Part II. Schematic of the Liturgy of the catechumens

1. Initiatory exclamations of the deacon and the priest.
2. Great Litany.
3. Psalm 1st pictorial "Bless, my soul, the Lord" (102) (first antiphon).
4. Small Litany.
5. The second pictorial psalm (145) - "Praise, my soul, the Lord" (second antiphon).
6. Singing the hymn "Only Begotten Son and Word of God."
7. Small Litany.
8. The singing of the Gospel Beatitudes and the troparion "blessed" (third antiphon).
9. Small entrance with the Gospel.
10. Singing "Come Let's Bow Down"
11. Troparion and kontakion singing.
12. The exclamation of the deacon: "Lord, save the pious."
13. Singing of the Trisagion.
14. The singing of the prokeimon.
15. Reading the Apostle. Singing the alleluary.
16. Reading the Gospel.
17. Subtle litany.
18. Litany for the catechumens.
19. Litany with the command to the catechumens to leave the temple.

Part III. Schematic of the Liturgy of the Faithful

1. Abridged Great Litany.
2. Singing the 1st part of the Cherubic Hymn and reading the prayer of the Great Entrance by the priest.
3. Great Entrance and Transfer of the Holy Gifts.
4. Singing of the 2nd part of the Cherubic Hymn and placing the Holy Vessels on the Throne.
5. Litany 1 (On the offered, honest Darechs): preparation of those praying for the consecration of the Gifts.
6. The deacon's suggestion of peace, love and unanimity.
7. Exclamation: "Let us love one another, but with one mind we will confess."
8. Singing the Creed. (after the exclamation "Doors, let us attend to wisdom").
9. The exclamation "Become good ...".
10. Eucharistic Prayer (3 parts).
11. Consecration of the Holy Gifts (while singing: “We sing to you…”).
12. Glorification of the Mother of God (“It is worthy to eat ...”).
13. Commemoration of the living and the dead (“And everyone, and everything ...”).
14. 2nd petitionary litany (On the sanctified honest Gifts).
15. Singing "Our Father".
16. Ascension of the Holy Gifts. (“Holy to the Holy…”).
17. Communion of the clergy in the altar and the "communion" verse.
18. Penultimate apparition of the Holy Gifts and Communion of the laity.
19. The exclamation "Save, O God, Thy people" and the chant "We have seen the True Light."
20. The last appearance of the Holy Gifts and the hymn "Let our lips be fulfilled."
21. Thanksgiving Litany for Communion.
22. Ammon prayer.
23. "Be the name of the Lord" and the 33rd psalm.

Scheme of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (served only during Great Lent)

1. The exclamation of the deacon and the priest: "Blessed is the kingdom"...
2. Reading Psalm 103: "Bless the Lord, O my soul."
3. Great Litany.
4. Kathismas.
5. A small litany, or three small litanies (after each of the three kathismas), during which the transfer of the Holy Lamb from the Throne to the altar takes place.
6. "Lord, cry."
7. Stichera "on the Lord I cried."
8. Evening entry with a censer (or with the Gospel, if required by the Charter).
9. "Quiet Light"...
10. Reading the first proverb.
11. Exclamations: “Wisdom, forgive me. The light of Christ enlightens all."
12. Reading of the second proverb.
13. Singing: "May my prayer be corrected."
14. Reading the Gospel (if required by the Charter).
15. Subtle litany.
16. Prayer for the Emperor.
17. Litany for the catechumens.
18. Litany for the Enlightened. Exclamation: “For thou art our enlightenment” (From the 4th week of Great Lent).
19. Small Litany for the Faithful. The exclamation "As it befits" ...
20. Second Small Litany for the Faithful.
21. "Now the powers of heaven."
22. Great Entrance with Presanctified Gifts.
23. The second part of the prayer: "Let us draw near by faith and love."
24. Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian.
25. Pleading Litany.
26. Lord's Prayer "Our Father"
27. Exclamation: "Pre-Sanctified Holy of the Holy."
28. The penultimate apparition of the Holy Gifts (“I will bless the Lord”).
29. The last appearance of the Holy Gifts.
30. Thanksgiving for Communion.
31. Prayer beyond the ambo (“Lord to the Almighty”).
32. "Be blessed be the name of the Lord" (thrice) and Psalm 33.
33. The last blessing of the priest.
34. Vacation

Scheme of Vespers at the All-Night Vigil

1. The exclamation of the deacon and the priest.
2. Psalm 103 "Bless the Lord, my soul."
3. Great Litany.
4. Psalm: "Blessed is the man who does not go to the counsel of the wicked."
5. Small Litany.
6. "Lord, cry."
7. Stichera on "Lord I have called" ...
8. Dogmatist or Theotokos.
9. Evening entrance (with censer).
10. Hymn singing: Quiet Light.
11. Prokeimenon of the day.
12. Reading paremias (3 proverbs). (On the eve of great and temple holidays).
13. Subtle litany.
14. Prayer: "God bless"...
15. Pleading Litany.
16. Poetry on lithium.
17. lithium. (On the eve of great and temple holidays).
18. Poetry on the poem,
19. “Now you let go”, the Trisagion according to “Our Father”.
20. Troparion or (on Sundays) "Our Lady of the Virgin".
21. Blessing of bread. (On the eve of the great and temple holidays.).
22. "Be blessed be the Name of the Lord" and Psalm 33.
23. Blessing of the priest.

Scheme of Matins at the All-Night Vigil

1. Six Psalms (Psalms 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142).
2. Great Litany.
3. "God is the Lord and appear to us."
4. Troparion Sunday or feast or Saint.
5. Reading kathisma.
6. Small Litany.
7. Polyeleos ("Praise the name of the Lord").
8. Sunday "immaculate" troparia ("Blessed be Thou, Lord").
9. Greatness (for great holidays).
10. Small Litany.
11. Degrees (under the great holidays, antiphon 4 voices: “From my youth”) ...
12. Gospel reading.
13. "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ"
14. The exclamation of the deacon "Save, O God, Thy people"...
15. Canon (small litanies on the 3rd and 6th cantos).
16. "My soul magnifies the Lord."
17. “Let every breath praise the Lord” and stichera on praises.
18. Theotokion: “Blessed be the Virgin Mary” (textbook of the Hours).
19. Great Praise.
20. Sunday holiday troparion or holiday troparion.
21. Subtle litany.
22. Pleading Litany.
23. Vacation
24. First Hour (see chart of Hours).

Great Compline Diagram

Part I

1. Normal start.
2. “Come, let us worship” and Psalm 69 (See Uch. Hours).
3. Canon of St. Andrew of Crete (on the first 4 days of Lent).
4. Six psalms: 4, 6, 12, 24, 30, 90.
5. "God with us".
6. Troparion: "The day has passed, I thank Thee, Lord."
7. Symbol of faith.
8. Prayer: "Most Holy Lady."
9. Trisagion according to "Our Father".
10. Troparia and Theotokos (Different by days of the week).
11. "Lord have mercy" 40 times; prayers of forgiveness: “Glory now”, “To the most honest Cherub”, etc.
12. Prayer "Lord, deliver us from every arrow that flies in the days."

Part II.

1. “Come let us bow down” (thrice), Psalms 50 and 101;
2. Prayer of Manasseh: "Lord Almighty, God of our fathers."
3. Trisagion according to "Our Father".
4. Troparion: "Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us."
5. "Lord have mercy" 40 times and the same prayers of forgiveness.
6. Prayer: "Lord God, Father Almighty" ...

Part III.

1. “Come let us worship” (three times).
2. Psalms 69 and 142 and the Great Doxology.
3. Trisagion according to "Our Father".
4. Canon ordinary.
5. Singing: "Lord, strength be with us."
6. "Lord have mercy" 40 times. Prayer: "Like for every time and for every hour" and the same forgiveness prayers.
7. "Lord and Master of my life"...
8. Prayer: "Indecent, not inviting" ...
9. “And give us, Vladyka, for the dream to come” ..., “Glorious Ever-Virgin”, “My Father's Hope”.
10. Great vacation. Reading sacred. they say "Vladyka many-merciful."
11. Subtle litany.

See the Appendix - Scheme No. 2a for a sample compilation of everyday Vespers.

To independently compose a service - daily vespers for July 29, tone 8, Monday evening.

EVERYDAY (WEEKDAY) MATINS

According to its structure, matins can be of 2 types - everyday or everyday and festive.

According to the Rule, the daily Matins should be performed in the morning. In modern practice, it (with the 1st hour) is served in the evening. Matins is added to the daily vespers after “Affirm, O God…”, and it begins immediately with the Six Psalms G. This practice is caused by the conditions of modern life, when an ordinary Christian has more opportunity to come to church for worship in the evening. In monasteries and temples, zealous for the fulfillment of the Charter, they return to the ancient practice, since the content and nature of chants and prayers really correspond to the beginning of the day, when a person is still full of strength, cheerful and can exert more zeal and labor in praising, thanking and propitiating the Creator. Metropolitan Veniamin says this about it: “I’m still a fresh person, therefore the services are longer, and the psalms are longer: you need to gain a spiritual supply for the whole day. In the morning the birds sing, but in the evening they are silent. And the man praises the Lord. And all creation praises with him: the sun, clouds, fish, ... animals, birds, kings and common people, old and young. And the ascetics are preparing for prayer, and for the fight against the enemy. ... The Six Psalms also speaks of the same struggle, interspersed with a cry to God and hope for His help and glory to Him. ... So, matins - joyful service". i 8., p.58-59; 10., p.65-67.

If the daily Matins is served in the morning, then it begins a little differently than if it is performed in the evening in conjunction with Vespers:

& Ch.s.38-43 After the exclamation of the priest “Blessed is our God…” the reader: “Amen. Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee. Heavenly King… the Trisagion according to Our Father. Lord, have mercy 12 times, Come, let's bow down ... "(if Midnight Office was served before Matins, then after the exclamation follows" Come, let's bow down ... "). Then a double psalm is read - psalms 19 and 20 (X at this time the priest burns the altar and the temple), “Glory, and now ... the Trisagion according to Our Father”, the troparion is read “Save, Lord, Thy people ..., Glory ... Ascended to the Cross... And now... A terrible intercession...”, then an abbreviated special litany “Have mercy on us, O God...”, the exclamation “Yako Merciful...”, chorus: “Amen. In the name of the Lord, bless, Father,” then the exclamation of Matins “Glory to the Saints…”. i 1., p.95-96; 2., p.266-268; 6., Lecture 6, pp. 83-84; 8., p.59-60.

The procedure for performing daily matins is set out in 9th chapter of the Typicon, where, just as in the aftermath of Vespers, indications for non-watch service (with "God is the Lord") and guard service (with "Hallelujah") are interspersed. Also, this order can be traced by the Book of Hours and Oktoech.

Brief outline of daily matins

Six Psalms - H

Great Litany - Sl

"God is the Lord ..." and troparia - Sl, Ch, M

Kathismas - Ps

Canon - O, M

Psalms of Praise - H

Doxology everyday - H

Pleading Litany - Sl

Stichery on the poem - Oh

Tropari - M

Special Litany - Sl

For a detailed scheme of the daily (everyday) matins, see. in the Appendix - scheme No. 3.

Explanations for the scheme of daily matins.

X Everyday Matins is celebrated with the Royal Doors closed, only the inner veil is open. The priest is dressed in epitrachelion, handrails and phelonion.

X The priest in the altar, drawing a cross in front of the altar with a censer, proclaims Matins call: "Glory to the Holy, and Consubstantial, and Life-Giving, and Indivisible Trinity, always, now and forever and forever and ever", chorus: "Amen"

Six Psalms, & Ch.s.43-55, according to tradition, is read in the middle of the temple. Before the Six Psalms, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men” is read three times and “Lord, open my mouth, and my mouth will proclaim Your praise” twice. i 4., issue 2, pp. 197-198.

The oldest references to the Six Psalms in its current composition date back to the 7th century. In several places Oktoikha is referred to by the Greek word "exapsalms". Six Psalms make up 6 psalms- 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142, the main idea of ​​which is the persecution of the righteous by enemies, his hope in God, the final rest in God. Psalms 3, 62, 102 are more joyful, and 37, 87, 142 are sadder. During the Six Psalms, candles are extinguished so that a person can, unnoticed by others, cry about his sins. It is necessary to stand quietly in the temple while reading the Six Psalms, and it is necessary to read it very reverently, “without wrestling,” because, according to the Typicon, at this time we are talking with God Himself. i 1., p.96; 2., p.268-269; 4., issue 2, pp. 198-203; 8., p.60-61.

After the first 3 psalms, “Glory, and now ...”, “Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, glory to Thee, God” is read three times (even without bowing from the waist to observe special silence and attention!), “Lord, have mercy” three times, “ Glory, and now…” and the remaining three psalms. X During the reading of the next 3 psalms, the priest in front of the royal doors with his head uncovered reads the so-called. morning prayers, number 12, in which the content of the hymns and prayers of matins is briefly stated. At the end of the Six Psalms, "Glory, and now ..." "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, glory to Thee, O God" is read. i 1., p.96; 2., p.269-270; 4., issue 2, pp. 203-208; 6., Lecture 6, p.84.

Great Litany

"God is the Lord and appear to us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord ”with verses - these are verses 117 of the psalm (& Ch p. 56). The deacon proclaims “The voice ..., God is the Lord and appeared ...” and the verse “Confess to the Lord ...”, the choir sings “God the Lord ...”. ! “God is the Lord…” is sung to the voice of the 1st troparion, which will be sung after "God is the Lord ..." with verses. Then the deacon reads verses, and the choir after each sings "God is the Lord ...". It is interesting to note that, according to the Typikon, “God is the Lord…” with verses it is not the priest or deacon who proclaims, but the canonarch. i 1., p.96; 2., p.270-271; 4., issue 2, pp. 209-213.

Troparion. On "God is the Lord" (i.e. after "God is the Lord") is sung troparion to Saint Menaion(same troparion as at the end of Vespers) twice, "Glory, and now ..." Theotokos from the 4th appendix of the Menaion according to the voice of the troparion to the saint(same as at the end of Vespers). i 1., p.96; 2., p.273; 7., Lecture 6, p.63-64.

Kathisma ordinary.

Kathismas

In liturgical books, the reading of the psalms is called "the versification of the Psalms." The psalms in the Psalter are divided into 20 departments - kathisma. Each kathisma contains several psalms and is divided into 3 parts- so called Glory.

The royal doors open.

Altar burning.

Deacon: Arise. God bless.

Priest: Glory to the Saints...

Come, let's bow... (three times).

Incense of the entire temple.

Choir: Bless, my soul, the Lord... (Psalm 103).

The royal doors are closed.

Luminary prayers (secretly recited by the priest).

Great litany: Let us pray to the Lord in peace.

As befits you...(exclamation).

Singing of the 1st antiphon of the 1st kathisma.

Litany small: Packs and packs...

Like your state ...

Lord, call and stichera on the Lord, cry out. (Incense of the whole temple.)

And now. Theotokion dogmatist or stichera.

The royal doors open.

Entrance with a censer.

Light Quiet

Prokimen.

The royal doors are closed.

Parimias (if any).

The Augmented Litany: Rzem all...

Grant, Lord...

Litany of supplication: Let's do the evening prayer...

Yako Good and Humanitarian...

Lithium (if any).

Poetry on the poem.

Now you let go... the Trisagion. Our Father...
For Yours is the Kingdom...

The royal doors open.

Troparion. (Incense of bread, if there was lithium.)

Blessing of loaves (if there was lithium).

Be the name of the Lord...

I will bless the Lord... (Psalm 33) ending with the words: .. .do not lose any good.

God bless you...
Amen.

The royal doors are closed.

Matins (with polyeleos)

Six Psalms (Psalms: 3, 37, 62, 87, 102 and 142).

Morning prayers (the priest reads secretly).

Great litany.

Like every one suits you glory...

God the Lord, and appear to us ...

Small Litany.

The royal doors open.

Polyeleos. Praise the Name of the Lord...

Magnification (if any).

Incense of the entire temple.

On the Sunday All-Night Troparion: The Cathedral of the Angels will be surprised...

Little litany.

For bless thy name...

Degrees (antiphons).

Taking out the gospel

Prokimen.

Gospel Reading

At the Sunday Vigil: Seeing the Resurrection of Christ...

50th psalm.

Glory. The prayers of the Apostles...

And now. Prayers of the Virgin...

Have mercy on me God...(1st verse of the 50th psalm)

Stikhira (holiday or Sunday)

Save, O God, your people...

Mercy and generosity...

The royal doors are closed.

Canon

After the 3rd ode of the canon, a small litany.

Like you are our God...

After the 6th ode of the canon, a small litany.

You are the King of the world...

According to the 8th ode of the canon:

Let us exalt the Mother of God and Mother of Light with songs.

Incense of the entire temple.

My soul magnifies the Lord...

According to the 9th ode of the canon, a small litany

As if all the Powers of heaven praise Thee ...

Exapostilary (light).

Every breath...

Poems for praise.

And now. Bogorodichen.

The royal doors open.

Glory to You, who showed us the light.

Praise is great.

Troparion is dismissive and Theotokos.

The litany of the august: Have mercy on us God...

Yako is merciful and philanthropist...

Litany of supplication: Let's do the morning prayer...

Like a God of mercy and bounty...

Wisdom. bless. Shii is blessed...

Confirm God...

Holy Mother of God, save us.

The most honest Cherub...

Glory to Thee, Christ God... Glory, and now, Lord, have mercy (thrice). bless.

The release is great.

Perennial.

The royal doors are closed. Reading 1st hour.

On the eve of great holidays and Sundays, it is served all-night vigil, or, as it is also called, all-night. The church day begins in the evening, and this service is directly related to the event being celebrated.

The All-Night Vigil is an ancient divine service, it was performed in the first centuries of Christianity. The Lord Jesus Christ himself often prayed at night, and the apostles and the first Christians gathered for night prayers. Previously, all-night vigils were very long and, starting in the evening, continued all night.

Vespers begin with Great Vespers

In parish churches, Vespers usually begins at seventeen or eighteen o'clock. Prayers and hymns of vespers are related to the Old Testament they prepare us for matins, which is mainly remembered new testament events. The Old Testament is a prototype, a forerunner of the New. The people of the Old Testament lived by faith - by the expectation of the Coming Messiah.

The beginning of Vespers brings our mind to the creation of the world. The priests burn the altar. It signifies the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit, Who hovered during the creation of the world over the earth that had not yet been settled (see Gen. 1:2).

Then the deacon calls on the worshipers to rise before the start of the service with an exclamation "Get up!" and asks for the blessing of the priest at the beginning of the service. The priest, standing before the throne in the altar, utters an exclamation: "Glory to the Holy, Consubstantial, Life-Giving and Indivisible Trinity, always, now and forever and forever and ever". The choir sings: "Amen."

While singing in chorus 103rd psalm, which describes the majestic picture of God's creation of the world, the clergy incense the entire temple and those praying. Incense marks the grace of God, which our forefathers Adam and Eve had before the fall, enjoying bliss and communion with God in paradise. After the creation of people, the doors of paradise were opened for them, and as a sign of this, the royal doors are open during incense. After the fall, people lost their original righteousness, distorted their nature and closed the gates of paradise for themselves. They were expelled from paradise and wept bitterly. After incense, the royal doors are closed, the deacon goes to the pulpit and stands in front of the closed gates, just as Adam stood before the gates of paradise after the exile. When a man lived in paradise, he did not need anything; with the loss of heavenly bliss, people have needs and sorrows, for which we pray to God. The main thing we ask God for is the forgiveness of sins. On behalf of all those who pray, the deacon pronounces peaceful or great litany.

After the peaceful litany, the singing and reading of the first kathisma follows: Blessed is the husband,(which the) do not go to the council of the wicked. The path of returning to paradise is the path of striving for God and avoiding evil, ungodliness and sins. The Old Testament righteous, who waited in faith for the Savior, kept the true faith and shied away from communication with godless and ungodly people. Even after the fall, Adam and Eve were given the promise of the Coming Messiah, that the seed of the woman will wipe out the head of the serpent. And a psalm Blessed is the husband also figuratively tells of the Son of God, the Blessed Man, who did not commit sin.

Further sing verses on "Lord, cry". They alternate with verses from the Psalter. These verses also have a repentant, prayerful character. During the reading of the stichera, the entire temple is incensed. “May my prayer be corrected, like a censer before Thee,” the choir sings, and we, listening to this hymn, repent of our sins like the sinful forefathers.

The last stichera is called the Theotokos or dogmatic, it is dedicated to the Mother of God. It reveals the church teaching about the incarnation of the Savior from the Virgin Mary.

Although people sinned and fell away from God, the Lord did not leave them without His help and protection during the entire history of the Old Testament. The first people repented, which means that the first hope for salvation appeared. This hope is symbolized opening of the royal doors and input at the evening The priest and the deacon with the censer come out of the northern, side doors and, accompanied by the priests, go to the royal doors. The priest blesses the entrance, and the deacon, drawing a cross with a censer, says: "Wisdom, forgive me!"— which means “stand up straight” and contains a call for attention. The choir sings a hymn "Light Quiet", which speaks of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ descended to earth not in majesty and glory, but in a quiet, Divine light. This hymn also speaks of the fact that the time of the birth of the Savior is near.

After the deacon proclaimed verses from the psalms called prokimnom, two litanies are pronounced: pure and pleading.

If the All-Night Vigil is celebrated on the occasion of a major feast, after these litanies lithium- a service containing special prayer petitions, at which five wheat loaves, wine and oil (oil) are blessed in memory of the miraculous feeding of five thousand people by Christ with five loaves. In ancient times, when the All-night service was served all night, the brethren needed to refresh themselves with food in order to continue serving Matins.

After the lithium are sung "poetry on verse", that is, stichera with special verses. After them the choir sings a prayer "Now let go". These are the words spoken by the holy righteous Simeon, who with faith and hope for many years awaited the Savior and was honored to receive the Christ Child in his arms. This prayer is pronounced as if on behalf of all the people of the Old Testament, who with faith awaited the coming of Christ the Savior.

Vespers ends with a hymn dedicated to the Virgin Mary: "Virgin Mary, rejoice". It was the Fruit that the Old Testament mankind cultivated in its depths for thousands of years. This most humble, most righteous and purest Maiden, the only one of all the wives, was honored to become the Mother of God. The priest ends Vespers with the exclamation: "God bless you" and bless those who pray.

The second part of the vigil is called Matins. It is dedicated to the remembrance of the events of the New Testament.

At the beginning of Matins, six special psalms are read, which are called the Six Psalms. It begins with the words: “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men” - this is a hymn sung by the Angels at the birth of the Savior. The Six Psalms is dedicated to the expectation of Christ's coming into the world. It is an image of the Bethlehem night, when Christ came into the world, and an image of the night and darkness in which all mankind was before the coming of the Savior. Not without reason, according to custom, all lamps and candles are extinguished during the reading of the Six Psalms. The priest in the middle of the Six Psalms in front of the closed Royal Doors reads special morning prayers.

Then a peaceful litany is celebrated, and after it the deacon loudly proclaims: “God is the Lord, and appear to us. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord". Which means: “God and the Lord appeared to us”, that is, he came into the world, the Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah were fulfilled. Then comes the reading kathisma from the Psalter.

After reading the kathisma, the most solemn part of Matins begins - polyeles. Polyeleos translated from Greek as mercifully, because during the polyeleos, laudatory verses from the 134th and 135th psalms are sung, where the multitude of God's mercy is sung in a constant refrain: as His mercy is forever! According to the consonance of words polyeles sometimes translated as abundance of oil. Oil has always been a symbol of God's mercy. During Great Lent, the 136th psalm (“On the rivers of Babylon”) is added to the polyeleos psalms. During the polyeleos, the royal doors are opened, the lamps in the temple are lit, and the clergy, leaving the altar, perform a complete incense of the entire temple. During censing, Sunday troparia are sung "Angelic Cathedral" telling about the resurrection of Christ. At the vigils before the feasts, instead of the Sunday troparion, they sing the glorification of the feast.

Then read the Gospel. If they serve vigil on Sunday, they read one of the eleven Sunday Gospels dedicated to the resurrection of Christ and His appearances to the disciples. If the service is dedicated not to the resurrection, but to a holiday, they read the festive Gospel.

After the reading of the Gospel, a hymn is heard at the Sunday All-Night Vigils "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ".

The worshipers venerate the Gospel (on the feast - to the icon), and the priest crosswise anoints their foreheads with consecrated oil.

This is not a Sacrament, but a sacred rite of the Church, serving as a sign of God's mercy to us. From the most ancient, biblical times, the fir tree has been a symbol of joy and a sign of God's blessing, and with the olive tree, from the fruits of which oil was obtained, the righteous is compared, on whom the favor of the Lord rests: And I, like a green olive tree, in the house of God, and I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever(Ps 51:10). The dove released from the ark by the patriarch Noah returned in the evening and brought a fresh olive leaf in his mouth, and Noah knew that the water had descended from the earth (see: Gen. 8, 11). It was a sign of reconciliation with God.

After the exclamation of the priest: "By mercy, generosity and philanthropy ..." - the reading begins canon.

Canon- a prayer work that tells about the life and exploits of the saint and glorifies the celebrated event. The canon consists of nine cantos, each beginning irmosome- a chant sung by the choir.

Before the ninth ode of the canon, the deacon, having shaken the altar, proclaims before the image of the Mother of God (to the left of the royal doors): “We will exalt the Mother of God and Mother of Light in songs”. The choir begins to sing a chant "My soul magnifies the Lord...". This is a touching prayer-song composed by the Holy Virgin Mary (see: Luke 1, 46-55). A refrain is added to each verse: “The most honest Cherubim and the most glorious Seraphim without comparison, without the corruption of God the Word, who gave birth to the real Mother of God, we magnify You.”

After the canon, the choir sings psalms "Praise the Lord from Heaven", "Sing a new song to the Lord"(Ps 149) and "Praise God in His Saints"(Ps 150) along with "praise stichera". At the Sunday All-Night Vigil, these stichera end with a hymn dedicated to the Theotokos: "Blessed be Thou, Virgin Mother of God..." After that, the priest proclaims: “Glory to Thee, who showed us the Light,” and the great doxology. Vespers in ancient times, lasting all night, captured the early morning, and during matins the first morning rays of the sun really showed up, reminding us of the Sun of Truth - Christ the Savior. The praise begins with the words: "Gloria..." Matins began with these words and ends with these same words. At the end, the whole Holy Trinity is already glorified: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.”

Matins ends purely and pleading litanies, after which the priest pronounces the final vacation.

After the all-night vigil, a short service is served, which is called the first hour.

Watch- this is a service that sanctifies a certain time of the day, but according to the established tradition, they are usually attached to long services - to matins and liturgy. The first hour corresponds to our seven o'clock in the morning. This service sanctifies the coming day with prayer.