Orthodox Liturgics Pt. 9: The Hours & Divine Liturgy

[Music] in our ninth video in this series we're going to look at the hours and at Divine Liturgy I'm grouping these together because particularly in Russian tradition parishes it's customary to read third and sixth hours prior to the celebration of liturgy why is this well first what are the hours there are four of them as you may know first our third hour sixth hour and ninth hour these are references to times of the day that's why they're called hours the numbers refer to the reckoning of the roman clock prayer at the first hour is roughly prayer at our 7:00 a.m. prayer at third hour is equivalent to 9:00 a.m. sixth and ninth hours refer to our noon and 3:00 p.m. respectively these short services each one takes about nine or ten minutes to read were originally spread throughout the day in roughly three hour intervals as a way to keep mindfulness of God and of prayer at the heart of one's work and other activities with time though these short services gravitated towards and became attached to longer services Vespers Matins liturgy though practice is very the most common arrangement is for first hour to be read right after Matins third and six hours to be read prior to Divine Liturgy and ninth hour to be read just before Vespers each hour has three songs chosen because of their relationship to the themes of that hour for example we read Psalm 50 at third hour as it refers to the Holy Spirit cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me the connection is that the book of Acts tells us that the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost occurred at the third hour of the day that is about 9:00 a.m. the three Psalms at each our our fixed unchanging they're the same every day of the year the only exceptions are the three times royal hours are served we'll talk about that in another lesson though following the songs we read the trapar Ian of the day and a Fayette okyun these hymns are read not sung by read I mean that there are read on a constant pitch as opposed to being sung to a particular tone or melody after the Fayette okyun we encounter a pattern familiar to us already from the end of Vespers and of daily Matins a short passage from Scripture usually two or three psalm verses followed by the trace Augean prayers and then after our Father and for thine is the kingdom the reader reads the Kentuckian of the day so Psalm verse try soggy and prayers him a very common pattern then lord have mercy 40 times 40 is a number that in scripture refers to the passage of a meaningful amount of time 40 years 40 days and so following the 40 Lord of mercies is a prayer that's read at every hour well thou who at every season in every hour in heaven and on earth how to worshiped and glorified this is a fixed prayer then after a few other a very short prayer the reader ends the hour with a prayer that's specific to each hour following this final prayer if another hour is to follow as when sixth hour comes right after third hour it begins immediately with oh come let us worship and then the three songs the full beginning or having the King and the true saga in prayers isn't used except at the beginning of the first service in the group of services being done so a general outline of one of the hours looks like this now what about the variable hymns read at the hours at each of the hours there could be one trip re in red or there could be two depending on what's appointed but there can only ever be one Kentuckian on Sundays it's almost always to trip Aria at each hour so say it's a Sunday morning with a simple commemoration at each hour after the three Psalms and glory now and ever Alleluia and lord of mercy three times the troparion of the resurrection and the tone of the week will be red followed by glory to the Father and then the trapar e'en for the saint of the day from the Minaya and then now and ever and the Fayette okyun which remains the same every day that they Autopia niz on varying the Kentuckian on such a commemoration would be the Kentuckian of the resurrection in the tone of the week however if it were say a polyol a osore vigil rank commemoration in the minion on a Sunday then we would use the Kentuckian for the saint as well but because there's room for only one Kentuckian at each hour what we do in this case is we alternate the two kentucky a' so at first our read after Matins we would read the Kentuckian for the resurrection in the tone of the week at third hour we would read the Kentuckian for the saint then a sixth hour we'd be back to the Kentuckian for the resurrection and so on so remember most of the time to trap Oriya in each hour but never more than one Kentuckian and we alternate them if necessary sometimes however there's only one troparion to read for example on great feasts or on most of the sundays of pasca in that case after the three psalms and glory now and ever Alleluia and lord have mercy three times you should first say glory to the Father and to the Son and to the holy spear and then read the trapar e'en followed by now and ever and the usual Fiat opium third and sixth hours when they're red before liturgy serve as a prayerful preparation for the celebration of liturgy of course in many parishes Matins is sung prior to liturgy instead Matins can either be sung before liturgy in the morning or it can be sung the night before as part of vigil on Saturday evening in any case when we turn to liturgy itself we arrive at what is much more familiar liturgical territory for many that's why I'm not going to spend time giving an outline of the entire service of divine liturgy since it's so familiar and also so unchanging liturgy is much more fixed less variable than either Vespers or Matins on most Sundays throughout the year the parts of liturgy that change are limited to the Tripura and Kentucky a-- song after the little entrance and the perky mannan epistle hallelujah and gospel and that's pretty much it well almost some of you may already know that that's not completely true there is one other opportunity for variable hymnography at liturgy and that's at the third antiphon the Beatitudes for which the octoly coasts and other books provide trip area to be inserted between the verses now I'm afraid this is not very commonly done but that's regrettable given that in probably all parishes everywhere attendance at Divine Liturgy is significantly higher than it is at other at either Vespers or Matins the proper verses for the Beatitudes provide an opportunity to get more of the faithful to hear at least some of the variable hymnography from both the articles and the the beatitudes trip area in the octo ecause on the theme of the resurrection are particularly beautiful and also instructive hymnography like this if it's chanted articulately and beautifully plays a very important catechetical role in a parish now I mentioned last time that if it's a great Feast of the Lord there are proper festal antiphon that take the place of the typical songs and Beatitudes we usually sing at liturgy apart from these occasions though the trip area on the Beatitudes if they're done constitute the first slot in divine liturgy for variable hymnography by the way we're using the word troparion here not with reference to the troparion of the day itself that special him that's also called the Apollo Tiki on or a dismissal him and that gets repeated at every service throughout the daily cycle no here we're using the word trip area in a more general sense as a short hem that gets inserted between verses of Scripture so with the Beatitudes if it's a simple or double service there are eight trap Oriya all from the octo echoes and we begin to insert them after blessed are the merciful if it's a six to Kyra or doxology rank service then we insert ten trip arya into the Beatitudes starting two verses earlier after the first blessed are the meek the first six come from the octo ëcause and then the last four come from the Minaya they're taken from owed three of the cannon for the saint at Matins there are of course several other scenarios for what and how many trip arya to use on the Beatitudes but there's no need to describe all that here strictly speaking these trip area on the Beatitudes are supposed to be sung in the appropriate tone using the cannon melodies however it's more common that they're read chanted on one note that is by a reader and in most instances I think that's a better more realistic option as otherwise it can get very tricky for the choir and the people listening might grow impatient whereas if they're read clearly and not too fast these texts can really make an impression on the minds and hearts of the faithful the next slot for variable hymnography is right after the little entrance we mentioned several configurations of these trope Aria and Kentucky ax last time as we discussed the ranks of feasts as I reminded you several times that was all with reference to weekday services for pedagogical reasons that had to be our focus but of course most readers and choir directors go to liturgy primarily on Sunday not on weekdays so let's talk about the order of Tripura and Kentucky a' on a sunday will start naturally with what would happen when it's a simple commemoration in the manao but in addition to the rank of service we need one other piece of information and that's the dedication of the temple is your church dedicated to a saint like st. nicholas or saints peter and paul or Saint John the Baptist or is it instead dedicated to one of the feasts or the mother of God like Dormition or holy protection or one of her icons like joy of all who sorrow or again is it dedicated to the Lord like Christ the Savior or Holy Trinity or holy resurrection let's start with what happens in a temple dedicated to a saint it looks like this we begin with the troparion of the resurrection in the tone of the week that is from the octo ecause then the trapar e'en for the temple from the saint's feast day in the minion next the trapar e'en of the saint of the day from the Minaya and then we switch to the Kentucky first the kontakion of the resurrection in the tone of the week it's printed in the octo echos after the sixth ode of the Canon at Matins but usually it's available in liturgy music books and the like then the Kentuckian of the temple then before the second to last him we seen glory to the Father as usual and we have the kontakion for the saint of the day from the mininum also after the sixth ode in the Canon and then just prior to the last him we have now and ever and unto ages of Ages are men and we sing a Fiat opium and this they Autopia never changes it's always steadfast protectress of Christians it's a tone six peut opium it does not change depending on the tone or the or the day of the week it's the same at every liturgy this string of hymns all get sung by the choir according to their proper tone and this can be one of the most challenging parts of divine liturgy for the choir director and the singers and so it's important for the choir director to prepare ahead of time so that it goes smoothly without too much shuffling or confusion or repeated pauses during liturgy on the other hand it's also important for clergy to listen for the choir to sing now and ever and unto ages of Ages our men and the concluding Kentuckian until the choir has sung now and ever they are not finished yet so if the choir despite its best efforts does have to pause for a few seconds to find the next hymn or to get the right pitch the priest should not jump in with four holy art thou o our God our moment of silence is not a bad thing when we're praying and if the choir director and singers know that the priest doesn't mind waiting a little bit it can really decrease their own stress level which in turn will help them sing better and more prayerfully but I digress let's go on now and see what order these hymns follow in a temple dedicated to the mother of God whether it's one of her feasts or one of her icons first as always we start with the trapar Ian of the resurrection from the octo echoes then we have the trapar Ian of the temples feast day from the minion that's the feast that the temple is dedicated to or the icon then we have the trapar Ian for the saint of the day from the Minea then the kontakion of the resurrection and then glory to the father the Kentuckian for the saint of the day from the minion finally now and ever and the Kentuckian for the temple's feast day the big difference here from what we saw for a temple dedicated to a saint is that the kontakion for the temple does not come right after the Kentuckian of the resurrection but instead comes at the very end instead of steadfast protectress since it's a Kentuckian to the mother of god it can function as the concluding fayette okyun for the whole sequence and thus steadfast protectress would in a sense be redundant lastly let's look at the order for a temple dedicated to the Lord you might think that the order would be the same as for a temple dedicated to the mother of God only substituting the troparion and Kentuckian for the Feast of the church's dedication and their it's Pentecost or theophany or Christmas or whatever but that's not how it works and the reason is that every Sunday we sing the trapar Ian and Kentuckian of the resurrection and since those are already about Christ they fulfill a double function they also count as it were for the trapar Ian and Kentuckian of the temple so the order looks like this reporting to the resurrection octo goes then immediately the troparion of the saint of the day from the Minaya glory to the father Kentuckian at the saint of the day from the minion now whatever Kentuckian of the resurrection from the octo goes notice that the last him here is not a Theotokos this is unusual but not unheard of it follows the same pattern that we would see for example on great feast to the Lord where the him following now and ever is for the feast not a Fiat okyun hymns about the Lord are the only thing that would replace a Fiat okyun in the closing slot in a series of hymns and so in temples dedicated say to the holy resurrection or Christ the Savior or holy ascension steadfast protectress is not sung here but the series concludes instead with the resurrection allah Kentuckian in the tone of the week so all that is for a simple commemoration of course there are variations depending on the rank if it's a double commemoration there are two trip arya and to kentucky a-- from the minion one for each saint six sukira doxology and polyalloy rank services are actually the same on a sunday as for a simple service but if it's a vigil rank service on a Sunday then all we use is the drop Orion and Kentuckian of the resurrection and of the st. plus steadfast protectress if it's a church dedicated to a saint that is the trapar ian and Kentuckian for the temple are not used at a vigil rank thus making the sequence somewhat shorter and as always if it were a four feast or an after feast then that will affect the order of hymns the order is also significantly different during Lent and on each of the Sundays in Pascal tied all of these details can be looked up in the order of divine services or various other publications so moving on the next slot for variation in the order of liturgy is the two Scripture readings the Epistle and Gospel along with the psalm verses that introduced them to prick him anon and the Alleluia but before we get to that we should mention that sometimes to him holy God that vaisakhi in' is replaced by another short him on several occasions we sing as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ hallelujah this short quotation from Galatians 3 is sung at the service of Holy Baptism and when we sing it at liturgy it's on days that are strongly associated with baptism in the church's tradition Christmas and theophany Lazarus Saturday and Holy Saturday and paska and all the days of bright week and finally Pentecost the other possible variation is to sing before thy cross we bow down and worship this is sung in place of the tree sagon only twice each year on the Feast of the exaltation of the Cross on September 14th and on the third Sunday in Lent now the Brickey mannan on the Alleluia verses on a Sunday are generally in the tone of the week each tone has its own set of solved verses for them these are found in the Epistle book or the apostolos this is a liturgical book that we haven't yet mentioned the Epistle book contains the Acts of the Apostles and all the epistles of the New Testament and it arranges them to be read at liturgy the Epistle book published by st. econ's press is the most complete English epistle book among other things it includes an introduction that explains how to combine two Pro kumano together and two sets of Alleluia verses a reader needs to know how to do this as it's quite usual for too perky Mona and too Alleluias to be prescribed even when there might be only one epistle and gospel for example if a Sunday falls during an after feast of one of the great feasts the first perky manaan will be for the Sunday in the tone of the week and the second will be for the feast the same for the Alleluia also when vigil rank commemorations fall on a Sunday the perky mannan and Alleluia will be for both the Sunday and the saint and there will also be both sets of epistle and gospel readings following the gospel and the sermon liturgy now moves along according to its unvarying order all the way through to the anaphora if it's during an after feast after the consecration of the gifts there will be a proper him to the Theotokos to replace it is truly meet and if it's the Liturgy of st. basil that's being celebrated instead of it is truly meet we sing in VO full of grace all creation rejoices but the vast majority of times we sing it is truly meet without variation the next and usually last variable element is the communion him the communion him is a psalm verse sung after one is holy one is the lord on sundays this is the first verse of Psalm 148 praise the Lord from the heavens praise him in the highest very often a second communion verse is also prescribed like during after feasts or on higher-ranking commemorations the communion verse can be sung several times to a more or less elaborate melody with verses from the psalm that it comes from chanted in between there are a few other variations in liturgy that could be mentioned but most of them pertain to the Paschal season and I hope to mention some of them in our video on that subject the Divine Liturgy is as we know the high point the pinnacle of the church's liturgical life just by expressing it that way it follows that there are other aspects to Orthodox worship that prepare for or lead up to the divine liturgy that's especially why we have Vespers and Matins as well as the hours these services not only sanctify certain times of the day but they also acquaint us much more than does the liturgy with the themes or saints being commemorated that day liturgy itself asurs us into eternity into the Kingdom of Heaven into the presence of all the events of our salvation into the presence of all the saints of our church each day Vespers and Matins provide a specific entry point into the kingdom an entry point that's different each day liturgy the experience of the kingdom of God on earth is what we are entering so all the services work together to transform our minds and our hearts making them attuned to the life of the kingdom of God [Music] you [Music]

Channel: St. Tikhon's Monastery

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Keywords: Orthodox Church, Hymnography, Vespers, Matins, Divine Liturgy, Typikon, Eastern Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthdoox, rubrics, Terce, Sext, liturgical music, liturgics, St. Tikhon's Monastery, St. Tikhon's Seminary

Id: RLmwbTDS_9g

Length: 26min 0sec (1560 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 22 2018