May 29, 2002
The Pious Priests and Deacons
of the Holy Diocese of
Denver
Beloved in the Lord,
Christ is Risen!
During the recent Great Fast period, and especially Great and Holy Week, I received information concerning a number of anomalies in the various services on the part of some priests. As you know, each year I send out to all of you direction regarding the celebration of the designated and scheduled services.
It appears understandable that our priests from the other Orthodox jurisdictions may have learned other rubrics regarding Great Lent and Holy Week. The purpose of this letter is to exhort all of you to follow the same rubrics with which we have been familiar from childhood.
Beginning with Great Lent, the Great Compline is conducted each Monday evening, preferably at 7:00 pm, although it can be done on Tuesdays and Thursdays, in addition to Mondays. The Presanctified Liturgy is conducted on each Wednesday evening of Great Lent, preferably at 7:00 pm, so that people returning from work can first go home in time to prepare themselves for the service. This liturgy can also be conducted on Wednesday morning instead of the evening, although the evening is preferable. The Presanctified Liturgy can also be held on each Friday morning, if appropriate.
On the first five Fridays of Great Lent the Akathistos Hymn Service is always celebrated in the evening at 7:00 pm. On the first four Fridays, each of four sections is sung consecutively, while on the fifth Friday the complete service is sung. At these services the petrahili and felonion are worn, preferably the brighter colors.
Also, on the fifth Thursday of Great Lent the Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete is sung. This means that in reality it is done the previous evening after the brief Matins service. This would require that the Presanctified Liturgy be celebrated on Wednesday morning.
In the sixth week of Great Lent the Great Compline is conducted on Monday evening and the Presanctified Liturgy on Wednesday evening. If the Presanctified Liturgy is also celebrated on Friday, it should be in the morning since the Vespers of Saint Lazarus is held in the evening.
On the Saturday of Saint Lazarus the Orthros and the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom are celebrated. Usually on this day the palms are made into crosses by members of the congregation.
Since the commemoration and reliving of the final days of our Lord take place throughout Holy Week, the large wooden cross of the crucified Christ may be removed from behind the holy Altar Table before the matins of Lazarus Saturday and placed to the side. It will appear for the first time during Holy Week on Holy Thursday evening at the procession.
On Palm Sunday, the Orthros takes place according to the weekday procedure with the Gospel reading coming before the synaxarion and the katavasies. There is no veneration of the Holy Gospel on this day. The Gospel is venerated only for the eleven resurrectional Gospel readings on Sundays. The Orthros Gospel is read from the Beautiful Gate facing the people as in the Divine Liturgy.
According to the custom from Greece which is followed in the United States, the palms are blessed at the end of the Divine Liturgy and sprinkled with Holy Water. This takes place after the hymn "Blessed be the Name of the Lord." The palms which were prepared from the previous day should be placed in a church refrigerator with a wet towel over them, from Saturday to Sunday morning.
With the services commemorating the resurrection of Saint Lazarus and the Divine Liturgy of Palm Sunday, the reliving of the final days of our Lord have begun. However, this is, in a way, interrupted with the three services of the Bridegroom on Palm Sunday night, on Holy Monday night, and on Holy Tuesday night. This service is never held earlier than 7:00 pm, in order to keep the theme of our Lord returning "in the middle of the night." Since it is usually daylight savings time at this juncture of the year, it is preferable and practical to have had the setting of the sun during the singing of the first hymn, "Behold, the Bridegroom comes."
The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts during Holy Week must always be held in the morning. This applies to Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, and Holy Wednesday, since the previous evening's service is the Orthros. It must be remembered that all services of Holy Week from Holy Monday morning are held twelve to fifteen hours earlier. This is why the Bridegroom Service of Holy Monday is done on Palm Sunday evening. It has been this way from time immemorial in the parish churches.
At all the Divine Presanctified Liturgies, the priest is fully vested, although without wearing the articles associated with offikia (the epigonation and pectoral cross). It is not simply a vespers service; it is the Divine Liturgy with our Lord's Presanctified Body and Blood present.
On Holy Wednesday afternoon the Holy Unction Sacrament is held. On the same day in the evening the final Bridegroom Service is held with the procession of the Last Supper icon. I am pleased to see that more and more of our priests are bringing this beautiful service back into Holy Week. Of course, during the intervals, when practical, at the evening service of the Bridegroom, the priest anoints those who were not present at the afternoon sacrament of Holy Unction.
In larger parishes the Holy Unction Service is usually held twice, once in the afternoon and again in the evening. The sacrament, however, must not be repeated over the same holy oil from the afternoon service, but it could be used as the oil for the kandili on the Holy Altar table.
On Thursday morning the Divine Liturgy of the Last Supper is celebrated. In the evening the holy service of our Lord's Passion takes place. At the proper intervals after the procession with the large wooden Cross, the faithful can come forward very piously to venerate the Crucified Christ. Usually sand boxes are placed up front where the faithful can light a special candle before venerating the Lord's holy Feet.
On Holy Friday morning the Royal Hours are read. At this time, also, the kouvouklion is decorated with appropriate flowers for the Funeral Service of our Lord at the Apokathilosis in the afternoon. If at all possible the kouvouklion should be decorated in another area of the church, or definitely after the Royal Hours Service is conducted. The three o'clock hour is appropriate for the Apokathilosis service; it preserves the historical accuracy of our Lord's death on the Cross.
In the evening, at 7:00 pm, the Service of Lamentations takes place with the appropriate procession, either outside the church in a counter-clockwise direction as the weather permits, or around the interior of the church if necessary. At this service the priest is fully vested since it is the Orthros of the following day. He should be vested in bright vestments, not purple or black, since the service is resurrectional in that the resurrection of Christ is forecast along with the lamentations. This is also why he takes Kairos before the beginning of this service, and it is therefore not necessary to do so on Holy Saturday morning. At the Divine Liturgy of Holy Saturday morning commemorating all who left Hades when our Lord descended there, the priest scatters bay leaves throughout the church immediately after the Epistle reading, which can remain there for the evening service and the Agape Service on Sunday. This symbolizes the fact that Christ has already shattered the gates of Hades.
On Holy Saturday evening the Vigil begins at 11:00 pm. At the midnight hour the priest proclaims the Resurrection of Christ, and the service continues according to the book which most of our people have, which is that of Father George Papadeas. The beautiful and inspirational Paschal Homily of Saint John Chrysostom should be read in English after the Gospel reading of the Divine Liturgy; and where Greek-speaking members are present, it should be read in Greek at the end of the Divine Liturgy according to the Holy Week Book of Father Papadeas, with the people responding according to ancient tradition.
The Agape Vespers is held on Sunday. Since it appears that the 11:00 am hour is too early for many people, I exhort the priests to hold the service next year at 1:00 pm; I am optimistic that more of our people will be present. Also, it must be remembered that the clergy are vested in full vestments as in the Divine Liturgy since Bright Week is considered as one day from Pascha to Saint Thomas Sunday. This includes not only the Divine Liturgy, but also Vespers. It is understood that, when the feast day of Saint George is celebrated on Bright Monday, the priest is fully vested on Sunday at the Agape Vespers Service which incorporates hymns of Saint George.
To go on, I have noticed that a number of our priests who begin the Orthros Service walk away from the Holy Altar table and do not read the twelve prayers which must be read during the reading of the Hexapsalm by the chanter. Worse than this, when our priests begin the Vespers, many more neglect to read the seven prayers while the Proimiakos is being read by the Reader or Bishop.
Finally, I have noticed that many of our younger priests, after reading the Opisthambonos prayer in front of the icon of Christ and reentering the sanctuary, do not go to the Holy Gifts at the Prothesis to read the brief prayer which indicates our gratefulness and awe that our Lord fulfilled all the promises which fill us with joy and gladness.
I hope that this letter Ð although lengthy Ð will be kept as a reference by all the clergy of this Diocese so that we will do all things with order and in unity.
With Paternal Blessings in our Risen Lord,
+Metropolitan Isaiah
Presiding Hierarch
of
the Diocese of Denver