What is the name of the morning service? About Orthodox worship

The evening service includes the 9th hour, Vespers and Compline.

According to our account, the ninth hour corresponds to the time from 4 to 6 o'clock in the afternoon: the fourth, fifth and sixth hours (16.00, 17.00, 18.00). The Jews during the earthly life of the Savior divided the night into four watches: the first watch from sunset was evening, the second was midnight, the third was the petlokation, and the fourth was morning. The day was also divided into four parts: the 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th hours.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave His spirit to God at the ninth hour (Matthew 27:46-50). The service of the 9th hour is established in remembrance of the dying sufferings and death of the Savior, and the commandment to pray at this hour is set forth in the Apostolic decrees. The psalms for the service were chosen by Saint Pachomius the Great (+ 348), while the troparia and prayers read at the 9th hour were written by Saint Basil the Great (329-379).

The ninth hour is usually celebrated before Vespers. And although according to the Rule it is supposed to be combined with it, it refers to the worship of the past day. Therefore, if it is necessary to serve the Divine Liturgy on a day before which there was no church service, the service on the eve of the Liturgy begins not at the 9th hour, but at Vespers and Compline, and the 9th hour is read the next day before the Liturgy, after the 6th hour. The daily church services are listed in this order in the Teaching News.

On the eve of the Nativity of Christ and Theophany, the 9th hour is celebrated together with all other hours - the royal hours. On Wednesday and Friday of Cheese Week and the weeks of Great Lent, the 9th hour is celebrated after the 3rd and 6th hours, and then the pictorial and vespers follow. The 9th hour is also sent on Wednesday and Friday of the Cheese week, if the fore-feast of the Presentation of the Lord happens on these days, that is, on February 1, but separately from Vespers, which takes place at its own time.

The ninth hour is usually celebrated in the temple, but sometimes it is allowed to be celebrated in the porch, as it is said about this in the 1st and 9th chapters of the Rule. During Great Lent, it is celebrated in the temple.

The creation of the world began in the evening (Genesis 1:5). Therefore, in the evening service, the Holy Church first of all glorifies God as the Creator and Provider for the blessings of creation and providence for man, recalls the fall of our forefathers, prompting believers to realize their sins and pray to the Lord for their forgiveness. Bringing the evening of the day closer to the evening of our life, the Holy Church recalls the inevitability of death for a person and calls for the holiness of life.

The modern structure of the evening service in its main parts bears the stamp of deep antiquity: in the Apostolic Decrees (book II, 59; VIII, 35), the evening service is set out in features very similar to the modern order. They command the bishop to summon the people at evening. St. Basil the Great mentions the custom of giving thanks to God at the coming of the evening light as ancient and says that although the name of the creator of the evening praises remains unknown, the people, raising them, repeat the ancient voice.

Vespers is daily, small and great.

Everyday Vespers is celebrated on days when there is no feast with polyeleos or vigils. On the eve of the holidays, it can only be when they happen on Cheese Week and on the weeks of Great Lent. The charter of the daily vespers, which is not celebrated on Great Lent, is found in the Service Book, the Book of Hours, the Followed Psalter and the Typicon (ch. 9). The charter of the daily Vespers celebrated in Great Lent is found in the sequence of the evening of Cheese Week and Monday of the 1st week of Great Lent.

Small Vespers is an abbreviated daily Vespers. There are no lamp prayers, a great litany, a verse of the Psalter, a small litany, no more than four stichera are sung, from the litany “Have mercy on us, O God,” only four petitions are pronounced, the litany “Let us fulfill evening prayer”, and instead of a great one there is a small vacation. Small Vespers is celebrated only before the vigil, which begins with Vespers. Before the vigil, which begins with Compline, there is no small Vespers. The Rule of Small Vespers is found in the Missal (not in all editions), in the Oktoikh and in the Typicon, chapter 1.

Great Vespers is a festive vespers celebrated on the eve of a feast, and sometimes on the feast itself. Great Vespers, not at a vigil, is celebrated on the eve of the Nativity of Christ and Theophany, and on the following days of the feasts themselves: on all the days of Pascha, on the Sunday of Thomas, on the twelfth Lord's feasts– Epiphany, Transfiguration, Exaltation, Nativity of Christ, Ascension and Pentecost; and in addition, on Great Friday, on the eve of Mid-Midday, on September 1 and 13.

Great Vespers, celebrated on the eve of feasts, is either separate from Matins or combined with it (all-night vigil) in accordance with the instructions of the Charter, which gives the rector freedom: "If the rector wills, we keep the vigil." In addition to the 68 vigils indicated in the charter according to the number of Sundays and holidays - “by the permission of the rector”, all-night vigils are also performed on the days of patronal feasts and the memory of especially revered saints and icons (Chapter 6 of the Charter). Great Vespers relies on the vigil, except when it begins with Great Compline. The performance of all-night vigils on the weekly days of the Holy Fortecost is unacceptable (instructions of the Charter, chapters 6 and 9; instructions of the Laodicean Council, IV century, rights 51). Charter about great vespers, performed separately from Matins, is found in the Missal, the Book of Hours, the Followed Psalter, in the Typicon (ch. 7); The Typicon of Great Vespers in conjunction with Matins is found in some editions of the Missal, in the Octoechos and the Typicon.

In addition to Matins, Great Vespers is combined with the 3rd, 6th and 9th hours and pictorial on Wednesday and Friday of the Cheese week and with the same services along with the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts - on Wednesday and Friday of the weeks of Great Lent, with the Divine Liturgy St. Basil the Great - on Great Thursday and Saturday, with the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom - on the feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, if it happens on some days of Great Lent.

In the service of Compline, performed daily, the grateful feelings of a Christian towards God are expressed before going to bed at the end of the day. With the service of Compline, the Holy Church combines memories of the descent of Jesus Christ into hell and the liberation of the righteous from the power of the prince of darkness - the devil, encourages Orthodox Christians to pray to God for the forgiveness of sins and the veneration of the Kingdom of Heaven, prays Holy Mother of God as an intercessor before Jesus Christ.

Compline is small and great. Little Compline is celebrated on all days of the year, except for the weekly days of Great Lent and some others, when Great Compline is supposed to be served. The following of Small Compline is found in the Book of Hours and the Followed Psalter.

Great Compline is celebrated separately from Matins and in conjunction with it. Separate from Matins, Great Compline is celebrated on Tuesday and Thursday of Cheese Week, except in the cases specified in the Charter; on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of all weeks of Great Lent, with the exception of Wednesday and Friday of the 5th week; Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week. In conjunction with Matins, Great Compline is celebrated on the eve of the temple feasts, if they occur on the seven days of Great Lent that do not follow the feast, as well as on January 5, March 24, and December 24.

The charter of Great Compline is found in the Book of Hours, the Followed Psalter and in the Typicon for the indicated days.

The days of the world began in the evening (Genesis, chapter 1), so the service of vespers begins the church service of each day. Vespers is served according to the church charter at 12 o'clock in the afternoon (in our opinion at 18 o'clock). The character of Vespers is peacefully repentant. Celebrating this divine service, we praise the Creator for allowing us to reach the evening, thank you for the day we have lived. This service is remembered for the creation of the world, the Old Testament times. Vespers also contains hymns in honor of the celebrated saint or event and from the service of the day of the week.

Vespers is most often served separately, independently. It is preceded by the charter service of the 9th hour. On the eve of great feasts and Sundays, Vespers is combined with Matins, forming part of the All-Night Vigil. On certain days of the year, Vespers is combined with the Liturgy.

There are three types of Vespers: small, great, and daily.

Small Vespers It is served on the eve of Sundays and great feasts, when Great Vespers must be combined with Matins, i.e. All-night vigil will be performed. Small Vespers always precedes the All-Night Vigil. Now it is rarely served.

Great Vespers It is served either separately on the eve of holidays or in conjunction with Matins as part of the All-Night Vigil on the eve of Sundays and great holidays.

Everyday Vespers It is served when there is no special celebrated event.

How to distinguish the great vespers from the everyday? A distinctive feature is that at the Great Vespers, after the prokeimenon and the reading of paroemias (if any), there is always a special litany, beginning with the exclamation: "Rzem all ..." And at the daily Vespers, the special litany is pronounced at the very end of the service and begins with a petition: "Have mercy on us, O God..." Also, at the great vespers always before the singing of the "Quiet Light" the royal gates open and it happens entrance with a censer. At the daily vespers entrance happens only on certain days of Great Lent. At the Great Vespers, with the exception of some feasts, the first antiphon of the first kathisma ("Blessed is the husband...") is sung.

When Vespers is served separately, it begins with the exclamation "Blessed be our God...". And in those cases when it is combined with matins or liturgy, then vespers begins with the exclamations of these services ("Glory to the Saints, Consubstantial, Life-Giving and Indivisible Trinity" or "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit," respectively).

Vespers begins singing or reading initiatory psalm: "Bless, my soul, the Lord ..." (103rd psalm). This psalm is called the preparatory psalm because Vespers begins with it, and with it the services of the whole day. This psalm is a poetic story about the creation of the world and the glorification of the Creator. At the All-Night Vigil, this psalm is sung (according to the charter for the 8th tone), but not read.

After the introductory psalm follows Great Litany and Kathisma Reading. Kathismas are also read at Matins and are distributed in such a way that the Psalter is completely read in the temple in a week. And during the period of the Great Fortecost, the psalter is read in full twice a week. At the great vespers, as a rule, instead of the versification of the kathisma, the first antiphon of the first kathisma (that is, the first "Glory") "Blessed is the husband ..." is sung at vespers. It is supposed to be sung in the 8th tone. At the same time, selected verses are usually sung, and the rest are read. The singing of each verse is accompanied by the singing of "Alleluia". In the psalms of the 1st antiphon, the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified, His earthly life is depicted. On some days, the reading of kathisma at Vespers is generally not allowed according to the Rule.

The whole character of Vespers is predominantly peaceful and repentant. Therefore, after the prelude psalm, the psalter is verseed, in which our needs and sighs are especially clearly revealed. Psalms dispose to prayer, kindle the spirit of prayer in the hearts of people. And after the versification of the psalms, the singing of psalms is laid, in which the soul begins to cry out to the Lord with faith and hope. First, Psalm 140 is sung: "Lord, I cry to Thee, hear me...". Then Psalm 141: "With my voice I called to the Lord" and Psalm 129: "From the depths I called to You, Lord ..." And this singing ends with verses from Psalm 116: "Praise the Lord, all the nations, praise Him all the people, as mercy is established him upon us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever." Along with the verses of these psalms, hymns (stichera) are sung in which the event of the day or the celebrated saint is glorified. These stichera are so called: "stichera on the Lord cried." The number of these stichera is 10, 8 or 6 - according to the rule of the day. All verses of the psalm "Lord, I have called" and subsequent psalms are sung in the same voice as the stichera. At the same time, the first verses are sung without stichera, and starting from a certain verse, stichera are sung (this depends on the number of stichera laid down).

After the stichera, a hymn is sung "Light is quiet" dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ. This song continues the glorification of God in the Holy Trinity for the sake of the appearance of the Lord on earth, in whose person the “quiet light of holy glory” has shone for us, giving life and peace to mankind.

Further proclaims prokeimenon, i.e. a short verse selected from the psalter, always followed by several other verses combined with the first. Prokeimenon expresses the meaning of prayers relating to the present day or precedes the reading Holy Scripture and reflects the content of subsequent reading.

After the prokimen on some days they read proverbs, i.e. readings from the Holy Scriptures (from the Old Testament or the Apostle), which contain prophecies about the remembered event or explain it or contain praise to the celebrated saint.

Prayer "Vouchee, Lord, in this evening, without sin, be preserved for us" contains petitions and doxology. It is a continuation of the doxology to the One and the same God in the hymn "Quiet Light". Before the prayer "Vouchee, O Lord..." the prayers of Vespers were still partly related to the end of the departing day, and after this prayer they are already fully related to the coming day.

After the prayer "Vouchee, O Lord," follows the Petitionary Litany ("Let us fulfill our evening prayer to the Lord..."), whose petitions are, as it were, a continuation of the preceding prayer. We ask the Lord to spend the evening in peace and without sin, we ask the Angel of God to help us, forgive our sins, we ask the Lord to help us spend all the days of our life in peace and repentance and vouchsafe a peaceful Christian death and a good answer to the Terrible Court.

After the Petitionary Litany at Vespers on the days of great feasts, when the vigil is served lithium. Translated from the Greek "lithium" means fervent, intensified prayer. When singing the stichera of a temple or a feast, and then the festive stichera set for singing on the lithium, the clergy proceed from the altar to the porch of the temple. The vestibule of the temple is a place appointed for the catechumens and the penitents. Litiya is performed in the porch in the image of the fact that the Savior came down to us on earth, down. And we, standing in the porch of the temple, as if before the heavenly gates, implore the Lord, for we are not worthy to look at the heavenly heights. After the stichera of the litia, the deacon pronounces the prayer "Save, O God, Thy people...", which contains various petitions for the salvation and blessing of people, calling for help from the saints of God. These petitions are interrupted by the repeated singing of "Lord, have mercy." The litiya ends with the priest's prayer "O Lord, many-merciful ...", during the reading of which the worshipers should bow their heads. In this prayer, calling on the help of the Most Pure Theotokos and the saints, the priest asks the Lord to accept our prayer, grant us forgiveness of sins, drive away every enemy from us, have mercy and save us.

After the lithium, and if the lithium was not served, then after the Petitionary litany, follow verses on verse. They are called so for two reasons: firstly, because before each stichera there is a certain verse from the psalm, corresponding to the day or celebration. And secondly, for the reason that the preceding stichera were sung in lithium without verses. In the stichera on the verse, they are dedicated to the glorification of a remembered saint or a celebrated event. At the confluence of two or more celebrations on the same day, the Charter appoints the singing of stichera at the verse, mainly for one festival and only for "Glory and Now" - for another.

After the stichera, a prayer is sung or read on the verse "Now let go". (According to the Charter, it is supposed to be read, but in practice the custom of singing has taken root). Going to sleep, we are transported by thought to death, the image of which is sleep. And we reverently pronounce with the righteous Simeon the God-Receiver the hymn of thanksgiving: "Now you let go." Saint Simeon the God-Receiver spoke about the permission of the soul from the body, and we (according to the interpretation of Saint Simeon of Thessalonica) ask for the permission of the soul from passions, from the enemy's temptations and purely mental and bodily ailments. And also remember the upcoming outcome.

After the prayer “Now you let go,” troparia are sung, which are called “letting go” because they are located before the dismissal (end) of Vespers or Matins. These are, as a rule, troparia of celebrated events. At the vigil, “Hail, Virgin Mother of God” is most often sung three times, or on great feasts three times the troparion of the holiday. Or, “Hail, Virgin Mother of God” is sung along with the troparion of the holiday, as indicated in the Charter for a particular day.

If a vigil with litia is served, then after the troparia a prayer of blessing the loaves is read. The priest with a special prayer blesses five loaves and vessels with wheat, wine and oil (items necessary to sustain life). The five loaves represent the five loaves that Christ multiplied and fed five thousand people. These loaves are divided into small pieces and distributed to those who pray for refreshment. Wine and wheat are also consumed with reverence. Oil is used to anoint people with it.

At the vigil at the end of Vespers, the first part of the 33rd Psalm is sung (about half, up to the words "they will not be deprived of any good") and the priest blesses the people. The singing of the 33rd Psalm is a natural transition to Matins, as if connecting Vespers with Matins at the All-Night Vigil.

If the vigil is not served, then Vespers is dismissed. Vacation is special prayer, with which the priest ends the service, blessing the people. After the dismissal, at Vespers, Matins and the Liturgy, "Many Years" is sung - a small prayer for many years of life His Holiness Patriarch, the ruling bishop, rector and parishioners of the temple (or monastery) and all Orthodox Christians.

Tatyana Radynova

Literature:

Archbishop Veniamin (Fedchenkov). "About Worship Orthodox Church". - STSL, "Father's House", M., 1999
Priest Konstantin Nikolsky. "Teaching charter of worship". - M., "Ladder", 1999.
Archpriest Konstantin Nikolsky. "A Guide to the Study of Divine Liturgy in the Orthodox Church". - Kyiv, Society of Lovers of Orthodox Literature, Publishing House named after St. Leo, Pope of Rome, 2005.
Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Veniamin. "The New Tablet or an explanation about the Church, about the Liturgy and about all services and church utensils". - M., "Russian Spiritual Center", 1992, printed. in St. Petersburg, 1899
Hieromonk Cyprian. "Look at the Lilies of the Field (A Lecture Course in Liturgical Theology)". - "Light of Orthodoxy" Christian interlocutor, edition of the Makariev-Reshemsky Monastery, issue 46, 1999.
Protopresbyter Valery Lukyanov. "Liturgical Notes". - Jordanville, Holy Trinity Monastery, 2001

Liturgical hours are a special rite of prayers, which is read in the temple at a certain time.

Usually this is a rather short rank, reading and listening to which does not take more than fifteen or twenty minutes.
It seems to me that the emergence of the prayer books of the hours in the Old Testament and New Testament Churches is connected primarily with the Divine establishment of a person's habit of uninterrupted prayer. After all, in essence, the Angels and saints in paradise are in continuous praise to the Lord. Figuratively speaking, in the Kingdom of Heaven, in His exalted and spiritual temple, worship is constantly going on. And in order for a person to acquire the habit of this heavenly uninterrupted prayer, he acquires it even here - in earthly life. Hence the divine services of the hours at a certain time.

This can be compared to a monastic meal. So that the monk does not plunge headlong into the absorption of food, the meal is interrupted somewhere in the middle by the sound of a bell. Everyone gets up. They are baptized. A short prayer is said. Then they sit down again and eat food. By doing this, a person seems to be knocked out of the earthly rut, out of mental and heart concentration on his stomach, and again learns to fix his attention on the higher - on the heavenly.

Watches, I think, have the same function - to distract a person's attention from the material concerns of the day. And turn your eyes to the Lord God.

The fact that the Old Testament Church knew the services of the hours is testified to by the first chapters of the Book of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, Acts of the Holy Apostles: “Peter and John went together to the temple at the ninth hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1); “The next day, as they were walking and approaching the city, about the sixth hour Peter went up on top of the house to pray” (Acts 10:9).

The fact that the apostles knew and used certain hours of the day for prayer is evidenced by a book written at the beginning of the 2nd century after the birth of Christ, “The Teaching of the 12 Apostles”. She prescribes to read the Lord's Prayer "Our Father" three times a day.

The names of the 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th hours were given to these short services because of a somewhat different calculation of the time of day than ours in ancient Israel.

The ancient Jews divided the night into four guards (the sentries guarding the settlement changed), and the day into four hours (changes in the movement of the sun relative to the earth). The first hour corresponds to our seventh hour in the morning. The third hour is nine o'clock in the morning. Sixth - twelve o'clock - noon. Ninth hour - three o'clock in the afternoon.

In the New Testament Church, the meaning of the liturgy of the hours became even more symbolic. It acquired a significant gospel meaning associated with the most important events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church.

So, let's start with the first liturgical hour, which is used in the temple. Since the church liturgical day begins with the evening (vespers), the first (not in the arithmetic or chronological sense) hour is the ninth. He is also the first in the spiritual sense.

We know for sure from the Holy Gospel that the Savior died on the cross at the ninth hour (the third afternoon in our reckoning). Therefore, the prayer memory of the ninth hour is dedicated to the death on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as His descent into hell. Therefore, the prayers of this hour are mournful, but at the same time, there is already an emerging Paschal joy in them, because the Bright Resurrection of Christ will happen very soon. Therefore, the ninth hour precedes all other daily services: Vespers, Matins, the first, third, sixth hours, the Liturgy. After all, the church veil is torn in two, and humanity gets the opportunity to enter paradise. The era of the New Testament is coming - the era of salvation. Mankind is taking a new step towards God, Who has brought it as close as possible to Himself.

The first hour was God help installed later than the other three. As Professor of the Kyiv Theological Academy Mikhail Skaballanovich writes in his book “Explanatory Typicon”: “The 1st hour was established in the 4th century. in Palestinian monasteries for ascetic purposes…” That is, the Church of apostolic times did not know him. It was already established with the development of monasticism in the 4th century in connection with asceticism and ascetic discipline such as "sleep less and pray more". The fact is that in order to aggravate the prayerful vigil, the ancient monks also broke the night into several guards, during which they stood up for prayer. The last prayer watch of the night is the first hour.

In addition, it also carries a spiritual gospel meaning. The Church recalls in his prayers the taking of Christ into custody in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Sanhedrin, the suffering and beating of the Savior by the Pharisees' servants, the trial by Pilate, and the unjust death sentence pronounced on the Righteous.

The main memory of the third hour is the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Most Holy Theotokos and the apostles, which took place precisely at the third hour (see Acts 2:15). As well as the way of the cross of Christ to Golgotha, which also took place about the third hour and later.

The remembrance of the sixth hour is the Crucifixion of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ. The execution took place, according to the Holy Gospel, precisely at the twelfth hour of the day.

Thus, we see that the services of the hours are devoted primarily to the Passion of Christ and are called upon to prayerfully awaken in a person the spiritual vision of the Cross, Death, the Resurrection of Christ, as well as the birthday of the Church, one of the main events in our history - Holy Pentecost. Many holy fathers said that remembrance and living is heartfelt, internal Holy Week very helpful and beneficial. It connects human soul with Christ and revives her to life. The holy supreme apostle Paul also reminds us of this: “If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him…” (Rom. 6:8).

Because the memories of the liturgical hours are connected with the Passion of Christ, there is no singing in these prayers, only reading, which is less solemn and more mournful.

So the structure of the hours... It is typical of all four, and based on this, each hour takes about twenty minutes. In the prayers of the hours, after the “hat” or immediately after “Come let us worship”, there are three selected psalms (they are different for each hour), followed by troparia (special prayers) dedicated to the memory of the day, the event being celebrated or the saint (saints). This is followed by special prayers "Theotokos" dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. “Mother of God” also has its own for each hour. Then "The Trisagion according to Our Father" (see any Orthodox prayer book: Start morning prayers). Further, a special prayer "kontakion", dedicated to memory day. Then forty times “Lord, have mercy”, the prayer “Even for any time”, priestly leave (for the 3rd and 6th hours - this is “Through the prayers of our holy fathers ...”, and for the 9th and 1st - this “God, have mercy on us ...”) and the prayer of the hour (for each his own).

The hours always begin with the prayer “Come, let us worship”, which is a kind of confession of our faith in the Holy Trinity, they continue with psalms, and after them with New Testament prayers, which shows the deep organic relationship between the Old Testament and New Testament Churches. The troparia and kontakia of the day are also mounted in the clock - that is, special short prayers dedicated to the event celebrated on this day or the saint commemorated. The central part of the clock, according to the will of the holy apostles, is the reading of the prayer "Our Father". An in-depth penitential prayer “Lord, have mercy”, repeated forty times, and the prayer “Also for all time”, telling us that we must worship God and glorify Him at any time and at any hour. Then release and prayer of the hour. All the psalms and prayers of the liturgical hour were chosen by the holy fathers with God's help in such a way as to remind us of the above-mentioned memories of the hour. An example of this is the 50th psalm at the third hour, the verses of which “Create a pure heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and Thy Holy Spirit shall not be taken away from me,” as if they are directly telling us about the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. And in Great Lent at this hour, the troparion directly says about the remembered event: “Lord, even Thy Most Holy Spirit at the third hour sent down by Thy apostles, Him, the Good One, do not take away from us, but renew in us, praying to You.”

By the way, the hours during the liturgical year undergo changes. In Great Lent, readings of kathismas, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian “Lord and Master of my life ...”, certain troparia are added to them. On Holy Pascha and Bright Week, the structure of hours changes by ninety percent. Then they include chants praising the Light Christ's Resurrection: troparion and kontakion of Easter, the hymn “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ”, etc. Due to the special solemnity of the holiday easter clock often not read, but sung.

In addition, on the eve of such great holidays as Christmas and Holy Epiphany(The Baptism of the Lord), the great hours are read. They have the usual structure of the divine services of the hours, with the only difference being that the Old Testament readings of paroemia, the Apostle, the Holy Gospel are read on them. In Rus' they are often called royal hours. This is a historical name, as they were often attended by monarchs.

In ancient times, the clock was served, as it should be - at 7 and 9 in the morning, at 12.00 and 15.00. But unfortunately for modern man with his haste and busyness, such a schedule is not suitable. Therefore, Vespers begins now at the ninth hour, and Matins ends at the first hour. And the third and sixth hours are added to the beginning of the Divine Liturgy with the need for the priest to have time to perform the proskomedia during the reading of these hours. Since the daily divine service begins from the ninth and third hours, these prayers have a “cap”: the priestly exclamation “Blessed be our God ...”, then the usual beginning “O Heavenly King”, the Trisagion, “Our Father”, “Come, let us worship ...” And the first and sixth hours begin only with "Come, let us worship ..."

I would like to say that there is nothing unimportant and unimportant in the Church. This also applies to liturgical hours. Unfortunately, one often observes how people try to arrive at the beginning of the Liturgy, but are late by hours. One gets the impression that the reader, standing alone on the kliros and reading the hours, does this only for himself, well, for the priest, as a last resort. Many others are busy with candles, notes, conversations - in a word, the usual temple bustle. And only when the exclamation “Blessed is the Kingdom ...” sounds, everyone subsides.

But after all, the third hour is the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Most Holy Theotokos and the apostles, this is the way of the cross to Calvary of the Savior, and the sixth hour is the Crucifixion of Christ. He tells us that nails were driven into His pure hands for our sins. And God voluntarily gave himself over to suffering in the name of saving us all! Can we ignore it? Can we neglect the clock?

Yes, there are extreme cases when, for objective reasons, a person was late for the beginning of the Liturgy, maybe he overslept once or several times. It happens to everyone? But there is a well-established tradition of treating watches as something insignificant. Type can be "cut", late. And it's already scary. After all, we are talking about the remembrance of the Passion of the Lord.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us remember that to arrive half an hour before the start of the Liturgy is not to arrive at the exclamation of “Blessed is the Kingdom”, being late by the clock. No. This means to come before the reading hours. To have time to submit notes, and put candles, and kiss the holy images. And then, having recovered his breath and calmed down, begin to listen to the clock and heartily delve into the remembrance of the Passion of Christ and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles.

After all, whoever is crucified together with our Lord Jesus Christ will rise with him.

Priest Andrei Chizhenko