Part 1.
Where did morning or evening prayers come from? Can something else be used instead? Is it necessary to pray twice a day? Is it possible to pray according to the rule of St. Seraphim of Sarov?
We are talking about the prayer rule with Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, rector of the Church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University.
– Father Maxim, where did the existing prayer rule come from – morning and evening prayers?
– In the form in which the prayer rule is now printed in our prayer books, other Local Churches do not know it, except for those Slavic Churches that at one time began to focus on the church press of the Russian Empire and de facto borrowed our liturgical books and corresponding printed texts . We will not see this in the Greek-speaking Orthodox Churches. There, the following scheme is recommended for morning and evening prayers for the laity: in the evening - a reduction of Compline and some elements of Vespers, and for morning prayers - unchangeable parts borrowed from Midnight Office and Matins.
If we look at a tradition that was recorded relatively recently by historical standards - for example, we open the “Domostroy” of Archpriest Sylvester - then we will see an almost fantastically ideal Russian family. The task was to provide some kind of role model. Such a family, being literate according to Sylvester, reads the sequence of Vespers and Matins at home, standing in front of the icons along with the household and servants.
If we pay attention to the monastic, priestly rule, known to the laity in preparation for receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ, then we will see the same three canons that are read at Little Compline.
The collection of prayers under numbers arose quite late. The first text known to us is the “Road Book” by Francis Skaryna, and today liturgists do not have a clear opinion when and why such a collection was made. My assumption (it cannot be considered a final statement) is this: these texts first appeared in southwestern Rus', in the volosts, where there was a very strong Uniate influence and contacts with the Uniates. Most likely, there is, if not a direct borrowing from the Uniates, then a certain kind of borrowing of the liturgical and ascetic logic characteristic of the Catholic Church at that time, which clearly divided its composition into two categories: the church of those who teach and the church of students. For the laity, texts were offered that were supposed to be different from the texts read by the clergy, taking into account the different educational level and intra-church status of the laity.
By the way, in some prayer books of the 18th-19th centuries we see a relapse of that consciousness (now this is not reprinted, but can be found in pre-revolutionary books): for example, prayers that a Christian can read at the liturgy during the first antiphon; prayers and feelings that a Christian must read and experience during the small entrance... What is this if not some kind of analogue for a layman of those secret prayers that the priest reads during the corresponding parts of the liturgy, but only assigned not to the clergyman, but to the layman? I think that the fruit of that period in the history of our Church was the emergence of today’s church.
Well, the prayer rule became widespread in the form in which it is now already in the synodal era in the 18th-19th centuries and gradually established itself as a generally accepted norm for the laity. It is difficult to say in what year, in what decade this happened. If we read the teaching on prayer of our authoritative teachers and fathers of the 19th century, then we will not find any analyzes or discussions about the morning-evening rule either in St. Theophan, or in St. Philaret, or in St. Ignatius.
So, on the one hand, recognizing the existing prayer rule has been used for several centuries within the Russian Church and in this sense has become partly unwritten, partly written norm of our spiritual-ascetic and spiritual-prayerful life, we should not overestimate the status of today’s prayer books and given they contain prayer texts as the only possible norm for organizing prayer life.
– Is it possible to change the prayer rule? Now this approach has been established among the laity: you can supplement, but you cannot replace or reduce. What do you think about this?
– In the form in which they exist, morning and evening prayers are in some inconsistency with the principle of constructing Orthodox worship, which combines, as we all well know, a changeable and an unchangeable part. Moreover, among the changing parts there are repeated - daily, weekly, once a year - circles of worship: daily, weekly and annual. This principle of combining a solid, unchanging backbone, a skeleton on which everything is built up, and variable, changeable parts is very wisely designed and corresponds to the very principle of human psychology: on the one hand, it needs a norm, a charter, and on the other, variability so that the charter does not become into formal reading and repetition of texts that no longer evoke any internal response. And here there are just problems with the prayer rule, where the same texts are used in the morning and in the evening.
When preparing for Communion, the laity follows three of the same canons. Even in priestly preparation, the canons differ by week. If you open the service book, it says that each day of the week has its own canons. But among the laity the rule remains unchanged. So what, read only this for the rest of your life? It is clear that certain types of problems will arise.
Saint Theophan gives advice, which at one time I was very happy about. I myself and other people I know have found much spiritual benefit in this advice. He advises that when reading the prayer rule to combat coldness and dryness several times a week, noticing the standard chronological interval taken to read the usual rule, try in the same fifteen to twenty minutes, half an hour, not to set yourself the task of reading everything, but repeatedly returning to the place from which we were distracted or wandered in thought, to achieve utmost concentration on the words and meaning of prayer. Even if in the same twenty minutes we read only the initial prayers, we would learn to do it for real. At the same time, the saint does not say that it is generally necessary to switch to this approach. And he says that you need to combine: on some days, read the rule in its entirety, and on others, pray in this way.
If we take the church-liturgical principle of constructing a prayer life as a basis, it would be reasonable to either combine or partially replace certain components of the morning and evening rules with, say, the canons that are in the canon - there are clearly more of them there than in the prayer book. There are absolutely wondrous, amazing, beautiful prayers of the Octoechos, going back in large part to St. John of Damascus. When preparing for Communion on Sunday, why not read that Theotokos canon or that Sunday canon to the Cross of Christ or the Resurrection, which is in the Octoechos? Or take, say, the canon to the Guardian Angel of the corresponding voice from the Octoechos, rather than the same one that has been offered to a person to read for many years.
For many of us, on the day of receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ, especially for the laity, regardless of the frequency of communion, the soul, and not laziness, prompts a person to rather seek thanksgiving to God on that day, than to repeat again in the evening the words that “we have sinned, lawless” and so on. . When everything in us is still full of gratitude to God for accepting the Holy Mysteries of Christ, so that, for example, we don’t take this or that akathist chant or, say, an akathist to the Sweetest Jesus, or some other prayer book and make it the center of our prayer rule for this day?
In fact, prayer, I’ll say such a terrible phrase, needs to be approached creatively. It is impossible to dry it down to the level of a formally executed scheme: to have, on the one hand, the burden of having to carry out this scheme day after day, year after year, and on the other hand, some kind of periodic internal satisfaction from the fact that I am fulfilling what is due , and what else do you want from me in heaven, I did, not without difficulty, what was required. Prayer cannot be turned into reading and performing only a duty, and counting - I don’t have the gift of prayer, I’m a small person, the holy fathers, ascetics, mystics prayed, but we’ll just wander through the prayer book - and there’s no demand.
– Who should decide what prayer rule should be - should the person himself decide, or should he still go to his confessor, to a priest?
– If a Christian has a confessor with whom he determines the constants of his internal spiritual structure, then it would be absurd to do without him in this case, and decide for himself what to do with his own head. We initially assume that a confessor is a person at least no less experienced in spiritual life than the one who turns to him, and in most cases somewhat more experienced. And in general - one head is good, but two are better. From the outside it is clearer that a person, even a reasonable person in many respects, may not notice. Therefore, it is prudent, when determining something that we seek to make permanent, to consult with our confessor.
But there is no advice for every movement of the soul. And if today you want to open the Psalter - not in terms of regular reading, but simply open and add the psalms of King David to your regular prayer routine - shouldn’t you call the priest? It’s another matter if you want to start reading kathismas along with the prayer rule. Then you need to consult and take a blessing for this, and the priest, based on whether you are ready, will help you with advice. Well, as for just natural movements of the soul - here you somehow have to decide for yourself.
– I think that it is better not to omit the initial prayers unnecessarily, because they contain perhaps the most concentrated experience of the Church - “To the Heavenly King”, “The Most Holy Trinity”, who taught us the prayer “Our Father”, we already know, “It is worthy to eat” or “Rejoice to the Virgin Mary” - there are so few of them, and they are so obviously chosen by the prayer experience of the Church. The charter sometimes asks us to abstain from them. “To the King of Heaven” - we wait 50 days before the Feast of Pentecost; on Bright Week we generally have a special prayer rule. I don't understand the logic of this refusal.
– Why is it necessary to pray exactly twice a day – morning and evening? One of our readers writes: when I work with children, cook or clean, it’s so easy for me to pray, but as soon as I stand in front of the icons, everything seems to be cut off.
– Several themes arise here at once. Nobody calls us to limit ourselves to only the morning or evening rule. The Apostle Paul says directly: pray without ceasing. The task of good organization of prayer life implies that a Christian strives not to forget about God during the day, including not to forget in prayer. There are many situations in our lives when prayer can be developed in a distinct way. But the reluctance to stand up and pray precisely when it is supposed to be a duty must be fought, because, as we know, the enemy of the human race is especially opposed there when there is no self-will. It's easy to do, it's done when I want. But it becomes a feat that I have to do regardless of whether I want to or not. Therefore, I would advise you not to give up efforts to put yourself in morning and evening prayers. Its size is another matter, especially for a mother with children. But it should be like some constant value of the prayer structure.
As for prayers during the day: if you stir porridge, young mother, chant a prayer to yourself, or if somehow you can concentrate more, read the Jesus Prayer to yourself.
Now for most of us there is a great school of prayer - this is the road. Each of us goes to school, to work on public transport, in a car in the well-known Moscow traffic jams. Pray! Don't waste your time, don't turn on unnecessary radio. If you don’t hear the news, you’ll survive for several days without it. Don’t think that you are so tired on the subway that you want to forget yourself and fall asleep. Well, okay, if you can’t read the prayer book on the subway, read “Lord, have mercy” to yourself. And this will be a school of prayer.
– What if you’re driving and put on a CD with prayers?
– I once treated this very harshly, I thought, well, these discs are some kind of hack, and then, from the experience of various clergy and laity, I saw that this could be an aid to the prayer rule.
The only thing I would say is that you don’t need to reduce your entire prayer life to listening to discs. It would be absurd to come home in the evening and take the evening rule, turn on the disc instead of yourself, and some reverent Lavra choir and experienced hierodeacon will begin to lull you to sleep in their usual voice. Everything should be in moderation.
– How can you relate to the rule given by the great saint? Like the rule given by the great saint. I just want to remind you under what circumstances he gave it: he gave it to those nuns and novices who were in difficult labor obediences for 14-16 hours a day. He gave them so that they could start and end their day without having the opportunity to fulfill regular monastic rules, and reminded them that this rule must be combined with internal prayer work during the labors that they carry out during the day.
Of course, if a person in a hot shop or in equally tiresome office work comes home so that eating a dinner, whipped up by his beloved wife and reading prayers is all that he has the strength left for, let him read the rule of St. Seraphim. But if you still have the strength to leisurely sit at your desk, make a few not-so-necessary phone calls, watch a movie or news on TV, read a friend’s feed on the Internet, and then - oh, you have to get up for work tomorrow and only have a few minutes left - then, perhaps, it is not the most correct way to limit yourself to the Seraphim rule.
To be continued…
One of the distinctive features of the services of Great Lent is the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, known since the beginning of the 7th century. It is served in most churches of the Moscow Patriarchate, usually in the morning. Although this liturgy itself is built on the basis of evening worship, and should be performed closer to the evening. The experience of the evening liturgy shows the incomparable advantage of this practice.
For several years now, on Wednesdays during Lent, we have celebrated the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the evening. The start time of the liturgy is chosen in such a way that it is convenient to come to it after work. This makes it possible for a much larger number of parishioners to visit the temple and receive communion than if the liturgy were celebrated in the morning. However, this factor, although important, is not the main one.
More importantly, serving the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the evening allows us to avoid the liturgical “nominalism” that has unfortunately become commonplace: when we pronounce certain words without thinking at all about their meaning or what they refer to. So, when during the divine service we sing “the sun has come to the west”, “evening sacrifice” - the hymns of Orthodox Vespers, and in general we perform this service, born from the custom of prayer during the evening lighting of lamps, and outside the window the dawn has just faded, we we lie before God. Likewise, when in the evening, shortly after sunset (and in the summer and before sunset), we read morning prayers during the “all-night vigil,” we give thanks for the past night and praise God, “who showed us the light.” It would seem that it would be difficult: to serve services at a time that corresponds to the intention of the service? But in practice it is not so simple.
We have an entrenched tradition that the liturgy, be it the Eucharistic (St. John Chrysostom or St. Basil the Great) or the Presanctified Gifts, must certainly begin before noon. Even the word “mass” appeared, which became synonymous with liturgy. But, contrary to popular opinion, even the now accepted charter assigns different times for serving the liturgy on different days. And in this approach the logic of the statute is visible: the start time of the liturgy regulates the duration of the Eucharistic fast (complete abstinence from food and drink before communion). On major holidays, the liturgy begins very early in the “work for the sake of the vigil,” that is, because before it there was a long all-night vigil, which replaces the Eucharistic fast. In common practice today, such very early liturgies occur on Easter and Christmas, and in some parishes on other twelve feasts. Such liturgies usually end before or during dawn.
On Sundays, the church charter prescribes that the liturgy begin at the beginning of the ninth hour in the morning, so that the meal begins at the beginning of the 10th. On ordinary days, the liturgy, according to the regulations of the charter, begins at 11 o'clock in the morning - so that the fast before it will be longer. From this, by the way, it is clear that the time of serving the liturgy should take approximately one hour, and in parishes today you can find liturgies lasting more than two hours, or even all three!
And there are several days in the church year when even the Eucharistic Liturgy is combined with Vespers. These are the most important days of the church year, and their liturgical practice, as proven by liturgical scholars, is the least susceptible to change. The Eucharistic liturgy is connected with the evening eucharistic liturgy on Maundy Thursday, Holy Saturday, Christmas Eve and Epiphany. The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is also based on Vespers.
The fact that on Holy Saturday they fasted until the evening is also evidenced by the 64th Apostolic Canon: “If anyone from the clergy is found fasting on the Lord’s Day, or on Saturday, except one only (Great Saturday): let him be cast out. If he is a layman, let him be excommunicated.” What post are we talking about here? This rule is often quoted as prohibiting fasting on Saturday before Sunday communion, but applying the rule to this situation seems anachronistic: in the era of the rules, there was no talk of additional fasting before communion. In fact, the 64th Apostolic Canon talks about a special kind of fasting, which is possible only on one Saturday a year. If you look at the liturgical features of Saturdays throughout the year, you can see that only once a year - on Holy Saturday - the liturgy is combined with Vespers, and if you begin its service when twilight sets in, the time of lighting the lamps, then the whole day will turn out to be completely fast , for they do not eat food before communion.
So, according to the drafters of the church charter, some days should be more strict regarding fasting than others. And this is reflected not only in the currently valid, rather late edition of the Typikon, but also in the practice of the Ancient Church. At the very least, we have seen confirmation of the evening service of the liturgy in the Apostolic Rules, which researchers date back to approximately the middle of the 4th century.
Church life in general is filled with rhythm, which helps to comprehend something very important. A daily circle of services containing prayers for each time of day, weekdays ending with Saturday and the “eighth day” of the Resurrection, holidays, the annual Lenten journey and the three-day transition from the Cross to the Resurrection... - everything has a deep meaning, revealing which, you comprehend not only beauty magnificent design, like a wonderful symphony, but also the depth of theology.
The practice of serving the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the evening helps to rediscover the Christian attitude towards time. For a Christian, time is neither static nor cyclical. Time does not repeat itself in its global course (only some patterns of behavior, mistakes of the past, etc. are repeated). Globally, for a person living in a biblical worldview, time is linear: it has a beginning and an end goal. Time was created along with the world: this is its starting point. The seven days of creation, which are not repeated, show how existence “unfolded” according to God’s creative plan. The era in which we live is the seventh day. On this “day” two more key events for the Christian understanding of the world took place: the fall and redemption. Created by a good God, the world fell through the fall of man. The “crown of creation,” called to be the king and priest of creation in the world, did not keep his calling, and for this reason “the whole creation groans and suffers together until now” (Rom. 8:22). But the Son of God came, becoming man in everything except sin. He accomplished what Adam was called to do. He went through the entire path of man: from conception and birth through the Cross and death to the Resurrection. In Christ all humanity has been redeemed, and by becoming His disciples, that is, by following His path and joining Him, we can be saved.
The Christian waits to meet his Lord. Waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God, the “eighth day” - a new era in the life of the world, which will come after the Second Coming of Christ. The image of this “day” is every Sunday - the first day and the eighth, the one following Saturday - the seventh day. This is the day when the entire Christian community gathers to celebrate the Eucharist.
But the best way to experience time as a state of waiting and preparation is through fasting. During Lent we prepare for Easter, gradually approaching the week of the Lord's Passion. And during this journey on those days when the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served in the evening, we wait throughout the whole day for communion - our meeting with Christ. Throughout the whole day, filled with everyday worries, work, meetings, telephone conversations, trips - you never know what! - the thought of upcoming communion is constantly present in our minds. And this memory of what awaits us this evening brings a “different dimension” to the most mundane everyday life. We already have a different attitude towards conversations, deeds, meetings, jokes, etc., knowing that in a few hours we will stand in church and pray for communion of the Body and Blood of Christ.
So, we should have the same expectation not only on the days of evening communion, but throughout our entire lives. The life of a Christian is a path, and his goal is a meeting with Christ in the Kingdom of God. How often do we remember this? Is our life filled with anticipation of this meeting? The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts and the fasting that precedes it throughout the day help us to remind us of the “vector” of our life, give it meaning and direct us forward - towards the imperishable Kingdom, which “will have no end.”
Priest Andrey Dudchenko
The All-Night Vigil consists of three parts: Vespers and the first hour. Vespers- the first service of the daytime church circle. The circle begins with Vespers because in ancient times the day was counted from the evening: “ and it will be evening and it will be morning"(Genesis 1:5). Vespers can be compared to the early morning of human history - this beginning of human history was joyful and bright, but not for long: soon man sinned and made his life a dark, sad night. Vespers depicts these events.
The priest and deacon walk around the temple with. The burning of incense depicts the breath of the Spirit of God, which, according to the word of the Bible, “ rushed around"over the primordial world, giving birth to life by His Divine power: " and the Spirit of God rushing on top of the water"(Gen. 1:2). The doors of the altar are open at this time. depicts, on the one hand, heaven, the dwelling of God, on the other, paradise, the dwelling of Adam and Eve in the past and the dwelling of the righteous in the present and future. Thus, the doors open at this time depict the heavenly bliss of the first parents Adam and Eve in paradise.
Then the Royal Doors are closed, this action recalls the sad event when “ the gates of heaven were closed by Adam's sin" The ancestors were expelled from the place of bliss " to work and sorrow" Depicting a mourner crying before the gates of the lost paradise of Adam, the priest, standing before the altar, in the evening prayers prays to the Lord that He, generous and merciful, will hear our prayer, “ He did not rebuke us with rage, nor did He punish us with anger, but He would deal with us according to His mercy." Christians, through the deacon and clergy, in the great litany ask for mercy of the soul and, remembering the sin of Adam and the loss of paradise, with the words of the first psalm, they mourn the sad fate of those who walk the path of sin, and rejoice in the joyful fate of the righteous who fulfill the law of the Lord.
Singing psalms and stichera
« Blessed is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked"(psalm 1:1). Happy is the man who does not go to the assembly of the wicked, and does not walk in the ways of the unrighteous, and does not sit in the assembly of the corrupt; his will is in the “law of the Lord”; he meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. Following the first psalm, the second and third are read. They reveal the same idea as in the first: the Lord does not forsake the righteous. In vain do enemies plot evil against the righteous: the Lord is his protection (Psalm 2), He protects the righteous during the day and in his sleep at night, and the righteous are not afraid of attacks from enemies (Psalm 3). “Adam’s lament” at the closed doors of paradise is expressed even more powerfully and vividly further, in verses 140, 141 and 129 of the psalms. They contain prayers to the Lord to accept our evening prayer as an evening sacrifice, like fragrant incense.
Old Testament verses are combined with New Testament ones, in which a person’s joy about the Lord’s work of salvation completed is expressed, a holiday or a saint is glorified. These chants are called stichera “I cried to the Lord.” As a transition to " morning of salvation» dogmatic inspired songs are sung, called by dogmatists - Theotokos. Dogmatics - a complete presentation of the teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ, about the Divine and human nature united in Him. This teaching is revealed in the third article of the Creed and in the works of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Ecumenical Councils. The Most Holy Theotokos, sung in dogmatism, “ heaven's door“For those who have sinned, there is also a staircase to heaven, along which the Son of God descended to earth, and people ascend to heaven.
Evening entrance and paremias
The altar doors are open. The priest, preceded by the deacon, exits through the side doors, not the Royal doors, depicting the Lord, Who came to earth not in royal glory, but in the form of a servant, like the quiet light of the evening, hiding His solar Divine glory. And he enters the altar through the Royal Doors, signifying that through the Lord Christ and His death " royal gate of heaven"raised" their princes"and opened up to all those who follow the Lord. The deacon exclaims: “ Wisdom forgive me». « Quiet light“- so, having lived until sunset and seeing the evening light, we sing praises to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
History tells us about the origin of the church song “Silent Light”. Once upon a time, a wise old man, Patriarch Sophronius, was sitting on one of the Jerusalem mountains. His thoughtful gaze stretched for a long time along the vast horizon stretched before him and finally stopped at the fading rays of the Palestinian sun. There was deep silence all around. The invigorating evening air was filled with pleasant coolness and the strong scent of mountain flowers. Picture after picture passed before the patriarch's mental gaze. He imagined how here, on the same mountain, before his suffering, the Savior looked at Jerusalem. Then, just as now, the quiet light of the setting sun fell on the walls and streets of the glorious city. And the material sun, inclined to the west, inclined the patriarch’s mind to imagine the immaterial Sun - the Son of God, Who descended to dark humanity to enlighten it. The heart of the wise old man was filled with joy, and an inspired song flowed from his enthusiastic lips. Since then, this sacred song has been resounding in our churches for many centuries, and it will never lose its beauty and touchingness.
On holidays, after the prokeme, proverbs are read. This is the name given to selected passages from the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, containing in prophecies or prototypes an indication of the event of the holiday being remembered. On the feasts of the Mother of God, for example, it is read Jacob's vision of the ladder, who was the prototype of the Mother of God, our stairway to heaven. On the Exaltation - about the tree thrown by Moses to sweeten the bitter waters of Marah. This tree transformed the Cross of the Lord.
After the proverbs it is pronounced special litany: “Rtsem all.” During the special litany, after the prayer that the Lord will help us end the day sinlessly, “Grant, O Lord, that we may be preserved without sin this evening,” is said litany of petition. In it, as in the previous prayer, we ask the Lord to help us spend the whole evening in perfection, holy, in peace and without sin.
Litia and stichera on poems
Next is done lithium. A lithium arose from the custom of performing repentant prayers in the middle of the city or even outside its walls during public disasters. We find an indication of this from the blessed Simeon of Thessalonica. « Lithium, he writes, happens in the vestibule on Saturdays and holidays, and during some plague or other disaster occurs in the middle of the city, or outside, near the walls, with a gathering of people" This origin of litia is also indicated by the content of its prayers. The meaning of the lithium is this: standing “afar off,” like a publican, we, like a publican, pray: Lord, we are unworthy of Your temple, unworthy to look at the heights of heaven, but You accept us, lead us into Heavenly Eden, the palaces of heaven, which are opened to us by blood the Son of God and which we again close ourselves off with a life of impurity and sin.
According to the general meaning of lithium and prayer "Lord have mercy"- prayer of the penitents - repeated here 40, 30 And 50 times. At the litiya we pray that the Lord will save his people and bless them as his children. We pray for the country, for the bishop and for the entire sacred order; about every Christian soul that is grieving and embittered and requires God’s help; about deceased fathers and brothers. All these prayers are offered by the Church, calling upon the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and all the saints. Then, in a supreme prayer, the priest prays that the Lord, through the prayers of the saints, will grant us forgiveness of sins, deliver us from every enemy and have mercy and save us all, as good and philanthropic.
Having completed the litia, the priest enters the temple; Before the priest they carry lamps, which, as in every other entrance, depict the divine light of the saints. The father, as if entering heaven, is followed by others, accompanying the abbot, as if Jesus Christ , showing the way to everyone. Then follows the usual continuation of Vespers, beginning with the singing of verse stichera, which are sung by two faces united together in the middle of the temple. These verses are called verse because they are accompanied by verses from the psalms. On Sunday, Sunday verses are sung: “The Lord reigns”; if there is another holiday, then other verses selected from the psalms are prescribed; if the memory of a saint is celebrated, then verses from the psalms are sung according to the order, corresponding to the person being remembered, that is, in honor of the saint, martyr or saint.
Meeting the Lord who saves us, we pray with the words of the righteous One, full of joy and hope. Simeon the God-Receiver: « Now you are releasing Your servant, O Master, according to Your word, in peace; For mine eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all nations, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel».
IN everyday worship“Now you let us go” has not only the meaning of confessing our joy in the Lord who has come: this prayer, at the same time, - parting words for those coming to bed, a reminder of the last dream, the dream of death, so that we go to sleep with the thought of the Lord and His judgment.
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Library of Russian Faith
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Blessing of the Loaves
At the end of the singing of the poetic stichera, the priest approaches the table standing in the middle of the temple, on which he sits dish with five loaves and vessels with wheat, wine and oil. While singing three times During the troparion, incense is performed around the table, and at the end of the singing, the deacon proclaims : “Let us pray to the Lord,” to which the singers answer: “Lord have mercy.” The priest then says a special prayer, ending with a cross-shaped enclosure of one of the loaves above the other loaves. In this prayer, the priest asks the Lord, who blessed the five loaves and fed the five thousand people, bless offered bread, wheat, wine and oil, multiply them all over the world and sanctify the faithful who eat from them.
The custom of blessing loaves is an echo of the ancient " agape", the meal of the faithful, after the completion of " vigils" The all-night vigil in the first centuries, when the Church was still hidden in the darkness of the catacombs, and partly during the time of St. John Chrysostom, lasted from evening to morning, all night (Cass., book III, chapters 8 and 9). Therefore, to strengthen the believers who intended to stay in the Church all night, after singing vespers, bread, wheat, wine and oil were usually broken up and distributed. The priest, at the conclusion of Vespers, asked blessing of the Lord on those present in the church, with the deacon leaving the altar , they sat down in their place with everyone present in the temple, and everyone ate the blessed food with oil.
Order of Vespers
Priest:"Blessed be our God."
Reader:"Amen"; "To the King of Heaven"; Trisagion and “Our Father”, “Lord have mercy” 12 times; Glory even now; “Come, let us worship” (three times); Psalm 103 “Bless the Lord, my soul”; Great Litany; ordinary kathisma; small litany. After the small litany, “I cried to the Lord” and stichers for 6: three from Oktai and three from Minea. Glory even now; Theotokos (if Wednesday or Friday - theotokos, from the Menaion along with). If in the Menaion on “Glory” there is a stichera to the saint, then on “And Now” the Theotokos is sung according to the voice of this stichera. After the Mother of God it is read: “Quiet Light”; prokeimenon for the day; “Vouchsafe, Lord.”
Then litany of petition: “Let’s perform evening prayers.” After this litany, stichera are sung “on stikhovne” - from Oktai. After the stichera, the reader reads: “Now you let go”; Trisagion and Our Father. After the “Our Father,” the troparion to the saint from the Menaion; Glory even now; Theotokos, according to the voice of the troparion and according to the day. Then a special litany: “Have mercy on us, O God.”
After the litany it happens vacation:
Deacon or priest: "Wisdom"
Priest:“Most Holy Lady Theotokos, save us”;
Singers:“The most honorable cherub”;
Priest:“Glory to Thee, our God”;
Singers: Glory even now; “Lord have mercy,” twice; "Lord bless";
Priest:“Christ our true God” and so on;
Singers:"Amen"; “Lord have mercy,” three times.
Order of Great Vespers
Great or polyeleous vespers differs from everyday Vespers in the following ways:
1) the stichera “I cried out to the Lord” and the stichera “on the verse” are sung only from the Menaion: the Oktai is not used, but the Theotokos after the stichera and troparion are sung on Sunday;
2) instead of an ordinary kathisma, the following is sung: “Blessed is the man” (1st antiphon of the first kathisma);
3) after the stichera “I cried out to the Lord,” during the singing of the Theotokos, there is a small exit with a censer, and after the prokemene three paremias are read;
4) after the proverbs, this is the order of Vespers: litany: “Rtsem all”; reads: “Vouchsafe, Lord”; Litany: “Let us fulfill our evening prayers”; stichera “on verse”; “Now you let go”; Trisagion; "Our Father"; troparion; Glory even now; Theotokos. Then dismissal, as at daily vespers.
Order of Little Vespers
Small Vespers from everyday differs as follows:
1) there is no: great litany, ordinary kathisma, small litany, and also petitionary;
2) instead of the full, special litany, a shortened version of three petitions is pronounced: 1) Have mercy on us, O God; 2) about the country and 3) for all the brethren and for all Christians;
3) the stichera “I cried to the Lord” are sung only on 4.
Probably, now, when he was thinking about this, an expression so unusual appeared on his usually calm face of a naturally kind, middle-aged, intelligent man that he suddenly heard Serpilin’s voice:
Sergey Nikolaevich! What's wrong with you? What happened?
Serpilin lay on the grass and, with his eyes wide open, looked at him.
Absolutely nothing. - Shmakov put on his glasses, and his face took on its usual expression.
And if nothing, then tell me what time it is: isn’t it time? “I’m too lazy to move my limbs in vain,” Serpilin grinned.
Shmakov looked at his watch and said that there were seven minutes left until the end of the halt.
Then I'm still sleeping. - Serpilin closed his eyes.
After an hour's rest, which Serpilin, despite the fatigue of the people, did not allow to drag on for a minute, we moved on, gradually turning to the southeast.
Before the evening halt, the detachment was joined by another three dozen people wandering through the forest. No one else from their division was caught. All thirty people met after the first halt were from the neighboring division, stationed to the south along the left bank of the Dnieper. All these were people from different regiments, battalions and rear units, and although among them there were three lieutenants and one senior political instructor, no one had any idea where the division headquarters was, or even in what direction it was departing. However, based on fragmentary and often contradictory stories, it was still possible to imagine the overall picture of the disaster.
Judging by the names of the places from which the encirclement came, by the time of the German breakthrough the division was stretched out in a chain for almost thirty kilometers along the front. In addition, she did not have time or was unable to strengthen herself properly. The Germans bombed it for twenty hours straight, and then, having dropped several landing forces into the rear of the division and disrupted control and communications, at the same time, under the cover of aviation, they began crossing the Dnieper in three places at once. Parts of the division were crushed, in some places they fled, in others they fought fiercely, but this could no longer change the general course of things.
People from this division walked in small groups, twos and threes. Some were with weapons, others without weapons. Serpilin, after talking with them, put them all in line, mixing them with his own fighters. He put the unarmed in formation without weapons, saying that they would have to get it themselves in battle, it was not stored for them.
Serpilin talked to people coolly, but not offensively. Only to the senior political instructor, who justified himself by the fact that although he was walking without a weapon, but in full uniform and with a party card in his pocket, Serpilin bitterly objected that a communist at the front should keep weapons along with his party card.
“We are not going to Golgotha, dear comrade,” said Serpilin, “but we are fighting.” If it’s easier for you to be put up against the wall by the fascists than to tear down the commissar’s stars with your own hands, that means you have a conscience. But this alone is not enough for us. We don’t want to stand up to the wall, but to put the fascists against the wall. But you can’t do this without a weapon. That's it! Go into the ranks, and I expect that you will be the first to acquire weapons in battle.
When the embarrassed senior political instructor walked away a few steps, Serpilin called out to him and, unhooking one of the two lemon grenades hanging from his belt, held it out in his palm.
First, take it!
Sintsov, who, as an adjutant, wrote down names, ranks and unit numbers in a notebook, silently rejoiced at the reserve of patience and calm with which Serpilin spoke with people.
It is impossible to penetrate into the soul of a person, but during these days Sintsov more than once thought that Serpilin himself did not experience the fear of death. It probably wasn't like that, but it looked like it.
At the same time, Serpilin did not pretend that he did not understand how people were afraid, how they could run, get confused, and throw down their weapons. On the contrary, he made them feel that he understood this, but at the same time persistently instilled in them the idea that the fear they experienced and the defeat they experienced were all in the past. That it was like that, but it won’t be like that anymore, that they lost their weapons, but can acquire them again. This is probably why people did not leave Serpilin depressed, even when he spoke coolly to them. He rightly did not absolve them of blame, but he did not place all the blame solely on their shoulders. People felt it and wanted to prove that he was right.
Before the evening halt, another meeting took place, unlike all the others. A sergeant came from a side patrol moving through the thicket of the forest, bringing with him two armed men. One of them was a short Red Army soldier, wearing a shabby leather jacket over a tunic and with a rifle on his shoulder. The other is a tall, handsome man of about forty, with an aquiline nose and noble gray hair visible from under his cap, giving significance to his youthful, clean, wrinkle-free face; he was wearing good riding breeches and chrome boots, a brand new PPSh with a round disk was hanging on his shoulder, but the cap on his head was dirty and greasy, and just as dirty and greasy was the Red Army tunic that sat awkwardly on him, which did not meet at the neck and was short in the sleeves .
Comrade brigade commander,” the sergeant said, approaching Serpilin along with these two people, looking sideways at them and holding his rifle at the ready, “permit me to report?” He brought the detainees. He detained them and brought them under escort because they did not explain themselves, and also because of their appearance. They didn’t disarm because they refused, and we didn’t want to open fire in the forest unnecessarily.
Deputy Chief of the Operations Department of the Army Headquarters, Colonel Baranov,” the man with the machine gun said abruptly, throwing his hand to his cap and stretching out in front of Serpilin and Shmakov, who was standing next to him.
We apologize,” the sergeant who brought the detainees said, having heard this and, in turn, putting his hand to his cap.
Why are you apologizing? - Serpilin turned to him. “They did the right thing in detaining me, and they did the right thing in bringing me to me.” Continue to do so in the future. You can go. “I’ll ask for your documents,” releasing the sergeant, he turned to the detainee, without calling him by rank.
His lips trembled and he smiled in confusion. It seemed to Sintsov that this man probably knew Serpilin, but only now recognized him and was amazed by the meeting.
And so it was. The man who called himself Colonel Baranov and actually bore this name and rank and held the position that he named when he was brought to Serpilin was so far from the idea that in front of him here, in the forest, in military uniform, surrounded by other commanders , it may turn out to be Serpilin, who in the first minute only noted to himself that the tall brigade commander with a German machine gun on his shoulder reminded him very much of someone.
Serpilin! - he exclaimed, spreading his arms, and it was difficult to understand whether this was a gesture of extreme amazement, or whether he wanted to hug Serpilin.
Yes, I am brigade commander Serpilin,” Serpilin said in an unexpectedly dry, tinny voice, “the commander of the division entrusted to me, but I don’t see who you are yet.” Your documents!
Serpilin, I'm Baranov, are you crazy?
For the third time I ask you to present your documents,” Serpilin said in the same tinny voice.
“I don’t have documents,” Baranov said after a long pause.
How come there are no documents?
It happened so, I accidentally lost it... I left it in that tunic when I exchanged it for this... Red Army one. - Baranov moved his fingers along his greasy, too-tight tunic.
Did you leave the documents in that tunic? Do you also have the colonel’s insignia on that tunic?
Yes,” Baranov sighed.
Why should I believe you that you are the deputy chief of the army’s operational department, Colonel Baranov?
But you know me, we served together at the academy! - Baranov muttered completely lost.
Let’s assume that this is so,” Serpilin said without softening at all, still with the same tinny harshness unusual for Sintsov, “but if you had not met me, who could confirm your identity, rank and position?
Here he is,” Baranov pointed to the Red Army soldier in a leather jacket standing next to him. - This is my driver.
Do you have documents, comrade soldier? - Without looking at Baranov, Serpilin turned to the Red Army soldier.
Yes... - the Red Army soldier paused for a second, not immediately deciding how to address Serpilin, - yes, Comrade General! - He opened his leather jacket, took out a Red Army book wrapped in a rag from the pocket of his tunic and handed it to him.
“Yes,” Serpilin read aloud. - “Red Army soldier Petr Ilyich Zolotarev, military unit 2214.” Clear. - And he gave the Red Army soldier the book. - Tell me, Comrade Zolotarev, can you confirm the identity, rank and position of this man with whom you were detained? - And he, still not turning to Baranov, pointed his finger at him.
That's right, Comrade General, this is really Colonel Baranov, I am his driver.
So you certify that this is your commander?
That's right, Comrade General.
Stop mocking me, Serpilin! - Baranov shouted nervously.
But Serpilin didn’t even bat an eyelid in his direction.
It’s good that at least you can verify the identity of your commander, otherwise, at any moment, you could shoot him. There are no documents, no insignia, a tunic from someone else’s shoulder, boots and breeches from command staff... - Serpilin’s voice became harsher and harsher with each phrase. - Under what circumstances did you end up here? - he asked after a pause.
Now I’ll tell you everything... - Baranov began.
But Serpilin, this time half turning around, interrupted him:
Until I ask you. Speak... - he turned to the Red Army soldier again.
The Red Army soldier, at first hesitating, and then more and more confidently, trying not to forget anything, began to tell how three days ago, having arrived from the army, they spent the night at the division headquarters, how in the morning the colonel went to headquarters, and bombing immediately began all around, how soon one arrived From the rear, the driver said that German troops had landed there, and when he heard this, he took the car out just in case. And an hour later the colonel came running, praised him that the car was already ready, jumped into it and ordered him to quickly drive back to Chausy. When they got onto the highway, there was already heavy shooting and smoke ahead, they turned onto a dirt road, drove along it, but again heard shooting and saw German tanks at the intersection. Then they turned onto a remote forest road, drove straight off it into the forest, and the colonel ordered the car to stop.
While telling all this, the Red Army soldier sometimes glanced sideways at his colonel, as if seeking confirmation from him, and he stood silently, with his head bowed low. The hardest part was beginning for him, and he understood it.
“I ordered to stop the car,” Serpilin repeated the last words of the Red Army soldier, “and what next?”
Then Comrade Colonel ordered me to take out my old tunic and cap from under the seat; I had just recently received new uniforms, but I kept the old tunic and cap with me - just in case they were lying under the car. Comrade Colonel took off his tunic and cap and put on my cap and tunic, said that now I would have to leave the encirclement on foot, and ordered me to pour gasoline on the car and set it on fire. But only I,” the driver hesitated, “but only I, Comrade General, did not know that Comrade Colonel forgot his documents there, in his tunic, I would, of course, remind you if I knew, otherwise I set everything on fire along with the car.” .
