Church Services
Our church has many services ranging from liturgical worship to fellowship meetings. There is no membership needed to attend any of these events. It is important to note that one must be baptized and chrismated before partaking of the following five sacraments of the Church: communion, the unction of the sick, confession, marriage, and priesthood. However, to attend one of these sacraments without partaking of them is completely fine if you haven’t been baptized. We’ll divide the different services of the church into two main categories: fellowship and liturgical.
Fellowship Services
There are many services in the church which are not liturgical and are mainly for fellowship and growth. Everyone is encouraged to attend these events, but they certainly are not required. Some examples of fellowship meetings are Bible studies, youth meetings, and retreats.
Liturgical Services
This section will address the many different rituals/services of the Orthodox Church. First, we’ll discuss the standard liturgical services which are held for the majority of the year. We will then discuss the different seasonal services of the Church that take place for portions of the year. These seasonal services include extensions of the standard liturgical services, as well as unique structures and tunes.
Standard Liturgical Services
Standard liturgical services occur almost daily throughout the year. To the left, an image depicts the general order of these services. Typically the night before a liturgy there is the Vespers service, midnight prayers and praises. The morning of the liturgy there is Matins service followed by the liturgy itself. The services of the previous night are strongly linked to the services of the morning, because the church day begins at 6 pm the preceding day according to the words in Genesis: “And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day” (Genesis 1:5). The Antiphonary exemplifies this connection between the previous night’s services and those of the next day. The Antiphonary is read during Midnight Praises the night before and speaks about the same saints that are mentioned in the Synaxarium during the liturgy. All churches have liturgies on Sundays. Most churches have multiple liturgies during the week depending on the logistics of the congregation. Churches will often have liturgies on Wednesdays and Fridays since those are days we fast each week.
Raising of Incense
Vespers and Matins are both known as “Raising of Incense.” Vespers is prayed the night preceding the liturgy and matins is prayed right before the liturgy. The matins service usually is the first thirty minutes of the liturgical service. Depending on the time of year and occasion, prayers are made for the traveling, the sick, particular patrons of the church, etc. Since it is the earliest part of the service, it is also usually the emptiest part. However, the faithful who wish for quiet and peace experience a full immersion in the mysteries and beauty of our God when they attend matins.
Midnight Prayers and Praises
After vespers there is Midnight Prayers, a part of the Book of Hours, or Agpeya. The Agpeya prayers are followed by the Midnight Praises, which last about two hours. Although these services are labeled “midnight,” they are usually done either the evening before a liturgy or early the morning of a liturgy. Some monasteries perform Midnight Praises around 4 am directly preceding a liturgy. Midnight Praises, often referred to as “Tasbeha,” is a service which contains a great deal of melodic praises with biblical origins. Hymns include what the Israelites sang during their escape from Egypt, and the hymn of the three saintly youth who were thrown in the furnace by Nebuchadnezzar. Midnight Praises consists of an introductory hymn, four canticles, doxologies, one to two psalis, a multi-part “Theotokia,” and concluding hymns. The “Theotokia” praises St. Mary for her virtuous life, and it refers to the many symbols of her in the Old Testament. This name comes from the Greek “Θεοτόκος” or “God-Bearer,” which describes St. Mary as the mother of God.
The Liturgy
There are generally three parts in a standard liturgy in the Orthodox tradition. These are the Offering of the Lamb, the Liturgy of the Word, and the Liturgy of the Faithful. The Offering of the Lamb begins the liturgy and is the part where the Lamb is chosen for the Eucharist. During the Liturgy of the Faithful, communion is distributed. There are three versions of the standard liturgy: the Liturgy of St. Basil, the Liturgy of St. Gregory, and the Liturgy of St. Cyril. These three versions differ in that each has different prayers during the Liturgy of the Faithful section, but the general idea and structure are similar.
Offering of the Lamb
The Offering of the Lamb is the first and shortest part of the liturgy. The Offering of the Lamb begins with the priests and deacons putting on their vestments.. After they have put on their vestments, a few hours from the Book of Hours are prayed. These prayers vary depending on the season of the Church. After these prayers the priest chooses the Lamb. The priest stands at the door of the Sanctuary and chooses one bread out of several to be the Lamb. The bread from which the priest chooses to be the Eucharist is known as “korban.” The priest chooses the most perfect of all the korban to be the lamb since Christ Himself was perfect. After this there are many prayers over the chosen korban and wine to transform them into the Body and Blood of Christ. A few additional prayers are prayed during the Offering of the Lamb before the Liturgy of the Word begins.
The Liturgy of the Word
The Liturgy of the Word is the part of the liturgy dedicated to reading excerpts from scripture. There are five readings during this part of the liturgy: the Pauline Epistle, the Catholic Epistle, the Acts of the Apostles, a Psalm, and the Gospel reading. Each of these is an excerpt from the New Testament. The Church plans the daily readings for the whole year. Each day, readings are strongly connected to the message the Church wishes to give the congregation. These readings educate the faithful about the teachings of the Church and prepares the congregation for the partaking of the Eucharist. During certain seasons of the Church, such as Lent, there is a special set of daily readings that may differ from the normally planned annual reading. At the end of the Liturgy of the Word there may be a sermon. Often weekday liturgies do not have sermons between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Faithful, whereas Sunday liturgies typically do. The sermon often relates to a certain part of the Gospel reading for that day.
The Liturgy of the Faithful
The final part of the liturgy is the Liturgy of the Faithful. It is a series of prayers and hymns preparing the congregation to partake of the Eucharist. In the very early years of the Church, those who were not a full member of the church were expected to exit the church during this time. Participating in the Liturgy of the Faithful was not allowed for these people because the Church only allowed full members to partake of the Holy Eucharist. Although not as strictly enforced now, outside members are still not permitted to take part of the Eucharist. This part of the liturgy begins with a prayer of reconciliation. This prayer calls the congregation to reconcile with everyone in their lives before partaking of the Eucharist so that they may not partake of it in an unworthy manner. The Holy Kiss follows this prayer. After this follows several prayers for the world, for the worthy partaking of the Eucharist, and for the preparation of the Eucharist. The Liturgy of the Faithful ends with the distribution of the Eucharist.
The Distribution of the Holy Communion (Eucharist)
In the Orthodox Church, we believe that the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Christ. Although there is no visible change in the bread and wine, through God’s grace, it becomes the Holy Body and Precious Blood of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Since it is so valuable, only the faithful who understand its priceless nature are allowed to take part of it. Only the priests are allowed to distribute the Body and Blood. This fact coupled with a large congregation may mean that the Distribution may often take over an hour to finish.
Variation in Liturgical Services
The above section has described the standard liturgical services which are used for the majority of the year, but there are special seasons of the Church that extend these services and include other unique ones. Some seasons of the church, such as St. Mary’s Fast and Kiahk, stress certain services above others but no additional services are added. Other seasons like Holy Week include many new and distinctly different services. We will discuss the most notable of these seasons/services below.
The Three Night Festal Liturgies
The three festal liturgies occur at night. The three feasts which have night liturgies are the Nativity, the Theophany, and the Resurrection. These three festal liturgies are prayed the eve of the feast. For example, though the Feast of the Nativity is January 7, the Nativity liturgy is the night of January 6. In addition, all three of these feasts are preceded by preparation fasts (refer to Paramoun section) and require the believer to abstain from food for nine hours preceding the liturgy to partake of communion for that liturgy.
The Nativity Season & Kiahk
Preceding the Nativity Feast, the Church observes forty-three days of fasting. The last thirty days of the fast are observed differently than the first thirteen. These thirty days are the Coptic month of Kiahk. During Kiahk the Church directs the focus of the congregation to praising God rather than asking of God. The Midnight Praises during the month of Kiahk are significantly longer due to the addition of many seasonal praises specific to Kiahk. In addition, the Nativity season has unique tunes and doxologies used throughout the entire forty-three days.
The Lenten Season
The Lenten season is one of the holiest times of the year where the entire church tries to focus on repentance, fasting, and prayer. This season consists of fifty-five days of fasting, so eight Sunday liturgies are celebrated during the fast. Each of these Sundays, the Gospel readings deal with fasting, repentance, and the kingdom of God. The Church uses these readings, hymns, and tunes to aid the believer through this season of penance and solitude. It is important to note that although the lenten season is fifty-five days, this does not include Holy Week which directly follows it. In Holy Week, liturgies are later so that the congregation can abstain for longer before the liturgy. There are also many more “Andeel” or Unction of the Sick prayers. During Lent, there is no vespers during weekdays because weekday liturgies are usually later. The Unction of the Sick service is usually held at the homes of believers but often it is open to the public and posted in the church’s announcements.
Hosanna Sunday
Hosanna Sunday, or Palm Sunday, directly precedes Holy Week. Palm Sunday celebrates the entry of Christ into Jerusalem on a colt, where He was praised by a multitude of people as the the prophesied king to come. This is one of the most joyful liturgies of the year and usually begins an hour early to accommodate for the additional processions and joyful hymns. Other than the additional hymns, prayers, and processions during the liturgy itself, much of the liturgy is the same as the standard liturgy. Immediately following the liturgy there is a general funeral prayer. This prayer is done in place of a traditional funeral prayer in case anyone were to pass away during Holy Week. During Holy Week, all of our focus should be on Christ’s suffering and so there are no individual funerals. This prayer is done in the solemn Paschal tune and marks the beginning of Holy Week..
Sunday Evening To Wednesday Evening
The evening of Palm Sunday is when the Paschal prayers begin. From Sunday evening to Wednesday, five paschal hours are prayed each morning and evening. It is beyond the scope of this guide to discuss the details of these hourly prayers, but they can be broken down into the following categories: prophecies, the Paschal doxology (chanted 12 times each hour), a psalm (often chanted in the long version of the “Ke Eperto” hymn), a Gospel reading, and an exposition which explains the relevance and importance of the Gospel reading.
Pascha Week
Holy Week, or “Pascha” Week, immediately follows Lent and precedes Easter. This week is drastically different than any other week or season of the year. The major focus during Holy Week is living with Christ through His sufferings and ultimately celebrating the Resurrection. To achieve this goal, the Church has several services throughout the week with specific readings that help the believer to focus on Christ and His suffering before His Resurrection. The hymnal tunes and the appearance of the church help the congregation focus on the suffering and passion of Christ. For example, the church’s standard red coverings are changed to black, the hymnology is more solemn, and the sanctuary is closed for large portions of the services during the week.
Covenant Thursday
The morning of Covenant Thursday has several added prayers in addition to the five morning Paschal hours. The Liturgy of the Waters is prayed during this morning and a Divine Liturgy is also prayed to commemorate the institution of communion on Covenant Thursday. This service is one of the longest services during Holy Week. The evening of Covenant Thursday, there is a service for the five Paschal hours for the eve of Good Friday.
Good Friday
Good Friday consists of one major service that lasts the majority of the day and commemorates our Lord’s sufferings and crucifixion. This service consists of six Paschal hours with many additional hymns and prayers.
Bright Saturday
The night of Good Friday several hours after the Good Friday service, there is the Bright Saturday service. It involves many prophecies and praises and ends with a Divine Liturgy. This service lasts through the entire night, but takes many of its parts from the Midnight Praises and Matins. After Bright Saturday, the next service to be held is the liturgy for the Feast of the Resurrection which will be prayed that Saturday night.
St. Mary’s Fast & The Revival
During St. Mary’s fast, some churches have daily vespers with an extra section known as the Veneration and nightly sermons. This season is known as the Revival.
Prostration Prayer
The prostration or “Sagda” prayer is prayed on the 9th hour of Pentecost Sunday. It is split into three separate prayers with each prayer following the same pattern of several hymns, a prophecy, a Pauline reading, a Gospel reading, and an exposition. This prayer is based on the biblical ideas of repeated offerings of prayers, litanies, and incense to ask for God’s goodness and mercy.
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