Home Signs and beliefs Annual circle of services. About the order of church services

Signs and beliefs

Annual circle of services. About the order of church services

1. Circle of daily worship

Even in the Old Testament, it was established to consecrate certain hours of the day with church prayer. This custom also passed into Christianity. Services intended for St. Church for public prayer and performed every day at the appointed hours, a total of nine: 1) Vespers, 2) Compline, 3) Midnight Office, 4) Matins, 5) First Hour, 6) Third Hour, 7) Sixth Hour, 8) Ninth Hour and 9) Divine Liturgy. These services constitute the circle of daily worship and are called “everyday.” Each of these services develops a specific thought associated with specific sacred memories.

The church service day, according to ancient custom, begins in the evening. Therefore, the cycle of daily worship begins with Vespers.

Vespers is that service that is performed at the end of the day, in the evening, in gratitude for the past day and in consecration of the coming night. It begins with the reading of the opening Psalm 103, in which the wisdom of the Creator of the universe is glorified and consists of prayers for all members of the Church and their needs, from reading psalms and singing verses with a prayer to God to hear us and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and the saints, of petitions for various spiritual benefits and ends with the prayer of Simeon the God-Receiver, “Now do you let go...”, and sometimes with a prayer containing the Archangel’s greeting to the Blessed Virgin Mary, “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice...” Thus, Vespers reminds us of the times of the Old Testament, which began with the creation of the world and ended the birth into the world of the Savior of the world.

Compline is celebrated before going to bed and consists of reading psalms and prayers, in which God is asked for forgiveness of sins, help and intercession from enemies visible and invisible, seeking to capture our souls and especially dangerous during sleep, the Symbol of Faith, the prayer to the Mother of God “Undefiled, Heavenly..." and to Christ the Savior about blessing us, "as we go to sleep." Compline is celebrated at later hours, after Vespers. It can be Great or Small. Great Compline is celebrated only during Great Lent, as well as on the eve of the holidays of the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany and Annunciation (when it falls on the weekdays of Great Lent). Little Compline is celebrated throughout the year.

The Midnight Office is a service that should be performed at midnight or, in any case, long before dawn, before Matins. Since in the parable of the ten virgins the Lord Jesus Christ portrayed Himself as the bridegroom who came at midnight, Christians had the custom of consecrating this hour with prayer in order to meet the Lord, like the wise virgins, vigilant. In addition, midnight is sacred for a Christian because of the memory that the Lord at that time grieved and grieved in the Garden of Gethsemane until he sweated blood, was betrayed by the treacherous Judas, and was subjected to bitter insults at the trial of the high priest. The Midnight Office consists of reading the penitential Psalm 50 and Psalm 118, which depicts the bliss of blameless people, from the Creed, the song “Behold the bridegroom comes at midnight...” and prayers for the dead. Thus, the Midnight Office disposes us to repentance, constant keeping of the law of the Lord and spiritual wakefulness in anticipation of the unexpected Second Coming of Christ.

Matins is a divine service that takes place early in the morning, even before sunrise. It encourages those praying to thank the Lord for peace during the past night and for the gift of the coming day, and also reminds of the appearance of the Savior in the world and the resurrection of Christ. Matins begins with prayer for the King and then consists of the reading of six psalms depicting the conversation of the human soul with God, prayer for the well-being of the Church of God and all its members, reading kathismas, glorifying God and His saints in troparia, sedals and canons, psalms of praise and the Great Doxology and, finally, from petitions for various spiritual benefits.

The first, third, sixth and ninth hours are called prayers compiled according to the same type: initial prayers, three psalms related to the remembered event, troparion, theotokos, the general final prayer of all hours, Compline and Midnight Office “And for all time and for every hour...", and a special closing prayer at the end of each hour. The first hour, according to the hitherto accepted reckoning in the East, corresponds to the 7th o'clock in the morning according to our reckoning, the Third hour to the 9th o'clock in the morning, the Sixth hour to 12 o'clock in the afternoon and the Ninth hour to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. In the first hour we glorify God for giving us sensual light, for at this hour the sun rises; at the third hour the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles is remembered, at the sixth hour the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ and at the ninth hour His death on the cross.

The Divine Liturgy is the focus, the main service of the entire daily cycle, in relation to which all other services are, as it were, only preparation for its worthy celebration and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Therefore, a clergyman who wishes to celebrate the Divine Liturgy undertakes, according to church rules, to serve, or at least just listen to or read at home, all other services of the daily cycle.

At the beginning, all these services, especially in monasteries, were performed separately, each at its own time of day. But later, for the convenience of believers busy with everyday life, they began to be grouped into three groups: in the evening - the Ninth Hour, Vespers and Compline, early in the morning - Midnight Office, Matins and the First Hour, in the afternoon in the pre-dinner time - the Third, Sixth Hours and the Divine Liturgy . This order is somewhat modified during Great Lent, when, according to the Rule, the Ninth Hour and Vespers precede the Divine Liturgy. On the eve of the Great Feasts, the All-Night Vigil is celebrated, consisting of Vespers, Matins and the First Hour. In the case of an All-Night Vigil, the Ninth Hour and Small Vespers are served before it, which is a shortening of Great Vespers, and Compline and the Midnight Office are completely eliminated, since if the vigil actually takes place throughout the night, there is no time left for them. At present, due to human weakness and neglect, the All-Night Vigil has retained only its name, and its duration does not even cover half the night, for in secular churches it often lasts only one and a half or two hours.

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Services of the daily circle The daily circle of worship refers to those services that are performed daily during the day. These are Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office, Matins, first hour, third hour, sixth hour, ninth hour. Divine Liturgy, which is usually served after

The annual circle of worship, like the weekly one, does not have its own services; its texts are also inserted in certain places in the daily services. The annual circle can be divided into two large parts: Months and Easter.

Monthsword is a system of fixed holidays (assigned to each day of the month). This also includes three multi-day fasts: Rozhdestvensky, Uspensky and Petrovsky. The beginning of the month is the beginning of the church year, September 1 according to the old style.

The most important holidays of the Month are called the twelve (dates are given according to the new style):

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary – September 21.
Exaltation of the Holy Cross - September 27.
Entrance to the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary - December 4.
Christmas - January 7th.
Epiphany, or Epiphany - January 19.
The Presentation of the Lord - February 15.
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary - April 7.
Transfiguration of the Lord - August 19.
Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary - August 28.

Name twelfth comes from the total number of these holidays - twelve (of which nine are fixed and relate to the Month, and the remaining three are mobile, that is, included in the Easter period).

The first major holiday of the church year is the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the last is Her Dormition. Of course, this is no coincidence, because during the life of the Mother of God all the most important events for our salvation took place: God was born in the flesh, redeemed humanity by His death on the Cross, founded His Church on earth, the apostles proclaimed the Gospel to the entire civilized world. The center of the Month is the holiday of the Nativity of Christ.

Christmas post before the feast of the Nativity of Christ begins on November 28, from St. Apostle Philip, which is why it is otherwise called “Philip’s Fast” (fast for forty days).

Dormition post before the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God lasts two weeks, from August 14 to August 27.

Apostolic or Petrov post before the feast of St. The Apostles Peter and Paul begins a week after the day of the Holy Trinity and lasts until July 12. Its duration depends on the date of Easter. Its longest duration is six weeks, and its shortest is a week with one day.

Lent lasts six weeks and prepares believers for the remembrance of the Savior's suffering on the Cross during Holy Week and the bright holiday of the Resurrection of Christ - Easter. Lent refers to the moving part of the church year (Easter): every year, fasting begins on different days, depending on the date of Easter.

In addition to multi-day fasts in the Church, there are one-day fasts: on the day of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist on September 11 and the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, in remembrance of the Passion on the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ on September 27, as well as on Wednesday and Friday throughout the year.

Easter is a system of movable holidays associated with Easter. Each day of this cycle is not associated with a specific calendar date, but is celebrated annually on the same day of the week and is in the same position relative to Easter.

During the Easter period there are three twelve holidays. The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem always occurs on Sunday, a week before Easter, the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated on the fortieth day after Easter (this is always Thursday), Pentecost, or the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, is celebrated on the fiftieth day after Easter and always happens on Sunday. The holiday of Easter, as “the holiday of holidays and the triumph of triumphs,” the highest of all holidays, is not among the twelve.

The moving part of the annual circle begins three weeks before Lent Week of the Publican and the Pharisee, beginning the preparatory period for Lent. Then - 6 weeks of Great Lent, the Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, Holy Week, Easter and Bright Week, the Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost. The moving part of the annual circle ends All Saints' Week, the Sunday after Pentecost. Why on this day? Because with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles at Pentecost, the work of our salvation is completed, or rather, that part of it that was done for man by God is completed. And on All Saints Sunday we remember those who wanted to take advantage of this gift. The host of saints is humanity’s response to the ineffable gift of God, this is the fruit that the human race brings to God in response to His benefits, to His call to salvation and eternal life.

It is necessary to know about the circles of liturgical time in order to understand the general principle of constructing any service: the divine service of each day consists of immutable texts of daily circle services into which are inserted changeable prayers. The content of the changed texts depends on what day of the week and what day of the year the service is performed.

In the modified texts, New Testament events are recalled, the feat of the saints is glorified, the memory of which is celebrated on a given day, the events of church history are comprehended (for example, Ecumenical Councils and victories over heresies, cases of miraculous help of the Savior and the Mother of God, including through holy icons, etc. )

Orthodox worship is amazing and almost unique. If you try to remember the service on a certain day and come to the temple a year later, the service will be different. After all, it depends on the coincidence of three cycles at once - the daily, weekly and annual cycle of services. The rector of the Church in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rovnoye, priest Kirill Baukov, tells the students of our school about the weekly circle, its content and features.

Orthodox worship is cyclical. Thus, every year the Church lives the Sacred History, remembering the Nativity, suffering, death and Resurrection of Christ. Moreover, we not only hear about these events in church, recalling some details in our memory, but we also think about their moral significance for our salvation and transformation of the soul.

And every week the weekly cycle of services is repeated. A weekly, or seven-day, circle of services is the order of services over seven days, or more precisely, the dedication of these days to some important event in the life of the Savior or to a particularly revered saint.

The weekly liturgical cycle begins on Sunday, because this is the most important day of the week, called “Little Easter.” As a matter of fact, the word “week” in the church calendar refers to this very day when Christians rest and do not do everyday affairs (week). In the minds of modern people, Sunday is a day of rest that ends the work week. But in the church consciousness, on the contrary, Sunday opens the week.

Liturgical Lesson

Monday

If we look further at the weekly circle, we will note the consistency and internal logic with which it is built. Throughout the week, the Church remembers the events of the Old and New Testaments, starting from the very creation of the world. The Heavenly Ethereal forces were created before man, which is why the Church remembers them first of all.

The word “Monday” itself means “after the week” - the second day after Sunday. On this day, the Church prayerfully commemorates the Archangels and Angels and all the Heavenly powers, to whom the Lord entrusted to protect man and help him in doing good deeds. The troparion of the day reveals the meaning of the heavenly intercession of the Ethereal forces: “Heavenly armies of the Archangels, we always pray to you that we are unworthy, that with your prayers protect us, with the shelter of your immaterial glory, preserving us who fall diligently and blatantly, deliver us from troubles, like the rulers of the Highest Powers.”

The Service to the Ethereal Forces includes three stichera on “Lord, I cried” and a second canon read at Matins, written by the confessor Theophan the Inscribed.

In some Russian monasteries there is a tradition of fasting on Mondays as well. Monks imitate the Angels, devoting their lives to serving God and praising His Heavenly Glory, which is why they especially celebrate the day of honoring the Ethereal Powers.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, the Church glorifies all the Old Testament righteous men and prophets who, through their fidelity to the True God, made it possible for the Savior of the world to come into the world. The personification of this Old Testament righteousness is the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John, about whom Christ said that from among those born of women there arose no (prophet) greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11). John the Baptist is glorified by the Church as “An angel, and an apostle, and a martyr, and a prophet, and a candle-bearer, and a friend of Christ, and a seal of the prophets, and an intercessor of old and new grace, and the most honorable and bright voice of the Word among those born.”

Services on Monday and Tuesday contain a large number of texts of a penitential nature. The stichera on “Lord, I cried,” which is sung on Monday evening, has a certain similarity with the Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete: “I have spent all my life in shame, O Lord, accursed with harlots, like a prodigal I call with tenderness: Heavenly Father, cleanse those who have sinned and save me "

Wednesday

On Wednesday, the Church’s remembrance of the Old Testament ends and the glorification of New Testament events begins. Wednesday and Friday are days of remembrance of the suffering and death of the Savior on the cross. On these days, fasting is established throughout the year, with the exception of continuous weeks. Many hymns of these days, including the canons at Matins, are dedicated to the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross and the Most Holy Theotokos.

On Wednesday, the Church remembers the Last Supper, when the Lord gathered his disciples, told them the secrets of His death on the cross and Resurrection, and also established the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Also on Wednesday we remember how the money-loving Judas betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver.

On this day, the familiar troparion to the Cross of the Lord is sung to many Christians: “Save, Lord, Thy people and bless Thy inheritance, granting victories against resistance, and preserving Thy residence through Thy Cross.”

Thursday

After the Resurrection of Christ, the holy apostles went all over the world to preach the Word of God. Therefore, on Thursday, the Church prayerfully glorifies the apostles and their successors in the person of one of the most revered saints - St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The first three stichera on “Lord, I cried” and the stichera on the stichera are dedicated to the apostles at Vespers; at Matins, the sedalny, the first canon and stichera on the stichera. Three stichera on “Lord, I cried” were dedicated to St. Nicholas at Vespers, and the second canon at Matins.

Friday

The tragic events of the Sacrifice of the Cross at Calvary, the scourging, mockery and execution of Jesus Christ are the theme of Friday. Therefore, the entire Church keeps a fast and remembers the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. On Friday, the second canon of Matins is called “The Holy Cross.” In the “Mother of the Cross” hymns, the Church prayerfully sympathizes and glorifies the Mother of God in Her sorrow and crusadership.

Saturday

Saturday is the last day of the week, and on this day the Church remembers all the saints. And the first among these saints is the Most Holy Theotokos. Of course, we glorify the Mother of God on any day of the week, but on Saturday She is especially revered. Also on this day, all our departed are remembered; the commemoration is combined with the remembrance of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb and His victory over death.

How did the weekly cycle of worship come about?

The origins of the formation of the weekly liturgical circle of the Christian Church should be sought in the Old Testament. The fourth commandment of the Mosaic law is: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days you shall work and do all your work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God (Ex. 20:8-10). Saturday was perceived, first of all, as a day of rest, rest from work, in memory of the fact that in six days the Lord created heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested on the seventh day. On Saturday a sacred meeting was held (see: Lev. 23:3); On this day, burnt offerings (see: Numbers 28:9) and showbread (see: Lev. 24:8) were sacrificed to the Lord. In the era after the Babylonian captivity, Saturday becomes the main liturgical day of the week: on this day, Jews gather in the synagogue to pray and read the Holy Scriptures.

In Christianity, the Old Testament injunction to keep the Sabbath has undergone a radical revision. Christ did not reject this rule and Himself attended the synagogue on Saturdays (see: Luke 4:16), however, He allowed Himself to violate the order of Saturday rest, proving to the Jews that the Son of Man is the lord of the Sabbath (see: Mark 2:28 ). After His Ascension, Christ's disciples continued to attend church on Saturdays, but the first day of the week becomes the day of the Eucharist. Once the doors of the Church were opened to the Gentiles, Sabbath observance as prescribed in the Old Testament became meaningless.

Early Christian writers spoke of the Sabbath as one of the Jewish customs that died out after the coming of Christ into the world. The “life of the Resurrection” comes to replace the “Sabbath keeping.” This day was often called the “eighth day” - as a prototype of eternity. That is why we spend the eighth day in joy, on which Christ rose from the dead.

In the middle of the 4th century, the contrast between Sunday and Saturday was enshrined in the 29th canon of the Council of Laodicea: “It is not fitting for Christians to practice Judaism and celebrate on Saturday, but to do so on this day; and Sunday is primarily to be celebrated.”

Together with the Church

Worship on the days of the week is less solemn than on Sunday. But this does not mean that they are less deep and touching. The theme of the day is revealed through the material of wonderful stichera, canons, sedals, troparions and kontakia, which you need to learn to listen to.

During the week, most believers work and cannot attend daily worship. And therefore, every Orthodox Christian, in his prayer rule, which is performed at home, should try throughout the week to glorify the saints or events of Sacred history that the Church remembers. For example, on Monday, in addition to morning and evening prayers, we can read the canon to the Guardian Angel, on Tuesday - to St. John the Baptist, on Wednesday - the penitential canon to the Savior, on Thursday - to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, on Friday - the canon dedicated to the Cross of the Lord. On Saturday, in our home rule, we can glorify the Most Holy Theotokos and pray for deceased relatives. In the church shop of each temple, as a rule, there is a huge number of prayer books, which will greatly help in prayer work.

The weekly liturgical cycle ends and begins again. We return again and again to the same events, comprehending the height and depth of the grace-filled spiritual life in Christ.

Or . This order changes on the days when Compline and Midnight Office are omitted, some days of Great Lent, as well as on the eve of the holidays of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany.

The liturgical day begins in the evening. (Following the example of the prophet and seer of God Moses, who, describing God’s creation of the world, begins the “day” in the evening, so in the Orthodox Church the day begins in the evening - vespers.)

Vespers- a service performed at the end of the day, in the evening. With this service we thank God for the passing day.

Compline- a service consisting of reading a series of prayers in which we ask the Lord God for forgiveness of sins and that He would give us, as we go to sleep, peace of body and soul and save us from the wiles of the devil during sleep.

Midnight Office- the service is intended to be performed at midnight, in remembrance of the Savior’s night prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. This service calls on believers to always be prepared for the Day of Judgment, which will come suddenly, like “the bridegroom at midnight,” according to the parable of the ten virgins.

Matins- a service performed in the morning, before sunrise. With this service we thank God for the past night and ask Him for mercy for the coming day.

First hour, corresponding to our seventh hour of the morning, sanctifies the day that has already come with prayer.

On three o'clock, corresponding to our ninth hour in the morning, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles is mentioned.

On six o'clock, corresponding to our twelfth hour of the day, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is remembered.

On nine o'clock, corresponding to our third in the afternoon, we remember the death on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Divine Liturgy there is the most important service. It commemorates the entire earthly life of the Savior and fulfills what was established by the Savior Himself at the Last Supper. Liturgy is served in the morning, before lunch.

All these services in ancient times in monasteries and hermits were performed separately, at the appointed time for each of them. But then, for the convenience of believers, they were combined into three services: evening, morning And daytime.

Evening The service consists of the ninth hour, Vespers and Compline.

Morning- from Midnight Office, Matins and the first hour.

Daytime- from the third and sixth hours and the Liturgy.

On the eve of major holidays and Sundays, an evening service is performed, which combines: Vespers, Matins and the first hour. This kind of worship is called all-night vigil(all-night vigil), because among the ancient Christians it lasted all night. The word “vigil” means “to be awake.”

At present, the order of the daily liturgical circle in parish practice is usually not observed - the ninth hour, Compline and Midnight Office are omitted. Divine services of the daily liturgical circle are contained in.

Diagram of the daily cycle of worship

Evening
1. Ninth hour - (3 pm)
2. Vespers
3. Compline

Morning
1. Midnight Office - (12 o'clock at night)
2. Matins
3. First hour - (7 am)

Day
1. Third hour - (9 am)
2. Sixth hour - (12 noon)
3. Liturgy

2. Weekly liturgical circle- a thematic sequence of services within one week. Cm.:

IN Sunday The Church remembers and glorifies Resurrection of Christ.

IN Monday(the first day after Sunday) ethereal forces are glorified - Angels, created before man, the closest servants of God.

In Tuesday glorified Saint John the Baptist as the greatest of all prophets and righteous ones.

IN Wednesday the betrayal of the Lord by Judas is remembered and, in connection with this, a service is performed in memory of Holy Cross(fast day).

IN Thursday the saints are glorified Apostles and the saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.

IN Friday the sufferings on the cross and the death of the Savior are remembered and a service is performed in honor of Holy Cross(fast day).

IN Saturday - day of rest- are glorified Mother of God, Which is pleased daily, forefathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, righteous and all saints, attained rest in the Lord. Also remembered are all deceased in true faith and hope of resurrection and eternal life.

Services - a set of variable components of the weekly liturgical circle - are contained in. The divine service of the weekly liturgical circle is subordinated to one of the eight, etc. Eight-week vocal cycles are formed, repeated several times throughout the year. The counting of voices begins on Easter Day with the first voice.

The first day of the seven-day liturgical circle is considered.

3. Annual liturgical circle- thematic sequence of services throughout the year. There are different types of movable and fixed annual liturgical circles. - associated with the solar calendar - includes the worship of fixed and other holidays and the daily celebrations of saints. - associated with the lunar calendar (see) - includes divine services (and the three previous weeks) and.

Every day of the year is dedicated to the memory of certain saints, as well as special sacred events - holidays and fasts.

Of all the holidays, the greatest is Feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ. This is a holiday, a holiday and a triumph of celebrations. Easter occurs no earlier than March 22 (April 4, new style) and no later than April 25 (May 8, new style), on the first Sunday after the spring full moon.

Then there are twelve great holidays in the year established in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, which are called twelfths.

There are holidays in honor great saints and in honor of the ethereal Heavenly Forces - Angelov.

Therefore, according to their content, all holidays of the year are divided into Lord's, Mother of God And saints

According to the time of celebration, holidays are divided into motionless, which occur every year on the same dates of the month, and mobile, which, although they occur on the same days of the week, fall on different dates of the month in accordance with the time of Easter celebration. According to the solemnity of the church service, holidays are divided into great, average And small.

Great holidays always have all-night vigil; Average holidays are not always the case.

The liturgical church year begins on September 1 of the old style, and the entire annual circle of services is built in relation to the Easter holiday.

The services of the fixed annual liturgical circle are contained in, the mobile - in Lenten (Lent) and the Colored Triodion (Pentecost). The connection of the moving and fixed annual liturgical circles is carried out using the Markov chapters given in the charter (named after their compiler, monk Mark).

The divine service of each day is a combination of an almost unchanging basis from the prayers of the daily liturgical circle with changing prayers related to the liturgical theme of the given day from the Menaion and Octoechos or Triodion (Lenten or Colored), and during Lent and Pentecost, prayers from the Octoechos are almost not used.

Eleven-week circle of Gospel readings and stichera at Sunday Matins

We should not forget about the eleven-week circle of Gospel readings and stichera at Sunday Matins, which is usually overlooked when listing liturgical circles. For reading at Sunday matins, eleven fragments were selected from all four Gospels, telling about the appearances of the Savior after His Resurrection (the number “11” symbolizes the eleven remaining apostles at that time - after the fall of Judas Iscariot and before the election of Matthias). These fragments are called the “Sunday Gospels” and are read in turn, week after week, at Sunday morning.

learn about religious services held throughout the day

Tasks:

understand the concept of liturgical circles
find out the names of daily services
understand the sequence of daily religious services
understand the origin of the Clock

References:

The Law of God: In 5 books. – M.: Knigovek, 2010. – T.2.
Serebryakova Yu.V., Nikulina E.V., Serebryakov N.S. Fundamentals of Orthodoxy: Textbook. – M.: PSTGU Publishing House, 2009.

Additional literature:

Lorgus A., priest, Dudko A., priest. "Book about the Church." – M.: Pilgrim, 2005.
Dorofeev V., prot., Yanushkyavichene O.L. Fundamentals of Orthodox culture: Textbook, 3rd grade. – M., 2009.
Sosuntsov E.F., priest. Lessons of the Law of God for children. – M., 2002. Part 3. Lesson 30 “The concept of worship, its meaning. Church services."

Key concepts:

Daily cycle of worship

Lesson vocabulary:

Liturgy
Vespers
Matins
Compline
Midnight Office
Requirements

Lesson content (open)

Illustrations:

Test questions:

During the classes:

Watching videos.

Recording keywords in a notebook.

Sketch of a diagram of the daily cycle of worship.

Reinforce the topic using test questions.

Video materials:

TV project "The Law of God". Part 77. “Daily cycle of church services”:

Part “Divine Service Circles”:

Film "The ABC of Orthodoxy":

TV project “The House Where God Lives.” Part "Daily circle".
TV project “The House Where God Lives.” Part “What is the Divine Liturgy.”
TV project “The House Where God Lives.” Part "Clock".

1) The prayer life of the Church

What is the prayer life of the Church? The Church sanctifies every day of our life, every part of the day, with prayer. She also marks with prayer all the events that we remember during the year. We call the Church the Body of Christ, and the life of this Body has its own specific course and order, expressed in divine services, in the alternation of holidays and fasts, in the alternation of joyful and repentant moods. Let us try to better understand this course of church life in order to participate in it better and more consciously.

In church services you can notice three circles: daily, weekly and annual.

2) Composition of the daily cycle of services

The daily circle includes all services performed during the day: Vespers, Compline (great and small), Midnight Office, Matins, Hours and Liturgy.

3) Liturgy

Of these services, the most basic and important in our lives is liturgy, during which the Sacrament of transmuting bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord is performed, of which we partake. We will talk to you in more detail about the liturgy in a separate lesson.

We can say that the liturgy was the first service that ancient Christians began to perform after the resurrection of Christ, gathering together on the first day of the week to break bread and celebrate the sacrament of the Eucharist. During the persecution, performing liturgy in the dungeon-catacombs, on the tombs of the martyrs, Christians spent the whole night preparing for the great and terrible sacrament. Even in those ancient times, when the standard of living of Christians was so high, it was impossible to move directly from everyday everyday life to the sacrament of communion. Later, when the persecution ended and Christians were free to gather for worship at any time, all this preparation was divided into several services. Such ancient services were vespers And matins.

4) All-Night Vigil

The church day begins in the evening (in the history of the creation of the world it is said: “ And there was evening and there was morning: one day"(Gen.1:5)). Therefore, the first service of each day is Vespers on the eve of it. Matins takes place early in the morning. On the eve of Sundays and holidays: Vespers, Matins and the First Hour are combined into one service, which is called the All-Night Vigil or All-Night Vigil, because in ancient times, as we said, this service lasted all night.

5) Clock

Since ancient times, Christians have loved to celebrate with prayer the coming of the hours at which certain events took place. Among the ancient Jews, the daytime from sunrise to sunset was divided into four parts or watches, which began at the hours: first, third, sixth and ninth. The first hour corresponded to our sixth hour in the morning, the third - to the ninth, the sixth - to the twelfth, the ninth - to the third hour of the day. At the First Hour, Christians celebrated the beginning of the day with prayer, at the Third Hour - the time when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles, at the Sixth Hour - the time when Jesus Christ was crucified, and at the Ninth Hour - the time when Christ gave up his spirit on the cross. In the 4th and 5th centuries these prayers were developed into special readings in monasteries First, Third, Sixth And Ninth Hours. In the Greek churches these services remained only monastic, but in the Russian church they were introduced in parish churches. The First Hour is read after Matins, the Third and Sixth Hours before the Liturgy, and the Ninth Hour before Vespers.

The services of Compline and Midnight Office are performed only in monasteries throughout the year. In parish churches, Great Compline is celebrated during Great Lent, as well as on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany and Annunciation.

6) Liturgical books

Unchangeable (repeated from day to day) parts of the daily cycle services are contained in liturgical books Missal And Book of Hours. The missal is intended for the priest and deacon. This book contains the prayers they said and a description of the sacred rites they performed. The Book of Hours is intended for readers and singers in the choir; it includes only those prayers that are pronounced or sung by them in the choir.

7) Requirements

In addition to the daily services, there are also services performed for the special needs or needs of Christians, the so-called religious services. The most common of them are a memorial service (prayer for the dead) and a prayer service. Special church prayers or requirements exist for almost all occasions.

Test questions:

Remember why Christians gather to pray in church?
What is the most important service called?
Where did the tradition of serving the Hours come from?
Why is the word “circle” used for the name of all services in general?
What are the names of services that are not included in the daily cycle of worship?
What other circles of worship are there, besides the daily one?