The Royal Hours, Removal and Burial of the Shroud are Friday services that are important not to miss. Meaning and time

The Shroud is the most important part of the entire service performed on Great Friday Holy Week.

Great Vespers and the removal of the Shroud on Good Friday take place at 2-3 p.m. This action completes the cycle of services for this day. It is this time that is considered to be the time of the Savior’s death. By this hour the Shroud is taken to the temple. Removal is carried out through the Royal Doors. Before lifting the Shroud from the throne, the clergyman is obliged to bow to the ground three times. Then, in the presence of a deacon with a candle and censer, as well as priests, the Shroud is carried into the temple through the northern gate. A special place on a hill is prepared for her, which may be called a “coffin.” It is decorated different colors as a sign of sorrow for Jesus Christ, and also anoint the place with incense. The Gospel is placed in the center of the Shroud.

After Great Vespers, Little Compline is held. Songs of lament are sung Holy Mother of God, as well as the canon about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. After this, everyone can venerate the Shroud. The shroud lies in the center of the temple for three days (incomplete), thereby reminding believers of the presence of Jesus Christ in the tomb.

Matins begins as a funeral service. Funeral troparia are sung and incense is performed. After the singing of the 118th Psalm and the glorification of the Holy Trinity, the temple is illuminated, then the news of the myrrh-bearing women who came to the tomb is proclaimed. This is the first, still quiet, because the Savior is still in the tomb - the good news of the Resurrection of Christ.

During the service, believers make a procession of the cross - they carry the Shroud around the temple and sing “Holy God.” Procession necessarily accompanied by funeral bells.

At the end of the burial ceremony, the Shroud is brought to the royal doors, and then returned to its place in the middle of the temple so that all the clergy and parishioners can bow to it. There she remains until the late evening of Holy Saturday.

Only before Easter Matins, during the Midnight Office, is the Shroud taken to the altar and placed on the throne, where it remains until Easter is celebrated.

On Good Friday, people all over the world bow before the Shroud with special reverence. It is a living confirmation of what Jesus Christ did for humanity. His torment and death were able to open for us the entrance to paradise, which was closed after the sin of the first people, and also give us hope of meeting the Lord after death.

Sermons for Holy Week - Met. Anthony of Sourozh
Removal of the shroud. Good Friday. April 8, 1966

How difficult it is to connect what is happening now and what once was: this glory of the removal of the Shroud and that horror, human horror that gripped all creation: the burial of Christ on that one, great, unique Friday. Now the death of Christ tells us about the Resurrection, now we stand with lit Easter candles, now the Cross itself shines with victory and illuminates us with hope - but then it was not so. Then, on a hard, rough wooden cross, after many hours of suffering, the incarnate Son of God died in the flesh, the Son of the Virgin died in the flesh, Whom She loved like no one else in the world - the Son of the Annunciation, the Son who was the come Savior of the world.

Then, from that cross, the disciples, who had previously been secret, but now, in the face of what had happened, opened up without fear, Joseph and Nicodemus took down the body. It was too late for the funeral: the body was taken to a nearby cave in the Garden of Gethsemane, laid on a slab, as was customary then, wrapped in a shroud, covering the face with a scarf, and the entrance to the cave was blocked with a stone - and that was as if that was all.

But there was more darkness and horror around this death than we can imagine. The earth shook, the sun darkened, the whole creation was shaken by the death of the Creator. And for the disciples, for the women who were not afraid to stand at a distance during the crucifixion and dying of the Savior, for the Mother of God this day was darker and more terrible than death itself. When we now think about Good Friday, we know that the Saturday is coming, when God rested from His labors - the Saturday of victory! And we know that on the bright night from Saturday to Sunday we will sing the Resurrection of Christ and rejoice over His final victory.

But then Friday was the last day. Nothing is visible behind this day, the next day was supposed to be the same as the previous one, and therefore the darkness and gloom and horror of this Friday will never be experienced by anyone, will never be comprehended by anyone as they were for the Virgin Mary and for the disciples of Christ .

We will now prayerfully listen to the Lamentation of the Most Holy Theotokos, the lamentation of the Mother over the body of the cruel death of her lost Son. Let's listen to him. Thousands, thousands of mothers can recognize this cry - and, I think, Her cry is more terrible than any cry, because from the Resurrection of Christ we know that the victory of the general Resurrection is coming, that not a single one is dead in the tomb. And then She buried not only Her Son, but every hope for the victory of God, every hope for eternal life. The endless days began, which, as it seemed then, could never come to life again.

This is what we stand in front of in the image Mother of God, in the image of Christ's disciples. This is what the death of Christ means. In the remaining a short time let us delve into this death with our souls, because all this horror is based on one thing: SIN, and each of us who sin is responsible for this terrible Good Friday; everyone is responsible and will answer; it happened only because a person lost love and broke away from God. And each of us, who sins against the law of love, is responsible for this horror of the death of the God-Man, the orphanhood of the Mother of God, for the horror of the disciples.

Therefore, when we venerate the sacred Shroud, we will do it with trepidation. He died for you alone: let everyone understand this! - and let us listen to this Cry, the cry of the whole earth, the cry of hope that has been torn, and thank God for the salvation that is given to us so easily and which we pass by so indifferently, while it was given at such a terrible price to God, and the Mother of God, and the disciples . Amen.

On this day it is not customary to call people to services by ringing bells. The day is dedicated to remembering the condemnation to death, suffering on the cross and the death of the Savior.

Service of the Bogocorporeal Burial of the Savior

On Friday evening, Matins is served with the rite of burial of the Shroud.

With the beginning of the singing of troparions, the chandelier is lit and the Royal Doors are opened. The clergy goes to the middle of the temple. A full incense of the entire temple is performed, which begins with threefold incense around the Shroud, as a sign of the Holy Spirit, Who, as the Bible tells us, “move over the waters” at the creation of the world (Gen. 1:2).

Immediately after the troparions, the ancient rite is performed - the singing of the “immaculates”. This rite got its name from the first words of Psalm 118, which makes up the 17th kathisma: “Blessed are the blameless...”

In this rite, after each verse (individual sentence) of the funeral 17th kathisma, the clergy solemnly read praises - short but capacious verses in honor of the Savior who accepted His death on the Cross for us.

The parts of the “immaculates” corresponding to the “glories” of the kathismas (they are called “statias”) are divided into small litanies. There are 3 of them - in the image Holy Trinity- after each article. After the small litany, the priest pronounces a special exclamation: these exclamations are pronounced only 2 times a year - at the rite of burial of the Savior and at the rite of burial of the Mother of God.

The Shroud is carried around the temple in a procession of the cross. Upon returning to the temple, the reading of the prophets, the message of the apostle and the Gospel begins. It is about how the priests and Jewish Pharisees asked Pilate to seal the Savior’s tomb and stationed their guards there.

After the farewell chant: “Come, let us bless Joseph of blessed memory...” everyone comes up to venerate the Shroud.

Troparion (tone 1)

At Christmas you preserved your virginity, at the Dormition you did not abandon the world, O Mother of God, you reposed in the Life of the Mother of the Being of the Life, and through Your prayers you delivered our souls from death.

Kontakion (voice 2)

In prayers, the never-sleeping Mother of God and in intercessions, the immutable Hope of the grave and mortification cannot be restrained, as if the Mother’s Life was reposed to the Life in the womb of the ever-virgin One.

Greatness

We magnify You, Immaculate Mother of Christ our God and glorify Your Dormition all-gloriously.

ORIGIN OF THE HOLIDAY, ITS MEANING AND IMPORTANCE

The Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God has been established since ancient times. He is mentioned in the writings of Blessed Jerome, St. Augustine and Gregory, Bishop of Tours. In the 4th century, the Dormition was celebrated everywhere in Constantinople. At the request of the Byzantine Emperor Mauritius, who defeated the Persians on the 15th day of August, the day of the Assumption of the Mother of God became a church-wide holiday in 595.

Initially the holiday was celebrated in different time: in some places - in January, in others - in August. Thus, in the West, in the Roman Church (in the 7th century), on January 18, the “death (depositio) of the Virgin Mary” was celebrated, and on August 14, the “assumption (assumptio) into heaven.” This division is significant in that it shows how the ancient Western Roman Church, in agreement with the Eastern Church, looked at the death of the Mother of God: without denying the bodily death of the Mother of God, which the current Roman Catholic Church is inclined to do, the Ancient Roman Church believed that this death was followed by the resurrection of the Mother of God. The general celebration of the Dormition on August 15 in most Eastern and Western Churches was established in the 8th-19th centuries.

The main purpose of establishing the holiday was to glorify the Mother of God and Her Dormition. To this goal from the IV-V centuries. another is added: denunciation of the errors of the heretics who encroached on the dignity of the Mother of God, in particular, the errors of the Collyridians (heretics of the 4th century), who denied human nature Holy Virgin and, accordingly, those who denied Her bodily death.

In the 5th century, Patriarch Anatoly of Constantinople wrote stichera for the feast of the Assumption, and in the 8th century, two canons were written by Cosmas of Maium and John of Damascus.

According to the most ancient and generally accepted tradition of the Church, the celebrated event took place as follows. After the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ into Heaven, the Most Holy Virgin, remaining, according to the will of Her Son, in the care of the holy Apostle John the Theologian, constantly remained in the feat of fasting and prayer and in the liveliest desire to contemplate Her Son, seated at the right hand of God the Father. The high lot of the Most Blessed Virgin, Her involvement in the matter of God’s gracious vision for the salvation of the world, made Her whole life wondrous and instructive. "Wonderful Your birth, - exclaims, - a wonderful way of education, wonderful, wondrous and inexplicable for mortals is everything in You, Bride of God.” “Wonderful are Your mysteries, Mother of God! You, Lady, appeared as the Throne of the Most High and today you passed from earth to Heaven. Godlike is Your glory, shining with miracles befitting God.”

At the time of Her Dormition, the Most Holy Virgin Mary lived in Jerusalem. Here, three days before her death, the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Her, and, as it was foretold to Her about the incarnation of the Son of God from Her, when She approached Her departure from the earthly vale, the Lord revealed to Her the secret of Her blessed Assumption. “Again Gabriel was sent from God to preach the coming of the Pure Virgin.” Her repose was marked by miracles, which she sings in her songs. On the day of Her death, the apostles, at the command of God, were caught up into the clouds and from different countries lands were transferred and placed in Jerusalem. The apostles had to see that the Dormition of the Mother of God was not an ordinary, but a mysterious repose, just as Her birth and many circumstances of life were miraculous. “It was necessary for the eyewitnesses of the Word and the servants to see the Dormition according to the flesh of His Mother, since it was the final sacrament over Her, so that they would not only see the ascension of the Savior from the earth, but would also witness the repose of the One who gave birth to Him. Therefore, gathered from everywhere by Divine power, they arrived in Zion and accompanied the Supreme Cherub going to heaven.”

At the Dormition of the Mother of God, James, the brother of the Lord in the flesh, the Apostle John the Theologian, the Apostle Peter - “the honorary head, the chief of the Theologians” and other apostles, with the exception of the Apostle Thomas, were present.

The Lord Himself with the Angels and saints appeared in extraordinary light at the meeting of the soul of His Mother. The Most Holy Theotokos, seeing the Lord, glorified Him, for He fulfilled the promise to appear at Her Dormition, and with a smile of joy on her face she gave up Her blessed soul into the hands of the Lord.

“Departing as if with raised hands, with which She carried God in the flesh, the All-Immaculate One, with the boldness of the Mother, said this to the Born: “Keep in everything those whom You have given Me,” those “who will call on My name and You, who were born of Me, My Son and My God, and fulfill all their requests for good.”

Having accepted the holy soul of the Blessed Virgin, the Lord handed Her over to Archangel Michael and the Powers of the disembodied Angels, “clothed Her,” says the ancient synaxar, “as if in a shell, the glory of which cannot be expressed; and Her honest soul was seen as white as light.” “The heavenly Divine villages worthily received You (Mother of God), as an animated sky, and You, brightly adorned as the All-Immaculate Bride, appeared to the King and God.”

The transition to eternal and better life was the death of the Pure and Immaculate Virgin Mary: She reposed from a temporary life to a truly Divine and unceasing life to contemplate in joy Her Son and Lord, sitting with the flesh taken from Her and glorified at the right hand of God the Father. “Now Mariam rejoices, seeing the all-immaculate Body of the Lord, deified, on the Throne of God.”

According to the will of the Blessed Virgin, Her body was buried in Gethsemane between the tombs of Her righteous parents and Joseph the Betrothed. “The apostolic face buried the body of the Blessed Virgin who had received God.”

“Oh, a wondrous miracle,” he exclaims, “the source of life is placed in the tomb, and the ladder to heaven (the) tomb appears: rejoice, Gethsemane, holy house of the Mother of God.”

On the third day, when the Apostle Thomas, who was not at the death and burial of the Most Holy Theotokos, came to Gethsemane and the coffin was opened for him, the Most Pure Body of the Mother of God was no longer there.

“Why do you dissolve joy with tears, preachers of God? The twin (Apostle Thomas) came, admonished from above, inviting the Apostle: you see the belt (of the Mother of God) and understand, the Virgin is risen from the grave,” “as the Mother of God.”

The apostles were very surprised and saddened when they did not find the Holy Body of the Mother of God - only the Shroud lay in the tomb as false evidence of Her repose.

The Church has always believed that the Mother of God was resurrected by Her Son and God and taken to heaven with her body: “The honorable body of the Blessed Virgin did not see corruption in the tomb: but She and her body passed from earth to heaven.” “The God-receiving body, even if it dwells in the tomb, but does not habitually abide in the tomb, rises by the power of the Divine.” For it was not fitting for the village of life, says the synaxarion of the holiday, to hold on, and for the creature that gave birth to the Creator in an uncorrupted body to be left to decay in the earth with the creature. “The King God of all gives you supernatural things, for just as he was preserved as a virgin at birth, so in the tomb he preserved the body incorruptible and together (with Himself) glorified Divine glorification, giving You honor as the Son of the Mother."

After the Dormition of the Mother of God, the apostles, during a meal, talked about the miraculous disappearance of the body of the Mother of God from the tomb. Suddenly they saw the Most Holy Virgin in heaven “living, standing with many Angels and shone with ineffable glory,” Who said to them: “Rejoice.” And involuntarily, instead of: “Lord Jesus Christ, save us,” they exclaimed: “Most Holy Theotokos, help us” (hence the custom of offering prosphora at meals in honor of the Mother of God, called the “Rite of Panagia”).

At the tomb of the deceased, we tend to think about the life he lived, about what it was like, what the person managed to accomplish in the life given by the Lord as an individual, what special features distinguished his character. If, over the tomb of the Mother of God, someone asked what constituted the essence of the character and life of this highest Person, one could answer, following Saint Demetrius of Rostov: virginity, virgin purity of soul and body, deep humility, complete love for God - the highest, most perfect holiness , which is only achievable for a person in the flesh. The Blessed Virgin was, as St. Andrew of Crete says, “the Queen of nature,” “the Queen of the entire human race, who is above everything except the One God.” She was the Most Honest Cherub, the Most Glorious Seraphim without comparison.

“Even the highest being of heaven and the most glorious Cherub, and the most honorable of all creation, who, for the sake of purity, was a friend of the Everlasting Being, in the Son’s hand today betrays the all-holy soul.”

The Mother of God achieved this perfect holiness and purity with the help of God's grace personal feat improvement. The Most Blessed Virgin was prepared for such holiness before Her birth by the feat of the Old Testament Church in the person of previous generations of righteous people, forefathers and fathers commemorated before the Nativity of Christ (see about this below: Week of the Holy Forefather and Father before the Nativity of Christ).

"Being highest heaven and more glorious than the Cherubim, surpassing all creation in honor,” She appeared “for her excellent purity as a shelter for the eternal Being,” and served great secret The Incarnation of God became the Matter of Life, “the source of the beginning of the life-saving and saving incarnation for all.”

Just contact with the Blessed Virgin, spiritual communication with Her, even the simple sight of Her, delighted, took the breath away, and touched the contemporaries of Her earthly life. Righteous Elizabeth, according to the Gospel, is filled with spiritual delight. According to legend, the same feelings are experienced by Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer and Saint Dionysius the Areopagite. Ignatius the God-Bearer visited the Mother of God in the house of the Apostle John the Theologian. Saint Dionysius, a noble and educated man, in a letter to the Apostle Paul writes that when the Apostle John led him into the dwelling of the Most Holy Virgin, he was illuminated from without and from within by a wondrous Divine light of such power that his heart and spirit were exhausted, and he was ready to honor Her worship that is due to God Himself. In the person of the Holy Virgin, Christianity has the wondrous beauty of virginity, moral perfection and humble wisdom.

The thought of the Mother of God as the ideal of a deified person is too strong in the church consciousness. The name of the Blessed Virgin is chanted at all services. Mother of God holidays equalized with the Lord's holidays. In liturgical hymns and akathists, She is depicted with superhuman features: an ever-flowing Source, giving water to the thirsty; the fiery Pillar showing everyone the path of salvation; burning bush; Joy to all who mourn; Hodegetria - Guide to salvation, opening the doors of heaven to the Christian race.

Serving the mystery of the incarnation and salvation was the essence of the life of Our Lady. In Her person, humanity participates in salvation as a Divine-human cause. “The Mother of God, although not independently, femininely and, so to speak, painfully, walks together with her Son the path to Golgotha, beginning with the Bethlehem manger and flight into Egypt, and, standing at the cross, receives the torments of the cross into Her soul. In Her face the Mother of the human race suffers and is crucified. Therefore, She is called the Lamb in church hymns, along with the Lamb (Christ).” She is the Mother of the human race, by whom we are adopted by Her Divine Son Himself.

On the day of the holiday, “the sacred and glorious memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, adorned with Divine glory,” gathers all the faithful to the joy and glorification of Her “Divine Dormition,” for “the Mother of Life, the candle of unapproachable Light, the salvation of the faithful and the hope of our souls, is brought to life.” She through whom we are deified is presented gloriously into the hands of Her Son and Master. She gave an immaculate soul into the hands of the Son, therefore, with Her holy Dormition, the world was revived and brightly celebrates with the disembodied and the apostles. In view of organic connection the whole world, what happened to the Mother of God at the Assumption and after Her Assumption could not help but be reflected in all areas of the world - in Her the whole world overcomes death. The world, as it were, took another step in this regard after it was granted the Resurrection of Christ, as if it came even closer to the general resurrection. “Having once been cursed by God, the earth was sanctified by the burial of our God and now again by Your burial, Mother.” To reveal the essence of the event, songwriters in the troparion of the holiday and in stichera resort to comparisons of the celebrated event with greatest event in the life of the Mother of God - by Her birth of the Son of God. The correspondence, first of all, lies in the fact that both events are not explainable by the laws of nature, and the first of them determined the second: having become the Matter of Life, the Most Holy Theotokos could not die, in in its own sense this word, - She passed on to true life from this illusory and incomplete earthly life. “At Christmas you preserved your virginity, at the Dormition you did not forsake the world, the Mother of God, you reposed in the Life (life), the Mother of the Being of the Life (being the Mother of life).”

What was wonderful and unusual about the Nativity of the Mother of God was the seedless conception, and at Her Assumption - incorruption (“incorruptible death”): “ double miracle, miracle connected with miracle; for she who has not experienced marriage turns out to be the nurse of the Child, still remaining pure, and who finds herself under the yoke of death is fragrant with incorruption.”

The chants of the holiday, the composition of which dates back to the 6th-8th centuries, reflect the most ancient tradition of all Orthodox Church, affirm and express Orthodox view on the image of Her death and warn against all kinds of possible dogmatic errors. Modern Roman Catholic theologians are inclined to completely deny the corporeal Mother of God, believing that the Most Holy Theotokos was completely removed from ancestral sin (the doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary). After the proclamation of the dogma of the immaculate conception of the Blessed Virgin, Catholic theology went further along the path of proclaiming a new dogma and teaching about the bodily ascension of the Mother of God into heaven (without bodily death). Contrary to this opinion, Orthodox teaching speaks of the actual bodily death of the Mother of God. “Even though the incomprehensible fruit of Sowing (i.e., the incarnate Son of God), by Whom the heavens were, the burial was accepted by the will, as if the burial had been rejected (then as the inexperienced One who had given birth would have avoided burial."

And the apostles who were present at the Dormition of the Mother of God saw in Her “a mortal wife, but also supernaturally the Mother of God.” Having the highest holiness and personal sinlessness by grace (but not by nature), the Mother of God was not removed from the common destiny of all people - death as a consequence of original sin, present in the very nature of man, death, which became, as it were, the law of human nature. Only the God-man Christ, sinless by nature and not involved in original sin, was not involved in death in the body. And He accepted death voluntarily, for us, for our salvation. The Mother of God “submits to the laws of nature” and, “dying, rises to eternal life with son" . “Having emerged from deadened loins, O Pure One, You received an end in accordance with nature, but having given birth to real Life, You reposed to Divine and Hypostatic Life.”

According to the faith of the Church, the Mother of God, after Her Dormition and burial, was resurrected by Divine power and remains in heaven with Her glorified body. But the resurrection of the Mother of God is similar to other cases of the resurrection of the dead and differs from the only and saving for all Resurrection of the God-man Christ the Savior. This Orthodox teaching, contrary to the views of Catholics, does not diminish, but exalts, the dignity and glory of the Blessed Virgin, who through the feat of life achieved the greatest holiness and purity, which served the Incarnation and our salvation. In praise and admiration of the glory of the Mother of God, both heavenly and earthly are united.

“Blessed are You in heaven and glorified on earth. Every tongue glorifies You with thanksgiving, confessing You as the Matter of Life. The whole earth was filled with Your glory; everything was sanctified by the world of Your fragrance. Through You, the sorrows of the foremother were transformed into joy. Through You all the Angels sing with us: “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth.” The tomb cannot hold You: for that which perishes and is destroyed does not darken the Master’s body. Hell cannot possess You: since the royal soul is not touched by fellow servants” (St. Andrew of Crete).

Great is the glory of the Mother of God in heaven after her repose. “The sweetest Paradise of the Divine and the most beautiful of the whole world, visible and invisible. She rightfully became not only close, but also at the right hand of God, for where Christ sat in heaven, there is now this Most Pure Virgin, She is both the repository and the owner of the wealth of the Divine” (St. Gregory Palamas). “Wonderful are Your secrets, Mother of God: You, Lady, have appeared as the Throne of the Most High. Godlike is Your glory, shining with miracles befitting God.”

The Dormition of the Mother of God was Her transition to this glory and bliss in heaven. Therefore, this is not a day of sadness, but of joy of all earthly and heavenly. The Dormition of the Mother of God is glorified by all ranks of Angels, “the earthly ones rejoice, flaunting Her Divine glory.”

“The Sun of (Divine) glory not only sheds the light of bliss on Her, but even enters into Her, and thus this entire multi-flowing source of light is contained, that the blessed face of the Blessed Virgin casts rays from itself, like a second sun of glory, aggravating the light of a non-evening day.” . “Understand the difference,” says further the famous Greek poet and theologian Elijah Minyaty, Bishop of Cephalonite, “between the bliss that all the souls of other righteous people enjoy, and that which the Mother of God Mary rejoices in: they partly perceive the light of Divine glory, but this one perceives all sun of glory. Those who received grace here in part and, to the extent of grace, enjoy glory there. This there is the abode of all glory, just as here was the abode of all grace. She was here, as the Archangel called Her, grace-filled, that is, she had all the fullness of Divine grace. John the Theologian also says this: “To each of the elect, grace has been given in part. The Virgin is all the fullness of grace.”

The Lord, who gave so much to the Mother of God Herself, gave special grace to the whole world through Her repose into heaven. With the Dormition, the possibility of grace-filled intercession for the world opened up for Her. Just as, while in this world, the Most Pure Virgin Mary was not alien to the heavenly abodes and was constantly with God, so after her departure She did not withdraw from communication with people, did not leave those in the world. “You lived with people,” says Saint Andrew of Crete, turning to the Mother of God, “A small part of the earth had You, and since You were transformed, the whole world has You as propitiation.” “Even though you passed from earth to heaven, O Virgin, yet Your grace is poured out and fills the whole face of the earth.” Now the Virgin Mary has ascended to heaven “to joy and help us,” “to the nearest intercession for all of us, “now it is possible for heaven to be both a person (and for people).” “Rejoice, O Joyful One,” is sung in the Akathist, “who did not leave us in Your Assumption.”

The significance of the Mother of God for us earth-borns is especially marked prayer appeal to Her: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us.” The boldness of such treatment has the rich historical experience. All Christian history, starting with the marriage in Cana of Galilee, is imprinted by the manifestation of Her power, proof of Her power and mercy, as the Mother of our Lord and the Mother of the Christian race: “Rejoice,” she cries, “the Lord is with Thee and with Thee with us.” She is, according to the Lord of lords, our Master, Lady and Mistress, our hope and hope of eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Of course, what has been said does not end there deep meaning and the significance for us of the event of the Assumption. The ascent of the Mother of God is surrounded by clouds, “so as if some spiritual darkness covers the revelation of everything in words about Her, not allowing the hidden understanding of the sacrament to be clearly expressed” (St. Andrew of Crete).

“Wonderful are Your mysteries, O Mother of God. Every tongue is perplexed to praise according to property. Every mind is amazed (not able) to comprehend the great mysteries of the Mother of God and Her glory, and “no flexible, eloquent tongue can so floridly sing Her at her true worth.” “Besides (however) a good being, accept (our) faith, for we weigh (you know) our divine (fiery) love, for You are the Representative of Christians, We magnify You.”

FEATURES OF THE HOLIDAY SERVICE

For the worthy celebration of the Assumption, Christians prepare for a two-week fast, which is called the Assumption, or the Fast of the Most Holy Theotokos, and lasts from August 1/14 to August 14/27. This fast is the second strictest after Lent. During the Dormition Fast, it is prohibited to eat fish, boiled food with vegetable oil allowed only on Saturdays and Sundays, and without it - on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fasting was established in imitation of the Mother of God, who spent her entire life, and especially before Her Dormition, in fasting and prayer. Fasting before the Dormition in August has been known since the 5th century. In the 12th century, at the Council of Constantinople (1166), it was decided to fast for two weeks before the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (and only on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord was eating fish allowed).

If the Feast of the Assumption falls on Wednesday or Friday, fasting is permitted only for fish. If on Monday and other days, laymen are allowed meat, cheese and eggs, and monks are allowed fish.

During the Assumption Fast, as well as during the Petrov and Nativity fasts, on days not marked by any holidays (before the service “on 6” inclusive), according to the Rules (Typikon, Chapter 33 and Chapter 9) it is prescribed to sing “Alleluia” instead of “God” Lord,” read the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian with bows and hours instead of the Liturgy. “Alleluia” and great bows do not occur on the days of the forefeast, afterfeast, and on the very feast of the Transfiguration (from August 5/18 to August 13/26). Therefore, during the entire Lent, such Lenten worship is possible only twice: August 3/16 and August 4/17 (see Typikon, follow-up for August 1–14).

At the all-night vigil, the same three paremias are read as at the Nativity of the Virgin Mary: about the mysterious ladder seen by the patriarch Jacob, about the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the closed eastern door of the temple, and about the house and meal of Wisdom.

At the litia, at “God is the Lord” and at the end of Matins - the troparion of the holiday. Magnification is sung in polyeleos. There are two canons. Canon 1st tone: “Adorned with Divine glory” by Cosmas of Maium (VIII century), second canon 4th tone – “I will open my mouth” by John of Damascus (VIII century).

On song 9, instead of “The Most Honest Cherub,” the chorus and irmos of the first canon are sung.

Chorus: The angels saw the Most Pure Dormition and were amazed at how the Virgin ascended from earth to heaven.

Irmos: Nature's Rules are conquered in You, Pure Virgin: the Nativity remains virgin (birth remains virgin) and the belly pre-engages death (and life becomes engaged to); Virgin after birth, and alive after death, saving Thy inheritance to the Mother of God.

The same refrain to the troparions of the first canon. To the second canon there is another refrain.

At the Liturgy, the honorable man is sung: “The rules of nature are conquered” with a refrain.

The Feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary has one day of pre-celebration (August 14/27) and 8 days of post-feast. It is given away on August 23/September 5.

ORIGIN OF BURIAL OF THE MOTHER OF GOD

In some places, as a special celebration of the holiday, a separate burial service for the Mother of God is performed. It is celebrated especially solemnly in Jerusalem, in Gethsemane (at the site of the supposed burial of the Mother of God). This service for the burial of the Mother of God in one of the Greek publications (Jerusalem, 1885) is called “Sacred observance of the repose of our Most Holy Lady and Ever-Virgin Mary.” In manuscripts (Greek and Slavic) the service was opened no earlier than the 15th century. The service is performed in the likeness of the Matins of Great Saturday and the main part of it (“Praises” or “Immaculate”) is a skillful imitation of the Great Saturday “Praises”. In the 16th century it was widespread in Rus' (then this service was almost forgotten).

In the 19th century, the funeral rite for the Assumption was performed in a few places: in the Moscow Assumption Cathedral, in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, in the Kostroma Epiphany Monastery and in the Gethsemane monastery of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra it did not constitute a separate service, but was performed at the all-night vigil of the holiday before the polyeleos (Immaculate with choruses, divided into 3 sections).

Currently, in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the full rite of burial of the Mother of God is performed at Matins on August 17/30 according to the rite of Gethsemane with some changes. At the festive all-night vigil before the polyeleos, there is a special chant of the first stichera and verses of the three articles of the rite of the “Burial of the Mother of God” in front of the icon of the Dormition.

With the blessing of St. Philaret of Moscow, in the Gethsemane monastery of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in addition to the Assumption, the feast of the resurrection and ascension of the Mother of God into heaven was established (August 17/30). The day before, at the all-night vigil, the Jerusalem Follow-up took place. In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (according to the handwritten Charter of the Lavra of 1645), this rite was performed in ancient times at the vigil of the holiday after the 6th song. In Jerusalem, in Gethsemane, this burial service is performed by the patriarch on the eve of the holiday - on the morning of August 14/27.

“Praise, or sacred following at the holy repose of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary” - this is the title under which this rite was first published in Moscow in 1872, performed in Jerusalem, Gethsemane and Athos. It was transferred from Greek language Professor Kholmogorov in 1846; the necessary corrections were made by Saint Philaret of Moscow. The same “Following” took place in the Gethsemane monastery. Currently, the Jerusalem “Followment to the Repose of the Most Holy Theotokos,” or “Praise,” has again become widespread in many cathedrals and parish churches. This service is usually performed on the second or third day of the holiday.

The full rite of burial of the Mother of God according to the Jerusalem tradition is placed in the “Service for the Dormition” (published by the Moscow Patriarchate, 1950) in the form of an all-night vigil (Great Vespers and Matins), at which polyeleos and magnification are not sung. The “Liturgical Instructions for 1950” contains the “Rite of Burial,” but instead of Great Vespers before Matins, it indicates the succession of Lesser Compline (similar to the service on Great Friday). The sequence of Matins and “Praise” in the “Liturgical Instructions” are printed in full (according to the Jerusalem Study).

FEATURES OF THE BURIAL SERVICE

In the stichera on “Lord, I cried,” the last five stichera are taken from the Jerusalem sequence. The stichera for “Glory” “To you, clothed with light, like a robe” was composed in imitation of a similar stichera on Great Friday at Vespers. Entrance with censer. Proverbs of the holiday. Litiya (festival stichera).

“Glory”: “When you descended to death, Immortal Mother of the Belly.” “And now: “The sacred disciple carried the body of the Mother of God to Gethsemane.”

When singing troparions from the altar through the Royal Doors, the icon of the Assumption or the shroud is carried to the middle of the temple and placed on the lectern or on the tomb (if it is a shroud). Incense is performed on the shroud, the entire temple and the people.

After the troparions, “Immaculate” is sung with choruses, divided into three sections. Between the articles there is a litany and a small incense (of the shroud, iconostasis and people).

At the end of the third article, special troparia “for the Immaculate Ones” are sung: “The Council of Angels was surprised, in vain you were counted among the dead” with the refrain: “Blessed Lady, enlighten me with the light of Your Son.”

After the small litanies there are sedate ones, the first antiphon of the 4th voice “From my youth.” Polyeleos and magnification are not sung. Next is the Gospel and the usual sequence of the Matins of the holiday. After the Gospel, everyone venerates the icon or shroud, and the abbot anoints the believers with consecrated oil.

Before the great doxology on “Glory, even now,” the Royal Doors open and the clergy go out to the middle of the temple to the shroud.

After the great doxology, while singing the final “Holy God” (as when carrying out the Cross), the clergy raises the shroud, and a procession of the cross takes place around the temple, during which the troparion of the holiday is sung and the trezvon is performed. At the end of the religious procession, the shroud is placed in the middle of the temple. Next is the litany and other sequences of Matins.

Great Friday or Friday of Holy Week is the most mournful day of the church year, since on this day the remembrance is made death on the cross and burial of the Savior.

Royal watch
The peculiarity of the service of this day is that there is no liturgy in churches. This is connected with the memory of the Savior’s suffering on the cross. Instead of Divine Liturgy The prayer sequence of the Royal Hours is served. This name originated in the Russian Orthodox Church: this was due to the fact that Russian tsars were required to attend this service. During the Royal Hours, excerpts from Old Testament, in which the sufferings of Christ, which He endured for the entire human race, are prophetically predicted.
At Good Friday services, clergy wear black vestments.

Removal of the Shroud
Great Vespers begins on this day earlier than usual, at about fifteen o'clock, since this, according to the Gospel narratives, was the hour of the Savior's death. After this service, the rite of removing the shroud is performed.
A shroud is a plate with an icon depicting the Savior lying in the tomb. The shroud is made of expensive fabric, usually velvet, and the image is embroidered, and only the face and body of Christ are made picturesque. The text of the troparion of Great Saturday is also embroidered or written along the edges of the Shroud: “The noble Joseph took down Your most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in a clean shroud and covered it with fragrances in a new tomb, and laid it.”
This liturgical object was not used in ancient Church, and became widespread in more late time. The Shroud has the meaning of an icon of the day, therefore it has a certain iconography. Thus, in addition to the coffin with the body of Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted falling towards the coffin. Next to Her stand John the Theologian, the myrrh-bearing women, as well as the secret disciples of Christ - Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. This iconographic image reflects the Gospel story about the burial of the Savior. Evangelist Matthew tells the following about this event: “When evening came, a rich man came from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also studied with Jesus; He came to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered the body to be given up; and Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean shroud, and laid it in his new tomb, which he had carved out of the rock; and, having rolled a large stone to the door of the tomb, he left. And Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb” (Matthew 27:57-61).
The rite of removing the shroud is that the clergy lift the shroud from the throne and, accompanied by the laity, carry it to the middle of the church, where they place the sacred shroud on an elevated place decorated with flowers. The Gospel is placed in the middle of the shroud. After the removal of the shroud, a canon is sung, dedicated to the crucifixion and lamentation of the Virgin Mary over the tomb. After the service is over, believers approach the shroud to worship and kiss.

Burial of the Shroud
On Friday evening, Matins is celebrated, which already refers to the day of Holy Saturday. It begins as a funeral service, at which special funeral chants are sung and incense is performed. However, this service already tells about the coming of the myrrh-bearing women to the tomb of the Savior, and thus the first words about the good news of the Resurrection of Christ begin to sound. During Matins, there is also a procession of the cross with the shroud, which goes around the temple with the singing of “Holy God” while the funeral bells ring. After this, the shroud is brought to the royal doors, and then returns to the center of the temple, where it remains until the late evening of Holy Saturday. During this time, believers may also approach to venerate the shroud.

Fasting on Good Friday
Day good friday especially marked strict fasting. On this day, believers eat only bread, vegetables and other products. plant origin. In the past, some pious Christians did not eat anything on Friday, which, of course, is difficult to do in the conditions modern life. There was also a tradition of leaving all work in order to devote full attention to attending services and prayerfully focusing on the events of that day.

Troparion, tone 1:
I crucify myself to You, Christ, the torment perishes, / the power of the enemy is quickly trampled: / below is an Angel, below is a man, / but the Lord Himself saved us, glory to You.

Kontakion, tone 8:
For our sake, come, let us all sing to the Crucified One. / Mary saw him on the tree, and said: / Even if you endure the crucifixion, / You are My Son and My God.

Prayer (Troparion):
Like a sheep / you were led to the slaughter, O Christ the King, / and like a gentle lamb / you were nailed to the Cross, from lawless men, / sin for our sake, Lover of mankind.

Vespers with the removal of the Shroud takes place on the morning of Holy Saturday, that is, on the afternoon of Good Friday. At approximately two or three o'clock in the afternoon, the Shroud is taken out of the altar and placed in the center of the temple - in the "coffin" - on a platform decorated with flowers and anointed with incense as a sign of grief over the death of Christ. The Gospel is placed in the middle of the Shroud. During the day, at the ceremony of removing the Shroud, the canon “Lamentation of the Mother of God” is read. “Woe is me, my child, woe is me, my light,” the Church mournfully exclaims on behalf of the Most Holy Theotokos, contemplating the horror Holy days. “Eternal life, how do you die?” - the Ever-Virgin asks His Son and God in bewilderment.

Matins of Great Saturday with Burial of the Shroud usually served on Friday evening. The shroud in this service is given the role that in other cases the icon of the holiday has.

Matins begins as a funeral service. Funeral troparia are sung and incense is performed. After the singing of the 118th Psalm and the glorification of the Holy Trinity, the temple is illuminated, then the news of the myrrh-bearing women who came to the tomb is proclaimed. This is the first, quiet for now, because the Savior is still in the tomb - the good news of the Resurrection of Christ.

During the service, believers make a procession of the cross - they carry the Shroud around the temple and sing “Holy God.” The religious procession is accompanied by the ringing of funeral bells.

Only before Easter Matins, during the Midnight Office, is the Shroud taken to the altar and placed on the throne, where it remains until Easter is celebrated.

We remind you that in our church (in the St. Nicholas chapel) there is a Shrine - a copy of the original Shroud of Christ the Savior.

A copy of the Shroud of Turin in our temple.

REMOVING THE SHROUD