The Catalog of Good Deeds: Introduction to Liturgics

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Canonical hours are a type of special, fairly brief divine offices that mark certain times of day, at which a certain important event of the Savior's earthly life occurred. There are four hours in the worship practice of the Orthodox Church, namely, the Ninth Hour, the First Hour, the Third Hour, and the Sixth Hour. The principal topic of the Ninth Hour is the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the Cross. The First Hour reminds of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, as well as the trial of the God-man at the Caiaphas' court and His Passion. The Third Hour is devoted to the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, while the Sixth Hour reminds of the Lord's Crucifixion. The names of the hours can be traced back to Jewish customs. The ancient Jews divided the day into four parts, hence the hours' names. The tradition of fixed prayers at regular intervals dates back to the Old Testament but it acquired a new meaning in Christianity. The Ninth Hour is at 3 p.m., the First Hour is at 7 a.m., the Third Hour is at 9 a.m., and the Sixth Hour is at 12 p.m. Currently, the Hours are appended to longer services out of convenience. The Ninth Hour is appended to the Vespers, the First Hour is appended to the end of the Matins, and the Third and Sixth Hours are served before the Liturgy.

However, the worship practice of the Church includes Great Hours—alternatively referred to as Royal Hours—too. They are served on the greatest Orthodox holidays, three times a year: on Holy Friday, Christmas Eve, and Theophany Eve.

They are called Great because they are served in an especially solemn manner. A priest wears a phelonion. The Royal Door is open. The beginning of each hour is marked by censing, with the entire church censed at the first and the final hour, with a lit candle, like during the polieley. There are paroemias (Greek, 'proverbs’ — special readings from the Old Testament) read at every hour, followed by the Epistle and the Gospel readings. The Scripture readings are selected to match the holiday. Apart from that, Psalms, prokeimenons, troparions and kontakions—in fact, almost all prayers of the Great Hours—are dedicated to the celebrated event (the Nativity of Christ, the Baptism of the Lord, or the Passion of Christ).

This service is called Royal because Byzantine emperors had a habit of attending them due to their grandeur. It underlined not only spiritual and liturgical importance of these services but also their public value.

Heortologically (Greek root heortē means 'feast’, thus, heortology is a branch of theology, which studies religious holidays), Christmas Eve and Epiphany Eve are twin holidays. Their liturgical structures are similar. It can be attributed to the fact that the Nativity of Christ and the Baptism of the Lord were celebrated as one holiday, called the Holy Theophany, in the past. Christmas was first celebrated as a separate holiday only in the 4^th century.

According to the contemporary tradition of the Church, the Great Royal Hours are celebrated one by one in the following order: 1, 3, 6, 9. Usually, a bell strikes the number of the hour at its beginning.

This year, the Great Hours will be held on Friday (because Christmas is on Monday). There is no Liturgy on that day. According to the rubrics, the Royal Hours service starts at 8 a.m.

The Royal Hours, filled with Scripture readings and prayers, introduce us to the celebration of Christmas and tune our hearts and souls up for the holiday.

We often can't find the road to Bethlehem due to the chaotic shopping spree and because we're busy cooking a festive meal for the traditional family reunion. We tend to forget about the main reason for the season, i.e., the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. We often forget that we should come to Him, and not to our relatives, first. We can enjoy being with your families later. First of all, we must come to Baby Jesus.

The Royal Hours are our first step to Him. We enter the church as if it were the cave where God is waiting for us. We must be united with Him to the best of our abilities. We've got to honor Him in the first place. We should fill our hearts and minds not with public traditions of celebrating the feast (they can wait) but with the spirit of Christmas, which sets everything in motion. We can acquire this spirit at the divine offices of these wonderful, glorious, and happy days of remembrance of the salvation that God brought for the human race.

Dear brothers and sisters, I'd like to wish you all to be able to see that tender shimmering star that leads us to the Divine Baby on this merry holiday of the Nativity of Christ, in spite of all troubles and worries of this world.

The Rev. Andrei Chizhenko

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

Source: https://pravlife.org/content/chto-takoe-velikie-carskie-chasy-v-kanun-rozhdestva-hristova

Today, the Church uses priest and temple vestments of various colors. There is even a full-fledged system of liturgical colors where each holiday has a prescribed color. Where does this practice come from?

Originally, all vestments were white, based on the following verses from the Revelation of St. John the Theologian, “[the righteous] have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). White vestments are mentioned by St. John Chrysostom and St. Gregory the Theologian.

Worship development saw the use of vestments of other colors. However, the number of colors and their practical usage was different in various places. According to St. Symeon of Thessalonica, just two colors—white and purple—were used during the late Byzantine era. Eugene Golubinsky, a Russian church historian, writes that the early Russian Church inherited that practice, too. The Church in Russian lands used only three colors—white, crimson, and yellow—for a long time. White was used on Sunday, great holidays, for baptisms and funerals. Yellow was the color for ordinary services. Clerics wore crimson robes mainly during the Great Lent or on holidays dedicated to the Lord’s Cross.

However, this system had quite a few caveats, too. If there was a richly adorned set of vestments in a cathedral, they used those vestments even if they weren’t of the required color.

The Typikon, compiled in mid-17^th century, contains just two rules regulating vestment color: Priests have to put on white vestments on Great Saturday before reading the Gospel during the Liturgy; and they also must wear “all-brightest robes”, i.e., all white, on Easter Day. We find one more rule regulating the color of clerical robes in the Lenten Triodion: “the priest changes his robe at the Vespers when Lord I Have Cried is being sung, leaves the sanctuary, and censes the church.” Thus, rubrics don’t specify how exactly this or that color is to be used.

A more or less consistent system of liturgical colors in Russia emerges only in the 17^th-18^th centuries due to growing Western influence. The final five-color system was approved by Pope Pius V in the 2nd half of the 16^th century. It was due to Roman Catholic influence that the idea of various colors corresponding to various holidays gained traction. Nevertheless, there wasn’t a unified system until the 20^th century.

Each bishop or monastery had their own system of liturgical colors. We know of a system developed and used by Saint Philaret (Drozdov). For instance, Saint Philaret used blue vestments on Sundays of the Great Lent, on Great Thursday, on Christmas and Theophany Eve. He celebrated Easter Matins wearing red vestments, and Easter Liturgy and all services during the Bright Week in white. Similar approaches were practiced in monasteries, too. St. Sebastian of Karaganda, heir to Optina Elders, described the pre-Revolution practice in Optina Pustyn. He remarked that red was the ordinary color, green was used on lenten days, and blue was used on days of commemoration of holy monks.

It was only in the 20th century that the system of liturgical colors gained its contemporary form and was recorded in the Clergy Handbook. Notwithstanding this fact, some dioceses and parishes still use their own color system.

Other Local Orthodox Churches may have different color systems or have no designated liturgical colors at all (e.g., Greek Orthodox Church). The Orthodox in various countries use vestments according to their local customs and traditions.

Therefore, the contemporary system of liturgical colors belongs to the sphere of tradition rather than strict rules, and can vary from one parish to the other. This liturgical diversity isn’t inherently bad, for, according to Saint Athanasius Sakharov, “Church laws strongly oppose monotonous banality.”

By Alexander Adomenas,

a PSTGU graduate, BTh

Translated by the Catalog of Good Deeds

Source: https://pravlife.org/ru/content/otkuda-vzyalis-cveta-cerkovnyh-oblacheniy

“Fr. Dustin, aren’t all those extra services (feast days, Vespers, Matins) just for monks and retired people?” Here’s my brief response.

Before explaining the “why” of the services, you should know what the services of the Orthodox Church are. We follow an ancient calendar, so the day begins when the sun sets, so the first service of the day is Vespers. So, technically, the Saturday evening Vespers is the first service of Sunday. Then, in the morning, we celebrate Matins, called Orthros in Greek. If there’s a special celebration–such as a feast day, or the day of resurrection (Sunday)–then Divine Liturgy is celebrated. These three services–Vespers, Matins, and Divine Liturgy–make up the cycle of services in most parishes.

In monasteries, the Vespers-Matins-Liturgy cycle could be done all at once. In this case, it would be a Vigil that lasts through the night. Monasteries, of course, would add in the Hours (1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th) as well as Compline and the Mid-night office. This is what’s considered a full liturgical cycle.

OK, now the answer.

Firstly, Orthodox Christians understand the Bible to be very supportive of a cycle of prayers:

“Seven times a day I praise thee for thy righteous ordinances.” (Psalm 119:164 RSV)

”...pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 RSV)

Secondly, we believe that prayer–including a cycle of services–is a way of sanctifying time. We’re so used to what, in Greek, is called chronos time. This is the time set by your watch. But sanctified time, in Greek, is kairos. This time is much different. We believe we are called to sanctify all aspects of our life, including time.

Thirdly, each of these services is different and has different hymns. Because we have a cycle of feasts (celebrating biblical events as well as saints), the hymns contain much of our theology about those feasts and saints. The best seminary education isn’t in a classroom or in books, it’s going to all the services, every day, in the Orthodox Church for a year (this is why we had daily Vespers and Matins at seminary). If you want to know what we believe, see how we worship (lex orandi, lex credendi).

Fourthly, it’s this cycle of services that have produced thousands (millions?) of saints over 2,000 years, so we know it works. Don’t fix what’s not broken!

Fifthly, it refocuses a very ego-driven mindset in us. We’re forced to actually devote time to worshipping God more than an hour once a week. It creates a pattern of prayer in us.

Sixthly, the services take us through the crucifixion and resurrection. In the evening, we are led into the darkness of the night (crucifixion and burial) and then, in the morning, we are led out of death and into life. One can’t beat this theme! “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 RSV)

By Fr. Dustin Lyon

Source: http://www.dustinlyon.org/?p=1742

The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and the Communion of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ is the foundation and the culmination of the innermost life of the Church, and the reason for Her existence. What do we know about it?

Here are several essential or simply interesting facts about the central Sacrament of the Church, which can enhance your knowledge and spur your further learning of the basic tenets of the Orthodox faith:

1. Remembrance of the Sacrifice

When Israelites were liberated from the Egyptian captivity, each Jewish family had to slay a white lamb, the blood of which was used to mark the door posts during the tenth plague (that is, killing of the firstborns in every family) so as to guard against the Angel of Death. The lamb was later eaten at a thanksgiving meal.

That innocent lamb was the prototype of our Savior who pledged himself to a painful death for the redemption of the human race. When we celebrate the Sacrament of Eucharist (Greek for “thanksgiving”) during every Liturgy, we remember the great Sacrifice that our Savior offered on the Cross for our redemption, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension.

We receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament of Communion to empower us and help us to tread the path of salvation.

2. “White Blood”

The Church uses bread and wine for the Sacrament of Eucharist. They are the substances that mysteriously change into the Body and Blood of Christ when a priest or a bishop invokes the Holy Spirit to descend on them.

As a rule, the Church uses red wine for communion because it looks like blood. In fact, the color of wine isn’t determined precisely, unlike its quality and taste. That is why there are places, e.g. Romania, where people use white wine for the Eucharist.

3. The Miracle in Lanciano

During a liturgy in Lanciano (Italy) in the 8th century one of the priests had doubts that the Body and Blood of Christ that looked like bread and wine even after the transmutation were indeed the Body and Blood of our Savior. The Lord revealed the true appearance of His Body and Blood to the doubtful priest, and the priest repented.

As a lesson to others, the Lord allowed the real appearance of the Holy Gifts to remain visible. That is why the particles of the Body and Blood of Christ are preserved in Lanciano for more than a thousand years. They were investigated by some scientists in the 1970s. The scientists confirmed that the particles belonged to a human body.

4. The Greatest Sacred Object

The whole Church is built around the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Chalice that contains the Body and the Blood of Christ is the most sacred object. That is why it is forbidden to make the sign of the cross in front of the Chalice or touch the Chalice with one’s hands, lest the priest tips the Chalice over.

One shouldn’t kiss the cuff on the priest’s hand during communion, either. Parents should pay extreme attention to their babies, who should be carried to the Chalice in such a manner as to preclude them from kicking the Chalice or pushing it with their arms.

5. Only with Blood

Adults and grown-up children receive a particle of the Body of Christ soaked in the Blood of Christ. However, babies take communion only with the Blood of Christ to prevent them from choking on the particle or spitting it out. People who suffer from gluten (a protein that is found in bread) intolerance take communion only with the Blood, too.

6. The Bread of Life and the Grapevine

Interestingly enough, the Lord did not only establish the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the Church by offering bread and wine to His apostles in the Cenacle and claiming them to be His own Body and Blood. He also compared Himself to the bread of life or a grapevine — the primary ingredients of the Holy Gifts — multiple times.

7. Tabernacle

There is a Holy Table in the center of every sanctuary in every Orthodox church, with a special church-shaped vessel called a tabernacle, which sits among the crosses, the Gospel books, and other church supplies.

The tabernacle contains several particles of the Body of Christ soaked in the Blood, with which a priest can go to the bed of a sick or dying person at any time.

8. On a Martyr’s Bosom

First Christians celebrated the Eucharist on martyrs’ tombs. Later, they began celebrating the Eucharist on a Holy Table inside which there were particles of holy relics. Still, there have been cases when Christians didn’t have either an antimension (a special cloth with particles of relics sewn into it) or the Holy Table: for example, in Soviet prison camps. They celebrated the Sacrament of the Eucharist on the bosom of one of the prisoners, who was a living martyr.

9. Prayers Before the Holy Communion

The prayer rule before the Holy Communion was shaped by Byzantine monks in the 10th-12th centuries. The prayers before the Holy Communion were amended, and the rule acquired its contemporary form by the 13th-14th centuries. It consists of several troparia and Psalms, selected prayers by the saints, three canons, and prayers that are read immediately before the communion of the Holy Gifts.

Later, the pious tradition of special prayerful preparation for the Communion was copied by other local Churches and spread among lay people.

10. Wedding

There wasn’t a special ritual or a Sacrament to bless a Christian matrimony in the earliest centuries of Christianity. The believers had the usual Roman civil ceremony, and then had their marriage blessed in the church by taking communion together.

By Andrey Segeda

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deed

Source: https://pravlife.org/ru/content/tainstvo-tainstv-10-faktov-o-svyatom-prichashchenii

Fervor is boiling water, which is poured into the Chalice after the transmutation of the Holy Gifts. The boiling water is poured into the Blood of Christ. It happens immediately after the altar curtain above the Royal Door is closed and after the priest exclaims, “Let us be attentive! The Holy Gifts for the holy people of God.” These words precede and begin the communion of the faithful, from the clergy in the sanctuary to the flock in the nave. The act of closing the curtain symbolizes the locking of the Lord’s Tomb with a rock, sealing it with the high priest’s seal, and appointing the guards. Similarly, the entrance with the Chalice signifies the Resurrection of Christ.

The words “Let us be attentive! The Holy Gifts for the holy people of God” mean the following: we are called to be extremely attentive to what is happening. The Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are distributed among the holy people, i.e., those Orthodox Christians who have properly prepared to receive them.

After that, the fervor is poured into the Chalice, which is sitting on the Holy Table. The rubrics stipulate the following (according to the Archieratikon): the priest must pour the fervor into the Chalice with care, “with caution so as not to overwhelm the wine, that is, so as there isn’t more water than wine in the Chalice.”

The fervor is first blessed by the priest with the following words, “Blessed is the fervor of Thy saints always, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.” Then it is poured into the Chalice so as to make the sign of the cross, with the words, “The fervor of faith, full of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

These prayers point at the following theological symbolism of the fervor…

The first symbol is mentioned by Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern), a renowned liturgical scholar, in his book titled The Eucharist. He quotes Saint Niketas Stethatos, who was St Symeon the New Theologian’s disciple, “… Also, when we drink his living and hot Blood mixed with water that poured out of his side, we are cleansed of every sin and filled with the Spirit, who is warm, for, as you see, the Blood that we drink from this Cup is as warm as the blood that poured from the Lord’s body…” That is, the fervor symbolizes the life in the Blood of Christ — the life for the entire world. On the other hand, it is our participation in the act of Redemption, as if we were standing by the Cross at the time of Crucifixion and if the Lord’s heart was still beating…

The other image is mentioned by Holy Righteous Nicholas Kavasilas, a Greek liturgical scholar of the 14th century: “The hot water was touched by fire, and as such it reminds of the Holy Spirit, who is like fire (Acts 2:3-4) and who is said to resemble water (Is. 44:3; John 7:38-39). It is poured into the Chalice after the consummation of the Sacrament and the consecration of the Holy Gifts to signify the descent of the Holy Spirit onto the Church. The Holy Spirit descended onto the Church after the slaughter and subsequent resurrection of Christ, which marked the fulfillment of the act of salvation. The Holy Spirit always descends after the consummation (of the sacrifice), for the Comforter comes to those who partake of the Sacrifice with dignity.”

That is why we should purify ourselves by fasting, prayer, and confession in order to reach for the Chalice of Christ with the fear of God and to partake of the Body and the Blood of Christ regularly, so as to bring the saving and life-giving fervor, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, into our human nature corrupted by sin.

By Fr. Andrei Chizhenko

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds

"Let us lay aside all earthly cares" - from the Hymn of the Great Entrance

Three decades ago, a film came out that codified the way in which North Americans looked at Saturday nights.

Since the 1960s, the concept of a quiet and prayerful Saturday night, preparing for the Lord's Day, has been on the decline. Perhaps this is due to the disappearance in the Protestant West of the concept of keeping vigil before a Church Feast - or to be more to the point, even observing Church Feasts. Perhaps it is due to the Roman Catholic concept of multiple services - the sort of drive-through 30 minute Masses that allow a pick-your-own approach in the spiritual life of faithful people.

This is of course nothing like having to actually be together to spoil the rampant individualism we so often pursue with vigor. Spending Saturday evening - or more specifically, one part of Saturday evening - at a Vespers or Vigil Service, prepares Orthodox Christians for the central Holy Mystery of our lives: Holy Communion. It therefore makes sense that we should lay aside our own plans, our own entertainment and self-indulgence, to prepare to partake of the Holy Mystery that makes us one: one with Christ, and one with each other.

It may be fair to place the blame for the decline in the observance of Saturday Vespers by Orthodox Christians on the bat habits of the heterodox, or the fast pace of our materialistic western world.

But like all things in the spiritual life, the biggest part of the blame can only be placed on us as Orthodox Christians - each of us - who in the struggle to lay aside all earthly cares, more often than not decide that the earthly cares are the very thing we prefer to the Body and Blood of Christ, ahead of communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let us prayerfully resolve to take up this essential part of our life, for the transformation of our souls, and the renewing of our lives. Let us, with God's help, resolve to make this preparation integral to our week, every week, and take up willingly the cross of laying aside our Saturday night earthly cares, whatever they may be.

By Archpriest Geoffrey Korz

Source: http://www.asna.ca/articles/200711-01.html

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The Sense and Role of the Great (Royal) Hours

Where Do Liturgical Colors Come From?

Do We Really Need So Many Services?

The Sacrament of Sacraments: 10 Incredible Facts About Holy Eucharist

What Is the ‘Fervor’ Used during the Liturgy?

The Importance of Visiting Church on Saturday Night

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