The Shepherd, July 2004
§ 92. A General overview of the First part of the All-Night Vigil, Vespers. The Vigil begins, with the deacon exclaiming “Arise. O Lord, bless!” On behalf of all those praying there, the priest gives glory to the Lord, exclaiming, “Glory to the Holy, and Consubstantial, and Life-Creating, and Undivided Trinity, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages” - and then he invites the faithful to worship the Lord, repeating three times, “O come, let us worship and fall down before our King and our God.” Thereafter we begin the chanting of selected verses form the majestic Psalm 103, which paints for us a picture of the creation of the world and of man:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul. (Blessed art Thou, O Lord). O Lord my God, Thou hast been magnified exceedingly. (Blessed art Thou, O Lord). Confession and majesty hast Thou put on. (Blessed art Thou, O Lord). … upon the mountains shall the waters stand. … (Wondrous are Thy works, O Lord). … between the mountains will the waters run. (Wondrous are Thy works, O Lord). In wisdom hast Thou made them all. Glory be to Thee, O Lord, Who hast made them all.”
Fr Antonov gives this selection in Slavonic and for those who did not understand the Church language also in Russian. In this description he is of course referring to Russian practices. In other churches the practice may vary somewhat, longer selection from the psalms may be used, or the whole kathisma might be read.
During the 103rd psalm, the priest and the deacon cense the whole church. The incense represents the breathing of the Holy Spirit over all created things (Gen. 1:21).
The majestic opening of the Vigil service, besides representing the creation of the world, also brings to our remembrance the innocent state of our forefathers in Paradise, when they, having as yet no experience of sinning or of suffering, nor of a tormented conscience, were blessed, satisfied by beholding the face of God and glorifying His endless perfections. But their blessedness did not last long. After the Fall, they were expelled from Paradise and spent the remaining time of their life in repentance and in lamenting their sin. The closing of access for them into Paradise is depicted for us when the Royal Gates are closed. After the proemial psalm (103) and the closing of the gates, the Great Litany is intoned, which, just as in the Liturgy, sets forth our essential petitions and is characteristic of all our prayers to the Lord. During this, or earlier during the psalm, the priest secretly reads seven prayers, which are called the “Prayers of Light” in which, among other requests, he beseeches God that our hearts might be enlightened, and that we might be granted a peaceful, sinless end to the day. The deacon intones the Litany, and he stands in front of the Royal Gates, as of course do the people, in doing so they portray the state of our forefathers, Adam and Eve, who stood before the gates of Paradise, lamenting their bitter lot. Their feeling of sorrow over their lost blessedness, and their turning to God for mercy is portrayed in the very next part of the All-Night Vigil, the Blessed is the Man (see also our lead articles in the last and in this issue of “The Shepherd”). For then, we chant selected verses from psalms 1 to 3, in which we hear of the sinners repentance and his hope of God’s help:
“Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly. Alleluia. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly shall perish. Alleluia. Serve ye the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling. Alleluia. Blessed are all that have put their trust in Him. Alleluia. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God. Alleluia. Salvation is of the Lord, and Thy blessing is upon Thy people. Alleluia.”
[Again Fr Antonov gives a Russian translation for those of his readers who would not have understood Church Slavonic.]
These verses are appointed by the Holy Church to be included in Vespers so that, after remembering the Fall of Adam and Eve, the faithful might be reminded that salvation and blessedness are granted people only through their fulfilment of God’s will, for walking according to the commandments of God and not following the steps of the ungodly.
Having used the Little Litany as a short break, the Holy Church gives us an even more acute, even deeper, picture of the feeling of repentance of those first people, our forebears, and of their hope on God’s help. She sings the prayer:
“Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hearken unto me; hearken unto me, O Lord; Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hearken unto me; attend to the voice of my supplication, when I cry unto Thee; hearken unto me, O Lord. Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice” (Ps. 140:1-2).
In the prayer and chant that is set before us, we commemorate Old Testament events, but we also hear another prayer, which brings consolation and comfort to the Christian heart, in speaking of the fact that the prayers of people are heard, that our “sacrifice” is accepted, and that now we have a way out from our sinful state through faith in the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and through the fulfilment of His Divine teaching. These thoughts are also expressed in the verses which are appointed to be sung on “Lord, I have cried.” The last of the series of these verses for the Resurrection (sung on Saturday evening) is called the dogmatic theotokion, because always therein we have dogmatic teaching concerning the incarnation of Jesus Christ from the Mother of God, and the union in Him of the Two natures, the Divine and the human. On the feasts of the saints, the preceding verses are in honour of the saints and they glorify the exalted qualities of the Saints commemorated and their virtues, and in so doing they call the faithful to emulate them. The verses of the psalms and those appointed to be interspersed with them are sung according to the eight tones. The dogmatic theotokion is also chanted according to the appointed tone, and there are eight dogmatic theotokia, one for each of the tones.
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