LITURGY

On the Great Lord’s-day of the Pasch, immediately after, Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, there is sung, Christ is risen (See page 443); then with its Stichoi (But on the remaining days of the Pasch, without the Stichoi).

If it is a feast of our Lord, or of the Mother of God, there are sung the Antiphons of the Feast it happeneth to be.

Note, that after every Stichos of the First Antiphon there is always sung the Ephymnion: At the intercessions of the Theotokos, O Saviour, save us; and at the end; Glory; Both now; and again the Ephymnion. And after every Stichos of the Second Antiphon there is sung the proper characteristic Ephymnion (or, when the Nativity, Entrance, or Falling-asleep of the Theotokos, falleth on the Lord’s-day, that of the Resurrection: Save us, O Son of God, who didst rise again from the dead; we sing to thee: Alleluia); and at the end; Glory; Both now; and: O Only-begotten Son and Word of God (See page 247). 1 And after every Stichos of the Third Antiphon there is sung the Apolytikion of the Feast it happeneth to be.

But if it be the commemoration of a feasted Saint, at the Beatitudes there is sung the Trithecte, to wit the third and sixth Odes of the Canon of the Orthros. But when a feasted Saint falleth on the Lord’s-day, the Beatitudes of the Oktoechos in four, and from the sixth Ode of the Canon of the Saint four. Likewise after the Entrance, there is first sung the Apolytikion of the Resurrection, then that of the Saint.

On the 14th of September, the Exaltation of the Cross, and on the third Lord’s-day of the Fasts, to wit the Adoration of the Cross, instead of the Trisagion, there is sung: Thy Cross, O Master, we adore, and glorify thy holy Resurrection. Thrice. Glory: Both now. And glorify thy holy Resurrection. Dynamis. Thy Cross, O Master, we adore. But on the 25th of December, the Nativity of Christ, and the morrow, to wit the Synaxis of the Theotokos, on the 6th of January, the Theophany, and the morrow, to wit the Synaxis of the Precursor, on the Sabbath of Lazarus, on the Great Sabbath, on the Lord’s-day of the Pasch, and up to the Sabbath of Renewal week, on the Apodosis of the Pasch, on the Lord’s-day of the Pentecost, on the Second-day of the Holy Spirit, and on the Apodosis of the Pentecost: As many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Thrice. Glory: Both now. Have put on Christ. Dynamis. As many of you as have been baptized into Christ.

If there are many Priests celebrating together, they sing the Eisodikon in procession; then, the first in rank censing the holy Table and the Eikons from the Doors of tha Bema, the Apolytikion, the Kontakion, and, Holy God, the third time.

If there is a second Deacon, he, and not the Priest, saith: Wisdom! upright! let us hear the holy Gospel; and then: Let us attend. Likewise after, That they also, the first Deacon saith: As many as are Catechumens, go forth; and the second: Ye Catechumens go forth; then again the first: As many as are Catechumens, go forth, etc.

The parts of the Deacon for those that are ready for illumination and the Prayer for the same (See pages 407–411) begin from the Fourth-day of the Mid-fast, and are said until the Great Fourth-day, not only in the Presanctified Liturgy, but also on the Sabbaths, and on the Lord’s-days, to wit in the Liturgy of Chrysostom, and in that of Basil the Great.

According to the custom now obtaining, it is not the Deacon, but the Priest that censeth at the Great Entrance; and that not only the holy Table and the Sanctuary, but also the Eikons of our Lord and of our Lady, going a little way out of the Doors of the Bema.

At the Great Entrance, in Greece, and in some other places, the Priest maketh mention of all the Royal Family; and further on great Feasts, saith: Of the ever-memorable Founders of this holy Church; and of our brothers that fought and fell for Faith and Fatherland may the Lord God be mindful in his Kingdom, always.

If there are two, or more Priests, they also all kiss the holy Things and one another upon the shoulder. Now he that beginneth saith: The Christ is in the midst of us. And he that is kissed answereth: He both is, and will be. In like manner the Deacons also, if there are two, or three, kiss their Orarions, where the figure of the Cross is, and one another upon the shoulder, saying the same as the Priests.

Further, if there are many Priests celebrating together, they all take up the holy Aër, and hold it over the holy Gifts, saying to themselves like the People, the Confession of the Faith.

At the Invocation of the Holy Spirit each one saith quietly to himself: Great is the Name of the Holy Trinity; at, Especially: O All-holy Theotokos, help us; likewise at the Elevation: For help of all pious and Orthodox Christians.

At, Among the first be mindful, O Lord, in Athens, and in some other places, the Priest maketh mention of the Sacred Synod.

When the Deacon spongeth the holy Paten over the holy Chalice, he may say: Having beheld the resurrection (See page 135). Be illuminate, be illuminate, thou new Jerusalem; for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. Dance now, and exult, O Sion; and thou Chaste One, be glad, O Theotokos, at the resurrection of thine offspring. O great and most sacred Pasch, Christ; O wisdom and Word of God and power, grant us more perfectly to partake of thee in the day without evening in thy Kingdom. And: Wash away, O Lord, the sins of those here commemorated, through thy precious Blood, at the intercessions of thy Saints.

But if there are any going to partake of the holy Mysteries, the Priest divideth the two remaining portions the holy Bread, to wit NI, and KA, into as many small particles as will suffice for those that are going to participate; and so, putting them into the holy Chalice, giveth communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, in the customary way, with all reverence. And after the Deacon hath said, With fear of God, the Choir singeth: Of thy Mystic Supper (See page 323), on, Of the Body of Christ partake ye, of the immortal Fount taste ye, and there approach those that are going to partake; and the Priest taking the holy Chalice from the hands of the Deacon, giveth the communion, saying: The servant of God, N., partaketh of the precious and holy Body and Blood of our Lord, and God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, unto remission of his (or, her) sins, and unto life eternal.

In Commemorations of those that have fallen asleep, immediately after, Be the Name of the Lord, there are sung the Troparia: With the righteous souls (See pages 487–491), and there are commemorated upon the Kolyba the names of those that have fallen asleep.

On the Great Lord’s-day of the Pasch, after the Prayer behind the Ambon there is said; Christ is risen, thrice (the same until the Sabbath of Renewal Week), and there is read by the Priest the Catechetical Discourse of Chrysostom: If any be pious and a lover of God (See page 483). And at the end the Apolytikion of the Saint: The grace of thy mouth shining (See page 339). Then: The Blessing of the Lord; and Dismission is made by the Priest, who exclaimeth at the end: Christ is risen, thrice, and the People answer likewise thrice: He is risen indeed. The Priest: Glory to his resurrection on the third day. The People: We adore his resurrection on the third day.

On the Vigils on the Nativity of Christ, and of the Theophany, on the Great Fifth-day, and on the Great Sabbath, the Liturgy of Basil the Great is joined to the Hesperinos, thus:—after, Blessed is the Kingdom, there is said: Come let us adore, thrice, and the Proœmiac Psalm, and also the Great Synapte. Then is sung: O Lord, I have cried, with the Stichera, and there taketh place the Entrance with the Gospel; and there is sung: O gladsome light See page 3–31). And straightway the Lessons. (After the third and sixth Lessons of the Vigils of the Nativity of Christ, and of the Theophany there are sung Troparia and Stichoi; before the first and second of the Great Fifth-day, Prokeimena; and after the last of the Great Sabbath: The Lord hymn ye, and highly exalt unto all the ages; and the Hymn of the holy Three Children: Bless ye the Lord, all ye works of the Lord.) And after this there is said the Little Synapte, and there is sung the Trisagion (or on the Great Sabbath: As many of you as have been baptized into Christ). Then, the Prokeimenon of the Apostle, the Apostle, the, Alleluia (or on the Great Sabbath: Arise, O God, judge thou the earth, for thou shalt inherit among all the nations, with the Stichoi of Psalm 81, God hath stood), and the Gospel. And then the Liturgy of Basil the Great.