Book of Hours: The Theology of Daily Prayer. What are liturgical hours and is it possible to be late for them
After the All-Night Vigil, the first hour is read in churches. Before the liturgy, the third and sixth, and sometimes the ninth. And then there is the "great or royal clock." What are these rites, and what do they have to do with real time?
Clock This is a short worship service. There are first, third, sixth and ninth hours. They are based on psalms (three in each), as well as chants associated with the day of the week, the spam of a particular saint or another holiday.
The very name of the clock is associated with ancient systems of counting time. In Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the day was divided among different peoples into several parts. The so-called Roman account is reflected in the tradition of Orthodox worship:
“The day was divided into hours of unequal length; it was a more or less Christianized old Roman clock. The hour was approximately equal to our three: matins (about midnight), praise (3 o'clock in the morning), the first hour (6 o'clock in the morning), the third hour (9 o'clock), the sixth hour (noon), the ninth hour (15 o'clock), vespers ( 18 hours), evening (21 hours) ”(Jacques Le Goff. Civilization of the Medieval West).
Note that the order of services is connected with the daily circle, and ideally the hours should have been performed in the intervals between services. In practice, even in a monastery it is impossible to make sure that the monks are constantly in the church, and therefore the hours gradually began to adjoin the main services (All-Night Vigil and Liturgy).
But in the texts themselves there were references to the time of day or to New Testament events.
First hour dedicated to “the thoughts and feelings of believers at the onset of morning” (M. Skabllanovich “Explanatory Typicon”). This service appears in Palestinian monasteries not earlier than the 4th century. Like the rest of the hours, the first hour consists of psalms (5, 89, 100), several prayers and troparia.
Much earlier, Christians began to allocate the Third, Sixth and Ninth hours associated with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, the crucifixion and death of the Savior. Already in the 2nd century, Christians read the prayer “Our Father” at this time, and a special rite of worship for each of the services was gradually formed. .
Texts third hour(approximately 9 a.m.) is closely connected with the memory of two events in New Testament history - Pilate's trial of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles: "The general theme of the 3rd hour is the prayer for the preservation of Righteousness, which is natural at the beginning of the day." But in accordance with the two memories associated with this hour for a Christian, this theme is twofold: according to the “Instructive Message” of the Service Book, the 3rd hour recalls the trial of the Savior by Pilate with scourging and scourging, which took place precisely between 9 and 12 o’clock in the afternoon, and the descent of the Holy Spirit on
apostles, which followed exactly at this hour. (M. Skabllanovich "Explanatory Typicon").
The third hour also consists of three psalms (16, 24, 50), several troparia and prayers.
sixth hour(approximately 12 days) is dedicated to the memory of the crucifixion of Christ. Such a link to the sufferings of the Savior is connected with the testimony of the Gospel of Matthew: “ And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour; and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Or, Or! lama savahfani? that is: My God, My God! why did you leave me? Some of those standing there, hearing this, said: He is calling Elijah. (Matthew 27:45-47). All three psalms (53, 54 and 90) describe the feelings of the righteous who are surrounded by enemies.
In modern parish practice of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Third and Sixth Hours are usually read before the Liturgy (the priest at this time performs the proskomidia in the altar).
Quite often adjacent to them and ninth hour(approximately 15 hours), which is dedicated to the memory of the death of the Savior on the cross. And this link is based on the testimony of the Evangelists, for example, Matthew : “And immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and putting it on a reed, gave Him to drink; but others said, Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him. Jesus, again crying out with a loud voice, gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook; and the stones were split” (Matthew 27:47-51). Three psalms (83, 84, 85) are devoted to the theme of the separation of the soul from the body.
According to the charter of the Church, the Ninth Hour is celebrated before Vespers, but in many parish churches it is omitted, or read before the liturgy, when the priest does not have enough time to perform the proskomedia.
These four hours (1,3,6, and 9) are read in the temple all year round, but on special occasions the Church uses other services, which are also called hours.
During Great Lent, the texts of kathisma are added to the usual hours (the Psalter is divided into 20 approximately equal parts for ease of use during worship. One of such parts is called kathisma) Great Lenten troparia, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian “Lord and master of my life” and reading the Old Testament ( proverbs from the book of the prophet Isaiah) at the sixth hour. Such extended clocks are called "Great Lent".
It remains for us to tell about the Great (Royal) Hours, which take place three times a year - on the eve of the Nativity of Christ and the Epiphany of the Lord, as well as on Good Friday. They include all ordinary hours in a row (from 1 to 9), to which are added readings from the Old Testament, the Gospel and the Apostle, as well as special troparia.
The name "royal" is common only in Russia. Our liturgical tradition was taken from the Byzantine Empire. The emperor himself had to be present at these solemn hours. Byzantine rulers and Russian tsars left all other affairs and hurried to the temple. In memory of this and in order to emphasize the special solemnity of these services in Russia, and then in Russia, they began to use the name "royal hours".
There is another type of this worship - Easter clock, which on Bright Week are not only sung in churches instead of ordinary hours, but also replace the morning and evening rule for believers. They are very short. They consist of the Paschal troparion, the hymn "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ", the Paschal kontakion and several other troparia and prayers. No psalms, almost no reading. Only joyful hymns in honor of the Savior.
Liturgical hours are a special rite of prayers, which is read in the temple at a certain time.
Usually this is a rather short rank, reading and listening to which does not take more than fifteen or twenty minutes.
It seems to me that the emergence of the prayer books of the hours in the Old Testament and New Testament Churches is connected primarily with the Divine establishment of a person's habit of uninterrupted prayer. After all, in essence, the Angels and saints in paradise are in continuous praise to the Lord. Figuratively speaking, in the Kingdom of Heaven, in His exalted and spiritual temple, worship is constantly going on. And in order for a person to acquire the habit of this heavenly uninterrupted prayer, he acquires it even here - in earthly life. Hence the divine services of the hours at a certain time.
This can be compared to a monastic meal. So that the monk does not plunge headlong into the absorption of food, the meal is interrupted somewhere in the middle by the sound of a bell. Everyone gets up. They are baptized. A short prayer is said. Then they sit down again and eat food. By doing this, a person seems to be knocked out of the earthly rut, out of mental and heart concentration on his stomach, and again learns to fix his attention on the higher - on the heavenly.
Watches, I think, have the same function - to distract a person's attention from the material concerns of the day. And turn your eyes to the Lord God.
The fact that the Old Testament Church knew the divine services of the hours is testified to by the first chapters of the Book of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, Acts of the Holy Apostles: “Peter and John went together to the temple at the ninth hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1); “The next day, as they were walking and approaching the city, about the sixth hour Peter went up on top of the house to pray” (Acts 10:9).
The fact that the apostles knew and used certain hours of the day for prayer is evidenced by a book written at the beginning of the 2nd century after the birth of Christ, “The Teaching of the 12 Apostles”. She prescribes to read the Lord's Prayer "Our Father" three times a day.
The names of the 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th hours were given to these short services because of a somewhat different calculation of the time of day than ours in ancient Israel.
The ancient Jews divided the night into four guards (the sentries guarding the settlement changed), and the day into four hours (changes in the movement of the sun relative to the earth). The first hour corresponds to our seventh hour in the morning. The third hour is nine o'clock in the morning. Sixth - twelve o'clock - noon. Ninth hour - three o'clock in the afternoon.
In the New Testament Church, the meaning of the liturgy of the hours became even more symbolic. It acquired a significant gospel meaning associated with the most important events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church.
So, let's start with the first liturgical hour, which is used in the temple. Since the church liturgical day begins with the evening (vespers), the first (not in the arithmetic or chronological sense) hour is the ninth. He is also the first in the spiritual sense.
We know for sure from the Holy Gospel that the Savior died on the cross at the ninth hour (the third afternoon in our reckoning). Therefore, the prayer memory of the ninth hour is dedicated to the death on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as His descent into hell. Therefore, the prayers of this hour are mournful, but at the same time, there is already an emerging Paschal joy in them, because the Bright Resurrection of Christ will happen very soon. Therefore, the ninth hour precedes all other daily services: Vespers, Matins, the first, third, sixth hours, the Liturgy. After all, the church veil is torn in two, and humanity gets the opportunity to enter paradise. The era of the New Testament is coming - the era of salvation. Mankind is taking a new step towards God, Who has brought it as close as possible to Himself.
The first hour, with God's help, was set later than the other three. As Professor of the Kiev Theological Academy Mikhail Skaballanovich writes in his book “Explanatory Typicon”: “The 1st hour was established in the 4th century. in Palestinian monasteries for ascetic purposes…” That is, the Church of apostolic times did not know him. It was already established with the development of monasticism in the 4th century in connection with asceticism and ascetic discipline such as "sleep less and pray more". The fact is that in order to aggravate the prayerful vigil, the ancient monks also broke the night into several guards, during which they stood up for prayer. The last prayer watch of the night is the first hour.
In addition, it also carries a spiritual gospel meaning. The Church recalls in his prayers the taking of Christ into custody in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Sanhedrin, the suffering and beating of the Savior by the Pharisees' servants, the trial by Pilate, and the unjust death sentence pronounced on the Righteous.
The main memory of the third hour is the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Most Holy Theotokos and the apostles, which took place precisely at the third hour (see Acts 2:15). As well as the way of the cross of Christ to Golgotha, which also took place about the third hour and later.
The remembrance of the sixth hour is the Crucifixion of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ. The execution took place, according to the Holy Gospel, precisely at the twelfth hour of the day.
Thus, we see that the divine services of the hours are devoted primarily to the Passion of Christ and are called upon to prayerfully awaken in a person the spiritual vision of the Cross, Death, the Resurrection of Christ, as well as the birthday of the Church, one of the main events in our history - Holy Pentecost. Many holy fathers said that the remembrance and living of the heart, the inner person of Passion Week is very saving and beneficial. It unites the human soul with Christ and revives it to life. The holy supreme apostle Paul also reminds us of this: “If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him…” (Rom. 6:8).
Because the memories of the liturgical hours are connected with the Passion of Christ, there is no singing in these prayers, only reading, which is less solemn and more mournful.
So the structure of the hours... It is typical of all four, and based on this, each hour takes about twenty minutes. In the prayers of the hours, after the “hat” or immediately after “Come let us worship”, there are three selected psalms (they are different for each hour), followed by troparia (special prayers) dedicated to the memory of the day, the event being celebrated or the saint (s). This is followed by special prayers "Theotokos" dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos. “Mother of God” also has its own for each hour. Then "The Trisagion according to Our Father" (see any Orthodox prayer book: the beginning of morning prayers). Next, a special kontakion prayer, dedicated to the memory of the day. Then forty times “Lord, have mercy”, the prayer “Even for any time”, priestly leave (for the 3rd and 6th hours - this is “Through the prayers of our holy fathers ...”, and for the 9th and 1st - this “God, have mercy on us ...”) and the prayer of the hour (for each his own).
The hours always begin with the prayer “Come, let us worship”, which is a kind of confession of our faith in the Holy Trinity, they continue with psalms, and after them with New Testament prayers, which shows the deep organic relationship of the Old Testament and New Testament Churches. The troparia and kontakia of the day are also mounted in the clock - that is, special short prayers dedicated to the event celebrated on this day or the saint commemorated. The central part of the clock, according to the will of the holy apostles, is the reading of the prayer "Our Father". An in-depth penitential prayer “Lord, have mercy”, repeated forty times, and the prayer “Also for all time”, telling us that we must worship God and glorify Him at any time and at any hour. Then release and prayer of the hour. All the psalms and prayers of the liturgical hour were chosen by the holy fathers with God's help in such a way as to remind us of the above-mentioned memories of the hour. An example of this is the 50th psalm at the third hour, the verses of which “Create a pure heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and Thy Holy Spirit shall not be taken away from me,” as if they are directly telling us about the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. And in Great Lent at this hour, the troparion directly says about the remembered event: “Lord, even Thy Most Holy Spirit at the third hour sent down by Thy apostles, Him, the Good One, do not take away from us, but renew in us, praying to You.”
By the way, the hours during the liturgical year undergo changes. In Great Lent, readings of kathismas, the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian “Lord and Master of my life ...”, certain troparia are added to them. On Holy Pascha and Bright Week, the structure of hours changes by ninety percent. Then they include hymns glorifying the Bright Resurrection of Christ: the troparion and kontakion of Easter, the hymn “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ,” etc. Due to the special solemnity of the holiday, the Easter hours are often not read, but sung.
In addition, on the eve of such great holidays as the Nativity of Christ and Holy Theophany (Baptism of the Lord), great hours are read. They have the usual structure of the divine services of the hours, with the only difference being that the Old Testament readings of paroemia, the Apostle, the Holy Gospel are read on them. In Russia, they are often called royal hours. This is a historical name, as they were often attended by monarchs.
In ancient times, the clock was served, as it should be - at 7 and 9 in the morning, at 12.00 and 15.00. But, unfortunately, for a modern person with his haste and busyness, such a schedule is not suitable. Therefore, Vespers begins now at the ninth hour, and Matins ends at the first hour. And the third and sixth hours are added to the beginning of the Divine Liturgy with the need for the priest to have time to perform the proskomedia during the reading of these hours. Since the daily divine service begins from the ninth and third hours, these prayers have a “cap”: the priestly exclamation “Blessed be our God ...”, then the usual beginning “O Heavenly King”, the Trisagion, “Our Father”, “Come, let us worship ...” And the first and sixth hours begin only with "Come, let us worship ..."
I would like to say that there is nothing unimportant and unimportant in the Church. This also applies to liturgical hours. Unfortunately, one often observes how people try to arrive at the beginning of the Liturgy, but are late by hours. One gets the impression that the reader, standing alone on the kliros and reading the hours, does this only for himself, well, for the priest, as a last resort. Many others are busy with candles, notes, conversations - in a word, the usual temple bustle. And only when the exclamation “Blessed is the Kingdom ...” sounds, everyone subsides.
But after all, the third hour is the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Most Holy Theotokos and the apostles, this is the way of the cross to Calvary of the Savior, and the sixth hour is the Crucifixion of Christ. He tells us that nails were driven into His pure hands for our sins. And God voluntarily gave himself over to suffering in the name of saving us all! Can we ignore it? Can we neglect the clock?
Yes, there are extreme cases when, for objective reasons, a person was late for the beginning of the Liturgy, maybe he overslept once or several times. It happens to everyone? But there is a well-established tradition of treating watches as something insignificant. Type can be "cut", late. And it's already scary. After all, we are talking about the remembrance of the Passion of the Lord.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us remember that to arrive half an hour before the start of the Liturgy is not to arrive at the exclamation of “Blessed is the Kingdom”, being late by the clock. No. This means to come before the reading hours. To have time to submit notes, and put candles, and kiss the holy images. And then, having recovered his breath and calmed down, begin to listen to the clock and heartily delve into the remembrance of the Passion of Christ and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles.
After all, whoever is crucified together with our Lord Jesus Christ will rise with him.
Priest Andrei Chizhenko
1. Those who want learn to worship at home.
2. Those who have been cut off from the parish and therefore cannot or cannot always go to ready-made services.
It would be good for all other laity, those who have their own parish, to learn how to worship at home, but they cannot be forced. Maybe their moment just hasn't come yet.
Why, if there is a parish
If a person has a parish, but he wants to master home worship, then there is no need to postpone, you need to start. But why is this necessary if you can safely go to ready-made services? For two main reasons.
1. One catacomb woman once said to me: “Now you can serve openly, it is perceived as something normal, as if it will always be so. But in fact, it can quickly take away.
Yes, there are countries where you can go to any church - if self-immolation is not practiced in it, then the state will not forbid you to do so. But there are other countries, for example, China or Belarus, close to us, where it is allowed to belong to only a few official churches, and everything else is severely persecuted. And there is no guarantee that a European attitude to the so-called freedom of conscience will develop in Russia, and not a Chinese one. Even now, one can hardly find an open parish of the TOC that has not been subjected to pressure from the authorities. Many different examples could be cited here, but I will briefly mention only our history.
In 1997-1999, after Fr. Alexander Zharkov was killed, our parish existed mostly without a priest and in apartment services. And in 2010, employees of the “E” center tried to imprison our rector on false charges, and take away the temple in favor of the Moscow Patriarchate. So even now a situation is possible when the temple is closed, and the priest is imprisoned - by this time one must be able to serve. Do not count on the fact that there will always be a peaceful life.
2. Divine service becomes much more understandable if you read in the service. For many parishioners, the service remains just a beautiful sound background for their thoughts or "exalted states." But church texts have their own meaning - it is not only in litanies. In the home service, you will read these texts and get used to follow their content.
0. There is another reason - "lyrical". I mention it here additionally, because I'm not sure of its canonicity. “Who is worshiped and glorified for every time and every hour in heaven and on earth ...” - for every time and every hour. Perhaps when you light the lamp and say the first cry of the service, someone in another city or in another country has just completed their worship. And then, after you, someone else starts the service - in Chicago, in Omsk or in Mariupol. It turns out such a constant worship.
Why, if there is no parish
If you find yourself in a place where there is no parish, then there are two reasons to establish independent worship.
1. An Orthodox Christian who is at large cannot remain without service. There are no more options here. If such a person does not study, he deprives himself of the liturgical life. There is no such stupid person who would not have mastered at least a minimal service - I know cases when people who did not study at all mastered an independent service. In such a situation, apart from the parish, the first thing to do is to study the Mass, where you can partake of spare gifts.
2. Domestic service is a property of the parish, even if it is still only one person. But people will certainly gather later if you support the service in this parish. I know of two cases when such worship was held for three years, and then people came. The first case is described in the book about Father Seraphim Rose “Not of This World” - Alexei Yang and his wife Susanna, on the advice of Father Seraphim, prayed at the water pump for three years, and then a parish gathered around them, and Alexei Young became a priest. The second case is Father Theodore in Berlin, for three years he celebrated divine services with his brother of the same wisdom, together, and then a parish gathered around them, and this was the largest parish of the TOC in Berlin.
And if the parish has not gathered, and you are serving in solitude, isn’t it just a complication of morning or evening prayers? No, it's different. The morning and evening rule are individual prayers, and Vespers or Lunch is a public worship service, even if you do it alone. Now one, and later you will not be alone, the rest just haven't come yet. And they can appear not only from among personal acquaintances. It happens that someone addresses from the Internet, and then looks for a place in his city where the service is performed. Therefore, you can simply come up with a name for your single parish and keep watch, “divine guard”.
Internal arguments against
1. "It still won't work." - Get it! In the next part of the report, I will tell you how to get started.
2. “I don’t feel like it, I don’t like worship.” - Here it is appropriate to recall the words of Ambrose of Optinsky: “If you find that you do not have love, but you want to have it, then do deeds of love, although at first without love. The Lord will see your desire and effort and put your love in your heart.” This advice also helps with respect to the love of worship. Act as if you really enjoy worship, and you will realize that it is actually wonderful.
How to commit
If there is a parish nearby, it is advisable to find like-minded people. It helps to hold on when the first aspiration has weakened. As in the famous story "Vovochka, you can't not go to school, you're the director." Or, as Innokenty Komelsky, a disciple of Nil Sorsky, said in the 15th century, paraphrasing Ecclesiastes: “Woe alone, if he falls into despondency or sleep, or decay, or despair, there is no one who raises him up among people.”
But if there is no one, you must start alone, in the hope of God's help.
It is better to serve according to the established rhythm. For a normal and unaccustomed person, this is once a week.
If there is no parish nearby, then it is necessary to serve on Saturday evening or Sunday morning. If there is a parish, then it is better not to ruin the cathedral service and pray in the church on Saturday and Sunday, because parishes in the TOC are usually small, the absence of each person is noticeable, and the presence always strengthens others. For home service, you can then choose a day of the week when your favorite saint is celebrated or when there is an opportunity to gather.
However, if over time a full-fledged separate parish begins to form on the basis of your home worship, then this is also good.
What books do you need
If you don't know how to serve at all, you'll need two books to begin with, and then another. The first two books are the Book of Hours and in the Slavic language, divided into kathismas. If you do not know the Church Slavonic language at all, then the Psalter can be in Russian letters, but certainly in Church Slavonic. The use of books in Russian is theoretically possible, but highly undesirable. Firstly, when you start worship at home, you embark on a risky independent voyage and you will have many chances to be wrecked along the way, therefore it is better not to show too much initiative and try to arrange everything according to the rules of worship that are accepted among people close to you in spirit. Secondly, reading in Church Slavonic, you will quickly learn and love this language, it will not be so difficult.
But if you don't live in Russia, it makes sense to start serving in the local language, at least in part, to make it possible for locals to join your parish.
After the Psalter and the Book of Hours, you will also need the Octoechos. It, like the Psalter with the Book of Hours, can be bought in some church shops. During Great Lent, the Lenten Triod is needed, and from Easter to Pentecost, the Colored Triod. In addition, one more book is needed throughout the year - the Menaion, but it is very large, it contains at least 12 volumes, according to the number of months of the year, some months are divided into two or three volumes, depending on the edition.
It is better to have the Book of Hours and the Psalter on paper in the form of books - it is easy to buy them. All other books can be borrowed online. Here are links to them: Octoechos, Menaion(here is another option Menaion), Color triode, Lenten triode, all books . Some services are in the site calendar Pravoslavie.Ru. Some rare services important for the CPI are collected on the website of the parish of St. Princess Elizabeth. (There is also something useful).
How to learn
It seems to me that it is most convenient to start studying with Vespers. This service is performed in the evening and, with normal reading, takes about half an hour.
Although this is a small service, it will be difficult to proofread it in its entirety if you are not used to it. Especially if you do not know Church Slavonic. Therefore, you can first make a part of it, and then gradually increase it.
Each service by a secular rank (without a priest) begins and ends with an exclamation:
“Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen".
After the initial exclamation, you need to read “Come, let us bow down ...”, and then the initial psalm “Bless the Lord, my soul ...”, which was written at the very beginning of Vespers. After that, for the first time, you can finish - at the end the same exclamation "With the prayers of our holy fathers ...".
If the text of the initial psalm in Church Slavonic in the Book of Hours seems too difficult for you, read it not from the Book of Hours, but from the Psalter in Russian letters - this is psalm 103. But gradually you will have to move from Russian letters to Church Slavonic. For this, there are several methods.
1. Get a prayer book with a Slavonic font and read the morning and evening prayers already familiar to you.
3. Study the textbook of the Church Slavonic language (for example, Alipiy Gamanovich).
When reading, special attention should be paid to the correct stress of words. The ends of words cannot be swallowed, in Church Slavonic all endings are clearly pronounced: “Yours”, “Stretch the sky ..”, “Beast of the oak forest”, etc.
When the initial psalm is good enough, a kathisma can be added to it. This is already a real test for reading the psalter - here you have to learn! On Monday evening, the 6th kathisma is read, on Tuesday - the 9th, on Wednesday - the 12th, on Thursday - the 15th, on Friday - the 18th, on Saturday - the 1st kathisma "Blessed is the husband ...". On Sunday evening there is no kathisma, alas, but you can read the same 1st kathisma for educational purposes. During fasting on weekdays, the 18th kathisma is almost always read.
When kathismas become more familiar, it will be possible to add the rest of Vespers, piecemeal or all at once. “Lord, cry…” and everything else. Here you will need inserts from the octoich and menaion, but for a start you can limit yourself to only inserts from the octoich. How to add them - here you will need an explanation from a person who knows the charter. If you have a parish, then there are people there who will explain how other books are added to the Book of Hours. If there is no parish, ask someone else, or, for example, me.
Yes, there is another site succession.rf. On it, good people post some services in a row, the full text with the union of all the books, so that no books are needed. And everything is typed in Russian letters! The text there also includes the words of the priest and the deacon, but in the home service they are not - these inclusions should be omitted. But it is still better to serve according to the books in order to study the charter. And this site can be used as a reference.
What are the dangers
If you have established a home worship service, beware of becoming a self-sufficient mechanism. You still need to communicate with like-minded people and discuss your cockroaches with someone. Because cockroaches will definitely arise, and they will be insidious. I had to pray with a man who ministered at home every day for about three years. He tried to overcome everything by an effort of his own will, he relied too much on himself and never consulted with anyone. As a result, he was blown into pitch darkness.
It's also dangerous to overload. It is better to keep a small service, but regularly.
Home Worship and the Jesus Prayer
On this subject, I will quote from one sermon:
“It would seem that it is not difficult to devote an hour and a half a week to worship at home. Even the busiest people find a similar amount of time, say, for daily brushing of teeth and the like, and no one will argue that prayer is more important. The point here is not at all about time: if you set the goal of serving one obligatory divine service a week lasting half an hour (during such a time you can subtract Sunday Vespers or, for those who do not know the charter, read several kathismas of the Psalter), then it will still turn out to be difficult. If you try to force yourself simply by an effort of will, then this will lead (in most cases) to a breakdown: a person will generally give up everything that concerns worship, and it’s good, if only at home.
And all this is because psalmody (liturgical prayer) was not originally designed to be used as the main spiritual dish. This is only a side dish, which does not and should not contain just the main nutrients - those for the assimilation of which this side dish is served. Why this is so can be explained by another comparison. Worship is needed as metal reinforcement for a concrete slab, but the concrete itself is an inner prayer, the Jesus Prayer. It is not just the main, but also the only occupation of a Christian, and everything else is only the creation of conditions for this occupation.
Worship and the Jesus Prayer, when they are together, also become a tool that allows a person to see his own problems in a completely different way than with the "naked eye" and, if not always solve them, then at least formulate questions that can then be someone ask."
The daily service includes the 3rd, 6th hours and the Divine Liturgy. The 3rd hour corresponds to our 10-12 o'clock in the afternoon, and the 6th corresponds to 1-3 in the afternoon.
The services of these hours have been adopted by the Holy Church since ancient times. The 3rd and 6th hours have become especially important for Christians due to the significance of the events that took place in them: with the 3rd hour, the Orthodox Church combines memories of Pilate's trial of the Savior, the torment that He endured in the praetorium, and also the Descent of the Holy Spirit on apostles; at the 6th hour, the procession of the Savior to the sufferings on the cross and His death on the cross are remembered.
The apostles sanctified these hours with prayer (Acts 2:15; 10:9). The distribution of the psalms that are currently read at the services was already known in the 4th century. It is believed to have been made by the Monk Pachomius the Great († 348).
The 3rd and 6th hours are celebrated in the temple, and sometimes in the vestibule.
On Great Thursday and Saturday, as well as on the feast of the Annunciation, which falls on these days, the 3rd, 6th, 9th hours and the pictorial hours are served together, but separately from the Divine Liturgy. According to the Rule, on Great Thursday, the hours are set at the 3rd, and the Divine Liturgy at the 8th hour of the day, on Great Saturday, the hours are celebrated at the 4th, and the Divine Liturgy at the 10th hour. As celebrated separately from the Divine Liturgy, these hours, together with the pictorial ones, according to the Rule, are sent to the porch, and at the end of them there is a dismissal. If the Annunciation happens on Great Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then the hours on which the Gospel is read are performed in the temple. These days, there are no holidays after pictorial holidays, and after the prayer “Most Holy Trinity”, “Come, let us worship” is read, and then Vespers is served.
Hours are Lenten, great (royal), Easter and everyday.
Lenten hours are celebrated on Wednesday and Friday of the Cheese Week, except as specified in the Charter, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of all weeks of Great Lent, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week.
The Great Hours depart on Great Friday and before the feasts of the Nativity of Christ and Theophany. On these hours, the 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th hours join together and depart at the temple. These hours began to be called royal partly because in ancient times Byzantine emperors were always present on them.
Easter hours are celebrated throughout the entire Easter week until the Week of Thomas. Everyday hours depart on all other days of the year. The sequence of everyday hours is found in the Book of Hours and the Followed Psalter; Lenten - in the Book of Hours, the Followed Psalter and in the Charter for the 1st week of Great Lent; Paschal - in the investigations of Holy Pascha and royal - in the Triodion for Great Friday, in the Menaion for December 25 and January 5, and in the Charter for these days.
Interhours constitute, as it were, a continuation of the services of the clock. They are supposed to be done only on weekdays. At present, they are usually performed only in Orthodox monasteries, but not in all.
Their follow-up is found in the Followed Psalter. The service of the pictorial, also called obednitsa, is a short service performed by desert dwellers instead of the Divine Liturgy, which, with its chants and prayers, was, as it were, an image of it or a likeness. In terms of their position among other daily services, the pictorial ones corresponded to that part of the Divine Liturgy that was recorded not in the Euchologion, but in the Typicon. Under the name pictorial and obednica, this service is known both in conjunction with the Divine Liturgy and separately from it.
On the days of Great Lent, when the Alleluia is sung at Matins, the pictorials are performed after the 9th hour. If the pictorial ones are not on the days of Great Lent, when “God is the Lord” is sung in the morning, they depart after the 6th hour. The order of the service is found in the Book of Hours and the Followed Psalter.
Number of entries: 16441
Hello, tell me, what does the wedding icon fall for? From nothing took and fell the wedding icon of her husband.
xenich
Dear Xenia, do not pay attention to superstitions. With prayer and hope in God, you will be able to expel such fears from your soul. God bless you.
Priest Sergiy Osipov
Hello, fathers! I wanted to go on vacation to the Smolensk cemetery, to bow to the relics of St. Blessed Xenia of Petersburg. But the fact is that now it’s not very good with finances (I was counting on a bonus, it will be, but small, and there are many other expenses). That is, the trip will have to be postponed "until better times." Please tell me, do the saints hear our prayers, requests, and help us, even if it is not possible to come personally and bow to the relics? So, I thought that for the time being I could at least read the Akathist to Ksenyushka of Petersburg for 40 days, but for this, as I understand it, you need to take the priest's blessing? And yet, do you know where in Moscow they serve a prayer service for Xenia of Petersburg? Sorry for so many questions. Thanks!
Natalia
Hello Natalia. Undoubtedly, the saints hear our prayers offered anywhere, even on the other side of the world. They belong to the spiritual world, and earthly distances are not an obstacle for them. Although the joys of a pilgrimage trip will have to be postponed, you can pray to Blessed Xenia at home. When deciding to read an akathist regularly for a certain period, and not from time to time, it will be good to take a blessing from a confessor or priest, to whom you usually confess. Where the Akathist to Blessed Xenia is regularly served, I could not find it, try it yourself. God bless you.
Priest Sergiy Osipov
Hello. For a long time I wore an unlit cross; I myself was baptized as a child. During the baptism, my goddaughter consecrated it to me, after I put it on, I began to have a terrible weakness. Could it be that the cross cleanses me? And in general, can this be connected with the consecration of the cross?
Evgenia
Hello Evgeniya. The concept of “the cross cleanses” is not true - repentance cleanses the soul. Therefore, if conscience convicts of something, it is good to go to confession. You should not associate your weakness with the consecration of the cross. God help you.
Priest Sergiy Osipov
I baptized my friend's son, can I take him as a godfather? For him to baptize my daughter?
Alexander
Yes, Alexander, it is not forbidden.
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Hello, I would like to know your opinion. My grandfather is a very fussy person, he cannot live calmly at all, he is in a hurry all the time, and so on. Grandmother says that it is his demons who are urging him on, and he must go to church. Could it be? I notice behind myself that I am also restless, I grab onto a lot, and I give up everything, I catch fire, and then I cool down. I don't know what to do...
Elizabeth
Elizabeth! Make it a rule to read morning and evening prayers from the prayer book, to pray during the day: before and after meals, before and after each business. So you will treat everything more attentively and responsibly, and the Lord will help you in your affairs with his grace. Go to church, go to confession and take communion more often, that is, devote more time to the spiritual. Always remember the words of the Savior: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this (that is, earthly things) will be added to you."
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Is it possible to pray at home without a headscarf?
Angelina
Angelina! There are situations when it is not possible to cover one's head for prayer, for example, on the road. In this case, it is better to pray without a headscarf than not to pray at all. At home, nothing prevents you from putting on a headscarf, so when praying at home, you need to cover your head.
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Hello, fathers. During Great Lent I was at the Unction, there were a lot of people. The priests read the Gospel three times and the anointing three times, then they read the final part and placed the Gospel on their heads, is the Sacrament considered complete? And how are my doubts about the actions of the priests, how to repent of this sin (what to call it)? Thank you.
Natalia
Natalia, ideally, seven priests participate in the sacrament of unction, so the number of readings and anointings is also seven. Given the latest instructions for the celebration of the sacrament of unction, the sevenfold anointing and reading of the seven Gospels is not mandatory. You can not be embarrassed, but repent that you condemned the priests.
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Is it possible to sleep in the place of the deceased for up to 40 days?
Yes, Tatyana, you can sleep for up to 40 days, and after.
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Good day! My sister is very sick (cancer of 3-4 degrees), tell me what prayers to read to her and me? And yet, if a person does not pray, but I pray for him, will my prayers be heard? Thank you.
Snezhana
Snezhana, praying for each other is our duty of love for our neighbors. This love propitiates the Lord, who himself is Love. Read the akathist to the icon of the Mother of God "The Tsaritsa", if possible, often invite the priest to take communion and unction the sick.
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Hello, father! Tell me, please, when is my angel day? Who is my patron? Which angel to pray to? I was born on June 1st.
Dmitriy
Dmitry, June 1 The Church honors the memory of the Holy Right-Believing Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy. This is your patron saint. Your birthday coincides with Angel Day.
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Hello, I'm not baptized, I'm going to be baptized in the near future. Is it possible for the unbaptized to overshadow themselves with the sign of the cross in the church?
Anna
Anna, it's not forbidden.
Priest Vladimir Shlykov
Happy holiday! Father, what to do in a situation where unbelieving people begin to slander God, the saints in every possible way in front of me, and in general speak obscene things about the Orthodox faith, I begin to get terribly angry. Should I remain silent in this situation - will it be cowardice or the right thing to do? I know that I cannot convince them, but it seems to me that it is wrong to remain silent. And yet, father, I gave a person of little faith to read a book about Communion, but he laughed and did not believe what was written there, am I sinful that I did so? Save you Lord.
Olesya
Hello Olesya. Abba Dorotheos writes that there are eight parts in every deed. One-eighth is the work itself, and seven-eighths is the preservation of peace in the heart. What is the use of a man if he gains the whole world by his preaching of Orthodoxy, but destroys his own soul? You start to get angry, so don’t dare to re-educate anyone, turned around and left. It is not necessary to maintain relations, except for the necessary minimum (for example, with relatives and employees), with people hostile to Christ. Better to lose one-eighth than ruin the whole thing. Because you will not convince anyone, even if you move a mountain, and anger has already settled in your heart. The Lord was silent in the face of his accusers. And you are silent. And you better stay away from these kinds of people. If the eye seduces you..., etc. And don't throw the pearls of your faith before swine. Not because we consider unbelievers to be pigs and despise them, no. But, you can’t feed a pig with pearls, it has no value for it, it needs acorns and tops. And the unbeliever does not need the precious Words about the Sacraments, but the most elementary arguments of the mind about the need for a holistic and justified worldview. Some fascinating book, like Golovin's The Flood. The blessing of the Lord is upon you.
Priest Alexander Beloslyudov
Hello. I have a question, sorry if I'm being ignorant. I constantly hear that it’s a sin, and then a sin, it’s a sin all around, you don’t know which of the sins you need to fight in the first place. In the Gospel of John I read: "... if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you, and He, when He comes, will convict the world about sin and about righteousness and about judgment: about sin, that they do not believe in Me; ... "Can it be considered that the main sin is still unbelief in Christ and His mission? And the rest is already "metastases"? Sorry again and thanks.
Pivovarov Sergey
Hello Sergey. Christianity calls sin everything that damages the fabric of the nature of being. Those. our own nature. The mother warns the child: "Seryozhenka, don't eat the icicle, your throat will hurt." This is a commandment, but not the commandment itself, the law, the law is only indicated by this warning, but it acts in nature, this is the law of physics. Hypothermia causes angina. Seryozha does not know about this, so his mother warns him. Seryozha did not listen, doubted, and ate an icicle. His throat hurt. He suffered not because he violated the commandment, but because he violated the law of nature and damaged it - his own nature. It was not his mother who punished him, who gave the commandment, but he himself. Sin was born in the form of a thought: what can mothers understand in icicles? And was realized by violating the law of nature. All the commandments of God have the same property; they designate for us laws that we cannot see, the laws of being, the form of the existence of our nature. We do not see nature, we see only the surface, the "skin". Man's ability to see nature was lost as a result of the fall of Adam, and we are his heirs. We get this hereditary disease of spiritual blindness at the genetic level. Therefore, such a large number of commandments were needed, because we do not see nature. If they had seen, then they would not need the commandments. No one will warn an adult about an icicle, he knows. Therefore, there are no small and big commandments. Okay, I'm following the commandment not to drink acid, but I'm dancing on crushed glass. And what can you say about me? Unbelief is one of the initial passions that gives rise to abundant offspring, however, faith alone is not enough. And demons believe, but remain demons. Faith means forcing oneself to live according to faith, to the realization of faith. If you like, a Christian is someone who loves Christ. And Christ directly says what love is expressed in: "Whoever loves Me will fulfill My commandments." And God knows that we cannot fulfill a single commandment properly, but, nevertheless, this is exactly what he entrusts us with. Why? Because the practice of living according to the commandments reveals to a person the very nature of sin in himself, leads him to humility, repentance, and gives rise to prayer. A contrite and humble heart God will not despise. For He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Help of God.
Priest Alexander Beloslyudov
Hello, father. 1. On what days is the fast on Wednesday and Friday cancelled? 2. What does "acceptance of blasphemous thoughts" mean? If I cannot forget this thought, and it comes to me again and again, does this mean that I have accepted this thought? Thank you for your reply.
vladislav
Good health, Vladislav. 1. There are no posts on Wednesday and Friday in continuous weeks. These are "Christmas" - from Christmas to Epiphany Eve; the week of the publican and the Pharisee; cheese week, or "Shrovetide"; bright, or Easter week; Troitskaya. And also if the Lord's twelfth holiday falls on Wednesday or Friday: Christmas, Epiphany, Transfiguration. 2. Involuntary thoughts are called adjuncts; they are not a sin in the proper sense of the word, because they arise involuntarily. Attention to them will be a sin, from it an interview with a thought is born, then the acceptance of a thought, then an agreement with the thought, and then a readiness for the realization of the thought. It is necessary to fight against sinful thoughts at the stage of application, in extreme cases, at the stage of initial attention. Thoughts must be driven away by short and persistent prayer and reading, which feeds opposite, good thoughts. God help.
Priest Alexander Beloslyudov
Bless, father! I have a question that confuses me a lot. I try to go to confession and communion every month. And so, for the last time, I had no repentance before confession and at confession. I tried to develop a sense of contrition and tears in myself, but almost nothing came of it. Just a little. And in confession, I did not say all the sins. I said a lot of them, but not all. But I will definitely say them at the next confession, because I don’t like it when my conscience is unclean. And after confession and communion, already at home, I thought about myself, and the Lord gave me tears, and I felt such love for God that I didn’t need anything anymore. And so I think, do I really need to confess all these sins that I said again? Save me, God!
Victoria
Hello Victoria. Firstly, do not inspire yourself with contrition and tears, this, in the words of St. Ignatius, is blood fever. Contrition of the heart is the work of prayer and repentance, and tears do not always occur, and their presence does not necessarily mean that there is contrition, and their absence means that there is no contrition. We are commanded to force ourselves to keep the commandments of the gospel. If you labor in this, the Lord will certainly give the knowledge of sins, which is called initial humility, and contrition will grow on it in cooperation with the prayer of repentance. Tears are not an indicator at all. It is good when they are, if they are really weeping for sins, and not self-pity. Tears make prayer easy. But one must know that it is not the strong prayer that flows easily and naturally, but the one to which one has to force oneself. This is work, and it is pleasing to God. If you continue in repentance, then there is no need for a detailed report at confession. The Lord always accepts repentance. At confession, it is necessary not to report with detailed accuracy about all the sins committed, but to name those passions with which we struggle unsuccessfully and which force us to commit sins with violence against our will. Help God.
Priest Alexander Beloslyudov
DO THE DROWNED MAN BE REMEMBERED ON DAY 40?
LYUDMILA
Hello Ludmila. We must pray for everyone. If a person died as a result of an accident, then there should be both church and home prayer. And if he killed himself, then only home.
Priest Alexander Beloslyudov
Good day! I have a difficult situation in the family, my husband left to live in another apartment, I stayed with my son. A couple of weeks ago I confessed and took communion for the first time. But the last week has been very difficult, my husband left us 5 days ago, constant obsessive thoughts, anxiety, fear. Tomorrow there is an opportunity to go to confession and Communion, but critical days have begun. What do i do?
Ekaterina
Hello Ekaterina. So that your conscience does not stung you later, confess, but do not take communion. Keep in mind some short prayer, Jesus or Mytarev, do not engage in self-digging and self-criticism. God works in mysterious ways. God help you.
Priest Alexander Beloslyudov
Father Alexander Beloslyudov, hello! I would like to ask you. I sing in the church choir, and I always try to dress very simply and modestly, I wear a handkerchief, like grandmothers, tied under my chin. For this, other singers (some) make a remark to me that I dress too modestly, that I look like an old woman, and that my husband (he is a non-church person, unfortunately) will soon stop paying attention to me if I continue to dress like that, not paint, etc. How to act in such a situation? And further. Is it possible to read at home after the rule such followings as the Six Psalms, Compline, Midnight Office, etc.? I really like these prayers from the Book of Hours. Save me, God!
Ekaterina
Hello Ekaterina. Pay no attention to gossip. Your appearance should match the inner image. Anything artificial is unsustainable. It is not forbidden to read the Book of Hours, but do not multiply your rule beyond measure. The Fathers say that it is better and more useful if, over time, there is a sincere desire, and even a need, to add a few prayers to the usual rule. But the trouble is if, under the influence of carnal excitement, we create a huge rule for ourselves, and then, due to weakness, fatigue, and for some other reason, we begin to deviate from it. Half an hour for home prayer in the evening is the optimal duration. Help Angel.
Priest Alexander Beloslyudov
Good day! I'm interested in this question. After 17 years, the husband and the father of a 7-year-old son left the family ... went to his mistress ... My son and I are very worried, we love him and want to return him. Please help, suggest what prayers I should read for family reunification, and how to pray to a child? Now, praying, he asks the Lord and his Guardian Angel, in his own words. They say that children's prayer is very strong. Enlighten on this issue, please.