January 29, 7534
Fr. Alexander Pankratov, Priest of the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church (RPSC) Church services hold a very great significance in Christianity: they are a communal, conciliar communication of believers with God, carried out according to special prayer books and rules that have developed over centuries of history. However, the foundations that determined the order of performing…
The Cherubic Hymn is an important part of the Divine Liturgy. It is sung by both choirs of cantors as they descend to the center of the church. The rest of the faithful stand with bowed heads. It is forbidden to move about the church during the singing of the Cherubic Hymn. The text of…
How should names be written on slips submitted to the church, and how should names be mentioned in private prayer for the living and the departed? In church, names of non-Old Believers are entered into a separate list for the litany, but should their names also be mentioned separately in private prayer? At every liturgy,…
Vespers depicts the beginning of human history, the first days of the Fall — the evening (the end) of the creation of the world, which for man after the Fall was replaced by a dark night, deprived of the vision of the bright Face of God. Morning Office depicts the joyful and radiant morning —…
The Midnight Office (Полуно́щница) is one of the services in the daily liturgical cycle, dedicated to the coming Second Advent of Jesus Christ and the Last Judgment. It is performed at midnight or at any hour of the night before morning, and only once per day. Depending on the day, it may be a daily, Saturday, Sunday,…
One of the daily services that every Christian should strive to observe is Pavechernitsa, or Compline. The name Pavechernitsa (also known as Povecherie in Slavonic usage) derives from the phrase “after supper” — that is, the time following the evening meal. According to the typikon (liturgical rule), this service is performed after Vespers. The order of Pavechernitsa began to take shape in the…
The All-Night Vigil consists of three parts: Vespers, Matins, and the First Hour. Vespers is the first service of the daily church cycle. The cycle begins with Vespers because in ancient times the day was considered to begin in the evening: “And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1:5). Vespers may…
Partaking of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most important sacrament in the life of a Christian. Before His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. He also blessed a cup of wine, gave it to them to drink, and declared…