What time does the church service take place? Sunday morning service at church

Public worship, or, as people say, church services, is the main thing for which our churches are intended. Every day the Orthodox Church holds evening, morning and afternoon services in churches. Each of these services consists in turn of three types of services, collectively combined into a daily cycle of services:

vespers - from the 9th hour, vespers and compline;

morning - from midnight office, matins and 1st hour;

daytime - from the 3rd hour, 6th hour and Divine Liturgy.

Thus, the entire daily circle consists of nine services.

In Orthodox worship, much is borrowed from the worship of Old Testament times. For example, the beginning of a new day is considered not midnight, but six o’clock in the evening. That is why the first service of the daily cycle is Vespers.

At Vespers, the Church remembers the main events of the sacred history of the Old Testament: the creation of the world by God, the fall of the first parents, the Mosaic legislation and the ministry of the prophets. Christians give thanks to the Lord for the day they have lived.

After Vespers, according to the Church Rules, Compline is supposed to be served. In a certain sense, these are public prayers for the sleep of the future, in which the descent of Christ into hell and the liberation of the righteous from the power of the devil are remembered.

At midnight, the third service of the daily cycle is supposed to be performed - the Midnight Office. This service was established to remind Christians of the Second Coming of the Savior and the Last Judgment.

Before sunrise, Matins is served - one of the longest services. It is dedicated to the events of the earthly life of the Savior and contains many prayers of both repentance and gratitude.

At about seven o'clock in the morning they perform the 1st hour. This is the name of the short service at which the Orthodox Church remembers the presence of Jesus Christ at the trial of the high priest Caiaphas.

The 3rd hour (nine o’clock in the morning) is served in remembrance of the events that took place in the Upper Room of Zion, where the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, and in Pilate’s Praetorium, where the Savior was sentenced to death.

The 6th hour (noon) is the time of the Lord’s crucifixion, and the 9th hour (three o’clock in the afternoon) is the time of His death on the cross. The above-mentioned services are dedicated to these events.

The main divine service of the Orthodox Church, a kind of center of the daily circle, is the Divine Liturgy. Unlike other services, the liturgy provides an opportunity not only to remember God and the entire earthly life of the Savior, but also to actually unite with Him in the sacrament of Communion, established by the Lord Himself during the Last Supper. According to the time, the liturgy should be performed between the 6th and 9th hour, before noon, in the pre-dinner time, which is why it is also called mass.

Modern liturgical practice has brought its own changes to the regulations of the Charter. Thus, in parish churches, Compline is celebrated only during Lent, and the Midnight Office is celebrated once a year, on the eve of Easter. The 9th hour is extremely rarely served. The remaining six services of the daily circle are combined into two groups of three services.

In the evening, Vespers, Matins and the 1st hour are performed in succession. On the eve of Sundays and holidays, these services are combined into one service called the all-night vigil. In ancient times, Christians actually often prayed until dawn, that is, they stayed awake throughout the night. Modern all-night vigils last two to four hours in parishes and three to six hours in monasteries.

In the morning, the 3rd hour, the 6th hour and the Divine Liturgy are served successively. In churches with large congregations, there are two liturgies on Sundays and holidays - early and late. Both are preceded by reading the hours.

On those days when there is no liturgy (for example, on Friday of Holy Week), a short sequence of pictorial ones is performed. This service consists of some chants of the liturgy and, as it were, “depicts” it. But visual arts do not have the status of an independent service.

Divine services also include the performance of all sacraments, rituals, reading of akathists in church, community readings of morning and evening prayers, rules for Holy Communion.

During the service, you need to carefully monitor its progress, cross yourself and bow along with everyone present in the church. Before lighting a candle or approaching an icon, you should also cross yourself. When entering and leaving the church they also bow and cross themselves. Church service does not tolerate fuss. Unnecessarily, they do not leave it during the service; women come with their heads covered and modestly dressed, if possible, without makeup; on menstruation days it is strictly forbidden to go to church, this is a great sin.

Conducting services in accordance with church regulations

There is a church charter, according to which daily services are held in monasteries and must be held in the church. How long does the church service last? First comes the morning service, then the Divine Liturgy. Evening service takes place around 6-7 pm.

A specific time of day is not mandatory, but the service, by its purpose and content, is tied to a specific time of day, so the church adheres to holding services during the hours allotted to it. The duration of the service is also not limited by any canons. There is a centuries-old custom of conducting a service, which averages from 1.5 to 2-3 hours.

Services in the church are divided into daily, weekly, and annual services. Daily services last for 24 hours and then are repeated, thus closing in a circle. The same thing happens with the seventh and annual circles. The services do not have a specific ritual; only the daily daily services remain unchanged; this is the basis of worship.

How is a church service held?

Daily services are held daily. During the days of fasting, Great Lent and others, not only service to God is performed, but also a service is held in the church with confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Jesus Christ. Large parishes, where a large number of believers gather for services, can celebrate two liturgies a day. Rural parishioners attend services on Sundays and holidays.

How are church services held? It must be said that services are not performed one at a time. For example, a service dedicated to Birth or Baptism (that is, an event that occurs once a year) is not separated into a separate service, but is combined with the services of the daily circle. The daily circle includes weekly and annual services. They are combined into one service, in which prayers, readings and chants are heard that are associated with the days of the year and week.

There are 9 types of church services in the church: In the morning - 9th hour, evening service, Compline, then midnight office. Matins, and then by the hour: first, third and sixth. In the evening, after the sixth hour - Divine Liturgy. The first hour joins the morning prayer, but is a special service. All services that should be held in the temple are usually seven.

All prayers, with the exception of the Lord's Prayer, were invented by people

The history of Christianity knows only one prayer, transmitted directly by Jesus Christ: “Our Father.” Then the apostolic instructions gave recommendations for reading daily prayers. In the morning, at three o'clock, at six, at nine and in the evening. In the morning - in gratitude to the Lord, on the third because Christ received the sentence. The sixth hour is the hour of crucifixion and the ninth is the hour of sorrow. Evening prayer - thanksgiving to God. Just as in ancient times the apostles glorified Jesus Christ and the most significant events associated with his life and death, so today the tradition of worship in the temple is preserved.

Each of the listed services should be performed daily and independently in the church. But, tolerating the conditions of worldly life, the church holds morning and evening services twice a day, that is, in public churches they do not strictly adhere to the rules. In monasteries, services are held in accordance with the church charter, as expected, seven times a day.

Jesus, in his instructions to the apostles, says that prayer must be sincere. Whatever the prayers written by others, a person always has the opportunity to turn to God directly, in his heart, and He will definitely hear a sincere prayer coming from the heart.

What time does the evening service start in church?

Evening service - explanation

All-night vigil, or all-night vigil, is called such a service that is performed in the evening on the eve of especially revered holidays. It consists of combining Vespers with Matins and the first hour, and both Vespers and Matins are celebrated more solemnly and with greater illumination of the temple than on other days.

This service is called all-night vigil because in ancient times it began late in the evening and continued all night long before dawn.

Then, out of condescension for the infirmities of the believers, they began to begin this service a little earlier and make cuts in reading and singing, and therefore it now ends not so late. The former name of its all-night vigil has been preserved.

Below the cut is an explanation of the course of Vespers, Matins, and the first hour.

Vespers in its composition recalls and depicts the times of the Old Testament: the creation of the world, the fall of the first people, their expulsion from paradise, their repentance and prayer for salvation, then, people’s hope, according to God’s promise, in the Savior and, finally, the fulfillment of this promise.

Vespers, during the all-night vigil, begins with the opening of the royal doors. The priest and deacon silently incense the altar and the entire altar, and clouds of incense smoke fill the depths of the altar. This silent censing marks the beginning of the creation of the world. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth". The earth was formless and empty. And the Spirit of God hovered over the primeval matter of the earth, breathing life-giving power into it. But the creative word of God had not yet been heard.

But now, the priest, standing before the throne, with the first exclamation glorifies the Creator and Creator of the world - the Most Holy Trinity: “Glory to the Holy and Consubstantial, and Life-giving, and indivisible Trinity, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.” Then he calls on the believers three times: “Come, let us worship our King God. Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ, our King God. Come, let us bow and fall down to Christ Himself, the King and our God. Come, let us worship and fall down before Him.” For “all things came into being through Him (that is, to exist, to live), and without Him nothing came into being that was made” (John 1:3).

In response to this call, the choir solemnly sings the 103rd Psalm about the creation of the world, glorifying the wisdom of God: “Bless my soul the Lord! Blessed are you, Lord! Lord, my God, you have been magnified in evil (i.e., greatly) ... you have created all things with wisdom. Wonderful are Your works, O Lord! Glory to You, Lord, who created everything!

During this singing, the priest leaves the altar, walks among the people and censes the entire church and those praying, and the deacon precedes him with a candle in his hand.

This sacred rite reminds those praying not only of the creation of the world, but also of the initial, blissful, paradise life of the first people, when God Himself walked among people in paradise. The open royal doors signify that the doors of heaven were then open to all people.

But people, seduced by the devil, violated the will of God and sinned. to his the fall from grace people lost their blissful heavenly life. They were expelled from paradise - and the doors of heaven were closed to them. As a sign of this, after censing is performed in the temple and at the end of the singing of the psalm, the royal doors are closed.

The deacon leaves the altar and stands in front of the closed royal doors, like Adam once before the closed gates of heaven, and proclaims great litany:

After the great litany and the exclamation of the priest, selected verses from the first three psalms are sung:

Then the deacon exclaims small litany: « Packs and packs(more and more) Let us pray to the Lord in peace...

After the small litany, the choir cries out in verses from psalms:

While singing these verses, the deacon censes the church.

This moment of worship, starting from the closing of the royal doors, in the petitions of the great litany and in the singing of psalms, depicts the plight that the human race was subjected to after the fall of the first parents, when along with sinfulness all kinds of needs, illnesses and suffering appeared. We cry to God: “Lord, have mercy!” We ask for peace and salvation of our souls. We lament that we listened to the wicked advice of the devil. We ask God for forgiveness of sins and deliverance from troubles, and we place all our hope in the mercy of God. The deacon's censing at this time signifies those sacrifices that were offered in the Old Testament, as well as our prayers offered to God.

They join in singing the Old Testament verses: “The Lord cried:” stichera, i.e. New Testament hymns, in honor of the holiday.

The last stichera is called theotokos or dogmatist, since this stichera is sung in honor of the Mother of God and it sets out the dogma (the main teaching of the faith) about the incarnation of the Son of God from the Virgin Mary. On the twelfth holidays, instead of the Mother of God dogmatics, a special stichera is sung in honor of the holiday.

When singing the Mother of God (dogmatics), the royal doors open and evening entrance: a candle bearer comes out of the altar through the northern doors, followed by a deacon with a censer, and then a priest. The priest stands on the ambo facing the royal doors, blesses the entrance in a cross shape, and, after the deacon pronounces the words: “wisdom forgive me!”(means: listen to the wisdom of the Lord, stand straight, stay awake), he enters, together with the deacon, through the royal doors into the altar and stands in the high place.

At this time, the choir sings a song to the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ: “Quiet light, holy glory of the Immortal Father, Heavenly, Holy, Blessed, Jesus Christ! Having come to the west of the sun, having seen the evening light, we sing of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, God. You are worthy at all times to be a holy voice. Son of God, give life, so the world glorifies You. (The quiet light of the holy glory, the Immortal Father in heaven, Jesus Christ! Having reached the sunset of the sun, having seen the evening light, we glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit of God. You, the Son of God, the giver of life, are worthy to be sung at all times by the voices of the saints. Therefore the world glorifies You).

In this song-hymn, the Son of God is called a quiet light from the Heavenly Father, for He came to earth not in full Divine glory, but as a quiet light of this glory. This hymn says that only through the voices of the saints (and not our sinful lips) can a song worthy of Him be offered to Him and due glorification be performed.

The evening entrance reminds believers of how the Old Testament righteous, according to the promises of God, types and prophecies, expected the coming of the Savior of the world and how He appeared in the world for the salvation of the human race.

The censer with incense at the evening entrance means that our prayers, at the intercession of the Lord Savior, ascend like incense to God, and also signifies the presence of the Holy Spirit in the temple.

The cruciform blessing of the entrance means that through the cross of the Lord the doors of heaven are again opened to us.

After the song: “Quiet light...” is sung prokeimenon, i.e. a short verse from the Holy Scriptures. At Sunday Vespers it is sung: “The Lord reigns, clothed in beauty”, and on other days other verses are sung.

At the end of the singing of the prokeimna, on major holidays they read proverbs. Proverbs are selected passages of Holy Scripture that contain prophecies or indicate prototypes related to celebrated events, or teach instructions that seem to come from the person of those holy saints whose memory we commemorate.

After the prokemna and paremia, the deacon pronounces strictly(i.e. enhanced litany: “Let’s say, let’s say, let’s talk, start praying) with all our hearts and with all our thoughts, with all our hearts...”

Then the prayer is read: “Grant, Lord, that this evening we may be preserved without sin...”

After this prayer, the deacon pronounces a petitionary litany: “Let us fulfill (let us bring to completeness, offer in its entirety) our evening prayer to the Lord (Lord)…”

On major holidays, after a special and petitionary litany, lithium And blessing of the loaves.

Lithium, a Greek word, means general prayer. Litiya is performed in the western part of the temple, near the western entrance doors. This prayer in the ancient church was performed in the narthex, with the purpose of giving the catechumens and penitents standing here the opportunity to take part in the general prayer on the occasion of the great holiday.

Following lithium happens blessing and consecration of the five loaves, wheat, wine and oil, also in memory of the ancient custom of distributing food to worshipers, who sometimes came from afar, so that they could refresh themselves during a long service. The five loaves are blessed in remembrance of the Savior's feeding of the five thousand with five loaves. Sanctified oil(with olive oil) the priest then, during Matins, after kissing the festive icon, anoints the worshipers.

After the litia, and if it is not performed, then after the litany of petition, “stichera on verse” are sung. This is the name given to special poems written in memory of a remembered event.

Vespers ends with the reading of the prayer of St. Simeon the God-Receiver: “Now dost thou let thy servant go, O Master, according to thy word in peace: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all men, a light for the revelation of tongues, and the glory of thy people Israel,” then by reading the trisagion and the Lord’s Prayer : “Our Father...”, singing the Angelic greeting to the Theotokos: “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice...” or the troparion of the holiday and, finally, singing the prayer of righteous Job three times: “Blessed be the name of the Lord from now on and forever,” with the final blessing of the priest: “Blessing The Lord is upon you with His grace and love for mankind - always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.”

End of Vespers - prayer of St. Simeon the God-Receiver and the Angelic greeting to the Theotokos (Theotokos, Virgin, Rejoice) - indicate the fulfillment of God's promise about the Savior.

Immediately after the end of Vespers, at the All-Night Vigil, the Matins by reading six psalms.

Matins

The second part of the all-night vigil - Matins reminds us of New Testament times: the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world for our salvation, and His glorious Resurrection.

The beginning of Matins directly points us to the Nativity of Christ. It begins with a doxology of the angels who appeared to the Bethlehem shepherds: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Then it reads six psalms, that is, six selected psalms of King David (3, 37, 62, 87, 102 and 142), which depict the sinful state of people, full of troubles and misfortunes, and fervently express the only hope people expect for God’s mercy. Worshipers listen to the Six Psalms with special concentrated reverence.

After the Six Psalms, the deacon says great litany.

Then a short song with verses is sung loudly and joyfully about the appearance of Jesus Christ in the world to people: “God is the Lord and has appeared to us, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” i.e. God is Lord, and has appeared to us, and is worthy of glorification, going to the glory of the Lord.

After this it is sung troparion, i.e. a song in honor of a holiday or celebrated saint, and are read kathismas, i.e. separate parts of the Psalter, consisting of several consecutive psalms. The reading of kathismas, as well as the reading of the Six Psalms, calls us to think about our disastrous sinful state and place all hope in the mercy and help of God. Kathisma means sitting, since one can sit while reading kathisma.

At the end of the kathismas, the deacon says small litany, and then it is done polyeleos. Polyeleos is a Greek word that means “much mercy” or “much illumination.”

The polyeleos is the most solemn part of the all-night vigil and expresses the glorification of God’s mercy shown to us in the coming of the Son of God to earth and His accomplishment of the work of our salvation from the power of the devil and death.

Polyeleos begins with the solemn singing of verses of praise:

Praise the name of the Lord, praise the servants of the Lord. Hallelujah!

Blessed be the Lord of Zion, who dwelleth in Jerusalem. Hallelujah!

Confess to the Lord that He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Hallelujah!

that is, glorify the Lord, because He is good, because His mercy (towards people) endures forever.

When these verses are chanted, all the lamps in the temple are lit, the royal doors are opened, and the priest, preceded by a deacon with a candle, leaves the altar and burns incense throughout the entire temple, as a sign of reverence for God and His saints.

After singing these verses, special Sunday troparia are sung on Sundays; that is, joyful songs in honor of the Resurrection of Christ, which tell how angels appeared to the myrrh-bearers who came to the tomb of the Savior and announced to them about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

On other great holidays, instead of Sunday troparions, it is sung before the icon of the holiday grandeur, i.e. a short verse of praise in honor of a holiday or saint. (We magnify you, Father Nicholas, and honor your holy memory, for you pray for us, Christ our God)

After the Sunday troparions, or after the magnification, the deacon recites the small litany, then the prokeimenon, and the priest reads the Gospel.

At the Sunday service, the Gospel is read about the Resurrection of Christ and about the appearances of the risen Christ to His disciples, and on other holidays the Gospel is read, relating to the celebrated event or to the glorification of the saint.

After reading the Gospel, in the Sunday service a solemn song is sung in honor of the risen Lord: “ Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. We worship Your Cross, O Christ, and we sing and glorify Your holy resurrection: for You are our God; isn't it(except) We don’t know anything else for You, we call Your name. Come, all the faithful, let us worship the Holy Resurrection of Christ. Xie(Here) for joy has come to the whole world through the cross, always blessing the Lord, we sing His resurrection: having endured crucifixion, destroy death by death«

The Gospel is brought to the middle of the temple, and the believers venerate it. On other holidays, believers venerate the holiday icon. The priest anoints them with blessed oil and distributes consecrated bread.

After singing: “The Resurrection of Christ: a few more short prayers are sung. Then the deacon reads the prayer: “Save, O God, Thy people”... and after the priest’s exclamation: “By grace and bounty”... the canon begins to be sung.

Canon At Matins, a meeting of songs composed according to a certain rule is called. “Canon” is a Greek word that means “rule.”

The canon is divided into nine parts (songs). The first verse of each song that is sung is called irmos, which means connection. These irmos seem to bind the entire composition of the canon into one whole. The remaining verses of each part (song) are mostly read and called troparia. The second hymn of the canon, as a penitential hymn, is performed only in Lent.

Particular efforts were made in composing these songs: St. John of Damascus, Cosmas of Mayum, Andrew of Crete (the great canon of repentance) and many others. At the same time, they were invariably guided by certain chants and prayers of sacred persons, namely: the prophet Moses (for 1 and 2 irmos), the prophetess Anna, the mother of Samuel (for the 3rd irmos), the prophet Habakkuk (for 4 irmos), the prophet Isaiah (for 5 Irmos), the prophet Jonah (for the 6th Irmos), the three youths (for the 7th and 8th Irmos) and the priest Zechariah, father of John the Baptist (for the 9th Irmos).

Before the ninth Irmos, the deacon exclaims: “Let us exalt the Mother of God and the Mother of Light in song!” and burns incense at the temple.

At this time, the choir sings the song of the Theotokos: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior... Each verse is joined by a refrain: “The most honorable cherub and the most glorious without comparison seraphim, who without corruption gave birth to God the Word, the real Mother of God, we magnify Thee.”

At the end of the song of the Mother of God, the choir continues singing the canon (9th song).

The following can be said about the general content of the canon. Irmoses remind believers of Old Testament times and events from the history of our salvation and gradually bring our thoughts closer to the event of the Nativity of Christ. The troparia of the canon are dedicated to New Testament events and represent a series of poems or chants in honor of the Lord and the Mother of God, as well as in honor of the event being celebrated, or the saint glorified on this day.

After the canon, psalms of praise are sung - stichera on praisetech- in which all God’s creatures are called to glorify the Lord: “Let every breath praise the Lord...”

After the singing of psalms of praise there follows a great doxology. The royal doors open when the last stichera is sung (on the Resurrection of the Theotokos) and the priest proclaims: “Glory to Thee, who showed us the light!” (In ancient times, this exclamation preceded the appearance of the solar dawn).

The choir sings a great doxology, which begins with the words: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we bow down, we praise Thee, we thank Thee, great for the sake of Thy glory...”

In the “great doxology” we thank God for the light of day and for the gift of spiritual Light, that is, Christ the Savior, who enlightened people with His teaching - the light of truth.

The “Great Doxology” ends with the singing of the Trisagion: “Holy God...” and the troparion of the holiday.

After this, the deacon recites two litanies in a row: strictly And pleading.

Matins at the All-Night Vigil ends release- the priest, turning to those praying, says: “Christ our true God (and in Sunday service: Risen from the dead, Christ our true God...), through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother, the glorious Apostle saints... and all the saints, will have mercy and save us, for good and a lover of humanity."

In conclusion, the choir sings a prayer that the Lord will preserve for many years the Orthodox Bishopric, the ruling bishop and all Orthodox Christians.

Immediately after this, the last part of the all-night vigil begins - first hour.

The service of the first hour consists of reading psalms and prayers, in which we ask God to “hear our voice in the morning” and correct the works of our hands throughout the day. The service of the 1st hour ends with a victorious song in honor of the Mother of God: “ To the chosen victorious Voivode, for having been delivered from the evil ones, let us sing thanksgiving to Thy servants, the Mother of God. But as you have an invincible power, free us from all troubles, let us call You: Rejoice, unbrided Bride." In this song we call the Mother of God “the victorious leader against evil.” Then the priest pronounces the dismissal of the 1st hour. This ends the all-night vigil.

"The Law of God", Rev. Seraphim Slobodsky.

Every Orthodox Christian believer who plans to visit church on the eve of Easter, and especially the night service, has a very good and true message. If you don’t know what time the Easter service begins and how it goes, then look for useful information in an accessible form in our material.

During the long Great Lent, forty days plus Holy Week, people prepared themselves spiritually, weakening their bodies, for the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ. Holy Saturday has already arrived - this is the last day of fasting, but a very important and special one. It is important to know what time the Easter service begins and ends today in order to become part of the annual Resurrection and bring joy and good news home about the coming of the holiday from the temple on the night from Saturday to Sunday.

The Easter service is a very important event throughout the year; in 2019 it will take place on April 27.

Read interesting materials on the topic:

If you are going to a church service, then aim for somewhere around midnight from Saturday to Sunday. At this time, the festive midnight service begins. The service begins with the priest and the deacon heading to the shroud, which was laid in the center of the church on Good Friday and here it will lie until the Resurrection of Christ.

The Shroud is a symbol of the shroud with which the body of Christ was wrapped when he was taken down from the cross on Friday. It shows a full-length depiction of the Savior crucified on the cross. It symbolizes the time the Lord spent in the cave where he was buried and the shroud is located in the center of the temple until the moment when Christ is Risen, that is, already three hours after the start of the Easter service it will be taken back to the altar for the whole year.

Quiet hymns about the resurrection of Christ begin to be sung around midnight. Please note that at this time the Royal Doors of the altar will still be closed inside the temple and the priests will come out of the side gates. Then the stichera is sung and the royal doors are opened, the voice of the priest and choir becomes louder and more confident.

Procession for Easter

The Easter service continues with a procession around the church of priests and the entire congregation. This action is called a religious procession and is carried out to the sound of bells. At the beginning of the procession they carry a lantern, then an altar cross and an image of the Mother of God, followed by deacons holding candles and a censer in their hands. The procession is completed by a priest who carries the Gospel in his hands, and second next to him is the icon of the Resurrection.

The procession of the cross goes around the temple three times, with the congregation following the priests with all the necessary paraphernalia. Everyone stops every time in front of the closed gate on the western side of the entrance to the temple. For the last time, the ringing of the bells subsides and in this silence every believer can hear the most important words that she has been waiting for so long: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life (that is, life) to those in the tombs.”

How long does the service last?

So, the Easter night service begins around midnight and lasts on average several hours, ending around three in the morning. Decide for yourself whether to take children to church; after all, there will be a lot of people there and it is quite difficult to hold a religious procession for such a long time.

At this point the festive service ended and the Divine Liturgy immediately began. Many no longer stay for it - they hurry home to tell their family and relatives the good news that Christ is Risen, that fasting and sorrow are over and the long-awaited holiday has finally arrived, which will last not only on Sunday, but throughout holiday week (popularly called Fomina week).

On behavior in church during the Easter service and more:

• When entering the church at any time, you must cross yourself three times and bow at the door. Orthodox Christians cross themselves with three fingers of their right hand.
• Take off your gloves, for men it is necessary to remove your headdress, and for women - put on a scarf.
• When addressing a priest personally, you need to start with the words “Father, bless.” At the same time, the person should fold his palms crosswise and kiss the hand of the clergyman with which he blessed. Then you can ask your questions.
• On Easter night, the temple is the place where a special and very important sacrament is performed. Due to the large number of people this can be difficult, but still try not to stand with your back to the altar.
• If you decide to take children to the temple with you, you need to explain to them in advance how to behave there: do not make noise, do not run or be capricious, you are not allowed to talk loudly in the temple.
  Of course, you will need to turn off the phone, it is best to at least put it on silent mode.

The Easter service begins at midnight on the day of transition from Holy Saturday, that is, April 27, 2019, the day of the Resurrection of Christ. The service begins at 00.00 and lasts about three hours. After the religious procession, the morning Divine Liturgy begins.

From the first centuries of the advent of Christianity, morning was considered a favorable time for. A person waking up after a night's rest should turn to God with prayers before starting the coming day. In the history of Christian worship, Matins (in the morning) could begin with the appearance of the first rays of the sun, followed by the liturgy, after which the believers partook of the mysteries of the body of Christ. On major holidays, the service in the temple took place at night on the eve of the solemn event. The all-night vigil lasted several hours, and at dawn the liturgy began. Nowadays this practice is very rare. Only on Christmas, Easter and Epiphany do services begin at night. On weekdays, Vespers and Matins are held in the evening, and the Liturgy begins the next day in the morning.

What time do morning services begin in modern churches?

Depending on the day of the week, the status of the temple and the total number of clergy serving in it, morning services may begin at different times. In large cathedrals, where services are held daily, on weekdays the liturgy usually begins at 8 or 9 am. There are liturgical periods when the Eucharist is not supposed to be celebrated (Lent, except Wednesday and Friday, Holy Week until Thursday). At this time, matins services are held in churches, which can begin at 7 am. In monasteries, an even earlier start to serving God is practiced, since the duration of matins or liturgy is much longer.

In church liturgical practice, it is prescribed to perform the liturgy no later than 12 noon. In order to finish around this time, the service begins at 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning. However, there are separate indications that if the liturgy begins, then the Eucharist can take place later. This happens on Christmas Eve, the holidays of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany. The usual time for the start of morning services in the parish church is nine hours after midnight.

I would especially like to note that in large cathedrals and churches with a large clergy on Sundays and holidays, the liturgy can be celebrated twice in the morning. So, the first liturgy is early and begins at approximately 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning. During this time, a person can visit the temple before the start of the working day (if it is a church holiday that falls on a weekday), confess and receive Holy Communion. After this, with a feeling of spiritual joy from communicating with God, the believer can go to work.

The second morning liturgy is called late and usually begins at 9 am. A special place in the liturgical practice of the Church is occupied by services in which the ruling bishop takes part. The liturgy during the episcopal service is a separate meeting of the bishop and the service itself. In such cases, the service can begin at 9.30.

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The church life of a Christian is subject to special laws. Its rhythm is largely determined by the schedule of services - both annual and daily. It is very important for a person who has recently come to faith to understand this.

Once upon a time, all these services took place separately, but later, to make it more convenient for parishioners, they were combined into three services: evening, morning and afternoon. The first one in this list is precisely , because the counting of time differs from the worldly one; the beginning of the day is considered not morning, but evening. This corresponds to the ancient Jewish tradition of counting time, inherited by the Christian Church.

The ninth hour, Vespers and Compline are combined into the Vespers, Midnight Office, Matins and the first hour - into the morning, and the third hour, sixth and Divine Liturgy - into the afternoon.

Each service is dedicated not only to certain events described in the Bible, but also to various aspects of a person’s relationship with God.

Worship times

The starting point of the daily cycle of services is the ninth hour, which corresponds to 15.00 Moscow time. This service is dedicated to giving thanks for the day and remembering the suffering of Jesus Christ. This is followed by Vespers, dedicated to repentance and forgiveness, and Compline. The Midnight Office, dedicated to the prayer of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, took place at midnight.

The earliest service, based on the worldly reckoning of time, can be considered the first hour that sanctifies the coming day - 7 o'clock in the morning. The third hour corresponds to 9.00, the sixth - 12.00, and the Divine Liturgy - the most important of the services, during which the holy sacrament of the Eucharist occurs - was performed during the day.

This was the order of services in Orthodox churches in the Middle Ages.

Currently, such richness has been preserved only in monasteries, because monks completely devote their lives to serving God. For the laity, such an order of church life is impossible, therefore, in most parish churches there are two services: evening - at 17.00 and morning - at 9.00.

Sometimes the times of services in individual churches change at the discretion of the rectors, who try to take care of the interests of the parishioners.

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In the Orthodox Church, Sunday is a special day on the calendar. This is the focus of the entire liturgical week, a special holiday, the very name of which indicates the miraculous event of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is no coincidence that every Sunday in Orthodoxy is called Little Easter.

All Orthodox worship is divided into certain services from the daily circle, departing at set times. Over hundreds of years of the formation and development of Orthodox worship, a charter was developed that determined the order and features of each service.

On a liturgical day, it begins in the evening of the day before the celebrated event. Therefore, Sunday services in the church begin on Saturday evening. Most often, Saturday evening is marked by Sunday's Great Vespers, Matins and the First Hour.

At Sunday Vespers, among other standard hymns, the choir performs certain stichera dedicated to the risen Lord. In some churches, at the end of Sunday Great Vespers, a lithium is celebrated with the blessing of bread, wheat, oil (oil) and wine.

At Sunday morning a special troparion is sung in one of eight voices (tunes); the polyeleos is performed - a special chant “Praise the Name of the Lord”, after which the choir sings the Sunday troparions “Cathedral of Angels”. Also at Sunday matins, special canons are read: the Sunday canon, the Holy Cross and the Mother of God (sometimes, depending on the order in which the Sunday service is connected with the memory of the venerated saint, the canons may change). At the end of Matins the choir sings a great doxology.

The Saturday evening service ends with the first hour, after which the priest performs the sacrament of confession for those who wish to receive Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ at the liturgy on Sunday.

On Sunday itself, the service in the Orthodox church begins in the morning. Usually at half past eight. First, the sequences of the third and sixth hours are read, and then follows the main service of Sunday - the Divine Liturgy. The liturgy itself usually begins at nine in the morning. Most often, in Orthodox churches on Sunday, a liturgy is celebrated, compiled by the great Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. This rite is standard, except that the choir performs special Sunday troparia depending on the current voice (there are only eight of them).

Usually in churches at the end of the liturgy a prayer service is held, during which the priest specifically prays for the needs of believers: for health, for healing in illnesses, blessings on travel, etc.

After the end of the prayer service, a memorial service in memory of the deceased and a funeral service can be held in the church. Thus, the Church on Sunday does not forget to pray especially not only for the health of living people, but also for deceased relatives.