Vigil - what is this? Explanation of church services

As Anton Pavlovich Chekhov used to say in Masha's mouth in the play Three Sisters, a person must be a believer or seek faith, otherwise everything is empty, it makes no sense. If thirty years ago for many people the word "faith" was associated with "opium for the people", now there are practically no people who somehow did not encounter Christianity, did not go to church and did not hear such words as the liturgy, vigil Vigil, communion, confession and so on.

In this article, such a concept as the All-Night Vigil or Vigil will be considered. This connection of the three services: Vespers, Matins and the first hour. Such service lasts on the eve of a Sunday or before a church holiday.

Ancient Christians

The tradition of making all-night vigils was introduced by the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who loved to dedicate a night watch to prayer. Followed by the apostles, and then the Christian communities. It became especially important to gather for the night and pray in the catacombs during the years of persecution of Christians. St. Basil the Great called all-night services "agripnias", that is, sleepless, and they spread throughout the East. These agripnies were committed all the year round before the Sunday, on the eve of Easter, on the feast of the Epiphany (Baptism) and on the days of the commemoration of the holy martyrs.

Then the all-night service was a special service, the creation of which was worked by the great prayer books, such as St. John Chrysostom, St. John Damascene, Savva the Sanctified. Until now, the vespers, matins and the first hour are almost completely preserved.

The concept of the All-Night Service

Often the clergy are asked the question: "Is it compulsory to go to the all-night vigils?" Believers feel that this service is more difficult to stand out than the liturgy. And it happens because the all-night service is a gift of a person to God. On it, everyone present sacrifices something: their time, some life circumstances, and the liturgy is the sacrifice of God to us, so it is easier to sustain it, but often the degree of acceptance of the Divine sacrifice depends on how many people are willing to give, to sacrifice something God.

The Russian Orthodox Church has preserved in its entirety a very complex, beautiful, spiritual all-night vigil. Liturgy, performed on Sunday morning, completes the weekly cycle. In Russian churches, the evening service is connected to the morning service, and all this takes place in the evening. This was introduced by the fathers of the church, and this rule allows us to maintain the apostolic tradition.

How to serve outside of Russia

For example, in Greece there is no all-night vigil, there is no vespers, matins start in the morning and take only two hours together with the liturgy. This is because modern people are less ready physically and spiritually to serve. Many do not understand what is read and sung in the choir; Unlike their ancestors, contemporaries know little about the Lord Jesus Christ and the Theotokos.

In a word, everyone decides for himself whether he will attend the Vigil service or not. Strict rules do not exist, the clergy do not impose on people "burdens unquenchable," that is, what is above the forces.

Sometimes the events in the believer's life do not allow him to attend the all-night vigil (urgent work, jealous husband (wife), illness, children, etc.), but if the reason for the absence is disrespectful, then such a person should think better before embarking on the acceptance of Christ Tain.

Follow Vigil Service

The temple is a place of prayer for Christians. In it ministers utter various prayers: both pleading and penitential, but the number of gratitude exceeds the rest. In Greek, the word "thanksgiving" sounds like "Eucharist." So Orthodox Christians call the most important sacrament present in their lives - this is the sacrament of communion, which is performed at the Liturgy, and before that everyone must prepare for the sacrament. It is necessary to talk (at least) for three days, to think about your own life, to correct it, confessing to the priest, to subtract the prescribed prayers, not to eat or drink anything, from midnight until the communion itself. And all this is only a minimum of what a believing person must do. In addition, it is advisable to go to the service of the all-night vigil, which begins with the bells.

In the Orthodox church, the iconostasis occupies a central place, decorated with icons. In the center of it there are double doors, also with icons, in other words they are called the Royal or Great Gates. During the evening service (first) they are opened, and before the believers there appears an altar with a seven-candlestick on the throne (the table where the most sacred and mysterious actions are performed).

Beginning of evening service

All-night service begins with the 103rd psalm, in which one remembers the six days created by God. While the singers are singing, the priest censers the whole church, and the smell of incense, the solemn chanting, the quiet, majestic movements of clergymen - all this reminds us of the comfortable life of Adam and Eve in paradise before their fall. Then the priest enters the altar, closes the door, the choir ceases, the lights go out, the chandelier (the chandelier in the center of the temple) -and here one can not help but recall the fall of the first people and the fall of each of us.

Since ancient times, people have longed to pray at night, especially in the East. The summer heat, exhausting the day's heat, was not tuned to prayer. Another thing is the night, during which it is pleasant to turn to the Most High: no one interferes, and there is no blinding sun.

Only with the arrival of Christians did the all-night service become a form of public service. The Romans divided the night time into four guards, that is, four shifts of the military guard. The third guard began at midnight, and the fourth - when singing roosters. Christians prayed all four guards only in special cases, for example, before Easter, usually prayed until midnight.

All-night song

All-night vigil without psalms is unthinkable, they permeate the whole service. Singers read or sing the psalms completely or in fragments. In a word, the psalms are a vespers skeleton, without it, it would not exist.

The chanting is interrupted by the litanies, that is, by petitions, when the deacon, standing in front of the altar, asks God for the forgiveness of our sins, for peace throughout the world, for the unification of all Christians, for all Orthodox Christians, for travelers, for the sick, for deliverance from sorrow, etc. In conclusion, the Mother of God and all the saints are recalled, and the deacon asks that we all "have our whole belly", dedicated our life to Christ God.

During the Vespers many prayers and psalms are sung, but at the end of each sticherry a dogmatist is necessarily sung, in which it is narrated that the Virgin was the Virgin before the birth of Christ, and then. And Her birth is joy and salvation to the whole world.

Do we need all-night service for God?

Vigilance is the service during which the blessings to God are often pronounced. Why do we say these words, because God does not need our kind words, or our chants? And indeed, the Lord has everything, all the fullness of life, but in these kind words we need.

There is one comparison, which was expressed by the Christian writer. A beautiful picture does not need praise, she is so beautiful. And if a person does not notice it, does not pay tribute to the skill of the artist, then he steals himself. The same happens when we do not notice God, we do not thank for our life, for the created world around us. By this we rob ourselves.

Remembering the Creator, a person becomes kinder, more humane, and forgetting Him - more like a humanoid animal, living by instincts and struggle for survival.

During the evening service one prayer, personifying the Gospel event, is always read. This "Now lettest ..." - the words that Simeon the God-Bearer, who met the baby Jesus in the temple and told the Virgin about the meaning and mission of her Son. Thus, the vigil ("meeting", meeting) glorifies the meeting of the Old Testament and New Testament world.

Six-psalm

After that, the candles (lamps) in the temple are extinguished, and the reading of the psalms begins. The temple plunges into the twilight, and this is also symbolic, as it reminds us of the twilight in which the Old Testament people lived who did not know the Savior. And this night the Lord came, as it was on Christmas Eve, and the angels began to praise Him with singing "Glory to God in the highest."

This period during the service is so important that, according to the Church Charter, during the sixth psalm, they do not even make bows and impose the cross of the cross.

Then the Great Litany (petition) is again spoken, and then the choir sings "God the Lord and appeared to us ...". These words recall how the Lord at the age of thirty years went to his ministry, for which the world came to this.

Hallelujah

After a while, the candles are lit, and the polyel begins, the chorus sings "Hallelujah." The priest comes out into the middle of the temple and, together with the deacon, censes the temple with a fragrant incense. Then the excerpts from psalms are sung, but the culmination of the all-night vigil is the reading of the Gospel by the priest.

The gospel is taken out of the altar, as from the Holy Sepulcher, and put in the middle of the temple. The words pronounced by the priest are the words of the Lord Himself, therefore, after reading the deacon holds the Holy Book, like an angel, proclaiming the message of Christ, the Savior of the world. The parishioners bow to the Gospel as disciples, and kiss it like myrrh-bearers, and the choir (ideally the whole nation) sings "The Resurrection of Christ having seen ...".

After this, the 50th penitential psalm is read, and the priests anoint the cross of each man's cross with consecrated oil (oil). Then follows the reading and singing of the canon.

The attitude of contemporaries to the church

Modern people began to regard the church as something good, useful, but already said its word. They see nothing new in it, they often ask idle questions. Why visit the church so often? How long is the all-night vigil? Church life is incomprehensible to those who rarely go to church. And it's not the Church Slavonic language, which is the service. The very position of the church is unacceptable for many people.

The ROC reminds the world of the meaning of existence, about family, marriage, morality, chastity, about everything that people forget about, settling comfortably in front of the TV. The church is not a clergyman or a beautiful wall. The church is a people bearing the name of Christ, who is gathered together to glorify God. This is an important message to the world that lies in lies.

All-night vigil, liturgy, the adoption of the Holy Mysteries, confession - these are the services that people need, and those who understand this, strive for the "ark of the Lord."

Conclusion

After the canon at the Vigil, the sticherons on the Praises are read, followed by the Great Doxology. This is the majestic singing of the Christian anthem. It begins with the words "Glory to God in the Highest and to the World ...", and ends with the tri-saints: "Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us," pronounced three times.

After this, the Litany, Longevity followed and at the end the "First Hour" is read. Many people leave the temple at this time, but in vain. In the prayers of the first hour, we ask God to hear our voice and help us in the continuation of the day.

It is desirable that the temple became for all the place where you want to return. To the rest of the week to live in anticipation of the meeting, meeting with the Lord.