. And he who saw it bore witness, and his testimony is true.(John 19:34-35).

With these words, wine mixed with water is poured into the chalice. The preparation of the Gifts at the proskomedia has several meanings. Here we remember the birth of the Savior, His coming into the world and, of course, the Calvary sacrifice on the Cross, as well as burial.

The cooked Lamb and the particles taken from the four other prosphoras symbolize the entirety of the heavenly and earthly Church. After the Lamb is prepared, it rests on the paten.

The priest takes out a triangular particle from the second prosphora in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos and places it on the right side of the Lamb. From the third prosphora, particles are taken out in honor of Saint John the Baptist, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, saints, unmercenaries, saints whose memory is celebrated by the Church on this day, the parents of the Mother of God, the righteous saints Joachim and Anna, and the saint whose liturgy is celebrated.

From the next two prosphoras, particles are taken out for living and deceased Orthodox Christians.

At the altar at the proskomedia, believers submit notes of health and repose. Particles are also taken out for the people whose names are contained in the notes.

All particles are placed in a certain order on the paten.

The priest, having bowed, places a star on the paten above the Lamb and the particles. The paten marks both the Bethlehem cave and Golgotha, the asterisk marks the star above the cave and the cross. The priest censes special coverings and places them on top of the paten and chalice as a sign that Christ was laid in the tomb and His body was wrapped in shrouds. These swaddling clothes also symbolize the Christmas swaddling clothes.

The meaning of commemoration at the Proskomedia

At the end of the Divine Liturgy, after the communion of the faithful, the priest pours particles taken from the prosphora at the proskomedia into the Holy Chalice with the words: “Wash away, O Lord, the sins of those who were remembered here with Your honest blood, with the prayers of Your saints”.

Prayer at the proskomedia for health and peace, with the removal of particles for them, and then immersing them in the chalice is the highest commemoration in the Church. A Bloodless Sacrifice is made for them. They also participate in the liturgy.

At the relics of St. Theodosius of Chernigov, Hieromonk Alexy (1840-1917), the future elder of the Goloseevsky monastery of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (now glorified as a locally revered saint), bore obedience. He got tired and dozed off at the shrine. Saint Theodosius appeared to him in a dream and thanked him for his efforts. He asked that his parents, Priest Nikita and Mother Maria, be remembered at the liturgy. When Hieromonk Alexy asked the saint how he could ask for the priest’s prayers when he himself stood before the Throne of God, Saint Theodosius said: “The offering at the liturgy is stronger than my prayers.”

Saint Gregory the Dvoeslov tells that after the death of a careless monk who suffered from the love of money, he ordered that thirty funeral liturgies be served for the deceased, and that the brethren should perform common prayer about him. And after the last liturgy, this monk appeared to his brother and said: “Until now, brother, I suffered cruelly and terribly, but now I feel good and I am in the light.”

Liturgy of the Catechumens

The second part of the liturgy is called Liturgy of the Catechumens. In ancient times, people underwent very lengthy preparation to receive holy baptism. They studied the basics of faith, went to church, but they could pray at the liturgy only until the Gifts were transferred from the altar to the throne. The catechumens, as well as the penitents, excommunicated from communion for serious sins, had to go out into the vestibule of the temple.

After the priest exclaimed: “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.”- the choir sings: “Amen.” The peaceful, or great, litany is pronounced. It begins with the words: “Let us pray to the Lord in peace”. The word “in peace” tells us that we must pray in peace, reconciling with our neighbors, only then will the Lord accept our prayers.

The peaceful litany covers all aspects of our existence. We pray: for the peace of the whole world, for the holy churches, for the temple where the service is celebrated, for bishops, presbyters, deacons, for our country, its authorities and soldiers, for the blessing of the air and the abundance of earthly fruits necessary for food. Here we also ask God for help to all those traveling, sick and in captivity.

Liturgy is common cause, and prayer on it is performed collectively, that is, by all believing people, “with one mouth and one heart.” Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them(Matthew 18:20), the Lord tells us. And according to the rules, a priest cannot perform the liturgy alone; at least one person must pray with him.

After Great Litany psalms are sung called antiphons, since they are supposed to be sung in two choirs alternately. The psalms of the prophet David were part of the Old Testament worship and made up a significant part of the hymns in the early Christian service. After the second antiphon, the chant is always sung: “Only Begotten Son...” - about the coming of Christ the Savior into the world, His incarnation and atoning sacrifice. During the singing of the Gospel beatitudes from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, the royal doors are opened and the small entrance is made, or entrance with the Gospel. The priest or deacon, exalting the Gospel, signifying the cross with it at the royal doors, exclaims: “Wisdom, forgive!” Translated from Greek sorry Means directly. This is said as a reminder to us that we need to be attentive in prayer and stand upright.

It also speaks of the wisdom that the Divine Gospel and the preaching of the Lord brings to us, for the Gospel is taken out from the altar as a sign that Christ has come out to preach and bring the Good News to the world.

After singing the troparions dedicated to the holiday given to the day, the saints of the day and the temple are sung Trisagion: “Holy God...” On Christmas, Epiphany, Easter and Paschal week, on the day of the Holy Trinity, as well as on Lazarus and Great Saturdays, instead of the Trisagion, the following is sung: “Those (who) were baptized into Christ (baptized), into Christ put on (put on). Alleluia." In ancient times, catechumens were baptized traditionally on these holidays. On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord and the week of the Veneration of the Cross of Great Lent, instead of the Trisagion, the following is sung: “We bow to Thy Cross, O Master, and glorify Thy holy resurrection.”

For careful reading Apostle And Gospels We are prepared by the cries of “Let us hear” and “Wisdom, forgive us, let us hear the Holy Gospel.” After the Gospel reading, a special (intensified) litany follows, in which, in addition to various prayers for the hierarchy, authorities, the army and all believers, there is a name commemoration of those who submitted their notes to the liturgy: their names are proclaimed by the clergy, and all the people pray with them for health and the salvation of God’s servants, “all who are now remembered here.”

During the special litany, the priest reveals on the throne holy antimension.

After the spoken special litany often added Litany for the Dead. During it, we pray for all our previously deceased fathers, brothers and sisters, asking God to forgive their voluntary and involuntary sins and to place them in heavenly abodes, where all the righteous rest.

Followed by Litany of the Catechumens. Some people find this part of the service confusing. Indeed, the practice of catechumen and preparation for baptism that existed in the ancient Church does not exist now. Today we typically baptize people after one or two conversations. But still, there are still catechumens preparing to accept the Orthodox faith. There are many people who have not yet been baptized, but are drawn to the Church. We pray for them, that the Lord would strengthen their good intentions, reveal to them His “Gospel of Truth” and join them to the Holy Council and Apostolic Church.

Nowadays, there are many people who were once baptized in childhood by their parents or grandmothers, but are completely unenlightened. And that the Lord “announce them with the word of truth” and bring them into the church fence, we need to pray at this litany.

After the words "Catechumens, come forth" those preparing for baptism and those repenting left the church, for the main part of the Divine Liturgy began. With these words, we must look especially carefully into our soul, expel from it all resentment and enmity towards our neighbors, as well as all worldly vain thoughts, in order to pray with full attention and reverence during the Liturgy of the faithful.

Liturgy of the Faithful

This part of the service begins after the call to the catechumens to leave the temple. Two short litanies follow. The choir begins to sing Cherubic song. If we translate it into Russian, it will read like this: “We, mysteriously depicting the Cherubim and singing the Trisagion Hymn to the Life-Giving Trinity, will now put aside care about everything worldly in order to perceive the King of all, Who is surrounded by angelic Forces. Praise God!

This song mentions that the Lord is surrounded by angelic armies who constantly glorify Him. And not only clergy and parishioners pray at the Divine Liturgy. Together with the earthly Church, the heavenly Church celebrates the liturgy.

One day Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky, being a hierodeacon, served the Divine Liturgy. After the small entrance, Seraphim exclaimed at the royal doors: “Lord, save the pious and hear us!” But as soon as he turned to the people, he pointed his orarem at those present and said: “And forever and ever!” - how the beam illuminated him brighter sunlight. Looking at this radiance, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of the Son of Man in glory, shining with indescribable light, surrounded by the Heavenly Forces - Angels, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim.

During the Cherubic Song, the Gifts prepared for consecration are transferred from the altar to the throne.

It's called transference great entrance. The priest and deacon carry the Gifts, leaving the altar by the northern (left) doors. Stopping at the pulpit, in front of the royal doors, turning their faces to the believers, they commemorate His Holiness the Patriarch, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, the priesthood, all those who work and pray in this temple.

After this, the clergy enter the altar through the royal doors, place the Chalice and paten on the throne and cover the Gifts with a special shroud (air). Meanwhile, the choir finishes singing the Cherubic Song. The Great Entrance symbolizes the solemn procession of Christ to His free suffering and death.

Litany, which follows after the transfer of the Gifts, is called supplication and prepares believers for the most important part of the liturgy - the consecration of the Holy Gifts.

After this litany it is sung Symbol of faith. Before all the people sing the Creed, the deacon proclaims: “Doors, doors! Let us sing of wisdom!” In ancient times, these words reminded the gatekeepers that the main and solemn part of the service was beginning, so that they would watch the doors of the temple so that those entering would not disturb decorum. This reminds us that we need to close the doors of our minds from extraneous thoughts.

As a rule, all those praying sing the Creed, confessing their faith in the most important dogmas of the Orthodox Church.

We often have to deal with the fact that godparents, recipients of the Sacrament of baptism, cannot read the Creed. This happens because people do not read morning prayers (they include the Creed) and rarely go to the liturgy. After all, in the church, every Divine Liturgy, all the people confess their faith with one mouth and, of course, know this chant by heart.

The sacrament of the Eucharist, the holy offering, must be offered with the fear of God, with reverence and special attentiveness. Therefore, the deacon proclaims: “Let us become kind, let us become fearful, let us bring holy offerings to the world.” Begins eucharistic canon. Chant "Mercy of peace, sacrifice of praise" is the answer to this call.

The exclamations of the priest alternate with the singing of the choir. During the singing, the priest reads the so-called secret (that is, secretly performed, read not aloud) Eucharistic prayers.

Let us dwell on the main, main prayers of the Eucharistic canon. In the words of the priest, “We thank the Lord!” preparation begins for sanctification, the implementation of honest Gifts. The priest reads the Eucharistic prayer of thanksgiving. It glorifies the benefits of God, especially the redemption of the human race. We thank the Lord for accepting from us the Bloodless Sacrifice in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, although the ranks of angels stand before and serve Him, glorifying Him: “Singing the song of victory, crying out, calling out and speaking.” The priest pronounces these words of prayer in a full voice.

Continuing the Eucharistic prayers, the priest recalls how the Lord Jesus Christ, on the eve of His voluntary suffering, established the Sacrament of Communion of His life-giving Body and Blood. The words of the Savior, heard at the Last Supper, the priest proclaims loudly: “Take, eat, this is My Body, which was broken for you for the remission of sins.”. At the same time, he points to the paten with the Lamb. And further: “Drink of it, all of you, this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.”, - pointing to the Holy Chalice.

Further, remembering all the blessings God has given to people - the Sacrament of Communion itself, His sacrifice on the cross and His glorious Second Coming promised to us - the priest utters an exclamation filled with deep theological meaning: “Thine from Thine is offered to Thee for everyone and for everything”. We dare to offer God these gifts from His creations (bread and wine), making a bloodless sacrifice for all the children of the Church and for all the benefits He has given us. The chorus ends this phrase with the words: “We sing to You, we bless You, we thank You, we pray to You(You), Our God".

While singing these words happens sanctification, transformation prepared bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. The priest prays and prepares for this great moment, reading aloud the troparion of the third hour three times. He asks that God send His Most Holy Spirit on all those who pray and on the Holy Gifts. Then the Holy Lamb signs with the words: “And thou shalt make this bread, the venerable Body of Thy Christ.”. The deacon answers: "Amen". Then he blesses the wine, saying: “And in this Chalice is the precious Blood of Thy Christ”. The deacon answers again: "Amen". Then he marks the paten with the Lamb and the Holy Chalice with the words: "Transformed by Your Holy Spirit". The consecration of the Holy Gifts ends threefold: "Amen, amen, amen". The priests bow to the ground before the Body and Blood of Christ. The Holy Gifts are offered as a bloodless sacrifice for everyone and everything without exception: for all the saints and for the Mother of God, as stated in the exclamation of the priest, which is the end of the priestly prayer: "Considerably(especially) about our Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary". In response to this exclamation, a chant is sung dedicated to the Mother of God: "Worthy to eat". (On Easter and on the twelve feasts, before the dedication, another hymn of the Theotokos is sung - the hymn of honor.)

Next comes the litany, which prepares the faithful for communion and also contains the usual petitions of the litany of petition. After the litany and exclamation of the priest, the Lord’s Prayer is sung (most often by all the people) - "Our Father" .

When the apostles asked Christ to teach them how to pray, He gave them this prayer. In it we ask for everything necessary for life: that everything be God’s will, for our daily bread (and, of course, for the Lord to grant us the opportunity to receive the heavenly bread, His Body), for the forgiveness of our sins and that the Lord will help us overcome all temptations and deliver us from the wiles of the devil.

The priest's exclamation: "Holy to holies!" tells us that we need to approach the Holy Mysteries reverently, sanctifying ourselves with prayer, fasting and cleansing ourselves in the Sacrament of Repentance.

In the altar at this time, the clergy crush the Holy Lamb, receive communion themselves and prepare the Gifts for the communion of the faithful. After this, the royal doors open, and the deacon brings out the Holy Chalice with the words: “Draw with the fear of God and faith”. Opening of the royal gates marks the opening of the Holy Sepulcher, and removal of the Holy Gifts- the appearance of the Lord after His resurrection.

The priest reads the prayer of St. John Chrysostom before holy communion: “ I believe, Lord, and I confess, for You are truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who came into the world to save sinners, from whom I am the first...” And people pray, listening to humble prayer, realizing their unworthiness and bowing before the greatness of the taught shrine. The prayer before communion with the Body and Blood of Christ ends with the words: “I will not kiss Thee, like Judas, but like a thief I will confess Thee: remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom. May the communion of Thy Holy Mysteries be not for judgment and condemnation for me, Lord, but for the healing of soul and body. Amen".

He who receives communion unworthily, without faith, without contrition of heart, having in his heart malice and resentment towards his neighbor, is likened to Judas the traitor, who was one of the twelve disciples, was present at the Last Supper, and then went and betrayed the Teacher.

Everyone who was preparing for communion and received permission from the priest receives communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. After this, the priest brings the Holy Chalice into the altar.

The priest overshadows the worshipers with the holy Chalice with the words: “Always, now and ever and unto ages of ages” and carries it to the altar. This marks the last appearance of the Savior to the disciples and His ascension into heaven.

The deacon pronounces a short litany of thanksgiving, ending with the priest’s prayer behind the pulpit (that is, read in front of the pulpit).

At the end of the liturgy the priest says vacation. On vacation, the Mother of God, the saint whose liturgy was celebrated, and the saints of the temple and the day are usually remembered.

All those praying kiss holy cross, which is held by the priest.

After the liturgy, prayers of thanksgiving for Holy Communion are usually read. If they are not read in church, all those who receive communion read them when they come home.