THE OFFICE OF VESPERS

Vespers on Cheese-Fare Sunday and the Other Days of the Great Fast

 

    On Cheese-fare Sunday, andon the rest of the Sunday evenings of the 40-day Fast, everything up tothe entrance and O Joyful Light . . . isaccording to the rules set forth in the Triodion, without prostrations.Then one of the two great prokeimena (read alternately on the Sunday eveningsof the Fast) is read.

    After the prokeimenon, theholy doors are closed and immediately, Vouchsafe, O Lord . .. is read, followed by three little reverences;then the litany, Let us complete our evening prayer. Atthe Trisagion which follows Lord, now lettest thou . . . ,three little reverences are made. After Our Father, thepriest says, For thine is the kingdom, andthe choir sings the troparia; O Theotokos Virgin, Hail ....O Baptizer of Christ . . . , and Prayfor us . . . and then Beneath thy tendernessof heart . . . and all the rest as indicated abovefor Tuesday and Thursday up to and including the three reverences at, theprayer of Ephraim.

    Then the dismissal fromGlory to thee, O Christ God, our Hope, glory to thee.

    On the other days of theGreat 40-day Fast, except when the Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated,everything is as above for Tuesday and Thursday, except that, in placeof the one daily prokeimenon, two prokeimena from the Triodion are used,with one reading after each of them. O Lord and Master . . ., and then the prayer, O all-holy Trinity. . . , and the rest as on Wednesday and Friday.


    If the Annunciation of theAll-holy Theotokos falls on one of the fast days of the 40-day Fast: onSunday evening at Great Vespers with All-night Vigil, everything will beaccording to the usual rule for Feasts of the Theotokos; on other days,there is no kathisma.

    After the entrance, theprokeimenon of the day from the Horologion, the readings of the day, andthree for the feast. Then Vouchsafe, O Lord . . . ,and after Lord, now lettest thou . . . , thetroparion of the feast, the litany, Havemercy on us, O God, according to thy great mercy, we pray thee, hearkenand have mercy, and the rest; then three reverences,and the great dismissal.

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