Following the daily service. Worship and iconography of the Old Believer Church

ABOUT ANCIENT SERVICE I

Let us imagine the Patriarchal Service, the Hierarchal Service, as it is performed now, and as it was performed in antiquity.

In the modern rank, the great pomp and protrusion of the figure of the Bishop is immediately striking, which even led to the fact that some shunned the Orthodox service as some kind of theatricality, as a service where the personality of the Bishop, attention to him, as it were, obscures the purpose of the service - prayer. Father Georgy Florovsky wrote in "The Ways of Russian Theology" that it seems that one of the main motives for the reform of Patriarch Nikon was that there should be more pomposity, festivity in the service, in contrast to greater simplicity and asceticism, as it was in antiquity. But pomposity is a manifestation of sincerity, and asceticism, simplicity is a manifestation of spirituality.

Here is the episcopal service. Now how is it done?

Before the arrival of the Bishop, the hours are deducted in advance in order not to bother the Bishop with workload. This usually happens at 9 or 10 o'clock, because there is a practice of celebrating early and late Liturgies, which also did not exist before in antiquity. The Liturgy was one, it began very early, and perhaps now the celebration of two Liturgies is explained by the fact that there are a lot of people, and there are not so many churches, and therefore it is very difficult for everyone to attend one Liturgy. Although there is another explanation: even before the revolution, a commoner came to the early, to the late - the gentleman, who later got up. Accordingly, the early one was more modest, and the later one was more pompous.

According to the old order, such a picture.

Here, for example, the Metropolitan performs a service. Procession from the house at the temple: Cross, priest-bearers in surplices go to the temple to the ringing of bells at half past seven in the morning. At half past seven, the Bishop entered the temple and began to recite the entrance prayers. Now at 9-10 o'clock they meet the Bishop in the church. They immediately vest and immediately begin the Liturgy. Hours are pre-calculated.

Here, the Bishop entered the temple, subtracted the entrance prayers, entered the altar and the midnight office begins, which is already completely forgotten in our parish churches - only in monasteries, and then, except for Sundays and holidays, the midnight office is preserved. Naturally, there can be no talk of any Midnight Office during the Hierarchal Service now. She has been long forgotten. By the way, the reading style was slower; It is interesting that the acoustics in the temples of the old ones were so magnificent that every word was heard in the huge cathedral at every point. In the churches of the 19th century, their hugeness led to the fact that, due to the ill-conceived acoustics, only on some patch was it possible to hear what was being read. And, if it still clogs up on the wings, into the corner and mumbles with a tongue twister, then it is natural that this is all for nothing.

The Midnight Office was read, at the end there was the rite of forgiveness, as you know, and after the Midnight Office the Bishop would leave the altar to the pulpit and his vestments would begin.

Regarding attire. This is how it is happening now. Two deacons stand on the pulpit, one says: "Let us pray to the Lord, Lord, have mercy," the other reads a special prayer for each element of the vestment. The choir sings only one hymn, "Let your soul rejoice in the Lord, for I have clothed myself in the robe of salvation..." etc.

According to the ancient order, not so. What the deacon is singing now is covered with singing, and therefore it is hard to hear the people. The choir sang these prayers according to the old order. The texts of these prayers for the vestments of the Bishop are deeply meaningful; they were audible to all those praying in the temple. And here the deacon reads, and no matter how loudly he reads, the choir still fills with his singing. There is, in my opinion, a loss. Then, the current service - it's like that - mosaic. When the priests, each as he can and wants, makes exclamations, when the choir sings one hymn in the Znamenny chant, another in the Kiev chant, a third in the chant of the Optina Hermitage, etc. As a result, integrity is violated, a mosaic of the service is obtained. Some chants are quiet, others are thunderous - these are the differences, it relaxes the spirit. And in the old rank, everything was solid, everything was clear and loud. This made it possible to keep the worshipers in the temple in the same tone.

And more features that I noted recently in the ancient service. The robed bishop stands at the pulpit and the hours are read: 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. Finished hours, then fine. The pictorials are over, the dismissal is made, and then the senior deacon proclaims, all this, of course, in chant. Each reading has its own style: the Six Psalms is read in one style, parimias in another, teachings in the third, the Apostle also, i.e. everything was not leveled, but all these facets were preserved, and when you hear the reading of the Apostles in this style, then somehow the problem of translation immediately disappears with such a high-quality performance.

So, we have finished the pictorial and we need to start the Liturgy. The senior deacon proclaims: "Bishops, priests and deacons, depart." This is done three times, on the second invitation, the royal doors are opened, on the third, all this mass of concelebrating clergy leaves the Altar and stands near the senior bishop at the pulpit. It is interesting that the small entrance to the Liturgy, when the "Blessed" is sung, which reminds us of the entrance of Christ to a public sermon, is made through the entire church.

A very beautiful chant of "Holy God" in Greek and the Bishop, as you know, comes out with a trikirium and a dikirium to the pulpit and says: "Look down from Heaven, O God, and see and visit this grape...", and overshadows the trikirium and dikirium people.

According to the old order, this happens three times: in the center, on the right and on the left with the same words.

So I noticed that the apostle was reading not a deacon, but a visiting priest, i.e. the old rank, despite its apparent regimentation and organization, still has a number of such nuances. For example, it would be unusual for us to see that suddenly one of the 20 priests serving a bishop would suddenly begin to read the Apostle when there are five deacons at the service. But then the priest came out, apparently that he reads very well, a visitor, they gave him the opportunity to read the Apostle. Or, let's say, many years for the priest to proclaim to the Bishop, when there are five deacons standing here, we are used to that only the deacons proclaim. Many years was proclaimed by one of the serving priests. Moreover, they sing "many years" three times. The rhythm in the old rank is so harmonious, i.e. there is not a single such arbitrary, subjective, inaccurate, inaccurate movement. For example, they sing "many years" when they overshadow with the Cross. They sang "many years" once, twice, on the third the priest overshadows with the Cross. Not arbitrarily, when he wanted to, but for the third time, and as a result, such harmony is built, such a rhythm, a kind of complete picture. As there is no extra stroke in the picture, so here it is, so much rhythm and harmony in everything.

Incense. Two strokes, the third crosswise with a bow. There is no crumpledness when one bows deeply, the other only bows his head - as a result, disharmony is obtained. This weakens the attention, distracts the worshiper, while the rhythm, on the contrary, mobilizes attention.

After the great entrance, the royal doors remain open, only the veil is drawn. When the Bishop pronounces "Peace to all," or at the Eucharistic canon "The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," the veil is pulled back, right up to the removal of the Chalice for Communion. Interestingly, according to the usual order, all priests who serve receive communion. The deacons are free. The deacon, if he has prepared, then takes communion, one for sure, the rest can participate in the service without taking communion.

According to the ancient rite, it was allowed that priests who were not specially trained, who had not read a special rule, could participate in the Liturgy without taking communion, but the first deacon, the priest who served proskomedia, and the bishop would commune. Here are the features.

After the Liturgy there was a prayer service to the All-Merciful Savior. Again, usually the prayer service is crumpled, it is believed that the Liturgy was so lengthy. According to the ancient rite, a full prayer service is performed just as slowly and rhythmically. The chants at the prayer service "Deliver Thy servants from troubles..." were sung by the clergy in the altar, after each song of the canon. The canon itself is read by the reader in the middle. The clergy go to the middle of the temple after the sixth ode, when the blessing of water is performed.

At the consecration of water, while singing the troparion "Save, O Lord, Thy people", when the Cross is immersed, the banners bow, then rise, when the choir is already singing, and so three times

Here are just some of the features.

I repeat once again: there is a rhythm of the church service, there should not be any random moments that violate the integrity, everything should be whole, starting from architecture, church painting, icons, singing, clothes of those present, clothes of the clergy. The ancient service did not know bright vestments, everything was somehow muffled.

Reading should be without one's own emotions, subjective creativity, namely in such a canonical channel, style. Prayers are baptized at the same time. All these nuances eventually add up to such a unique picture, which allows you to be present at the service with a greater degree of attention and, accordingly, the fruit of prayer is more abundant.

At the end of the divine service, it usually happens with us: the bishop served, delivered a sermon, and then leaves, and the clergy give the people the Cross. In the ancient service, everyone stays to the end, no one leaves until everyone has venerated the Cross. After that, they make initial bows, and this is where the service ends.

* This is the text of my story to the parishioners after attending the Bishop's service at the Pokrovsky Cathedral at the Rogozhsky cemetery

APPENDIX 5

From the cycle Ancient Liturgical Traditions.
Conversation with Abbot Kirill in the Orthodox cafe "Yamskoye Pole"
on the celebration of the Liturgy according to the old rite.

Today we have a very important and responsible conversation about the main Divine service in the Orthodox Church - about the Divine Liturgy, Mass, as the common people say.

Public service - this is how the word "Liturgy" is translated. My task is not simple, I do not know what kind of audience is present here, whether everyone came specifically to the meeting on this topic. I would like to focus on comparing the text of the rite of the Liturgy, officially adopted and performed everywhere, with the Old Russian, as we say, the rite of the Liturgy, i.e. with what was in Rus' from Baptism under Prince Vladimir to the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the middle of the 17th century. This is the Old Russian, pre-Nikon rite of the Liturgy, which has been practiced in our church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka since the first day the church was opened at the end of 1991.

Of course, this topic is somewhat special, to be sure, because it will be largely about what is not visible to the eye of the worshiper in the temple. I would like to show you all the significance and beauty of our ancient liturgical liturgical heritage, encourage you to think about what a precious heritage we have and remove any confusion about this. The attitude in general to our ancient Russian heritage, to the pre-reform liturgical way of life, officially sounds like "equilibrium and equal honor." Both the current common language and what we had before the reform of Patriarch Nikon in the middle of the 17th century are recognized as equally honorable and equally salvific. But we know that in history there was a different attitude, once it was all defamed, rejected. Gradually there was a process of revising such a critical, radically negative attitude. Today we have what we have, namely: the oaths were lifted at the Council of 1971. We can also mention the decision of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1999, which said that the Church values ​​our ancient heritage, calls to treat it with understanding, welcomes the use of individual ancient rites in our liturgical practice. Of course, the force of inertia is very strong, and for many who encounter this for the first time, some kind of barrier arises, misunderstanding, bewilderment. As a rule, people who have crossed the threshold of our temple, not all of course, having met something unusual, think that this is an "Old Believer" temple, people immediately associate with a split. By its legal status, our temple belongs to the Moscow Patriarchate, but the liturgical way of life is ancient. Let me remind you that the Council is the highest body of the Orthodox Church. You can refer as much as you like to some authoritative statements, even canonized saints, but nevertheless the Council is the highest body that draws a line. And so the Council decided: to withdraw the oath, to recognize both of them as equally saving and equally honorable, and to impute, "as if it had not been," all reprehensible expressions in relation to our church antiquity. These are the notes to be made before we move on to the main topic.

Like last time, when we talked about the rite of the All-Night Vigil, and even earlier about the church community, I think it would be interesting and expedient to involve the members of our community, who are present here today in the amount of about ten people, so that they supplement my story. their observations, shared their experience of participating in Divine services according to the ancient rite, primarily at the Divine Liturgy.

The celebration of the Liturgy is preceded by a long all-night vigil. The church rules say that a priest who celebrates the Liturgy without prior celebration on the eve of the evening service sins mortally. It is clear that for the ordinary layman, for the one who takes communion, it is obligatory to attend the evening Divine Liturgy on the eve of the Liturgy. So, the long all-night vigil that we talked about last time is over. And then what? And then comes the preparation. I will talk about how everything is done in our temple.

In our church, such a semi-monastic way of life has developed, not only in the liturgical plan, but in general in our everyday life, even in the external appearance of the parishioners. We have eighteen novices who would later like to take monastic vows and serve God in the monastic rank. Some of them live in the parish. In total, about twenty people live with us, incl. several students from Ukraine who study at St. Tikhon's Theological University. We have a general preparation for communion for those who live in the temple, and parishioners who have the opportunity to spend the night here. So, at 22-30 we gather in order to subtract the rule laid down for those who take communion. These are the usual canons that you know about, including the Akathist to the Mother of God. There is such a feature of the ancient rank - the so-called communion hours. The Sacrament Hours are ordinary hours read before the Liturgy. 3rd and 6th hours, as usual, and according to the ancient order, the 9th hour is also read in the morning.

The communion hours have the same content as ordinary hours; this is one of the elements of the daily Liturgical circle. In ancient times they were read separately. For example, 3 o'clock in the east corresponded to our 9 o'clock in the morning, 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock, and 9 o'clock to about 15 o'clock. In Georgia, Patriarch Ilia introduced the following rule a few years ago - all believing Georgia at certain hours, by the sound of the bell, takes out special manuals and reads several prayers, several psalms, and so 7 times a day. Seven is a number often found in Scripture, it is a symbol of a full note, completeness. The psalmist David says that I praise the Lord seven times a day, seven times a day. So, in ancient times, the first Christians really gathered for prayer several times a day. Then, over time, due to obvious difficulties, all these sequences of the daily circle were divided into two parts: morning and evening. You come to any temple and see the schedule: morning worship and evening worship. In Rus', which was a large monastery, the daily circle of services was performed not only in monasteries, but also in ordinary parish churches. Foreigners, coming to Rus', were amazed at the piety of the Russian people. So, for example, Archdeacon Pavel Alepsky, the son of Patriarch Macarius of Antioch, exclaimed: "These Russians must have iron legs!" They marveled at the long standing of Russians, including children, at Divine services. Very interesting about. Paul's description of a journey to Muscovy in the middle of the 17th century. His father, Patriarch Macarius, to whom he turned with his impressions and emotions, told him that they were once like that, before the Turkish conquest. Then, due to straitened circumstances, all this was lost. When, at the end of the 19th century, the Old Believer bishops visited the East, they were received by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and very kindly asked: "And how do you find our Divine Service?" They answered diplomatically: "We got inspired, paid attention..." The patriarch continued: "You must have noticed some omissions, shortcomings?" The Old Believers carefully answered that there was some difference between us. The patriarch said: "Well, what do you want, we are striving to preserve at least the main thing, being under Turkish rule for a century." Much can be said about what Christians experienced while under the Turkish yoke: it was forbidden to ring bells, build temples higher than mosques, etc. By the way, there is a prediction that the Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople will again be with the Orthodox. Recently, a priest I know told me that they were going to take measures so that Hagia Sophia would again become an Orthodox functioning church. I remember talking to a priest in Karlovy Vary. I amazed him when I briefly told him about what happened among the Orthodox in former times. "What we saw with you" - I said - "This is, approximately, what we call the Eucharistic canon - the core of the Liturgy, when the consecration of the Gifts - bread and wine - is actually performed." They are miraculously transformed by the Holy Spirit, transformed into the True Body and True Blood of Christ. Yes, Catholic masses on holidays, Sundays are more lengthy. For example, the Creed "I believe" is read by them only on Sundays. The usual ordinary mass, everyday, truncated to the limit. So, about sacrament hours. We know their usual content. For example, at the third hour, the 50th psalm "God have mercy on me" is read, at the sixth hour - the 90th psalm "Alive in Help" ... But the troparia and kontakia have a different content, namely, they are devoted to the topic of communion. What is their meaning? Maybe the fathers will correct me, I feel somewhat constrained in their presence, since they have extensive experience in celebrating the Liturgy, they are Old Believer priests. Somewhere my story may not be complete and not accurate, and I will ask them to correct and supplement me later. So, sacrament hours. Why, it would seem, a repetition, because in the morning the same thing is read? This is because, as I understood for myself, that a priest in the morning, celebrating the Liturgy, at the time when the hours are read, being busy performing sacred actions in the altar, which we will talk about a little later, may not be entirely attentive.

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I. SEQUENCEVESSELSEVERYDAY

Entering the Altar, the clergyman first of all applied to the Holy See. Makes two earthly a bow before kissing him and a third after. Having put on the epitrachelion and handrails, the priest, together with the deacon, also already dressed, remove the veil from the Altar and place a lit icon lamp in front of the Tabernacle.

Evening worship starts at 9:00 a.m.. Convinced that there is a reader, the priest, standing in front of the Thrones and venerating him according to the established custom (with the prayer “God, cleanse me a sinner”, after signing himself twice with the sign of the cross before the application and the third time after), gives the first exclamation to start the service: “ Blessed be our God…” The next two exclamations of the 9 o'clock: "For Yours is the Kingdom..." (according to Our Father) and "God have mercy on us..." (before the final prayer of the hour) are also given from the Altar.

At the end of the 9 o'clock, the priest puts on a phelonion and gives an exclamation for the beginning of Vespers no longer in the Altar, _a on the pulpit, proclaiming the same words: "Blessed is our God."

After the exclamation he stays on the pulpit for reading seven lamp prayers, laid down at Vespers. In this case, the kamilavka (hood) is removed. The clerk keeps for this purpose with him.

With a cry for Vespers, the deacon or subdeacon opens the veil of the Royal Doors (slowly).

7. At the exclamation of the priest, the reader of Vespers says: “Amen” and begins it directly with the words: “Come, let us bow down * ..” (Thrice), then psalm 103 “Bless the Lord, my soul.”

8. At the end of the reading of Psalm 103, the deacon, leaving Altar Sever these doors on the pulpit, steps on it to pronounce the Great Litany (peaceful). According to custom, before he proceeds to the Great Litany, and the priest, To having finished reading the lamp prayers, return to the altar, both first make the triad of the sign of the cross with bows to the altar and then end with a bow to each other.

9. At the end of Psalm 103, the deacon pronounces the Great Litany (not hastily, waiting for the end of the singing of the choir: “Lord, have mercy.” The orarion pulls at a level no lower than his forehead).

10. The priest, returning to the Altar through the South door, takes his place, i.e. before the throne. According to custom, upon his return, he is applied to the throne, signing himself with the banner of the cross.

11. Deacon at the pronunciation of the Great Litany at the 5th petition:

"O great Lord... after obedience to the name of His Holiness the Patriarch."

12. The last petition of the Great Litany for the deacon is:

"Most Holy, Most Pure ...". However, he stands on the pulpit until the priest finishes the final exclamation: "As it befits ...".

13. At the “Lord, I have called,” the deacon performs incense (full) of the Altar and the entire temple *

Taking a blessing from the priest for incense from the High Place, the deacon makes it, starting with:

a) Holy See (from 4 sides), undertakings

b) mountainous place

c) The right and left sides of the Altar

d) Icon - above the Royal Doors

e) mountainous place)

f) Primate (serving priest)

f) Those present in the Altar (on the right and left sides).

If a bishop is present in the Altar, the deacon makes him incense (thrice) and before serving the priest. If and (According to the Typicon, at the end of the Great Litany, an ordinary kathisma is read) two deacons go to censing, they respectively divide the entire censing into two parts - one on the right side of the Altar and temple, the other is on the left. Moreover, the primate is censed together, at the same time (also the bishop). Then the censing of the two deacons should be rhythmic, not discordant. At the end of the censing of the Altar, the deacon goes through the North door to the pulpit and continues the censing of the temple. At the beginning he censes:

a) - Royal Doors

b) - The right side of the iconostasis ‘

2) -- Left

d) - Chorus (right and left)

e) - A reader dressed in a surplice

e) - People (from right to left)

f) - The icon on the lectern, which is in the middle of the temple

3) - The right side of the temple from the transitions to the left

i) - with the return to the pulpit again incense produces local icons- Savior and Mother of God, This ends the censing of the temple. Through the southern doors, the deacon enters the Altar, where all incense is completed on "Lord, I have cried." The end of it is this: again the deacon censes the throne from the front, then passes to the High Place, from where he censes the serving priest. Gives the censer to the sexton. With him, the deacon is baptized, both bow first to the primate, and then to each other, and disperse to their places.

14. At the “Quiet Light,” the priest and deacon move from their place on the Mountain. Departure from the throne is usually preceded by the signification of the cross (twice), the kissing of the holy meal, another sign of the cross (third) and a bow to each other. At the High Place, the clergy again cross themselves and bow to each other.

15. From the High Place, facing the altar, the priest after the deacon's exclamation "Let's go" with the words "Peace to all" overshadows with a cross-blessing hand (name with fingers) praying in the temple. Usually, a serving priest before “peace be with all” makes a bow to his fellow servants, and under a bishop he refrains even from overshadowing his hand.

16. After “Quiet Light,” the deacon pronounces the daily prokeimenon (according to the Service Book), having previously bowed to the priest.

17. At the end of the Prokimen, the clergy are baptized at the High Place, bow to each other and retire to their former places. In the same place, standing in front of the throne, they are baptized again, kiss it and end with a bow to each other.

18. After "Vouchify, Lord," the deacon creates a petitionary litany on the pulpit. According to custom, before leaving, he goes to the High Place, is baptized, bows to the priest, and always comes out through the North Doors. In response to the exclamation of the priest “Peace to all,” it is customary for the deacon to go to the local icon of the Savior. At the end of the priest’s exclamation: “Be strong,” the deacon enters the Altar through the southern gate and from the High Place, crossing himself, bows to the servant and again takes his place (on the right side of the priest).

19. During the Litany of Petition, the clergyman reads (in secret) a prayer and gives with attention exclamations, according to the Missal.

20. According to “Now you let go” and “Trice Saints”, according to “Our Father”, the priest utters an exclamation: “For yours is the Kingdom.”

21. After singing the troparion, the saint (or saints) with the Theotokos is supposed to litany, which the deacon pronounces from the pulpit in the same statutory rules for leaving the Altar and entering it.

The litany ends with the exclamations of the priest: "Yako Merciful.,." Following this exclamation, the deacon, standing on the ambo, pronounces “Wisdom” and then goes to the Altar, observing all the rules of entry.

22. The priest ends the evening service with an exclamation:

“Syi’ blessed…”. The choir sings: “Amen. God bless…”

PECULIARITIES IN HOLY SERVICES AT POLYELEIUS AND ALL-NIGHT SERVICES.

Beginning of evening worship with polyeleum the same as at the daily vespers (i.e., 9 o'clock, the exclamation to vespers is given on the pulpit, the reading of Psalm 103, during which the priest reads the Luminary Prayers in front of the Royal Doors and then the Peace Litany.

2. Start IN e lyric vespers at the all-night vigil it is performed as follows:

At the end of 9 o'clock, the clergy put on:

the priest in an epitrachelion, handrails and phelonion, and the deacon in a surplice with an orar (hieromonk instead of a phelonion in a mantle and epitrachelion), stand in front of St. Throne, the church veil is opened, then the Royal Doors and make three bows from the waist, kissing St. Gospel (priest only) and Throne.

3. The deacon, taking the censer from the sexton, gives it to the priest with the words: "Bless, Master, the censer."

Blessing the censer with the prayer: “The censer to You, we bring…” the clergyman takes it to complete censing, those. Altar and the whole temple.

4. Burning begins with the fact that the deacon, taking a large (deacon's) candle, stands on the High Place, and, having bowed to the priest, goes everywhere ahead of the censing priest. First, they incense the Throne of 4 sides, then the High Place, the right side of the Altar, the left, the icon above the Royal Doors, the clergy in the Altar, standing on the right side of the Throne, then on the left. Here the full incense is interrupted. The deacon remains in the High Place. The priest, bypassing the Throne (from the north side), stands in his place, i.e. before the throne.

5. Great Vespers begins with the deacon's exclamation: "Arise," facing the people, which he pronounces on the pulpit, holding his candle in his hands.

6. The priest, after singing the choir: “Most Holy Master, bless,” pronounces the initial exclamation at the All-Night Vigil: “Glory to Syatya, the One Existing, Life-Giving and Inseparable Trinity, always now and forever and forever and ever,” marking St. cross at the words: "always now and ever and forever and ever."

7. In the Altar, it is customary to sing with the clergy: “Come, let us bow down and fall down ...” (4 times), after which the choir sings Psalm 103, during which the servants burn the entire temple (continuing it from the Altar). First, the Royal Doors are incense (right and left wings); they go out to the solea, the deacon takes a place to the right of the priest, and the whole church is incense: they burn the right side of the iconostasis, then the left; from the pulpit, all those praying in it are incensed: first, the right choir, then the left, the reader, and in a circle (from right to left) of all the upcoming people. At the end of the censing of the parishioners, the clergy go around (on the south side) with the censing of the entire Temple, i.e. the icons placed on all the walls of the temple are incense, including those that are placed to the celebrated saints on the lecterns. Burning ends at the Royal Doors, i.e. First, local icons are censed - the Savior and the Mother of God, they enter the Altar, censing St. Throne, the priest censes the deacon, the deacon, in turn, the priest and the Royal Doors are closed.

8. The deacon, having taken the blessing from the High Place with a bow of his head from the priest, goes through the northern doors of the Altar to the pulpit, from where he pronounces peaceful litany, that at Vespers.

9. At the evening service with a polyeleos and a vigil, sing the psalm "Blessed is the husband"(I antiphon of the 1st kafiza), which is performed immediately after the exclamation of the priest: “As it befits ...’

10. If there is a second serving deacon at Vespers, he must go to the pulpit in advance, i.e. at the end of the Peace Litany, so that after "Blessed is the husband" to pronounce the first small litany: "Packs and packs ...".

Usually, when the second deacon enters the solea, the first deacon leaves the pulpit to the local icon of the Savior (stands opposite) and there he ends his litany, bowing to the deacon who has come out, who also bows back’

11. At the singing of "Lord, I have called," the deacon, already alone, without a priest, performs the rite of the Altar and the entire church (according to the order described above).

12. At the festive services of Vespers, the Evening Entrance (scarlet) is always performed with a censer (in Great Lent with the Gospel, as well as in the rank of hierarchal service) on and “and now” the deacon opens the Church Gate. takes a censer from the hands of a censer left hand... He takes the censer in his right hand. Having asked for a blessing from the priest, they go to the high place, cross themselves to it, bow, bow to each other and wait further.

The deacon proclaims, "Let us pray to the Lord."

13. On the “Glory” that comes after the stichera on “Lord cried out”, a chandelier is lit in the Altar and in the temple, as well as candles on the throne. With the singing of “And now,” the Royal Doors are opened and the Small Entrance begins. The clergy, crossing themselves twice with bows, kiss St. Throne, and again baptized a third time, believing topics start of entry.

14. The deacon, taking the censer from the sexton, takes a blessing on it from the priest and goes with the attendant to the High Place, where he proclaims: "Let us pray to the Lord." The priest, starting from the High Place, reads (in a low voice and by heart) a prayer for the Entrance: "Evening, and morning, and noon ...". A priest with a lit candle should go ahead of the clergy.

From the High Place, everyone goes from the Altar through the Northern Doors, stops in front of the Royal Doors - the priest is in the middle, the deacon is a little to the right, censing local icons, i.e. icons (of the Savior and the Mother of God) and the priest himself. The candle-bearer stands on the salt at the icon of the Savior. Having finished incense, the deacon, holding the orarion with three fingers, shows them to the east - he says to the priest: "Bless, Lord, the Holy Entrance." To which the priest answers, blessing the east with his right hand: “Blessed is the entrance of Thy Saints…”. The deacon quietly replies: “Amen,” and incenses the priest briefly. At the end of the stichera on "And now," he stands in front of the priest. in the middle of the Royal Doors, and inscribed with a censer of St. cross, proclaims: "Wisdom, forgive." Entering the Altar, the deacon censes St. throne (from all sides), waiting for the entrance of the priest at its northern side, from where he should crap the minister at his entrance to the Altar. The priest, however, first enters the Altar, as he kisses St. icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, which are on the Royal Doors. Moreover, after worshiping and kissing the icon of the Savior, he must bless the priest-bearer.

Entering the Altar, both clergy are baptized together, kissing St. throne and ascend again to the High Place. There they cross themselves again, bow to each other and turn to face the worshipers in the temple and the Altar. With this, the deacon stands nearby, to the right of the priest. It is recommended that clergymen stand in the High Place (also sit), not in the center, but slightly to the side.

15. From the High Place, the priest, having previously made a bow to the standing clergymen, after the deacon's proclamation; "Let's pay attention", blessing all those praying in the temple with a cross and says: "Peace to all." The deacon speaks from the service Prokimen with verses. At the end of the Prokimen, the reading follows. proverbs. The royal gates are then closed.

If the proverbs are of New Testament content, it is customary to leave the Royal Doors open. During the reading of proverbs, the priest is supposed to sit there in the High Place. The deacon usually oversees the reading and stands near the altar.

The reader of proverbs conforms to the pronouncements of the deacon, who pronounces “Wisdom” and “Be attentive” before each proverb.

After reading paroemias, the clergy return from the High Place to the throne; according to the order, they are first baptized in the High Place, then, going up to the throne, bow to it again, kissing its edge. Evening Entry is over.

16. The deacon, following the reading of the passages, pronounces the Augmented Yecte nyu on the pulpit. To start it without pauses it is necessary for him to go to the salt at the end of the reading of the soarings (that is, a little earlier than the end itself).

The petitions of the litany speak slowly, clearly, patiently waiting for the end of the singing of the choir: Lord, have mercy (three times).

17. After the exclamation of the priest: “Yako Gracious”, it reads: "Goodbye, Lord".

18. Following the reading, the deacon says Pleading litany in at the end of which the priest (secretly) reads the prayer of head bowing.

lithium It is served only on holidays at the service with the All-Night Vigil.

19. The exit to Lithia comes from the Altar to the narthex of the temple:

the priest performs the Litiya in an epitrachelion and a skufia or kamilavka (if he has it as a reward). The clergy, standing in front of the altar, cross themselves twice, kiss its edge, cross themselves again, bow to each other, laying the foundation for the exit.

The deacon takes the blessing on the censer.

20. The clergy exit the Altar through the north door. Standing in front of the Royal Doors, crossing themselves, they bow to each other and go to the narthex, preceded by the priest-bearer. At this time, the choir sings stichera in Litiya. The sexton wears out a lithium table with bread in the middle of the temple.

The deacon remains on the salt, from where he begins a small incense, i.e. censes the iconostasis, the festive icon on the lectern, the priest, the choir and the worshipers. The censing ends in this way: after censing the people, the deacon performs a brief censing of the local icons - the Savior and the Mother of God, then censes again the festive icon on the lectern, approaches the priest, censes him (triads), gives the censer to the sexton and stands in front of the priest in front of the lithium candlestick, for recitation of the four litanies.

21. At the end of the litanies, the deacon stands next to the priest (on the right), who pronounces the exclamation “Hear us, God ...” and the prayer: “Vdadyko, Many-merciful ...” At the same time, the clergy stand with an uncovered head”

22. At the first litany, "Save, O God, Thy people," and at the litia prayer of the priest, "Lord, Many-merciful ...", the revered saints of the temple are commemorated, the saints to whom the thrones in it are consecrated, and such saints who serve the All-Night Vigil.

23-24. On the second litany, the deacon adds a petition for the ruling bishop: “and for our Lord, His Eminence…..” In the same litany, after the words: “for every soul of Christians…

25. At the third request, the deacon says: “We also pray that this city and this holy monastery and every city will be preserved ...”.

26. The Litiya ends with the prayer of the priest “Vladyka Many-merciful…”.

The clergy, having crossed themselves, and having bowed to each other in the forefront of the priest-bearer, return from the porch to the temple, approach the lithium table with bread; and stand before him. The candle of the candle-bearer is placed on the table. Arriving in the middle of the temple, the servants again cross themselves and bow to each other.

27. At this time, the choir sings verses on verse, which end with the reading: "Now you let go ..." and the Trisagion.

28. After the exclamation of the priest: “For as Yours is the Kingdom”, the Tropari are sung, according to the Charter, during which the royal enemies are opened, censing of the lithium table.

It is done like this: IN taking a blessing from the priest on the censer, the deacon censes all sides of the table three times, then censes the festive icon, the priest (if the cathedral of ministers, then all those serving in it), again censes the bread on the table from the front side, the upcoming minister and, giving the censer to the sacristan, stands next to the primate, exclaiming: "Pray to the Lord."

29. The blessing of the loaves is performed by the clergyman with a special prayer: "Lord, Jesus Christ our God ..." with an uncovered head.

Before the words: "Bless yourself ..." he crosswise overshadows the substances with one of the loaves. When listing substances, he points to them with his hand, drawing the sign of the cross in the air.

30. After blessing the loaves, the clergy, having crossed themselves and bowed to each other, go to the altar, entering (if the cathedral) through the northern and southern doors. At this time, the 33rd psalm is sung. At the end of the singing, the primate overshadows all those praying with the cross with the words: “The blessing of the Lord is upon you ...” Choir: Amen.

Here ends the Great Vespers with the All-Night Vigil.

31. If the service is with polyeleos, then there is no lithium according to custom. According to “now you let go” and “Trice Saint”, the dismissal troparions are sung, according to the Charter, i.e. the troparion of the celebrated saint and "Glory, and now ..." Theotokos from the festive troparions (application 3). After singing the troparia, the deacon proclaims: "Wisdom", chorus; "Most holy lord, bless." Priest: “Blessed be you…” Choir: “Affirm, O God,” and the vespers service ends with the polyeleos.

“U T P E H I”

(Description of the rites concerning the priest and deacon)

Beginning of Matins

1. When Matins, daily or festive, is performed as part of the All-Night Vigil, it has a full beginning. The priest, dressed in a phelonion, and the deacon in a surplice, stand before the Thrones. The deacon receives the censer from the sexton and opens the veil of the Royal Doors. Then the priest and the deacon are baptized twice (with bows from the waist), kiss the throne (the priest is the throne and the gospel), are baptized a third time and bow to each other.

2. The deacon gives the censer to the priest, saying: "Bless the censer, lord." The priest reads the prayer, blesses the censer, and accepts it from the deacon. Then, having depicted with a censer the sign of the Cross (in front of the Thrones), he utters an exclamation: Blessed be our God.

3. While the reader reads the initial prayers and the double psalm, the priest performs a complete incense of the altar, the temple and those present: in them. At the same time, the priest the reader should make sure that the exclamation “As Yours is the Kingdom” was uttered “in the middle of the temple (in front of the Royal Doors). At the exclamation, the priest censes, in conclusion, local priests, enters the altar and stands in front of the throne. Here, at the end of the troparions, with a censer in his hand, he pronounces an abbreviated special litany.

(When passing the censer, the deacon always kisses the priest's hand. He does the same when he takes the censer).

4. After the singers have performed “Bless the Father in the name of the Lord,” the priest utters an exclamation: “Glory to the Holy, Consubstantial, Life-giving and inseparable Trinity, always, now and forever and forever and ever” and at the same time; depicts the meaning of the Cross (before the Throne) with a censer. Shaking the front part of the Throne three times, he also censes the deacon standing next to him and gives him the censer. The deacon, in turn, censes the priest (from the High Place), then both of them are baptized and bow to each other. The deacon, having given up the censer, retires to his place (to the right of the priest).

Six Psalms

5. During the performance of the first half of the Six Psalms, the priest, standing at the Throne with his head uncovered, reads the morning prayers (from I to 6). After reading the three psalms of the Six Psalms, the priest worships before the Throne, then! bows to the priests, who is in the altar, (in the presence of the bishop - bows only to him) and . exits through the north door to the salt). Standing in front of the Royal Doors, he is baptized once and finishes the morning prayers (from 7 to 12).

6. When the reader has completed half of the last psalm, the deacon goes to the High Place, is baptized once; bows to the priest or bishop and proceeds to the salt. When the deacon leaves the altar, the priest goes to the icon of the Savior (to the right of the Royal Doors), and the deacon stops at the icon of the Mother of God (to the left). Here they are baptized triages, bow to each other, and the deacon goes to the pulpit to pronounce the litanies, and the priest goes through the south door to the altar to the Throne. Having taken his place, the priest is baptized once, kisses the Gospel and the Throne, and is baptized again (and also bows to the bishop, if he is present at the altar).

(At Matins, as part of the All-Night Vigil, the entire preceding part is absent. At the end of Vespers, the Royal Doors are closed. The priest and deacon bow before the throne, then bow to each other. The priest takes off his headdress and begins to read the morning prayers (before the Throne). In this way, bows are made before leaving the altar and on all other occasions ).

Great litany ; "God Lord"

7. During the pronunciation of ‘litany, the deacon raises the folded end of the orarion in front of him, holding it approximately at eye level. After each petition, the deacon (as well as the priest) is baptized and makes a bow from the waist (this is done on all ektiny). B the conclusion of the priestly exclamation, in the words of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, "there is also a sign of the cross and a bow from the waist.

8. “God is the Lord” subsided, as well as the petitions of the litanies, should be pronounced clearly, intelligibly, slowly (but not stretching) and always separately from the choir. After the performance of the last verse on “God is the Lord”, the deacon is baptized and bows before the Royal Doors and goes to the altar. Having bowed to the High Throne and the priest (or the bishop), he takes his place. (He does the same when pronouncing the prokeimons and any other exclamations, for example: “wisdom”, “Let us pay attention”, “Let us bow our heads to the Lord”, etc. In the same way, prostrations are made after returning to the altar and in all other cases).

Kathismas.

9. At kathisma, the priest and the deacon stand at the Throne, listen attentively to the psalms and, in the appropriate places, make the sign of the cross, and while singing “Alleluia (between the Glories”), bow down.

Polyeleos

10. At the beginning. the reading of the sedals according to the kathisma, all the clergy, who are to go to the polyeleos, gather at the Throne and are arranged according to their rank. After the performance of the sedals, the deacons open the Royal Doors, then all the clergymen are baptized twice, kiss the Throne, baptized a third time, bow to the primate (or bishop) and leisurely come from the altar through the Royal Doors. The primate walks ahead, followed by priests and deacons in pairs. The primate goes to the middle of the temple (bypasses the lectern on the right side) and stands facing the altar (opposite the festive icon) on the place (carpet) prepared for him. To the right and to the left of him (by rank) are the rest of the clergy.

11. After everyone takes their places, the priests and deacons turn to face the altar, cross themselves once and make a bow to the primate. The protodeacon takes the censer from the sexton and, going up to the celebrant, says: “Bless the Lord, censer.” The primate reads a prayer and blesses the censer, then accepts it from the protodeacon. At this time, another deacon gives the primate a candle. Candles are given to other priests in the same way, with one deacon handing out candles on the right side, the other on the left (during the presentation of candles, the deacon kisses the priest's hand). Finally, two senior deacons receive large (deacon) candles from the sexton and stand between the lectern and pulpit face to the leader.

12. After the distribution of candles, all the clergy, standing in their places, await the end of the polyeleos psalms. Then everyone crosses themselves towards the altar, bows to the primate and sings the glorification of the holiday. While the magnificence is being sung, the primate censes from his place towards the festive icon. After the clergy performs the magnificence, the primate bows to his co-servants and goes to the icon of the feast for incense.

13. Incense is performed in the following order. First, the primate censes the icon of the holiday from four sides. When he shakes the icon from the left side, both deacons (who are at that time to the right of the lectern), ahead of the priest, go to the Royal Doors. The priest follows them. Then they enter the altar and continue burning incense in the usual manner: the altar and those present in it, the iconostasis, the clergy who went out to the polyeleos, the right and left kliros, the people, then the whole temple; after the burning of the temple, the local icons and the icon of the holiday are again burnt”

(On Sundays, immediately after the distribution of candles, when two senior deacons stand with candles at the lectern, the primate bows to the priests serving him and goes to the lectern with the icon of the feast for incense).

14. After that, the deacons remain behind the lectern (standing facing the serving priests), and the primate goes to his place and from there continues to occasionally incense in the direction of the festive icon. And at this time, the clergy in conclusion sings the glory of the holiday. Before the end of the singing of the magnificence, the primate censes the clergy (the deacons, standing with candles behind the lectern, come closer to the primate and stand facing him). Then the primate passes the censer to the protodeacon, who approached him. The protodeacon, in turn, censes the primate and, after censing, together with the second deacon, turns to face the altar (the censers and candles are handed over to the sexton at this moment). At this time, a third deacon becomes next to them. All of them cross themselves towards the altar and bow to the primate. The protodeacon, together with the second deacon, go to their places (to the right and left of the primate), and the third deacon pronounces a small litany (standing at the place where he bowed to the primate),

15. At the last petition, next to the deacon who pronounced the litany, there is a second deacon. Both of them are baptized and bow to the primate, but not immediately after the end of the last petition, but at the exclamation, together with the priest (when pronouncing the words: “Father and Son and Holy Spirit”). After the bow, the third deacon stands to the left of the primate, and the second passes into the altar through the northern doors. Having bowed to the High Place, he stands at the Throne.

(On Sundays, when there is no magnification, the primate, having gone to his place (after incense of the entire church), straightaway censing the clergy..

2) On Sundays, the deacon only goes out to the small litany after graduation troparion according to Immaculate).

Gospel Reading

16. On the third troparion of the antiphons of the degree deacon, who is in the altar, approaches the front of the Altar, is baptized once, kisses the Gospel and the Altar and bows to the primate. Then he takes the Gospel and goes out with it to the pulpit, holding it approximately at eye level.

17. At the end of the antiphons, the protodeacon says: “Let us listen. Wisdom. Let us listen, ”and the deacon, standing with the Gospel, pronounces the prokeimenon. After the prokeimenon, the protodeacon says:

“Let us pray to the Lord,” and the deacon pronounces “Every breath” (with a verse) ”In the words of the protodeacon,“ And be vouchsafed to us, ”the deacon slowly goes to the primate (passes to the right of the lectern) and stops in front of him, lowering the Gospel to his chest (the protodeacon helps to reveal the gospel to him). The protodeacon says: “Wisdom. Sorry. Let us hear the holy Gospel,” and the primate, turning his face to the west, proclaims: “Peace to all,” and blesses the people. Then he turns to face the ayatar, gives the candle to the third deacon, takes off his headdress, passes it to the protodeacon, and takes the candle again. The protodeacon shows him the right conception, and the third deacon says: “Let us listen.” At this exclamation, everyone makes the sign of the cross, and the primate reads the Gospel.

18. After reading the Gospel, the predecessor crosses himself, kisses the opened Gospel, gives the candle, takes the headdress and puts it on. The candles held by the clergy are extinguished. The deacon, having closed the Gospel, takes it to the Throne. Then he is baptized (once), sings the Gospel and the Throne, bows to the primate and stands near the Throne in the usual deacon's place. Two priests bowing with him, reading the canon. When the deacon places the Gospel on the Throne, they leave the ranks of the serving priests and, having bowed (together with the deacon) to the primate, they go to the altar through the Royal Doors. There they kiss T Throne (side) filming Felony and wait for the exit at the end of the prayer "Save, O God, Thy people."

19. After the position of the deacon of the Gospel on the Throne (or on the lectern - on Sundays!) the protodeacon, at the end of the sticheron according to the 50th psalm, stands in front of the lectern '(slightly to the side), is baptized once towards the altar, bows to the primate and goes on the salt to the icon of the Savior. Here he says the prayer "Save, God, the people are" Yours ".

20. After reading about half of this prayer, the priests in the altar, reading the canon, and the deacon (who bore the Gospel) approach the Throne (on both sides), are baptized once, kiss the Throne, are baptized again, leaving through the side doors on salt and stand facing the iconostasis, waiting for the end of the deacon's prayer. Then everyone standing on the salt crosses themselves and bows to the primate together with the protodeacon. The protodeacon and the deacon are blown into their places (next to the priest), and the priests who read the canon, having bowed to each other, remain on the salt, near the lecterns with books.

(On Sundays, after reading the Gospel, it is not taken to the altar. The deacon goes with him to the pulpit, turns to face the people and, raising the Gospel (as on a treadmill), holds it until they sing “The Resurrection of Christ who saw.” Then he goes to the lectern, puts the Gospel on him, is baptized once, kisses the Gospel, is baptized again, bows to the primate and goes to his place (to the right or left of the primate). Together with the deacon, two priests are baptized and bow: a, reading the canon. Having bowed, they go into altar).

Anointing of St. oil

21. At the exclamation of "Mercy and generosity," the primate bows to his fellow servants and goes to the lectern with the icon of the feast (or with the Gospel). Here he makes two bows from the waist, taking off his headdress, kisses the icon (or the Gospel), takes the brush from the sexton and anoints himself with St. oil, then puts on a headdress, is baptized a third time and stands to the left of the lectern (facing south).

22. The rest of the priests approach the icon in pairs and, like the primate, worship and anoint themselves with oil. When the priests accept the brush from the primate (or pass it to him), they mutually kiss each other's hand. The rest of the priests do the same in relation to each other. After the anointing, the priests bow to the primate, then to each other and go to the altar through the Royal enemy. At the Throne they are baptized once, kiss the Throne (from the side), are baptized again, bow to each other, etc. take off their sacred clothes. The serving priest remains at the Throne in vestments. He stands at the side until the celebrant enters the altar after the end of the anointing.

23. After the priests, the deacons approach the prelate. They make the same prostrations that I do priests. After the anointing of the deacon kiss T the right hand of the primate, bow to him and enter the altar.

24. After the servants, non-serving clergymen approach the primate according to their rank. They act in the same way as employees. They only go out and return to the altar through the side doors. The lower clergy and the people follow the clergy. Priests reading the canon usually approach the anointing after the 6th ode (this is the most convenient moment). According to the last troparion, they stand in front of the Royal Doors, are baptized once and go to the anointing. Upon their return, they are also baptized once at the Royal Doors, bow to each other and go to the lecterns.

25. When anointing, the primate (as well as any priest who performs the anointing) must carefully immerse the brush in the holy. oil and just as neatly portray the sign of the Cross on the forehead of the one who approached with the pronunciation of the words "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." After anointing, the priest should not remove his hand, but give the opportunity to the one who comes up to him for anointing to kiss it. But if a person does not intend to kiss the priest's hand (and this happens quite often!), then there is no need to force him to do so.

26. The priest must ensure that the veneration of the icon and the anointing of St. with oil it happened reverently and in order. Don't rush people and don't rush yourself.

27. At the end of the anointing, the ancestor passes the brush to the sacristan, worships before the icon and . goes to the altar. On Sundays, going to the altar, he takes the Gospel. At the pulpit, he turns his face to the west, crosswise overshadows the people with the Zvangelia, and, entering the altar, lays the Gospel in the usual place. The deacons close the Royal Doors, and the primate, having bowed to the Throne and the serving priest, departs and takes off his sacred clothes. The serving priest takes his place before the Throne.

Incense on the Most Honest

28. On the seventh or eighth ode of the canon (depending on the number of troparions performed), the deacon takes the censer and, having received a blessing (from the High Place) from the serving priest, burns the altar and those present in it. When singing “We praise, bless,” he comes out through the northern door and censes, starting from the Royal Doors, the right side of the iconostasis. By this time, the readers of the canon should go to the kliros.

29. At the end of the katavasia, the deacon, standing at the icon of the Mother of God (to the left of the Royal Doors), proclaims: “We will exalt the Theotokos and Mother of the Light in songs,” while he marks the kadal cross-shaped. The headdress is removed before the proclamation. All the clergy and monks do the same, and so they stand until the end of the "Most Honest". Incense before the icon of the Mother of God, the deacon continues until ....? Then the deacon censes the left part - the iconostasis, the festive icon on the lectern and the primate. doing the anointing. Returning to the pulpit, he censes the readers of the canon, the right and left choirs, and the people. Then he burns the whole temple incense. Passing through the temple, the deacon burns all the icons and from time to time makes stops for worshipers to burn (in places convenient for him). The end of censing is normal.

Great Glory.

30. In holidays while singing the stichera on “And Now”, before the Great Doxology, the deacon opens the Royal Doors. At the end of the stichera, the priest pronounces the exclamation: “Glory to Thee who showed us the light” and makes a bow before the Throne. At the doxology, the priest, together with everyone, makes three waist bows with the words “Blessed be Thou, Lord, teach us Thy justification.” He does the same at the daily Matins, when the doxology is read.

litanies

31. On feast days, in order to pronounce the special and petitionary litanies, two deacons go to the salt during the singing of the troparion according to the Great Doxology. (At the daily Matins, one deacon proceeds at the end of the doxology to pronounce the petitionary ektinya, the other - to the special litania - while singing the troparion of the dismissal).

32. At the end of Matins, after the exclamation "Wisdom", the deacon, after bowing at the Royal Doors, goes to the altar. (On holidays, this exclamation is pronounced by the senior deacon. After bowing to the altar and to each other, both deacons go to the altar).

End of Matins

33. After the performance of the choir “Affirm, O God,” the deacon closes the veil of the Royal Doors. Then the priest and deacon worship before the Throne and to each other. The priest takes off his phelonion and again stands before the Throne, and the deacons cover the Throne, take off their vestments and during the 1st hour they pray aside.

(On holidays, the priest at the end of Matins pronounces a full funeral on the pulpit. Before going to the pulpit, he bows to the Throne and the priests standing in the altar. When pronouncing an exclamation, in the words “Christ our true God”, he overshadows himself with the sign of the cross (without bowing !) And at the end of the dismissal, he, without crossing himself, bows to the people and goes to the altar. The deacons close the Royal Doors and the veil. Further - everything is the same as at the daily matins).

DIVINE LITURGY

Entrance prayers

I. Before the beginning of the Liturgy, in the morning at the appointed time, the clergy, having prepared the day before for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, come to the temple and, standing before the royal doors, make the sign of the cross three times, make three bows and bow to the concelebrants, and read the entrance, i.e. preparatory prayers for the celebration of the Liturgy (standing with a covered head, in a klobuk, kamilavka or skufi, if it is a reward, - until the reading of the troparion "To Your Most Pure Image ...").

/According to the established practice, a clergyman who has prepared to serve the liturgist enters the altar, according to the Charter, makes two earthly or waist bows in front of the altar, kisses it, makes the third bow, puts on himself an epitrachelion, removes the veil from the altar and exits the altar to the solea through the north door to perform entrance prayers. If several clergy celebrate the Liturgy, then the elder one puts on an epitrachelion, the rest in cassocks.

Deacon: Bless, master. Priest: Blessed be our God... Deacon: Amen. Glory to you our God...

The King of Heaven ... the Trisagion according to the "Our Father". Priest: For Yours is the Kingdom...

Deacon: Amen. Have mercy on us, Lord… ‘Glory: Lord have mercy on us… And now: Mercy doors…

2. The primate, turning to the icon of the Savior during the reading by the deacon: “To Your most pure image ...”, is baptized for the third time. The employees do the same. They are also applied to the icon - the Mother of God during the reading by the deacon: "Mercy is the Source ...".

Deacon: Let us pray to the Lord

Priest: Lord have mercy

3. Standing before the royal doors and bowing their heads, the primate and the servant pray:

"Lord, send down your hand..."

4. After saying this prayer, the clergymen bow to each other and, turning their faces to the worshipers, bow to them, make one bow to the northern and southern sides of the salt (choirs of singers), saying: "Forgive and bless, fathers and brethren ..."

Deacon: God will forgive you, honest father, forgive us sinners, and pray for us. And he enters the altar with a prayer: “I will enter into Your house…”.

5. Entering the altar through the southern (right) door after the entrance prayers, the clergy, standing in front of the altar, cross themselves twice, kiss the Gospel, the altar, cross themselves a third time and all bow to the primate, who responds with bows on both sides. After that, they begin to put on sacred clothes. /If the entrance to the altar is made for the first time, then bows before the throne are made not from the waist, but from the ground/.

Deacon's vestments

6. Having folded the surplice, placing the orarion and handrails on it, the deacon approaches the High Place, makes three bows, turning to the altarpiece, saying to himself: “God, cleanse me, a sinner, and have mercy on me.”

7. Going up to the priest and holding the surplice and orarion in his right hand, he says to him, bowing his head: “Bless, master, the surplice with the orarion.”

The priest, blessing, says: "Blessed is our God always, now and forever, and forever and ever."

The deacon answers: "Amen" and kisses the blessing hand of the priest and the cross depicted on the surplice.

8. Having taken off his cassock, the deacon reverently puts on his surplice, puts on the orarion and handrails, kisses the cross on the garment and says the prescribed prayers.

9. Having dressed and washed his hands, the deacon prepares everything necessary for performing the proskomidia: he removes the veil from the altar, lights the lampada, brings the sacred vessels and places them on the altar - paten (on the left), chalice (on the right), an asterisk (in the middle between them). In front of the vessels (closer to oneself) there is a special box for cutting the Lamb and a large spear; on the left are prosphora for proskomidia, on the right (from the drawer) a small spear, a liar, a ladle with a plate, wine and water, cover and air.

Priest's vestments

10. After bowing three times to the high place, the priest, holding a vestment in his left hand, blesses him, saying: “Blessed is our God always, now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen."

11. Kissing the cross on the vestment and putting on, the priest reads a prayer: "My soul will rejoice in the Lord ...". The priest does the same when putting on each sacred garment: he blesses, kisses the cross depicted on it and puts it on.

When vesting before the service of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, prayers are not read, but the priest reverently pronounces with the blessing of each sacred garment: “Let us pray to the Lord. “Lord have mercy,” and dresses.

Having dressed and washed his hands, with the reading of the prayer “I will wash in my innocent hands ...”, the priest proceeds to the altar.

Proskomedia

12. After the bath, the priest and the deacon approach the altar and, having reverently performed three venerations before it, pray: "God, cleanse me a sinner and have mercy on me." They bow to the ground.

The troparion of the Great Heel is read, raising hands.

“Thou hast redeemed us from the oath of the law,” kisses the paten.

"By Your Honorable Blood" - kisses the cup.

“I was nailed on the Cross” - he kisses the star.

“Dig awake” - kisses the shock.

“Immortality has been exuded by man. Save us, glory to Thee" - a lie.

13. Then the deacon says quietly: "Bless, master." The priest proclaims: "Blessed is our God ..." and takes the prosphora for the Lamb with his left hand. With his right hand, he takes a copy and blesses the prosphora three times, touching its edges with the tip of the copy and creates the sign of the cross over the seal with three pronunciations of the words: “In remembrance of the Lord, and God, and our Savior Jesus Christ.

14. And with a copy he cuts the prosphora lying on the plate on its right side (away from itself - on the left) with the words "Like a sheep for slaughter."

/For convenience, it is allowed to turn the prosphora so that its right side faces the right side of the performer/.

Making an incision on the left side (from himself - on the right), the priest says: "I am like the Lamb without blemish, silently shearing Him directly, so I do not open His mouth."

The upper side of the prosphora is incised with the words: "In humility His judgment is taken."

The lower side is incised with the words: “And who is His generation to confess?”

15. The deacon at each incision by the priest of the Lamb says: “Let us pray to the Lord,” holding the orarion in his hand, as when reading litanies. Priest - "Lord, have mercy."

16. After cutting the prosphora, the deacon says: "Take it, master." The priest cuts the prosphora in its lower part and takes out the Lamb from the incised lower and four outer sides of it, pronouncing the words: “As if His belly is lifted up from the earth,” and puts it on the paten with the seal down.

17. Deacon: "Eat, master" (Sacrifice). With these words of the deacon, the priest makes a deep cruciform incision on the underside of the Lamb (before the seal), saying: “The Lamb of God is being eaten, take away the sins of the world, for the life of the world and salvation.” ‘.

18. Then turns (turns) the Lamb with the seal up,

Deacon: Probodi, Vladyko.

At these words of the deacon, the priest pierces the Lamb with a spear on His right side, saying: “One of the warriors, let’s dig His ribs through the hole…”

19. The deacon pours a small amount of water and wine into the ladle, while saying: "Bless, sir, the holy union." Having received the blessing, the deacon pours it into the chalice.

20. The priest, taking the second prosphora, says: “In honor and memory of the Most Blessed Lady ...” Taking out a particle from the prosphora, the priest puts it on the paten on the right side of the Lamb (away from himself - on the left), near its middle, saying: “The Queen appears at your right hand…”

21 The priest, taking the third prosphora, says: “Honest glorious prophet ...” - and separates a particle from the prosphora, placing it on the diskos on the left side of the Lamb (from himself - on the right), closer to its upper part, starting the first row with this particle.

Then the priest says:

b) Holy glorious prophets ... - and, separating the 2nd particle, puts it below the first. The priest then says:

c) Holy glorious and all-high apostles ... - and puts a particle below the second.

Then the priest says:

d) Even in our saints ... - and puts it on the paten, starting the second row with it.

Then the priest says:

e) the Holy Apostle ... - and puts it below the 1st particle of the second row.

Then the priest says:

f) Our venerable and God-bearing fathers... - and puts it below the 2nd particle, finishing the second row.

g) The holy miracle workers and the unmercenary Cosmas and Damian, .. - and puts it at the top, starting the third row with it.

Continuing, the priest says:

h) Holy and Righteous Godfather Joakkma and Anna and St. To day), and all the saints, - visit us with prayers, O God, - * and puts a particle below the first third row. (Usually, other saints are also commemorated here, whose names are not included in the service book).

Then the priest says:

i) Even in the saints of our father John, Archbishop of Constantinople, Chrysostom (or: Even in the saints of our father Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea Cappadocia - if his liturgy is performed), and, having separated the ninth particle, puts it on the diskos, ending with it the third row.

22. Taking the 4th prosphora and taking out the first large particle, the priest says: “Remember, Lord Lover of mankind…*’

Taking out the 2nd large particle from the 4th prosphora, the priest says: “Remember, Lord, our God-protected country and its Orthodox people” - and then, taking out particles from it for the living members of the Church with the words: “Remember, Lord, oh health and salvation of the servant of God, or servants of God (the name of the rivers).

23. All taken out particles of health are relied on the lower side of the Lamb, and two of them - for the Most Holy Patriarch and the diocesan bishop - are relied on above the rest of the particles taken out for health.

24. The priest, taking the 5th prosphora, takes out the particles, saying: “About the memory of leaving ...”

At this time, the priest also commemorates the bishop who ordained him, if he has died. From this prosphora, the priest takes out particles of repose, saying: "Remember, Lord, about the repose and remission of the sins of the servant of God, or the servants of God, the name of the rivers."

Finishing the commemoration, the priest says: “Remember, Lord, and all in the hope of resurrection…”

25. Particles from the prosphora for the repose, he puts on the diskos, below the particles taken out for the living.

26. Finishing the commemoration of the dead, the priest again takes the 4th prosphora and takes out a particle from it for himself with the words: “Remember, Lord, my unworthiness and forgive me every sin, free and involuntary.”

27. The deacon takes the censer, saying: "Bless, master, the censer."

The priest, blessing the censer, reads a prayer:

“We bring the censer to Thee, Christ our God…” The deacon, holding the censer at the level of the altar, says:

"Let's pray to the Lord."

28. The priest, taking an unrolled star, puts it over the censer so that it is fumigated with censer smoke, then places it on the paten over the Lamb, while saying the words: "And come, star of a hundred above, come forth as a Child."

Deacon: “Let us pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy".

29. The priest puts the first veil over the censer and, covering the diskos with it, says: “The Lord has reigned…” Deacon: “Let us pray to the Lord. Cover, my lord."

30. The priest puts a second cover over the censer and covers the chalice (thicket) with it with the words: “Cover the heavens.”

31. Deacon: “Let us pray to the Lord. Cover, my lord." The priest surrounds the censer with air and, covering the diskos and the chalice together with it, says: “Cover us with the roof of Thy krill ...”

32. The priest takes the censer and, having shaken the altar, says three times: "Blessed be our God, good-willed, glory to Thee."

Each time the deacon ends the priest's prayer with the words:

"Always" now and forever, and forever and ever. Amen".

Saying this, the priest and deacon reverently bow at each doxology.

33. The deacon, having received the censer from the priest, says:

“Let us pray to the Lord for the offered Honest Gifts.” The priest, taking the censer from the deacon, reads the prayer of the sentence: “God, our God, Heavenly Bread…”

34. After this prayer, the priest ends the proskomedia with a doxology, saying: “Glory” to Thee, Christ God, our Hope, glory to Thee.”

Deacon: “Glory… and now… Lord, have mercy (thrice). Bless."

35. At the conclusion of the proskomidia, the priest pronounces a short dismissal: “Rise from the dead (only on Sunday, on the seven days, the dismissal begins directly with the words: “Christ, our true God”) Christ, our true God, through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother, who Our holy father John, the Archbishop of Constantinople, Chrysostom, and all the saints, will have mercy and save us, like a Good and Humanitarian.

At the liturgy of St. Basil the Great, the following is commemorated: "... even among the saints of our father Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia." At the end of the dismissal, the priest censes the deacon.

Deacon: Amen. And having accepted the censer from the priest, he censes it.

After that, the priest and deacon bow three times to the Altar, and then to each other. And the deacon performs the ordination of the throne, the altar and the temple, before starting it, pulling back the veil of the royal gates.

Then the priest takes out particles about the living and the dead from the prosphora served by the laity, and he takes out a particle for each of the living and dead separately, and should not be limited to removing one particle for many.

When taking out particles, commemorative books are read by deacons or clergymen.

Incense

IN Church charter it is said that in ancient times censing was performed crosswise. However, in the Orthodox Church tradition, the following custom of incense has become more widespread. The clergyman, holding the censer with three fingers of his right hand at the top of the chains, under the lid that ends the chain (according to another practice, taking the censer by both rings with his index finger), raises it in front of an icon or other sacred object. At the second stroke of the censer, the censer bows his head, and at the third stroke he straightens up. So the triads, incense is performed in front of the icon or another shrine. Incense of the kliros and the people is performed in a similar way.

Reverent priests pay attention to the fact that the censer is not raised too high. So at the burning of the throne and the vessels standing on the throne, so that the action of burning was the offering of incense to the shrine. The forearm should be the least mobile. The old clergymen, teaching the young ones, recommended placing the Missal under the arm in order thereby to bind the too wide movement of the forearm. It helps a lot for the smoothness of incense to make a slight movement of the arm, bending it only at the elbow, as if there is some object in the fingers that makes a vertical movement up and down the plane.

Beginning of the Liturgy

a) It is recommended to complete the proskomidia by the middle of the third hour, so that already at the end of the third or the beginning of the sixth hour the deacon begins to perform the prescribed incense. It is recommended that the primate stand in front of the altar until the exclamation “Through the prayers of our most holy Lord…” after which they immediately begin to pray before the start of the Divine Liturgy.

b) Having made three waist bows, with the prayer “God, cleanse me a sinner”, the primate, raising his hands, prays: “King of Heaven ...”, At this time, the deacon holds an orarion, as during the pronunciation of litanies. Having made the sign of the cross and again raising his hands, the priest continues: “Glory to God in the Highest…” (Twice, without lowering his hands).

Having made the cross sign, the priest finishes:

"O Lord, open my mouth..."

IN) Priest kisses holy gospel, deacon - throne. Lpakon bows his head before the priest as a sign of concelebration and, folding his hands to accept the blessing, says:

"Time to create the Lord ..."

D) A statutory dialogue takes place and the deacon proceeds with the northern vats, and stands in front of the Royal thrice making the sign of the cross with the words:

"O Lord, open my mouth..."

1. Deacon standing in front of the Royal Doors: "Bless, Master."

2. The priest begins the Divine Liturgy with a special solemnity, with an exclamation that is different from all the exclamations of the daily circle of services: “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and ever..”

Wherein. With the Holy Gospel, he marks the image of the cross above the antimension, raising the Gospel to the east, west, north and south. Then he again puts the Gospel on the antimension, crosses himself, kisses the Gospel on the holy throne. All employees also kiss the throne together with the primate.

3. Deacon: "Let us pray to the Lord in peace",

4. Having finished pronouncing the litany, the deacon enters the altar through the southern doors and, standing on the high place together with the primate, is baptized on the icon with the words of the exclamation “To the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit ...”, makes a bow, and with the words “... now and forever and forever centuries” turns and bows to the primate.

5. At the moment of pronouncing the petition “Intercede, save ...”, two deacons go to a high place, are baptized and bow to the image, bow to the primate and to each other, and go to the pulpit. Standing in front of the icons of the Savior and the priest of God, they are baptized with the words “Let us betray Christ our God” all together (including the protodeacon) and perform mutual worship to each other,

small entrance

6. After pronouncing the small litanies, the deacons standing on the solea perform mutual worship and go to the altar to the high place, are baptized, bow to the image, the celebrant and each other and accept the censer from the sexton.

7. After the exclamation of the priest for the denomination of "Amen", the Archdeacon opens the Royal Doors for the small entrance.

8. The priest and the deacon perform a double worship and, according to the established practice, the priest kisses the Gospel, and the deacon kisses the altar, and perform the third worship. Then the priest takes the Gospel, gives it to the deacon, who at the same time kisses the priest's hand and goes to the high place and stands between two deacons holding a censer, facing the primate.

9. All the clergy perform a double worship, kiss the throne, perform the third worship, and at this moment the senior deacon says: “Bless, Master, censer,”

10. Two deacons with censers, "behind them the deacon with the Gospel and the junior priests line up in one row, which is completed by the primate. All come out of the altar through the northern doors. Everyone remains on that side of the salt, on which he stood in the altar before the throne,

II. The deacon with censers, entering the Royal Doors, performs their censing. then they burn the throne, each from his own side, meeting in a high place. At the end, they stand on the sides of the throne, waiting for the entrance of the clergy.

12. The deacon carries the gospel in both hands. Standing in his usual place on the salt, he, together with the primate, bows his head.

13. Then the daacon says quietly: “Let us pray to the Lord,” and the priest reads the prayer of entry to himself. At this moment, the deacon is holding the Gospel on his left shoulder, facing north.

14. At the end of the prayer, the deacon, holding the Gospel in his left hand, and in his right hand an orarion and pointing to the east with his right hand, says to the priest: “Bless, Master, the holy entrance.” The priest, blessing, says: “Blessed is the entrance of the saints ...

15. After that, the deacon gives the priest to kiss the Holy Gospel (and kisses the priest's hand).

16. At the end of the singing, the deacon, standing in front of the priest in front of the Royal Doors, exalts the Gospel, depicting a cross with it, and pronounces in a grand voice: "Wisdom, forgive,"

17. Enters the altar and places the Gospel on the antimension. He is greeted with incense by the deacons who are in the altar.

18. The clergy, while singing "Come, let us worship ..." enter the altar, kissing the icons on the Royal Doors, located on their side. Primate:

A) kisses with the sign of the cross and a bow from the waist the small icon of the Savior, located on the side of the Royal Doors;

b) turns his face to the West and blesses the clergymen;

c) kisses the small icon of the Mother of God on the royal doors, also with the sign of the cross and a bow, enters the altar.

19. Priests entering the altar meet the deacon with incense, being already at the corners of the throne.

20. After the rector enters the altar, all those who have made a small entrance (only now) are baptized (once), again making the sign of the cross with a bow, and kiss the throne.

Trisagion

21. Upon entering the altar, while the troparion and kontakion are being sung, the priest reads the Trisagion Prayer.

22. When the singers finish singing the last kontakion on “and now,” the deacon (having kissed the throne), bowing his head and holding, as usual, with three fingers the orarion, turns to the priest with the words: “Bless, lord, the time of the Trisagion.” Priest. blessing the deacon, aloud pronounces the end of the prayer of the Trisagion hymn: “For Thou art holy, our God, and we send glory to Thee” (according to the practice of MDA), on “Father and Son and Holy Spirit” - the deacon is baptized standing next to the priest, on “now and ever” comes from the Royal Doors to the middle of the pulpit and ends the exclamation, standing facing the worshipers and turning the orarion (from the icon of the Savior) to the icon of the Mother of God and further to the throne, exclaims: “And forever and ever”, enters the altar, kisses the throne and bows to the primate.

23. During the singing of the Trisagion by the choir, the clergy, led by the celebrant, also read the Trisagion three times (the primate does this aloud), while the altar is venerated three times.

24. After that, at the last words “Holy Immortal ...”, everyone venerates the Throne (according to the practice of the MDA), bows to each other and the deacon, turning to the priest, says to him: “Come, master,” and, going around the throne from the south side together with the primate, the orar, pointing to the high place, says: “Bless, lord, the high throne” ”

The priest, approaching the High Place, answers: “Blessed are you on the Throne…”

25. All the clergy make a bow to the High Place, to each other. Then the primate and the deacon stand facing west, towards the worshipers, the rest of the priests sideways.

Reading of the Apostle and gospels

26. At the end of the singing of the Trisagion to "Glory ..," the deacon, reading the Apostle, approaches the throne, is baptized by the orarion and places it on top of the Apostle and approaches the primate for blessing. With a sign of his hand, the primate places it on top of the Apostle.

27. Having received the blessing and kissed the hand, the deacon proceeds through the Royal Doors and stands at the end of the pulpit facing the altar

28. According to practice, it is customary to burn incense at the altar during the proclamation of the prokeimenon, the initial exclamations before which the deacon and priest give strictly according to the Missal. Burning continues during the reading of the Apostle. It is done in full as follows.

Going around the throne on the right side, the deacon performs the usual, incense: first the throne, then the altar. The high place, the right side of the altar, the left, the icon above the Royal Doors, the Royal Doors. The Last Supper (above the Royal Doors), the right side of the iconostasis, the left; enters the altar through the Royal Doors, censes the primate, the clergy, the Apostle reading, the choir, the worshipers, local icons; enters the altar, censes the throne (front side), the primate, and thus ends the censing.

29. During the reading of the Apostle, the priest sits on the south side of the High Place. On one and on the other side of it sit the rest of the priests.

30. At the end of the reading of the Apostle, while singing Alleluaria, the first deacon and the second priest stand in front of the altar, are baptized twice, the priest kisses the Gospel, the deacon altar and the priest gives the Gospel to the deacon, while the deacon kisses the priest’s hand.

31. The deacon with the Gospel goes to the High Place and, turning to the primate, says: “Bless, Vladyka, the evangelist…” The priest, blessing him, quietly says: “God through the prayers of the holy, glorious…”, kisses the Gospel, and the deacon, answering “amen,” goes to a designated place for reading the Gospel.

32. The second deacon, who has read the Apostle, rises from the north side of the throne and, placing the orarion on the Apostle, proclaims: “Forgive wisdom, let us hear the Holy Gospel.”

Behold: If the priest serves alone, then after he has read the prayer before the Gospel, he stands before the altar, the deacon approaches him, bows his head and, pointing to the Gospel (on the altar), says quietly to the priest:

“Bless, lord, the evangelist…”. The priest blesses him: “God with prayers…” and with these words he hands over the Gospel to the deacon without blessing, and again departs to the high place. The deacon, having said: "Amen", bows to the Gospel and, accepting the Gospel from the priest's hands, kisses the priest's hand. The deacon carries the gospel around the throne through the mountainous place. On the ambo, the deacon puts the gospel on his left shoulder, with his right hand spreads the end of the cloak on the lectern, puts the gospel on it and opens it. The second deacon says: "Let us listen."

On Sundays and feast days, the deacon, having received the Gospel from the second priest and, according to custom, making an exit about it to the pulpit, puts the Gospel on the lectern (at the end of the orarion) and, holding it with both hands on the pulpit, proclaims: into the hands of the head and remaining in this position until the end of the primate's pronouncement. The primate from the high place, aloud to those who pray, says: “God through the prayers of the holy, glorious ...” and blesses the deacon.

The priest, at the end of the reading of the Gospel, says to the deacon: “Peace to thee, to the good tidings,” and blesses.

At the end of the reading of the Gospel, the deacon kisses it, closes it, takes the orarion and it from the lectern / with three fingers of the right hand, brings the Gospel to the royal gates and hands it to the priest, or he sets it on the mountainous country of the throne, above the antimension.

Liturgy of the Faithful

The Liturgy of the Faithful is called the third, most important part of the Liturgy, at which the Holy Gifts, prepared at the proskomedia, are transubstantiated by the power and action of the Holy Spirit into the Body and Blood of Christ and are offered as a saving sacrifice for people to God the Father, and then are given to the faithful for communion. The most important sacred actions of this part of the Liturgy:

1. The transfer of the Holy Gifts from the Holy Altar to His Throne, the preparation of the faithful for prayerful participation in the performance of a bloodless sacrifice.
2. The very celebration of the Holy Sacrament with prayerful remembrance of the members of the Church, heavenly and earthly.
3. Preparation for the Holy Communion of the clergy and laity.
4. Thanksgiving for Holy Communion and blessing for leaving the church (leave).

Litany: "Faces of faith, packs and packs.,"

1. During the pronunciation by the deacon of the petition of the pure litany “We still pray for the Great Lord and Father of our Most Holy Patriarch Alexy ... the priests unfold the iliton and antimension from three sides, only the upper side of the antimension remains unfolded.

2. The priests who deployed the antimension, performing this action, make a prayerful bow before the throne and then bow to the primate.

3. The primate, after deploying the first three sides of the antimension, kisses it, and after deploying the fourth side, makes a cross over it with a sponge and, having kissed it, puts it on the right upper side of the antimension.

4. During the exclamation of the priest: “As if under your power,” the Royal Doors open. The deacon, taking the cdilica and receiving a blessing from the primate, reads Psalm 50 to himself, censes St. the throne from four sides, the Holy Altar, the altar, then through the royal doors it goes to the salt and incense the iconostasis; enters the altar, censes the priest and those present; again goes to the pulpit and censes the faces of the worshipers. Having finished incense, according to custom, he stands next to the priest praying before the Holy See.

5. The cherubic hymn is pronounced three times by the clergy, and usually the priest pronounces the beginning of the cherubic hymn to the words: “Like the Tsar”, and from these words the deacon pronounces, and each time at the end of the song, both of them worship once. During the reading of the cherubim song, the priest holds his hands raised up, and the deacon holds the orarion in his raised hand, in the same way. As when reading ektinyas to them. Then the priest kisses the antimension and goes to the Holy Altar: (as usual bowing towards the worshipers) - directly to the left, and the deacon - through the high place.

6. Approaching the Holy Altar, the priest and the deacon reverently pray before him, and the priest finishes the commemoration of the names of health and repose by removing particles from the brought prosphora. Then, taking the censer, the priest censes the Holy Gifts, praying secretly: "God cleanse me a sinner" - 3 times. Then he gives the censer to the deacon.

7. The deacon, having accepted the censer, says: "Take, master." The priest, taking the air with which the paten and chalice are covered, places the air on the left shoulder of the deacon, saying: “Take your hands in the holy place and bless the Lord.”

8. The deacon, holding the censer by the ring with one finger of his right hand (raised up so that the censer falls behind his right shoulder), kneels on his right knee.

9. The priest, taking the daskos and kissing the star on it through the veil, passes the diskos to the deacon. The deacon accepts the diskos with both hands, kisses it from the side, raises it on his head, and departs to the solea through the northern doors.

10. The priest, having kissed the chalice, through the cover, takes it and follows the deacon, he is preceded by the candle-bearer with a candle and stands behind the pulpit. Coming out on the salt, the clergy stop in front of the Royal Doors facing the worshipers, who, while paying homage to the Holy Gifts, bow their heads at this time.

11. After the pronouncement, the deacon departs through the Royal Doors to the altar and, standing on the right side of the Holy See, drops to one knee, holding the diaos on his head.

12. Upon entering the altar, the priest places the chalice on the Holy Throne, on the unwrapped antimension on its right side. Then he takes the diskos from the deacon and places it on the antimension on its left side.

13. After handing over the paten to the priest, the deacon closes the Royal Doors, pulls back the veil, and, returning, stands on the right side of the Holy See.

14. After reading the troparia, the priest removes the covers from the diskos and places them on the upper left side of the Holy See. Then he takes the air from the deacon's shoulder, . censer (which is held by the deacon). Covers discos and chalice with air. After that, taking the censer from the deacon, he censes the Holy three times, saying the Gifts; “Please, O Lord, with Thy favor Zion.” After pooping on the deacon and giving him the censer, the priest asks him about himself: “Remember me, brother and co-servant.” A dialogue takes place according to the service, at the end of which he takes a blessing with a kiss on his hand and goes to the High Place, from where he censes the priest three times, prays to the High Place, gives censer to the sexton and bows with him. After the Great Entrance, the Church begins to prepare those who pray for the acceptance of the Bloodless Sacrifice”

15. The deacon pronounces the petitionary litany:

"Let's fulfill our prayer to the Lord." After the proclamation

"Let's love each other." The deacon, standing on the ambo, makes the sign of the cross, bows, kisses the cross on the orar and proclaims: “Doors, doors.” the wisdom of the Royal Doors. During the burden of singing in chorus “Father and Son and the Holy Spirit…” the priest secretly reads: “I will love Thee, Lord, My Fortress…”, saying this prayer three times and bowing to the throne, kisses the paten and chalice (over the cover), as well as the edge of the throne before himself (according to the established custom, secretly pronouncing the Trisagion at this time). After the kiss, he makes the sign of the cross.

If several priests officiate at once, they kiss the diskos, the chalice, and the Holy See and each other on the shoulder. The elder says: "Christ is in our midst." The younger (priest) answers: "And there is, and will be." . So are the deacons, if their serves several, each kissing his orarion at the place of the image: on it is a cross and each other on the shoulder, saying the same thing as the priests about (In practice, deacons kiss before communion of the Holy Mysteries).

From the day of Holy Pascha until its giving away, the elder (priest or deacon) says: “Christ is risen,” and the younger answers: “Truly, He is risen.”

16. The deacon, standing on the pulpit, makes the sign of the cross, bows, kisses the cross on the orar and proclaims:

“Doors, doors, let us be attentive to wisdom!” At this time, the veil of the Royal Doors opens (and remains drawn back until the proclamation of "Holy to the Holies"). The priest, pronouncing quietly the symbol of faith, shakes the air, shakes the air over the Holy Gifts. When singing the choir "Mercy of the World", the priest takes the air, kisses it, folds it and puts it on the Altar.

17. At the exclamation “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, love. God and the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all,” the priest, turning his face to those who pray, blesses them. At the exclamation "Woe we have hearts," the priest lifts up the "woe" of his hands. .

18. At the exclamation of the priest, “We give thanks to the Lord,” the deacon passes from the southern side of the Holy See to its northern side, kisses him, bows to the priest, and stands at the Holy See with him.

19. The concluding words of the Eucharistic Prayer are pronounced aloud by the priest: “Singing the song of victory, crying out, calling out and speaking.” The deacon, while the priest is pronouncing the words “The song of victory is singing, crying, crying and speaking,” raises the star from the diskos with his right hand (with an orarion that he holds with three fingers) and makes it over the diskos the image of the cross, touching the diskos of each of the four sides of the star: with the words the priest is “singing” on the eastern side and beveling, “cryingly” on the western side, “callingly” on the northern side and “voicingly” on the southern side. At the end of the words of the priest "Victory Song ..." the daacon, having folded the star, . kissing her, lays her down in the upper part of the Holy See. (During the priest’s exclamation “Take, eat: this is My body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins,” the priest with his right hand, palm up and holding his fingers together, points to the Holy Bread , lying on the diskos; the deacon does the same, holding the orarion with three fingers of his right hand.)

21 . This is followed by the exclamation of the priest, “Drink from Her all this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. When pronouncing these words, the clergyman points to the chalice in the same way as he did to the paten before that.

22” The priest proclaims: “Your from Yours offering to You about everyone and for everything.” When pronouncing the words: “Your from Yours offering to You about everyone and for everything”, the deacon, and if he is not there, then the priest himself, having cruciformly folded hands, takes the diskos with his right hand, and the chalice with his left, elevates them above the Holy Throne, and then puts it back in place.

23. The offering of the Holy Gifts during the singing of “We will sing to you…” is followed by their transubstantiation. After the secret prayer of the priest, the priest and deacon bow three times before the Holy Throne, praying for themselves: "God, cleanse me, a sinner, and have mercy on me." Then the priest, raising his hands, prays to the Holy Spirit: Lord, even Thy Most Holy Spirit at the third hour sent down by Thy Apostle, Him, Good, do not take away from us, but renew us, praying to You. After the exclamation of the deacon, both reverently bow before the Holy See.

The exclamations of both the priest and the deacon are repeated two more times, after the exclamations the worship also follows.

24. When the priest blesses the Holy Bread with the words: “And make this bread, therefore, your honorable body of three hundred of yours,” then you should pronounce it like this: “And make this bread (show with your hand) honest (when pronouncing this word, begin with the blessing to make a movement with the hand of grief ) The body (bottom) of Christ (left) Yours (right). Exactly the same with the transubstantiation of wine into Blood (four words, four hand movements for blessing)”

25. The deacon’s words “Bless, Master, Holy Bread”) and “Bless, Master, the Holy Chalice” are accompanied by the display of the Holy Bread and the Holy Chalice by the orarion.

26. When the deacon addresses the priest, “Bless, Master, both,” the deacon points to the Holy Gifts with an orarion. With the blessing of the priest of the Holy Gifts - "Having changed by Your Holy Spirit" (four words, four hand directions). After that, the priest and deacon bow to the ground.

27. Before the exclamation of the priest “Fairly about the Most Holy, Most Pure, Most Blessed, Most Glorious Our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary,” the priest censes the Holy Throne three times. The priest gives the censer to the deacon, who, continuing to burn, burns the Holy See on the other three sides. A mountainous place, altar icons and lays down the censer.

28. The exclamation: “And may the mercies of the Great God and Our Savior Jesus Christ be with all the Baki,” the priest pronounces, turning his face to the west and blessing the faithful.

29. After “the singing of the Lord’s Prayer and the priest’s exclamation, “With grace and generosity and love for mankind, Thy Only Begotten Son, blessed be Thou with him, with the Most Holy, and Good, and Life-Giving Thy ear, now and ever, and forever and ever,” the deacon, standing in front of the Royal Doors, girded with an orarium crosswise.

30. When reading secretly (thrice) the prayer "God, cleanse me, a sinner, and have mercy on me," the priest and deacon do a triple worship. Next, the priest closes the Royal Doors with a veil. After the deacon's words, "Let's go," the priest takes the Holy Lamb and, raising it over the diskos, proclaims:

"Holy to the holy?"

31. After the words of the deacon, “Break the Bread, Master, holy Bread,” the priest reverently breaks the Holy Bread along the incision into four parts, saying softly: “The Lamb of God is broken and divided, crushed and undivided, always eaten and never published, but sanctifying the communion.” . Four parts of the Holy Bread rest on the diskos in a crosswise manner: a particle with the seal of IP - in the upper side of the diskos; particle with seal 1C - on the outside; a particle with the seal Ш — from the north; particle with KA stamp. - from the young side of the diskos. The deacon, pointing with his orarion at the Holy Chalice, says to the priest: "Fill, Vladyka, Holy Chalice." The priest, taking the IS Particle and making it the meaning of the cross over the Chalice, lowers it into the Holy Chalice with the words: "Filling with the Holy Spirit." The deacon answers "Amen" and knocks down the ladle with warmth, saying: "Bless, Master, warmth." After the blessing of the priest, the daacon crosswise pours warmth in the amount necessary for Holy Communion. After that, the priest takes a part of the Holy Lamb with the seal of XC and divides it into particles according to the number of partaking of the clergy. This is followed by a prayer, after which the clergy bow to the ground in front of the Holy See, bow to each other, who are in the altar, and in the direction of the believers who are in the temple, with the words: “Forgive me, fathers and brothers,” and again bow to the ground with the words : "Se. I come to the immortal Give and My God.

32. Priest: "Deacon, approach." The deacon, approaching from the north side, says: “Teach me, Master, the honest and Holy Body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The priest gives the deacon a particle with the corresponding words. The deacon takes the Holy Bread in the palm of his right hand, which lies on the palm of his left; kisses the priest's giving hand and moves to the northern or eastern side of the Holy See, where, bowing his head and holding his hands over the Holy See, he expects (simultaneously with the priest) to read the prayer before Holy Communion. Further, the priest takes a particle of the Holy Bread with his left hand, puts it on the palm of his right, saying: “The Honest and Most Holy Body of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ is given to me (name), a priest, for the remission of my sins and for eternal life.

Having received Communion of the Body of Christ, the priest takes an anti-mince sponge, wipes the palm of his right hand over the diskos with it, and then, taking the Chalice with both hands, partakes of the Divine Blood from it three times. So that not a single drop falls from the Chalice, the communicants use a special fee, one end of which is laid behind the upper edge of the phelonion, and the other end of the fee is taken into the hands of the Chalice. After communion, the priest wipes his mouth and the edge of the Chalice with the same cloth and kisses the edge of the Chalice, saying: “Behold, I will touch my lips, and take away my iniquities, and cleanse my sins,” Kissing the Chalice, the priest says: “Glory to Thee, O God” (three times) . Then the priest gives communion to the deacon,

33. One of the priests divides the parts of the Holy Lamb with the seal of NI and KA into so many particles that it is enough for all the faithful who commune, and lowers these particles into the Chalice, also reading Sunday hymns. Having lowered the particles into the Chalice, the priest covers the Chalice with a cover or veil and puts a liar on it.

34. The deacon opens the veil of the Darsky gates and receives the Holy Chalice from the priest, kissing it, goes out together with the priest to the salt through the Donation of the gate and, raising the Chalice up, says: “Approach with the fear of God and faith” and hands the Holy Chalice to the priest.

35. After the communion of the laity, the priest with the deacon enters the altar. The priest places the Holy Chalice on the Holy Throne, and the deacon, taking the Holy Diskos, reads Sunday hymns.

36. Then the deacon lowers into the Chalice the particles taken from the prosphora lying on the Discos, with the words: “Wash away, O Lord, the sins of those who have attempted here with Thy Honorable Blood by the prayers of “Thy saints.” With an anti-mince sponge, he wipes the Diskos so that even the smallest particles do not remain on it. After lowering the particles into the Chalice, the deacon covers the Holy Chalice with a veil, and puts an asterisk, a spear, on the Discos. a liar, a second cover and boards.

37. During the singing of “We have seen the true light…”, the priest incenses the Holy Gifts three times, saying secretly: “Ascend to heaven, O God, and throughout all the earth is Your glory”; then he gives the censer and the diskos to the daacon, and the deacon carries the diskos to the Holy Altar.

38. The priest, bowing to the Holy Gifts, takes the Holy Chalice, saying softly: "Blessed is Our God," and, turning his face to the people from the Holy Cups, says aloud: "Always, now and ever, and forever and ever." Then the priest carries the Holy Chalice to the Holy Altar, quietly saying: “Ascension to heaven, O God…”

39. The deacon usually meets the priest carrying the Holy Chalice on the Holy Altar with a censer, censing the Holy Gifts, and passes the censer to the priest, who, having placed the Holy Gifts on the Holy Altar, censes, venerating the Holy Gifts.

40. Returning to the Holy See, the priest, having drawn the sign of the cross over the antimension with an antimension sponge and putting the sponge in the middle of it, closes the antimension: first its upper part, then the lower one, after it the left and, finally, the right.

41. After the small litany, the priest, having folded the Antimensus and holding the Holy Gospel vertically, makes the sign of the cross over the Antimensus and says: “For Thou art our sanctification, and to Thee we send up glory, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now. and always and forever and ever." And put the Holy Gospel on the Antimension. After the deacon's exclamation, "Let us pray to the Lord," the priest leaves the altar with the altar through the Royal Doors behind the pulpit and reads the prayer beyond the pulpit. At the end of the prayer behind the ambo, the priest of the Royal Doors® enters the Holy Altar and reads a prayer for the consumption of the Holy Gifts. The deacon (at the same time) enters the northern gate into the Holy Altar, approaches the Holy Throne and, bowing his head, listens to this prayer. At the end of this prayer, the priest blesses the deacon, who, crossing himself, kisses the Holy Altar and goes to the Holy Altar to consume the Holy Gifts.

42. For the consumption of the Holy Gifts, a board is taken, one end of which is laid behind the upper edge of the phelonion or surplice; With its other end, the clergyman takes the Holy Chalice with his left hand, and with the right hand, with the help of a spoon, reverently consumes everything contained in it from the Holy Chalice. Then, rinsing the Holy Chalice with water several times, until not the slightest particle of Holy Bread remains on the walls of the Holy Chalice, he drinks this water as well, wipes the Holy Chalice dry with a sponge, then a spoon (with a cloth) and puts the vessels in their proper place .

43. After the consumption of the Holy Gifts, the deacon, like the priest, reads the prayers for the Holy Communion, undresses, and puts the vestments in the proper place”

44. Having finished the Divine service and having undressed, the clergymen wash their hands and, after bowing to the Holy Throne, leave the Holy Temple, thanking God for deigning them to serve”

Preliminary Instructions for the Rector of the Temple

1. Find out in advance at the Diocesan Office:

– the program for the Bishop’s visit to the parish (it is either determined by the Bishop himself, or, with the blessing of the Bishop, it is preliminarily drawn up by the Dean together with the rector and submitted to the Bishop for consideration);

- the composition and number of persons arriving with the Bishop (protodeacon, subdeacons, etc.);

- the color of the vestments (it is necessary to prepare the appropriate priestly and deacon vestments of the prescribed color, as well as air and covers (for the Liturgy), bookmarks in the altar Gospel and the Apostle, covers for the lectern, etc.);

- the time of arrival of the Bishop. The rector, having learned this time, must inform the invited clergy, clergy of his church, parishioners and representatives of the administration (if they intend to attend the service) the time of their arrival at the church (the clergy no later than 1 hour before the appointed time of the meeting of the archpastor);

– whether there will be a litia (if the Bishop is supposed to serve an all-night vigil);

- the order of the meal.

2. Preparations concerning the choir.

It is necessary to think in advance which choir will sing at the bishop's service. If the temple has its own good choir, then it is necessary to personally check that the regent familiarizes himself with the charter of the hierarchal service and conducts a sufficient number of rehearsals for clear, uninterrupted singing at the service. Otherwise, it is advisable to invite some other church choir that has experience in conducting a bishop's service. The local choir may sing on the left kliros. The rector organizes transport for the invited choir, informs the regent in advance of the time of the choir's arrival at the temple, and provides for a meal for the choir.

The charter of the bishop's all-night vigil is almost no different from the usual rite. Therefore, if the church choir is good, then even if it did not have experience in conducting hierarchical services, it can sing.

3. The Sacrament of Confession for those wishing to partake of Communion at the Liturgy celebrated by the Bishop.

Consideration should be given to the organization of the Sacrament of Confession, which, if possible, should be performed outside the service. If there are many people who want to take communion and it is difficult to complete confession before the beginning of the Liturgy, then you must either appoint a cleric of your church in advance, or invite a priest from another church to conduct the Sacrament of Confession in a place specially designated for this (either in the church itself or in another room).

It is highly undesirable to combine the bishop's service with the performance (even if in the chapel) of other rites, such as the funeral of the dead, a prayer service, the communion of babies after Baptism, the Sacrament of Marriage, etc. In view of the multitude of people, plate collection during the service is undesirable, it follows to abstain so as not to disturb the peace of prayer in the church.

4. Preparation of the premises of the altar and the temple for the bishop's service.

All items in the altar and in the temple must be cleaned and washed.

a) The Holy See:

- the best altar gospel is laid and the foundation is laid. Need to check appearance bookmarks in the altar gospel (as well as in the Apostle);

- if the altar crosses (there should be two of them) differ in their external decoration, then the best of them is placed on the left hand of the primate (the instruction concerns the Liturgy, at the all-night vigil the best cross is placed on the right of the primate). If there are still altar crosses in the church, then they should also be prepared for the Liturgy (preferably on the altar) for the priests to take them out at the great entrance.

b) Altar:

– taking into account the number of clergy serving the Bishop at the Divine Liturgy and partaking of the laity, it is necessary to prepare a proper size prosphora for the lamb. In addition to the usual number of prosphora, two more large prosphora are prepared so that the Bishop can make a commemoration (if several bishops serve, then two prosphora are prepared for each of them);

- it is necessary to have a sufficient amount of church wine;

- you should prepare (if the church does not have it, then borrow it from another parish) sacred vessels of the proper size. If a large number of communicants is expected, then additional chalices, fees and liars must be provided.

c) Altar room:

- there is a tradition to supply a pulpit with a seat for the Bishop in the High Place. It is a kind of elevation on which a person can freely stand. It is recommended to take into account the following circumstance: if the room of the altar is spacious and the distance between the eastern side of the altar (or the seven-candlestick standing behind it) and the proposed pulpit is at least 1-1.5 m, then the pulpit can be arranged. In a small altar, a pulpit should not be made (the indication of a pulpit applies only to the Liturgy);

- if lithium is expected at the all-night vigil, then the best lithium device is prepared. It is necessary to take care of bread, wine, wheat, oil for lithium in advance. Before the service, the lithium device with all the substances should already be ready! It is necessary that there be enough bread to distribute to the people. New candles are handed out to the clergy at the polyeleos. A new candle for the Bishop is inserted into the best hand candlestick. A vessel with oil and a brush are being prepared for anointing the believers. It is advisable to consider in what places and which of the priests, along with the Bishop, will perform the anointing after the polyeleos. The bishop anoints at the main icon of the feast on the pulpit. With a large confluence of people, it will be necessary to put in the temple more lecterns with the icon of the holiday and prepare additional vessels with oil and brushes;

- in the altar, to the right of the primate's place at the inner side of the iconostasis, a seat is supplied. It can be a good chair with a back, or if one is not available, then a good chair. The seat is placed on a small carpet, if the altar is not completely covered with carpets (the instruction applies primarily to the all-night vigil, but it is advisable to organize this for the Liturgy);

- prepare two deacon candles;

- for the Liturgy, prepare the book of the Apostle in the altar, lay the laid conception;

- if, in addition to the protodeacon, one or more deacons are present at the service, then two censers are prepared. Care should be taken to ensure that there is a supply of coal and incense sufficient for the whole service;

- water should be prepared for washing the hands of the Bishop and the clergy (both at the Liturgy and at the All-Night Vigil), as well as for warmth and drinking. If there is no way to heat water in the altar, then it is good to prepare hot water in thermoses (with a margin for warmth and for a drink). If it is possible to heat water in the altar, it is necessary to have a kettle and a supply of water;

– clean towels must be available;

- you should have ladles, a knife for crushing antidoron and prosphora (at the Liturgy) or consecrated bread (at the all-night vigil), and, if possible, small prosphora (at the Liturgy for drinking the clergy);

– if possible, an iron and ironing table (board) should be available (not necessarily in the altar) before the service;

- vestments for the clergy: the rector either warns the invited clergy about the need to come with their vestments of the appropriate color, or prepares in advance (after checking whether everything is available) temple vestments according to the number of clergy serving;

- if the service will take place during the 1st week of Easter or on the holiday of Easter, then you should prepare an Easter three-candlestick with new candles;

- a tray with a cover under the altar cross should be ready.

d) Temple premises:

- at the Liturgy, at the Royal Doors, next to their pillars, two lecterns are supplied, on the right - with the icon of the Savior, on the left - with the icon of the Mother of God (see diagram 1). You don't need to do this during the all-night vigil.

- in the center of the temple, a cloud pulpit for the Bishop is supplied, in modern practice called the pulpit). Its dimensions may be different, but when designing its steps, it is necessary to take into account that it would be easy to get on and off the pulpit and that the Bishop could stand freely on it, as well as the seat standing behind him. The pulpit is covered with a carpet.

- for use at the Liturgy, a seat for the Bishop is being prepared - a chair of medium height without a back. The seat is sheathed with a cover or a cover is placed on it. The seat is supplied to the left of the pulpit (Scheme 1). At the All-Night Vigil, there is no need to place the seat on the pulpit.

- carpets are laid as follows: in the altar, it is desirable to cover the entire space with carpets, or at least the space in front of the throne. The carpet path goes from the Royal Doors (if there is another carpet on the pulpit, then from the pulpit) to the pulpit. The pulpit, if not upholstered in cloth, is also covered with carpet. Further, the carpet path spreads from the pulpit to the porch inclusive. A carpet is laid at the entrance to the main part of the temple (see Diagram 1).

5. About the bell ringing.

Blagovest begins 15 minutes before the expected time of the Bishop's arrival. When the car with the Bishop appears, a chime is heard, which continues until the beginning of the service. During the service, the ringing is made according to the Charter. At the procession - a chime, at stops the ringing stops.

6. Proskomedia.

It is performed before the arrival of the Bishop by a pre-appointed priest and deacon from among the serving clergy. They make entrance prayers, put on all the sacred clothes and perform the full rite of the proskomedia, including the protection of the Holy Gifts and the full censing of the temple. The dean and the rector must personally control that the lamb is prepared in the proper size and that a sufficient amount of the holy compound is poured into the Chalice.

It is safer to appoint an experienced priest to perform proskomidia.

According to the Rule, the 3rd and 6th hours are supposed to be read after the vestment of the Bishop, but, according to the universally established practice, the hours are celebrated before the arrival of the Bishop at the temple. The rector appoints in advance a reader who will read the hours during the proskomedia, and warns him that the petition: “Bless in the Name of the Lord, Father” is replaced by: “In the Name of the Lord (Highly) Most Reverend Vladyka, bless.” Accordingly, the exclamation of the priest: “Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers...” is replaced by: “Through the prayers of our Holy Master...”.

7. Regardless of the ordinal place occupied by the rector in the priestly rank in worship, the rector:

- together with the dean meets the saint at the entrance to the temple (more precisely, at the place where the car stopped). The bishop gets out of the car, blesses the two meeting subdeacons. Then the dean and rector take a blessing from the Bishop. Perhaps the presentation of flowers, a meeting with bread and salt. Usually they are presented by the head of the temple or one of the respected parishioners, or children;

– keeps order in the temple and on the kliros during the service;

- Responsible at the Liturgy for organizing the communion of the laity, appointing priests to crush the particles of the Holy Body of Christ. Priests appointed to break up the Holy Mysteries begin to do so immediately upon their communion;

- at the Liturgy, he brings a drink to the Bishop after Communion, and at the All-Night Vigil at the beginning of the Six Psalms - consecrated bread and wine (prepared by the subdeacons).

- at the Liturgy, coordinate with the Bishop (at the moment when he serves a drink or when he takes a blessing during the sacrament) the procedure for completing the Liturgy. If a procession, a prayer service, a funeral service or the consecration of fruits is supposed, then he is responsible for organizing these rites.

- at the all-night vigil, he is responsible for organizing the anointing of believers after the polyeleos.

Usually, when the Bishop visits churches, the dean of the given district is present. The rector is obliged both before the service and during the service to act in a coordinated manner with the dean, consulting with him and obeying his advice and orders.

Instructions for the clergy

1. All clergy must be in the temple one hour before the arrival of the Bishop.

2. Each priest checks for the presence of his full priestly vestments.

3. At the meeting of the Bishop, priests put on cassocks, crosses and headdresses (hoods or kamilavkas).

4. The veil of the Royal Doors must be drawn back, but the gates themselves are closed.

5. The priest who performed the proskomidia, in full priestly vestments, takes a tray with a cover and places the best altar cross on it, turning it with the handle to his left hand. At the All-Night Vigil, the cross is carried out by the priest, who will begin the All-Night Vigil. In this case, he is dressed in a phelonion, epitrachelion, handrails and a headdress.

6. 20 minutes before the expected arrival of the Bishop, all priests stand to the right and left of the throne in two rows according to seniority of position, awards and consecration. A priest with a cross on a tray takes the primate's seat. The protodeacon and the 1st deacon take 2 censers and a supply of incense, the 2nd and 3rd deacons take the trikirium and dikirion. All the clergy are baptized, applied to the throne and proceed to the salt through the southern and northern doors, respectively. A priest with a cross stands in front of the Royal Doors, the rest of the priests and deacons stand in a row to the right and left facing the Royal Doors. All the clergy cross themselves three times, bow (one row to the other) and walk in two rows along the edges of the carpet path to the entrance to the temple. A priest with a cross walks in the middle of the carpet and stands facing the entrance to the temple at the level of the last pair of priests (if there are a lot of priests, then at the level of 5-6 pairs). The rest of the priests become facing each other (see Diagram 3). The deacons stand after the last pair of priests, in one row, facing the entrance to the temple. All clergy are baptized and bow one row to another. The Rector and Rector go out to the porch, where, together with two subdeacons, they await the arrival of the Bishop.

7. With regard to priestly leadership during worship, the practice is as follows:
The 1st priest can be both the dean and the rector, and, if the dean considers it possible, the oldest priest in terms of awards (consecration). The dean must be sure that this priest is ready to conduct the episcopal service first in the priestly rank.

8. There is a practice of meeting the Bishop at the Liturgy by priests dressed in full vestments. It is justified only in three situations: a) Patriarchal worship, b) when the altar is small in size, and there are many clergy, and it may be very inconvenient to dress all the priests at the same time, c) at the consecration of the temple, since the altar is occupied by objects prepared for consecration .

Bishop's meeting

The bishop enters the temple. The protodeacon proclaims: “Wisdom” and then reads: “It is worthy” (or worthy), “Glory, And now”, “Lord, have mercy” three times, “(Highly) Most Reverend Vladyka, bless.” At this time, the protodeacon and the 1st deacon are constantly censing the Bishop. The dean and the rector take their place in the row of priests. The bishop stands on the eagle and gives the staff to the subdeacon. The bishop and all priests are baptized three times. The priests bow to the Bishop, who blesses them with a common fall. The bishop puts on a mantle.

A priest with a cross on a tray approaches the Bishop. The bishop takes the cross, and the priest kisses the bishop's hand and retires to his former place. All the priests, in turn, in order of seniority, approach the Bishop, cross themselves, kiss the cross and the Bishop's hand, then retire to their places. The priest comes last with a tray, kisses the cross and the hand of the Bishop. The bishop kisses the cross and places it on the tray. The Priest kisses the Bishop's hand, immediately goes to the Altar through the northern doors and places the cross on the altar. This priest does not go to the Liturgy, to the entrance prayers, since he has already performed them before the proskomedia.

The bishop and all the priests are baptized again, and the priests bow to the Bishop, who overshadows them with a common blessing.

Following the All-Night Vigil

After kissing the cross at the meeting, the Bishop proceeds to the pulpit, then leaves it and venerates the icon of the feast. He goes up to the pulpit, turns around and blesses the people on three sides. The priests follow the Bishop in two rows to the pulpit, they do not kiss the icon, standing in front of the pulpit, they bow in response to the blessing of the Bishop. The bishop turns and enters the altar through the Royal Doors, which are opened by the subdeacons. Priests simultaneously with the Bishop enter the altar through the side doors. The bishop and priests venerate the altar and take their places.

At the all-night vigil, the priest who went out to meet the cross enters the altar, places the cross on the altar, goes to the High Place and takes the censer from the subdeacon or protodeacon. The protodeacon enters the altar, gives the subdeacon or priest the censer, accepts the deacon's candle from the subdeacon, and stands next to the priest, to his right. The bishop enters the altar and venerates the altar. The priest, standing slightly to the right of the center of the High Place, asks the Bishop's blessing on the censer: "Bless, (Highly) Most Reverend Vladyka, the censer." Then the priest, preceded by the protodeacon, performs the usual censing of the altar. The bishop censes three times three times. The protodeacon goes to the pulpit and proclaims: "Arise." At this time, all the clergy gather in the High Place. The protodeacon returns to the altar. At the exclamation: “Glory to the Saints...” all the clergy in the High Place, at the sign of the protodeacon, are baptized, bow to the Bishop and sing: “Come, let us bow down ...”. At the end of the singing, everyone crosses themselves again, bows to the Bishop and disperses to their places. The protodeacon gives the candle to the 1st deacon, who walks in front of the priest who performs the full censing of the church.

There is a common tradition when two deacons accompany the censing priest. In this matter, one should be guided by the instructions of the protodeacon.

Upon returning to the altar, the priest censes the altar, moves to the right and stands with the deacon against the Bishop. The priest censes the Bishop three times, the deacon three times, and gives the censer to the deacon. The deacon censes the priest three times, and the priest and the deacon cross themselves, bow to the Bishop, and retire to their places.

The Royal Doors are closed by subdeacons. The protodeacon pronounces the litany of peace. The priest makes an exclamation after the litany, and after the end of the exclamation he bows to the Bishop.

This instruction also applies to all exclamations made by the priest in the service.

After the exclamation of the peaceful litany, the priest, the protodeacon and all the rest of the clergy who are in the altar come under the blessing to the Bishop.

Before going out to pronounce any litany, the deacon is baptized in the High Place and bows not to the priest, but to the Bishop.

The incense on “Lord, I have called...” is performed by a couple of junior deacons. They take the censer, cross themselves in the High Place, turn to face the Bishop, raise the censer, and the eldest of the two deacons says: “Bless, (Highly) Most Reverend Vladyka, the censer.” The bishop blesses the censer. Deacons burn incense according to the usual scheme, the bishop is incense at first three times three times, and at the end of the incense three times.

During the singing of the stichera to: “Lord, I have called ...” all the priests, and if there are many priests, then those to whom the dean instructs, put on stole, cuffs, phelonies and headdresses. At the end of the censing, all the robed priests stand near the throne in two rows according to seniority. The senior priest (usually the dean or rector) becomes the primate.

Evening entry

After the canonarch proclaims: “And now,” the junior deacons open the Royal Doors. All the priests and the protodeacon kiss the altar and go to the High Place. The protodeacon in the High Place receives the censer from the subdeacon. All the priests and the protodeacon cross themselves to the east, turn and bow to the Bishop. The protodeacon takes the blessing on the censer from the Bishop. All the clergy go to the salt. The protodeacon censes local icons, enters the altar, goes to the right, censes the Bishop three times thrice, goes to the Royal Doors and asks the Bishop for his blessing to enter. The bishop blesses the entrance; Next, the protodeacon enters the altar, censes the throne from four sides and gives the censer to the subdeacon. All priests are baptized, bow to the primate and enter the altar through the Royal Doors, each kissing the icon on the Royal Doors, which is on his side. The primate, as usual, kisses the icons at the Royal Doors, but the people do not bless with their hands, but only bow slightly to him.

This instruction also applies to all those moments of the service when the priest is supposed to overshadow the people with his hand.

All priests and protodeacon are baptized, venerate the altar and go to the High Place. At the High Place, all the clergy are baptized and bow to the Bishop. The choir finishes singing: “Quiet light.” The 1st Priest and Protodeacon bow to the Bishop. Protodeacon: "Let's listen." Priest: "Peace to all" (without the overshadowing of the people by hand). The protodeacon proclaims, according to custom, the prokeimenon. After him, all the priests and the protodeacon are baptized, bow to the Bishop and disperse to their places. Subdeacons close the Royal Doors. If there are paroemias, then the protodeacon, standing at the throne, gives the exclamations laid on them. The priest who began the service takes the primate's seat. The rest of the priests put aside their felons and move away from the throne to their places. The service then proceeds as usual.

If a litany is supposed, then at the petitionary litany, all the priests, dressed in stole, handrails and headdresses, stand in two rows on the sides of the throne. The priest who stood at the Throne also lays down the phelonion and takes his place in the row of priests. Two deacons, appointed by the protodeacon, take the censer at the High Place at the subdeacons. The bishop takes the chair. After the exclamation: “Be strong…” the deacons open the Royal Doors. The bishop and all the clergy are baptized twice, venerated to the throne, they are baptized once more, and the hierarch blesses the clergy with a common fall. At this moment, the deacons take the blessing on the censer. The bishop proceeds to the Litiya through the Royal Doors, all the priests and deacons through the side doors. After the Bishop left the altar, the Royal Doors are immediately closed by the deacons. Deacons with censers perform incense.

Regarding the scheme of incense on lithium, practice is very heterogeneous. Considering that we aim to show the practice of the Moscow diocese, we will describe in detail the scheme adopted in the Dormition Cathedral of the Novodevichy Convent. The deacons perform a complete burning of the altar, the iconostasis, the festive icon (three times three times), the Bishop (three times three times) and the clergy (from the middle of the temple), the kliros and the people (from the pulpit), the Royal Doors, the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, the icon of the holiday (three times ) and Bishop (three times). Further, the deacons cross themselves, bow to the Bishop and give the censer to the subdeacon, and they themselves stand in line with the other deacons.

Then lithium goes in the usual rank. At the exclamation of the “Our Father”: “For Yours is the Kingdom...” the subdeacons open the Royal Doors. At the same exclamation, the protodeacon accepts the censer from the subdeacon and asks the blessing of the Bishop for censing. During the singing of the troparion, the protodeacon censes the lithium apparatus around three times, then censes the icon of the feast, the Bishop three times three times, the clergy, then baptizes, bows to the Bishop and gives the censer to the subdeacon. At the end of the prayer for the consecration of bread, wheat, wine and oil, all the clergy (they listened to the prayer, taking off their hats) are baptized, bow to the Bishop, go into the altar through the side doors (the younger ones go in front) and stand in two rows near the throne. One verse before the end of the singing of the 33rd psalm by the choir, all the clergy turn to face the Royal Doors (the 1st pair of priests comes closer to the Royal Doors), and everyone bows in response to the blessing of the Bishop. The bishop overshadows the people with the words: “The blessing of the Lord…” and enters the altar. The bishop and all the clergy are baptized, applied to the throne. All the clergy bow to the Bishop in response to his blessing. Deacons close the Royal Doors. The bishop retires to his place and undresses himself. The rector brings the blessed bread and wine to the Bishop (the subdeacons prepare it on the tray). The priest who began the service becomes the primate, and the same priest, during the reading of the second part of the Six Psalms, goes out to the solea to the Royal Doors to read the prescribed secret prayers.

Further, the all-night vigil continues with the usual rite. The polyeleos performed by the hierarchal service does not have any special differences from that performed by the conciliar hierarchical service. The anointing of all the clergy is performed by the Bishop, standing on the pulpit. After the anointing of the clergy, all the clergy are baptized, bow to the Bishop and go to the altar. In the altar, all the clergy are baptized, venerate the throne, bow to the Bishop from the Royal Doors and disperse to their places. If the anointing of the faithful is expected from more than one icon, then the appointed priests go to their places and perform the anointing.

The deacon, who pronounces the small litany during the reading of the canon, leaves the solea from the north door, stands in the center of the Royal Doors, is baptized, bows to the Bishop and says the litany. The priest who began the service, standing in the altar, makes an exclamation and at the end of it bows from the Royal Doors to the Bishop. During the exclamation, the deacon moves to the right to the icon of the Savior, and at the end of the exclamation he also crosses himself and, together with the priest, bows to the Bishop. If during the small litany according to the 6th ode of the canon the Bishop continues to anoint the faithful, then the protodeacon, with a censer in his hands, goes out of the northern door onto the salt and stands in front of the icon of the Mother of God. At the exclamation of the litany, the protodeacon is baptized, bows to the Bishop, together with the priest and deacon, who spoke the litany, and asks the Bishop for a blessing on the censer.

After the Bishop returns to the altar after anointing the people, the deacons close the Royal Doors.

During the singing of the stichera on “Praise...” all the priests, dressed in phelonions, stand in two rows on the sides of the Throne. The Bishop becomes the primate. On “And Now” the deacons open the Royal Doors. The subdeacons serve the Bishop with trikirion and dikirion. The bishop proclaims: “Glory to Thee...”, goes to the pulpit and overshadows the people on three sides. All priests turn to face the Royal Doors. The 1st pair of priests goes to the middle of the space between the throne and the Royal Doors and becomes facing the Royal Doors. The bishop turns and, standing on the pulpit, overshadows the clergy with dikirium and trikirium. All the clergymen bow to the Bishop and retire to their places. The bishop enters the altar and gives the candles to the subdeacons. At the end of the singing of the Trisagion, after the doxology, the protodeacon, the 1st deacon, and the subdeacons, with the dikirion and trikirion, are baptized in the High Place, and bow to the Bishop. The deacons proceed to the solea to pronounce the litanies. At the special litany, at the commemoration of the name of the serving Bishop, all the priests are baptized and bow to the Bishop. Before the exclamation: “Peace to all,” and before the Bishop leaves the altar to pronounce the dismissal, the Bishop blesses the clergy, and they bow to him in response.

After the dismissal of Matins, the Bishop and all the priests are baptized, kiss the throne, the Bishop overshadows the clergy with a common blessing, and the clergy bow to the Bishop. Deacons close the Royal Doors. The bishop and all the clergy are exposed. The priest who began the service, in an epitrachelion, handrails and a headdress, takes the primate's place and ends, as usual, the 1st hour.

During the reading of the prayer of the hour, the Bishop and all the clergy are baptized and kiss the throne. Subdeacons open the Royal Doors. The bishop proceeds from the altar through the Royal Doors, and the priests and deacons through the side doors. All the clergy stand in two rows in front of the pulpit facing the altar. The priest, standing at the icon of the Mother of God facing the people, takes the leave of the hour, goes to the altar, undresses, leaves the altar and takes his place in the row of the clergy. After the dismissal of the 1st hour, the choir sings: “Lord, have mercy” (three times). The bishop, standing on the pulpit in a mantle, speaks a word to the faithful. After that, everyone sings the troparion or the glorification of the feast, and the Bishop, preceded by the clergy, goes to the end of the temple. At the end of the temple, the clergy stand in two rows facing each other. The bishop stands on an eagle, and the subdeacons take off his mantle. The choir sings: “The affirmation of those who hope in Thee ...” (irmos of the 3rd song of the canon for the Presentation of the Lord, tone 3). The bishop and all the clergy are baptized three times, and the bishop overshadows the people on three sides. The choir sings: "Ispolla." The bishop, accompanied by the dean and the rector, leaves the temple.

Follow the Divine Liturgy

The bishop walks along the carpet to the pulpit, the priests in 2 rows follow the bishop, the elders in front. The deacons go to the altar (in front of the Bishop) and stand in a row in front of the pulpit facing her. The bishop rises to the pulpit. The deacons cense the Bishop three times, who blesses them, and go into the altar through the side doors. The bishop reaches the pulpit. The protodeacon, standing to the right hand of the Bishop, crosses himself, bows to the Bishop and begins reading the entrance prayers.

At the Liturgy at the entrance prayers, only the Bishop is applied to the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, and the priests stand in their places during the reading of the prayers, taking off their hoods and kamilavkas at the right time.

After the end of the entrance prayers, the Bishop blesses the people on three sides and goes to the pulpit. The priests bow in response to the blessing of the Bishop and follow him to the pulpit, the elders in front. At this time, the subdeacons, participating in the vestments of the Bishop, come out of the altar. Behind them, the 1st deacon immediately comes out of the north door with two censers, one of which he gives to the protodeacon. The Protodeacon and the 1st Deacon stand on the pulpit facing the Bishop.

The bishop, all the priests, the protodeacon, the 1st deacon and the subdeacons are baptized on the altar, bow to the Bishop, and all the priests in turn, in order of seniority, approach the Bishop for blessing, then immediately go to the altar, without waiting for each other. After the Bishop takes off his cassock, the protodeacon and the 1st deacon take the blessing on the censer.

During the vestments of the Bishop, the 1st deacon proclaims: “To the Lord, let us pray,” and the protodeacon reads the prescribed verses from the books of Exodus, the prophet Isaiah and the psalmist David. The Protodeacon and the 1st Deacon continuously and synchronously with each other perform the censing of the Bishop.

Upon arrival at the altar, each priest puts on a full vestment with a headdress, which is due to him (if he was not dressed before the meeting). All the clergy line up in two rows of seniority on the sides of the throne. As soon as the protodeacon begins the exclamation: “So let it be enlightened...” (Matt. 5:16), all the priests and deacons are baptized, venerate the altar, go out through the side doors to the solea and stand in line with the protodeacon and the 1st deacon, facing the Bishop. The bishop overshadows the clergy with dikirion and trikirion, and the clergy go to the pulpit in two rows. After the overshadowing of the people, the Bishop gives the dikirium and trikirion to the subdeacons and blesses the protodeacon and the 1st deacon, who at that time censing him three times three times. All priests, deacons and subdeacons with dikirion, trikirion and baton are baptized and bow to the Bishop. Then the subdeacons with the dikirion and trikirion go to the altar, taking the censer from the protodeacon and the 1st deacon along the way. The protodeacon and the 1st deacon go to the pulpit, and all the deacons line up in two rows, facing each other, between the rows of priests.

The bishop reads the prayers prescribed before the beginning of the Liturgy. Protodeacon: “It is time for the Lord to make...”. The 1st priest takes a blessing from the Bishop, leaves through the southern doors (on the Paschal week through the Royal Doors) into the altar and stands in front of the altar. Protodeacon: “Pray for us…”, and all the deacons in pairs approach the Bishop for blessing. The protodeacon goes to the salt, and the rest of the deacons stand in one row behind the bishop's pulpit. The subdeacons open the Royal Doors, the 1st priest is baptized twice, applied to the Gospel and the altar, baptized again, turns around, bows with the protodeacon and subdeacons to the Bishop, again turns to the altar, picks up the altar Gospel. Protodeacon: "Bless, Master." 1st Priest: “Blessed is the Kingdom...”, overshadows the throne with the Gospel in the form of a cross, lays down the Gospel, crosses himself once, venerates the Gospel and the throne, turns around, bows to the Bishop together with the protodeacon and subdeacons, and stands on the south side of the throne. At the petition: “O Great Lord...” the 1st priest and two subdeacons stand in front of the throne, are baptized once and, at the commemoration of the serving Bishop, bow to him together with the protodeacon in response to the blessing. The 1st priest goes to his place. All the priests standing at the pulpit are also baptized and bow to the Bishop at this petition of the peace litany.

At the petition: “O deliver us…” the 2nd and 3rd deacons come out from behind the pulpit and walk in the middle between the rows of priests to the salt. The 2nd deacon stands next to the icon of the Mother of God, and the 3rd - next to the protodeacon, to his right.

The exclamation after the peaceful litany: “As it befits Thee...” is made by the 1st priest. In words: “To the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever...” The 1st priest is baptized. In the words: “and forever and ever,” he comes to the space in front of the throne, stands facing the Bishop and bows to him together with the protodeacon and two deacons. At the same exclamation, the 2nd and 3rd priests are also baptized, bow to the Bishop and go into the altar through the side doors (on Holy Week through the Royal Doors). Upon entering the altar, the 2nd and 3rd priests are baptized once, venerate the throne (from the sides), go out to the Royal Doors, stand facing the Bishop, bow to him, then to each other and take their places on the side of the throne. The protodeacon goes to the pulpit together with the subdeacons who carry out ablution. The bishop washes his hands during the 1st antiphon. The protodeacon reads: “I will wash in the innocent…” (Ps. 25:6-12) and stands at the pulpit.

The practice regarding the number of priests leaving after the peace and the first small litanies to the altar is not the same. The bishop may indicate this number personally.

The 2nd deacon pronounces the 1st small litany. The exclamation after the first small litany is made by the 2nd priest, and also in the above manner at the end of the exclamation he bows to the Bishop, standing in the Royal Doors together with the 2nd and 3rd deacons. At this exclamation, the 4th and 5th priests are baptized, bow to the Bishop and leave through the side doors (on the Paschal week - through the Royal Doors) to the altar, there they are baptized once, kiss the throne, go out to the Royal Doors, bow to the Bishop, bow to each other and get into place.

The 3rd deacon speaks the 2nd small litany. During it, all the deacons standing behind the pulpit go to the solea and stand in one row facing the altar. The exclamation after the second small litany is made by the 3rd priest, who also at the end of the exclamation bows to the Bishop, standing in the Royal Doors, simultaneously with all the deacons standing on the pulpit and all the priests standing at the pulpit. After the exclamation, all these priests and all the deacons go to the altar through the side doors (on Paschal week - through the Royal Doors). In the altar, all the priests and deacons who have come are baptized, venerate the throne, bow from the Royal Doors to the Bishop and take their places. The 1st and 2nd deacons go to the High Place and take a censer from the subdeacon.

small entrance

During the singing of the third antiphon, the 1st priest and protodeacon stand in front of the altar, cross themselves twice, venerate the altar, cross themselves and bow to the Bishop. The 1st priest takes the Gospel from the throne and gives it to the protodeacon, who goes with the Gospel to the High Place. All priests, the protodeacon, the 1st and 2nd deacons and subdeacons are baptized, the priests venerate the altar, everyone bows to the Bishop (the priests are from the Royal Doors). The 1st and 2nd deacons ask for a blessing on the censer, and all the clergy march to the small entrance. The order is as follows: priest, assistant, 1st and 2nd deacon with censers, subdeacons with dikirion and ripida, protodeacon with the Gospel, subdeacons with ripida and trikirion, priests in order of precedence, elders in front. The protodeacon, descending from the ambo, quietly says: “Let us pray to the Lord,” and the Bishop reads the entrance prayer. When the priests begin to descend from the pulpit, each goes to his side (to the right or to the left) to the pulpit. The 1st and 2nd deacons, together with the subdeacons, go around the pulpit, disperse to the sides and stand at the level of the last pair of priests (or approximately the 4th pair, if there are many priests) facing each other. At the sign of the protodeacon, all the clergy are baptized on the altar and bow to the Bishop. The protodeacon asks the Bishop's blessing at the entrance and brings him the Gospel for kissing. The bishop kisses the Gospel, the protodeacon kisses the bishop's hand, then, turning to the east, proclaims: "Wisdom, forgive me" and turns to the west. After the exclamation of the protodeacon, all the clergy sing: "Come, let us worship...". The 1st and 2nd deacons go to the pulpit and incense the Gospel. When the Bishop begins to worship the Gospel and bless with candles to the east, the deacons cense the Bishop. When the Bishop begins to overshadow the people, the deacons again incense the Gospel. At the moment when the Bishop begins to leave the pulpit, the 1st and 2nd priests support him by the arms. Protodeacon, 1st and 2nd deacons in front of all the clergy go to the altar. The bishop goes to the pulpit, followed by the priests in two rows, the elders in front. When the Bishop ascends to the pulpit, the 1st and 2nd priests support him by the arms and step back. The bishop blesses the people with dikirium and trikirium. The priests, standing in two rows in front of the solea facing the Bishop, bow to him. The protodeacon receives the trikirium from the Bishop and goes to the High Place. The bishop kisses the icons at the Royal Doors and enters the altar. Behind him, priests enter the altar in two rows, each kissing the icon at the Royal Doors, which is on his side. The deacon gives the censer to the Bishop.

The bishop, with a dikiry in his hand, performs the censing of the altar, preceded by a protodeacon carrying a trikiry. While the Bishop is censing the Royal Doors and leaving the altar to incense the iconostasis, all the priests and deacons are baptized, venerate the altar, bow to the Bishop from the Royal Doors and retire to their places. All deacons and subdeacons gather in the High Place. The bishop incenses the iconostasis, choirs and people, then enters the altar and incenses the clergy. All priests respond with a bow. Next, the Bishop censes the protodeacon and gives him the censer. The protodeacon censes the Bishop three times three times, is baptized together with all the clergy standing in the High Place, and bows to the Bishop. After the choir sang the big “Ispolla these, despota” (hereinafter abbreviated as “Ispolla”), everyone in the altar sings the same many years. When the Bishop begins to read the prayer of the Trisagion according to the Official, then the priests also begin to read it according to the Service Book.

About reading secret prayers according to the Missal: according to the established tradition, at the Liturgy, priests begin to use the Missal to read secret prayers only after entering the altar.

The last kontakion on “And now” is traditionally sung by the clergy in the altar. At the end of the singing of the last kontakion, the protodeacon venerates the altar, asks the Bishop for a blessing: “Bless, Vladyka, the time of the Trisagion” and proceeds to the saline. Further exclamations of the protodeacon are the same as in the priestly service.

The Trisagion sings the choir once. At this time, the protodeacon accepts the dikyrium from the subdeacon and gives it to the Bishop. The clergy sings for the second time. At this time, the 2nd priest takes the altar cross from the throne and gives it to the Bishop with the face of the cross to the Bishop. The third time the Trisagion sings the choir. At this time, the Bishop comes out with a cross and a dikiry to the salt. All priests turn to face the Royal Doors, and the 1st and 2nd priests go to the middle of the space in front of the throne. All deacons and subdeacons disperse from the High Place to their places. The 1st subdeacon lights the trikirium and gives it to the protodeacon, who is standing in the High Place.

The bishop proclaims: “Look ...” (Ps. 79:15-16), and the trio sings the Trisagion for the fourth time. The bishop overshadows the people, then turns and overshadows the clergy at the altar. The priests bow to the Bishop and retire to their places. The 2nd priest in the Royal Doors receives the cross from the Bishop and places it on the throne. The bishop venerates the throne, goes to the High Place, overshadowing it with dikyrium, gives the dikyrium to the subdeacon, and ascends to the High Place. At the same time, the protodeacon says: “Command, (Highly) Most Reverend Vladyka”, “bless, (Highly) Most Reverend Vladyka, the High Throne”, “The appearance of the Trinity in the Jordan was, for the very Divine Nature of the Father exclaim, This baptized Son, my beloved, Spirit is when he comes to such a thing, He will be blessed by people and exalted forever” (3rd troparion of the 8th ode of the 1st canon on Theophany) and gives the Bishop a trikirion. After the Bishop has kissed the throne, all the priests kiss the throne and move closer to the High Place in order of seniority. The choir sings the Trisagion for the fifth time. Sixth time - the clergy sing. The Bishop, standing on the High Place, overshadows the clergy with a trikirium, who bows to the Bishop. The Subdeacon receives the Subdeacon from the Bishop. The 1st deacon is baptized, kisses the throne, approaches the Bishop with the Apostle, placing his orarion on top, receives a blessing, kisses the Bishop's hand and goes along the left side of the throne through the Royal Doors to the pulpit to read the Apostle. The choir sings: “Glory, And now, Holy Immortal…”, and one more time: “Holy God”.

Protodeacon: "Let's listen." Bishop: "Peace to all." 1st deacon: “And spirits ...”, and then reads, as usual, the prokeimenon and the Apostle. The subdeacons remove the large omophorion from the Bishop. The 3rd deacon stands before the Bishop. The subdeacons place the omophorion on the hands of the deacon. The bishop blesses the deacon;
their shoulders.

According to the charter, censing is supposed to be performed on the alliluary, but, according to the universally established practice, immediately after the omophorion is removed from the Bishop, a protodeacon with a censer and a subdeacon with a cistus and a spoon (incense should be in the cistus) approach him. The protodeacon says: “Bless, Vladyka, the censer!” and brings the censer to the Bishop, holding it with his right hand by the cup. The Subdeacon offers the Bishop the cist. The bishop puts a spoonful of incense on the coals and blesses the censer. The Subdeacon kisses the Bishop's hand. The protodeacon begins burning incense.

After reading the Apostle, the 1st priest bows to the Bishop and, together with the protodeacon, goes to the throne. At the throne, the 1st priest and the protodeacon are baptized together (they do not bow to the bishop and each other), the priest kisses the Gospel and the throne and gives the Gospel to the protodeacon. The 1st priest takes his place and bows to the Bishop. The protodeacon carries the Gospel to the Bishop, he kisses the Gospel, and the protodeacon kisses the hand of the Bishop. The protodeacon carries the Gospel through the Royal Doors to the pulpit. The 3rd deacon with an omophorion goes in front of the protodeacon bearing the Gospel as follows: he goes around the throne from south to north through the High Place, leaves the altar through the Royal Doors, goes along the middle of the temple to the pulpit, goes around the pulpit from his right side to his left, returns to the altar through the Royal Doors together with the deacon, who read the Apostle, and stands at the place from which he began to move with the omophorion (south side of the throne). The deacon with the Apostle stands at the north side of the throne, opposite the deacon holding the omophorion. The exclamation: "Wisdom forgive, let us hear the Holy Gospel" is made by the deacon holding the Apostle, and "Let's listen" - the deacon holding the omophorion. After this exclamation, both deacons venerate the altar, approach the Bishop for blessing, kiss his hand, and retire to their places, laying down the omophorion and the Apostle.

Priests and deacons listen to the reading of the Gospel with their heads uncovered, while the Bishop wears a mitre.

After reading the Gospel, the Bishop is baptized to the east, goes out to the solea, venerates the Gospel, which the protodeacon brings to him, and blesses the people with dikirium and trikirium. All priests are also baptized and return to their places at the throne. The protodeacon places the Gospel on the far right corner of the altar or, if the altar is small, on the seat in the High Place. At the end of the reading of the Gospel, the 1st deacon is baptized at the north side of the throne, bows to the Bishop and goes to the pulpit to pronounce the litany.

At the Special Litany, all subdeacons and deacons gather in the High Place and, at the petition for the serving Bishop, they sing: “Lord, have mercy” three times.

At the Special Litany, the Bishop opens the antimension. He is assisted by the 1st and 2nd priests. After that, the Bishop, the 1st and 2nd priests are baptized, kissed the throne, baptized, the 1st and 2nd priests bow to the Bishop, who blesses them.

Usually, beginning with the exclamation of the litany, the Bishop distributes the exclamations among the clergy. The priest, whose turn is approaching, must be ready to utter an exclamation. The bishop gives a sign with his blessing. The priest bows to the Bishop, utters the prescribed exclamation, and at the end of the exclamation, he is baptized and bows to the Bishop.

At the Liturgy celebrated by the Bishop, the Royal Doors are opened to: “Blessed is the Kingdom” and remain open until the exclamation: “Holy to the Holy.”

The litany for the catechumens is pronounced by the 3rd deacon or protege in the priesthood. In the words: “The Gospel of Truth will open to them,” the 3rd and 4th priests open the upper part of the antimension and, together with the protodeacon and the 1st deacon, are baptized, kissed the Throne, are baptized and bow to the Bishop. At the exclamation: “Yes, and thi...”, the protodeacon and the 1st deacon leave the altar and, together with the 3rd deacon, proclaim: “Come out of the chants of the proclamation ...”. The 2nd deacon, standing in the High Place, takes a blessing from the Bishop on the censer and burns the altar completely (the Bishop should be incensed first three times three times, and at the end of the burning three times).

After the exclamation: “Yes, and they glorify with us ...” (or, according to another practice, after the exclamation: “As if under Your power ...”), the Bishop washes his hands in the Royal Doors. Upon the return of the Bishop to the altar, the protodeacon and the 1st deacon place a small omophorion on him.

The 2nd or most experienced priest appointed by the dean goes to the altar and performs the following actions:

- removes the air from the holy vessels and puts it on the left corner of the altar;

- removes the covers from the diskos and the Chalice and puts one on top of the other on the right corner of the altar;

- removes the star from the diskos and places it behind the diskos and the Chalice;

– checks for the presence on the altar, standing in front of the diskos and the Chalice, of two undrawn prosphora on plates and one more plate with a copy lying between them.

Large air can also be placed on top of the covers on the right corner of the altar.

Great Entrance

When the Bishop performs the reading of the Cherubic Hymn, the protodeacon removes the miter from him, places it on a tray, and gives the tray to the 3rd deacon. The bishop goes to the altar, the 1st deacon approaches him. The bishop puts air on his shoulder, and the deacon takes the blessing on the censer and burns the iconostasis, the kliros, and the people. The priests, in pairs, in turn, approach the altar, cross themselves, venerate the altar, bow to each other with the words: “Let your priesthood (archpriest, abbess, hieromonasticism) remember ...” and take the altar crosses. If an odd number of priests serve, then the last three approach the throne at the same time. The last three priests usually carry not crosses, but a plate, a liar and a spear. When the Bishop says: “I serve with the brethren,” then the clergymen, according to seniority, approach the Bishop, kiss him on the right shoulder and quietly say: “Remember me, (Highly) Most Reverend Vladyka, Priest N” (at in large numbers clergy, the dean can give a sign that it is not necessary to approach, so as not to cause fuss). At the end of the commemoration, the omophorion is removed from the Bishop. The 1st deacon approaches the altar with a censer. The 1st priest gives the Bishop an asterisk and covers, which the Bishop, fragrant with censer incense, puts on the sacred vessels. The 1st deacon utters the usual exclamations at the end of the proskomedia, and at the appropriate moment gives and receives the censer from the Bishop. The protodeacon takes the diskos from the Bishop, and the 1st priest the Chalice with the words: “May the Lord God remember your bishopric in His Kingdom...” and kisses the hand of the Bishop. The 2nd priest and the rest of the priests carrying the altar Crosses approach the Bishop in turn, holding the Cross facing the Bishop in an inclined position (upper end of the Cross to the right). The bishop is applied to the cross. The priest kisses the Bishop's hand and says: "Let your bishopric remember...". Junior priests accept from the hands of the Bishop a spear, a liar and a plate. The 2nd deacon during the proskomedia also prepares a censer for himself.

At the great entrance, the order of the procession is as follows: the protege to the priest (if any), the 3rd deacon with a tray on which the subdeacons put the omophorion and miter, the priest-bearer, assistant, the 2nd and 1st deacons with censers, the subdeacons with the dikyrium, trikirium and a ripida, a protodeacon with a diskos, the 1st priest with a Chalice, a subdeacon with a ripida, and the rest of the priests (the elders are in front).

The 3rd deacon with a tray enters the altar through the Royal Doors and stands between the altar and the Royal Doors, facing north. The 1st and 2nd deacons enter the altar and burn the altar incense. The bishop approaches the 3rd deacon, kisses the miter, and the deacon kisses the hand of the bishop. The 1st deacon brings the censer to the Bishop at the Royal Doors. The bishop censes paten three times and gives the censer to the deacon. The protodeacon quietly commemorates the Bishop: “Let your bishopric remember…”. The bishop also commemorates the protodeacon. The protodeacon quietly answers: "Ispolla." The bishop receives the diskos from the protodeacon and performs the first commemoration, after which he enters the altar and places the diskos on the throne. The 1st and 2nd deacons perform the censing of the Bishop. At this time, the 1st priest stands in front of the Royal Doors facing them. The 1st deacon gives the censer to the Bishop at the Royal Doors. The bishop censes the Chalice, and the 1st priest quietly says: “Let your bishopric remember...”. The bishop answers: “Let your priesthood (abbots, etc.) remember ...”. The 1st priest answers: “Ispolla”, gives the Chalice to the Bishop, kissing his hand, and departs to his former place in the row of priests. After the Bishop performs the prescribed commemoration, all the priests, saying: “Let your bishopric remember ...”, after the Bishop enter the altar, put crosses and other sacred objects on the throne in their places. The 1st and 2nd deacons burn the Bishop incense when he brings the Holy Chalice into the altar.

In response to the request of the Bishop: “Pray for me, brethren and co-servants,” all the priests and deacons answer: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” The protodeacon gives the bishop a miter. At the appropriate moment, the 1st deacon gives the Bishop a censer for incense, and accepts it. All deacons receive a blessing from the Bishop, and the 1st and 2nd deacons from the High Place burn the Bishop incense three times three times. Litany: “Let us fulfill our prayer...” says the protodeacon.

If there are a lot of priests, then it is possible that, at the direction of the dean, not all priests go to the great entrance, but only the first few couples.

At the exclamation of the protodeacon: “Let us love one another...” all the priests, together with the Bishop, are baptized three times with the words: “I will love you, Lord, my strength...” and the priests move to the left side of the altar. The bishop puts aside the miter (the 2nd deacon accepts it and places it on the throne), applies it to the sacred vessels, the throne and moves to the right. All the priests take turns kissing the holy diskos (with the words “Holy God”), the Holy Chalice (“Strong Holy”), the throne (“Holy Immortal, have mercy on us”) and approach the Bishop. The bishop says: “Christ is in our midst”, to which each priest answers: “And there is, and will be,” and kisses the Bishop on his right (left away from himself) and left shoulders, and then kisses the Bishop’s hand and moves away to the left. Also, all priests christenate with each other.

With a large number of priests, it is better to kiss only hands during mutual Christening among themselves, so as not to drag out the rite (the initiative for such a reduction should come from the elder). With the Bishop always Christossuyutsya in full order.

At the exclamation: “Doors, doors...” and when the rite of mutual kissing ends, the Bishop stands before the throne, bowing his head, and all the priests take the air and blow it over the sacred vessels. Those standing on the right hand of the Bishop hold the air with their right hand, and those standing on the left hand with their left. The bishop or the priest indicated by him reads the Creed. After reading, the Bishop kisses the cross in the air and the 2nd priest or another priest from the left row carries the air and stacks it on the altar. The 2nd deacon presents the mitre to the Bishop.

At the Eucharistic Canon, when the Bishop comes out with the dikirion and trikirion to bless the people, all the priests turn to face the Royal Doors, and the 1st and 2nd priests go to the space in front of the throne and also stand facing the Royal Doors. After the exclamation: “We thank the Lord,” the Bishop overshadows the clergy with candles. All the priests bow to the Bishop and retire to their places.

At the exclamation: “Victory Song”, all the usual actions with the star are performed by the 1st deacon. At the sign of the Bishop during the singing: “Holy...”, the protodeacon removes the miter from the Bishop and gives it after all the deacons accept the blessing from the Bishop during the singing: “We sing to you.”

After the exclamation: “Fairly O Most Holy,” the 3rd deacon takes the censer from the Bishop and burns the altar incense. The bishop censes three times three times, and at the end of the censing only three times.

While singing: “It is worthy to eat,” the protodeacon venerates the altar, asks the blessing of the Bishop, and proceeds to the pulpit through the Royal Doors. At the end of the singing: “It is worthy,” the protodeacon proclaims: “And everyone and everything.” The choir sings: "And everyone, and everything." The bishop proclaims: “Remember first…”.

At the exclamation of the Bishop, the 1st priest immediately makes an exclamation: “First, Lord, remember our Lord (Highly) Most Reverend (remembering the Bishop who leads the Liturgy), grant him to Your holy Churches in the world whole, healthy, long-living, the right to rule the word of Your Truth ” and, putting aside the Missal, approaches the Bishop, accepts his blessing, kisses the hand, the icon on the miter, bows to the Bishop again with the words: “Ispolla” and departs to his place.

If several Bishops serve, then after the exclamation of the 1st priest, his actions are repeated by the 2nd priest in relation to the 2nd bishop, the 3rd priest in relation to the 3rd bishop, etc.

The protodeacon, standing on the salt, proclaims: “Lord (our) (commemorates the serving Bishop), bringing this Holy Gifts (enters the altar and points to the Holy Mysteries) to the Lord our God” (goes to the High Place, is baptized, bows to the Bishop, comes from Altar with the Royal Doors and stands on the pulpit facing the people). About our Great Lord and Father Alexy, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, about His Grace Metropolitans, Archbishops and Bishops and about all the priesthood and monastic order, about the God-protected country of our Russia, about its authorities, army and people, about the peace of the whole world, about the well-being of the Holy Churches of God, about salvation and help with diligence and the fear of God, those who work and serve, about healing those who lie in infirmities, about dormition, weakness, blessed memory and leaving the sins of all those who have reposed Orthodox, about the salvation of people who are coming and about them each in thought to have, and about everyone, and for everything. The choir sings: "And about everyone, and for everything." The protodeacon enters the altar through the Royal Doors, is baptized in the High Place, bows to the Bishop and takes his blessing with the words: “Let your bishopric remember...”, “Ispolla”.

At the exclamation: “And give us...” the 2nd deacon in the High Place is baptized, bows to the Bishop and goes to the pulpit to say the litany: “All the saints have remembered...”. After singing “Our Father...” the Bishop proclaims: “Peace to all” and blesses the people. The 2nd deacon before this departs to the right, bows to the Bishop and, after the Bishop has entered the altar, returns to his place.

If a sermon is supposed to be given before the communion of the people, then at the litany: “All the saints have remembered ...”, after the Bishop reads the secret prayer, the 1st priest gives the Bishop an altar cross. The preacher kisses the Throne and approaches the Bishop, who overshadows him with a cross, while the preacher crosses himself, kisses the cross and the hand of the Bishop, retires to his place, crosses himself again and bows to the Bishop. The 1st priest accepts the cross from the Bishop and places it on the throne.

After the exclamation: “Peace to all,” the protodeacon removes the miter from the Bishop and places it on the throne.

Communion of the clergy

First, the Bishop takes communion.

At the exclamation of the protodeacon: “Archimandrite, and, archpriests, priests ... proceed,” all the priests from the right side of the altar move to the left and, in order of seniority, approach the throne (without making a prostration, since the prostration was made earlier) with the words : “Behold, I come to the Immortal King and my God. Teach me, (Highly) Most Reverend Vladyka, to the unworthy priest N (pronounce the name clearly and distinctly) the Honest and Holy Body of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ. The priest is baptized, kisses the holy throne, receives the Holy Body, kissing the hand and left (right away from himself) shoulder of the Bishop, with the words “and is, and will be”, goes to the left to the throne and immediately takes communion. After communion with the Holy Body, each priest moves to the right side of the altar. The deacons take Christ with each other and take communion in the same way as the priests after them. After the Bishop has communed all the priests and deacons with the Holy Body, he communes them with the Holy Blood. A priest partakes of the Holy Blood in the same way as a deacon does at a priestly service.

The bishop reads the prayer: “We thank Thee, Master...” and moves away to the right. The rector brings the Bishop a drink prepared by the subdeacons. Other priests divide the Holy Body according to the number of communicants.

The rector should take care that the required number of chalices, spoons and platters for communion is ready.

Communion of the laity

If it is supposed to take communion from several Chalices, then the priests for the communion of the laity are appointed by the rector.

After the exclamation of the Bishop: “God save Thy people...”, he censes the Holy Gifts, gives the paten to the protodeacon, then takes the Chalice and says quietly: “Blessed be our God”, then gives the Chalice to the 1st priest. He, having accepted the Chalice and kissed the hand of the Bishop, stands in the Royal Doors and proclaims: “Always, now and forever and forever and ever”, then departs with the Holy Chalice to the altar with the words: “Ascend to heaven ...” and puts on the altar . A candle is placed in front of the Holy Chalice. The 1st priest censes the altar three times, the protodeacon three times and gives the censer to the protodeacon. The protodeacon censes the 1st priest three times. The first priest and protodeacon are baptized, bow to each other, to the Bishop, and retire to their places. At this time, the Bishop, together with the 2nd and 3rd priests, folds the antimension. The 1st priest presents the Gospel to the Bishop, which he places on the throne. The protodeacon (or newly appointed deacon) pronounces the litany: “Forgive me, have you...”.

At the exclamation: “For Thou art sanctification...” the junior priest in a headdress (or a newly appointed priest), together with the Bishop, is baptized once, kisses the throne, at the exclamation of the Bishop: “We will depart in peace,” bows in response to the blessing of the Bishop and proceeds to read ammon prayer. After the prayer behind the ambo, the junior priest returns to the altar, kisses the altar and bows to the Bishop.

About the time of wearing hats: hats are put on for a meeting, taken off for the reading of the Gospel and put on after reading, taken off at the litany for the catechumens and put on at the prayer behind the ambo.

After the dismissal of the Liturgy, various rites are possible. All clergy are guided either directly by the Bishop, or the dean, or the rector.

Procession.

If a religious procession is planned after the Liturgy, then the rector should check its route in advance.

The rector determines the circle of the laity who will bear banners, icons and other shrines. They should be instructed in detail in advance regarding the order of the procession. The movement of the procession is led by a person in charge. He does not carry anything, walks to the side of the banners and watches that the pace of movement does not change. If there are few people, then the person in charge carries a lantern in front of the procession.

The order of the procession is: a lantern, followed by an altar cross and an icon, followed by banners, followed by artos (if the service is celebrated on Bright Week), or an icon of a church or holiday (if it is supposed to be carried to the laity), the clergy, subdeacons, the Bishop, then the choir.

It is advisable for the choir to go to the center of the church during communion of the laity and from there to sing the end of the Liturgy. When entering the procession, the choir passes the clergy and the Bishop and follows them.

During the procession, four stops are usually made along the sides of the temple (south - east - north - west). At the second stop, according to tradition, the Gospel is read. Consequently, in that altar Gospel, which will be brought to the procession, it is necessary to lay either the conception that the Bishop will indicate, or the conception that was read at Matins.

Usually the Bishop comes with a three-candlestick (if we are talking about Bright Week), the 1st priest with an altar cross, the 2nd priest with an altar Gospel (if the book is heavy, then it can be carried by two priests, who in this case are not in the ranks of the clergy, but shifted to the center, between the rows of clergy). The 3rd priest and other priests (not necessarily all) can carry the icons of the temple, the holiday, or a locally venerated image. The protodeacon and the 1st deacon go with censers, and the 3rd and 4th deacon with deacon candles.

It is necessary to prepare a bowl of holy water and an aspergiller in advance, as well as to have an adequate supply of holy water.

Application:

Guidelines for the regent

All-night vigil charter for choir

At the meeting, at the exclamation of the protodeacon: “Wisdom”, the choir sings:

1. “From the rising of the sun to the west...” (Ps. 112:3-2);

2. Immediately after this, the choir sings the troparion of the holiday (or the temple, if there is no big holiday). The speed of the singing is such that the Bishop has time to give all the priests the Cross for kissing, venerate the festive image and ascend the pulpit. If there is any revered shrine in the temple and it is assumed that the bishop will venerate it, at that moment a troparion is sung to this saint, whose holy relics (or revered image, etc.) are in the temple.

You can repeat the troparion twice.

3. When the Bishop ascends the pulpit, turns around and begins to bless the people, the choir sings: “Ton Despotin.”

4. Upon the exclamation of the protodeacon: “Arise”, the choir sings: “Most Reverend (or Most Reverend) Vladyka, bless.”

The choir sings the same answer at the end of Matins and the 1st hour.

After the dismissal of Matins, it is sung: “Ispolla” (short), then many years are sung: “The Great Lord ...” and again: “Ispolla” (short).

If the end of Matins was performed not by the Bishop, but by the priest, then the choir sings: “Great Lord ...” and “Ispolla ...” (short).

After 1 hour leave and the possible word of the Bishop and other persons, the choir sings:

- troparion or glorification of the holiday (slowly);

– “The affirmation of those who hope...”;

- “Ispolla” is large (as after the trio at the Liturgy).

Rule of the Divine Liturgy for Choir

Protodeacon: "Wisdom." Chorus: “From the rising of the sun to the West...” (Ps 113:3-2) (from Pascha to the Giving away - “Christ is Risen”) and then immediately without interruption begins singing: “It is worthy to eat” (or on the twelfth holidays, their afterfeasts and at midday - a meritorious one). It is necessary to sing “Worthy” slowly, so that the Bishop has time to fully complete the entrance prayers.

Guideline for the regent: at the end of the entrance prayers, the Bishop kisses the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, reads a prayer in front of the Royal Doors and puts on a hood. At this point, the singing of “Worthy” must be completed.

The bishop turns around, asks everyone for forgiveness and blesses the people on three sides. The choir sings: “Ton despotin ke archierea imon Kyrie filatte. Ispolla these despota. Ispolla these despota. Is pollla these despots ”(Our Lord and Bishop, Lord, save for many years). After this chant, the irmos of the 5th ode of the Vaii week canon is immediately sung: “To Mount Zion...”. According to the Rule, it should be sung only at the Patriarchal service, but according to modern practice, it is also sung at any hierarchal service.

The bishop takes off his hood, mantle, panagia, rosary and cassock. The first couple of deacons take the blessing on the censer, and the protodeacon proclaims: "Let him rejoice...". The choir begins to sing: “Let him rejoice...”, tone 7. The singing should end by the time the Bishop begins to put on the miter.

Direction for the regent. The order of vestment of the Bishop is as follows: sakkosnik, stole, belt, club, handrails, sakkos, omophorion, cross, panagia (a hair comb is also served), miter.

Protodeacon: “So let it be enlightened… And forever and ever. Amen". The trio sings: "Tone Despotin." The whole choir sings: “Is pollla these despots” three times. Further to the small entrance, the Liturgy proceeds in the usual order.

Small entrance: at the exclamation of the protodeacon: “Wisdom, forgive me,” the clergy sings “Come, let us worship.” According to the practice of serving Metropolitan Yuvenaly, the clergy sing this hymn to the end. The choir immediately after the clergy sings: “Save us, Son of God...” in the same melody (Greek). After the chorus, the clergy repeat: "Save us...". After the clergy, a trio from the composition of the singing choir or subdeacons (who should sing, you need to agree before the start of the service) begins to sing: “Is pollla these despots.” It is necessary to finish the singing at the moment when the Bishop begins to incense the kliros and the people. The entire choir responds to the Bishop's incense by singing the so-called big "Ispolla". If two choirs sing at the Liturgy, then the right choir answers first, and then the left. After the chorus, the clergy sing the big Ispolla. Next, the choir sings troparia and kontakia according to the Charter (before the service, the regent must agree with the rector and with the bishop's protodeacon on the number and order of singing troparia and kontakia). The last kontakion on “And now”, according to tradition, is sung by the clergy in the altar.

The order of singing the Trisagion: the melody of the Trisagion hymn can be either the “Bulgarian melody”, or “Agios ...” the chant of the Gethsemane skete of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, as expounded by Archimandrite Matthew (Mormyl), or “Bishop”. Any other music must be coordinated with the regent directing the singing of the clergy at the altar.

The choir sings 1 time, the clergy sings 2 times, the choir sings 3 times. In some manuals for choir directors, one can find an indication that the Trisagion must be sung 3 times on one note. This is inexpedient for the reason that during the third hymn the Bishop must have time to accept the cross from the priest, bow to the clergy, turn around and leave the altar to the pulpit. Therefore, it is better to sing in the same tune as the first two times.

Bishop: “Look down from heaven...” and overshadows everyone on four sides with the reading of the Trisagion. 4th time the Trisagion sings a trio. It is necessary to sing in such a way that for each of the three autumns one “Saint ...” was sung, and the words “have mercy on us” fell on the fall of the Altar. The trio singing music may be different from the main melody. The choir sings for the 5th time, as for the third time, in the usual tune. The clergy sing for the 6th time. “Glory, And now” and “Holy Immortal” are sung by the choir. The choir sings for the 7th time.

After reading the Gospel “Glory to Thee...” it is necessary to sing a little more slowly so that the protodeacon has time to bring the Gospel from the pulpit to the Bishop standing on the pulpit. After “Glory to Thee...”, in response to the Bishop’s blessing of the people, the choir sings a short “Ispolla”.

At the Augmented Litany, after the commemoration of the serving Bishop by the deacon, the clergy in the altar sing three times: “Lord, have mercy.” Immediately after them, “Lord, have mercy” is sung by the choir three times (if possible, in the same Kyiv chant).

Great entrance. There is an opinion that the great entrance to a bishop's service takes much more time than a priest's. This is only partly true. Some Bishops make commemoration at the proskomedia for a long time, some do not. It is better for the regent to clarify this issue with the members of the bishop's retinue even before the start of the service.

There are two features for the choir at the great entrance. The first is that “Amen” after the Cherubic Hymn is sung twice: the first time after the commemoration of the Patriarch and the bishops concelebrating by the Hierarch (it is necessary to sing on one note), and the second time after “you and all ...” - according to the notes. After the end of the singing: “Like a Tsar”, immediately in response to the overshadowing of the people by the Bishop, the choir answers with a short “Ispolla”.

If a priestly ordination is supposed, then the aforementioned short “Ispolla” is canceled and transferred to the end of the ordination (after laying sacred garments on the protege with singing: “Axios”).

Singing during the rites of the priestly and diaconal consecrations:

For the choir, the ranks of these consecrations are identical in structure. The difference lies only in the time of the Sacrament. Priestly ordination is performed after the great entrance, and deaconial ordination after the Eucharistic canon, after the exclamation: "And let there be mercy ...".

After the exclamation: “Come, Most Reverend Vladyko,” the clergy sing the troparia: “Holy Martyrs,” “Glory to Thee, Christ God,” “Isaiah rejoice.” Each troparion, after being sung by the clergy, sings the choir (in the same key). After the clergy sang three times “Lord, have mercy”, the choir sings: “Kyrie eleison” three times. For each exclamation of the Bishop: “Axios”, the same word is sung three times by the clergy, and then, in the same key, by the choir. After the end of the Sacrament of Consecration, the Bishop overshadows the people with trikirion and dikirion. The choir sings: “Is pollla ...” (short).

After singing in the Eucharistic canon: “It is worthy to eat,” the protodeacon proclaims: “And of all, and of everything.” The choir sings: "And everyone, and everything"

Bishop: “Remember first, Lord...”. 1st priest (immediately, without a break for singing): “Remember first, Lord...”. The protodeacon (also immediately) reads a long petition: "Master ... offering ... and about everyone, and for everything." The choir sings: "And about everyone, and for everything."

If a diaconal ordination is supposed, then after the last “Axios” the choir responds to the blessing of the Bishop with a short “Ispolla”.

The time of communion of the clergy is filled either with the sermon of the priest, or with the singing of the choir, it is possible with the people.

After communion of the laity, the Bishop: “God save...”. Choir: “Is pollla” (short) and further: “I saw the light ...”.

After the dismissal performed by the Bishop, the choir sings a short “Ispolla”, then: “The Great Lord ... (with the commemoration of the Patriarch, the ruling and serving Bishops)” and further: “Ispolla” (short).

If after the Liturgy a procession is expected, then it is better for the choir to move to the middle of the church during the communion of the laity, so that the situation does not turn out that the clergy went to the procession, and the choir, pushed aside by the people, remained in the church. If there are few people in the temple, then this instruction can be ignored.

From the editor: Hegumen Kirill (Sakharov) has experience in celebrating the Liturgy not only according to the old, pre-Nikon rite. Being a resident of the Danilov Monastery, for many years he served the Liturgy there according to the new rite. In the church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka (ROC), where he serves as rector, divine services are performed only according to the old rite.

At first glance, the difference is small. We have already cited the main differences in the article "", published in the section "". But it turns out that over the 350 years that have passed since the split of the Russian Church, not just a difference in texts and rituals has accumulated. Father Kirill, having the opportunity to compare the two rites, says that the celebration of the Liturgy according to the ancient rite, meticulous and imbued with a repentant spirit, is a great work. Serving in the new way, he says, is much easier.

Attitude to the pre-Nikon rite of the Liturgy

The main service in the Orthodox Church is the Divine Liturgy, mass, as the common people say. "Public service" - this is how the word "Liturgy" is translated. I want to focus on comparing the text of the rite of the Liturgy, officially adopted in the Russian Orthodox Church and now performed everywhere, with the Old Russian, that is, with what was in Rus' from Baptism under Prince Vladimir to the reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the middle of the 17th century. This ancient Russian, pre-Nikon rite of the Liturgy has been practiced in our church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka from the first day of its opening (end of 1991).

Of course, this topic is somewhat special, because it will be largely about what is not visible to the eye of the worshiper in the temple. I would like to show the full significance and beauty of our ancient liturgical liturgical rite, encourage us to think about what a precious heritage we have, and remove possible confusion. Now in the Russian Orthodox Church, the attitude towards the ancient Russian heritage, the pre-reform liturgical way, officially sounds like “equilibrium and equal honor”. That is, both the current commonly used, and what was before the reform of Patriarch Nikon in the middle of the 17th century, are recognized as equally honorable and equally salvific.

But we know that there was another attitude in history, when all this was defamed and rejected. Gradually there was a process of revising such a critical, radically negative attitude. Today we have the following: at the Council of 1971, oaths to the old rite were lifted; One can also mention the decision of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1999, which stated that the Church values ​​our ancient heritage, calls for understanding it, and welcomes the use of certain ancient rites in our liturgical practice.

Preparation for the Liturgy begins in the evening

The celebration of the Liturgy is preceded by a long all-night vigil. The church rules say that a priest who celebrates the Liturgy without prior celebration on the eve of the evening service sins mortally. It is clear that for the ordinary layman, especially for those who take communion, it is obligatory to attend the evening service on the eve of the Liturgy.

A semi-monastic way of life has developed in our church, not only in the liturgical plan, but also in everyday life, even in the appearance of the parishioners. We are getting ready for communion. At half past ten in the evening we begin to read the rule laid down for those who take communion. These are ordinary canons and communion hours: such is the peculiarity of the ancient rite.

According to the ancient order, in addition to the third and sixth hours, the ninth hour is also read before the Liturgy. The communion hours have the same content as ordinary hours - this is one of the elements of the daily liturgical cycle. In ancient times they were read separately. For example, 3 o'clock in the East corresponded to our 9 o'clock in the morning, 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock, and 9 o'clock to about 15 o'clock.

So, about sacrament hours. We know their usual content. For example, at the third hour, the 50th psalm “God have mercy on me” is read, at the sixth hour, the 90th psalm “Alive in help” is read ... But the troparia and kontakia have a different content, namely, they are devoted to the theme of communion. What is their meaning? Why, it would seem, a repetition, because in the morning the same thing is read in the temple? This is because, as I understood for myself, that a priest in the morning, celebrating the Liturgy, at the time when the hours are read, being busy performing the proskomidia in the altar, may not be entirely attentive. The sacrament hours set up both the priest and those praying for a meeting with the Living Christ at the Divine Liturgy. The late Metropolitan Anthony (Blum) has this expression: at the All-Night Vigil we serve God, and at the Liturgy the Lord serves us, teaching His Most Pure Body and Blood as True Drink and True Food, as a pledge of eternal life, a pledge of immortality. The communion hours end with a Mass, the Apostle and the Gospel. This is the preparation from the evening.

In ancient times, they gathered for prayer several times a day

In Georgia, Patriarch Ilia introduced the following rule a few years ago: at certain hours, all believing Georgia, by the sound of the bell, takes out special manuals and reads several prayers, several psalms, and so on 7 times a day. Seven is a number often found in Scripture, it is a symbol of completeness, completeness. The psalmist David says that "seven times a day I praise the Lord."

In ancient times, true believers gathered to pray several times a day. Subsequently, due to obvious difficulties, all these sequences of the daily circle were divided into two parts: morning and evening. You come to any temple and see the schedule: morning worship and evening worship.

In Rus', which was a large monastery, a full daily cycle of Divine Services was performed not only in monasteries, but also in ordinary parish churches. Foreigners, coming to Rus', were amazed at the piety of the Russian people. Very interesting is the description of a journey to Muscovy in the middle of the 17th century by Archdeacon Paul of Aleppo, son of Patriarch Macarius of Antioch. They marveled at the long standing of Russians, including children, at Divine services. Archdeacon Pavel exclaimed: “Those Russians must have iron legs!” His father, Patriarch Macarius, to whom he addressed with his impressions and emotions, said that they once were like that, before the Turkish conquest. Then, due to straitened circumstances, much was lost.

When, at the end of the 19th century, the Old Believer bishops visited the East, they were received by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and very kindly asked: “And how do you find our Divine Service?” They answered diplomatically: “We got inspired, paid attention…” The patriarch continued: “You must have noticed some omissions, shortcomings?” The Old Believers carefully answered that there was some difference between us. The patriarch said: "Well, whatever you want, we are striving to preserve at least the main thing, being under Turkish rule for a century." Much can be said about what Christians experienced while under the Turkish yoke: it was forbidden to ring bells, build temples higher than mosques, etc.

I remember talking to a priest in Karlovy Vary. He was amazed when I briefly told him about what happened among the Orthodox in former times. “What we saw with you,” I said, “is approximately what we call the Eucharistic Canon—the core of the Liturgy, when the consecration of the Gifts—bread and wine—is actually performed.” They are miraculously transformed by the Holy Spirit, transformed into the True Body and True Blood of Christ. Yes, Catholic masses on holidays, Sundays are more lengthy. Let's say they read the Creed only on Sundays. The usual ordinary mass, everyday, truncated to the limit.

Follow-up to Holy Communion

In the morning, at 5.40, those who take communion gather to read the following for Holy Communion. This may not necessarily be in the temple, in the summer, for example, we gather in the gazebo. There you can sit down on a bench, there is no need to demand: fall, but stand up. No, there should be a sparing approach, taking into account the infirmities of a person. So, in the morning we are going to read the Follow-up to Holy Communion - this is also familiar to us, in any prayer book (New Ritual - approx. ed.) is contained.

What's the difference here? First of all, in more prayers. According to the usual order, these are eleven prayers, in the ancient way - eighteen. All long prayers are excluded, omitted as a result of the reform, removed from the volume of preparation for Communion. When you read these prayers, you are amazed at the depth of their content, permeated with repentance, they reveal the whole depth of the fall of man. In general, this is a property of the old rite - a great permeation with repentant feeling. For some reason, we have such an idea that the celebration should be loud, bright, cheerful. Yes, it is joy, but peaceful, calm, luminous. It is spiritual, first of all: not spiritual, but spiritual.

I noticed that there is constant editing in the prayer books published by the Patriarchate. For example, in the canon to the Guardian Angel in the final prayer, some words are omitted, such as "stinking dog." That is, it jars us, it is unintelligent, it seems to be too narrow... But it is still wrong, the old rite has preserved all these expressions that reflect - let's be realists, let's be objective, let's be critical of ourselves - the state of our inner "I".

Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A. I. Osipov told us students that you can see a person who looks so representative, full of health, intelligent appearance, but inside he can be completely rotten. This can be a misleading impression. We know from confession what a depth of abomination lurks in human souls, and that shameful sins burn with shame. That's when we bypass these expressions, these phrases, they do not disturb us. They are unpleasant for us, we distance ourselves from them, and the ancient rite is merciless in this regard, it calls a spade a spade, does not stand on ceremony with this scrupulousness that arises in us as a reaction to some uncomfortable, ruffy phrases, phrases in old liturgical texts .

Thoroughness and completeness of the ancient order of the Liturgy

I note that for many years I have been the rector of the church of St. Nicholas on Bersenevka and at the same time a resident of the St. Danilov Monastery. I value the fact that I am among the brethren - this is a spiritual, mystical moment, maintaining a connection with the monastery. There I carry the minimum load. For many years he served the late Divine Liturgy on Saturdays, so that he is fully familiar with the experience of celebrating the Liturgy according to the usual rite and how it was in antiquity.

What are my feelings at the Liturgy according to the usual rite in comparison with how it was celebrated in antiquity? If we compare it with how a plowman works, then we can say the following: when a plowman bites into the thickness of the earth and, drenched in sweat, deeply loosens the earth, thoroughly prepares the soil for sowing - this is the celebration of the Liturgy according to the ancient rite, with all the preparations, with its duration, thoroughness, permeation with a repentant spirit. The celebration of the Liturgy according to the usual order, according to my personal feelings, comparatively looks like this: not very deep into the ground to plunge the plow; to work, but not so much sweating, not so much wasting spiritual and physical energy. Here is a somewhat risky comparison.

In the ancient rank, thoroughness and completeness are striking. The early printed missal, compared with the usual order of the Liturgy, which is published by the Patriarchate, is several times more voluminous. There are a lot of instructions and notes here. All this was omitted after the reform. Somewhere this is convenient when a compact book is in the hands, but on the other hand, important points fall out, attention is not focused on them.

Who can't take communion?

The preface of the service contains instructions to the priest who is about to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. I will quote only a few lines from three pages: “Do not betray the Son of God into the hands of the unworthy ... Do not be ashamed of the glorious Earth, nor the king himself wearing a diadem, do not be afraid at that hour.” Here we are talking about the fact that the priest must be principled when he gives communion. He must carefully approach the one who takes communion. Of course, there is no need to go too far and extremes are inappropriate here. It is clear that it is necessary to take into account the age, infirmities of a person and the conditions of his life - in a word, what we call in pedagogy an individual approach. That is, not everyone is one size fits all: general confession, come, take communion, so to speak, in a crowd. No, an individual approach is necessary, because there is a danger of communion in condemnation for someone who has not repented of some sins.

I know from experience how it happens in confession, what is the difference between those who have a spiritual mentor and those who do not, who are accustomed to general confession, and who to private. It happens that unrepentant, serious sins emerge among those who have been going to the temple for decades, but none of the priests has ever “digged”, did not try to more thoroughly deal with his sins. When all this is revealed, then, on the basis of everything heard, the priest makes a decision whether it is possible now to admit this person to Communion, or he is clearly not ready, you need to wait, give him penance, that is, temporarily remove him from Communion so that he is more consciously, more carefully prepared, more purified approached the acceptance of this Great Shrine.

We know from church history what kind of persecutions there were against those clergymen who showed such adherence to principles, but, on the other hand, we see how it was appreciated by people who, perhaps, flared up at such a moment, having heard the decision of the priest, and then, having burned out , having calmed down, agreed that yes, indeed, they had to wait for some time before proceeding to Communion. After all, we remember the words of Scripture: "... do not give the Holy Things to dogs ...", that is, to those who are clearly not worthy. This kind of insufficiently thorough preparation for Communion, of course, affects the spiritual and physical state of people.

Preparing a Priest for the Liturgy

The priest does not just silently go to the temple, but reads two prayers and two psalms. “The voice of joy and salvation” - with these words the first prayer begins. In the temple, he lays the foundation - he creates short seven prayers, which should precede both the private prayer of a Christian and the public Divine service. They also end with them, as if a line is being drawn. And then you put a perfect prayer, this solid brick, into the foundation of your spiritual structure. Again, you think about it, comparing what we lost as a result of that reform, which is officially assessed as "a steep and hasty breaking of the old church rituals."

After the beginning, the priest performs entrance prayers about 40 minutes before the announced Divine Service. It should be noted that the ancient tradition provides for the priest to stay awake on the night before the celebration of the Liturgy. Such were the strong foundations, how people felt the need, the thirst for spiritual food! This did not depress them, but cheered them up, gave them strength, inspired them. These were the ascetics of Ancient Rus'. Pre-Petrine Rus' was not sleepy, but dynamic, spiritually dynamic, easy to spiritually uplift, zealous for Divine service, for deeds of piety.

Having performed the initial prayers, the priest puts on himself an epitrachelion (patrachelon, in the old way), handcuffs and begins to read the “entrance prayers” - this is preparation for the service. This is where the difference between what is in common use now and the ancient rite is very much felt - a very significant difference.

Entrance Prayers Old and New

How are these prayers performed in the usual way? "King of Heaven", the Trisagion according to Our Father, troparia familiar to us from the text evening prayers: "Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us ...", "Mercy door ...". Then the priest kisses the icon of the Savior, the icon of the Mother of God. “Weaken, leave ...” and the main prayer “Lord, send down Your hand ...” Very briefly, quickly. When I served in the Danilov Monastery and the young deacons read everything so quickly - once or twice and already in the altar - I confess, the sediment remained in my soul ... This is far from what has become more familiar to me when I celebrate the Liturgy according to the ancient rite.

A number of very meaningful prayers are read here. In addition to kissing the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, the priest also kisses the icons of a number of saints with appropriate prayers. There are not always icons in the iconostasis of all those saints that the priest needs to venerate before entering the altar, so there is still such an ancient custom when the priest venerates the images of saints on a small icon, especially for entrance prayers. We don’t have this yet, so I apply to those images that are in the first tier of the iconostasis, namely: the Forerunner (Forerunner, in the old way) and to various ranks of saints, according to one of the archangels, apostles, prophets, saints, saints and martyrs .

After that, the priest enters the altar. The main prayer according to the usual order is read at the Royal Doors, and according to the ancient one - at the altar. Then the priest dresses. He folds all parts of the vestment: the vestment, patrachel, belt, handrails together on his left shoulder, approaches the throne, makes three bows, reads forgiveness. The text of this forgiveness is present several times in the Liturgy. This suggests that the old rite is permeated with a feeling of repentance. And in this case, before putting on the priest reads forgiveness. If there is a deacon, then they, standing on opposite sides of the throne - the priest on the right, the deacon on the left - make these prostrations, read forgiveness, and only then put on.

A corresponding prayer is read for each part of the vestment. According to the usual rank, they are also read, there is nothing special to say here. Having put on all the prescribed clothes, the priest washes his hands. Of course, in addition to the physical meaning, this has a spiritual meaning, reminds us of the need for spiritual purity with which we must approach this great sacrament.

And then again, a distinctive moment, which is not in the usual order of the Liturgy, but the ancient order has preserved it: the priest reads several prayers at the throne, as a preparation for the celebration of the sacrament. Why do we impoverish ourselves spiritually, what are the grounds for omitting all this, making it easier? But relief also brings impoverishment at the same time. Look how much is omitted: here I am flipping through seven pages, one of the prayers is called “farewell”.

Ideally, a priest must also undergo confession before celebrating the Liturgy, but most often he does not have this opportunity. How can it be with a rural, for example, priest who has no one nearby who could receive his confession? Therefore, the “farewell” prayer, in essence, is the priest’s confession before God at the throne before celebrating the Liturgy. Here is a list of various sins, for example, “Forgive me, Lord, if I cursed anyone, scolded, slandered, condemned, spoke badly, envied, lied, remembered evil, got angry, enraged, became proud”, etc. Here is such a thorough approach, all-round cleansing of the priest.

Midnight Office

According to the old rite, the service begins with the Midnight Office. Its main content on a weekday is the seventeenth kathisma. If the day is Sunday, then the canon of the Most Holy Trinity is read. God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Illogical from a rational point of view, but this is a revelation from above. If we do not know our faith well, we can be very easily confused. How is it, one and three?! Muslims can say that everything is simpler and more understandable for them.

I remember the words of Father Dimitry Smirnov to the question about the Trinity: “We trust those who are absolute authority for us; such ascetics, saints as John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, who wrote about this truth, about the One God in the Glorious Trinity. And the canon of the Trinity, which sounds at Midnight Office every Sunday, constantly refreshes in our memory the truth about the One God in the Glorious Trinity. This is not in the usual rank, it is omitted, at best it is preserved in some monasteries. All these omissions impoverish us, lower the level of our spiritual life, our churching.

Proskomidia according to the old and new rites

According to the old rite, it is performed on seven prosphora (in the old way - prosphora, approx. ed.), according to the usual rank - by five. Why is that? Let us recall the Gospel events of the saturation of the people by Christ, in one case with seven loaves, in the other case with five. There were two Gospel episodes, and in the old rite both of these events are reflected liturgically: the feeding with five loaves is remembered at the lithium (during the evening service - approx. ed.), when five loaves, wheat, wine and oil (oils) are consecrated. Saturation with seven loaves - these are the seven prosphora at the Liturgy. Nothing is forgotten. And in the usual rank, leveling: both there are five, and there are five. But there was, after all, the satiation of the seven loaves, and in the old rites it was not forgotten.

When the Liturgy is celebrated according to the old rite, then the seal on the prosphora is with an eight-pointed cross. The first prosphora is the main one, called the Lamb (from the word Lamb). The middle part is cut out of it and consecrated as Communion, and what remains is called antidor (“dora”, in the old way). This is also a shrine, it is cut into small pieces and at the end of the Liturgy they are distributed first to the sexton, and when approaching the cross - to all the parishioners. The second prosphora is the Mother of God, a particle is cut out of it in honor of the Mother of God. The third prosphora is in honor of the saints of various ranks, all of them are listed, including the saints of the day, and the saints to whom the temple is dedicated. From the fourth prosphora, a particle is taken out about the Patriarch, the ruling bishop and about the entire priestly and deacon rank. A particle is removed from the fifth prosphora with the words: “Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accept this offering of health and salvation” (the royal surname was listed below), and we are now saying this: and about all Orthodox Christians. The sixth prosphora - the priest commemorates the spiritual father and the entire spiritual rank. The seventh prosphora is the funeral.

Here is another significant feature. How is the commemoration according to the usual rite? They bring a basket of prosphora, and the priest quickly takes out particles from each prosphora: one, one, one - “Remember, Lord, remember, Lord ...” According to the ancient order, a separate prosphora is taken, a triangle is cut out, a particle of remembrance “about health”, with these words: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, accept this offering for health and salvation, and for the remission of the sins of Your servants ... ", then the names go," Thou called them to Your Communion, Your mercy, Most Good Lord. Moreover, these words differ in relation to the male or female sex. That is, there is a more differentiated, more thorough approach. A particle from the funeral prosphora is taken out with the following words: “Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accept this offering of remembrance and forgiveness of the sins of Your departed servants…”, names are called, “and teach their souls in the villages of the righteous, Lover of mankind.” Then it's all covered.

We omit the details, but here is an important point - the proskomidia according to the old rite ends, not invisibly for us at the altar, where it was performed, but the Royal Doors open, the priest performs incense in the altar and then, standing at the Royal Doors, pronounces dismissal: “Christ the True Our God ... "Then the priest asks for forgiveness:" Forgive me, fathers and brothers, I have sinned in all my life and this night ... ", after which he makes a prostration to those who pray. In response, everyone bows down and the reader from the wing (the old name of the kliros) reads forgiveness: “Forgive me, Father, and bless ...” This concludes the first part of the Liturgy: we are not in a hurry non-stop, but drew a line, asked God for forgiveness for some violations committed during this first part.

Liturgy of the catechumens

Then begins the second part of the Liturgy - the Liturgy of the catechumens. The catechumens are those who are being taught, preparing for baptism. They could attend both the proskomedia and the second part of the Liturgy, which the priest, standing at the throne, begins with short prayers: “King of Heaven”, “Glory to God in the highest…”, “Lord, open my mouth…” At this time, the choir sings “Lord, have mercy” three times, covering these initial prayers. Then the first exclamation is solemnly heard: "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever." Great Litany: "Let us pray to the Lord in peace." After the peaceful litany, the choir sings the antiphon: "Bless the Lord, O my soul." It is usually sung in two wings. We are accustomed to this model: there is a right choir, a festive one, in which hired artists often sing, and there is a left choir - grandmothers creak ... In the old everyday life, both choirs were equal and sang antiphonally, that is, alternately.

Entrance with the Gospel. The priest sings: “Come, let us bow down and bow down to Christ ...”, the choir picks up: “Save us, Son of God, risen from the dead ...” (if it is Sunday) or: “on holy marvels” (on a weekday). This is called the small entrance, which symbolically reflects the exit of Christ to public preaching. The whole Liturgy is symbolic, each act signifies some moment in the gospel history. And when, say, at the end of the Cherubic Hymn, the great entrance is made, this symbolizes the procession of Christ to Golgotha.

Interestingly, according to the old service book, the priest utters two exclamations, standing facing the people; this is no longer practiced by modern Old Believers. Before they sing "Holy God ...", the priest proclaims "Thou art holy our God ...", "turning to the west", that is, facing the people. The second exclamation before the Cherubic Hymn, “Yes, we always keep under Your Power…”, is also pronounced facing the people.

Burning is not done when the Apostle is read, but at the singing of "Alleluia" at the end of the reading. Before the Gospel, the priest, after reading two prayers in secret, crosses himself with the words: “By the power and intercession of Your Honorable Cross, Lord, have mercy on me and help me a sinner.”

After the Gospel there is a special litany “Rzem all ...”, it contains such petitions that are not in the usual rank, for example, “We also pray for our spiritual fathers and for all our brothers in Christ, for health, and for salvation. We also pray for those who do alms, for health and salvation.”

We proclaim the litany for the dead only on weekdays - on Sundays and holidays it is omitted. Very often, when the Liturgy is celebrated according to the usual rite, the litany for the dead is proclaimed on Sundays and feast days. They explain this by the fact that people, they say, rarely go to church, they don’t go to church on weekdays, so if they came, then let’s do it in full, and remember the rest, although the charter does not imply this.

Cherubic Hymn and the Great Entrance

There are some differences in the text of the Cherubic Hymn. In the old text, there are such words: “we will now reject every worldly sorrow,” and in the new text it sounds like this: “now let us put aside every worldly care.” Sadness is not just when you are sad, here “sadness” is all worries, cares. Set aside and reject, is there a difference? Reject is a more decisive word.

The great entrance is being made, what is the difference here? We are used to the fact that at the end of the Cherubic Hymn, the deacon or priest says: “Our great lord and father Kirill, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', may the Lord God remember in His Kingdom…” and the enumeration goes on. And what is depressing: there is no single text of this pronunciation. After the Patriarch and the ruling bishop have been commemorated, improvisation takes place: donors, trustees, benefactors, singers, upcoming ones, etc. are listed. During the Synodal period, the royal family was commemorated at the grand entrance: both sons and daughters, and grand dukes, and grand duchesses. In the pre-Nikonian service books, everything is very laconic: the priest comes out, and says the following words on three sides: “May the Lord God remember you all in His Kingdom, always, now and forever and forever and ever. May the Lord God remember you all in His Kingdom, always, now and forever and forever and ever. And again: “All of you…” The Patriarch is commemorated at the proskomedia, at the great litany, and at the end of the Liturgy: “Remember first, Lord.”

The symbol of faith, as is known, began to be sung publicly after the war. The explanation is simple: the people began to forget the main prayers. The old rank preserves the former practice of recitative singing “I Believe” in wings. It turns out very dynamically, after all, this is not a prayer for singing, but our "creed". Greeks generally read the Creed.

The Eucharistic Canon and Communion of the Believers

As regards the main moment of the Liturgy, the Eucharistic Canon, when the Gifts are consecrated, here I would note the following difference. In the old rite, there is no raising of the diskos and the Chalice in the words “Yours from Yours…” in the Catholic manner. The priest simply points with his hand to the Lamb lying on the paten and to the Cup of wine. After the transfer of the Holy Gifts and the words “Fairly O Most Holy ...”, the priest and all those praying make a prostration, and only after that the censing is performed. When pronouncing the words "Holy to the holies ..." the priest, taking the Lamb, makes a cross-shaped movement with it over the paten. After that, no "concerts", but only a communion verse, sung at length.

There are some peculiarities in the communion of the laity. The Royal Doors are opened, the priest with the words “Come with the fear of God and faith” takes out the cup. Choir: “Blessed be the Coming…” The cup is immediately brought back into the altar, the cover is removed from it, it is covered with a cloth, a liar is placed on top. The communicants are in a prostrate position, one of them reads a prayer of forgiveness. The priest at the throne makes five bows from the waist with the words: “Merciful Lord, save and have mercy on Your servants ...” The cup is again taken out, the priest says: “Children, Christ invisibly forgives you and I am a sinner,” and then reads the well-known prayer “I believe, Lord, and I confess…”, adding at the end “Be terrified of the God-giving Blood, man, in vain…” Priest: “Participants, prostration to the Body and Blood of Christ.”

Communion of the laity, according to the old rite, is performed three times - such is the ancient practice, liturgically reflecting catholicity, which is alien to the Catholic medieval teaching about the Church teaching and the Church learning. It is done in this way. The priest says: “The Honest and Most Honorable Body and the Divine Blood of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ is served to the servant of God (the name of the rivers) from the Throne of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ in the church of St. ), for the remission of sins (Blood is given) and eternal life (Blood is given again).

On Psalm 33, the priest begins to consume the Holy Gifts by making 3 prostrations in front of the Chalice. A prayer for consumption is read at the throne. The priest overshadows each of those approaching the cross with the words “By the power of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross, may the Lord preserve you.” When reading thanksgiving prayers (before each of them), the priest proclaims: “Let us pray to the Lord,” the reader in response: “Lord, have mercy.”