"Articles" Table of Contents:

As of February 14, 2010

• Article on the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete
  

• Preparation for Confession by Saint John of Kronstadt
  

• "The Sacrament of Confession - Remedy for a sick soul" By Bishop Alexander (Mileant)
  

•  Confession: Not a Novel-but a Battle: An interview with a Russian Priest. (Added on December 18, 2008)
  

• Glossary of Liturgical Terminology.
• How Old is Orthodoxy? By Rev. Dr. Mittiades Efthimiou.
• Cycles of Services in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Compiled by Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes.
• Explanation of the All - Night Vigil: Vespers and Matins. By  Archpriest Victor Potapov.
• Notations and additional explanations on the All-Night Vigil.
• A Guide to Confession.

Glossary of Liturgical Terminology

How old is the orthodox faith?

Cycle of Services in the Eastern Orthodox Church Compiled By Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes Boise, Idaho USA Introduction by Father Nektarios Serfes: Nothing is so spiritually uplifting, and so rewarding then prayer before God in the Church. The Orthodox Church has a cycle of services, and all of us should make every means to attend these services. It’s not really how long are these services, but what we put into them that is spiritually rewarding. When the Church calls us to prayer, we should rush with great Christian love to go to these services, and give our Lord God due honor and worship, at the same time we should think about our spiritual relationship with our God, and our path to our salvation. During these cycle of services we begin to realize how much our Lord God loves us, and wants us to be a part of His Kingdom. We can participate in His Kingdom in prayer, and we can behold His great spiritual beauty as we gaze around the Church and behold Him, as well as the opening arms of the Mother of God, the saints, the prophets, the apostles, and the martyrs all surrounding us with their prayers and intercession on our behalf, what a blessing! Then again preparations before the Divine Liturgy are spiritually necessary, and that is if when we will go to Holy Communion, we should consider speaking to our priest about going to Holy Confession. We also should fast from certain foods anticipation of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, i.e. at the least, fast from meats on Wednesday and Friday, and all foods and liquids the morning of the liturgy unless these are deemed necessary for medical reasons. We also have prayers to be read before taking Holy Communion, they are called Prayers in Preparation for Holy Communion, or prayers before Holy Communion, should speak to our parish priest about these prayers. Some of the faithful begin reading these prayers on Thursday, so that we do not have to wait to the last minute. Then again we have prayers of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion, eventually throughout the day we should read these prayers of thanksgiving, some parishes read these prayers of Thanksgiving at the end of the Divine Liturgy, as well as the faithful who took Holy Communion remain in the church until these prayers are finished. Attend these services with your children, and rush with great love to the Church and pray. Let us make every effort to go to the Church in prayer, and let us realize when we come to late, we miss many blessings, after we leave we shall be spiritually rewarded. Love to pray in the Temple of our Lord God His Church, and when we pray, let us pray with all our heart, mind, and soul! Well aware of the work at hand, we should attend services prepared to labor as unique members of the body of Christ. Ultimately, each of us, that is every man, woman, and child, should be ready to “put aside all the cares of life, and receive the King of all…” I am humbly presenting to you the Cycle of Services that are celebrated in the Orthodox Church, which by understanding these services we begin to realize how important these services are in our Church, and how rewarding spiritually they can be for us all! May our Lord God bless you! Humbly In Christ Our Lord, +Very Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes Who prays for you and with you! The Cycle of Services in the Orthodox Church The First Hour The Third Hour The Sixth Hour The Ninth Hour Small Compline & Great Compline Small & Great Vespers: two types of Vespers - Small Vespers celebrated during evening weekdays, and Great Vespers celebrated Saturday evenings, and for Feast Days. Vespers are in preparation for the next day Divine Liturgy. Artokolasia Service celebrated on special occasions at the end of Vespers, or at the end of Matins or even at the end of the Liturgy Midnight Services Matins (Gr. Orthros) In the Greek Orthodox tradition on a parish level this service is celebrated in the morning proceeded by the Doxology and the Divine Liturgy. The Doxology: The Great Doxology and the Small Doxology. Prayers for entrance and Liturgical vesting of the priest Proskomedia Divine Liturgy The Hierarchal Divine Liturgy (Divine Liturgy celebrated by a bishop). In the Greek, Albanian, Romanian, Syrian, and Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s the tradition (on a parish level) Vespers are held in the evenings, and during the morning hours Matins followed by the Great Doxology, and the Divine Liturgy. In the Russian Carpatho Russian, and Serbian Orthodox tradition (on a parish level) both Vespers and Matins, and the Great Doxology are normally held in the evenings, followed by the first hour, then in the morning the third, sixth, and ninth hours are read, followed by the Divine Liturgy. In the monastic communities the cycle of services are different then on a parish level. In the Greek Orthodox tradition for example the following services are observed at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery, Arizona, which follows the Athonite tradition of Mt. Athos the daily schedule of services is as follows: 3:30 AM – 7 AM    Midnight Hour    Matins-Orthros    Divine Liturgy 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM    Ninth Hour    Vespers    Small Compline Authors of the Divine Liturgies celebrated in the Orthodox Church: Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: celebrated on most Sundays and weekdays. Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts: author St. Gregory the Dialogos (celebrated during Holy Great Lent, during the weekdays). Others attributed to this service see notes. Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great: celebrated ten times a year, namely, the first five Sundays of the Great Lent before Pascha-Easter, on Thursday and Saturday of the Holy week, Christmas Day, St. Basil’s feast (January 1) and Theophany-Epiphany Day (January 6). Divine Liturgy of St. James the Apostle: (celebrated October 23rd the feast day of St. James the Apostle). The Hours In Orthodox monasteries, monks maintain special services for the hours of the day. The Royal Hours are also observed on a parish level in the Orthodox Church for the Forefeast of our Lord’s Holy Nativity and Holy Theophany. The Ninth Hour is observed before the celebration of the Presanctified Liturgy. Each hour commemorates a special event, as follows: 1. First hour (6:00 A.M.): Thanksgiving for the new morning and Prayers for sinless day. 2. Third hour (9:00 A.M.): the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. 3. Sixth hour (12:00 noon): the nailing of Christ to the Cross. 4. Ninth hour (3:00 P.M.): the death of Christ on the Cross. The First Hour The first hour (hour one after the rise of the sun or 7 a.m., has as its central theme the coming of light in the dawn of a new day. The coming of the physical light remind the Christian of the coming of Him Who is the Light of the World. The physical light is but an icon or image of Christ. Thus, the Christian begins the day by praising God for the dawn of the physical light as well as the Light of the World which shines brightly in the face of Jesus. We pray that His light may guide us and show us the way for the day, blessing also the works of our hands, which begin daily at this hour. O Christ the true light, enlightening and Sanctifying ever man who comes into The world; Let the light of Your countenance shine on us, that in it we may behold the Ineffable light. Guide our footsteps aright in keeping Your Commandments. Through the intercessions of you’re all pure Mother and of all the saints. Amen. -From the Prayers of the First Hour The Third Hour The third hour (three hours after sunrise 9 a.m.), was the exact time the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:15). This single theme dominates the third hour. One of the three psalms that are read is the 51st which contains petitions for the sending of the Holy Spirit: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me…take not Thy holy Spirit from me…and upon me with Thy free spirit.” (Psalm 51: 10-12). Special prayers are said to thank God for sending the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, beseeching Him also to bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit’s presence upon us for the works of that day. The third hour is a daily reminder that the life of the faithful Christian remains empty without the inner presence of the Spirit. He is the One who provides inner peace and power. He is the One “in Whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). O Lord, You sent down Your Most Holy Spirit upon Your apostles at the Third Hour. Take Him not from us, O Good One, but renew Him in us who pray to You. -From the Prayers of the Third Hour The Sixth Hour The sixth hour (six hours following sunrise – noon), reminds us of the crucifixion (Matthew 27:45, Luke 23:44 and John 19:14). Each day at noon the Church tries to focus our attention of this great event in the history of our salvation. We offer God prayers of gratitude for so loving each one of us that He gave his only begotten Son so that we who believe in Him may not perish but have life everlasting (John 3:16). Our noontime prayers (sixth hour) include petitions that He save us from the sins and temptations of that day. O Christ God, on the sixth day and hour, You nailed to the Cross the sin which rebellious Adam committed in paradise. Tear asunder also the bond of our iniquities, and save us! You have wrought salvation in the midst of the earth, O Christ God. You stretched out Your all-pure hands upon the Cross; You gathered together all the nations that cry aloud to You: Glory to You, O Lord! -From the Prayers of the Sixth Hour The Ninth Hour The ninth hour, nine hours following sunrise (3 p.m.), is the time when Jesus died on the cross. “And at about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani?” That is to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”… When He cried again with a loud voice (Jesus) yielded up the ghost” (Matthew 27:46, 50). At this time prayers of thanksgiving are offered to Him Who by His death-destroyed death for each one of us. The prayers of the ninth hour conclude with a petition that we put to death the old sinful nature with us to enable us to live the new life in Christ Jesus with Whom we were not only crucified but also resurrected through baptism. O Master, Lord Jesus Christ our God, You have led us to the present hour, in which as you hung upon the life-giving Tree, You made a way into Paradise for the penitent thief, and by death destroyed death: Cleanse us; you’re unworthy servants, for we fall into sin continuously and are not worthy to lift up our eyes and look upon the heights of heaven. Forgive us for departing from the path of righteousness and following the desires of our own hearts. -From the Prayers of the Ninth Hour Small & Great Compline (Gr. Apodeipnon) A worship service performed after dusk. It is often combined with Vespers, to form an all-night vigil. There is a Great Compline and its abridgement, known as Small Compline. Great Compline is celebrated during Great Lent, whereas Little or also known as Small Compline can be celebrated daily when it’s not Great Lent. Small & Great Vespers (Gr. Espermos) Morning and evening were always considered to be proper times for prayer. Worship services were held every morning and evening in the Temple of Jerusalem and were continued by the early Christians even after they separated themselves from the worship of the Temple. The old Jewish forms are still used. The theme of Vespers takes us through creation, sin and salvation in Christ. It includes thanksgiving for the day now coming to an end and God’s protection for the evening. In the Orthodox Church the liturgical day begins in the evening with the setting of the sun. One the great themes of Vespers is the coming of Christ, the Light to dispel the darkness. The coming of evening darkness reminds us of the darkness of sin and death. In that darkness Jesus is praised as “the gladsome light of the holy glory of the Immortal Father” and “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.” Vesper services are offered daily in monasteries and usually only on Saturday evenings in some parishes. Orthodox Christians daily may offer evening prayers in private by praying the Psalter and the other Vesper prayers at home. It should be noted in the Greek Orthodox tradition on a parish level Vespers are held in the evenings, Matins-Orthros service held in the mornings, followed by the Doxology and the Divine Liturgy. O Gladsome Light O Gladsome Light of the holy glory of the Immortal, Heavenly, Holy Father: Blessed Jesus Christ! Now that we have come to the setting of the sun, and see the light of evening, we praise God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For it is right at all times to worship you with voices of praise, O Son of God and Giver of life. Therefore all the world glorifies You! -From the Prayers of Vespers Aktoklasia Service The artoklasia service held at the end of Vespers or at the end of Matins, or even at the end of the Liturgy. Five round loaves of bread are offered by individual faithful as a sign of devotion for personal or family anniversaries such as name days and other occasions bearing close connection with the experience of the Orthodox. The five loaves are reminiscent of the five loaves that Jesus Christ blessed in the desert by which five thousand of His bearers were fed. The artoklasia also symbolizes and brings into practice the Agape meals of the very early Christian communities. Then, after the faithful received the Body and Blood of Christ, they would gather in a common meal, thus signifying the brotherly association established between them by their common faith and by their receiving the same sacramental Lord. Also, the Agape meals served a charitable purpose by providing meals to the poorer from among them. The significance behind the Orthodox artoklasia includes also the fact that, among the Orthodox, bread continues to be highly valued not only as a basic food but also as the supreme symbol of the Body of Christ; for it is the bread which changed by consecration in the Liturgy into the Body of Christ. Christ has been repeatedly designated as the Bread of Life, and also as ‘the Bread which came from heaven.’ Bread does also symbolize the Church of Christ, which has spread all over “as the wheat on the mountains and which was gathered by Christ into one body’. (see DIDACHE.) Thus, bread has been given a mystical meaning according to which it constitutes the essence of the spiritual life of the Christian. The blessed bread of the Orthodox artoklasia has been from ancient times considered to effect personal sanctification and to help the individual against bodily infirmities and illness ‘if taken with faith’. The Greek term ‘artoklasia’ derives from the very words used by the Evangelists in describing the Mystical Supper at which Christ ‘broke bread’ and offered it to His disciples as His own Body. Also, ‘bread is broken’ in the Orthodox artoklasia, signifying not only an identity in terms but a far more significant affinity between the Lord’s and His Church’s breaking of bread. Midnight The hour of midnight was designated as a time for prayer for three reasons. First, the Jewish people were led out of Egypt at midnight (Exodus 12:29). In remembrance of this even, the Messiah at the time of Jesus was expected to come at midnight. This expectation was fulfilled when Jesus was resurrected in the early morning while it was still dark (Matthew 28:1). Midnight also became associated in early Christian thought with the hour of the Second Coming of Jesus (Mark 13:35). He was expected to come “as a thief in the night” (I Thessalonians 5:2,4). See Matthew 25:6 and Mark 13:35. This hour of prayer is kept today only in certain monasteries where monks rise at midnight, as if from the grave of death, to meet the risen Lord in prayer. The prayers offered at this hour remember those who have died in Christ and also invoke God’s mercy upon us for the coming judgment. Although we do not live in monasteries, we may use midnight as an hour of prayer if we happen to waken during the night. Instead of counting sheep, we can use the time to speak and pray to the Shepherd of our souls. O Lord our God, through your Holy Spirit You gave us an example in David, Inspiring him to sing psalms and even at this hour of the night to say: ‘At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws’; make us worthy to offer you from the bottom of our hearts our grateful confession of faith; in your goodness look with compassion on our wretched state and at your dreadful day of judgment let us too be like the faithful and wise servants; we ask it through the mediation of the holy Mother of God and all your saints – From the Prayers of the Midnight Office Matins (Gr. Orthros) This is a morning service that can be heard by it self or be followed by the Liturgy on Sundays and other feast days. It begins with the reading of the well known Six-Psalms (Exaspsalmos), includes the reading of a Matins Gospel and hymns pertaining to the day, and ends with the small Doxology (if not to be followed by the Liturgy), or by great Doxology if the Liturgy is to follow. When Matins is celebrated on Sunday morning hymns are sung for the Resurrection of our Lord. The Doxology: The Great Doxology and the Small Doxology The Theological Emphases of the Doxology Both the Orthros (Matins) and the Vespers – which comprise the two most important corporate prayer times in the daily cycle of worship – are more than times of prayer. They are a place of Theophany, where we glimpse and experience the presence of the eternal Triune God. At the core of this revelation are the four great theological themes; creation, the fall, salvation, and eschaton. Special emphasis is given to Christ and to his redemptive work and to the Kingdom which He established and which is here now and yet to come in fullness. Light and Darkness The theme of light and darkness as related to Christ is of particular significance, forming the fundamental symbolism of the two services. It is recorded in many of their fixed prayers and hymns, as well as in several liturgical actions that accompany these hymns and prayers. For example, the lighting of the evening lamp while the hymn O joyful Light, blessed Jesus Christ, is chanted at Vespers. Or when the lamps or lights are lit at the beginning of Orthros when we sing the Theos Kyrios – God is the Lord and has revealed himself to us. The Doxology is a glorious triumphant song of praise that completes the Orthros. It is filled with references to light and to the day, to Christ, the true Light and Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and to the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who is the refuge, the salvation, the source of life and revealer of the light to all who accept and live by the divine precepts. The Structure of the Doxology The Doxology is comprised of three parts. Many of the fifteen verses of the Doxology contain direct or indirect quotes from the Psalms and other phrases of the Scripture. The Doxology is an ancient prayer of the Church, whose composer(s) remain anonymous, that has two forms, one that is sung (Great Doxology) and another that is recited (Small Doxology). The first part of the Doxology begins with the words of the Hymn, which the Angels sang at the Nativity of Christ, “Glory to God in the highest…” The second part begins with the verse, “Every day I will bless you and will praise your name…” The third section begins with the words, "Let your mercy come upon us.” A part of the read Doxology also comprises a fixed element in the Vesper service (“Kataxioson Kyrie” – Grant Lord to keep us without sin…”). The first part is a song of praise to the Holy Trinity and to the Lord Christ, the Son and Lamb of God, who is entreated to accept our prayers and to show mercy on us. The second section is a prayer of praise for God, whose name is blessed and a prayer of hope that the day will be completed without sin. In their third section, God is blessed and recognized as the source of life and light and the refuge of the just. He is implored to teach us his precepts, by which we ought to live our lives, and to extend his mercy upon those who know Him. The sung Doxology, is “flanked,” at the beginning with the verse “Glory to You who has shown us Your light” and at the end with the repeated singing of “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.” The Introductory Verse The introductory verse “Glory be to You who has shown us Your light” is not based on any passage from the Scriptures. It must be understood rather in relation to the position of the Doxology in the Orthros. In the monastic tradition, the end of the Orthros coincides with the sunrise, which is greeted with the Doxology. The phrase “Doxa soi tw deixanti to phos,” is related to the appearance of the physical light, itself a part of God’s wondrous creation – “Then God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw how good the light was” (Gen. 1:3). The phrase also has a metaphorical meaning and is related to the appearance of the true Light, Jesus Christ. The Great Doxology Introductory Verse (+ means to make the sign of the cross) Glory to You who has shown us your light. Part One: A Song of Praise to the Holy Trinity Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men. We praise You, we bless You, we worship You, we glorify You, and we offer thanks to You for Your great glory. Lord King, heavenly God: + Father almighty; Lord, only-begotten Son Jesus Christ; and Holy Spirit. Lord God, Lamb of God, the Son of the Father Who takes away the sin of the world: have mercy on us You who take away the sins of the world. Accept our prayer, You Who sit at the right hand of the Father, and have on us. You only are holy; You only are Lord: Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Part Two: Prayer of Praise and Protection from sin Every evening will I bless You, and praise Your name to the ages, and to the ages of ages. Lord, You are our refuge from generation to generation. I said: “Lord have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.” In You, Lord, I take refuge: teach me to do Your will, do You are my God. For in You is the fountain of life, in Your light shall we see light. Extend Your mercy to those who know You. Make us worthy, O Lord, to be kept without sin this night. Blessed are You, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and praised and glorified is Your name to the ages. Amen. Part Three: Prayer of Praise and Dependence upon God May Your mercy, Lord be upon us, as we have hoped in You. +Blessed are You, Lord: teach me Your statutes. +Blessed are You, Master: make me understand Your statues. +Blessed are You, Holy One: enlighten me with Your statues. Lord, Your mercy is to the ages; do not disregard the words of Your hands. Lord, I flee to You, teach me to Your will; for You are my God. You are the fountain life, and in Your light we shall see light. Extend Your mercy to them that know You. Concluding Verses: The Trisagion +Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us (three times) +Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen. Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us. +Holy God, Holy Mighty , Holy Immortal One, have mercy upon us. Amen. Prayers of entrance and Liturgical vesting of the priest Before the priest serves the Divine Liturgy he arrives to first say the prescribed prayers in the middle of the church before entering the holy Altar. After the priest has finished with the entrance prayers, he then puts on his Liturgical vestments, and putting on each liturgical vestment he says certain prayers. At the conclusion of vesting the priest washes his hands and prepares the Proskomedia. The Greek, Syrian, and Bulgarian, Orthodox traditions for a bishop during Matins when the local diocesan bishop serves a Hierarchal Divine Liturgy, he says entrance prayer in the middle of the church, and before the Doxology begins the bishop is vested in the altar and comes out of the altar goes to the bishop throne, he remains until the Small Entrance. In the Russian and Serbian Orthodox traditions the bishop also says his entrance prayers, as he enters the Church, and vests in the middle of the Church, and remains until the Small Entrance. Proskomedia Proskomedia is the service of preparation of the bread and wine for the Eucharist taking place during the Matins-Orthros at the table (within the Holy Altar) known as the Prothesis. The priest extracts from the seal of the Prosphora the lamb, the portion of Theotokos, the portions of the nine orders of angels and saints, and portions of living and dead and arranges them on the diskarion as prescribed. Then, wine and water are ceremoniously poured into the Chalice, diskarion and chalice is both covered (with prayers), and both veiled with a larger vestment called the Aer. After the end of the ceremony, the prepared Gifts are conserved and prayer is said for these to be accepted to God’s heavenly altar. The Proskomedia is sometimes signified by the term Prothesis that, actually, is the table, or conch, to the left of the altar on which Proskomedia takes place. Liturgy also known as the Divine Liturgy The institution of the Eucharist, that is, of the Mystic Supper by the Lord, is recorded by St. Matthew 26:26-28; St. Mark 14:22-24; St. Luke 22:19-20, and the Apostle Paul, I Corinthians. 11:23-25. What was created at the Eucharist the gathering of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles was for our Lord, “to create the Holy Eucharist and leave His own Being to the Church.” The term (Liturgy) originally signified a public duty of any kind, including religious assignments. In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, the term is used for the first time to denote services in the Temple. In its Orthodox usage the term denotes the Eucharist as the chief act of public Christian worship. In a derived sense, the term also denotes the text containing the words and order of the Eucharist. There are three main Orthodox Liturgies; St. Chrysostom’ s, St. Basil’s, and Presanctified. Another Liturgy, that of St. James, the Brother of the Lord. Liturgy of St. James This is a very ancient Liturgy existing in a Greek and Syriac form. It is traditionally ascribed to St. James, the Lord’s brother and first bishop of Jerusalem. It bears many common elements with the Liturgy known to St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem who died about the year 386, and contains an apparent reference to the discovery of the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem in the year 326. It was mostly used in the Syriac, Armenian, and Georgian speaking provinces of the Church. The fact that the Syrian Jacobites, separated from Orthodoxy in 451, as well as by the Orthodox themselves, used it proves that the Liturgy cannot have been composed later than the middle of the 5th century. It is celebrated in the Orthodox Church on the anniversary of the death of St. James (October 23) and at Jerusalem on Sunday after Christmas. The Liturgy of St. James is important specimen of liturgical antiquity reflecting the liturgical practices of the 4th century, if not earlier. There is little doubt that the rite of St. Cyril of Jerusalem was describing in the famous Catechetical Sermon was the Liturgy of St. James in the form of that time. But around the 13th to 14th century this Liturgy was faded out in favor of the Byzantine rite that included the other three Liturgies-St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, and the Presanctified. Liturgy of St. Basil The origin of the Liturgy of St. Basil is Antiochian, specifically from Cappadocia where St. Basil was bishop. In all probability, St. Basil was the celebrant, if not in its present form, at least in its essentials. And through we have ancient documents ascribing to St. Basil a specific liturgical formula in the form of ‘Anaphora’, the liturgy in its present form is obviously the collective work of many composers. But still, most of the important prayers in it are the work of St. Basil on the strength of style, vocabulary and ideas. St. Basil’s Liturgy appears to be older than St. Chrysostom’ s perhaps by two centuries. The Liturgy of St. Basil is celebrated ten times a year, namely, the first five Sundays of the Great Lent, before Pascha-Easter, on Thursday and Saturday of Holy Week, the Nativity feast of our Lord, St. Basil’s day (January 1) and Theophany-Epiphany Day (January 6). Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom St. John Chrysostom Liturgy is well known and very common in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It may be celebrated every day of the year except the ones of St. Basil and those of the Presanctified Gifts, and on Good Friday. It is shorter than that of St. Basil and much reduced compared to St. James’. St. Chrysostom Liturgy put an end to the free prayers and hymns in the officiating of the Holy Eucharist. The Liturgy placed a seal on the free forms of the re-enactment of the Mystic Supper of the Lord, depicting it in its finest form with a destiny of enduring far into the future. Despite the addition of hymns at later times, the St. Chrysostom Liturgy remains the same majestic religious masterpiece with grandeur and dramatic appeal matching the human expression and the divine act. St. Chrysostom (345-407A.D.) was an eloquent preacher, writer and one of the Fathers of the Orthodox Church, whose writings have been translated into many languages and have nourished the Christian Church throughout the centuries. Presanctified Liturgy The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is in reality a religious service composed of elements drawn from Hesperinos, the Vespers service, and from the first part of the Divine Liturgy beginning with ‘Blessed be the kingdom…’ and ending just before the Cherubic hymn begins. It includes no Consecration, but prepared believers can receive Communion from the Consecrated Elements reserved from the Liturgy of the previous Sunday. A service of the nature of the Presanctified can be traced back to pre-Nicene times. St. Sophronios at Jerusalem calls the Presanctified in 646 an ‘Apostolic’ institution. The Presanctified is attested as a Lenten substitute for the Eucharist is Canon 52 of the Trullan Synod (Quinisext) in 692. One should bear in mind, however, that the Councils hardly introduced anything new; either in faith or in the liturgical practice of the Church; rather, they verified and vested with universal authority teachings or practices that the conscience of the Church had in sufficient measure already accepted. This means that the Trullan canon in reality aimed at safeguarding an established practice within the Church at large. The Presanctified Liturgy is attributed to St. Gregory Dialogos (540-604), but also to St. Epiphanios (315-403), St. Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople (about 6634-733), and even to St. James, St. Peter; and in Sinai it was ascribed to St. Basil and St. Chrysostom. Obviously, the pre-Byzantine core of the Presanctified goes deeply back into the beginnings and only a little later than the ‘Synaxes’ of the primitive Church. Its present Byzantine form appears to be the work of more than one composer. Parts obviously added to the ancient core are of different dates and different hands. Hierarchal Liturgy Service celebrated by a bishop. When we gather as an Orthodox family for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy we gather as unique individuals with unique responsibilities in the life of the Church. Each of us, by the virtue of our role in the Church, is a member of the Eucharistic community. In this light, each of us is an invaluable steward to the Church, offering much with his/her ministry. Early in the history, each community had a presiding bishop who was assisted in the services with the presbyters and deacons. After the churches began to increase to meet the needs of growing number of faithful within a particular diocese, the presbyter was appointed by the bishop as the chief celebrant in a local community, the parish. Even so the concept of the Church is understood not in terms of the presbyter, but in terms of his diocesan bishop. When the bishop is in our midst, celebrating the Divine Liturgy it then becomes a Hierarchal Divine Liturgy, he is the chief celebrant of the assembly of the faithful. On account of his presence we add seemingly unique phrases and hymns making the service hierarchal. In the hierarchal Divine Liturgy, we commemorate the hierarch as celebrant. Additionally, the celebrating hierarch commemorates his presiding bishop, demonstrating the local parishes unity to the greater Orthodox community. And, ultimately as stewards with unique ministries, the presbyter(s) and the laity under the direction of the bishop, offer up glory to God. Sources: Daily Vitamins for Spiritual Growth Vol. 1. Rev. Anthony M. Coniaris., Light and Life Publishing Company., Minneapolis, Minnesota 1994. A Dictionary of Greek Orthodoxy. Rev. Nicon D. Patrianacos. Hellenic Heritage Publications, Pleasantville, N.Y. 1984 Introduction to the Divine Liturgy. Rev. George Mastrantonis. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website http://www.goarch.org/en/ourfaith/artices/article7117.asp Sources for The Doxology: Rev. Dr. Stantley S. Harakas, The Hellenic Chronicle, Framingham, MA. Feb. 2, 2000. p.4 Glory Be To God For All Things!

Content written/compiled by Father Nektarios Serfes. (c) Father Nektarios Serfes

The All-night Vigil Service -- The Evening Sacrifice
Fr. Victor Potapov

Preface

CHRIST DENOUNCED THE SCRIBES of His time for elevating rituals and ceremonies to the level of exalted religious virtues, and He taught that only service offered "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24) is appropriate to be offered to God. Denouncing the legalistic attitude toward the Sabbath day, Christ said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). While the Savior's harshest words were directed against the Pharisaical devotion to traditional ritual form, Christ Himself visited, taught, and prayed in the Temple in Jerusalem, as did His apostles and disciples. 

Not only did Christianity not abandon ritual, but also in time, in the course of its historical development, it established its own complex system of worship. Does this constitute a self-contradiction? Is not private prayer sufficient for a Christian?

Faith expressed only in the soul becomes an abstraction rather than a living faith. For faith to become a living faith, it must be realized in life. Participation in church religious ceremonies is the realization of faith in our lives, and those who not only reflect upon their faith, but also live it, of necessity participate in the liturgical life of the Church of Christ; they attend Church and they know and love the order of Church services. 

In his book Heaven on Earth: Worship in the Eastern Church, Archpriest Alexander Men' explains the need for external forms of worship: "Our life, in all of its most diverse manifestations, is clothed in rituals. In the Russian language the noun "obryad" is derived from the verb that means "to dress in" or "to clothe." Joy and sorrow, daily greetings, approval, delight, and indignation, all assume external forms in human life. So what right do we have to strip these forms from our feelings toward God? What right do we have to reject Christian art and Christian rituals? The words of prayers, and the hymns of thanksgiving and repentance that poured forth from the depths of the hearts of great theologians, great poets, and creators of great melodies are not without benefit for us. Immersion into them schools the soul, educating it in genuine service to the Eternal One. Worship services lead to the enlightenment and elevation of man; they ennoble his soul. Thus, Christianity, serving God 'in spirit and truth' preserves both rituals and ceremonies." 

Christian worship, in the broad sense of the term, is collectively known as liturgy; that is, communal activity and common prayer, while the science of worship is known as liturgics. 

Christ said, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I" (Matthew 18:20). One may call divine services the focus of a Christian's entire spiritual life. When a multitude is inspired by common prayer, the people find themselves surrounded by a spiritual atmosphere that enables true prayer. At that point, the faithful enter into a mystical, sacramental communion with God, a state essential to genuine spiritual life. The holy fathers of the Church teach that just as a branch broken from a tree dries up because it is deprived of the sap it needs to live, so a person severed from the Church no longer receives that strength, that grace, which lives in the divine services and mysteries of the Church, and which is essential for man's spiritual life. 

Fr. Pavel Florensky, a famous Russian theologian of the early 20th century, called divine services "the synthesis of the sciences," because within the temple all of the substance of man's being is ennobled. Everything in an Orthodox church is essential: its architecture, the smell of incense, the beauty of the icons, the singing of the choir, the homily, and the actions performed. 

The actions carried out in Orthodox divine services are distinguished by their religious realism; a realism that engenders a sense of immediacy in the faithful to the principal events commemorated in the Gospel by removing the barriers of time and space between the events and those who pray. 

During the Nativity services, we not only remember the birth of Christ, but Christ is actually mystically born, just as He is resurrected on Holy Paskha (Easter). Similar statements can be made about His Transfiguration, His Entry into Jerusalem, the Mystical Supper, His Passion, His Burial, and His Ascension; and about all of the events in the life of the Most Holy Theotokos, from her Nativity to her Dormition. Through its divine services, the life of the Church is revealed to be the mystical accomplishment of God's Incarnation. The Lord continues to live in the Church and in the same human image which, once manifested, continues to exist throughout all time; and to the Church is given the ability to bring to life the commemorations of divine events; to endow them with power, so that we might become their new witnesses and participants. Thus all of the divine services together acquire the meaning: the life of God, and the temple, which is His dwelling place.

This begins a series of commentaries on the meaning and structure of the All-night Vigil. We hope that our work will help our readers to appreciate and love this marvelous divine service of the Orthodox Church.

In the service of the All-night Vigil, the Church conveys to the faithful a sense of the beauty of the setting sun and turns their thoughts toward the spiritual light of Christ. The Church also points the faithful toward prayerful consideration of the coming day and of the eternal light of the Heavenly Kingdom. The All-night Vigil is a service that sets before us the turning point in time between the day now passing and the day now coming. 

St. Basil the Great described the aspirations that guided the ancient composers of evening hymns and prayers as follows: "Our fathers did not wish to receive the grace of evening light in silence; rather, they offered thanks as soon as it appeared." 

In participating in the All-night Vigil, the faithful in a sense prayerfully bid farewell to the past and welcome the future. Moreover, in the All-night Vigil they are prepared for the Divine Liturgy and for the Mystery of the Eucharist.

As its name suggests, the All-night Vigil is a service that in principle lasts all night. True, in our times, such services, lasting all night, are infrequent, and take place for the most part in some monasteries, such as those on Mount Athos. In parish churches, an abbreviated form of the All-night Vigil is served. 

The All-night Vigil transports the faithful into a time long ago, into the services of the earliest Christians. For the earliest Christians, their evening meal, their prayers and commemorations of the martyrs and of the reposed, as well as the Liturgy itself, comprised one whole; traces of these observances have been preserved even to this very day in the various evening services of the Orthodox Church. These traces include the blessing of bread, wine, wheat, and oil, as well as those times in which the Liturgy is combined in one whole with Vespers; for example, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, celebrated during Great Lent; the liturgies on the eves of the feasts of the Nativity of Christ and of His Baptism; the Liturgies of Great Thursday and Great Saturday, and the midnight Liturgy of the Resurrection of Christ. 

In fact, the All-night Vigil consists of three services: Great Vespers, Matins, and the First Hour. Sometimes the first part of the All-night Vigil consists not of Great Vespers, but of Great Compline. Matins is the central and most substantial part of the All-night Vigil. 

Reflecting on what we hear and see in Vespers, we are transported into the historical Old Testament times of humanity, and we experience in our hearts what those people experienced. 

Knowing what is recounted in Vespers and Matins makes it easy for us to understand and learn the flow of Church services; the order in which they proceed, as well as the hymns, readings, and the religious ceremonies they contain.

Part I. Great Vespers

IN THE BIBLE WE READ that in the beginning, God created heaven and earth, and that the earth was unstructured ("unsightly" or "unfurnished," as the Holy Bible says), and that the Life-giving Spirit of God moved silently above it, infusing the earth with living powers. Great Vespers, the beginning of the All-night Vigil, takes us back to this dawning of creation. 

The service begins with a silent making of the sign of the cross with the censer before the Holy Table and the censing around the Holy Table in a cross fashion. This action is one of the most profound and significant moments in all of Orthodox worship. It is an image of the movement of the Holy Spirit within the essence of the Holy Trinity. The very silence of this censing gives us an indication of the Divine eternal rest, which was from before the world existed. It symbolizes the fact that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who sends the Holy Spirit from the Father, is "the Lamb, sacrificed from the creation of the world." Similarly, the cross, the weapon of His saving sacrifice, also has an eternal, cosmic, pre-creation significance. In one of his homilies for Great Friday, the 19th century Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow emphasized that "The Cross of Christ … is the earthly image and shadow of the heavenly Cross of Love."

After the censing, the priest stands before the Holy Table, while the deacon, having gone through the Royal Doors to the ambo, stands facing the west (that is, toward the faithful), and announces: "Upright!" Then, turning to the east, he continues "Bless, Master!" 

The priest makes the sign of the cross with the censer before the Holy Table, and says, "Glory to the holy, consubstantial, life-creating, and indivisible Trinity, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages." 

The meaning behind these words and actions rests in the fact that the deacon, concelebrating with the priest, invites those who have gathered here to stand at prayer, to be attentive, and to "take heart." The priest is confessing the Beginning and Creator of all, the consubstantial and life-creating Trinity. In making the sign of the Cross with the censer, the priest is demonstrating that it was through the Cross of Jesus Christ that Christians were made worthy to comprehend to some extent the mystery of the Holy Trinity in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 

After the doxology "Glory to the holy," the clergy within the altar glorify Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the All-holy Trinity, by singing "O Come, let us worship God our King … the very Christ, our King and God."

The Proemial Psalm

Then the choir sings verses from the Proemial Psalm, Psalm 103, beginning with the words "Bless, the Lord, O my soul," and ending with "In wisdom hast Thou made them all." This psalm hymns the universe created by God, the visible and invisible world, and it has been an inspiration to poets from among many different peoples and historical periods. Russian 18th century poet Lomonosov restated it in verse. Its themes also resound in the ode of 19th century Russian poet Derzhavin entitled "God", and in the "Prologue to the Heavens" by Goethe.

The principal feeling imbuing this psalm is man's admiration for and contemplation of the beauty and harmonious arrangement of the world made by God. God "brought order" to the unformed earth during the six days of creation. Everything became beautiful ("God saw that it was good," Genesis 1:10; cf. 12, 18, 21, 25 [LXX]). The 103rd Psalm also expresses the idea that even the least noticeable thing in nature holds within it the most wondrous of wonders.

Censing of the Church 

The censing of the entire temple takes place during the singing of Psalm 103 while the Beautiful Gates are still open. This practice was introduced into the Church so that the faithful might be reminded of the movement of the Holy Spirit above God's creation. The open Beautiful Gates at this point are a symbol of paradise; that is, of the state in which the first people lived in direct communion with God. Immediately following the censing of the temple, the Beautiful Gates are closed, just as Adam's ancestral sin closed the gates of paradise to man separating him from God. 

All the rituals and hymns at the beginning of the All-night Vigil reveal to us the cosmic significance of the Orthodox temple; the temple that represents a true image of the structure of the world. The altar and the Holy Table represent paradise and heaven, over which the Lord reigns. The clergy represent the angels who serve God. The central part of the temple represents the earth and man. The clergy descend from the altar and to the faithful in much the same way that paradise was returned to man by the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They wear shining vestments as a reminder of the Divine Light with which the garments of Christ shone on Mount Tabor.

The Lamplighting Prayers

The Beautiful Gates are shut immediately after the priest censes the church, as a reminder that with Adam's ancestral sin, the gates of paradise were shut to him, and he was estranged from God. Now fallen man, standing before the closed gates of paradise, prays for a return to the path to God. The priest, representing the repentant Adam, steps before the closed Beautiful Gates. Standing there as an image of repentance, with head uncovered and without the resplendent phelonion in which he had celebrated the festive beginning of the service, he silently reads the seven Lamplighting Prayers. These prayers, composed in the 4th century, make up the most ancient part of Vespers; in them we hear man's recognition of his helplessness and his plea for direction on the path of truth. The prayers are characterized by lofty eloquence and spiritual depth. The seventh prayer states: 

"O God, great and most high, Who alone hast immortality and dwellest in light unapproachable; Who hast fashioned all creation in wisdom; Who hast divided between the light and the darkness, and has appointed the sun for dominion of the day, the moon and stars for dominion of the night; Who hast counted us sinners worthy at this present hour also to come before Thy Countenance with thanksgiving, to offer unto Thee our evening glorification: do Thou Thyself, O man-befriending Lord, direct our prayer as incense before Thee, and accept it for a savour of sweet fragrance. Grant us peace in the present evening and the coming night; array us with the armour of light; deliver us from the terror by night, and from everything that walketh in darkness; and grant us sleep, which Thou hast given for the repose of our infirmities, free from all diabolic imagining-yea, O Master of all, Bestower of good things: so that we, being moved to compunction upon our beds, may call to remembrance Thy Name in the night, and being enlightened by the meditation on Thy commandments, we may rise up in joyfulness of soul to glorify Thy goodness, offering up prayers and supplications unto Thy loving kindness, for our own sins and for those of all Thy people, whom do Thou visit in Thy mercy, through the intercessions of holy Theotokos..." 

It is Church practice that during the reading of these Lamplighting Prayers, the candles and lamps within the temple are lit, an action that symbolizes the hopes, revelations, and prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the coming Messiah, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Great Ektenia

Next, the deacon chants the Great Ektenia. Ektenia or "litany" is a series of short prayerful requests or pleas addressed to the Lord, regarding the worldly and spiritual needs of the faithful. Ektenia is an especially fervent prayer read on behalf of all of the faithful. The choir, also acting on behalf of all of those present at the service, responds to these petitions with the words "Lord, have mercy," a phrase that, while short, is nonetheless one of the most perfect and complete prayers that can be uttered by man. It says all that there is to say. 

The Great Ektenia is known for its opening words "In peace let us pray to the Lord," is, thus, also known as the Litany of Peace. Peace is an essential condition for any prayer, whether an individual or a communal church prayer. In the Holy Gospel according to Mark, Christ speaks of the spirit of peace as the basis for any prayer: "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought [anything] against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses," (Mark 11:25). St. Seraphim of Sarov said, "Acquire the spirit of peace, and thousands around you will be saved." This is why at the beginning of the Vigil, and in most services, the Church invites the faithful to pray to God with a calm, peaceful conscience, they having reconciled themselves to their neighbor and to God. 

Further on in the Litany of Peace, the Church prays for peace throughout the world, for the unification of all Christians, for our native land, for the temple in which the service is taking place, and in general for all Orthodox churches, and for them that enter the temple not out of curiosity alone but, as the litany says, "with faith, reverence, and the fear of God." We remember those who travel, the sick, the imprisoned, and we hear a request to be saved from "all tribulation, wrath, danger, and necessity." In the closing petition of the Litany of Peace we state: "Calling to remembrance our Most Holy, Immaculate, Most Blessed, Glorious Lady, Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary with all the Saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and all our life unto Christ our God." This formula encompasses two profound and basic Orthodox theological concepts: the dogma of the prayerful intercession of the Mother of God at the head of all of the Saints, and the lofty ideal of Christianity - the dedication of one's life to Christ our God. 

The Great Ektenia or Litany of Peace ends with the priest's doxology, which, just as at the beginning of the Vigil, glorifies The Holy Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Psalter

As Adam stood repentant before the gates of paradise and prayed to God, so, the deacon stands before the closed Beautiful Gates and begins the Great Ektenia with the words: "In peace let us pray to the Lord…" 

Adam, however, had just heard God promise that the "seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent" and that the Savior would come into the world, so Adam's heart burned with the hope of salvation. 

This hope is expressed in the All-night Vigil in the hymn that follows. As if in answer to the Great Ektenia, a biblical psalm is heard: "Blessed is the man..." This psalm, the first psalm of the Psalter, embodies a direction and warning to the believer against taking erroneous, sinful paths in life. In most churches only few verses of this psalm are chanted followed by "Alliluya." In monasteries, not only the first psalm, "Blessed is the Man," but the entire first kathisma of the Psalter is chanted. The Greek word kathisma means "seat" or "stall" because, according to Church rules, it is permitted to sit during the readings of the kathismata. The Psalter consists of 150 psalms and is divided into 20 groups of psalms known as kathismata. Each kathisma in turn is divided into three parts, or "Glories," for each part ends with the words "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit." The entire Psalter, all 20 kathismata, is read over the course of the services in a week. During Great Lent, the 40-day period preceding Paskha, a period during which Church prayer intensifies, the Psalter is read twice each week. 

The Psalter was incorporated into the liturgical life of the Church in the earliest days after the Church was established. It occupies a position of great honor within Church life. St. Basil the Great, writing in the 4th century, stated: "The Book of Psalms includes useful material from all of the books. It has prophecies regarding the future, it calls to mind past events, it sets out the laws of life, and it offers rules for action. The psalms bring peace to the soul and order to the world. The Psalter quenches restless and troubling thoughts … is comfort from daily toils. The psalm is the voice of the Church and is perfect theology..." 

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

"Within the Church, the Psalter is, so to speak, Christianized. Here, many Old Testament concepts and expressions take on a new, more complete meaning. For this reason, the Holy Fathers and spiritual strugglers love to use the words of the Psalter that speak about defense against our enemies and express their thoughts on the battle with the enemy of our salvation and with the passions. Thus it is no surprise that the psalms take up such a large part of divine worship services. Each service begins with psalms, some with only one, others with three. An enormous number of verses from the Psalter are to be found throughout all of the liturgical cycles."

The Small Litany

After the first psalm is sung, the Small Litany is chanted: "Again and again in peace let us pray to the Lord." This ektenia, a shortened form of the Great Ektenia, contains two petitions: 

"Help us, save us, have mercy upon us, and keep us O God, by Thy grace. 

"Lord, have mercy. 

"Calling to remembrance our Most Holy, Immaculate, Most Blessed, Glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-virgin Mary with all the Saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and all our life unto Christ our God. 

"To Thee, O Lord." 

The Small Litany concludes with the priest's reading of one of the doxologies appointed in the order of service. 

It is known from the history related in the Bible that the voices of sorrow and hope, which had first cried at the gates of paradise after the fall into sin of our first created parents, continued to sound until the very coming of the Christ. 

In the Vigil, sinful man's sorrow and repentance are expressed in the verses of the penitential psalms that are sung to special melodies and with particular solemnity.

"Lord I Have Cried Unto Thee" and the Censing

After the singing of "Blessed is the Man", and after the Small Litany, we hear the verses from Psalms 140 and 141, psalms beginning with the words "Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hearken unto me." These psalms that relate fallen man's longing for God, and his striving to truly serve God, constitute the most characteristic, distinguishing feature of any Vespers service. In the second verse of Psalm 140, we encounter the words "Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee" (a prayerful sigh that is known for its especially moving musical setting in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, sung during Great Lent). The censing of the entire church takes place while these verses are sung. 

What does this censing signify? 

The Church answers through the words of the psalm already mentioned: "Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice," that is to say, may my prayer ascend unto Thee [God], like smoke from the censer, and may the raising of my hands be as an evening sacrifice to Thee. This verse reminds us of that time in the ancient past when, according to the Law of Moses, in the evening of each day a sacrifice was offered in the tabernacle, that is, in the portable temple used by the people of Israel while they were moving from the bondage of Egypt to the Promised Land. The sacrifice was marked by the lifting up of the hands of one bringing the sacrifice, and by the censing of the altar that contained the Holy Tablets of the Law, which had been received by Moses from God on the summit of Mt. Sinai. 

The ascent of the smoke from the burning incense symbolizes the prayers of the faithful, ascending to Heaven. When the deacon or priest censes in the direction of the faithful, they respond by bowing their heads, as a sign that they recognize it to be a reminder that the prayer of the believer, like the smoke of incense, easily rises up to Heaven. The censing of the people also reveals profound truth: the Church sees in each person the image and likeness of God - a living icon of God, as it were - and sees the betrothal to Christ received in the mystery of Baptism. 

During the censing of the church, the singing of "Lord, I have cried..." continues and our congregational parish prayer joins in offering the sentiment of this psalm, for we are no less sinners than were our first parents. From the depths of our hearts, we, together with them, cry out the words "Hearken unto me, O Lord."

The Stichera for “Lord I Have Cried”

Among the penitential verses of the 140th and 141st Psalms, we hear "Bring my soul out of prison..." and, from the 129th Psalm "Out of the depths I have cried unto Thee, O Lord, O Lord, hear my voice." Voices of hope in the promised Savior resound from the chanting. 

Hope amid sorrow is heard in the two hymns that follow Lord, I Have Cried, the so-called "Stichera for Lord, I Have Cried." While the verses preceding the stichera speak of darkness and sorrow of the Old Testament, the stichera themselves (those refrains that supplement the verses) speak of the joy and light of the New Testament. 

Stichera, liturgical songs composed in honor of a feast or a saint, are of three types: 1) "Stichera for Lord, I Have Cried" which as we have already noted are sung at the beginning of Vespers; 2) those sung at the close of Vespers between verses taken from the Psalms, known as Aposticha; and 3) those toward the close of the second part of the Vigil, sung together with psalms wherein the invocation "Praise ye" is often encountered. These are known as the "Stichera for the Praises." 

The Resurrection stichera glorify the Resurrected Christ, and festal stichera tell of the reflection of His glory in various sacred events or spiritual struggles of the saints; for ultimately, all of church history is tied to Paskha and to Christ's victory over death and hell. By following the sticharion text, one can recognize who or what event is being commemorated and glorified in the services of the day.

The Octoechos

Like the Psalm "Lord, I Have Cried," the stichera are also a distinguishing feature of the All-night Vigil. In Vespers, between six and ten stichera are sung in a specific tone. Since antiquity, there have been eight tones, composed by St. John of Damascus, who struggled spiritually at the Lavra (monastery) of St. Sabbas the Sanctified in Palestine during the 8th century. Each tone encompasses several melodies to which specific prayers in the divine services are sung. The tones change weekly. The cycle of the so-called Octoechos moves through the eight tones over the course of eight weeks, and then begins anew. All of these melodies are contained in the liturgical book known as the "Octoechos" or the "Book of Eight Tones". 

The tones are one of the most outstanding features of Orthodox liturgical music. In the Russian Orthodox Church, these tones are from various settings: Greek, Kiev, znamenny and special services.

Dogmatika

The Nativity of the Son of God was the answer to the repentance and hope of the people of the Old Testament. A special Theotokion sticheron, sung immediately after the stichera for "Lord, I have cried," tells us of this. This sticheron is known as a Dogmatikon or a Theotokion-Dogmatikon. There are eight dogmatika; one for each tone. The dogmatika are composed of praises of the Theotokos and the teachings of the Church about the incarnation of Jesus Christ and about how His two completely distinct natures, divine and human, dwell in Him. 

What set the dogmatika apart are their profound catechetical meaning and their sublime poetry. Here is an English rendering of the Dogmatikon in the First Tone: 

"Let us hymn the Virgin Mary, the glory of the whole world, who sprang forth from men and gave birth unto the Master, the portal of heaven, and the subject of the hymnody of the incorporeal hosts and adornment of the faithful; for she hath been shown to be heaven and the temple of the Godhead. Having destroyed the middle wall of enmity, she hath brought forth peace and opened wide the kingdom. Therefore, having her as the confirmation of our faith, we have as champion the Lord born of her. Wherefore, be of good courage! Yea, be ye of good cheer, O people of God, for He vanquisheth the foe, in that He is almighty!" 

This Dogmatikon sets forth, in concise form, the Orthodox teachings about the human nature of the Savior. The principal theme of the Dogmatikon in the first tone is that the Mother of God was born of common people, and herself was a common person, and not a superhuman. So men and women, though sinful, preserved their spiritual essence to the extent that, in the person of the Mother of God, they were worthy of taking the Divinity, Jesus Christ, into their inner selves. The Holy Fathers of the Church taught that the all-holy Theotokos is man's justification before God. In the person of the Mother of God, humanity was raised to heaven; and God, in the person of Jesus Christ, Who was born of her, came down to earth. This, considered from the perspective of Orthodox Mariology (teachings with respect to the Mother of God), is the actual purpose of Christ's Incarnation.

The English translation of the Dogmatikon in the Second Tone declares: 

"The shadow of the law passed away when grace arrived; for, as the bush wrapped in flame did not burn, so did the Virgin give birth and yet remained a virgin. In place of the pillar of fire, the Sun of righteousness hath shone forth. Instead of Moses, Christ is come, the salvation of our souls." 

The meaning of this Dogmatikon lies in the fact that through the Virgin Mary, grace came into the world and liberated the faithful from the weight of the Old Testament law, which was a mere shadow and symbol of the future good things of the New Testament law. The Dogmatikon in the Second Tone also underscores the ever-virginity of the Theotokos, depicted in the Old Testament symbol of the burning bush that was not consumed. This burning yet unconsumed bush was the thorn bush that Moses saw at the base of Mt. Sinai. According to the Bible, the bush burned but was not consumed, that is, it was engulfed by flame, but did not burn.

The Little Entrance

The singing of the Dogmatikon at the Vigil represents the uniting of earth and heaven. During the singing of the Dogmatikon, the Beautiful Gates are opened to show that heaven, in the sense of man's communion with God, which was closed by Adam's sin, was opened once more with the coming to earth of Jesus Christ; the Adam of the New Testament. At this point, the Evening or Little Entrance takes place. The priest, preceded by a deacon, comes out of the altar through the north, deacon's, door, just as the Son of God, preceded by St. John the Forerunner, appeared to man in the world. The choir concludes the Evening or Little Entrance by singing the prayer "O Gentle Light," portraying in words what the priest and deacon have portrayed in the action of the entrance; the gentle, humble Light of Christ, which appeared almost unnoticed in the world.

The Prayer “O Gentle Light”

"O Gentle Light " (rendered as "O Gladsome Light" by some) is known, in the cycle of chants of the Orthodox Church, as the evening hymn, since it is sung at all Vespers services. In the words of this hymn the children of the Church, "having come to the setting of the sun, having beheld the evening light, we praise the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - God." It is apparent from these words that the chanting of "O Gentle Light" was intended to coincide with the appearance of the soft light of sunset, a time when the soul of the believer should be close to feeling the touch of another kind of light, a light from above. This is why, in ancient times, Christians, on observing the setting of the sun, poured out their feelings and turned in prayerful attitude of soul to their Gentle Light, Jesus Christ, Who is described by the Apostle Paul as the brightness of the glory of the Father (Hebrews 1:3) and by the Old Testament prophet as the true Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2[LXX]), and the true light that according to the Holy Evangelist John appeared in the world to dispel spiritual darkness (John 1:4, 9); a light that is eternal, an unsetting sun. 

St. Cyprian of Carthage, who lived in the 4th century, wrote, "In as much as Christ is the true sun and the true day, when we pray at the setting of the sun and ask that light to come to us, we are praying for the coming of Christ, Who possesses the grace to offer us eternal light." 

The prayer "O Gentle Light," which appeared in the epoch when the Church of Christ was in the catacombs, is the third distinguishing feature of the Vespers. "O Gentle Light" also contains one of the most important of Orthodox dogmas, the confession of Christ as the visible face of the All-holy Trinity, a dogma that is the foundation for the practice of venerating icons.

"Let us attend"

After the chanting of "O Gentle Light," the clergy serving in the altar make several short exclamations: "Let us attend, " "Peace be unto all," and "Wisdom." These exclamations are made not only during All-night Vigil, but during other services as well. These liturgical exclamations, though repeated several times in church, can easily pass us by unnoticed. They are minor words, but their content is great and significant. 

In our daily life, to be attentive or heedful is important. Yet the capacity to be attentive or heedful does not always come easily. Our intellect (mind) is predisposed to being forgetful and unfocused. It is difficult to force oneself to be attentive. The Church is aware of our weakness, and so it takes it upon itself to keep reminding us with the phrase, "Let us attend!" which tells us: let us be attentive, let us be heedful, let us take note, let us be careful, let us gather our wits, and let us strain to focus our mind and our memory on what we are hearing. Even more important, let us so set our hearts that nothing that is going on in church will slip by us. To be attentive or to take heed means to unburden ourselves, to free ourselves of memories, empty thoughts, and concerns; or, to use an expression from our liturgical language, to "put aside all earthly cares..."

“Peace Be Unto All!”

The little exclamation, "Peace be unto all", is first heard during the All-night Vigil immediately following the Small Entrance and the prayer, "O Gentle Light." 

Among ancient peoples, the word "peace" was a form of greeting. Devout Jews to this day greet one another with the word "shalom." This form of greeting was used during the earthly life of the Savior, as well. The ancient Hebrew word 'shalom' has a variety of meanings and caused New Testament translators considerable difficulty until they ultimately settled on the word ειρήνη-eirini, Greek for "peace." The word "shalom" has several shades of meaning in addition to its direct meaning. For example, it can mean, "to be complete, healthy, and unharmed." Its fundamental meaning is a dynamic one. It means, "to live well," to have well being, to be healthy, satisfied and so on, and is to be understood both in the material and in the spiritual sense, individually and communally. Figuratively, the word "shalom" meant good relations among various individuals, families, and peoples, between man and wife, and between man and God. For this reason, its antonym or opposite meaning was not necessarily war, but most likely was everything that could interrupt or destroy individual well being or good communal relations. In this broader sense, the word "peace", "shalom," represented a special gift given by God to Israel for the sake of His Covenant; His agreement with them. For this reason, the word was employed in an entirely specific, even priestly way, as a blessing. 

The Savior used this word in precisely this sense, as a greeting. He greeted the apostles with it, as St. John states in his Gospel: "The first day of the week [after the Resurrection of Christ] … came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them [His disciples], Peace be unto you, (John 20:19). Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." (John 20:21) This was not simply a kind of formal greeting such as we so often hear in ordinary human discourse. Here Christ actually sends His disciples out into the world, knowing that they are to go through the abyss of hatred and persecution, and be martyred. 

This is that peace of which the Apostle Paul spoke in his epistles, the peace not of this world, the peace that is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit; the

The Prokeimenon

peace that is of Christ; "For he is our peace." (Ephesians 2:14) 

This is why during services the bishops and priests so often bless the people of God with the sign of the Cross and with the words "Peace be unto you!"

The Προκειμενον-Prokeimenon follows the greeting of the faithful with the words of the Savior's greeting, "Peace be unto you." The Prokeimenon is a short passage taken from the Holy Writ and is read along with one or more other stichos-verses that supplement the meaning of the Prokeimenon. The Sunday Prokeimenon, in the sixth tone, is read during Vespers on Saturday evening on the eve of the Resurrection commemorated every Sunday. The Russian word for Sunday, Voskresenie, literally means "Resurrection." The Prokeimenon is read first in the altar, then repeated by the choir.

The Paremia

The Readings, or Paremia, which literally means "lessons," consists of a passage or passages from the Old or the New Testament. The Church has decided that readings such as these, which contain prophecies or words of praise about the event or saint being commemorated, should be read on eves of great feasts. While three readings are usually read, from time to time there are more. For example, on Great Saturday, the Eve of Paskha, fifteen paremia are read.

The Augmented Litany

Christ's coming into the world, which is shown to us in the action of the evening Small Entrance, shows the closeness of God to man and strengthens our prayerful communion. This is why immediately after the prokeimenon and the readings, the Church invites the faithful to intensify their prayerful communion with God through the Augmented Litany. The several petitions in the Augmented Litany remind us of the content of the first vesperal litany or ektenia, the Great Ektenia. However, the Augmented Litany also includes prayers for the reposed. The Augmented Litany begins with the words "Let us all say with our whole soul and our whole mind..." The choir responds to each petition for all of those praying, with a thrice repeated "Lord, have mercy."

The Prayer “Vouchsafe, O Lord”

The prayer, "Vouchsafe, O Lord," is read after the Augmented Litany. A portion of this prayer, which was composed in the Syrian Church during the 4th century, is read in the Great Doxology during Matins.

The Litany of Supplication

The concluding Litany of Supplication is chanted immediately after the prayer, "Vouchsafe, O Lord." After the first two petitions, the choir responds to the remaining petitions with "Grant this, O Lord," which makes the requests bolder than does "Lord have mercy," the penitential response heard in the earlier litanies. In the initial litanies of Vespers, the faithful pray for the welfare of the whole world and the Church; that is, for external welfare. In the Litany of Supplication, we hear prayers for success in our spiritual life; that is, for a sinless conclusion to the day, for an angel of peace, for pardon and remission of our sins, for a Christian and peaceful ending to our life, and for a good defense before the dreaded judgment seat of Christ.

Bowing of the Heads

After the Litany of Supplication, the Church calls on the faithful to bow their heads unto the Lord. At this moment, the priest addresses God with a special "hidden" prayer, which he reads silently. It contains the idea that those who have bowed their heads expect help not from men, but from God, and they ask Him to guard the faithful from every enemy, external, and internal; from vain thoughts and from evil imaginings. The Bowing of the Heads is an external sign that the faithful put themselves under God's protection.

The Litia

On great feasts and on days commemorating highly honored saints, the Bowing of the Heads is followed by the Litiya or Service of Entreaty. The term "litiya" means intensified prayer. It begins with the singing of special stichera in honor of the feast or saint of the day. As the singing of stichera begins, the clergy go in procession through the north, or deacon's, door of the iconostasis, and out of the altar. The Beautiful Gates remain shut. A candle is carried at the head of the procession. When the litiya is celebrated outside of the church building; for example, during times of civil distress or on days marking liberation from such distress, the litiya is incorporated in a Moleben and Procession of the Cross. Also a Memorial Litiya may be performed in the narthex after Vespers or Matins. 

Michael Skaballanovich, a pre-Revolutionary liturgist, writes that "in the litiya, the Church steps out of its blessed milieu and, with the goal of mission to the world, into the external world or narthex; that part of the church which abuts this world, the part which is open to all, including those not yet part of the Church or those excluded from Her. From this stems the universal character of the litiya prayers, embracing all people." 

During the litiya, the deacon reads the prayer, "Save, O God, Thy people," as well as reads four other short petitions. These are composed of entreaties for the salvation of the people, the Church and civil authorities, for the souls of Christians, for the cities, for this land and all believers living herein, for the reposed, as well as entreaties asking that we be preserved from foreign invasions and from civil war. Each of these five petitions, chanted by the deacon, ends with repeated chanting of "Lord, have mercy." 

During the litiya, the faithful display a heightened sense of humility. In the litiya a host of saints is invoked by name, underscoring one of the basic dogmas of Orthodoxy: our veneration of, and prayerful communication with, the saints. 

The words "Lord, have mercy," are repeatedly chanted during the litiya, which causes the heart, mind, and soul of those who pray to be saturated with this petition. These multiple repetitions are intended to focus our attention on the meaning of the prayer, something the Church considers especially important for man's spiritual growth. Like a musical theme, this often repeated prayer accompanies us out of the church and into our daily life. 

"Lord, have mercy,"- only three words, yet how profound! First of all, in calling God "Lord," we affirm the fact of His rule over the world, over mankind; and, the most important, over ourselves, and over those who call Him "Lord," which means "ruler" or "master." For this reason we refer to ourselves as "servants" or "slaves" of God. There is nothing shameful about this title. Slavery is intrinsically a negative thing, for it robs man of his earliest gift from God, the gift of freedom. Since it is a gift given by God to man, man's serving God is in fact the acquisition of perfect freedom in God. It is good to treasure, keep, and cultivate the prayer, "Lord, have mercy." 

After the deacon has read the petitions and the priest has read the prayer, "O Master, plenteous in mercy," and during the singing of the Aposticha, which consists of stichera (verses that glorify the feast or saint of the day), the clergy and faithful enter the nave or central part of the church. At this time, a table is placed in the center of the church. On the table are five loaves of bread, as well as, wheat, wine, and oil. All are then blessed in this token act of the ancient custom of distributing food to the faithful, some of whom had come from afar, so that they might gain the strength to participate in the lengthy worship services. Five loaves are blessed in memory of the Lord's feeding of the five thousand who listened to his sermon. Later, during Matins, and after the faithful have venerated the Festal Icon, the priest anoints them with blessed oil.

The prayer “Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart”

The Prayer of St. Symeon, the God-receiver, "Now lettest Thou Thy servant departs in peace, O Master," is read after the Aposticha. St. Symeon uttered these words when he received the Divine Infant Christ in his arms in the Temple of Jerusalem on the fortieth day after Our Lord's Nativity. In this prayer, the Old Testament elder thanks God for enabling him, before his death, to see Salvation; that is, to see Christ, Who was given by God for the glory of Israel, and for the enlightenment of the Gentiles and of the entire world. In English, the prayer says: "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, O Master, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light of revelation for the nations, and the glory of Thy people Israel." 

Vespers, the first part of the All-night Vigil, is now drawing to a close. Having begun with a commemoration of the opening pages of Old Testament history, the creation of the world, it ends with the prayer "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart," symbolizing the conclusion of the history of the Old Testament.

The Trisagion

Immediately following the prayer of St. Symeon the God-receiver, the Trisagion or Thrice-Holy prayers are read. They include the prayers "Holy God," "All Holy Trinity," and "Our Father," and end with the doxology exclaimed by the priest "For Thine is the kingdom…" Following the Trisagion, the Troparia or Dismissal Hymns are sung. A troparion is a short, concise hymn in honor of the saint being commemorated or about the holy event being celebrated that day. The distinguishing feature of the troparion is that it concisely describes either the person being glorified or an associated event. At the Resurrection Vespers on Saturday evening, the troparion to the Mother of God, "O Theotokos and Virgin, rejoice!" is sung three times. This troparion is sung at the conclusion of Resurrection Vespers because of the joy of Christ's Resurrection, the focus of Matins that follows. It announces the joy of the Annunciation when Archangel Gabriel advised the Virgin Mary that she was to give birth to the Son of God. The words of this troparion are composed mostly of the words of greeting spoken by the Archangel to the Mother of God. 

In the event that a litiya is part of the All-night Vigil, the priest or deacon moves around the table, on which the loaves of bread and the wheat, wine and oil are placed, censing them three times as the troparion is being sung three times. Then the priest reads a prayer that asks God to "bless the bread, wheat, wine and oil, and multiply them throughout the world and to enlighten those who eat of them." Before reading this prayer, the priest slightly elevates one of the loaves, and makes the sign of the Cross with it over the remaining loaves. This action is done in remembrance of Christ's miraculous feeding of the five thousand with five loaves of bread. 

In the past, the bread and wine that were blessed were then distributed to the faithful in order to strengthen them during the service, which in fact continued for the entire night. In contemporary worship, the blessed bread is cut into small pieces to be given to the faithful later, as they are anointed with oil during Matins; this will be expanded upon later. The solemn ceremony of the blessing of the loaves dates back to a practice of earliest Christian times, and is a remnant of the Agape or Love Feast observed by those first Christians. 

At the conclusion of the litiya, in recognition of God's mercy, the choir sings thrice, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord from henceforth and forevermore." This is also the concluding sticheron of the Divine Liturgy. The priest closes Vespers, the first part of the All-night Vigil, blessing the faithful from the ambo with the ancient blessing in the name of the incarnate Jesus Christ: "The blessing of the Lord come upon you, by His divine grace and love for man, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages."

The All-night Vigil Service -- The Evening Sacrifice

Part II – Matins

THE SERVICES OF VESPERS AND MATINS define the day. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we read: "And there was evening and there was morning, the first day" (Genesis 1:5 [LXX]). For this reason, in ancient times the order of services called for Vespers, the first part of the All-night Vigil, to end late in the night; and for Matins, the second part, to finish at dawn. In contemporary practice, Matins (if conducted apart from Vespers) is usually moved to a later hour in the morning or back to the previous evening.

The Six Psalms

Matins, if held as a part of the All-night Vigil, begins with the reading of the Six Psalms or Hexapsalmia, which consists of Psalms 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, and 142 ([LXX]), read in order as one liturgical whole. The reading of the Six Psalms is preceded by two Bible verses: the thrice repeated words of praise spoken by the angel at Bethlehem: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14), and the twice repeated words from the 50th Psalm: "O Lord, Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Thy praise" (Psalm 50:15 [LXX]). 

The first of these verses, the angelic words of praise, clearly and eloquently point out three fundamentally related paths of struggle in pursuit of a Christian life. Upward, toward God in the words of praise, "Glory to God in the highest," outward toward your neighbor in the words, "and on earth peace," and downward into the depth of your heart in the words, "good will among men." Seen together, the thrust of these struggles, upward, outward and downward, form the symbol of the Cross, thereby manifesting the ideal of the Christian life: granting peace with God, peace among men, and peace in the soul. 

The order of services calls for the candles in the church to be extinguished during the reading of the Six Psalms. The falling darkness symbolizes that dark night when Christ came to earth, as the angel sang the hymn of praise, "Glory to God in the highest." The semidarkness of the church helps us to pray more earnestly. The Six Psalms encompass the entire range of human experiences that enlighten New Testament Christian life, not only its overall joyousness, but also the sorrowful path that leads to that joy. 

At the midpoint of the Six Psalms comes the fourth psalm, Psalm 87; the most sorrowful of the six, filled as it is with a dreadful bitterness. While this psalm is being read, the priest leaves the altar and stands before the Beautiful Gates and continues to read the twelve special morning prayers, which he has already begun to read in the altar before the Holy Table. At that moment the priest symbolizes Christ, Who, having heard the sorrow of fallen mankind, not only came down to man, but shared in his suffering to the end. The psalm, which is being read at that moment, speaks of this theme. 

The priest's silent morning prayers contain prayers for the Christians standing in church; petitions that they be forgiven their sins, that they be given true faith and sincere love, that all their works be blessed, and that they might be made worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom.

The Great Litany

Upon the conclusion of the Six Psalms and the morning prayers, the Great Litany is once again intoned, as it was during Vespers at the beginning of the All-night Vigil.  Its significance here at the beginning of Matins is that Christ, the Intercessor, who appeared on earth and Whose Nativity we praised at the beginning of the Six Psalms, will fulfill all the promises of spiritual and physical good of which the litany speaks.

Psalm 117 "God is the Lord"

Immediately following the Litany of Peace, we hear the singing of the 117th Psalm, "God is the Lord," and the oft-repeated refrain, "God is the Lord and hath appeared unto us; blessed is he who cometh in the Name of the Lord." The order of divine services appoints that these words be sung at this specific point in Matins in order to direct our memory and attention to Christ's embarking on His public ministry. This verse expands upon the praise of the Savior that was heard at the beginning of Matins during the reading of the Six Psalms. These words also served as a greeting to Jesus Christ when He entered Jerusalem for the final time before His passion on the Cross. The doxology "God is the Lord and hath appeared unto us…" and three special verses that follow are chanted by either the deacon or by the priest before the main, or local, Icon of Christ in the iconostasis; this is the icon of Christ immediately to the right of the Beautiful Gates. The choir then repeats the first verse, "God is the Lord and hath appeared unto us." 

The singing or chanting of these verses should reflect a joyous, festive mood. For this reason, the candles, which had been extinguished during the reading of the Six Psalms penitential, are lighted once again. 

Immediately after the verses for "God is the Lord," the Resurrection Troparion is sung. The Feast is glorified in it and the essence of the words "God is the Lord and hath appeared unto us" is explained. The Resurrection Troparion heralds the sufferings of Christ and His Resurrection from the dead; events that will be illuminated in detail later in the service of Matins.

Kathismata 

At the All-night Vigil, the second and third kathismata (the Greek plural of kathisma) are read after the completion of the Great Litany, the verses of "God is the Lord," and the troparia. As we have already stated, the Greek word καθισμα-kathisma means "seat" or "stall," and according to the Church order of services, during the reading of the kathismata the faithful are allowed to sit. 

The entire Psalter, composed of 150 psalms, is divided into 20 kathismata; that is, into 20 groups or chapters of psalms. Each kathisma is in turn divided into three "glories," that is, each section of the kathisma concludes with the words, "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit," being chanted three times, and after each "glory" the choir sings "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Glory to Thee, O God." 

The kathismata contain expressions of a penitential, contemplative character. They call us to consider our sins; and they are included by the Orthodox Church in the Divine Services to call the faithful to look into their own lives and actions, and deepen their repentance before God. 

The second and third kathismata, read during Sunday Resurrection Matins, are of a prophetic character. They describe the passion of Christ: the abuse He endured, the piercing of His hands and feet, the casting of lots and dividing of His garments, and His death and Resurrection from the dead. 

The kathismata of the Resurrection during the All-night Vigil bring the faithful to the central and most festive portion of the services, to the polyeleos.

The Polyeleios

"Praise ye the Name of the Lord. Alleluia." These and the following words are taken from the 134th and 135th Psalms and introduce the most festive portion of the Resurrection Vigil Service, the polyeleos, which celebrates the Resurrection of Christ. The word πολυελεοσ - polyeleos comes from two Greek words that mean "plenteous in mercy." The crux and fulcrum of the polyeleos rests in the chanting of "Praise ye the name of the Lord," with each verse of the Psalms followed by the refrain, "for His mercy endureth forever." In this refrain, the Lord is glorified for the abundant mercies He had shown toward man; the first and foremost of which is His salvation and redemption of man. 

At the polyeleos, the Beautiful Gates open, the entire church is illuminated, and the clergy come out of the altar and cense the entire church. Through these liturgical actions, the faithful witness the events of the Resurrection. In the opening of the Beautiful Gates, they see how Christ rose from the tomb; and in the clergy procession from the altar to the center of the church, they see how He again appeared among His disciples. While this is taking place, the psalm, "Praise ye the Lord"(Psalm 134:3 [LXX]), continues to be chanted, together with the angelic refrain, "Alleluia" (Praise the Lord); it is as if the choir is acting on behalf of the angels, calling the faithful to praise the Risen Lord. 

The chanting of "plenteous in mercy" during the polyeleos, a service typically done during the Vigil on the eves of Sundays and of great feasts days, especially demonstrates God's mercy. It is especially appropriate during this service to praise His Name and to thank Him for His mercy. 

In preparation for Great Lent, the short 136th Psalm is added to the verses of Psalms 134 and 135 that constitute the polyeleos. Psalm 136 begins with the words "By the waters of Babylon" and tells of the suffering of the Hebrew people in the Babylonian captivity and of their grief over the loss of their homeland. It is sung during the several weeks prior to Great Lent, so that, like the Hebrews who strove to free themselves from Babylonian captivity and return to their Homeland, the Promised Land, Christians, who are the New Israel, might strive in repentance and abstinence toward their spiritual home, the Kingdom of God. 

During feasts of the Lord and of the Theotokos, as well as on days commemorating especially venerated saints, the polyeleos is followed by a magnification, a short verse of praise for the feast or saint of the day. First the clergy, standing before the festal icon in the center of the church, sing the magnification. Then, while the entire church is censed, the choir repeats the same text several times. 

The angels were the first to learn of the Resurrection of Christ and to tell people the Good News. Thus, the polyeleos begins with the angels bidding us, "Praise ye the Name of the Lord." The next to learn of the resurrection were the Myrrh-bearing Women, who, in accordance with ancient Hebrew custom, came to the Tomb of Christ to anoint His body with myrrh, an aromatic oil. So, the singing of the angelic Alleluia is followed by the resurrection troparia that tell of the Myrrh-bearers' visit to the tomb, and of the appearance of the angel who told them of the Savior's resurrection and directed that they tell this news to His apostles. Each troparion is preceded by the words, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy statutes." The last of Jesus Christ's followers to learn of His resurrection from the dead were the apostles. This moment in Gospel history is commemorated with the reading of the Resurrection Gospel, the central part of the Vigil Service. 

Several preliminary doxologies and prayers precede the Gospel reading. Thus, after the Resurrection troparion and the Small Ektenia that is an abridged form of the Great Ektenia, special verses known as the Hymns of Degrees are sung. These ancient verses come from 15 psalms known as Hymns of Degrees because in Old Testament times they were sung by two choirs, facing one another along the steps, here called degrees, of the Temple in Jerusalem. Usually, we hear the first part of the Hymns of Degrees in Tone IV, beginning with "From my youth many passions have warred against me."

As just related, the highlight of the All-night Vigil is the reading of a Gospel passage about Christ's resurrection from the dead. The order of divine services calls for a number of prayers to be read in preparation for this holy Gospel. The reason for the rather lengthy preparation of the faithful for the reading of the Gospel is that the Gospel remains a "sealed" book and a "stumbling block" for those among the faithful that the Church has not yet taught to understand and heed it. Furthermore, the Holy Fathers teach that a Christian must first pray in order to draw the maximum spiritual benefit from the reading of the Holy Writ. This prayerful introductory preparation for the reading of the Gospel at the All-night Vigil serves this purpose. 

Our prayers in preparation for the reading of the Gospel include the following liturgical elements. First, the deacon chants, "Let us attend," then "Wisdom"; then comes the prokeimenon relevant to the Gospel reading. The prokeimenon, as we said earlier, is a short excerpt from Divine Scripture, ordinarily from one of the psalms, which is read together with other verses complementing the theme of the prokeimenon. The deacon chants the prokeimenon and its accompanying verse, and the choir responds after each of the deacon's chants. 

The doxology, "For holy art Thou," and the chanting of "Let every breath praise the Lord," conclude the polyeleos with its festive words of praise introducing the Gospel. The gist of their meaning is: Let everything that has life praise the Lord, the giver of life. Afterward, the wisdom, holiness, and benevolence of the Lord, Creator and Redeemer of all creation is explained and preached through the holy Word of the Gospel.

The Holy Gospel

"Wisdom. Upright. Let us hear the Holy Gospel." This is an invitation to stand up straight, with respect, piety, and spiritual uprightness, to hear the Word of God. 

As we have said before, the central part of the All-night Vigil is the reading of the Gospel. In it we hear the voices of the apostles, heralding the Good News of the Resurrection of Christ. 

Eleven differing Resurrection Gospel lessons, all of which tell of the Resurrection of the Savior and of His appearance to the Myrrh-bearing Women and to the disciples, are read in turn during the year at Saturday All-night Vigils.

The Resurrection Gospel lessons are read from within the altar, the most important part of the Orthodox temple, which here represents the Tomb of our Lord. On other feast days, the Gospel is read in the midst of the people. This is done because an icon is placed in the center of the Temple, representing the saint or event being celebrated whose meaning the Gospel proclaims. 

After the Resurrection Gospel reading, the priest brings the Holy Bible out for veneration. He emerges from the altar as from the Tomb, and holding the Gospel, he emulates the angel as he shows us Christ, about Whom he had preached. Like the disciples, the parishioners bow down before the Holy Gospel, and like the Myrrh-bearing Women, they kiss it, and everyone sings, "Having beheld Thy Resurrection, O Christ." 

Beginning with the polyeleos, our exultation and joy in encountering Christ increases. This part of the Vigil instills in the faithful recognition that in the person of Jesus Christ, Heaven has come down to earth. The Church also reminds its children that whenever we hear the chanting of the polyeleos, we must bear in mind the coming day and with it the Feast of Eternity, the Divine Liturgy, which is not simply a representation on earth of the Heavenly Kingdom, but is in fact its coming to pass, unchanged and in all its fullness, on earth. 

We must greet the Heavenly Kingdom with a broken spirit and with repentance. For this reason, immediately after the joyous singing of "Having beheld Thy Resurrection, O Christ," the penitential 50th Psalm, beginning with the words "Have mercy on me, O Lord," is chanted. It is only during the night of Paskha and the entire week following it, when we are permitted to experience such ultimately joyous rapture, free of sorrow or penitence, that the reading of the 50th Psalm is omitted from divine services.

This penitential Psalm, "Have mercy on me, O Lord," is concluded with a prayer for the intercession of the apostles and the Mother of God. Then, the opening verse of the 50th Psalm is repeated: "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy, and, according to the multitude of Thy compassions, blot out my transgression!" 

Further on, it is with the mixture of both joy in the Resurrection and repentance that we hear the sticharion, "Jesus, having risen from the dead, as he foretold, hath given us life eternal and great mercy." The "great mercy," which Christ shows to those who repent, is the granting of "life eternal." 

According to the Church, the Resurrection of Christ illumines the nature of anyone who unites himself with Christ. This enlightenment is demonstrated in the extremely important variable part of the All-night vigil known as the canons.

The Canon

The miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ enlightened human nature. In the canon, the portion of the Vigil that follows the reading of the Gospel, the Church shows the faithful this enlightenment. In contemporary practice, the canon consists of nine odes or songs. Each ode of the canon consists of a specific number of individual troparia. 

Each individual canon has a specific subject of celebration: the Most Holy Trinity, an event from the Gospel or from the history of the Church, prayers to the Theotokos, or the magnification of a saint or saints of the day. The Sunday canons (read on Saturday evening in usual Russian practice) celebrate the Resurrection of Christ and the ensuing enlightenment of the world, the victory over sin and death. Festal canons illuminate in detail the meaning of the feast and the life of the saint, as a model of the transfiguration of the world already taking place. The Church in some measure celebrates Christ's victory over sin and death by contemplating the light of this transfiguration reflected in the canons. 

The canons are read, but the initial verse of each individual ode is sung by the choir. These introductory verses are known as irmoi, from the plural form of the Greek verb eirmos, meaning "to tie." The irmos presents a pattern for all of the troparia that follow within a given ode. 

An event from the Old Testament that embodies a transfiguring, that is, a prophetic and symbolic meaning relevant to the New Testament, serves as the pattern for each introductory irmos. For example, the irmos of the first ode commemorates, in Christian terms, the Hebrews' miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. In this irmos, the Lord is glorified as the all-powerful deliverer from evil and slavery. 

The irmos of the second ode is taken from the song of denunciation spoken by Moses in the Sinai desert to awaken a spirit of repentance in the Hebrews fleeing from Egypt. The second ode is sung only during Great Lent. 

The irmos of the third ode is based on the song of thanksgiving sung by Anna, mother of the prophet Samuel, for having been given a son. In the irmos of the fourth ode, we hear a Christian interpretation of the appearance to the prophet of the Lord God, Habakkuk, as seen in the brilliant sunlight streaming from behind the wooded mountain. In this vision, the Church perceives the glory of the coming Savior. 

In the fifth ode, the theme of which comes from the book of the prophet Isaiah, Christ is glorified as the bringer of peace. It also contains the prophecy of the Resurrection from the dead. 

The sixth irmos is taken from the story of the prophet Jonah, cast into the sea and swallowed up by a whale. In the eyes of the Church, this event serves to remind the Christian that he has sunk into the abyss of sin. The irmos also expresses the idea that there is no sorrow or misfortune in which the heartfelt prayer of the faithful cannot be heard. 

The irmoi of the seventh and eighth odes of the canon are based on the song of the three Hebrew children who were cast into the fiery Babylonian furnace. This event is a prefiguring of Christian martyrdom. 

Between the eighth and ninth odes, a hymn in honor of the Theotokos is chanted. The hymn begins with the words, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior." It is accompanied by the refrain, "More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim." The deacon chants the beginning of this glorification of the Mother of God. First he censes the altar and the right side of the iconostasis, and then he stops before the icon of the Theotokos on the iconostasis. Raising the censer, he chants: "The Theotokos and the Mother of the Light, let us magnify in song." The choir responds with the glorification of the Mother of God. 

During the chanting of the glorification, the deacon censes the entire church. Then the troparia of the final ode of the canon are read and, for the last time in the Vigil, we hear the Small Litany, "Again and again, in peace let us pray to the Lord." During the Resurrectional All-night Vigil, and following the Small Litany and the priest's doxology, the deacon exclaims "Holy is Our God," and this phrase is then echoed thrice by the choir.

The Exapostilarion

In monasteries that follow the order of service to the letter, and in churches in which the All-night Vigil actually does last all night, sunrise coincides with this point in the service. Special hymns celebrate its approach. The first hymn is known as the Hymn of Light, or Svetilen, in Russian, a term referring to the heralding of the approaching light. This type of hymn is also known by the Greek term exapostilarion, as typically spelled in English, which means "I send out," because a chanter is in fact "sent out" from the kliros (from where the choir sings) to the center of the church to chant the exapostilarion. The renowned hymns, "I see Thy Bridal Chamber adorned, O My Savior," and "The Wise Thief," heard during Passion Week, are examples of Exapostilaria or Svetilen. Among the best known of the Hymns of Light for the Mother of God is "The apostles, from the ends," sung during the Dormition of the Mother of God. 

After the Hymn of Light, the verse, "Let every breath praise the Lord," is sung, and Psalms 148, 149, and 150 (LXX) are read. These three psalms are known as the Psalms of Praise, for in them the term "praise ye" is often repeated. Special stichera, known as the Aposticha for the Praises, are combined with these psalms. They are usually sung at the close of Psalm 149 and after each verse of the short 150th Psalm. As in the case of the other stichera during the Vigil, the Aposticha for the praises glorify a Gospel event, an event in the life of the Church, or a saint or saints being commemorated on that day.

The Great Doxology

As we have already noted, in ancient times and even today in those monasteries where the All-night Vigil indeed lasts all night, the sun rises during the second half of the Vigil. At this point, the Lord, the Giver of Light, is praised in a special, ancient Christian hymn, the Great Doxology, which begins with the words, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace." But before this, we see the priest through the open doors of the altar as he stands before the Holy Table and exclaims, "Glory to Thee, Who hast shown us the light." 

In the All-night Vigil, Matins concludes with the Augmented Litany and with the Litany of Supplication, the very same Litanies which were read earlier in the Vigil, during Vespers. They are followed by the priest's closing doxology and by the Dismissal. The priest addresses the Mother of God with the prayer: "O Most Holy Theotokos, save us!" The choir responds with a glorification of the Theotokos: "More honorable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim." Thereafter, the priest again glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ with the doxology, "Glory to Thee, O Christ God, our hope, glory to Thee." The Choir responds with "Glory, both now and ever," showing thereby that the glory of Christ is as well the glory of the All-holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And thus ends the Vigil as it began, with a glorification of the Holy Trinity

The Hours

After the priest's final blessing, the First Hour and final portion of the All-night Vigil is read. 

As we have already noted, the primary idea expressed in Matins is the joyous realization by the faithful that all who unite themselves to Christ will be saved and will be resurrected together to be with Him. According to the Church, we can attain union with Christ only with an attitude of humility and recognition of our unworthiness. For this reason, the Vigil does not end with the festive and joyous service of Matins, but with the First Hour, a service expressing a humble, repentant striving toward God. 

The daily cycle of services of the Orthodox Church includes three Hours in addition to the First Hour. The Third and Sixth Hours are read before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, and the Ninth Hour is read before the beginning of Vespers. Formally, the Hours contain selections of texts pertinent to that particular time of day. However, each Hour also has a distinct mystical and spiritual significance, for each commemorates a stage of Christ's Passion. The services proceed with an air of serious concentration, and bear the stamp of Great Lent and of the Passion. A characteristic of the Hours that shows their kinship to the services of Great Lent is that reading takes precedence over singing. 

The subject of the Third Hour is the handing over of the Savior to be insulted and flogged. A second New Testament theme is joined to the Third Hour: the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. In addition, in the Third Hour we find prayers for assistance and protection in our external and internal battle with evil, and we find prayers of repentance, such as that expressed in the 50th Psalm, which begins with "Have mercy on me, O God." 

The Sixth Hour coincides with the hour when Christ was crucified and nailed to the Cross. During the Sixth Hour, we hear the reader express the bitterness brought on by militant evil rampant in the world, while at the same time we hear an expression of hope in God's help. This hope is especially strongly expressed in the third of the psalms read during the Sixth Hour, the 90th Psalm, which commences with "He that dwelleth in the help of the Most High shall abide in the shelter of the God of heaven." 

The Ninth Hour is the hour when Christ, while on the Cross, granted paradise to the thief, and gave up His soul to God the Father until His Resurrection. In the psalms of the Ninth Hour we already hear thanks being expressed to Christ for His saving of the world. 

Such, in brief, is the substance of the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Hours. Now let us return to the First Hour, the hour that concludes the All-night Vigil. 

Overall, in addition to commemorating the events that transpired during the first stage of Jesus Christ's Passion, the First Hour expresses feelings of thanksgiving to God for the approaching light of day and for His setting us on a path during the coming day that is pleasing to Him. This is all expressed in the three psalms read during the First Hour, as well as in its other prayers, and especially in the prayer, "Thou Who at all times and at every hour," a prayer read during each of the Hours. In this prayer, the faithful ask for unity of Faith and for true knowledge of God. According to the Church, it is that knowledge that is the fountain from which will spring a Christian's future spiritual benefits, that is, salvation and life eternal. The Lord speaks of this in the Holy Gospel according to John, chapter 17: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The Orthodox Church teaches that it is possible to know God only through love and oneness of mind. This is why during the Liturgy, before the confession of faith in the Symbol of Faith, we proclaim, "Let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, one in essence and undivided." 

Following the prayer, "Thou, Who at all times…" the priest comes out of the altar. He is dressed humbly, wearing an epitrachelion but without his shining outer vestments. The temple is in semi-darkness. In such a setting, the priest concludes the First Hour, and with it the All-night Vigil, with a prayer wherein he glorifies Christ as the True Light, Who enlighteneth and sanctifieth every man that cometh into the world. Turning to the Icon of the Mother of God, he commemorates her at the conclusion of the prayer. The choir responds with a festive hymn taken from the Akathist for the Annunciation of the Theotokos, "To thee the Champion Leader."

Conslusion

The All-night Vigil expresses with absolute clarity the spirit of Orthodoxy, something described in the teaching of the Holy Fathers of the Church as "the spirit of Resurrection, Transfiguration, and Deification of man." The All-night Vigil, as does Orthodox Christianity in general, contains the expression of two Passovers, the Passover of the Crucifixion and the Passover of the Resurrection. The All-night Vigil, especially as conducted on the eve of Sunday, the Day of Resurrection, takes its structure and subject matter from the services of Passion Week and the Week of Paskha. Vladimir Ilin writes the following in his book on the All-night Vigil, published in Paris in the 1920s: "The All-night Vigil and its soul, the Jerusalem Typicon, the Eye of the Church, grew and were completed at the Tomb of the Lord. Overall, it is the night services at the Tomb of the Lord that are the cradle from which grew a marvelous garden, the daily cycle of Orthodox services. Its finest flower is the All-night Vigil. If the source of the Orthodox Liturgy is the Mystical Supper of Christ, held in the home of Joseph of Arimathea, then the source of the All-night Vigil is at the Life-giving Tomb of the Lord, which opened the way for the world into the heavenly mansions and poured out onto men the blessedness of life eternal." 

We live in a world of vanity, in which it is extremely difficult to find the time, even if only a few minutes, to enter into the interior cell of our soul and to enjoy silence and prayer; to gather one's thoughts, to consider one's spiritual fate, to heed the voice of one's conscience and to cleanse one's heart through the Mystery of Confession. The Church gives us such an opportunity during the hours in which the All-night Vigil is served. 

How good it would be if we trained the members of our households and ourselves to come to love this Service! One could, at first, attend the All-night Vigil only once every two weeks, or once per month. It is necessary only to begin, and the Lord will reward us with a precious spiritual honor: The Lord will visit our hearts, will take up residence in it, and will open up to us the broad, spacious, and extremely rich world of Church prayer. Let us not deprive ourselves of this opportunity.

© 1999 by Archpriest Victor Potapov

lent, cruciform censing. (The creation of the world and the salvation of the world). Intonation to the glory of the Holy Trinity: "Glory to the Holy, Consubstantial 1, Indivisible Trinity..." (Glory to the Creator). Hymn: "O come let us worship..." (Glory to the Saviour).	THE ALL-NIGHT VIGIL is conducted on the eve of Sundays and feastdays. The Vigil combines in itself part of the evening service and part of the morning service: from the evening service comes Vespers, while from the morning service comes Matins and the First Hour. In this way, one must distinguish three parts in the Vigil: Vespers-from the beginning of the Vigil until the doxology and the six psalms, Matins-from the doxology and the six psalms until the Great Doxology with the litany which follows, First Hour although these three parts flow imperceptibly together, forming one service (not only outwardly, but also inwardly). VESPERS From the creation of the world to the Nativity of Christ Both in the content of its prayers and in the actions appointed for the clergy, Vespers tells us about the creation of the world and the spiritual life of people before the coming to earth of the Saviour. By giving attention to what we hear and see during Vespers, we are transported into the time of Old Testament humanity and experience in our hearts that which it experienced. What precisely does Vespers portray and how-by what actions and by what words of prayers and hymns? In knowing what is portrayed in Vespers (and likewise in Matins), it is easy to understand and remember the entire progression of the service-that order in which there follow one after another the hymns, readings and sacred actions. THE CREATION OF THE WORLD 1. In the beginning God created heaven and earth, the earth was still without form, and over it in silence there was borne the Life-giving Spirit of God, as if pouring into it the powers of life. The Vigil transports us to this beginning of creation: the service begins in complete silence: the Royal Doors are open as the priest and deacon silently cease around the altar table. The censing on four sides forms the sign of a cross, and in complete silence, only here within the altar, arise clouds of incense, just as the Holy Spirit was borne aloft in silence over the formless earth, while the cruciform censing speaks of the salvation of the world through the Lifegiving Cross of the Lord, through the Saviour's sacrifice on the Cross. The cruciform censing unites in one action the creation of the world and the salvation of the world, just as they were united in the eyes of God, in God's pre-eternal Counsel. (The Saviour is called "the Lamb of God, slain from the creation of the world".) That which is represented by this initial action is pro­ claimed in the first words of the Vigil. The priest's first exclamation glorifies the Creator of the world-the Lifegiving Trinity: "Glory to the Holy, Consubstantial, Undivided and Lifegiving Trinity"...while the first hymn, which follows this exclamation, glorifies the Saviour of the world:
This hymn is chanted within the altar. Psalm about the creation of the world: "Bless the Lord, O my soul..." Censing around the entire church, among the people; the Royal Doors are open. The Royal Gates are closed. The deacon exits. The deacon stands before the Royal Gates; the Great Litany. Psalms from the first kathisma: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly (the first sound of hope).     Penitential psalms.	"O Come, let us worship God Our King ... Christ Himself, our King and our God..." This hymn comes from within the altar, revealing the meaning of what has just been performed there-the cruciform censing. 2. God "formed" the formless earth in six days of creation—everything became beautiful (it was good). The choir sings a psalm about the creation of the world, about its beauty: "Bless the Lord, O my soul..." Here there is depicted the creation of the world; we hear the words, in wisdom hast Thou made them all ... wondrous are Thy works, O Lord... THE BLESSED LIFE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE At the creation of the world paradise was open to man, God was close to him (in this consisted his blessedness). The Royal Doors stand open, just as the doors of paradise were open. The priest comes out of the altar and, censing the whole church, he walks among the people, just as God walked among the people in paradise. The congregation shares with the first people the feeling of joy in the knowledge of the nearness of God, and their prayers arise to God, like the incense which fills the whole church. THE FALL The people were unable to handle their freedom; they gave in to the deceit of the devil and departed from submission to the will of God. This sin of insubmission deprived the people of God's nearness, and the paradise of a blessed life was closed to them. Adam became a slave of sin and death. He was expelled from paradise, and an angel with a sword stood at the gates to paradise. After the censing the altar doors are closed, just as paradise was closed. The deacon comes out from the altar and stands before the dosed gates of the altar, just as Adam stood before the gates of paradise. On the door through which the deacon leaves the altar is usually depicted an angel with a sword-as if guarding the entry to paradise. THE REPENTANCE AND HOPE OF ADAM Just as Adam, at the gates of paradise, turned in repentance with prayer to God, so, too, the deacon before the Royal Gates, begins the petition-the Great Litany: "In peace, let us pray to the Lord"... Then Adam hears God's promise-"the seed of a woman shall bruise the head of the serpent," a Saviour shall come to earth-and a fire of hope is kindled in Adam's soul. This hope is heard in the Vigil in the psalms of the first kathisma (the first section of the Psalter): "Blessed is the man, who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly"... Normally, only selected verses are used, sung triumphantly with the refrain, "Alleluia"... THE REPENTANCE AND HOPE OF SINFUL MANKIND The voices of grief and hope, first heard at the very gates of paradise, do not fall silent until the coming of Christ.
Individual verses: "Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hearken unto me; hearken unto me 0 Lord..." "Let my prayer be set forth..."   Censing.   Hope: versifies on 'Lord, I have cried...' (New Testament content).   Verses before them (from the Old Testament Psalms): "Bring my soul out of prison..." "Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, 0 Lord..."         The Appearance of the Son of God   1) is celebrated in song by the dogmatic; the Royal Doors open     2) is celebrated in action by the evening entrance a. the priest is preceded by the deacon       b. the entrance is "simple" "Wisdom, let us attend."	1) REPENTANCE. The grief and repentance of fallen mankind are passed on from generation to generation in the penitential psalms which are chanted as separate verses, with particular solemnity and special melodies. First are chanted two verses from the Psalm, "Lord, I have cried unto Thee": "Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hearken unto me..:' and "Let my prayer be set forth, as incense before Thee...During the chanting of these verses, the deacon censes; the incense rises, like the supplication of sinful mankind to its Creator. And with this supplication is joined our own prayer, for we likewise are sinners. The words of the psalms, so simple and moving, come from our hearts also: Hear us, 0 Lord. 2) HOPE. Among the following penitential verses­ "Bring my soul out of prison...", "Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, 0 Lord. 0 Lord, hear my voice," etc.-are heard the sounds of hope in the promised Saviour. This hope among grief is heard in the hymns after "Lord, I have cried," the so-called "versicles on 'Lord I have cried.'" If the verses before the versicles speak about the Old Testament darkness and grief, the versicles (the refrains to the verses, supplementing them as it were) speak about the New Testament joy and light. The Sunday versicles sing of the glory of the Resurrection; the festal versicles sing of the reflection of this glory in the festal events and personages (saints). "Lord, I have cried..." together with the versicles are chanted in eight different melodies or tones; these tones change weekly, throughout the year. GOD'S RESPONSE TO THE PEOPLE'S REPENTANCE AND HOPE; THE APPEARANCE OF THE SON OF GOD God's response manifested itself in the birth of the Son of God on earth. 1. This is spoken of in a special verse, the Theotokion, which is sung directly after the versicle on "Lord, I have cried." It is called the dogmatic Theotokion because it contains a dogma (in Greek, "teaching") about the birth of God. There are eight dogmatic Theotokia; each tone has its own dogmatic. Before the dogmatic there is chanted not an Old Testament verse, but a New Testament verse: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit...", because it speaks not about the Old Testament hope but about its fulfillment, about the accomplished Incarnation. 2. This appearance of the Son of God on earth is depicted in sacred actions, in the so-called evening entrance: a) During the singing of the dogmatic the priest opens the Royal Gates, indicating the joining of heaven and earth, while through the north door he appears from the altar, preceded by the deacon, as the Son of God appeared to the people preceded by St. John the Forerunner. b) And just as the Son of God appeared on earth in humbleness, so the priest walks silently, his hands down at his side ("simply," as the Typicon says), while the choir concludes the evening entrance with the prayer, "0 gentle light...", whose words signify what  the priest depicts through action; it speaks of the gentle light, of the humility of the Son of God, Who appeared not in the fullness of the Divine Glory of the Heavenly Father, but with the gentle light of that glory.
"O gentle light ... of the holy glory of the immortal Heavenly Father ... Jesus Christ..."     Prokimenon: 'The Lord is enthroned"... (proclaimed from the altar)   On the eves of feasts, Old Testament readings with special verses.               Strengthening of prayer   a. augmented litany: "Let us all say with our whole soul..." b. supplicatory litany: "Let us complete our evening prayer unto the Lord..." c) Litya (on the eve of feasts)     The Prayer of St. Simeon the God-receiver: "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, 0 Master..."	In order to turn the attention of the faithful to the wise, profound meaning of the evening entrance, and especially its conclusion with the prayer "0 Gentle Light", the deacon, after the dogmaticon, intones "Wisdom," and then, with the words "Let us attend," calls all to be reverently humble, "simple," in the same manner in which the priest came out, to strive towards this Gentle Light which enlightens all. The Lord promised and mankind hoped that the Son of the Virgin would crush the head of the serpent, would accomplish the royal feat of victory over the devil. In the Sunday vespers the fulfillment of this hope is expressed by the triumphant proclamation of the Lord's enthronement: after "0 Gentle Light" follows the prokimenon: "The Lord is enthroned, He is clothed with majesty." At great feasts, after the prokimenon of the feast, there are special readings (paremii or parables), prophecies from the Old Testament. The readings describe the grandeur and glory of the celebrated Event or Personage, how they were foretold by the prophets or prefigured by Old Testament events. The grandeur ("majesty") of the feast in general reflects that grandeur in which the Lord clothed Himself. For this reason it is fitting to substitute the Sunday prokimenon with the festal prokimenon and the readings. THE GROWING CLOSENESS BETWEEN GOD AND MAN With the Incarnation of the Son of God, the proximity between God and man was strengthened, their communion in prayer was strengthened. The image of the incarnate Son of God irrepressibly draws to itself the hearts of the faithful, and in Vespers there is heard the intensified prayer: a) the great (augmented) litany with the thrice repeated "Lord, have mercy" and b) the supplicatory litany and, before great feasts, c) the Litya, a still more fervent supplication before the doors of the church, with an appeal to the Theotokos and the saints, as our intercessors before God, and with special verses. THE MEETING OF THE SON OF GOD In remembrance of the meeting of the Son of God on earth there is sung or read the prayer, "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace...", the prayer of St. Simeon the God-receiver, who with faith and hope waited many years for the coming of the Saviour, as though in the person of the whole of mankind, striving to approach God. The Lord is always waiting for man to make a move; he must make the first step toward God, for the Lord never forcefully imposes anything on him. In looking upon the image of the Lord appearing on earth, one's thought involuntarily turns to the one who manifest an intense striving towards the Saviour, an intense anticipation of Him on earth, as if representing in himself all those going towards God, from the right- eons men and women of the Old Testament and those kings and prophets who, in the word of the Saviour, desired to see Him and did not, and including those people "awaiting a Redeemer," who happened to be among those praying in the temple the day of the Meeting and in whose presence the righteous Simeon and Anna made their prophecies.
"Virgin Theotokos, rejoice..."         The Royal Doors are opened.       On the eve of feasts: the troparion of the feast and the blessing of the loaves.. The beginning of Matins                 The angels' doxology: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good- will among men."     Six Psalms About a Christian's joys and sorrows (like St. Seraphim's).	THE MERIT OF HER THROUGH WHOM THE SON OF GOD CAME INTO THE WORLD But the greatest striving towards God was manifest by the Virgin Mary. She, who "sprouted from man," in her striving towards God rose to such heights that she became worthy of giving flesh to God come to earth and of becoming His Mother. She destroyed the boundary between God and man ("destroying the wall of enmity"). Through Her the Lord came to earth, and in her honor the angel's greeting, "Virgin Theotokos rejoice...", is chanted before the open Royal Doors. (The kontakion for the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord notes that the Lord "preceded", quickened our salvation, "sanctifying the Virgin's womb ... and blessing the hands of Simeon.") On the eve of feasts the Theotokos is commemorated and entreated in prayer at the Litya, in which case "Virgin Theotokos rejoice..." is not sung, but is replaced by the troparion of the Feast, after which there is the blessing of the loaves (a tradition from old times when, due to the long service, it was necessary to give some sustenance to the congregation). The priest concludes Vespers by blessing the congregation in the name of the Incarnate Lord: "The blessing of the Lord be upon you..." MATINS (The Second part of the Vigil) The New Testament life of the people; the ascetic struggle of the Son of God THE BEGINNING OF A BRIGHT, GRACE-FILLED LIFE With the coming of the Saviour there began for the true followers of Christ a bright and grace-filled life-Love and peace with God, love and peace with people, love and peace in the soul. The general picture of this bright life is depicted during Matins with the angels' hymn: "Glory to God in the highest...", which sounded forth at the very birth of this life, on the night of Christ's Nativity. It is likewise illustrated by the Six Psalms, with which Matins begins. 1. The Angels' Doxology The angels' doxology briefly but clearly denotes three fundamental and connected strivings of the Christian: upwards to God (glory to God in the highest), across to his neighbor (and on earth peace) and into the depths of his heart (goodwill among men), which forms the sign of the Cross, manifesting itself in this way as a symbol of the true Christian life, giving peace with God, peace with others and peace in the soul. 2. The Six Psalms The Six Psalms illumine in greater detail this New Testament Christian life-not only its overall joyous, bright disposition but also the sorrowful path to this Christian joy. The Six Psalms bring to mind the image of St. Seraphim-always radiant and joyful, and at the same time always calling himself "wretched, sinful" Seraphim, trusting solely upon the Lord.
a. Psalms of joy: 1st-Ps. 3; 3rd-Ps. 62; 5th-Ps. 102.   b. Sorrowful psalms, about Humility, repentance, hope, as ways to joy. Second-Ps. 37 Fourth-Ps. 87 Sixth-Ps.142   Joyous and sorrowful psalms alternate the reverent attention of the faithful.   The priest before (the silent royal doom Prayer) The great litany	a) The bright and joyful state, announced by the angels, are echoed by the first, third and fifth Psalms which are read -joyful psalms, speaking about life amidst the mercy and blessed assistance of God ("joyous" Seraphim). b) the three remaining psalms-2, 4, and 6-psalms of sorrow, illumine the sorrowful path to this joyful life (the path of "wretched" Seraphim), creating a disposition of humility, repentance, hope, sorrow in the midst of joy. ("Blessed are the poor in spirit," "blessed are they that mourn," our Saviour taught.) The Psalms are full of these dispositions. Joy and sorrow, sorrow and joy are heard simultaneously in the words of the Six Psalms, just as they should be heard simultaneously in each Christian soul. In order to nurture within oneself this Christian disposi­tion, one must listen with utmost attention and reverence to the words of the Six Psalms, one must become penetrated by them, as if they flow from the depths of one's soul. (This point is likewise emphasized in the Church Typicon.) In the middle of the Six Psalms, before the fourth and most sorrowful of the psalms, the priest comes out from the al t4 d an. ;, standing before the Royal Doors, silently reads seecial prayers (matinal)-as though Christ Himself has come forth as our intercessor, praying together with us and strengthening our hope in God's help. After the Six Psalms, in the great litany (ektenia), we pray for this grace-filled help from God. THE SPIRITUAL FEAT OF THE SON OF GOD The appearance of the Son of God effects a joyful transformation in the life of mankind. What precisely did Christ do that brought forth this transformation? As Matins unfolds, it portrays Christ's accomplishment: 1) The Son of God did not disdain to become a man (we hear of this in the prokemenon) 2) The Son of God endured sufferings, crucifixion and death (the kathismas) 3) The Son of God arose, sanctifying man's nature (polyelei and the reading of the Gospel) 4) The Son of God sanctifies and transfigures all who desire to be joined to Him-He saves all of them from sin and death (canon). Those praying, having been brought into the proper disposition by the Six Psalms, should, in beholding Christ's achievement, experience it and becoming spiritual united with Christ.
The prokemenon: "God is the Lord and has appeared unto us..." Troparion.           Kathismas: a) containing prophecies concerning the sufferings and death of the Saviour       b) the response to the Saviour's call, "Repent!"     The joy of the Resurrection.   Polyelei with full illumination, the Royal Doors open and censing.             The voice of the angels:   "Praise ye the name of the Lord..."	THE SON OF GOD BECAME MAN In order to restore man's fallen human nature, God, our Lord, did not disdain to become a man, while remaining God. This is the subject of the Sunday Matins prokemenon: "God is the Lord and has appeared unto us..." God is our Lord and He appeared among us. The sufferings, death and resurrection of the incarnate Lord-which come further down the path to the salvation of the world-are heralded by the troparion which follows. (The troparion speaks briefly of the Saviour's accomplishment, which will be illumined in greater detail in subsequent parts of the Matins service.) On the eve of feasts the troparion of the feast is sung-a short account about the feast or the life of the saint, about what was made possible thanks to the manifestation of the Son of God and His sanctification of the world. THE SON OF GOD ENDURED SUFFERINGS AND DEATH 1) This is related in the kathismas-the psalms of King David, which prophetically describe the sufferings and death of the Saviour, His immortality and His descent into hades, and likewise the glory of His Resurrection (kathismas II and III, read at Sunday Matins). Here we hear about how He was mocked, about how His hands and feet were pierced, how lots were thrown and His garments divided, about His incorruption and how He did not remain in hades, about the path of life instead of death, about blessedness and glory, etc.. (Psalms 21,15, 23). 2) At the same time the kathismas evoke feelings of repentance and compunction for sins, the same feelings called forth by the first words of our Saviour's ministry on earth: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. THE SON OF GOD ROSE FROM THE DEAD Christ's Resurrection is the subject of the more triumphant part of Matins: the polyelei (polyelei literally means "much mercy" or, in another sense, much oil, much light). Both through the actions of the clergy and the words that are chanted, the polyelei calls forth images of Christ's Resurrection and the events which followed it. At the polyelei the Royal Doors are opened, the entire church is brightly illumined, and the priest appears from the open altar, censing the whole church. We see a reflection of the stone rolled away from the tomb and the brightness of the angel, we see Christ risen from the tomb and appearing once again among His disciples. In the Gospel reading and singing which follow, we hear about what occurred after the Resurrection. 1) The angels were the first to learn of Christ's Resurrection and the first to announce this to the people. The polyelei begins with the triumphant singing of the psalm: "Praise ye the name of the Lord...", with the refrain, the angels' exclamation: "Alleluia": Praise ye the name of the Lord, Alleluia. O ye servants, praise the Lord. Alleluia. Blessed is the Lord out of Sion, Who dwelleth in Jerusalem. Alleluia. 0 give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. Alleluia. 0 give thank unto the God of heaven, for His mercy endureth forever. Alleluia. This sounds forth like the voice of the angels, calling us to glorify the risen Lord. We must respond to this voice, receive it into the depths of our heart and become inflamed with the joy of the Resurrection.
The Resurrection troparia: "The assembly of angels was amazed..." (the testimony of the myrrh-bearers)             The voice of the apostles: the reading of the Gospel"           Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One. We worship Thy Cross, 0 Christ, and Thy holy Resurrection we praise and glorify, for Thou art our God..."     The veneration of the Gospel or festal icon (with anointing)       The joy of salvation     Canon, composed of 9 songs- irmosi and many troparia.   Refrains read before the troparia: "Glory to Thy holy Resurrection, 0 Lord „ and "Most Holy Theotokos, save us," etc..	2) The myrrhbearing women were next to learn of the Resurrection. After "praise ye..." we chant the Resurrection troparia about the visitation of the myrrhbearing women to the tomb and the appearance of the angel telling them of the Resurrection and bidding them to relate this to the apostles. "The assembly of angels was amazed..." "Very early the myrrhbearing women hastened unto Thy tomb, lamenting, but the angel stood before them and said.." "Before each troparion is sung the refrain: "Blessed are Thou, 0 Lord, teach me Thy statutes." 3) Finally, the apostles learned of the Resurrection and preached to all the world. After the preparatory exclamations and prayer the Gospel is read; we hear, as it were, the voice of the apostles, preachers of the Resurrection. There are eleven Resurrection Gospels which are read consecutively, one each week, at the Saturday vigil services through the course of the year; these selections tell of the Saviour's Resurrection and His appearance to the myrrhbearers and the disciples. Usually the Sunday Gospel is read by the priest in the altar: the glad tidings of the Resurrection sound forth as if from the very tomb of the Lord. Then, during the singing of the hymn, "Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ...", the Holy Gospel is carried to the center of the church for veneration by the faithful. At the vigils for feasts, Christ's Resurrection is recalled in sacred actions during the polyelei and the hymn, "Praise ye the name of the Lord..." In place of the Resurrection troparia and the Resurrection Gospel, the magnification (a brief verse in honor of the feast) is sung before the icon of the feast and there, too, is read the Gospel concerning the essence of the feast or the spiritual accomplishments of the saint. When the faithful venerate the icon they are anointed with oil which has been blessed at the blessing of the loaves. (At feasts the lamp of Christ's Resurrection is alight, and therefore the Sunday readings and hymns can be replaced by festal readings and singing, describing what grew out of the ground of the Resurrection.) THE SON OF GOD ENLIGHTENS ALL WHO JOIN THEMSELVES TO HIM Human nature is enlightened by the Resurrection, and this enlightenment awaits all who unite themselves to Christ. Even now, in the saints and especially in the person of the Theotokos we already see the coming enlightenment. The joy of salvation sounds forth triumphantly in the canon, which follows the Gospel reading. The canon is comprised of nine songs or irmosi, and a series of verses, troparia, which are read between the irmosi together with their corresponding refrains: "Glory to Thy holy Resurrection, 0 Lord," "Most Holy Theotokos, save us,""Holy Saint Nicholas, pray to God for us," etc.. In the Resurrection canons, at the Saturday night vigils, Christ's Resurrection and the enlightenment of the world which followed, the victory over sin and death, is illumined from all sides and joyously hymned. (There are eight Resurrection canons, one for each tone.) Similarly, the festal canons illumine the meaning of the feast or the life of the saint, as an image of the already accomplished enlightenment of the world. The Church celebrates, beholding the reflections of this transfiguration, the victory over sin and death.
Exclamation with censing: "The Theotokos and the Mother Light let us magnify in song." "My soul doth magnify the Lord"... with the refrain: "More honorable than the cherubim... 11 or, on the eve of feasts, "Magnify, O my soul..." The joy of the doxology. Songs and psalms of praise. every breath praise the Lord," etc.. "Most blessed art thou, 0 Virgin Theotokos". Exclamation: "Glory to Thee, who has shown us the light!" The Great Doxology: "Glory to God in the highest..."       Augmented litany of supplication.	Between the eighth and ninth songs of the canon, we hymn that representative of the human race who attained the highest illumination-the Mother of God; in her honor we chant the song, "My soul doth magnify the Lord..." with the refrain at each verse of this son "More honorable than the cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim..." at which time the central icon of the Mother of God is ceased with the exclamation, "The Theotokos and the Mother of Light let us magnify in song." At the vigil of feasts this exclamation is not heard and instead of "My soul doth magnify..." we chant a special magnification, commensurate with the feasts, beginning with the words: "Magnify, O my soul..." THE GLORIFICATION OF THE SON OF GOD FOR HIS SPIRITUAL ACCOMPLISHMENT After the canon, the spiritual feat of the Son of God is so brightly illumined before the faithful that they are involuntarily inspired to give praise and glory to Him. We chant hymns of praise and psalms of praise, calling all creation to glorify the Lord, for together with man, all creation likewise awaits its transfiguration. "Let every breath praise the Lord..." "Praise the Lord from the highest..." etc.. After the hymn of praise to the Theotokos, "Most blessed art thou, 0 Virgin Theotokos...", the Royal Doors open and we chant the triumphant Great Doxology after the exclamation by the priest, "Glory to Thee Who hast shown us the light!" The Great Doxology, "Glory to God in the highest...", in which principally we give praise to the Saviour, ends with the Trisagion, "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us," in honor of the Most Holy Trinity. INTENSIFIED SUPPLICATION Just as the image of the coming to earth of the Son of God roused us during vespers to intensified prayer, expressed by the augmented litany of supplication, likewise at the end of Matins the image of the Son of God Who has accomplished His podvig, inspires the same type of intensified prayer; Matins ends with an augmented litany of supplication and the usual concluding prayers (so called "dismissal"). THE FIRST HOUR (The third part of the Vigil) The humble striving of man towards God. Salvation is granted, but one must take it. Matins is filled with joy: each person who unites himself with Christ is saved and is resurrected together with Him. However, in order to unite oneself to Christ, one must desire this; a man must freely go to meet Christ; an Orthodox Christian humbly considers himself as a sinner who is merely moving in the direction of Christ. For this reason the vigil does not conclude with the triumph and joy of Matins, but there is added a third part-the First Hour, a service of humility, repentance, of meek striving towards God. If we return to the image of Saint Seraphim, then we can say that Matins inspired us with the disposition of the bright, "joyous Seraphim". The First Hour, on the other hand, should inspire us with the disposition of "wretched, sinful Seraphim." Only together can these two dispositions of joy and sorrow give the fullness of the Christian character, as it is delineated in the Six Psalms.
Atmosphere of humility: the church is dim, there is little sin singing; the removed priest has his chasuble. Content: 3 psalms Prayer: 'Thou Who at all times and at every hour..." "To thee, the champion leader..." Dismissal	The setting for the First Hour is humble: the church is submerged in semi-darkness: the lights are off, there is almost no singing; the priest has taken off his vestment, leaving only his stole; from the cliros one hears the voice of the reader. The main content of the service consists in the following: 1) Three psalms, filled with an awareness of our weakness and unworthiness, with repentance and humble turning to God; 2) Troparia (hymns)-voices of joy which even amid sorrow does not leave us; 3) Prayers: "Thou Who at all times..."", in which man responds to Christ's call to salvation, entreating Him, that He, "Who calls all men to salvation," would support us on this path to salvation, that He would enlighten our souls, purify our bodies, correct our thoughts, surround us with His holy angels... For man himself must tread the path to salvation, but he cannot do this on his own without the grace-filled help of God. The faithful appeal for this grace-filled aid at the end of the First Hour likewise to Her who stands closest of all to God and acts as mankind's most certain intercessor, we chant to the Mother of God the hymn: "To thee, the champion leader...", after which the priest reads the dismissal of the First Hour (concerning our salvation by the Resurrected Christ, our True God, by the prayers of His Most Holy Mother and all the saints), thus concluding the All-Night Vigil.

A Guide to Confession

Genuine Repentance & Confession heals and makes the immortal soul holy. This is the correct way to prepare for Holy Communion.

So that we can better examine the depths of our conscience, it would be ideal to first read several books on the Sacrament of Confession.^[1] Also, discuss any uncertainties that you may have with your wise Spiritual Father-Confessor.^[2] The greatest science or knowledge is to get to know ourselves. Also we must not deny ourselves the greatest thing that every human soul thirsts for: a peaceful conscience and eternity with God.

This joy is only granted by the God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. He himself instituted the single path to salvation for the repentant sinner within his Church, the holy Sacrament of Repentance and Confession. This is why, friend, you must overcome any obstacle whatsoever that blocks the road to Holy Confession. Here awaits you with genuine Christian love the good Confessor, the representative of Christ, who as a fellow human being can understand and have compassion on his brethren who are also sinful.

Cast far away, brethren, any thought of embarrassment or fright. Why be seared or frightened when your soul frets and pains from the deadly consequences of multi-faceted sin. If sickness tortured your body, would you avoid the hospital or doctor because of embarrassment? But at the same time, do not be led astray by certain people who wish to have read on them a “blessing only,” without having previously confessed. Whenever this happens from ignorance or neglect, it is a terrible sin and an insult to God. With faith, then, and honesty, proceed to Holy Confession.

Be certain also that the infinite love of the crucified and resurrected Lord will welcome you and transform you, removing the weight that burdens you! He himself said, “Come to Me all ye that are heavy laden and I will grant you rest.”

You and God

1. Do you believe in God, the Holy Trinity, and in the divinity of Christ? Do you respect the Holy Virgin Mary, the Saints, and the Angels? Do you believe in the Church and its Mysteries (Sacraments)? Do you believe that Heaven and Hell exist?
2. Do you trust yourself always, and especially during the difficult times of your life, to the care and Providence of God? Or do you despair and show a lack of faith?
3. Perhaps in the problems, afflictions, sicknesses, and trials of your life you moan and complain against God and lose your faith and confidence?
4. Do you believe in mediums, fortune-telling, tarot card reading, or coffee-cup reading? Do you tell other people to believe in such things and go to such people?
5. Do you believe in superstition?
6. Do you believe in luck?
7. Do you pray morning and evening and before and after each meal? Are you embarrassed to make the sign of the cross in the presence of others, for example, in a restaurant or outside a holy church when you are passing by? Do you not make your cross properly?
8. Do you read the Holy Bible as well as other Orthodox spiritual books daily?
9. Do you go to church on Sundays and on the major Feast Days?^[3]
10. Do you follow the Divine Liturgy carefully and reverently from the start until the end, or do you go late and leave before the end? Do you let your mind wander in church?
11. Do you go to church dressed in a proper and dignified way? Are you careful not to laugh, or talk even if it is a Wedding or Baptismal service?
12. Do you perhaps prevent or restrict your spouse or children from going to church? Or do you tell your acquaintances not to go to church?
13. Do you commune regularly or only once a year, and then without Holy Confession?
14. Do you give oaths without need or, if so, lie as well? Did you perhaps not fulfill your oath, vow, or promise? The Bible forbids oaths completely, saying that our “yes” be “yes” and our “no” be “no” (St Matthew 5:7).
15. Do you blaspheme the Name of God, the Virgin Mary, and our Saints by speaking irreverently of them?
16. Do you fast (unless you have a serious health problem) on Wednesdays and Fridays and during the appointed periods of the year?^[4]
17. Do you throw religious books or periodicals in unclean places?

You and Others

1. Do you have hatred and ill-feelings towards someone who did you wrong or insulted you in their anger?
2. Are you suspicious and do you without reason suspect that everyone supposedly talks about you, that they don't want you, and that they don't love or like you?
3. Are you jealous and upset over the progress, fortune, possessions and beauty of others?
4. Are you unmoved by the misfortune and needs of your fellow men?
5. In your transactions with your business partners, co-workers, and clients, are you honest and forthright?
6. Have you criticized or slandered your fellow man, wrongly accusing them?
7. Are you sarcastic and patronizing towards believers, or towards those who fast and endeavor to live a Christian life, or towards those who have physical/mental problems and/or disabilities?
8. If you heard some information or criticism against someone, did you pass it on to others and harm (even unwillingly) their reputation and respect?
9. Did you criticize the conduct, actions, faults, and mistakes of another person when they were not present, even if what you said was the truth? Have you ever criticized the clergy? Do you gossip about and criticize the personal lives of others? Did you listen to someone blaspheming God or a holy person, and not protest?
10. Do you curse those who have harmed you, or curse yourself in difficult moments of your life, or curse the day and hour in which you were born?
11. Do you send others “to the devil” or give them rude hand gestures?
12. Do you respect your parents? Do you look after them? Do you put up with their elderly weaknesses? Do you help them with their bodily and spiritual needs? Are you mindful of their spiritual needs by making sure they go to church and partake worthily of Holy Communion? Have you abandoned them?
13. Have you misguided your parents to leave to you in their will more of their estate than is proper, thus causing injustice to your brothers and sisters?
14. Perhaps in your anger did you hit anyone with your hands or injure them with your words?
15. Do you perform your job or occupation properly and with a good conscience? Or are you unfair to others?
16. Do you steal? Perhaps you have encouraged or helped another person to steal? Have you agreed to cover up a theft? Have you bought or accepted goods known to be stolen?
17. Are you ungrateful towards God and generally towards your helpers and beneficiaries? Do you grumble and murmur against them?
18. Do you keep company with bad and sinful people or associates? With your words or example, have you ever pushed anyone to sin?
19. Have you ever committed forgery? Have you ever embezzled or defrauded the public? Have you borrowed money and/or other possessions and without returning or repaying them?
20. Have you ever committed murder, in any way?
21. Do you entangle yourself in the lives of others or in their work or their families and become the cause of strife, quarrels and disturbances?
22. Do you have mercy and compassion on the poor, on orphans, on the elderly, on families with many children struggling to make ends meet?
23. Have you lied or added or subtracted from the truth? Do you flatter others in order to get your own way?
24. Did you craftily ask for a dowry when you declared your intentions to marry?
25. Have you ever sent an anonymous or cruel letter to anyone?

Yourself

1. Are you a slave to materialism and worldly goods?
2. Are you greedy or a lover of money?
3. Are you stingy?
4. Are you wasteful? Do you live by the Gospel command that whatever you have leftover and above your needs belongs to the poor? Do you have too much love towards pets and waste money on them while people are dying of starvation?
5. Are you conceited and arrogant? Do you talk hack to your elders and superiors?
6. Do you like to show off with your clothing, wealth, fortunes, and the academic achievements of your children or of yourself?
7. Do you seek attention and glory from people? Do you wear perfume, make-up, and change the appearance that your Creator gave to you?
8. Do you accept compliments and praise from others gladly and like to be told that no one else exists who is as good as you?
9. Do you get upset when others reveal your faults and do you get offended when others examine you and when your seniors make comments about you? Do you get angry?
10. Are you perhaps stubborn, high-minded, egotistical, proud, or cowardly? Be careful with these sins, as the diagnosis and solution to them are difficult.
11. Do you gamble or play cards, even without money, with relatives and people at home to “kill time” as the saying goes?
12. Have sexual sins polluted your body, mind, or soul? For example, have you engaged in fornication (sexual intercourse before marriage), or masturbation, prostitution, homosexuality, lesbianism, etc.?
13. Do you watch dirty shows on television or at the movies?
14. Do you read pornographic, immoral books and magazines?
15. Have you ever considered committing suicide?
16. Are you a slave to your stomach (i.e. gluttony)?
17. Are you lazy, careless and negligent? Do you not help out when you can?
18. Do you say improper, dirty, and immoral words or use swear words for the sake of humor or to insult or humiliate others?
19. Do you have a spirit of self-denial?
20. Do you expel from your mind bad or sly thoughts that come to pollute your heart?
21. Are you careful so that your eyes don't gaze or stare at provocative pictures or people? Do you go to the movies and theatres?
22. Are you careful what you ears hear? Do you like to hear sinful music and conversations?
23. Do you dress immorally? If you are a woman, do you wear men's clothing, (e.g. pants) or short skirts, open shirts; transparent shirts, and scandalize others with your appearance? In addition, do you dress in this way when appearing at holy places? If you are a man, do you dress provocatively?
24. Have you appeared naked in public or semi-naked in a swimsuit or bikini publicly?
25. Do you dance in a provocative and sinful manner? Do you listen to sinful immoral songs? Do you frequent parties, nightclubs, and bars? Do you celebrate sinful, worldly festivals such as mardigras, gay and lesbian festivals, Halloween etc.?
26. Are you a drunkard? Do you abuse “recreational” or pharmaceutical drugs?
27. Do you smoke? Smoking destroys your God-given valuable health and is also wasteful of money, and therefore is a sin.
28. Do you talk excessively about meaningless things?

For Couples

1. Do you remain faithful to each other? It is tragic when one of you is unfaithful to the other.
2. Did one of you embarrass or criticize the other publicly or privately?
3. Do you not endure the apparent weakness of the other? Do you show harshness?
4. Do you or your partner permit the other to follow the latest fashion and trend and anything which is opposed to the law of God? Do you perhaps drag the other along to parties on the condition that you will in this way provide the other the means to follow fashion and a worldly life?
5. Do you take into consideration the struggle the other has outside and inside the home, so that you both help each other bodily and spiritually in the struggle?
6. As a partner, have you had excessive sexual demands and degraded your relationship? Do you abstain from sexual relations on Wednesdays, Fridays, Sundays, Feast Days, (including the night before) and on the days of the Holy Fasts of the Church?
7. Do you perhaps prevent your partner from going to church, spiritual gatherings and talks?
8. Do you bring up your children “in the instruction and counsel of Christ”? Do you only concern yourself with their intellectual growth and not with the nature of their character?
9. Do you direct your children to go to church regularly, to go to confession, to frequently partake of Holy Communion (properly prepared), and to go to Sunday school? Do you teach holy virtues by word and example? Have you taught them to pray in the morning, evening and before and after at each meal? Have you taught them to pray with respect and reverence?
10. Are you careful of the things they read? Do you buy books and periodical of religious and cultural subjects for them to read and lean?
11. Do you watch with whom they keep company and who their friends are?
12. Do you lead them to sinful shows and entertainment or allow them to watch television unsupervised?
13. Do you teach them humility and meekness and are you careful that they dress in a dignified way?
14. Do you curse them when they upset you? Do you “send them to hell” or “to the devil”?
15. Have you had abortions or do you prevent yourself from having children (i.e. contraception)?
16. Have you been unjust to your children in the division of your estate?
17. Do you as a parent believe that the responsibility of raising and educating your children rests only with your partner? You have an obligation to educate them and to read to them so that you can relieve you partner.
18. Do you scorn your children by giving them insulting hand gestures and reprimand them with improper language?
19. Does each of you love and respect the parents of the other?
20. Do the grandparents of your children and other relatives get too involved in the family and cause disagreements and disputes?
21. Do you interfere in your children's families?
22. Is your partner a blasphemer? Have patience, and try hard to eliminate cursed blasphemy!
23. Have you ever considered divorcing your partner?
24. Do you allow your children to become fanatical about sports and even miss church in order to play (e.g. Sunday morning games)?
25. Are you fair and just with your family, considering and respecting their views and wishes, or do you behave like a dictator?

He who is accustomed to give account of his life at confession here will not fear to give an answer at the terrible judgment-seat of Christ. It is for this purpose that the mild tribunal of penitence was here instituted, in order that we, being cleansed and amended through penitence here below, may give an answer without shame at the terrible judgment-seat of Christ. This is the first motive for sincere confession, and, moreover, it must absolutely be made every year. The longer we remain without confessing, the worse it is for us, the more entangled we become in the bonds of sin, and therefore the more difficult it is to give an account. The second motive is tranquillity: the more sincere has been our confession, the more tranquil will the soul be afterwards. Sins are secret serpents, gnawing at the heart of a man and all his being; they do not let him rest, they continually suck his heart; sins are prickly thorns, constantly goring the soul; sins are spiritual darkness. Those who repent must bring forth the fruits of repentance.

Consciousness, memory, imagination, feeling, and will are helps to penitence. As we sin with all the powers of our soul, so penitence must be from our whole soul. Penitence in words only, without the intention of amendment and without the feeling of contrition, may be called hypocritical. Should the consciousness of sins be obscured, it must be cleared up; should the feeling be smothered and dulled, it must be roused; should the will become blunt and too weak for amendment, it must be forced; “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” (St. Matt. 11:12) Confession must be sincere, deep, and full.

—St John of Kronstadt (My Life in Christ, p. 280)