A Practical Handbook for Divine Services - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0884651916 ISBN 13: 9780884651918

Publisher: The Printshop of St Job of Pochaev, 2011

Synopsis

The services and prayer texts of the Orthodox Church are ancient and inspirational, and this invaluable reference guides priests, deacons, servers, readers, and singers in the customs and practices of the church. Including serving the altar and offering worship services, the handbook explains to all laity who desire a further understanding of the church’s Typicon—the rule that governs how divine worship is offered—touching upon a variety of topics, including the Hours, Vespers, Vigil, Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and the Presanctified Liturgy. Drawn from Russian resources, this guide also explores the differences found in Greek usage.

About this title

About the Author

Gregory W. Woolfenden was a noted liturgical scholar who taught at Ripon College, Oxford, and at the Yale Theological Seminary in New Haven, Connecticut. Originally a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, he left that Church to join the Orthodox Church, where he served as a priest, first in the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh in the U.K. and later in the Ukranian Orthodox Church in the USA. At the time of his death in 2008, he was the parish priest of the Nativity of the Mother of God, Ukranian Orthodox Church in New Britain, Connecticut. He is the author of several books, including Daily Liturgical Prayer: Origins and Theology and Joyful Light.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

A Practical Handbook for Divine Services

By Gregory Woolfenden

Holy Trinity Publications

Copyright © 2011 Holy Trinity Monastery
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-88465-191-8

Contents

Introduction, 
1. Little Vespers and the All-Night Vigil, 
2. The Third and Sixth Hours, 
3. The Divine Liturgy According to the Order of St John Chrysostom, 
4. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, 
Appendix 1 Vestment Colors, 
Appendix 2 A Complete Collection of Canon Responses, 
Appendix 3 Notes for Concelebration by Priests in the Absence of a Bishop, 
Notes, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Little Vespers and the All-Night Vigil

1. Tolling the Bell

Toward sunset, the server comes to the Rector for the signal that it is the time to ring the bell for divine service. Having received a blessing, he goes and carries out the duty of tolling the bell as laid down in the order of the Church Typikon. The toll for Little Vespers is rung on the small bell and lasts as long as is takes the ringer to read Psalm 50 or the Creed three times; then, after a short pause, he rings a little chime with the small bell and the chiming bells.

2. The Ninth Hour

When it is time for the reading of the Ninth Hour, the priest serving comes to church and vests in a stole. Having vested, the priest stands in the narthex (if the Ninth Hour is being read there), or on the ambo before the holy doors (if the Ninth Hour is served in the church) and pronounces the initial exclamation: Blessed is our God, always now and ever, and to the ages of ages.

3. The Normal Beginning

The reader begins the order for the reading of the Ninth Hour by answering Amen. He then says the prayers of the Normal Beginning: Glory to Thee, O Lord ..., O heavenly King ..., Holy God ..., Glory ..., Both now ..., All-holy Trinity ..., Lord have mercy (three times), Glory ..., Both now ..., Our Father. ... The priest pronounces the usual exclamation: For Thine is the kingdom. ... The reader answers: Amen. He continues to read the Ninth Hour with Lord have mercy (twelve times), Glory, now and ever. O come let us worship ..., and Psalms 83, 84, and 85. Glory ..., now and ever. Alleluia (three times). Lord have mercy (three times). Glory. ... The troparion appointed for the day (or of the feast or saint). Both now ..., the Theotokion of the hour: Thou Who for our sake ..., the verse of the hour: Forsake us not utterly ..., and the Trisagion Prayers.

4. The priest pronounces the usual exclamation: For Thine is the kingdom. ... The reader: Amen and the kontakion appointed for the day. Lord have mercy (forty times). Thou Who at all times. ... Lord have mercy (three times). Glory, Both now and ever. More honorable. ... In the name of the Lord, father, give the blessing. The priest responds: God be merciful to us and bless us. ... The reader says Amen and reads the Prayer of the Ninth Hour: O Sovereign, Lord Jesus Christ our God....

5. If the service is celebrated in the narthex, then the Lesser Dismissal is now given. The priest: Glory to Thee, O Christ our God and our Hope, glory to Thee. The people (choir): Glory ..., Both now. Lord have mercy (three times). Give the blessing. And the priest says the dismissal: May Christ our true God, through the prayers of His most pure Mother, of our venerable and God-loving fathers and all the saints, have mercy and save us, for He is good and loves mankind. The people answer this by singing Lord have mercy three times, and all (priest, reader, choir, brethren, and laity) leave the narthex and enter the church, where Little Vespers is begun.

6. If the service of the Ninth Hour is held in the church, then the dismissal is omitted and Little Vespers is begun immediately after the Prayer of the Ninth Hour.

7. Little Vespers

The priest, standing before the holy doors, begins by saying: Blessed is our God, always, now and ever and to the ages of ages. The reader: Amen. O come let us worship ..., and he reads Psalm 103 (the evening psalm) Bless the Lord, O my soul ... in a quiet and tender voice. After the psalm: Glory ..., Both now ..., Alleluia (three times), Lord have mercy (three times). Glory ..., Both now ..., and immediately they sing Lord I have cried in the tone of the Sunday. The first choir sings the verse: Lord, I have cried (as at Great Vespers), the second choir Let my prayer. ... The ensuing verses of Psalms 140, 141, and 129 are omitted. Having sung the verse From the morning watch ..., the first sticheron from the Octoechos is sung by the first choir. The second choir sings For with the Lord there is mercy ... and the second sticheron. The first choir sings Praise the lord all ye nations ... and the third sticheron. The second choir sings For mighty is his merciful kindness ... and the fourth sticheron. Then is sung Glory ..., Both now ..., and the so-called Lesser Theotokion, a sticheron in honor of the Mother of God, which is found in the order of Little Vespers in the Octoechos, immediately after which the reader reads: O Jesus Christ, Thou gentle light ..., after which the priest and the choir sing the prokeimenon.

8. The evening prokeimenon The Lord is King is proclaimed by the priest, two and a half times (and not four and a half as at Great Vespers). The priest: Let us attend. Peace be with you all (at these words, turning toward the people, the priest blesses them). Wisdom! Let us attend. Prokeimenon in the sixth tone: The Lord is King, and has put on glorious apparel. The first choir sings in the sixth tone: The Lord is King. ... The priest, the verse: The Lord has put on His apparel: and girded Himself with strength. The second choir sings: The Lord is King ... in the same tone. The priest sings the first half of the prokeimenon: The Lord is King. The first choir completes the second half of the prokeimenon: And has put on glorious apparel.

9. Immediately after the prokeimenon, the reader begins Vouchsafe, O Lord ... and after this are sung the Aposticha.

10. The Aposticha are found in the Octoechos, in the order for Little Vespers of the Sunday in the appointed tone. The first choir begins to sing the first resurrection sticheron. Then the second choir sings the verse: The memory of His name is from age to age and the first verse of the stichera to the Mother of God of the Octoechos. The first choir sings the verse: Hearken O daughter ... and the second verse to the Mother of God. The second choir sings the verse: Thy face ... and the third verse to the Mother of God. The first choir: Glory ..., Both now ..., and the Theotokion for Little Vespers in the Octoechos (of the Aposticha). Immediately after this has been sung, the reader begins: Lord, now lettest ThouThy servant depart in peace ... and the Trisagion Prayers. The priest, the normal exclamation: For Thine is the kingdom. ... The first choir sings Amen and the Resurrection Troparion, the second choir: Glory ..., Both now ..., and the Theotokion of the Resurrection Troparion.

11. Then the priest, on the ambo, pronounces the Lesser (shortened) Litany of Fervent Supplication, which has just four petitions.

Priest: Have mercy on us. ... People: Lord, have mercy (three times), Priest: Again we pray for his holiness. ... People: Lord, have mercy (three times), Priest: Again we pray for this country. ... People: Lord, have mercy (three times), Priest: Again we pray for all the brethren and all Christians. ... People: Lord, have mercy (three times). And the priest the exclamation: For Thou, O God, art merciful. ... People: Amen.

12. And immediately Little Vespers is closed with the Lesser Dismissal. Priest: Glory to Thee. ... People: Glory ..., Both now ..., Lord, have mercy (three times), Give the blessing.

The priest pronounces the dismissal in the same way as at the Hours, Compline, and the Midnight Office: May Christ our true God, through the prayers of His most pure mother ... and the choir sing the Many Years: To our great Lord and Father. ...

13. In monasteries, the evening meal is served after the dismissal of Little Vespers and the Many Years, with the appointed order of prayers.

ALL-NIGHT VIGIL

14. Tolling the Bell

As with all divine services in the church, the All-Night Vigil begins with the ringing of the bells. "Not long after the setting of the sun" (Typikon, Chapter 2), having sought and obtained from the Rector of the church the required blessing, the ringer begins the blagovest (single toll) and then the trezvon (chime), by which means the faithful are called to prayer. The blagovest before the beginning of the All-Night Vigil for Sunday is made on the Sunday bell (see above) and is accompanied by the recitation of the seventeenth kathisma, Blessed are the blameless, or a reading of Psalm 50 twelve times, that will last for half an hour. Then, after a short pause, the trezvon is rung on all the bells, excluding only the largest, the so-called "festal" bell.

15. The Vesting of the Clergy

At the appropriate hour, the clergy go to the church for the evening service. Making three bows from the waist, they enter the sanctuary through the south door and bow down three times before the altar, and begin vesting. The priest takes the stole and the deacon the stikharion (podriznik), and they make three bows toward the high place saying (quietly): O God, cleanse me, a sinner, and have mercy on me, repeating these words at each bow. Then the deacon, holding the stikharion in his right hand with the stole, comes to the priest and, bowing his head, says to him: Bless Master, the robe and the stole. The priest blesses, saying: Blessed be our God. ... The deacon answers Amen, and kissing the cross on the stikharion and the hand that gave the blessing, moves away from the priest and puts on the stikharion. Then, taking the stole and kissing the cross on it, he places it on his left shoulder. Furthermore, taking the cuffs and also kissing the cross on them, he puts them on over his hands.

16. The priest, having bowed to the high place, takes the stole with the left hand and blesses it, saying: Blessed be our God ..., and, kissing the cross on the stole, puts it on. Then, blessing and kissing the crosses on them, the priest vests in the cuffs and phelonion.

Having vested, the deacon takes the covering off the altar. Then the priest and the deacon stand before the holy altar and make three bows with the words: God, cleanse me a sinner and have mercy upon me, and they kiss the edge of the altar. When the clergy reverence the altar, the server takes the already lit censer, gives it to the deacon, and the deacon gives it to the priest. Placing incense in the censer, the priest blesses the censer, quietly saying the prayer of the censer: We offer Thee incense. ... The deacon now opens the curtain and the holy doors. Taking the lit deacon's candle from the server, and holding it in his left hand while holding the stole in his right, he stands at the altar, opposite the priest, and they begin the censing. Although the Typikon orders the practice of censing "crosswise," now it is simply a threefold incensation. It should be mentioned that when the deacon gives the censer to the priest and when the priest gives the censer back to the deacon, the latter always kisses the priest's hand. Thus, prayerfully following this order, the priest and deacon, in silence, begin the censing of the holy sanctuary.

17. Censing the Sanctuary

Beginning by censing the altar, the priest stands before the altar (i.e., at the west side) and bowing, censes it three times, the deacon standing opposite the priest holding the candle (on the east side of the altar, i.e., between the seven-branched lamp stand and the high place). As the priest bows, the deacon responds each time by also bowing from the waist. The priest then goes to the south side of the table and the deacon to the north side, and the altar is again censed three times with bows. The priest censes the altar in exactly the same way from the east side (the deacon going to the west side of the table) and then from the north side (the deacon standing at the south side of the altar). Then the priest censes the altar cross and icon and the high place (and any icon located there). After this, the priest stands before the holy preparation table, and, as the deacon stands to the south of the preparation table, he censes it. All this censing is done in strokes of three. Moving to the high place, the priest begins censing the icons in the sanctuary. From the high place, he censes the icons on the west wall of the sanctuary, beginning with the icon above the holy doors, and then if there are such, the icons on the west wall to the south of the holy doors and then those to the north. After that, moving to the south part of the sanctuary, he incenses the icons that are there, i.e., on the south wall of the sanctuary. Then, moving through the high place to the north part of the sanctuary, he incenses the icons on the north sanctuary wall. After this, the priest and deacon again move to the high place and, standing there, cense the assisting clergy, first in the south part of the sanctuary, and then the north. If the Rector of the church is presiding at the vigil but a junior priest is carrying out the censing, then before he censes the clergy in the south part of the sanctuary, he first censes the Rector. Each of the assisting clergy responds to the censing with a bow from the waist.

18. The Opening Exclamation of Great Vespers

After the censing, the deacon, with the candle, goes out of the holy doors onto the solea, and the priest now stands before the holy altar with the censer in his hand. On the solea, looking toward the worshippers in the church (i.e., facing west), the deacon calls out in a loud voice Arise! and then, turning to face the altar: Master, give the blessing. The priest makes a sign of the cross before the holy altar with the censer, exclaiming: Glory to the holy, consubstantial....

19. At the words: Glory to the holy, he lifts the censer up. At the word consubstantial, he lowers it. At lifegiving, he moves it to the right (his left), and at the words and undivided Trinity to the left (the priest's right). At the words: always, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages, the priest censes the holy table three times. The deacon, meanwhile, returns to the sanctuary and stands behind the holy altar facing the priest. The people (choir) respond to the priest's exclamation: Amen.

20. The priest and the deacon, and also all the assisting clergy standing within the sanctuary, begin to sing, as the priest censes before the altar: O come, let us worship God our King, as required by the Typikon, in a low voice: O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ, our King and our God; a bit louder: O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ Himself, our King and our God in a loud voice; and then in a special way: O come, let us worship and fall down before Him.

21. The Introductory Psalm

The first choir immediately begins to sing the introductory psalm, Psalm 103, starting: Bless the Lord, O my soul and the response: Blessed art Thou, O Lord. The second choir: Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, Thou art exceeding great, and the response: Blessed art Thou, O Lord. The first choir, the verse: Thou coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, and the response: Blessed art Thou, O Lord. The second choir, the verse: He makes His angels spirits: and His ministers a flame of fire, and the second response: Wonderful are thy works, O Lord. The first choir, the verse: The waters stand on the hills, and the response: Wonderful are Thy works, O Lord. The second choir, the verse: The waters run among the hills, and the response: Wonderful. ... The first choir, the verse: In wisdom hast Thou made them all, and the response: May the glory of the Lord endure for ever.

22. The Censing of the Church

During the singing of the opening psalm, the priest with the censer and the deacon with the lit candle go out of the sanctuary and make a full censing of the church. To begin, the deacon goes to the solea, before the holy doors, while the priest, facing the doors as he also goes out of the sanctuary, censes the south leaf of the doors. Then he censes the other. Each time he censes, he and the deacon bow. Then the priest goes out onto the solea and, preceded by the deacon, begins to cense the iconostasis, the klirosy, the people, and the whole church. He begins, standing on the solea before the holy doors, and censes them, and then the icons that are above them. He then censes the icon of the Savior, of the saint of the church, and of the ones that follow, i.e., all on the right side of the iconostasis. Returning to the holy doors, he censes the icon of the Mother of God, and the neighboring icons, i.e., those on the left side of the iconostasis. All this is done turned to the east, toward the altar. Now turning around before the holy doors, he censes the right kliros and those in the choir there, turning around with his face toward the west, toward the people, he censes the left kliros, and then, turning again toward the people, he censes them (from the south to the west, and from the west to the north). The priest and the deacon then descend to the icon of the feast (lying on an analoy in the center of the church); it is censed three times, and, beginning from the right kliros and going around the church to his left, the priest censes the icons on the walls (and on the pillars) of the church, and also the people present, who respond as they are reverenced with a bow (he also censes those in the narthex).

(Continues...)

Excerpted from A Practical Handbook for Divine Services by Gregory Woolfenden. Copyright © 2011 Holy Trinity Monastery. Excerpted by permission of Holy Trinity Publications.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: The Printshop of St Job of Pochaev
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0884651916
• ISBN 13: 9780884651918
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 168
• Editor: Woolfenden Gregory W.