The Shepherd, September 2007
Adapted from
“THE HOUSE OF GOD
& THE CHURCH SERVICES”
By the Priest N. R. Antonov
Continuation
§ 145. The Supplicatory Services. The Holy Church, like a mother, having taken us under her care in the Mysterion of Holy Baptism, is concerned for us throughout the whole of our life. In every circumstance of our life we may have recourse to the prayers and hymns of the Church. Thus, for instance, in the Church there are special prayers and services for each occasion: for the start of the New Year, for the start or for the completion of a course of education, prayers in the time of hostilities, for the blessing of fruits, for the building of a house, for the digging of a well, at the sanctification of the waters, in time of sickness, during droughts, and at times of incessant rains, during floods, for setting out on a journey and for our return, for those who are held captive (hostages), for those in prison, those caught up in strife. With these blessings, the Church sanctifies the whole course of our life, desiring always to nurture in us a readiness to entrust ourselves to the will of God.
The Supplicatory Services (molebens) may be with or without a canon. Those without a canon begin with a Great Litany with petitions added in for the particular circumstance for which the moleben is being served. After the litany, we chant “God is the Lord,” and the troparion appointed for the particular needs of those for whom the prayers are being said. Then follow an Apostle reading and one from the Gospel, which are in turn followed by a threefold litany with more emphatic petitions for the particular needs. Then we have the troparion and contakion of the day, and a prayer, which is read, depending on the circumstances, either while everyone kneels or without kneeling.
Supplicatory services with a canon are composed thus:- after the initial prayers, we chant “God is the Lord,” and then a troparion to the Lord Jesus, to the Mother of God, or to one or more of the Saints. After the troparion, the irmoses of the canon are chanted, and the troparions on each ode are read, with the appropriate refrains: “Glory to Thee, O our God, glory to Thee;” “Most Holy Theotokos, save us;” “O Hierarch and Father Nicolas, pray unto God for us;” or as may be. After the third ode, there is a shorted threefold litany with a petition for the health of those offering the prayers. After the sixth, a little litany, and sometimes an Akathist is inserted here as well. Then an appropriate reading from the Gospel, with the usual prokeimenon, and preliminary verses. After the ninth ode of the canon, there is a shorted threefold litany, with a request for the “peace, good estate, and abundance of the fruits of the earth for all Christians.” Next: the troparion, contakion, a prayer and the dismissal. However, in Supplicatory Services with canons, there is a widespread contemporary custom (in the Russian Church) of omitting many of the irmoses and all of the troparia of the canon, and simply chanting the refrains.
[Fr Antonov here adds a short paragraph about the special services used in Imperial Russia on special state occasions.]
The order of service for these molebens, the special petitions and prayers are found in special book, called “The Supplicatory Chants.”
… to be continued in the next issue with “The Burial of the Dead”
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