Evening service and all-night vigil of distinction. All-night vigil in church

All-night vigil. Semantic explanation.

A person who comes to an evening service often does not understand what is happening, he hears prayers that are incomprehensible to him, sees incomprehensible actions on the part of the priest. This handout will be of great help in understanding the entire Evening Service.

The All-Night Vigil consists of two parts: Great Vespers and Matins.

Part I THE GREAT EVENING

The altar means paradise. At the beginning of Great Vespers, the Royal Gates are opened, the open Royal Gates symbolize paradise.

In the Bible we read that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but the earth was unsettled and the Life-giving Spirit of God was hovering over it in silence, as if pouring living forces into it.

The beginning of the All-night Vigil - Great Vespers just meansWORLD CREATION, the beginning of Vespers - takes us to this beginning of creation: the service begins with the silent cruciform censing of the Throne. This action is an image of the flow of the Holy Spirit in the bosom of the Holy Trinity.

Initial exclamation.

After the censing, the priest stands in front of the altar and makes a cross in the air in front of the altar with a censer, proclaims: "Glory to the saints, the Consubstantial, the Life-giving, and the Inseparable Trinity, always, now and forever, and forever and ever."

The meaning of these words and actions is that the priest, with his exclamation, confesses the beginning and the Creator of everything - the consubstantial and life-giving Trinity. Making the sign of the cross with a censer at this time, the priest shows that through the Cross of Jesus Christ Christians were able to partially see the mystery of the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

After the exclamation "Glory to the Saints ..." the clergy glorify the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, chanting in the altar: "Come, let us worship our Tsar God ... Christ Himself, Tsar and our God."

An initial psalm.

The chorus then sings the 103rd, “The Primordial Psalm,” beginning with the words: “Bless the Lord, my soul,” and ending with the words: “You have created all wisdom!” This psalm is a hymn about the universe created by God - the visible and invisible world. The main feeling that permeates this psalm is the admiration of a person contemplating the beauty and harmony of the world created by God.

During the singing of this psalm, the censing of the entire temple is performed with the royal doors open. This action was introduced by the Church in order to remind believers about the creation hovering over God's creation.The Holy Spirit. Censing at this moment symbolizes the Holy Spirit, who filled the whole world, the entire universe with Himself during the Creation of the World. Also, Censing, or rather censer smoke, also symbolizes our prayers addressed to God.The open royal gates symbolize at this moment paradise, that is, the state of direct communication of people with God, in which the first people were.

Great litany

Litany is a collection of short prayer requests-appeals to the Lord about the earthly and spiritual needs of believers. Litany is a particularly fervent prayer that is recited on behalf of all believers. The choir, also on behalf of all those present at the service, responds to these petitions with the words “Lord, have mercy.

In the peaceful litany, the Church prays for peace in the whole world, for the unification of all Christians, for her native country, for the temple in which this divine service is taking place; ...

Blessed is the husband.

Blessed is the husband As if God's answer to the Great Litany sounds again the biblical psalm. This psalm - "Blessed is the man" - the first one found in the book of psalms, the Psalter, is, as it were, an indication and warning of believers against erroneous, sinful ways of life.

Psalm "Lord, I have cried" and incense.

What is the meaning of this incense?

The Church gives the answer in the already mentioned words of the psalm: "May my prayer be corrected, like a censer before You ..."

The smoke of incense rising upward symbolizes the prayers of believers rising to heaven. When a deacon or priest censing is censed in the direction of the praying person, he tilts his head in response as a sign that he accepts the incense in his direction as a reminder that the prayer of a believer should as easily ascend to heaven like incense smoke. Censing in the direction of the worshipers also reveals the profound truth that the Church sees in every person the image and likeness of God, a living icon of God.

Stichera are church songs composed in honor of a holiday or saint. Therefore, special songs are sung that reveal the essence of the holiday, the memory of which is celebrated on this day.

Small entrance

At the last stichera, the royal gates open as a sign that paradise, in the sense of communication between man and God, closed by Adam's sin, is reopened by the coming to earth of Jesus Christ. At this time, the "small" entrance is made. Through the side door of the iconostasis, the priest comes out following the deacon or sexton with candles, just as the Son of God appeared to people before John the Baptist. This entrance denotes the quiet and humble appearance of Christ not in His Glory, but imperceptibly to the world around.

Therefore, the singing of the prayer "Quiet Light" begins immediately

"Quiet Light" is known as the "evening song", as it is sung at all evening services.

This chant denotes the quiet, imperceptible, evening appearance of Christ in this world.

According to legend, the Prayer "Quiet Light" was pronounced by the martyr Athenogen in the 3rd century during his procession to the fire. Subsequently, this prayer became part of the evening service.

Following the chanting of "Quiet Light", the serving clergy from the altar proclaims a series of small words: "let us hear," "peace to all," "wisdom."

"Let us listen" is a form of the verb "listen." In Russian, we would say "we will be attentive", "we will listen."

"Peace to all" - the blessing of Christ to those who pray through the priest.

Augmented litany

Augmented litany is an intensified litany, to which the choir sings Lord have mercy three times for each petition.

Prayer "Grant me, Lord"

After the augmented litany, the prayer "Grant me, Lord, this evening" is read or sung.

This prayer is for the sending of a sinless evening, a request for the grant of mercy, admonition, as well as the evening glorification of the Most Holy Trinity.

Supplicatory litany

Following the reading of the prayer "Grant me, Lord," the final litany of Vespers - "supplication", is offered. In the supplicatory litany, there is a prayer for prosperity in the spiritual life, i.e. about how to end this day without sin, about the Guardian Angel, about the forgiveness of sins, about a calm Christian end and about being able to give Christ a correct account of his life at the Last Judgment.

The choir responds to each petition with "God grant"

Head adoration

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

Lithium

At this time, a table with a vessel with five loaves of bread, wheat, wine and oil is set up in the middle of the temple, which are then consecrated in memory of the ancient custom of distributing food to those who pray, who sometimes came from afar, so that they can refresh themselves during the long services that lasted "all-night." that is, all night. In modern liturgical practice, the blessed loaves, cut into small pieces, are distributed when the worshipers are anointed. The rite of blessing the loaves goes back to the liturgical practice of the first Christians and is a remnant of the first Christian "Vespers of Love" - \u200b\u200b"Agapa", when Christians gathered, dined and prayed, performing divine services.

Five loaves of bread are blessed in memory of the Savior's saturation with five loaves of 5000 listeners of His sermon. The priest then anoints the worshipers with the consecrated oil after applying it to the festive icon at Matins.

Prayer "Now let go"

Translation into Russian. “Now you release (me) Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word, in peace; for my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all nations - the light to the illumination of the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel. "

This is the doxology uttered by St. Simeon the God-receiver, when he received the Infant Christ Christ in his arms in the Jerusalem temple on the fortieth day after His Nativity. In this prayer, the Old Testament elder thanks God for allowing him to see Salvation (Christ) before death, which was given by God for the glory of Israel and for the enlightenment of the Gentiles and the whole world.

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

Next On Sunday Vespers the troparion of the Mother of God is sung three times"Mother of God, Virgin, rejoice." This troparion is sung at the end of Sunday Vespers because the joy of the Resurrection of Christ was proclaimed after the joy of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that She would give birth to the Son of God. The words of this troparion consist mainly of an angelic greeting to the Mother of God.

The priest finishes the first part of the All-night Vigil - Vespers - from the pulpit, teaching the worshipers the ancient blessing on behalf of the incarnate Jesus Christ with the words "The blessing of the Lord is upon you, with grace and philanthropy always, now and forever and forever and ever."

Part II. MORNING

Six Psalms

Matins, performed in the context of the All-night Vigil, immediately begins with the reading of the Six Psalms, that is, the six selected psalms, namely 3, 37, 62, 87, 102 and 142, read in that order. The reading of the Six Psalms is preceded by two biblical texts: the Bethlehem angelic doxology - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill in men", which is read three times.

According to the charter, during the reading of the Six Psalms, the candles in the church are extinguished. The onset of darkness, which marks the deep night in which Christ came to earth, glorified by the angelic singing: "Glory to God in the highest." The twilight of the temple promotes greater prayer concentration.

At this time, the worshipers stand straight to line, making the sign of the cross only to the words "Glory to the Father and the Son ...", in the middle of the six psalms and at the end, as a sign of concentration and depth of the content of the prayers.

The Six Psalms contains a whole range of experiences that illuminate New Testament Christian life - not only its general joyful mood, which is contained in the first three psalms, but also the mournful path to this joy, contained in the last three psalms.

In the middle of the Six Psalms, during the beginning of the reading of the 4th, the most mournful psalm filled with mortal bitterness, the priest leaves the altar and in front of the royal doors silently continues to read 12 special prayers. At this moment, the priest, as it were, symbolizes Christ, Who heard the grief of fallen mankind and not only descended, but also shared its sufferings to the end, which are spoken of in Psalm 87 being read at this time.

The "morning" prayers, which the priest reads to himself, contains a prayer for the Christians standing in the church, a request to forgive them their sins, to give sincere faith in unhypocritical love, to bless all their deeds and to honor the Kingdom of Heaven.

Great litany

Sunday troparion

After the Peaceful, or as it is also called the "Great" litany, the song from the 117th psalm sounds - "God is the Lord, and appear to us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." The church charter appointed the singing of these words precisely in this place of Matins in order to direct our thought to the remembrance of Christ's entry into public service. This verse, as it were, continues the glorification of the Savior, begun at the beginning of Matins during the reading of the Six Psalms. Singing verses "God the Lord and appeared to us ..." gives us a joyful, solemn mood. Therefore, the candles that were extinguished during the reading of the penitent Six Psalms are re-lit.

Immediately after the verses "God the Lord" is sung the Sunday troparion, which tells about the sufferings of Christ and His resurrection from the dead - events that will be illuminated in the future.

Kathisma

Kathismas are the expression of a repentant, contemplative spirit. They call for meditation on sins and are accepted by the Orthodox Church into its divine services so that those who listen to them delve into their own lives, into their deeds and deepen their repentance before God.

On Saturday nights, the 2nd and 3rd kathismas are usually read, they are of a prophetic nature. They describe the suffering of Christ: the mockery of Him, the perforation of His hands and feet, the stripping of His clothes with the casting of lots, His death and resurrection from the dead.

The kathismas at the Sunday Vigil lead the worshipers to the central and most solemn part of the divine service - to the "polyeleos".

Polyeleos

“Praise the name of the Lord. Hallelujah". These and the following words, taken from the 134th and 135th Psalms, begin the most solemn moment of the Sunday All-night Vigil - "polyeleos" - dedicated to the remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ.

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

Sunday troparia "Blessed art thou, Lord, teach me thy justification .."

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

This moment in the gospel story is celebrated in the culminating part of the entire Vigil - in the reading of the Sunday Gospel. Which symbolizes the Good News of the Apostles about the Risen Christ.

"Forgive wisdom, let us hear the Holy Gospel." The word "Wisdom" means with attention, the word "forgive" means directly. This word is an invitation to stand upright and reverently, with reverence and sincerity to listen to the Word of God.

Reading the Gospel.

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

The reading of the Sunday Gospel comes from the altar, since this most important part of the Orthodox church in this case depicts the Holy Sepulcher.

After reading the Sunday Gospel, the priest brings out the Holy Book for kissing; he comes out of the altar, as from a tomb, and holds the Gospel, showing, like an angel, Christ, Whom he preached. The parishioners bow to the Gospel like disciples, and kiss it like the myrrh-bearers, and everyone sings "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ."

Canon

The miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ sanctified human nature. The Church reveals this sanctification to those praying in the next part of the All-night Vigil after the Gospel reading - the “canon”. The canon in modern liturgical practice consists of 9 songs. Each canon is composed of a certain number of individual troparia.

The canons cover in detail the meaning of the holiday and the life of the saint, as an example of the transformation of the world already taking place. In these canons, the Church triumphs, as it were, contemplating the reflections of this transformation, the victory of Christ over sin and death.

The canons are read, but the opening verses of each individual song are sung in chorus. These opening verses are called irmosi (from the Greek to bind.)

Irmos mean the representative, that is, the prophetic and symbolic meaning for the New Testament:

Irmos of the 1st Canto recalls, in the light of Christian thought, the miraculous passage of the Jews across the Red Sea; The Lord is glorified in him as the Almighty Deliverer from evil and bondage.

Irmos of the 2nd canto is built on the material of the accusatory song of Moses in the Sinai desert, which he uttered to awaken the feeling of repentance among the Jews who fled from Egypt. Canto 2 is sung only during Great Lent.

Irmos of the 3rd canto is based on the song of thanks of Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel, for the gift of her son.

In the irmos of the 4th canto, a Christian interpretation of the appearance of the prophet Habakkuk of the Lord God in the glare of sunlight from behind a wooded mountain is given. In this appearance, the Church sees the glory of the coming Savior.

In the 5th irmos of the canon, the motive of which is taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah, Christ is glorified as a peacemaker and it also contains a prophecy about the resurrection from the dead.

The 6th Irmos is from the story of the prophet Jonah, who was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a whale. This event, according to the Church, should remind Christians of their immersion in a sinful abyss. This irmos also expresses the thought that there is no such misfortune and horror, among which the voice of the one praying from the whole heart would not be heard.

The Irmos of the 7th and 8th canons of the canon are based on the songs of three Jewish youths thrown into a fiery Babylonian furnace. This event is a pre-image of Christian martyrdom.

Between the 8th and 9th canons of the canon, in honor of the Mother of God, a song is sung, beginning with the words “My soul will magnify the Lord and rejoice in my spirit about Boz, my Savior” during this singing, the censing of the entire church and the worshipers is performed, which symbolizes how we are above said our prayers offered up to God.

Irmos of the 9th canto always glorifies the Mother of God.

After the Canon, Stanzas are sung again, revealing the essence of the holiday that is celebrated on this day.

Great praise

The priest, standing in the altar before the throne, with the royal doors open, proclaims: "Glory to Thee, who showed us the light."

In ancient times, or even now, in those monasteries where Vigil is actually celebrated "all night," the sun rises in the second half of Matins. At this time, the Lord is glorified by a special, ancient Christian hymn - "Great Doxology", beginning with the words "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth."

End of matins

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

Clock

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

First hour, service of humble, repentant striving for God.

In addition to the First Hour, there are three more hours in the daily liturgical circle of the Orthodox Church: the Third and Sixth, which are read together before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy and the Ninth Hour, read before the beginning of Vespers. From a formal point of view, the content of a watch is dictated by the selection of material relevant to a given hour of the day. However, the mystical, spiritual meaning of the clock is quite special, since they are dedicated to the memory of various stages of the Passion of Christ.

The interpretation of the All-night Vigil includes an explanation of what the All-Night Vigil is, or All-Night Vigil, is a combination of three services (Great Vespers (sometimes Great Compline), Matins and the first hour).In the All-night Vigil service, the Church communicates to those praying a sense of the beauty of the setting sun and turns their thoughts to the spiritual light of Christ. The church also directs believers to prayerfully meditate on the coming day and on the eternal light of the Kingdom of Heaven. The All-Night Vigil is, as it were, a liturgical line between the past day and the coming day.

St. Basil the Great described the aspirations that guided the ancient composers of evening chants and prayers: "Our fathers did not want to receive the grace of the evening light in silence, but the hour it came, they brought thanksgiving."

Taking part in the All-night Vigil, believers, as it were, prayerfully say goodbye to the past and welcome what is coming. At the same time, Vigil is also a preparation for the Divine Liturgy, for the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

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

The All-Night Vigil takes the faithful to the long-gone times of early Christian night worship. For the first Christians, the evening meal, prayer and commemoration of the martyrs and the dead, as well as the Liturgy, constituted one whole - traces of which are still preserved in various evening services of the Orthodox Church. These include the consecration of breads, wine, wheat and oil, as well as those cases when the Liturgy is combined into one with the Vespers, for example, the Lenten Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, the liturgy of the Eve and the Eve of the feasts of the Nativity of Christ and Baptism, the liturgy of Great Thursday, Great Saturday. and the night Liturgy of the Resurrection of Christ.

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

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

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

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

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

After censing, the priest stands in front of the throne, and the deacon, leaving the royal gates and standing on the pulpit to the west, that is to those who are praying, exclaims: "Stand up!" and then, turning to the east, he continues: "Lord, bless!"

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

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

The choir then sings the 103rd, “The Primordial Psalm,” beginning with the words: “Bless the Lord, my soul,” and ending with the words: “Thou art created all wisdom!” This psalm is a hymn about the universe created by God - the visible and invisible world. Psalm 103 inspired poets of different times and peoples. It is known, for example, a poetic arrangement of it, which belongs to Lomonosov. His motives are heard in Derzhavin's ode "God" and in Goethe's "Prologue in Heaven". The main feeling that permeates this psalm is the admiration of a person contemplating the beauty and harmony of the world created by God. God “arranged” the unsettled earth in six days of creation - everything became beautiful (“good is great”). Psalm 103 also contains the idea that even the most imperceptible and small in nature conceals no less miracles than the grandiose.

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

In all these actions and chants of the beginning of the All-night Vigil, the cosmic significance of the Orthodox church, which is real image universe. The altar with the throne symbolizes heaven and heaven, where the Lord reigns; the priests symbolize the angels serving God, and the middle part of the temple symbolizes the earth with humanity. And just as paradise was returned to people by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so the clergy in shining vestments in shining vestments, reminiscent of the Divine light with which Christ's clothes shone on Mount Tabor, descend from the altar to those who are praying.

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

“God, the great and supreme, one who has immortality, who lives in unapproachable light, who created all creation with wisdom, who divided light and darkness, who determined the day for the sun, who gave the region of night to the moon and the stars, who deserved us sinners and at this hour bring praise before Your face and everlasting praise! O Humanitarian, accept our prayer like incense smoke before You, accept it as a pleasant fragrance: let us spend a real evening and the coming night in the world. Dress us in weapons of light. Deliver us from the horrors of the night and all that darkness brings with it. And the dream given to us by You for the rest of the weary, may it be cleansed of all devilish dreams ("fantasies"). O Lord, Giver of all blessings! Give to us, who grieve over our sins on our beds and remember Your name at night, enlightened by the words of Your commandments - let us stand up in spiritual joy, praise Your goodness, bring Your mercy prayers for the forgiveness of our sins and all Your people whom You kindly visited for the sake of prayer Of the Most Holy Theotokos ".

During the reading of the seven lamp prayers by the priest, according to the church statute, lighting of candles and lamps in the church is supposed to be an action that symbolizes the Old Testament hopes, revelations and prophecies related to the coming Messiah, the Savior - Jesus Christ.
Then the deacon pronounces the “Great Litany.” The litany is a collection of short prayer requests-appeals to the Lord about the earthly and spiritual needs of believers. Litany is a particularly fervent prayer that is recited on behalf of all believers. The choir, also on behalf of all those present at the service, responds to these petitions with the words "Lord, have mercy." "Lord, have mercy" is a short, but one of the most perfect and complete prayers that a person can say. It says everything.

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

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

The Great (Peaceful) Litany ends with a priest's exclamation, in which, as at the beginning of the All-night Vigil, the Holy Trinity is glorified - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

As Adam at the gates of paradise in repentance turned with prayer to God, so the deacon at the closed royal gates begins his prayer - the Great Litany "In peace to the Lord let us pray ..."

But Adam has just heard the promise of God - "the seed of the woman will erase the head of the serpent", the Savior will come to earth, and Adam burns in his soul the hope of salvation.

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

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

The Psalter was adopted into the liturgical life of the Church from the first days of its foundation and occupies a very honorable place in it. Saint Basil the Great wrote about the Psalter in the 4th century:

“The Book of Psalms contains the useful of all the books. She prophesies about the future, recalls the events of the past, gives the laws of life, offers rules for activity. The psalm is the silence of souls, the provider of peace. The Psalter extinguishes rebellious and disturbing thoughts ... there is peace from the daily labors. The psalm is the voice of the Church and perfect theology. "

Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky in the book "In the World of Prayer" about the meaning of the Psalter in Orthodox worship, writes:

“In the Church, the Psalter is, so to speak, Christianized: here many concepts and terms of the Old Testament are understood in a new, more perfect sense. That is why the holy fathers and ascetics love to express their thoughts about the struggle with the enemy of our salvation, with the passions, in the words of the Psalter, which speaks of protection from enemies. It is not surprising, therefore, that psalms occupy such a large place in divine services. Each rite begins with psalms, at least one, sometimes three. A huge number of verses from the Psalter are scattered throughout all the circles of worship. "

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

"Step in, save, have mercy and save us, O God, with Your grace."

"Lord have mercy".

"Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, glorious Lady Our Lady and Ever-Virgin Mary, having remembered all the saints, we ourselves and each other and our whole life to Christ God we will give."

"To you, Lord."

The Small Litany ends with one of the priest's exclamations prescribed by the charter.

It is known from the Biblical history that the voices of sorrow and hope, which sounded for the first time at the very gates of Heaven soon after the fall of the first people, did not fall silent until the very coming of Christ.

At All-night Vigil, the sorrow and repentance of sinned humanity are conveyed in penitential psalms, which are sung in separate verses - with special solemnity and special melodies.

After the singing “Blessed is the husband” and the small litany, verses from the 140th and 141st psalms are heard, beginning with the words “Lord, I have cried out to You, hear me”. These psalms tell about the longing of a man who has fallen into sin for God, about his desire to make his service to God true. These psalms are a characteristic feature of all Vespers. In the second verse of the 140th Psalm, we find the words “May my prayer be corrected, like a censer before You” (this prayer sigh stands out in a special touching chant that sounds during Great Lent at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts). While these verses are chanted, the censing of the entire temple is performed.

What is the meaning of this incense?

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

The smoke of incense rising skyward symbolizes the prayers of believers rising to heaven. When a deacon or priest censing is censed in the direction of the praying person, he tilts his head in response as a sign that he accepts the incense in his direction as a reminder that the prayer of a believer should as easily ascend to heaven like incense smoke. Censing in the direction of the worshipers also reveals the profound truth that the Church sees in every person the image and likeness of God, a living icon of God, betrothal to Christ, received in the sacrament of Baptism.

During the censing of the church, the chanting "Lord, cry out ..." continues, and with this prayer merges our temple, congregational prayer, for we are the same sinners as the first people, and soborne, from the depths of our hearts the final words of the chant "Hear me, Lord ".

Among the further penitential verses of the 140th and 141st Psalms "Bring my soul out of prison ... From the depths of crying to You, Lord, Lord, hear my voice" and so on, voices of hope for the promised Savior are heard.

This hope in the midst of sorrow is heard in the chants after "Lord, I have cried out" - in spiritual songs, the so-called "Stanza for the Lord I have cried." If the verses before the stichera speak of the Old Testament darkness and sorrow, then the stichera themselves (these choruses to the verses, as it were, additions to them) speak of the New Testament joy and light.

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

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

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

Voices constitute one of the special striking features of Orthodox liturgical music. In the Russian Orthodox Church there are voices of different chants: Greek, Kiev, znamenny, everyday.

God's answer to the repentance and hope of the people of the Old World was the birth of the Son of God. A special "Theotokos" stichera narrates about this, which is sung immediately after the stichera in the Lord's Cry. This stichera is called "Dogmatist" or "Theotokos dogmatist". The dogmatists - there are only eight of them, for each voice - contains praise to the Theotokos and the teaching of the Church about the incarnation of Jesus Christ and about the union in Him of two natures - the Divine and the human.

A distinctive feature of dogmatists is their exhaustive doctrinal significance and poetic sublimity. Here is the Russian translation of the Dogmatist of the 1st voice:

“Let us sing to Mary the Virgin, the glory of the whole world, which came from people and gave birth to the Lord. She is the heavenly door, sung by disembodied forces, She is the adornment of believers! She appeared as heaven and as a temple of the Divine - she destroyed the enemy's barrier, gave peace and opened the Kingdom (Heavenly). Having Her as a stronghold of faith, we also have the Lord's Intercessor from Her who was born. Dare people, dare people of God, for he defeated his enemies as Almighty. "

This dogmatist summarizes the Orthodox teaching about the human nature of the Savior. The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe Dogmatist of the first voice is that the Mother of God descended from ordinary people and herself was common man, not a superman. Consequently, humanity, despite its sinfulness, nevertheless kept its spiritual essence to such an extent that it turned out in the person of the Mother of God to be worthy to receive the Divinity - Jesus Christ into its bowels. The Most Holy Theotokos, according to the thought of the Church Fathers, is "the justification of mankind before God." Humanity, in the person of the Mother of God, ascended to heaven, and God, in the person of Jesus Christ, Who was born of Her, bowed to the ground - this is the meaning and essence of the incarnation of Christ, viewed from the point of view of Orthodox Mariology, i.e. teachings about the Mother of God.

Here is a Russian translation of another Dogmatist of the 2nd voice:

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

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

The chanting of the dogmatist at the Vigil symbolizes the union of earth and heaven. During the singing of the dogmatist, the royal gates open as a sign that paradise, in the sense of communication between man and God, closed by Adam's sin, is reopened by the coming to earth of the New Testament Adam - Jesus Christ. At this time, the "evening" or "small" entrance is made. Through the northern, side deacon door of the iconostasis, the priest follows the deacon, just as the Son of God appeared to people in the precursor of John the Baptist. The choir ends the evening small entrance with the singing of the prayer "Quiet Light", in which the words say the same thing that the priest and the deacon depict with the actions of the entrance - about the quiet, humble light of Christ, which appeared in the world almost unnoticed.

In the circle of hymns used in divine services in the Orthodox Church, the song "Quiet Light" is known as the "evening song", since it is sung at all evening services. In the words of this hymn of the child of the Church, “having come to the west of the sun, having seen the evening light, we sing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit of God”. From these words it is clear that the singing of "Quiet Light" was timed to coincide with the appearance of the soft light of the evening dawn, when a believing soul should be close to the sensation of a touch of another upper light. That is why in ancient times, at the sight of the setting sun, Christians poured out their feelings and prayerful mood of the soul to their “quiet light” - Jesus Christ, Who, according to the Apostle Paul, is the radiance of the Father's glory (Heb. 1: 3), the true sun of righteousness according to the Old Testament prophecy (Mal. 4: 2), the true light is non-evening, eternal, unapproachable, as defined by the Evangelist John.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage, who lived in the fourth century, writes: "Since Christ is the true sun and the true day, then when the sun goes down, when we pray and ask that the light come upon us, we pray for the coming of Christ, who has the grace of eternal light."

The prayer "Quiet Light", dating back to the catacomb era of the Christian Church, along with the psalm "Lord, I have cried out" and the New Testament stichera, about which we have already spoken, is the third characteristic feature of Vespers. The Prayer "Quiet Light" also contains an exposition of one of the most important dogmas of Orthodoxy - the confession of Christ as the visible person of the Holy Trinity, on which the veneration of icons is based.

Following the chanting of "Quiet Light", the serving clergy from the altar proclaims a series of small words: "let us hear," "peace to all," "wisdom." These words are pronounced not only at the All-night Vigil, but also at other services. These liturgical words, which are repeated many times in the church, can easily escape our attention. They are small words, but with large and responsible content.

"Let us listen" is the imperative form of the verb "listen." In Russian, we would say "we will be attentive", "we will listen."

Mindfulness is one of the most important qualities in everyday life. But mindfulness is not always easy - our mind is prone to distraction, to forgetfulness - it is difficult to force ourselves to be mindful. The Church knows this weakness of ours, so every now and then she tells us: "we will listen," we will listen, we will be attentive, we will collect, strain, tune our mind and memory to what we hear. Even more important: we will tune our hearts so that nothing passes by from what is happening in the temple. To listen means to unload and free yourself from memories, from empty thoughts, from worries, or, in church language, to free yourself from “everyday worries”.

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

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

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

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

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

After greeting all those praying with the words of the Savior, "Peace to all!" followed by "prokimen". “Prokemen” means “antecedent” and is a short passage from Scripture that is read along with another verse or more verses that complement the thought of the prokeem, before reading a large portion of Old or New Testament scripture. The Sunday prokeimenon (6th tone), pronounced on the eve of Sunday during Vespers, is proclaimed at the altar and repeated in chorus.

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

With the coming into the world of Christ, represented in the actions of the small evening entrance, the intimacy between God and man increased, and their prayer communication also increased. That is why, immediately after the prokimn and the readings of the paremias, the Church invites believers to intensify their prayerful communion with God through "augmented litany." Separate petitions of the augmented litany resemble the content of the first litany of Vespers - the Great Vespers, but the augmented litany is also accompanied by a prayer for the dead. The augmented litany begins with the words “All of us (that is, we will all speak) from all our souls and from all our thoughts ...” To each petition, the choir, on behalf of all pilgrims, responds with a triple “Lord, have mercy”.

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

Following the reading of the prayer "Grant me, Lord," the final litany of Vespers - "supplication", is offered. In it, each, except for the first two petitions, is followed by the response of the chorus, "Lord, grant," that is, a more daring appeal to the Lord than the repentant "Lord, have mercy" that is heard in other litanies. In the first litanies of Vespers, the believers prayed for the welfare of the world and the Church, i.e. about external well-being. In the supplicatory litany, there is a prayer for prosperity in the spiritual life, i.e. about ending this day without sin, about the Guardian Angel, about the forgiveness of sins, about a calm Christian end and about being able to give Christ a correct account of his life at the Last Judgment.

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

Following this, on major holidays and on the days of commemoration of especially revered saints, "lithia" is performed. "Lithia" means increased prayer. It begins with the singing of special stichera that glorify the holiday or saint of the given day. At the beginning of the singing of the stichera "on the litiya", the procession of the clergy from the altar takes place through the northern deacon door of the iconostasis. The Royal Doors remain closed. A candle is being carried ahead. When lithium is performed outside the church, on the occasion of, for example, national disasters or on the days of commemorating deliverance from them, it is combined with prayer singing and a procession of the cross. There are also funeral litias performed in the narthex after Vespers or Matins.

The pre-revolutionary liturgist Mikhail Skaballanovich writes that “in lithium, the Church proceeds from her blessed environment into the outside world or into the vestibule, as a part of the temple, in contact with this world, open to everyone who is not accepted into the Church or excluded from it, for the purpose of a prayer mission in this world. Hence the national and universal character of lithium prayers. " During the litiya, the deacon reads the prayer “Save, God, Thy people” and four other short petition prayers. These prayers contain a prayer for the salvation of people, for church and civil authority, for the souls of Christians, for cities, for this country and believers living in it, for the dead, a request for deliverance from the invasion of enemies, internecine strife. These five petitions, read by the deacon, end with the repeated chanting "Lord, have mercy."

Litia is performed in an atmosphere of increased humility of the faithful and is accompanied by the listing of the names of a number of saints. This, as it were, underlines one of the basic dogmas of Orthodoxy - the veneration of the saints and prayer communication with them. One of the hallmarks of lithium is the repeated chanting of "Lord, have mercy." The task of repeated singing and reading "Lord, have mercy" is to saturate the heart, mind and soul of the one who is praying.

The purpose of the review is to focus our attention on a prayer topic that the Church considers especially important for the spiritual growth of a person. The repetition, like a leitmotif in music, goes with us from the temple into everyday life. "Lord have mercy". Two words. But how deep they are! First of all, calling God Lord, we affirm His dominion over the world, over people - the main thing is over ourselves, over the one who utters this word.

“Lord” means lord, master, that's why we are called “slaves” of God. There is nothing offensive in this name. Slavery itself is a negative phenomenon, as it deprives a person of his original gift - the gift of freedom. Since this gift was given to man by God, and only in God can a person find the fullness of freedom, then slavery to God is this finding of his perfect freedom in God. It is good to appreciate, keep, cultivate the prayer "Lord, have mercy."

After the lithium prayers uttered by the deacon, the priest's prayer "Vladyka Much-Merciful" and during the singing of "Sticher on the verse", containing the glorification of the saint of a given day or holiday, the clergy and worshipers enter the church. At this time, a table with a vessel with five loaves of bread, wheat, wine and oil is set up in the middle of the church, which are then consecrated in memory of the ancient custom of distributing food to those who pray, who sometimes came from afar, so that they can refresh themselves during long services.

Five loaves of bread are blessed in memory of the Savior's saturation with five loaves of 5000 hearers of His sermon. The priest then anoints the worshipers with the blessing of oil after applying it to the festive icon at Matins. After singing "stichera in verse", it reads "Now let your servant go, Master ..." - that is, the doxology pronounced by St. Simeon the God-Receiver, when he received the Infant Christ Christ in his arms in the Jerusalem temple on the fortieth day after His Nativity. In this prayer, the Old Testament elder thanks God for allowing him to see Salvation (Christ) before death, which was given by God for the glory of Israel and for the enlightenment of the Gentiles and the whole world.

Here is the Russian translation of this prayer: “Now you release (me) Thy servant, Master, according to Thy word, in peace; for my eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all nations - a light to the illumination of the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel. " The first part of the Vigil, Vespers, is drawing to a close. Vespers begins with the remembrance of the creation of the world - the first page of the Old Testament history and ends with the prayer "Now let go", symbolizing the end of the Old Testament history. Immediately after the prayer of St. Simeon the God-Receiver, the "Trisagion" is read, which contains the prayers "Holy God", "Most Holy Trinity", "Our Father" and the priest's exclamation "For Thy is the kingdom." After the "Trisagion" the troparion is sung. "Troparion" is a short and concise prayer address to the saint whose memory is commemorated on a given day or the memory of the sacred event of that day.

A specific feature of the troparion is a brief description of the glorified person or an event associated with him. At Sunday Vespers, the troparion of the Mother of God is sung three times, "Mother of God, Virgin, rejoice." This troparion is sung at the end of Sunday Vespers because the joy of the Resurrection of Christ was proclaimed after the joy of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that She would give birth to the Son of God. The words of this troparion consist mainly of an angelic greeting to the Mother of God.

If lithium is celebrated at All-night Vigil, then during the singing of the troparion three times, the priest or deacon censes three times around the table with bread, wheat, oil and wine. Then the priest reads a prayer in which he asks God to "bless the loaves, wheat, wine and oil, multiply them in the whole world, and consecrate those who eat of them." Before reading this prayer, the priest first lifts one of the loaves a little and traces a cross in the air over the other loaves. This action is performed in memory of Christ's miraculous feeding of 5000 people with five loaves of bread. In the old days, blessed bread and wine were distributed praying for reinforcement during the service, which lasted "all-night", that is, all night.

In modern liturgical practice, blessed loaves, cut into small pieces, are distributed when the worshipers are anointed with blessed oil at Matins (this ceremony will be discussed later). The rite of blessing the bread goes back to the liturgical practice of the first Christians and is a remnant of the first Christian "Vespers of Love" - \u200b\u200b"Agapa". At the end of the litiya, in the consciousness of the mercies of God, the choir sings three times the verse "Be the name of the Lord blessed from now and forever."

The Liturgy also ends with this verse. The priest finishes the first part of the All-night Vigil - Vespers - from the pulpit, teaching the worshipers the ancient blessing on behalf of the incarnate Jesus Christ with the words "The blessing of the Lord be upon you, that grace and philanthropy always, now and forever and forever and ever." The services of Vespers and Matins define the day. In the first book of the Bible "Genesis" we read: "and there was evening and there was morning: one day (Gen. 1: 5).

Therefore, in ancient times, the first part of the All-night Vigil - Vespers - ended in the middle of the night, and the second part of the All-Night Vigil, Matins, was prescribed by the church charter to be performed at such hours that its last part coincided with dawn. In modern practice, Matins most often moves to a later hour in the morning (if performed separately from Vespers) or back, on the eve of a given day. Matins, performed in the context of the All-night Vigil, immediately begins with the reading of the Six Psalms, that is, six selected psalms, namely 3, 37, 62, 87, 102 and 142, read in this order and combined into one liturgical whole.

The reading of the Six Psalms is preceded by two biblical texts: the Bethlehem angelic doxology - "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill in men", which is read three times. Then the verse from the 50th psalm is recited twice: "Lord, open my mouth, and my mouth will declare Thy praise." The first of these texts - angelic doxology, briefly but vividly marks the three main and interconnected aspirations of a Christian's life: upward to God, expressed in the words "Glory to God in the highest", in breadth to neighbors in words "and peace on earth" and inward of his heart - striving, expressed in words of praise "goodwill in men." All these aspirations upward-in-breadth-inward create in general the symbol of the cross, which is thus a symbol of the ideal of Christian life, giving peace with God, peace with people and peace in the soul. According to the charter, during the reading of the Six Psalms, the candles in the church are extinguished (this is not usually practiced in parishes). The onset of darkness marks the deep night in which Christ came to earth, glorified by the angelic singing: "Glory to God in the highest."

The twilight of the temple promotes greater prayer concentration. The Six Psalms contains a whole range of experiences that illuminate the New Testament Christian life - not only its general joyful mood, but also the mournful path to this joy. In the middle of the Six Psalms, during the beginning of the reading of the 4th, the most sorrowful psalm filled with mortal bitterness, the priest leaves the altar and in front of the royal doors silently continues to read 12 special “morning” prayers, which he began to recite in the altar, before the altar. At this moment, the priest, as it were, symbolizes Christ, who heard the grief of fallen mankind and not only descended, but also shared its sufferings to the end, which are spoken of in Psalm 87 read at this time. In the "morning" prayers, which the priest reads to himself, there is a prayer for Christians standing in the church, a request to forgive them their sins, to give sincere faith in unhypocritical love, to bless all their deeds and to honor the Kingdom of Heaven.

After the end of the Six Psalms and the morning prayers, the Great Litany is recited again, as at the beginning of Vespers, at Vespers. Its meaning in this place at the beginning of Matins is that the Intercessor who appeared on earth, Christ, whose birth was glorified at the beginning of the Six Psalms, will fulfill all the petitions for spiritual and bodily blessings, which are spoken of in this litany. After the Peaceful, or as it is also called the "Great" litany, the song from the 117th psalm sounds - "God is the Lord, and appear to us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." The church charter appointed the singing of these words precisely in this place of Matins in order to direct our thought to the remembrance of Christ's entry into public service. This verse, as it were, continues the glorification of the Savior, begun at the beginning of Matins during the reading of the Six Psalms. These words also served as a greeting to Jesus Christ at His last entry into Jerusalem for the suffering of the Cross. The exclamation “God is the Lord, and appear to us ...” and then the reading of three special verses is proclaimed by the deacon or priest in front of the main or local icon of the Savior on the iconostasis. The chorus then repeats the first verse "God is Lord, and appear to us ...". Singing and reading poetry should convey a joyful, solemn mood. Therefore, the candles that were extinguished during the reading of the penitent Six Psalms are re-lit. Immediately after the verses "God is the Lord", the Sunday troparion is sung, in which the holiday is glorified and, as it were, the essence of the words "God is the Lord, and appear to us" is explained. The Sunday troparion tells about the sufferings of Christ and His resurrection from the dead - events that will be covered in detail in further parts of the Matins service. After the Litany of Peace, the verses "God the Lord" and the troparia, the 2nd and 3rd kathismas are read at the Sunday Vigil. As we have already said, the Greek word "kathisma" means "sitting", since according to the church statute, during the reading of kathisma, those who pray are allowed to sit. The entire Psalter, consisting of 150 psalms, is divided into 20 kathisma, that is, groups or chapters of psalms.

Each kathisma, in turn, is divided into three "glories", because each section of the kathisma ends with the words "Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." After each "glory" the choir sings three times "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, glory to Thee, God." Kathisma are the expression of a repentant, contemplative spirit. They call for meditation on sins and are accepted by the Orthodox Church into its divine services so that the listeners delve into their own life, into their actions and deepen their repentance before God. The 2nd and 3rd kathismas read at Sunday Matins are of a prophetic nature. They describe the suffering of Christ: the mockery of Him, the perforation of His hands and feet, the stripping of His clothes with the casting of lots, His death and resurrection from the dead. The kathismas at the Sunday Vigil lead the worshipers to the central and most solemn part of the divine service - to the "polyeleos". “Praise the name of the Lord. Hallelujah". These and the following words, taken from the 134th and 135th psalms, begin the most solemn moment of the Sunday All-night Vigil - "polyeleos" - dedicated to the remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ. The word "polyeleos" comes from two Greek words that translate as "many merciful singing": polyeleos consists in singing "Praise the name of the Lord" with the refrain returning at the end of each verse of the psalms "as in the age of His mercy" where the Lord is glorified for many mercies the human race, and above all for its salvation and redemption.

At the polyeleos, the royal doors are opened, the entire temple is illuminated, and the clergy appear from the altar, censing the entire temple. In these sacred rites, worshipers really see, for example, in the opening of the royal gates, how Christ rose from the grave and reappeared among His disciples - an event depicted in the procession of the clergy from the altar to the middle of the temple. At this time, the singing of the psalm “Praise the name of the Lord” continues, with the chorus of the angelic exclamation “Hallelujah” (Praise the Lord), as if on behalf of the angels calling on those praying to praise the risen Lord. "Many-merciful singing" - polyeleos, is especially characteristic of the all-night vigil on Sunday and great holidays, since the mercy of God was especially felt here and it is especially appropriate to praise His name and thank for this mercy. To Psalms 134 and 135, which constitute the content of the polyeleos in the weeks preparatory to Great Lent, is also added a short Psalm 136, beginning with the words "On the rivers of Babylon." This psalm tells the story of the suffering of the Jews in Babylonian captivity and conveys their grief for the lost fatherland.

This psalm is sung a few weeks before the beginning of Great Lent so that the “New Israel” - Christians, during the Holy Fortune, through repentance and abstinence would strive for their spiritual homeland, the Kingdom of Heaven, just as the Jews sought to free themselves from Babylonian captivity and return to their homeland - the Promised Land. On the days of the Lord's and theotokos' feasts, as well as on days when the memory of a particularly revered saint is celebrated, the polyeleos is followed by the singing of "magnificence" - a short verse praising the feast or saint of the given day. The exaltation is first sung by the clergy from the middle of the church in front of the holiday icon.

Then, during the censing of the entire temple, the choir repeats this text many times. The angels were the first to know about the resurrection of Christ, and the first to announce it to the people, therefore the polyeleos, as if on their behalf, begins with the chant "Praise the name of the Lord." After the angels, the myrrh-bearing wives learned about the resurrection, who came to the tomb of Christ according to the ancient Jewish custom to anoint the body of Christ with fragrant oils. Therefore, after the singing of the angelic "Praise", the Sunday troparia are sung, telling about the visit of the myrrh-bearing wives to the sepulcher, the appearance of an angel with the news of the Savior's resurrection and the command to tell His apostles about it.

Before each troparion the refrain is sung: "Blessed art thou, Lord, teach me in Thy justification." And finally, the last of the followers of Jesus Christ, who learned about His resurrection from the dead, were the apostles. This moment in the gospel story is celebrated in the culminating part of the entire Vigil - in the reading of the Sunday Gospel. Before the reading of the Gospel, there are several preparatory exclamations and prayers. So, after the Sunday troparia and the short, "small" litany, which is an abbreviation of the "great" litany, special hymns are sung - "grave". These ancient chants are composed of verses from 15 psalms. These psalms are called "songs of the degrees", since in the Old Testament period of the history of the Jewish people, these psalms were sung by two standing choirs facing each other on the "steps" of the Jerusalem temple. Most often, the 1st part of the 4th graded voice is sung to the text "From my youth, passions fight me."

The culmination of the All-night Vigil is the reading of a passage from the Gospel of Christ's Resurrection from the dead. According to the church statute, several preparatory prayers are prescribed before the reading of the Gospel. The relatively lengthy preparation of those praying for reading the Gospel is explained by the fact that the Gospel is, so to speak, a book "sealed with seven seals" and "a stumbling block" for those who the Church does not teach her to understand and heed. In addition, the Holy Fathers teach that in order to derive the maximum spiritual benefit from the reading of the Holy Scriptures, a Christian must first pray. In this case, this is the prayer introduction to the reading of the Gospel at the All-night Vigil. Prayer preparation for the Gospel reading consists of the following liturgical elements: first, the deacon says "let us attend" (let us be careful) and "wisdom."

Then follows the "prokemen" of the Gospel that will be read. The prokeimn, as we have already said, is a short dictum from the Holy Scriptures (usually from some psalm), which is read together with another verse that complements the thought of the prokemen. The prokeimenon and the prokimene verse are proclaimed by the deacon, and the prokeimenon is repeated three times in chorus. The polyeleos, a solemn, laudatory introduction to listening to the Gospel, ends with the doxology “For thou art holy ...” and the singing “Let every breath praise the Lord”.

This praise, in essence, has the following meaning: "Let everything that has life praise the Lord who gives life." Further, the wisdom, holiness and goodness of the Lord, the Creator and Redeemer of every creature, is explained and preached by the holy Gospel word. "Forgive wisdom, let us hear the Holy Gospel." The word "sorry" means straight. This word is an invitation to stand upright and reverently, with reverence and sincerity to listen to the Word of God. As we have said more than once, the culmination of the All-Night Vigil is the reading of the Gospel.

In this reading, the voice of the apostles is heard - the preachers of the resurrection of Christ. There are eleven Sunday Gospel readings, and throughout the year they are read alternately at Saturday all-night vigils, one after another, telling about the Savior's resurrection and His appearances to the myrrh-bearing wives and disciples. The reading of the Sunday Gospel comes from the altar, since this most important part of the Orthodox church in this case depicts the Holy Sepulcher.

On other holidays, the Gospel is read among the people, because an icon of the celebrated saint or sacred event is delivered among the church, the meaning of which is announced by the Gospel. After reading the Sunday Gospel, the priest brings out the Holy Book for kissing; he comes out of the altar, as from a tomb, and holds the Gospel, showing, like an angel, Christ, Whom he preached. The parishioners bow to the Gospel like disciples, and kiss it like the myrrh-bearers, and everyone sings "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ." From the moment of polyeleos, the triumph and joy of our communion with Christ has been increasing.

This part of the All-night Vigil inspires those who are praying that in the person of Jesus Christ, heaven descends to earth. The Church also inspires her children that, while listening to the chants of polyeleos, one must always keep in mind the coming day and with it the meal of eternity - the Divine Liturgy, which is not only an image of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, but its earthly fulfillment in all its immutability and fullness. The Kingdom of Heaven must be greeted with a spirit of contrition and repentance.

That is why, immediately after the joyful chant "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ," the penitential 50th psalm is read, beginning with the words "Have mercy on me, God." Only on holy Easter night and throughout Easter week, once a year, is permission given for such a completely carefree, anxious and to the end joyful delight, when the 50th psalm drops out of worship. The penitential psalm "Have mercy on me, God" ends with prayer appeals for the intercession of the apostles and the Mother of God, and then the opening verse of the 50th psalm is repeated again: "Have mercy on me, God, according to Thy great mercy, and according to the multitude of Thy compassions, cleanse my iniquity!" Further in the stichera "Jesus is risen from the grave, like a prophecy (ie, as predicted), give us an eternal life (ie eternal life), and great mercy" - a synthesis of Sunday triumph and repentance is given. "Great mercy", which Christ gives to those who repent, is the gift of "eternal life."

According to the Church's thought, the Resurrection of Christ sanctified the nature of everyone who unites with Christ. This consecration is shown in the most important movable part of the All-night Vigil - the canon. The miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ sanctified human nature. The Church reveals this sanctification to those praying in the next part of the All-night Vigil after the Gospel reading - the “canon”. The canon in modern liturgical practice consists of 9 odes or songs.

Each canon of the canon consists of a certain number of separate troparia or stanzas. Each canon has some one subject of glorification: the Most Holy Trinity, an evangelical or church event, a prayer to the Mother of God, the gratification of a saint or saints of a given day. The canons of Sunday (Saturday all-night vigils) glorify the Resurrection of Christ and the consecration of the world that is coming after him, the victory over sin and death. The festive canons cover in detail the meaning of the holiday and the life of the saint, as an example of the transformation of the world already taking place.

In these canons, the Church triumphs, as it were, contemplating the reflections of this transformation, the victory of Christ over sin and death. The canons are read, but the opening verses of each individual song are sung in chorus. These initial verses are called "Irmos" (from the Greek. To bind.) Irmos is a model for all subsequent troparians of this song. The model for the initial verse of the canon - irmos - is a separate event from the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, which has a transformative meaning, that is, prophetic and symbolic for the New Testament.

For example, the irmos of Canto 1 recalls, in the light of Christian thought, the miraculous passage of the Jews across the Red Sea; The Lord is glorified in him as the Almighty Deliverer from evil and bondage. Irmos of the 2nd canto is built on the material of the accusatory song of Moses in the Sinai desert, which he uttered to awaken the feeling of repentance among the Jews who fled from Egypt. Canto 2 is sung only during Great Lent.

Irmos of the 3rd canto is based on the song of thanks of Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel, for giving her a son. In the irmos of the 4th canto, a Christian interpretation of the appearance of the prophet Habakkuk of the Lord God in the glare of sunlight from behind a wooded mountain is given. In this appearance, the Church sees the glory of the coming Savior. In the 5th irmos of the canon, the motive of which is taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah, Christ is glorified as a peacemaker and it also contains a prophecy about the resurrection from the dead. The 6th Irmos is from the story of the prophet Jonah, who was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a whale. This event, according to the Church, should remind Christians of their immersion in a sinful abyss. This irmos also expresses the thought that there is no such misfortune and horror, among which the voice of the one praying from the whole heart would not be heard.

The Irmos of the 7th and 8th canons of the canon are based on the songs of three Jewish youths thrown into a fiery Babylonian furnace. This event is a pre-image of Christian martyrdom. Between the 8th and 9th canons of the canon, a song is sung in honor of the Mother of God, beginning with the words "My soul will magnify the Lord and rejoice in my spirit about Boz, my Savior", with the refrain "The most honest Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim."

This glorification of the Mother of God begins with the deacon, who first censes the altar and the right side of the iconostasis. Then, stopping in front of the local icon of the Mother of God on the iconostasis, he lifts the censer into the air and proclaims: "The Mother of God and Mother of Light, we will magnify in songs." The choir responds with the Theotokos doxology, during which the deacon burns the entire church. Irmos of the 9th canto always glorifies the Mother of God. After the canon, for the last time at the All-night Vigil, a small litany is heard "Paki and Paki, in peace, let us pray to the Lord." After the canon, for the last time at Vespers, a small litany is heard, which is an abbreviated version of the Great or Peaceful litany. In the Sunday All-night Vigil, after the Little Litany and the exclamation of the priest, the deacon proclaims "Holy is the Lord our God"; these words are repeated three times in chorus.

At this time, in monasteries strictly adhering to the letter of the church charter, or in those places where the All-night Vigil really continues “all night” - the sun rises. And this approach of light is celebrated with special chants. The first of them is called "luminary", which has approximately the following meaning: "heralding the approach of light." This chant is also called the Greek word "exapostilarius" - a verb that means "I send", because to sing these spiritual songs the singer is "sent" from the kliros to the middle of the temple. It should be noted that among the exapostilaria lamps are the well-known chants of Holy Week - "Thy chamber I see my Savior", as well as another luminary of the Holy Week, "The prudent robber." Of the most famous Mother of God lamps, we mention the one sung on the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God - "Apostles from the End."

After the lamp, the verse is sung - "Let every breath praise the Lord" and the 148th, 149th and 150th psalms are read. These three psalms are called "praise" because they often repeat the word "praise." With these three psalms are connected special stichera, called "stichera for praises." They are usually sung at the end of Psalm 149 and after each verse of the short Psalm 150. The content of the "stichera for praises", like other stichera at the Vespers, praises an evangelical or church event celebrated on a given day or the memory of a certain saint or saints. As we have already mentioned, in ancient times, or even now, in those monasteries where Vigil is actually celebrated “all night”, the sun rises in the second half of Matins.

At this time, the Lord of Light is glorified by a special, ancient Christian hymn - "Great Doxology", beginning with the words "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth." But first, the priest, standing in the altar in front of the altar, with the royal doors open, proclaims: "Glory to Thee, who showed us the light." Matins at the All-night Vigil ends with "augmented" and "supplicatory" litanies - the same litanies that were read at the beginning of Vespers. Then the last blessing of the priest and "dismissal" is given. The priest prayerfully addresses the Mother of God with the words "Most Holy Theotokos, save us!" The choir responds with theotokos doxology "The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim ..." Following this, the priest once again praises the Lord Jesus Christ with the exclamation "Glory to Thee, Christ God, our hope, glory to Thee."

The choir replies "Glory, and now ..." showing by this that the glory of Christ is also the glory of the Most Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Vigil ends, as it began, with the praise of the Holy Trinity. Following the last blessing of the priest, the First Hour is read - the last, concluding part of the All-Night Vigil. As we have already said, the main thought of Matins is the joyful consciousness of believers that everyone who unites with Christ will be saved and will rise together with Him. According to the Church's thought, one can unite with Christ only with a sense of humility and a consciousness of one's unworthiness.

Therefore, the All-night Vigil does not end with the triumph and joy of Matins, but a third part is added to it, the third divine service - the First Hour, the service of a humble, repentant striving for God. In addition to the First Hour, there are three more hours in the daily liturgical circle of the Orthodox Church: the Third and Sixth, which are read together before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy and the Ninth Hour, read before the beginning of Vespers. From a formal point of view, the content of a watch is dictated by the selection of material relevant to a given hour of the day.

However, the mystical, spiritual significance of the clock is quite special, since they are dedicated to the memory of various stages of the Passion of Christ. The spirit of these services is always focused and serious, with a great-passionate imprint. A characteristic feature of watches is the predominance of reading over singing, which makes them also related to the services of Great Lent. The theme of the Third Hour is the Savior's betrayal to be mocked and beaten.

Another New Testament memory is connected with the Third Hour - the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. In addition, in the Third Hour we will find a prayer for help, for protection in the external and internal struggle with evil and repentance, expressed in the 50th Psalm "Have mercy on me, God", which is read in the third hour. Liturgical The sixth hour corresponds to the hour when Christ was crucified and nailed to the cross. In the Sixth Hour, as if on behalf of the person praying, bitterness from the militant evil in the world is expressed, but at the same time the hope for God's help. This hope is especially strongly expressed in the third psalm of this hour, 90th, which begins with the words: "He who lives in the help of the Most High, will settle in the roof of the Heavenly God." The ninth hour is the hour when Christ on the cross gave the robber paradise and gave His soul to God the Father, and then rose from the dead. Thanksgiving to Christ for the salvation of the world is already heard in the Psalms of the Ninth Hour. This, in short, is the content of the Third, Sixth and Ninth Hours.

But back to the final part of the All-night Vigil - the First Hour. Its general character, in addition to the associated memories of the first stage of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, consists in expressing grateful feelings to God for the daylight that has come and guidance on the path pleasing to Him during the coming day. All this is expressed in the three psalms, which are read at the First Hour, as well as in other prayers of this hour, especially in the prayer "Izh for All Time", which is read at all four hours. In this prayer, believers ask for unity in faith and for true knowledge of God. Such knowledge, according to the Church, is the source of the future spiritual benefits of Christians, that is, salvation and eternal life. The Lord speaks of this in the Gospel of John: "This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ sent by You." Orthodox Church teaches that knowledge of God is possible only through love and like-mindedness. That is why at the Liturgy, before the confession of faith in the Creed, it is proclaimed: “Let us love one another, that we confess with one mind. Father and Son and Holy Spirit, Consubstantial and Inseparable Trinity ”.

Following the prayer "Izhe for any time ..." the priest leaves the altar in a humble state - in one epitrachelion, without shiny vestments. The temple is immersed in twilight. In such an atmosphere, the priest ends the First Hour, and thus the entire All-Night Vigil, with a prayer to Christ, in which He is glorified as "the true light that enlightens every person who comes into the world." At the end of the prayer, the priest mentions the Mother of God, referring to Her icon on the iconostasis.

The choir responds with a solemn hymn from the Annunciation Akathist of the Mother of God to the "Climbed Voevoda". The All-night Vigil very clearly expresses the spirit of Orthodoxy, which, as the Holy Fathers of the Church teach, "is the spirit of resurrection, transformation and deification of man." In the All-night Vigil, as in Orthodox Christianity in general, two Easter are experienced: the Easter of the Crucifixion and the Easter of the Resurrection. And the All-night Vigil, especially in the form in which it is performed on Sundays, is conditioned in its structure and content by the services of Passion and Easter weeks. Vladimir Ilyin, in his book about the All-night Vigil, published in Paris in the 1920s, writes about this as follows: “The All-night Vigil and his soul - the Jerusalem charter, the“ Eye of the Church ”, grew and perfected at the Holy Sepulcher. And, in general, the night services at the Holy Sepulcher are the cradle from which the wonderful garden of Orthodox services of the daily cycle grew, the best flower of which is the All-night Vigil. If the source of the Orthodox liturgy is the Last Supper of Christ in the house of Joseph of Arimathea, then the source of the All-night Vigil is at the Life-Giving Tomb of the Lord, who opened the entrance to the heavenly abodes for the world and exuded the bliss of eternal life to men. "

We live in a very hectic world in which it is sometimes difficult to find time to enter the inner cage of our souls for at least a few minutes and enjoy silence, prayer, collect our thoughts, to think about our future spiritual destiny, to listen to the voice of our conscience and cleanse the heart in the Sacrament of Confession. The Church gives us this opportunity during the hours when the All-night Vigil is celebrated. How good it would be to train yourself and your family to love this service. For a start, one could attend Vigil at least once every two weeks or once a month. One has only to start and the Lord will reward us with a precious spiritual reward - He will visit our heart, move into it and reveal to us the richest, spacious world of church prayer. We will not deny ourselves this opportunity.

The ABC of Faith

“I am the way and the truth and the belly” are the words spoken by the One in front of whose Face all questions die, because He is the only answer. And He called us all to repentance. But is it possible to come to this apart from the Church? Not! All the holy fathers speak about this in their writings. Let's believe in the truth of their words, regardless of the arguments of people with "God in their hearts." To the question of how to live, the Lord gave an unequivocal answer to the questioner - to keep the commandments. Visiting the Temple is commanded by God. Just visiting is not enough, it is necessary to be present at the service consciously, participating in its action, realizing the importance of every moment.

In ancient times, the All-night Vigil began late in the evening and lasted until dawn. The beginning of the service was laid by the first Christians in order “to turn the Orthodox people away from the heretics-Arians”, among whom it was customary to pray at night. At that time, Chrysostom called on the Orthodox to gather for the night vigil. In some monasteries in the East, this tradition has been preserved to this day.

The ancient Christians prayed incessantly, making the so-called "day circle". At the appointed hour, they gathered for prayer in the Temple. They were called that way: 1st hour, 3rd hour, 6th hour, 9th hour. These are the services of each day, which are performed continuously. Today, the clock is attached to continuous services. The All-night Vigil goes beyond the hours, since this service is set only on the eve of the Great Feasts (including the Resurrection), while remaining, however, also a component of the "day circle".

Church day begins not in the morning, but in the evening. So, the All-night Vigil begins a new day and is the eve of the Divine Liturgy.

The practice of night vigils was introduced by the ancient monks and later enshrined in the Jerusalem charter. It is according to this rule that all divine services are performed in our time. The Typikon (church charter) opens with the All-night Vigil, that is, it is this service that “opens the gates”….

The image of the Vigil

Each church service is both a memory and a real reality that affirms the presence of God in our lives, the living God "from now on and forever." Strict canons and their observance are essential! If earlier (for 2000 years) someone from the priesthood had allowed himself to deviate from the canon, today nothing would have remained of the Orthodox service in its original form. The excitement of the priest at the service is the awareness of the presence of God and the fear of breaking even a little, since nothing at this moment can be a trifle.

Each service has its own image, and the All-Night Vigil, a majestic service that contains Vespers and Matins, also has it. During Vespers, these services are held more solemnly (what is read at Vespers on a weekday, the choir sings at Vespers, etc.). Moreover, additional moments appear at the Vespers - lithium and polyeleos. Why is every Vigil repeated and repeated again? Because God is always present in our life. Service is not just a reminder, it is a statement. "I am the same as I was before." That is, all this is happening again today, like the crucifixion of Christ, whom we crucify again and again with our conscious sins. Is there something to think about?

So, the two main parts of the Vigil are Vespers and Matins:

Vespers is based on the Old Testament, we go through it in these moments,
Matins - New Testament, Birth of the Savior. Matins is joy, morning dawn. Each moment is important and has its own sacred meaning.

Vigil

Vespers is also the state of the old Adam, the beginning of our creation. But this is also a premonition of the appearance of the Messiah. Bells ringing ahead of her, evangelism and ringing. On the eve of Sunday, the bell ringer rings the Sunday bell, reciting the kathisma of the "immaculate" (17th kathisma) or the 50th psalm. The evangelism ends with a ringing of all bells, excluding the Festive bell. Vespers All-night vigil is called Great, as it is. The priests put on sacred garments and burn incense at the altar. With a loud exclamation of "Get up!" the deacon addresses the people, calling the worshipers. Then he asks for a blessing from the priest and begins the service.

The beginning of the "Old Testament" Vespers

Vespers always begins Psalm 103describing the picture of creation before the Fall. The gates are open as they were before for Adam and Eve. The priests censed the temple and worshipers, which personifies the grace of God in the creation of people. By the fall, these doors were closed, and man asks God for mercy, for forgiveness: the royal doors are closed and the deacon reads the great litany, that is, a petition.

The psalm "Blessed is the husband ..." seems to continue her, showing the way to go further. The same Psalm anticipates the birth of the Messiah - "as his leaf will not fall away."

The last stichera "dogmatist" literally anticipates the birth of Christ. She is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Further - a mysterious moment, giving hope: the opening of the Royal Doors and the entrance ... The salvation of man is in Christ, who is coming. The deacon says: “Wisdom, forgive me!”, Which means “stand up straight!”, The priest blesses the entrance, and the choir sings “Quiet Light” at this time, for the Lord did not come down to earth in great glory, but in great quietness.

The deacon then reads prokemen and supplicatory litany, the next action is lithium, which personifies the gospel story when Christ fed five thousand people with five loaves. Litia is performed at the western doors, where five wheat loaves, wheat, wine and oil are brought out. The priest blesses them. In ancient times, worshipers at this moment ate bread and wine, so as not to fatigue and continue the service further, already until morning. In our churches, bread and wine are handed out at the all-night vigil later, right after the anointing of the oil.

Stichera on verse are special verses, which are completed by the prayer of the righteous Simon, who took the baby Christ in his arms "now let go, Master." A special moment! He talks about the death of the old and the birth of the new, about trampling on death. Vespers is drawing to a close. Her last chant is “Rejoice to the Virgin, Virgin,” for it has come true, the promise that has been awaited for more than 8 thousand years has been fulfilled. "The blessing of the Lord is on you .."

"New Testament" matins

Matins begins with the Angelic singing "Glory to God in the Highest ..". With the words with which the Angels greeted the birth of the Savior. Then six special psalms are read, called the six psalms. This is a memory of the night of Bethlehem, anticipation of Christmas, an image of the night. That is why when reading the Six Psalms in the Temple all candles are extinguished. At this moment, in front of the closed Royal Doors, in the dark, the priest reads morning prayers, foreshadowing the Dawn.

After reading the peaceful litany, the deacon cries out loudly: "God is the Lord, and appear to us ...", this cry says that the Savior came into the world, the prophecy has come true. Kathisma are read from the Psalter.

Polyeleos, the reading of the Gospel and the anointing of oil are the most solemn part of the service. Polyeleos means "a lot of mercy", in some cases the word is translated as "a lot of oil", since oil has always been considered the personification of God's mercy. At this moment, laudatory verses are read, the Gates are opened, candles are lit, the clergy burns the entire temple, and the festive troparia are sung. Then, they read the festive Gospel, “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” (if it is Sunday) and perform the sacred rite of anointing, before which the believers approach the Festive Icon located in the center of the church and the Holy Gospel.

At the end of the anointing, after the priest has pronounced “By grace, bounty ...”, a special reading of the canon begins.

The canon tells about the life and deeds of the saints of God. It can be called a prayer piece, which consists of nine songs. Before Canto 9, after censing, the deacon proclaims the magnificence of the Mother of God, echoed by the choir "The Most Honorable Cherubim .."

Praise

It consists in the reading of psalms, it is continued by the Great Doxology. The stichera end with a chant dedicated to the Mother of God and the words with which Matins began: "Glory to God in the highest." Matins ends with the reading of the litany and dismissal.

The All-night Vigil is over, but the priesthood has not yet dispersed, they read the 1st hour, which sanctifies the coming day. This service is very short. Previously, she represented a separate rank, now all watches are attached to long-term services.

Length of service and authorship

The very name "Vigil" speaks of the time of the service: a little later, after sunset. The Vigil does not have one author, like the Liturgy, its order evolved gradually. The first Vigil prayers were composed by John Chrysostom. In Orthodox churches the service begins at five or six in the evening, and lasts everywhere in different ways, but on average - until eight in the evening. Vigil in monasteries can last 5 and 6 hours. In some monasteries in the East, as in antiquity, it continues until the morning, when the first hour really illuminates the coming day with sunrise.

The difference between the Sunday Vigil and the Festive

Vigil is served on the eve of Sunday every week. At these services, Sunday troparia is read, as is the Sunday Gospel. If Vigil is served on the eve of the great Feast, then Sunday troparia are not read, they are read festive. So is the Gospel. Sunday service is especially solemn, because they read Sunday troparia, Easter ones, saying "Christ is Risen!" every Sunday. Yes, every Sunday is Easter!

All-night vigil is a solemn service that begins with the evening service and ends with matins before Sunday or an Orthodox holiday. Only churched Christians are able to withstand the divine service, which begins in the evening and ends at 7 in the morning.

Church order of all-night vigil

The All-Night Service is a reflection of the event being celebrated. Unlike Vespers, the night vigil ends after the morning one.

All-night vigil is holy only in Orthodoxy

The history of all-night services begins with the night prayers of Jesus Christ, when He prayed throughout the night. During the early Christian period, believers often spent their time in night prayer. Vespers and Matins are included in the night vigil.

Vespers

The evening service begins at 5-6 pm. At this time, prayers and hymns are heard, recalling the events of the Old Testament, through which the Jews' expectation of the coming of the Messiah runs like a red thread.

In commemoration of this event, the priest burns incense (censing) in the altar. After giving glory to the Holy Trinity, Psalm 103 is sung, during which the censing of all those present and the church itself takes place. The smoking of incense is a sign of the grace of the Most High given to the first people, Adam and Eve, before their meeting with the serpent and the fall.

As at that time the doors of Paradise Eden were opened, so during the censing the royal doors of the temple are opened.

Important! Each person has a choice, everyone must make a decision independently. Adam and Eve obeyed the devil and were expelled from paradise, the doors of which were closed for them forever.

In memory of this event, after the incense, the royal doors are closed, in front of them on the pulpit is a deacon. After the expulsion from paradise, people began to experience disease, sorrow, deprivation caused by sins.

Litany

During the great, peaceful litany, the deacon and all those present in the temple ask the Lord for the forgiveness of sins.

The Great Lord, out of His love for people, gave them the path of returning to Heavenly Paradise through the knowledge of God through the remission of sins. Psalm 1 is sung.

During the litany, prayers and chants are performed

In the stichera "Lord, Call", there are repentant, prayer motives, during which the priest burns incense in the church. During the evening after repentance and forgiveness of sins, as a sign of future salvation, the Royal Gates of the temple re-open, a procession of priests and a deacon are sent to them, emerging from the side and northern openings. With the words “Wisdom, forgive me,” the deacon uses a censer to depict a cross, calling on all parishioners to listen carefully.

The song "Quiet Light" reminds Christians that the King of Kings, the God of the gods was born not in the royal house, but in a manger on straw, and His second coming is near.

More about services in the temple:

The time has come for a fervent and supplicatory litany, after which lithium follows before major holidays. Common prayer, as lithium is translated from Greek, previously took place in the narthex so that unbaptized, repentant people could take part in prayer petitions. In modern temples, lithium is read near the western entrance.

During the litiya, five loaves are blessed, this is the memory of the miracle performed by Jesus during His life. 5 thousand people were fed with five loaves and two fish.

In the distant past, Christians used this bread to satisfy hunger before matins.

After singing "Stichera on a verse", the choir sings the prayer "Now you let go." During this prayer, the Orthodox remember the righteous Simeon, who first met Mary and Joseph when they sacrificed for the birth of a child. Simeon was told by God that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. Taking Jesus into his hands, Simeon said: "Now you are letting go of Thy servant."

Icon of Righteous Simeon the God-Receiver

End of Vespers

At the end of the evening, the chant "Theotokos, Virgin, rejoice!" Due to her humility, obedience, love of God, the Virgin Mary was chosen from all women in the world to become the earthly Mother of Jesus.

About other important prayers:

The priest ends the evening service, delivering a message from God: "The blessing of the Lord God be upon you." Vespers ends the memories of Old Testament times, passing on the baton of the Matins service.

Matins

Matins begins with the reading of the Six Psalms, which begins with "Glory to God in the Highest." These words were sung by the angelic choir at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. A distinctive feature of the reading of the Six Psalms is the complete darkness of the temple, all light sources are extinguished, they are lit when reading morning prayers.

6 psalms, written by King David, sing the hope of the Creator's mercy of people in a sinful state filled with troubles and misfortunes. The Six Psalms are distinguished by special reverence for the Almighty.

The Great Litany ends with the words of the deacon “God has appeared to us,” emphasizing that the prophecy given in the Old Testament about the coming of the Messiah has come true.

Polyeleos

The most solemn part of Matins is polyeleos, literally meaning a lot of oil, oil, a lot of mercy. Each psalm that sounds during the polyeleos ends with the words "For His mercy endures forever." During the polyeleos, the royal gates are opened, all the lamps in the temple are lit, the priests go around the entire premises of the church with incense.

Before Sunday, Sunday troparia are sung, before the holidays - the glorification of the corresponding holiday or saint.

Then the chapters from the Gospel are read, corresponding to the calendar Sunday or holiday, and the chant "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ" sounds. All those present in the church on Sunday night vigil kiss the Gospel, on holidays they apply to the icon, after which their forehead is anointed with oil.

The most solemn part of Matins is the polyeleos.

Anointing

Confirmation is a Sacrament; it is an Orthodox Church rite, marking the bestowal of mercy from God. Since ancient times, anointing with oil has been a joyful sign of God's blessings. The oil was made from the olive tree, which is mentioned more than once in the Bible. An olive leaf brought Noah a dove released from the ark, it was a symbol of life, a sign that God is no longer angry.

Further, the canon is read, consisting of 9 songs dedicated to a holy or celebrated event. Each canon, meaning a rule, ends with an irmos, a link between each of the nine canons. Irmos connect the times of the Old Testament and the Nativity of the Savior. The troparion contains hymns praising Jesus and the Mother of God, saluting the holiday or the name of the saint who is glorified.

In writing the canons, the prayers and messages of saints and prophets are used:

the prophet Moses;
Isaiah;
Avvakum;
father John the Baptist and many others.

The singing of the canon ends at the icon of the Mother of God, hanging to the left of the royal gates. The choir performs a touching prayer given to Christians by the Mother of God herself. “My soul magnifies the Lord” (Luke 1: 46-55). After a touching song, the choir sings Psalm 49,150, praising the Great Creator.

Great praise sounds when the first rays of the sun appear and symbolizes Jesus Christ, the Light of all nations, the Sun of righteousness.

End of Matins

At the end of the morning, the praises of the Holy Trinity are sung. "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us." The augmented and supplicatory litany ends the matins, after which the final dismissal is pronounced, blessing the Orthodox as they leave the church. The first hour, a short service after the all-night vigil, sanctifies the coming day with prayer.

Attention! The All-night Vigil is holy only in Orthodoxy, founded by the first Christians, the great saints, it continues to this day.

The current all-night vigil is somewhat shortened; it begins later and ends earlier. The beginning and end of Vespers and Matins are announced by the ringing of bells.

All-night vigil with an explanation of the priest Konstantin Parkhomenko

Our Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us to constantly watch and pray. Trying to fulfill this commandment, Christians from ancient times on especially memorable days performed a divine service that lasted all night, from evening to morning, and therefore got the name all-night vigil... Its main parts are great vespers and matins.

At the very beginning of the Great Vespers, the life of our first parents Adam and Eve in Paradise is remembered. Being in this most beautiful place, enjoying the beauty of Paradise and the greatness of the world created by God, our forefathers enthusiastically brought their prayers and thanksgiving to God. At that blissful time, people talked with God face to face, because they were sinless.

This is symbolized by the Royal Doors open before the start of the service... In remembrance of the very beginning of the creation of the world by God (when the Spirit of God, like censer smoke, enveloped the primordial earth, reviving the still unorganized world) the priest censes the altar, and then, giving glory to the Life-Giving Trinity, comes out of the altar and censes the temple, which symbolizes the time when God himself was close to people. The choir sings selected verses of the 103rd psalmdepicting a magnificent picture of the world and glorifying the Creator: “ Bless, my soul, the Lord. Blessed art thou, Lord! .. As I have magnified Your deeds, Lord, I have created all wisdom ecu ...».

God gave man freedom to freely choose only good. But the man listened to the envious and deceitful advice of the devil and refused to communicate with God. After that, a person could no longer remain in Paradise. God expelled him from Paradise and settled him on an impoverished and impoverished land. However, the merciful Creator, out of His ineffable love, reassured man with the Savior's promise. The mournful history of mankind on earth began - the story of repentance, correction, the gradual return of lost children to their Heavenly Father.

The Church reminds us of these events with the further course of the service. The Royal Doors are closed... Before them, as before a closed Paradise, the deacon recites the great litany (litany - in Greek: diligence, diligent prayer), in which God's help is asked for a sinful person in various needs of his earthly life. After each petition of the litany the choir sings on behalf of the worshipers: "Lord have mercy" ... Then the choir sings selected verses from the 1st kathisma (Kathisma refers to the parts into which the Psalter is divided) that speak of the life of the righteous and the unrighteous: “ Blessed is the husband who does not go to the counsel of the wicked ... and the path of the wicked will perish ... Work the Lord with fear and rejoice in Him with trembling ... Blessed ecu hoping Nan ..."(Ps. 1, 1, 6; 2, 11-12).

The Old Testament righteous lived in hope for the promised Savior. The Old Testament divine service with its sacrifices was a reminder of God's promise, a prototype of the future great Sacrifice, when the Son of God Himself, being God, becomes a Man, comes to people to save them, and by His righteous life, His victory over death, His Ascension to God the Father will reconcile man with God and will become, as it were, a new Progenitor for fallen humanity, who wants to regain communion with the Creator.

The continuation of the all-night vigil speaks of these hopes. The choir sings psalm verses full of mournful prayer: "Lord, cry to You, hear me ..." (Psalm 140). Deacon's censing at this time, means the sacrifices that were offered in the Old Testament, as well as our prayers to God. The verses of the Psalter begin to alternate with stichera - chants dedicated to the holiday. When singing the last stichera - a dogmatist talking about the mystery of the Incarnation of the Savior - clergymen leave the side doors of the altar with a censer and enter it through the Royal Doors... The priest's exit from the altar symbolizes the descent of the Son of God to earth to save people, His sermon, free suffering, death on the cross and the descent into hell, and the entrance to the altar symbolizes the resurrection and ascension to Heaven.

Followed by chanting prokeem and sometimes reading from scripture, then - two litanies... On major holidays, there is lithium - zealous prayer performed outside the temple or in its vestibule. Exit of the clergy from the altar symbolizes the expulsion of Adam from Paradise and expresses our humility before God and the desire for the Heavenly gates and the blessings of God to open for us.

At the end of the lithium the choir sings a few stichera and a prayer "Now let go of Thy servant, Master ..." (prayer of Saint Simeon the God-receiver). After prayer "Our Father" Arkhangelsk greeting "Virgin Mary, rejoice" the Mother of God is glorified or, with a special song, the celebrated event. (On holidays there is a consecration of bread, wheat, wine and oil). Vespers ends with the 33rd psalm and the priest's blessing... The last prayers of Vespers bring us to the New Testament events remembered at Matins, the second part of the All-Night Vigil.

Matins begins with angelic praise, sung at the Nativity of the Savior: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill in men" (Luke 2:14). Then read six psalms - six selected psalms, depicting both the joyful state of the human soul, with which the mercy of the Lord, and the sorrow of the soul, burdened by sins and departed from God.

After reading three psalms the priest leaves the altar and, standing in front of the closed Royal Doors, reads 12 morning prayersasking for God's blessing for the day ahead. After the six psalms and the great litany the deacon solemnly proclaims: "God is the Lord and appear to us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" and a few more selected verses of the 117th psalm - and the choir repeats after each of them the first verse, announcing to us the appearance of the Savior. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; and we have seen His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father (John 1:14). Psalm verses "Confess the Lord ..."spoken when singing "God the Lord ..."depict the suffering earthly life of the Savior.

Further the troparion of the feast is sung and the kathisma from the Psalter are recited... The Psalter is divided into 20 sections, which are called kathismas. Kathisma is divided into three parts ("Glory"), after reading each of which a small doxology is sung (hence the name - "Glory").

Kathisma in translation from Greek means "sitting"; during the reading of kathisma, one can sit, but during a small doxology, one must stand up.

At the all-night vigil, two kathismas are read, and after each there is a small litany and a sedan — short prayers timed to coincide with the reading of kathisma.

After reading the kathisma, the most solemn part of the all-night vigil begins - polyeleos, which means "great mercy" or "an abundance of oil, oil." When all the lamps are lit the priest comes from the altarlike an angel who came down from the cave of the Holy Sepulcher to proclaim the Resurrection, and burns the temple... The censing, which accompanies many other important parts of the divine service, also signifies our prayers, directed to God with attention and zeal, and the grace of the Holy Spirit overshadowing us. When a priest censors believers, they respond by bowing their heads..

The choir sings verses of the 134th and 135th psalms: "Praise the name of the Lord, praise, servant of the Lord ..." and on Sunday also Sunday troparia about the appearance of Angels to the myrrh-bearers (disciples of the Lord), announcing the Resurrection of the Savior from the dead: "It's too early for the myrrh-bearers to flow to Your grave, Savior, weeping ...". And very early, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb at the rising of the sun, and they said among themselves: Who will roll us the stone from the door of the tomb? And, looking, they see that the stone has been rolled away; and he was very large. And going into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe; and were horrified. He says to them: do not be dismayed. You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene crucified; He is resurrected, He is not here. This is the place where He was laid (Mark 16: 2-6).

On holidays and days of remembrance of saints a glorification is sung to a celebrated event or saint.

After singing the prescribed psalms and troparia or exaltation a passage from the Gospel is read relating to the events being remembered... After reading the Gospel on Sundays, it happens singing of a solemn song by all believers "Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless ..."

The gospel relies on a lectern for worship and kissing by believers in memory of the appearance of the Risen Teacher to the disciples and their joyful and reverent worship of the Savior. When they went to tell His disciples, and behold, Jesus met them and said: Rejoice! And they, approaching, grabbed His feet and worshiped Him (Matt. 28: 9). A festive icon is brought out on holidays.

While kissing the gospel or holiday icon the priest anoints the faithful with holy oil at Vespers as a sign of God's mercy; also, if there was lithium, blessed pieces of bread and wine are distributed to believers in memory of the giver of all blessings God for the grace-filled strengthening of bodily and mental strength (this was especially necessary in ancient times, when longer services required reinforcement of strength for unremitting attention).

Followed by reading the canons - prayers dedicated to the glorification of God, the Most Holy Theotokos, the saints of God, or individual events in sacred and church history. Each canon is composed of separate parts called songs. After the 8th canon of canons, a song of praise of the Most Holy Theotokos is sung "My soul magnifies the Lord ..." with a chorus: "The most honest Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim ..." , which says that the Mother of God surpasses even the holy Angels in honor and glory. The deacon, while singing "The Most Honest ...".

After the canons in the praising psalms and subsequent stichera, the faithful are called to glorify the love of God for man. After the exclamation of the priest: "Glory to Thee, who showed us the light" (visible light, since in ancient times matins ended at dawn, and the Spiritual Light of the Savior), the choir sings great praises - an ancient hymn praising God for all His gifts and mercies. This hymn, composed of the deep and inspired words of the Old and New Testaments, was composed even during the time of the first Christians, who glorified the Divinity of the Savior with this hymn and defended the name of the Lord Jesus Christ from pagan slander. It is already mentioned in the report on Christians to the Roman emperor Trajan (AD 98-117), as well as in the writings of ancient Christian authors. Even in the ancient work "Apostolic Decrees" there is a morning prayer, not much different from the great doxology.

This hymn, breathing with the simplicity and spiritual greatness of the first Christian times, ends, singing "Trisagion" - one of the most frequent and important prayers of Christian worship (according to legend, the first part of it - the angelic doxology “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal” - was heard by a Christian boy ascended to Heaven during the earthquake in Constantinople in the 5th century. ).

On the feasts of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14/27) and the Origin of the Honorable Trees of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord (August 1/14), as well as on the 3rd Sunday of Great Lent (the Week of the Cross) during the "Trisagion", the solemn carrying out of the holy cross by the clergy takes place and worship him.

Sunday troparion or troparion of the holiday is sung after the Trisvyat.

After two litanies, augmented and supplicatory, and dismissal, the choir asks God to grant many years to the ruling bishop and all Orthodox Christians. After Matins, the 1st hour is read - a short service related to the content of the beginning of a new day.

From the book “All-Night Vigil. Divine Liturgy. Sacraments of the Church "by the publishing house of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra