Evening Worship in the Orthodox Church (English and Russian Edition)

In this study on evening worship in the Orthodox Church, Nicholas Uspensky reveals the true purpose for which the service of Vespers came into existence: the ancient Christian tradition of giving thanks for the evening light, and the faith which this tradition implies concerning the presence of Christ in the midst of those gathered in His name. While tracing the evolution of the rites of Vespers and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts from their Old Testamental antecedents to their present forms today, he calls upon liturgical commentators to stand closer to the meaning attached to the service of evening worship by the ancient Church. This valuable historical-liturgical study also discusses the Communion which is added to the Vespers in the midst of the Fast, and the differences that exist between the Greek and Russian orders of service for the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist. Translator's Preface 9 I. ORTHODOX VESPERS (A Liturgical History) 13 1. From the Old Testament to the Primitive Church 14 2. The Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII) 19 3. Egeria, A Fourth-Century Pilgrim 27 4. Particularities in Jerusalem 30 The Lamp 30 The Entrance of the Bishop 33 The Procession 35 5. The Cathedral Rite: Two Types of Sung Vespers (^; EOTTEpivoq) 37 Blessed Symeon of Thessalonica 37 The Jerusalem Usage 40 6. The Prayers of Light (euxcxI tou Xuxvikou) 44 7. Sung Vespers: An Attempt at Restoration 54 8. The Monastic Rite: The Canon of Psalmody (Kcxvcbv xf}c;^;) 58 The Vespers of Nilus of Sinai 58 Opposition To Melodic Singing 62 The Horologion of Sabbas the Sanctified 68 9. The Fusion of Cathedral and Monastic Rites 69 The Second Half of Vespers 70 Monastics as Hymnographers 73 The Fusion Completed: Two Sinai Manuscripts 74 10. Vespers in the Greek Church 82 11. Vespers in the Russian Church 90 12. Little Vespers 102 13. Conclusions 104 II. THE LITURGY OF THE PRESANCTIFIED GIFTS ill History and Practice 1. Origins 116 The Practice of Self-Communion 116 An Elemental Order of Service 119 The Horologion of Sabbas the Sanctified 122 Prayers for Communion and the Typika ()124 2. Development: the Synaxis 129 The Readings 130 "Let My Prayer Arise" 132 Prayers for Catechumens and Faithful 133 "The Light of Christ . . ." 134 3. Development: the Rite of Communion 139 The Role of Severus of Antioch 143 Use of the Chalice 145 Intinction of the Lamb 149 4. Acceptance and Spread 152 A Liturgical Refutation of Nestorianism 153 5. Authorship 156 6. Prayers and Litanies 162 7. Further Introduction of Elements from the Full Liturgy 168 At the Synaxis 169 At the Preparation and Communion of the Gifts 173 Concluding Rites 184 8. Days of Celebration 186 III. THE COLLISION OF TWO THEOLOGIES IN THE REVISION OF RUSSIAN LITURGICAL BOOKS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 191 1. Patriarch Nikon and the Russian Liturgical Books 192 Sources and Methodology of Revision 193 2. Metropolitan Peter Moghila of Kiev 200 The Influence of Scholastic Theology 202 Kievan Scholars in Moscow 204 3. The Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts 208 Sanctification of the Chalice 209 Use of the Intincted Lamb 213 Transformation Through Union 215 "On Some Corrections . . ." 220 The Order of Confession 226 Origin and Development 226 Alterations in the Russian Order 230 The Prayer of Absolution 231 Results of the Revision 234 Conclusions 239 The evolution of the rites of Vespers and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, from their Old Testamental antecedents and primitive forms in the early Church to their present forms. The differences between the Greek and Russian orders of service for the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. A valuable historical-liturgical study.