About Orthodox Services

  • Vespers (in Greek εσπερινός, Esperinos) is the Orthodox evening service. In the Orthodox Church the liturgical day begins in the evening with the setting of the sun. This practice follows the Biblical account of creation:

    “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” (Gen 1:5)

    The Vesper service in the Church always begins with the chanting of the evening psalm:

    “…the sun knows it’s time for setting, Thou makest darkness and it is night…” (Psalm 104: 19)

    This psalm, which glorifies God’s creation of the world, is man’s very first act of worship, for man first of all meets God as Creator.

    “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, 0 Lord my God, Thou art very great … O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all. The earth is full of Thy creatures.” (Ps 104:24)

    Following the psalm, the Great Litany, the opening petition of all liturgical services of the Church is intoned. In it we pray to the Lord for everyone and everything.

    Following this litany a number of psalms are chanted, a different group each evening. These psalms normally are omitted in parish churches though they are done in monasteries. On the eve of Sunday, however, sections of the first psalm and the other psalms which are chanted to begin the week are usually sung even in parish churches. Psalm 141 is always sung at Vespers. During this psalm the evening incense is offered:

    “Lord, I call upon Thee, hear me. Hear me, O Lord. Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense. And let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice. Hear me, O Lord.” (Psalm 141)

    At this point special hymns are sung for the particular day. If it be a Church feast: songs in honor of the celebration are sung. On Saturday evenings, the eve of the Lord’s Day, these hymns always praise Christ’s resurrection from the dead. The special hymns normally end with a song called a Theotokion, which honors Mary, the Mother of Christ.

    Following this, the vesperal hymn is sung. If it be a special feast or the eve of Sunday, the celebrant will come to the center of the church building with lighted candles and incense. This hymn belongs to every Vesper service.

    “O Gladsome Light of the holy glory of the Immortal Father, heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ. Now we have come to the setting of the sun and behold the light of evening. We praise God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For it is right at all times to worship Thee with voices of praise, O Son of God and Giver of Life, therefore all the world glorifies Thee.”

    Christ is praised as the Light, which illumines man’s darkness, the Light of the world and of the Kingdom of God which shall have no evening (Isa 60:20, Rev 21:25).

    A verse from the Psalms, the prokeimenon, follows — a different one for each day, announcing the day’s spiritual theme. If it be a special day, three readings from the Old Testament are included. Then more evening prayers and petitions follow with additional hymns for the particular day, all of which end with the chanting of the Song of St Simeon:

    “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation: which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people. A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and to be the glory of Thy people Israel.” (Lk 1:29-32)

    After proclaiming our own vision of Christ, the Light and Salvation of the world, we say the prayers of the Thrice-Holy (trisagion) through to the Our Father. We sing the main theme song of the day, called the Troparion, and we are dismissed with the usual benediction.

    The service of Vespers takes us through creation, sin, and salvation in Christ. It leads us to the meditation of God’s word and the glorification of His love for men. It instructs us and allows us to praise God for the particular events or persons whose memory is celebrated and made present to us in the Church. It prepares us for the sleep of the night and the dawn of the new day to come. On the eves of the Divine Liturgy, it begins our movement into the most perfect communion with God in the sacramental mysteries.

  • It opens with a censing of the church, a short litany and the reading of six morning psalms. Then follows the intoning of the Great Litany, and immediately after this, verses of Psalm 118 are sung:

    God is the Lord and has revealed himself unto us. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

    The Troparion is then sung and, if it be a monastery, various groups of psalms which differ each day are read. Once again there are hymns on the theme of the particular day. On major feast days, special praises and psalms are sung, which on the Lord’s Day sing of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. On major feasts and on Sundays, the Gospel is also read.

    After the Gospel there is a long intercessory prayer followed by a set of hymns and readings called the Canon. The Canon consists of nine odes, containing verses which are chanted by readers. These verses change depending on what day of the week it is, and on who is commemorated that particular day. Between each ode, special verses are sung. These songs are based on the Old Testamental canticles and conclude with the song of Mary, the so-called Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55).

    My soul magnifies the Lord,and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
    For he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.For behold, from this day all generations will call me blessed;
    For the mighty one has done great things to me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
    He has shown strength with his arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts;
    He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted those of low degree; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.
    He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
    as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.

    The Doxology is chanted followed by the morning litanies. The troparion is also repeated once again before the congregation is dismissed to begin the activities of the day.

    The Matins service of the Church unites the elements of morning psalmody and prayer with meditation on the Biblical canticles, the Gospel reading, and the particular theme of the day in the given verses and hymns. The themes of God’s revelation and light are also always central to the morning service of the Church. Sometimes, particularly in churches of the Russian tradition, the matins and the vesper services are combined to form a long vigil service. On special feast days, the blessing of bread, wheat, wine, and oil is added to the Vespers, even when it is served separately from Matins. The faithful partake of the blessed fold and are anointed with the oil as a sign of God’s mercy and grace.

  • If you come to attend a Vesper service or the Divine Liturgy, chances are that prayers are already read as you enter the Church. These are called the prayers of the Hours. The Hours are four relatively short prayer services of the daily cycle, which are connected with specific hours of the day.

    In ancient times the day was separated into eight watches. The early church used to start each of these watches with a specific service, which made up the daily cycle of services.

    • Vespers (sunset, 6:00 pm) – also known as Esperinos
    • Compline (after dinner, 9:00 pm) – also known as Apodeipnon
    • Midnight Office (midnight, 12:00am) – also known as Mesonyktikon, or Nocturns
    • Matins (early morning, 3:00 am) – also known as Orthros
    • First Hour (daybreak, 6:00am)
    • Third Hour (mid-morning, 9:00am)
    • Sixth Hour (mid-day, 12:00pm)
    • Ninth Hour (mid-afternoon, 3:00pm)

    This full cycle of daily services are rarely done in parishes, but often observed in monasteries. Notice that the Divine Liturgy is not part of the daily cycle, as the Liturgy transcends time and space. By participating in the Divine Liturgy we leave the mere confines of time, and enter into a foretaste of eternity, participating in “the age to come.”

    Although each service of the daily cycle has a particular time traditionally associated with it, in current practice the services are more commonly served together in one of three “aggregations.”

    • The Evening Aggregate usually consists of Ninth Hour, Vespers, and Compline. It commences shortly before sunset.
    • The Dawn Aggregate usually consists of Midnight Office, Matins, and First Hour. It usually begins shortly before sunrise.
    • The Midday Aggregate consists of Third Hour and Sixth Hour. The Divine Liturgy or Typika are often included in the Midday Aggregate.

    Thus you will notice that the First Hour is read immediately following Matins. The Third and Sixth Hour immediately precedes the Divine Liturgy, and the Ninth Hour immediately precedes Vespers.

     

    The Structure of the Hours
    Each service of the Hours follow the same basic structure and format:

    • The service opens with the priest’s exclamation “Blessed is our God…” and the Trisagion Prayers. (Note: this opening sequence is omitted if the service immediately follows another service.)
    •     Three chapters from the Psalter appointed for the particular Hour are read (First Hour: Psalms 5, 89, 100; Third Hour: Psalms 16, 24, 50; Sixth Hour: Psalms 53, 54, 90; Ninth Hour: Psalms 83, 84, 85)
    • The troparion of the day is chanted.
    • The theotokion and Psalm verses of the Hour are chanted.
    • The Trisagion Prayers are prayed.
    • The kontakion appointed for the Hour is chanted.
    • The P    rayer of the Hours: “Thou Who at all times and at every hour…” is prayed.
    • The final prayer appointed for the Hour is prayed.
    • The priest gives the final blessing and offers the Little Dismissal. (Note: this is omitted if another service will immediately follow.)

  • The Divine Liturgy

    The word liturgy means common work or common action. The Divine Liturgy is the common work of the Orthodox Church. It is the official action of the Church formally gathered together as the chosen People of God. The word church, as we may know, means a gathering or assembly of people specifically chosen and called apart to perform a particular task.

    The Divine Liturgy is the common action of Orthodox Christians officially gathered to constitute the Orthodox Church. It is the action of the Church assembled by God in order to be together in one community to worship, to pray, to sing, to hear God’s Word, to be instructed in God’s commandments, to offer itself with thanksgiving in Christ to God the Father, and to have the living experience of God’s eternal kingdom through communion with the same Christ Who is present in his people by the Holy Spirit.

    The Divine Liturgy is always done by Orthodox Christians on the Lord’s Day which is Sunday, the “day after Sabbath” which is symbolic of the first day of creation and the last day—or as it is called in Holy Tradition, the eighth day—of the Kingdom of God. This is the day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, the day of God’s judgment and victory predicted by the prophets, the Day of the Lord which inaugurates the presence and the power of the “kingdom to come” already now within the life of this present world.

    The Divine Liturgy is also celebrated by the Church on special feast days. It is usually celebrated daily in monasteries, and in some large cathedrals and parish churches, with the exception of the week days of Great Lent when it is not served because of its paschal character.

    As the common action of the People of God, the Divine Liturgy may be celebrated only once on any given day in an Orthodox Christian community. All of the members of the Church must be gathered together with their pastor in one place at one time. This includes even small children and infants who participate fully in the communion of the liturgy from the day of their entrance into the Church through baptism and chrismation. Always everyone, always together. This is the traditional expression of the Orthodox Church about the Divine Liturgy.

    Because of its common character, the Divine Liturgy may never be celebrated privately by the clergy alone. It may never be served just for some and not for others, but for all. It may never be served merely for some private purposes or some specific or exclusive intentions. Thus there may be, and usually are, special petitions at the Divine Liturgy for the sick or the departed, or for some very particular purposes or projects, but there is never a Divine Liturgy which is done exclusively for private individuals or specific isolated purposes or intentions. The Divine Liturgy is always “on behalf of all and for all.”

    Because the Divine Liturgy exists for no other reason than to be the official all-inclusive act of prayer, worship, teaching, and communion of the entire Church in heaven and on earth, it may not be considered merely as one devotion among many, not even the highest or the greatest. The Divine Liturgy is not an act of personal piety. It is not a prayer service. It is not merely one of the sacraments. The Divine Liturgy is the one common sacrament of the very being of the Church Itself. It is the one sacramental manifestation of the essence of the Church as the Community of God in heaven and on earth. It is the one unique sacramental revelation of the Church as the mystical Body and Bride of Christ.

    As the central mystical action of the whole church, the Divine Liturgy is always resurrectional in spirit. It is always the manifestation to his people of the Risen Christ. It is always an outpouring of the life-creating Spirit. It is always communion with God the Father. The Divine Liturgy, therefore, is never mournful or penitential. It is never the expression of the darkness and death of this world. It is always the expression and the experience of the eternal life of the Kingdom of the Blessed Trinity.

    The Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Orthodox Church is called the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. It is a shorter liturgy than the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great that is used only ten times during the Church Year. These two liturgies probably received their present form after the ninth century. It is not the case that they were written exactly as they now stand by the saints whose names they carry. It is quite certain, however, that the eucharistic prayers of each of these liturgies were formulated as early as the fourth and fifth centuries when these saints lived and worked in the Church.

    The Divine Liturgy has two main parts. The first part is the gathering, called the synaxis. It has its origin in the synagogue gatherings of the Old Testament, and is centered in the proclamation and meditation of the Word of God. The second part of the Divine Liturgy is the eucharistic sacrifice. It has its origin in the Old Testament temple worship, the priestly sacrifices of the People of God; and in the central saving event of the Old Testament, the Passover (Pascha).

    In the New Testament Church Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God, and it is the Christian gospels and apostolic writings which are proclaimed and meditated at the first part of the Divine Liturgy. And in the New Testament Church, the central saving event is the one perfect, eternal and all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the one great High Priest who is also the Lamb of God slain for the salvation of the world, the New Passover. At the Divine Liturgy the faithful Christians participate in the voluntary self-offering of Christ to the Father, accomplished once and for all upon the Cross by the power of the Holy Spirit. In and through this unique sacrifice of Christ, the faithful Christians receive Holy Communion with God.

    For centuries it was the practice of the Church to admit all persons to the first part of the Divine Liturgy, while reserving the second part strictly for those who were formally committed to Christ through baptism and chrismation in the Church. Non-baptized persons were not permitted even to witness the offering and receiving of Holy Communion by the faithful Christians. Thus the first part of the Divine Liturgy came to be called the Liturgy of the Catechumens, that is, the liturgy of those who were receiving instructions in the Christian Faith in order to become members of the Church through baptism and chrismation. It also came to be called, for obvious reasons, the Liturgy of the Word. The second part of the Divine Liturgy came to be called the Liturgy of the Faithful.

    Although it is generally the practice in the Orthodox Church today to allow non-Orthodox Christians, and even non-Christians, to witness the Liturgy of the Faithful, it is still the practice to reserve actual participation in the sacrament of Holy Communion only to members of the Orthodox Church who are fully committed to the life and teachings of the Orthodox Faith as preserved, proclaimed and practiced by the Church throughout its history.

  • It is common in the Orthodox Church to make special requests for the service of Moliebens and Panikhidas.

    A Molieben is an intercessory service conducted by a priest, asking our Saviour, the Mother of God, or one of the saints for assistance with a specific matter (e.g. illness, family difficulties, employment, travel, etc.). This service can be offered in behalf of the living (Orthodox and non-Orthodox). This type of supplicatory service is known as a Paraklisis in the Greek Orthodox Church.

    A Panikhida is a prayer service offered by a priest for the repose of the soul of an Orthodox Christian who has departed this life. Customarily a Panikhida is served on the third, ninth, and fortieth day after the repose of the Orthodox Christian, and every year on the anniversary of the repose. The Panikhida is essentially the same as memorial services offered in Orthodox Churches outside the Russian tradition, known variously as the parastas, pannychis, or in abbreviated form as the “Trisagion for the Dead.” Only departed Orthodox Christians are commemorated at a Panikhida.

    It is also not uncommon for family and friends of the departed to make Koliva for a Panikhida. Koliva is essentially boiled kernels of wheat mixed with dried fruit and nuts. It can also be sweetened with sugar and spices – covered with powdered sugar to resemble a tomb or grave. The wheat in the Koliva is symbolic of death and resurrection, according to the words of the Gospel:

    Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)

    Wheat which is planted in the earth and rises in new life is symbolic of those beloved departed who have died in the hope of resurrection, in accordance with the words of Saint Paul:

    So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body….(I Corinthians 15:42-44)

    This symbolism has its highest expression in the Saints, whose blessed state in heaven have been manifested to the world. For this reason, Koliva is blessed not only at memorials for the departed, but also at times in commemoration of saints.