The Catalog of Good Deeds

A few years back I was sitting with my son Matthew, cuddling before bedtime. As all parents know, that’s the hour when kids come up with their most philosophical questions. And true to form, Matthew asked me, as we were cuddling together in his darkened room, “How come when we pray and ask God to do things for us, God doesn’t say ‘I will’? Why can’t we hear God talk to us?”

That’s a very good question—one that perhaps has crossed the minds of all of us at one time or another. And there is an answer. And on this holiday for children, I would like to answer that question of a child, even if the child himself won’t understand the answer.

You see, Matthew, God used to say “I will” to people; they used to hear him with their own ears, long, long ago. If you read the Bible from the beginning to the end, you learn that God used to talk with people and walk with people, in just the same way that you and I walk and talk with each other.

It’s quite clear from the book of Genesis, that when God first appeared to human beings, He was seen by them looking for all the world like one of us. Adam walked with God in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day, the Bible says. Adam and Eve talked with God, they saw Him, they heard His voice. He was on the most familiar terms possible with them.

But they didn’t appreciate this gift. They didn’t take God’s company seriously. And they disobeyed God, and so they lost the privilege of being with Him so closely all the time, of seeing Him face to face. This is what banishment from Paradise means, for them, and for us their greatgreat-great-grandchildren.

But God still spoke with people from time to time. They heard His voice. Sometimes they saw Him. As the new icon of the Holy Trinity on our iconostasis proclaims, Abraham and Sarah saw God and talked with Him and even fed Him. They saw Him in the form of three angels—that is to say, looking like three normal human beings, but there was something about their presence and personality that led Abraham to recognize that he was dealing, not with ordinary men, but with supernatural beings.

And Abraham’s grandson Jacob even wrestled with God once—again, with God appearing in the form of an angel—looking like a man, but something more than a man. And Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.” He knew, in other words, that seeing God was a now a special thing for imperfect people, for sinners. And after him, Moses, and seventy elders of the Israelites, saw God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:11), and ate and drank before Him in a meal of covenant fellowship. And God spoke with Moses, and with Jacob before him, and with Abraham before him, and He made them many wonderful promises, and gave them commandments and instructions for their own good.

But, once again, God’s people did not take Him seriously, even though He let Himself be seen by their very own eyes in a form that was awe-inspiring, yet still human. They forgot His promises, they neglected His commandments. And so God told His people that no more would He appear to them face to face, as He appeared to Moses (Numbers 12:6-8); but that in the future, He would appear to His prophets only in dreams and visions, only in miraculous signs and wonders—in ways, that is, designed really to get our attention.

And God was true to His word. Still He appeared to His people, but now in frightening, unfamiliar ways—fire from heaven, earthquakes, mighty winds, storm clouds, lightning and thunder. Still He responded to His people’s prayers, not directly, but as if through a game of Telephone, as if through forwarded emails, and only through His anointed prophets, and to them only through visions and dreams of the night, never face to face. He spoke less and less often, and each time with greater force and fanfare. Until finally He appeared to the prophets in forms that made them faint dead away from terror, as happened to righteous men like Daniel and Ezekiel—manifesting Himself in forms that human language cannot describe. But still His people did not pay attention, still they did not take Him seriously.

And so, for hundreds of years, God fell silent. He anointed no prophets. He spoke no revelations. He appeared in no form or manifestation whatsoever. Nothing seemed to work. As often as He said, “I will” to His people, they forget His promises and His answers to their prayers. And even His silence made little impression on them.

Until finally, one dark night, in a lonely little village called Bethlehem, in a part of the world that time and progress had forgotten, God gave it one more try. This night, He opted to give the face-to-face approach another chance. Not by a dazzling array of heavenly pyrotechnics. Not in the form of a fearsome angel. Not in the form of a mighty man. But in the form of a child—a baby, a newborn infant. Meek and mild, weak and lowly, He came and appeared once more, so that this time we would take Him seriously.

We call Jesus Christ “the Word of God.” And beyond all the philosophical dissertations and theological treatises on what that name signifies, it means before all is that Jesus Christ is God’s answer . . . His way of saying out loud “I will” to the prayers of every little boy, and every little girl, and every big boy and girl in the world. Or Saint Paul puts it in Second Corinthians 1:20: In Christ Jesus, the Son of God, “every promise of God is Yea and is Amen.”

For what need most of all, what we have lacked since the day Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden, is to see our God, face to face, as we were created to enjoy Him. And this gift of Paradise was restored on the first Christmas in the manger of the stable of Bethlehem. Go to the new icon of the Nativity in the sanctuary, look in the manger and see your God, trying once more to tell you, personally, face to face, that He loves you, that He wants the best for you, that He is ready to give you whatever you need to prepare you for an everlasting life with Him. “For this is the will of my Father,” Jesus Christ said (John 6:40), “that every one who sees the Son and believes in Him should eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

God hears your prayers. And He has said “I will,” in the face of this newborn babe, this son of Mary. Take Him seriously this time, people of God. This is what your life is about—not your house, not your cars, not your boat, not your job, not your hobbies, not your friends, not your family. This is what your life is about, to see your God face to face, and seeing Him, to have the life of the Kingdom to come.

By Fr. Mark Sietsema

Source: http://www.pravmir.com/seeing-god-face-face-reflections-feast-nativity-christ/

Abba Gervasius used to visit Antioch once a year and preach. Large crowds would gather to listen to him. One of his brethren asked him:

– Father, aren’t you tempted by vainglory when you see so many people around you?

– No, brother, – Gervasius replied, – I think that many more people would come if I were being executed...

A disciple asked his elder:

— Why do you read the Bible every day? You have read it already, haven’t you?

The elder answered with a counter-question:

— Why have you eaten today? Didn’t you eat yesterday?

The disciple shrugged:

— I eat to live. I can’t live without food.

The elder nodded:

— I read the Bible every day because I don’t want to die spiritually.

Long ago, the Devil decided to sell all his tools. He placed them in a glass window for everyone to see. What a collection it was! Here lay a shining dagger of Envy and a hammer of Wrath; a bow of Passion with poisoned arrows of Gluttony, Lust, and Jealousy.

There was a stand dedicated to a vast array of the nets of Lie. There were tools of Despondency, Love of Money, and Hatred. All of these tools were excellently displayed and had price tags.

There was a small, unbecoming, and worn out wooden wedge displayed in the most favorable light. It had a price tag that read, “Pride”. Surprisingly enough, this tool cost more than the rest taken together.

A passer-by asked the Devil why he valued that strange wedge so highly, and the Devil replied:

— Yes, I value it more than all other tools, indeed. It is the only tool that I can fully rely on if all the rest turn out to be of no use.

He touched the wooden wedge with affection.

— If I manage to drive this wedge into a person’s head, — the Devil continued, — it will open the way to all other tools.

Isn’t it strange that a $10 note is a lot when we use it to donate to a church and not so when we use it to pay for things we buy in a supermarket?

Isn’t it strange that an hour we spend praying and remembering God is so long while an hour spent in front of a TV is so short?

Isn’t it strange that we find it hard to concentrate while praying but it isn’t hard at all to stay focused when we talk with our friends?

Isn’t it strange that we are so excited when the referee adds time to a football match but so angry when a sermon takes up more time than anticipated?

Isn’t it strange that it is so difficult for us to read just one chapter from the Bible and so easy to read a hundred pages of our favorite novel?

Isn’t it strange that people are so eager to sit in the front rows at a concert and hide in the corners at church?

Isn’t it strange that we find it so hard to learn just one prayer and so easy to remember and retell gossip?

Isn’t it strange that we so easily take the information that we read in newspapers at face value, while finding it hard to believe in the stories written in the Word of God?

Isn’t it strange that we all want to go to the paradise but are reluctant to put any effort into conquering it?

Isn’t it strange that almost everyone is both a judge and a lawyer: when other people’s sins are concerned, we are judges, but when our own sins are brought to scrutiny, we suddenly turn into lawyers.

Isn’t it strange that upon reading this, almost every one of us will think that it relates to others but not ourselves?

A man saw a naked child in the street.

The child was hungry and shivering from cold.

The man was angry and yelled at God:

- Why do You allow this to happen? Why don’t You do anything about it?

The answer was:

- I’ve done something already: I sent you…

Why stay chaste before marriage?

God gave us the gift of physical love. It’s as full as a jug and as intact as a ripe apple. When we waste our life carelessly, we distribute what we’ve got among all who we give it to. When we finally meet that person, the most important person in our life, we will have little to give him or her… The more sexual partners we have, the less love we have in store.

- How do I understand whether this person is the one I have been waiting for so long?

- You will want to grow old together with him or her…

It is normal for a person to be in full relationship with just one person. One cannot be equally intimate with many people. The relationship between a man and a woman is the utmost closeness that is ever possible between people…

Some detractors of St Ephraim the Syrian decided to tempt him. They asked one of the city prostitutes to go and seduce Abba Ephraim, and if she couldn’t, at least make him angry because no one had ever seen him angry or agitated. Abba Ephraim listened to what she had to say and then ordered:

– Follow me!

The excited prostitute ran after him. Soon they came to the city square teeming with people.

– Let’s do what you want here and now.

The embarrassed prostitute saw the crowded place and replied:

– How can we do it in the presence of so many people?

St Ephraim the Syrian answered:

– If you are ashamed of people, why aren’t you ashamed of God who is able to see not just our actions but even our intentions?

Translated from: https://azbyka.ru/days/

This article is written for those who would like to stop a loved one who is contemplating having an abortion for this or that reason. Psychologist of the “Family and Childhood” charity fund Elena Smirnova speaks about which questions you can ask a woman who is seeking to end her pregnancy.

From the experience of psychological consultations in medical institutions we have concluded that certain conversation techniques exist, which can affect a woman’s decision to go in for an abortion. But it would be optimistic to assume that having asked her just a few questions we have reached the goal: that she rethinks and decides to give birth. In the best case scenario we can hope that she will at least ponder over the fact that abortion is not the only and best way out of her situation.

The work of a psychologist with this category of women is the work of eroding growing doubt. A woman has come to register for an abortion; she’s already made a choice, a decision, but she always has remaining doubts—something on the other side of the scale. The work of a psychologist is to uncover these doubts, “to give them voice.” Which way the balance is tipped we cannot know, because the woman has made a decision. But, all the same, you can try to “shatter” a woman’s bad confidence.

We offer ten questions which you can ask a loved one if you want to help her in a difficult situation. They are not relevant to every situation. You must evaluate how much she trusts you, her personality, her current conditions, how much time you have for a conversation, and so on. In reality they’re not questions, but themes that can be discussed in a conversation, inasmuch as a woman deciding to have an abortion is often in a crisis situation in her life, and she needs the chance to express herself, to speak in detail about her problems—about how she is truly worried. Therefore it’s better to construct the conversation in the form of a dialogue and not a didactic talk; although, of course, in some situations it is justified to provide information and give voice to the conscience. But it’s better to allow her to concentrate on herself, on her feelings. Thus:

1. How do you imagine the baby which you are now carrying?

This question is important because in that moment of deciding to have an abortion, a woman’s mentality is often tightly bound to the life circumstances enticing her to have an abortion, and she sees nothing else. Psychologists call this condition “tunnel consciousness.” When we ask a woman how she imagines her baby, she has to turn attention not to her circumstances, which compel her towards abortion (we’ll speak about them later), but to who it is that she wants to deliver herself from. There can be various reactions to this question, for example: “I don’t want to think about it,” or “I never imagined it.” In order to go further with such questions and still discuss the topic of interest—the development of the pre-natal child at this point—it’s enough to have some human sensitivity.

But sometimes it’s helpful to react harshly to such words. “I understand that you don’t want to think about it, but that doesn’t make the child stop being a person. Just because you close out such thoughts from your mind doesn’t change anything.”

After the question about the development of the child, a woman may withdraw within herself, and although she probably does not well understand from a medical point of view how her baby is developing at this exact moment, she is already beginning to relate to it as a separately-existing person. You can tell her all about how her child is developing at this point. For some it’s enough to see an ultrasound, how their children move, or to hear their heartbeat, to make them decide to save their child.

2. What name would you give your child? Would you rather have a boy or a girl?

These questions also help a woman to shift her attention from her circumstances to her child, to daydream a little.

3. How does this child in the womb differ from your older children?

This question is for women who already have children. “How does this child who isn’t born yet differ from those already born?” The proceeding conversation can turn into an intellectual discussion on the idea that it’s not yet a person, but the other is already a person; however, the discussion should return to its original course—that is, to continue to compare the two children. “And when you were expecting your older child, you also thought of him as nothing, which would be born and become someone? What was your first child for you when you were expecting him? When did he become a person, in your opinion? And how is this child different? You were expecting that baby, and now you’re expecting this one—it’s the same.”

Further questions on this topic: “And was everything rosy with your first child,? Did you have to overcome any difficulties to have him?” As a rule, the woman had to overcome some kind of difficulties with her previous children, if not in the time of pregnancy then after the birth of the child. It may be that for the sake of her child she overcame much within herself. And the next question arises: If she is able in principle to do something for her child, maybe at least some of what she did for her older child can be done for this one?

Then when she sees him, when she meets him, then her joy pays back all the expenses, and she already wants to take care of him.

“Imagine your child is already born, and you take him in your arms.”

Once the child is born, many women are unable to abandon it. Indeed, abortion is the rejection of your child. Abortion happens when there is a child and the woman refuses to allow him into her life, largely because she just doesn’t know him. When a woman takes her baby in her arms, she can’t say to him: “No, I don’t want you in my life, because I’ll have to feed you.” The thing is that a woman can’t imagine she would abandon a child already born, and the task is to get her to think of the baby in the womb as already born, because he will eventually be born.

4. Do you want to have children?

This is a very delicate and very complicated question. It needs to be asked at just the right time, with a lot of tact and attention to the woman. Because you can ask carelessly: “You want to have an abortion now? But do you want to have children in general?” And you’ll receive society’s stereotypical answer: “Yes, in general I want kids—I’m a normal woman. But right now my circumstances won’t allow it.”

Therefore this question must be posed at the right time and delicately, to avoid society’s stamp. The objective of this question is to give the woman a chance to ponder her life and destiny as a whole, to visualize her life perspective and remember her values, and to reflect upon what is primary for her. Then she won’t be tied concretely to this situation in life she has now that makes her want to have an abortion. She’ll think about herself as a person and as a woman. Generally speaking, does she want to have kids? What will her life be filled with? This look at her life in perspective will help her to understand that she actually wants to have kids. And this could play in favor for this particular child.

Answering this question, the woman can speak about her fears, about the rejection of femininity, about the revolt against her feminine role and other things. You can listen to her, discuss some important points, and perhaps help rid her of some fears or stereotypes.

5. What’s preventing you from having your baby?

Now we give the woman the opportunity to speak about the circumstances which push her towards an abortion. It’s a very important question, because it’s necessary to discuss these circumstances with her, to give her the chance to answer this question in full, to tell about her problems, fears, and doubts which cause her think about abortion. You need to sympathetically and attentively listen to her, as these problems are truly serious for her, even if they don’t seem so to you. Perhaps it will become easier for her just because you listened with understanding. Then you need to give her the possibility to see her problems from a different point of view, because, most likely, she has concentrated on them so much that she sees no other options except abortion.

You can ask her: “How does the situation have to change for you to decide to give birth to your child?” And discuss together with her what can be done to bring about this situation, and whether she can really give birth only under those circumstances. It’s necessary to try to discuss with her various solutions to the problem, and maybe you can find a simple and genial solution.

Many problems are in fact illusory, and for the casual observer and converser they are clearly artificial and groundless. Before an abortion a woman’s difficulties seem to her much scarier than they really are. Her interlocutor can try to allow her to see this herself, to lead her out of the state of “tunnel consciousness.”

There are women who out of dissatisfaction with life argue that their decision to have an abortion came from their unwillingness to deliver the child into hardship. They say: He won’t have a father, or he’ll be in poverty, or there’ll be any number of other difficulties.

For these arguments there is a fairly severe method, but it sometimes helps. You can ask: “If your child could speak right now, if he could control his own fate, what do you think he would say? What would he prefer—this life with its shortcomings, or that he ceased to exist? What do you think—what would he want?” Here we again vivify the child in his mother’s eyes, because one of the main problems of abortion is that the woman doesn’t absolutely conceive of him as a separate person. She sees him exclusively as a circumstance of her life. And by this question we openly place before her this alternative: we call abortion not a medical operation, but the deprivation of a child’s life. We don’t directly preach that it’s murder, but we indirectly indicate it, asking, “Would he want to live in poverty, or not live at all?”

6. Why do you think you have the right to have an abortion?

You can ask such an over-arching question. It’s actually a very big topic. The conversation can take various directions depending on how the woman answers. She might say: “It’s legally allowed.” Then you can ask whether she thinks that everything that’s legally allowed is morally permissible. No, of course, she won’t be sitting in jail after the abortion, but from a moral point of view how will her deed look to her? A pregnant woman may answer, “But I can control my own body!” Then you can ask: “How are you sure that it’s completely your body? Are you sure that this part of your body has the same sex as the rest of your body? And where have you seen parts of your body that would have a different blood type than the rest of your body?” Finally, to this all you can say, “So you’re sure that it’s your body? It couldn’t be that this is the body of some other person although it’s located inside you?”

You can ask the question in this way to believers: “Whose child is it?” The natural reaction is: “It’s mine, and my husband’s of course.” But for a believer you can remind them that, in fact, it’s God’s child. He has simply entrusted him to you for a time so you can take care of him. And you can’t simply dispose of that which isn’t yours. A believer should remember that a child does not belong to her and that she will give answer for what she did with the child given to her for a time to raise and care for, and for the fate of this child—the highest answer, before God. And there they won’t be asking about what brand of cell phone your child had, whether he had his own room, fashionable clothing, and so on.

You can ask her this kind of question: “Imagine that you died now—it sometimes happens—and after death you met with this child. He says: ‘Mama, why didn’t you let me live?’ How will you answer him? Do you think the explanation you used to justify yourself now will sound convincing for him? Or God will ask: ‘Why did you do this?’ And will your explanations be meaningful to God? Will they really be justifications?”

7. How do you imagine the abortion procedure? Do you know anything about the aftermath?

Here you can talk about the fact that she’ll be under anesthesia, but… First, this operation is carried out blindly. Many think that during the operation the doctor sees everything going on inside. But abortion is not an abdominal surgery, where, for example, the belly is cut open and you can see everything. In the case of abortion, the instrument is inserted into the hollow organ inside the body, and the doctor does the operation via the ultrasound, and actually by feel.

Many doctors have written about abortion’s undoubted harm to the health of a woman. For example, the doctor of medical sciences, professor, and director of the St. Petersburg Center for Clinical-Morphological Diagnostics of Reproductive Pathology Boris Glukhovets writes in his research that, “operations of artificial termination of pregnancy, even in first-rate gynecological hospitals, can be complicated by serious damage to the cervix and the body of the uterus and the development of uterine bleeding, which are risk factors for the occurrence of other complications that can lead even to a lethal outcome.” Not to mention that artificial abortion is one of the main causes of miscarriage and secondary infertility.

The professor gives the following data:

- Abortion as a cause of secondary infertility constitutes up to 41% in Russia;

- After an abortion the frequency of miscarriages increases 8—10 times;

- Around 60% of women older than thirty giving birth for the first time suffer miscarriages from numerous prior abortions;

- After an abortion, 38% of patients are unable to return to their normal menstrual cycle for at least two months.

After speaking with a woman about the medical consequences of abortion, you can ask her whether she realizes that there are not just physical but also emotional consequences to abortion.

Is she familiar with the term “Post-Abortion Syndrome?”

Here you can lead the conversation this way: “Surely you have friends of various ages. Do you know any elderly women who had abortions many years ago? How do they now evaluate those circumstances which enticed them to have an abortion: Do they consider those circumstances truly significant or not? What are they experiencing now in their souls?” You can recommend to her to openly speak with such women, and perhaps even give her the contact information of one of your acquaintances who would agree to speak about her experience.

Or if you yourself have had this experience, it would not be bad to speak openly and honestly about what happened with you.

In the worldly sense we can understand abortion as an everyday, common event. But it’s very important how this event is seen years later, when life is coming to an end. The woman should really think about what she really wants—in the next year and a half sleeping poorly at night, getting up to go to her child, or suffering her whole life from her conscience and sleeping poorly at night from memories and nightmares.

8. Have you ever considered who it benefits to have such widespread abortion?

Such a question is appropriate for intellectuals. “You probably know that for us this is a common procedure,” we tell her. “The majority of women [in Russia—trans.] have resorted to this procedure at least once in life. According to statistics a few thousand abortions are performed every day. Have you ever given much thought to who benefits from this?”

Abortion as an operation, as a procedure has long been known, but from a moral point of view it’s always been condemned. Now it is not only not condemned, but practically welcomed. The attitude towards abortion has radically changed. And from this there arises the question: “If the attitude has so seriously changed, that means there is someone who is interested in the public opinion being this way. Who could it be, and what is his interest?”

With a believing woman you can raise the subject of the efforts of the godless powers to capture the human soul. With this you can say that the struggle is not so much for the soul of the child, but mainly for the soul of the mother, because the decision to have an abortion is a very harsh and cruel decision which stays on the woman’s conscience.

But there are also practical aspects from the secular world. Abortive material—the placenta and stem cells—is very expensive material, widely used, and they need to extract it on an industrial scale. Of course, we can hardly say that abortion was legalized for the purpose of getting these materials, but now these materials are actively procured and those who make money from them don’t want to lose them. And they have a wholly pragmatic interest in the number of abortions not going down—or, if it does, then only slightly. And further, you can ask a woman whether she agrees to be used this way by such powers?—by organizations and people who have no relation to her life and who are completely indifferent to her fate.

9. In your family, who is against having a child and who is for it?

Returning to the woman’s circumstances in life, you can ask this question. At first it’s better to ask who is against having a child, because it might turn out that the woman says everyone is against it, and she might even call them all by name. And then you can agree that, indeed, under such pressure it’s difficult to maintain your own opinion. But is there not a chance that she accidently entangled herself in a hostile environment? That she herself wants the child? Then give her the chance to talk in detail about why she doesn’t want them to stop her (see above).

It may emerge that someone amongst her relatives is really against it. What arguments do they bring forth? Why are they doing this? Did they have an abortion themselves and how do they relate to such a step? Having ascertained these important facts, it’s necessary to help the woman fight with the pressure inside her family and even, possibly, with abuse—physical, emotional, moral, material, etc.

It’s very important to find out whether there is at least someone who would be able to give some support for the baby, including, for example, to take upon themselves the confrontation with those who are against it.

10. How can I help you so you would decide to have your child?

And finally, it’s good to ask a woman how precisely you can help her. It’s better to ask this at the end of the conversation, so that she has already managed to express her doubts and fears, and after some of these are “unraveled,” when some kind of alternative to abortion appears before her.

When a woman speaks about how she wants to have an abortion she is completely connected with those conditions preventing her from keeping her baby. And if at that moment you ask her: “And what can I do?” she, most likely, will answer that there’s nothing, and that, in general, she doesn’t really need any help. When she is detached at least a little bit from these life circumstances, then you can tell her about how these circumstances can be changed, and offer your help. “Still, what precisely do you need in order to withstand these circumstances in this situation?” Perhaps she just needs help finding the necessary words to say to her husband or relatives, for you to recommend a good doctor or help with a stroller and crib for the baby. Maybe she needs emotional support. Every woman has her needs. For many, just your offer to help can already be healing, because such an offer means your recognition of the woman’s problems, and at the same time the value of the unborn child—such essential value that you are ready even to do concrete things, make an effort, and perhaps make some sacrifice so that the child would be born.

You can advise her to contact organizations which help pregnant women finding themselves in difficult situations.

***

In conclusion, I would like to say the following: it’s not so simple to awaken the heart, and there are no special techniques for doing so. We can help a woman who is in a difficult situation, but only on the condition that the helper truly and genuinely wishes her well. Don’t try to prove your correctness or to convince the woman that abortion must never happen (although of course we agree with this), but precisely to wish her good. No woman wants to be just an “argument” in proving the correctness of some person or idea.

These questions we have offered can help a woman decide to keep her baby. But here it’s important to remember that a conversation with her should be accompanied by a sincere, good attitude, and spiritual warmth and care for her and her child above all. We hope that these questions will help someone, that children will be born, and life will continue…

By Fr. Dimitry Smirnov, Elena Smirnova, Natalia Narishkina

Source: http://orthochristian.com/100825.html

The Canon

The miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ enlightened human nature. In the canon, the portion of the Vigil which 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 (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 Greek verb "to tie." The Irmos presents a pattern for all of the troparia which follow within a given ode.

An event from the Old Testament which 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, whose theme 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 song in honor of the Theotokos is chanted. It 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. After censing the altar and the right side of the iconostasis, he stops before the icon of the Theotokos on the iconostasis, and, raising the censer chants: "The Theotokos and the Mother of the Light let us magnify in song." The choir responds with the magnification of the Mother of God.

During the chanting of the magnification, 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 which 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 is known as the Hymn of Light, or Светилeн — 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, which means "I send out," because a chanter is in fact "sent out" from the kliros 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/Svetilny. 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 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 everyone who unites 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. Technically speaking, 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 and one 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 at which Christ, while on the Cross, granted paradise to the thief, and it is the time at which He 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 which 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 which 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 which is 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 Father, Son, and 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. . . ."

Translated by priest Peter Perekrestov

Edited by Lawrence Miller

From the Introductory chapter, "The History of Church Rubrics"

of The Explanatory Typicon by Prof. Michael Skaballanovitch

of the Kiev Theological Academy, 1910

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