Services
The services of the Greek Orthodox church are properly conducted each day following a rigid, but constantly changing annual schedule (i.e., parts of the service remain the same while others change depending on the day of the year). Services are conducted in the church and involve both the clergy and faithful. Services cannot properly be conducted by a single person, but must have at least one other person present (i.e. a Priest cannot celebrate alone, but must have at least a Chanter present and participating). Usually, all of the services are conducted on a daily basis only in monasteries and cathedrals, while parish churches might only do the services on the weekend and major feast days. On certain Great Feasts (and, according to some traditions, every Sunday) a special All-Night Vigil (Agrypnia) will be celebrated from late at night on the eve of the feast until early the next morning. Because of its festal nature it is usually followed by a breakfast feast shared together by the congregation.
The journey is to the Kingdom. This is where we are going—not symbolically, but really.
—Fr. Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World
We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth.
—Ambassadors of Kievan Rus (10th Century), Apocryphal quote from conversion of Kievan Rus.
Services, especially the Divine Liturgy, can only be celebrated once a day on a single altar (some churches have multiple altars in order to accommodate large congregations). Each priest may only celebrate the Divine Liturgy once a day. From its Jewish roots, the liturgical day begins at sundown. The traditional daily cycle of services is as follows:
This daily cycle services are conceived of as both the sanctification of time (chronos, the specific times during which they are celebrated), and entry into eternity (kairos). They consist to a large degree of litanies asking for God's mercy on the living and the dead, readings from the Psalter with introductory prayers, troparia, and other prayers and hymns surrounding them. The Psalms are so arranged that when all the services are celebrated the entire Psalter is read through in their course once a week, and twice a week during Great Lent when the services are celebrated in an extended form.
The journey is to the Kingdom. This is where we are going—not symbolically, but really.
—Fr. Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World
We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth.
—Ambassadors of Kievan Rus (10th Century), Apocryphal quote from conversion of Kievan Rus.
Services, especially the Divine Liturgy, can only be celebrated once a day on a single altar (some churches have multiple altars in order to accommodate large congregations). Each priest may only celebrate the Divine Liturgy once a day. From its Jewish roots, the liturgical day begins at sundown. The traditional daily cycle of services is as follows:
- Vespers – (Greek Hesperinos) Sundown, the beginning of the liturgical day.
- Compline (Greek Apodeipnon, lit. "After-supper") – After the evening meal prior to bedtime.
- Midnight Office – Usually served only in monasteries.
- Matins (Greek Orthros) – First service of the morning. Usually starts before sunrise.
- Divine Liturgy – The Eucharist service. (see below)
- Hours – First, Third, Sixth, and Ninth – Sung either at their appropriate times, or in aggregate at other customary times of convenience. If the latter, The First Hour is sung immediately following Orthros, the Third and Sixth prior to the Divine Liturgy, and the Ninth prior to Vespers.
This daily cycle services are conceived of as both the sanctification of time (chronos, the specific times during which they are celebrated), and entry into eternity (kairos). They consist to a large degree of litanies asking for God's mercy on the living and the dead, readings from the Psalter with introductory prayers, troparia, and other prayers and hymns surrounding them. The Psalms are so arranged that when all the services are celebrated the entire Psalter is read through in their course once a week, and twice a week during Great Lent when the services are celebrated in an extended form.
