My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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DAILY CYCLES OF DIVINE SERVICES AND OF PRAYER
Our Great and Divine Benefactor Jesus Christ commands His followers and says, "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with 'carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the fact of the whole earth. 'Watch, therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man'. And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet. Then early in the morning, all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him" (St. Luke 21:34-38).
"Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, 'Pray that you may not enter into temptation.' And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed...When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, 'Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation' (St. Luke 22:39-46).
Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ prayed constantly and taught His disciples also to pray "lest they enter into temptation." The life of the Orthodox Christian is a life of prayer and worship. Just as we cannot live without oxygen so we cannot live without daily prayer. Saint John Chrysostom writes, "When we converse with God at the time of prayer we become similar to the Angels and dissimilar to the irrational beings. For the work par excellence of the Angels is prayer and worship. By praying with much awe and presenting themselves to us as an example, the angels teach us to learn and to know that we must pray to God with joy and with fear."
Saint John Chrysostom again reminds us that "Divine Providence has made us capable of enjoying constant communion with God, through which we appear not to be mortal and transient. Even though by nature we are mortal, it is through our conversation with God that we are transferred into immortal life. For the one who holds conversation with God must be by necessity above death and every moral and spiritual corruption. And by the same token, as it is most essential for one who enjoys the rays of the sun to be free of darkness, so also the one who enjoys conversation with God must no longer be mortal, precisely because the magnitude of this honor transfer us into the realm of spiritual immortality. It is impossible for those who pray and speak to God to have mortal souls. The death of the soul is precisely impiety and a sinful life, while the life of the soul is the worship of God."
It is this precisely why our Holy Orthodox Church and Tradition affords us the opportunity to pray more often, to worship more often, to receive the Mysteria (Sacraments) more often and to be in communion with Our God and Creator constantly. In First Thessalonians 5: 16-17, Saint Paul writes, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing."
Esperinos (Vespers)
In our Holy Orthodox Tradition, the day begins in the evening with the setting of the sun. This practice adheres to the account in the Holy Scripture of creation: "And there was evening and there was morning, one day" (Genesis 1:5).
Great Vespers divine service always begins with the chanting of the evening psalm: "...the sun knows it's time for setting, Thou makest darkness and it is night...." (Psalm 104:19-20). This specific psalm, which glorifies God's creation of the world, is man's very first act of worship, for man, first of all, meets God as Creator.
Following the psalm, the Great Litany, the opening petition of all liturgical services of the Church is intoned. In it, we pray to the Lord for everyone and everything.
Following this litany a number of psalms are chanted, a different group each evening. These psalms normally are omitted in parish churches though they are conducted in Orthodox monasteries. On the eve of Sunday, however, sections of the first psalm and the other psalms which are chanted to begin the week are usually chanted even in the parish church.
Psalm 141 is always chanted at Vespers. During this psalm the evening incense is offered:
Lord, I call upon Thee, (Kyrie Ekekracsa...), hear me, Hear me, O Lord. Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense. And let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice. Hear me, O Lord (Psalm 141:1-2)
Another inspiring hymn chanted at Vespers is Phos Ilaron or O joyful Light...
Priest: O Joyful Light of the holy glory of the Immortal Father, the Heavenly, Holy, Blessed Jesus Christ. Now that we have reached the setting of the sun and behold the evening light, we sing to God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is fitting at all times to praise You with cheerful voices, O Son of God, the Giver of life. Behold, the world sings Your glory."
Of course, there is more to the Vespers service.
Orthros (Matins)
The morning service of the Church is called Orthros (Matins). It begins with the reading of Six Psalms and the intoning of the Great Litany. Following this, verses of Psalm 118 are chanted. The Troparion is then chanted. Once again there are hymns on the theme of the particular day. On major feast days, special praises and psalms are chanted, which on the Lord's Day (Sunday) praise Christ's Resurrection. On major feasts and on Sundays, the Gospel is also read.
Following the Gospel lesson, there is a long intercessory prayer followed by a set of hymns and readings called the Canon. These hymns are based on the Old Testament canticles and conclude with the so-called Magnificat (St. Luke 1:46-55) "Let us honor and magnify in song the Theotokos and the Mother of Light...Verse: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. Greater in honor than the Cherubim, and in glory greater beyond compare than the Seraphim; you without corruption gave birth to God the Logos/Word, and are truly Theotokos, You do we magnify.
The divine service of Orthros (Matins) unites the elements of Morning psalmody and prayer with meditation on the Biblical canticles, the Gospel reading, and the particular theme of the day in the given verses and hymns. The themes of God's revelation and light are also always central to the morning service of the Church.
The above are just a glimpse of the divine services of the Church.
At our beloved church of Saint Andrew, we offer and make available to all our faithful the above services and much more throughout the week. Make every possible effort to attend at least of the divine services a week It will bring you God's grace and blessing.
With agape in Christ,
+Father George