The meaning of Vesper Service

Vespers is first service of the Daily Cycle of divine services celebrated in the Orthodox Church because the liturgical day begins at sunset.

The Small Apodeipnon (The Small Compline)

The word Apodeipnon signifies “after supper” in the Greek , and denotes the monastic office of night prayer corresponding in some senses to western Compline, although in the Orthodox daily offices there is also a later service of the late night called Mesonyktikon (lit. “the middle of the night”).

Logos and Melos: Introduction to the Byzantine Liturgical Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

Hymnology (ὑμνολογεῖν from the words hymnon + legein, that is, “to say a hymn”): the theological and philological science known by this term has as its purpose the systematic study of the origin and development of the Greek liturgical hymns of the Orthodox Church. Whatever in the area of Orthodox worship is related to the ecclesiastical poetry and its creators is studied in both its philological and theological aspects in order that we may better understand the artistic quality of the hymns and their deeper relationship to the entire spirit of the liturgical life of the Orthodox Church.

The Beatitudes and the Divine Liturgy

The Beatitudes, in Byzantine monastic practice, are included in the Divine Liturgy and they form the third antiphon. During the singing of this Third Antiphon, the Little Entrance is begun. (In the parishes as third antiphon is chanted the Resurrectional Apolitikion of the Sunday).

The use of Incense in Church

During our Church Services, the priest burns incense in a censer, which is a metal vessel suspended on three chains about two feet long, and provided with a cover to regulate the burning of a small disk of charcoal placed therein. On the chains are twelve small bells, signifying the voice of the twelve Disciples of our Lord. Grains of incense are placed on the burning charcoal.

The Mystery of Holy Unction

Holy Anointing, or Unction, is one the Seven Mysteries of the Church, which is celebrated in a church or in the home to cure illnesses of the body and the soul. The Unction of Holy Wednesday does not have a magical effect on our spiritual life, but it is part of an unbreakable chain together with the other Mysteries in which we must participate, namely, Confession and Holy Communion.

Dormition of the Theotokos: The Great Vespers

AUGUST,15 The Dormition of the Theotokos Great Vespers Priest. Blessed is our God always, now and forever and to the ages of ages. People: Amen. Reader: Come, let us worship and bow down before our King and God. Come, let us worship and bow down before Christ our King and God. Come, let us worship […]