The observance of Passion occurs 4 times a year - according to the number of evangelists: on the second, third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Great Lent, in the evenings. As the name implies, these services remember the saving suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. For each passion, the Gospel narratives are read. According to tradition, while reading the Gospel, worshipers stand with lit candles in their hands.
In addition, at Passion we hear some touching hymns from the service of Good Friday - the day of the Lord’s bodily death.
Hearing Your meek words, Pilate, like one worthy of death, delivered You up to be crucified, even though you yourself testified that you have not found a single guilt in You: defile your mind with your hands, but defile your heart; We, marveling at the mystery of Your free suffering, call with tenderness:
Jesus, Son of God and Son of the Virgin, martyred from the sons of iniquity;
Jesus, mocked and naked, give glory to the villages and clothe the sky with clouds.
Jesus, full of stripes, fed five thousand with five loaves;
Jesus, the King of all, received cruel torment instead of tribute to love and thanksgiving.
Jesus, for our sake you have been wounded all day, heal the wounds of our souls;
Jesus, Son of God, remember us when You come into Your Kingdom.
The most beautiful stichera “Come, let us bless Joseph of blessed memory” is also performed, which is sung while kissing the Shroud of Christ. Before reading the Gospel, the prokeimenon sounds: “I have divided My garments for myself, and cast lots for My clothing...” These and other prayers lift us to Calvary, again and again reminding us of the ultimate goal of Lent - co-crucifixion with Christ.
Russians especially love those services in which the people pray together with the priesthood nearby. The people of God are not divided by the barrier of the iconostasis, but are united. With one mouth and one heart we merge into the one body of the Church. These services are good not only because of the unanimity of the church people, but also because this single body rushes towards God with a powerful movement.
Passion is the words of passion. This is a service in remembrance of the Passion of Christ. It would seem - how can tenderness or enlightenment arise from contemplating pictures of the torment of Christ, His spiritual suffering, the betrayal of a friend, an unjust trial or the atrocities of the Roman fascists?
What happens to the heart of a Christian during Passion? It shrinks with pity for Jesus. The words thrown into the Savior’s face by the high priests hit the very heart. It trembles, as if from a blow, from the words of the crowd roaring: “Crucify!” It laments when it hears about the soldiers' mockery of an innocent person, from spitting, kneeling and blows to the head with a stick.
A tender heart trembles and is moved to tears.
To feel sorry means to be close. To regret means to share the pain. To regret, in this case, means to become closer to Christ.
Faith is seeing yourself next to God. Faith is a state when God is seen at arm's length. It is the heart that is touched by the suffering of Christ that becomes more tender and is able to hear the subtle voice of heaven.
As soon as a person sees himself next to God, the first thing that will happen to him is that he will enjoy closeness with God. Closeness to God is certainly felt as grace - that common thing that unites us with the Creator. Grace, according to the teachings of Gregory Palamas, is not energy or sensations - it is God Himself, in His special form of existence.
After the heart is slightly saturated with the sight of a close God, the soul turns to itself. At Passion this appeal occurs during the Akathist to the Divine Passion of Christ.
The Eternal King, Jesus, who suffers all for my intemperance, may you make me pure, give us an image in everything, so that we may follow your footsteps.
First, the Akathist is read, which sequentially sets out the stages of Christ’s walk through torment related to the past. In this case, the counterpoint is the present tense. Space and time are mixed, and we become characters in this universal incident. Recognizing this conjunction of times, we ask ourselves:
What is my role in the ever-unfolding events of the Gospel? We go through all the characters in our minds and think, where would I be? Or rather, where am I in the midst of these Passions?
Is it with Pilate, who put peace above God? After all, we often come to Church not with Christ and not with the Cross. And for peace. Sometimes we not only don’t need the cross, we are afraid of it. Often the Cross is perceived not as participation with Christ, but as an amulet for good luck, for health, for business, for marriage, or as a pill for a son’s drunkenness or a daughter’s bad luck.
We often want to see life itself as a sanatorium. We are unaware that our so-called “temptations” are not a challenge to death and suffering from the enemy of the human race, but simply our heavenly work. We must learn to love people and thus overcome troubles in the family, at work and wherever we set our feet. And instead of love, we fight with our loved ones and ask God to defeat them by force.
We must understand that our life should be dedicated to God, and when we are sick, we snatch or beg from God a miracle of health, which we again use to fight with our loved ones and God. At the same time, we boldly call our work “the enemy’s temptation.” By rejecting this type of Adam's work in Paradise, we thereby seek to leave the cross. There is a cross on the chest, and a ticket to a Turkish sanatorium on the heart.
Perhaps we stand with the soldiers who, for the sake of duty and work, mocked Christ? Is it not in our work that we have expelled truth and God from it?
Or maybe my place is with Judas? The theme of Judas runs like a red thread through all four Passions. There was a friend. Was loved by God. He ate bread with Him, shared shelter, bowed his head next to Him. I witnessed amazing miracles, saw the glory of God and betrayed. And not just betrayed, but with a kiss. What an abyss of abomination and hypocrisy.
And we? One can answer that we have not seen Christ with our eyes and have not heard with our ears. But we have more than that—communion by grace. With the Holy Gifts, God enters into us, to the best of our ability, with His Body and Blood, that is, with His nature.
And we give a kiss to the Cross:
“I will not kiss You like Judas, but like a thief I will confess You.”
But it happens that the betrayal of Christ also consists in the fact that we expel Him from ordinary life. We often don't want to see Him. We don’t want to see in our neighbor, we don’t want to see in ourselves, we don’t want to see in this beautiful world...
God doesn't have time. He is eternally born, He eternally offers Himself to the Father as a sacrifice of love. The projection of this beautiful victim into our world, disfigured by malice, manifests itself as an eternal (by earthly standards) lasting Crucifixion. Modern humanity continues to take part in this Crucifixion. Today the nails of murder, fornication, drunkenness, hard-heartedness and lies are driven into the most pure hands of Christ. We ourselves can be the cause of the drops of blood flowing from His hands.
We find ourselves in this world not as outside spectators at all, but as participants in this drama and this triumph of love.
The apotheosis of Passion is the reading of one of the four Gospels. And we, already prepared by the Akathist, find a place for ourselves among the characters and are surprised that we are powerless to be at that height that presupposes friendship with God.
But the Church wisely placed Passion on the day of remembrance of the Kiev-Pechersk saints. This is a huge host of people moving towards God in completely different ways. There are so many of these well-trodden roads that you can always find your own special one that is convenient for you. There were thin people who heard the conversations of angels. There were also completely simple ones who knew nothing good about themselves.
One of these inhabitants of the Lavra received a huge inheritance. As a young and “foolish” man, he unleashed it on artists and architects - he decorated and built a church in honor of the Mother of God. He spent everything and went to the monastery. But he could not stand the initial neophyte dispersal and began to drink wine and skip the service. The brethren mourned and considered him a victim of hell. And in fact, she came to him for intemperance early death. Rarely does a person die instantly. Death often comes in waves.
In his first death swoon he had an afterlife encounter. The monks hastened to ask about her. He said that he met the Mother of God, and She, for her generosity to her temple and simplicity of heart, promised her intercession before Christ. Again a wave of death rolled over the monk, and, emerging from it, he said that the Lord had mercy on him.
“How,” the brothers exclaimed, “you lived in the sin of drunkenness!”
“Accept my confession,” answered the dying man. “The Lord had mercy on me not because I was weak, but because, being bound by sin, I never condemned any of you.” And the Pechersk monks recognized this as a feat and were convinced that such virtue could have a high price in the eyes of a merciful and meek God.
It is also providential that the day of remembrance of the Kiev-Pechersk saints fell at a time of unrest in Ukraine. The Kyiv Lavra is the pillar and affirmation of thousand-year-old Rus'. She was, is and will be. The meaning of the Lavra is that it showed that Christian Europe was built not so much by human wisdom or the sword, but by the joint labors of Christ and people.
Everything that does not have Christ is evil.
Without Christ there is hell in the soul. Without Christ in the family there is a continuous battle and shedding of blood. Without Christ, countries totter and fall. There is nothing random in the world. Both Passion and the Kyiv saints say that only one thing is important in life - love. Passion says that we should love most of all. The Kyiv saints teach how we should do this.
If you don’t go to the Canon of St. Andrew of Crete and Passion, you’ll rob yourself or throw away the best rose from your Easter bouquet. Easter is red with the thoughts that visited us during our bows, with the tears that cleansed our hearts.
The Russian people love these services, just as the earth loves a spring thunderstorm. After a storm, the sun shines brighter, birds fly higher, flowers smell stronger and Fresh air brings joy. So the storm of the Akathist and the Four Gospels brings tenderness and subtle joy of grace into our hearts.
The heart knows this unimaginable feeling of the delight of life with God. At Passion, the Lord makes it clear what the joy of the Cross is. This joy is not earthly. She comes from heaven and she is a gift from God. This is the joy that we will live in Paradise, this is the joy that is already falling here sunlight on our hearts and brings the only possible happiness.
The word “passion” comes from the Latin “passio”, which means “suffering” (in Church Slavonic - “passion”). This is the name of the special services performed during Lent. The Passions are so named because their rite is composed of chants Holy Week, reading the gospel stories about the Passion of Christ, as well as an akathist to the Passion of the Lord and teachings about the saving significance of the redemptive suffering of the Savior. All hymns are taken from the Lenten Triodion, from the Good Friday service. The text of the Akathist to the Passion of the Lord was compiled in the mid-19th century. Archbishop Innocent of Kherson (Borisov).
The difference between the akathist to the Passion of Christ read after the Passion is that in it the ikos do not end with a series of twelve hayretisms, that is, exclamations beginning with the word “Rejoice” (Greek Χαῖρε) as a form of greeting.
As a rule, the Passion cycle begins with the second Week of Great Lent, dedicated to St. Gregory Palamas. In modern liturgical practice of Russian Orthodox Church It is a common custom to perform passions on the four Sundays of Lent. The rites of Passion are combined with Compline or Vespers.
The following of the passion occurs 4 times a year (according to the number of evangelists): on the second, third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Great Lent. For each passion, the Gospel narratives about the sufferings of Christ are read: on the first - chapters 26 and 27 from Matthew, on the second - 14 and 15 from Mark, on the third - 22 and 23 from Luke, on the fourth - 18 and 19 from John. According to tradition, while reading the Gospel, worshipers stand with lit candles in their hands.
Before Great Vespers, a large Crucifix is placed in the middle of the temple. During the singing of the stichera, the Royal Doors are opened and the Holy Gospel is brought out of the altar, which is placed on a lectern in front of the Cross. This is followed by the reading of the akathist and the Gospel narrative about the Passion of Christ. At the end, a prayer is read, and the clergy and the worshipers venerate the Cross.
Order of Passion
The beginning is normal: Blessed be God...
A priest in a phelonion reads the prayers of the lamp
Lord, generous and merciful, long-suffering and abundantly merciful! Hear our prayer and heed the voice of our prayer. Create a sign for good on us, guide us on Your path, so that we may walk in Your truth, make our hearts glad, so that we may fear Your holy name. For You are great and work wonders, You, the One God, and there is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, mighty in mercy and good in power, to help and comfort and save all who trust in Your holy name.
Prayer 2
Lord, do not convict us of Your wrath and do not punish us with Your anger, but work with us according to Your mercy, the Physician and Healer of our souls. Lead us to the haven You desire, enlighten the eyes of our hearts to know Your truth, and grant us the rest of this day, peaceful and sinless, like the entire time of our lives, through the intercessions of the Holy Mother of God and all the saints.
For Yours is the power, and Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
Prayer 3
Lord our God, remember us, sinners and obscene servants of Yours, when we call on Your name, and do not shame us in the hope of Your mercy, but grant us, Lord, everything we ask for salvation, and deign us to love and fear You from with all our hearts and to do Your will in everything.
Glorified by unceasing songs and unceasing praises of the holy Powers, fill our lips with Your praise, in order to magnify Your holy name. And give us a share and lot with all who truly fear You and keep Your commandments, through the intercessions of the Holy Mother of God and all Your saints.
For due to You is all glory, honor and worship, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Lord, Lord, who holds everything in Your most pure hand, who is long-suffering to us all and who regrets our misfortunes! Remember Your compassion and Your mercy, visit us with Your goodness and grant us (by Your mercy) the rest of this day to avoid the various tricks of the evil one, and keep our lives safe from his snares by the grace of Your all-holy Spirit.
By the mercy and love of Your only begotten Son, with whom You are blessed, with Your all-holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Prayer 6
Great and wondrous God, ruling over everything with inexplicable goodness and rich providence! And who has given us the blessings of this world, and who has betrothed us to the promised Kingdom with the blessings [already] given to us by grace! Thou hast given us in the past part of this day to avoid all evil, grant us also to spend the remaining part blamelessly before Thy holy Glory, praising Thee, our only good and man-loving God.
For You are our God, and to You we send glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Great and High God, the One who has immortality, who lives in the unapproachable light, who created all creation wisely, who separated light from darkness and set the sun to rule the day, and the moon and stars to rule the night, who has deigned us, sinners, to appear before us at this hour. Bring Your praise and evening praise to You! Yourself, O Lord who loves mankind, direct our prayer like incense before Your face and accept it as a pleasant aroma; Give us this evening and the coming night of peace, clothe us in the armor of light, deliver us from the fear of the night and from all danger wandering in the darkness, and make the sleep that You have granted for the repose of our weakness uninvolved with any obsession of the devil. Yes, Lord [of all things], good Giver, - so that even on our beds, lamenting, we remember Your name at night and, enlightened by meditation on Your commandments, we arise in the joy of our souls to glorify Your goodness, pray and pray to You, the merciful, offering our sins yours and all Your people, whom You, through the intercessions of the Holy Mother of God, graciously visit.
For You are a good and loving God, and we send up glory to You, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The term "passion" comes from the Latin word passio, which means "suffering." This is the name of a non-statutory service at which the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ is remembered. For the first time, the service of passion was introduced into Orthodox use by Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) of Kyiv in the 17th century, and the rite was placed in the appendix to the Colored Triodion, published by the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in 1702 [ Shimansky, 2002, P. 221].
Without going into detail into the discussion about the legality of serving a passion, we will only say that this service, although not statutory, can be perceived as a kind of Lenten prayer service, i.e. a minor worship approved by the church consciousness and (in our time) almost universal practice. Although the very idea of serving a passion goes back to the medieval Catholic tradition, the modern rite of the Orthodox passion does not contain any Catholic prayers or ritual elements, therefore it can be considered an Orthodox service.
IN modern practice exist different variants committing a passion, but they all have a common basis, i.e. all contain a common set of basic prayers; the differences relate only to the order in which they are followed and the addition of some details. Here are the prayers that are present in all options for committing passion:
Sequential reading of the narrative of the suffering of Christ as presented by each evangelist (reading the Gospel is the “heart” of passion);
Two stichera are sung: “For you who dress...” from Vespers on Good Friday and “Come, let us please...” from Matins. Holy Saturday;
The prokeimenon is proclaimed: “Divide My garments for yourself...”;
The Akathist is read by the Divine Passion of Christ.
So, the passion is celebrated in the evening on Sundays of Great Lent (on the eve of Monday), and there are 4 passions in total (according to the number of Gospels, for each passion involves reading the next Gospel). “Standard” days for committing passion are the 2nd to 5th weeks of Lent; On the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, passion, as a rule, is not celebrated. However, the following nuance must be taken into account. You should look in advance to see if it will happen in this year on some Monday a special celebration: the feast of polyeleos, the Annunciation Holy Mother of God, its pre-celebration or giving. If so, then on the eve of the said Monday the passion is not celebrated, but in order not to “lose” one passion in this case, the 1st passion is served on the week of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. For example, in 2014, the Annunciation took place on Monday of the 6th week of Lent. Consequently, this year the 1st Passion had to be served on the 1st Sunday of Great Lent, and the last one on the 4th Sunday of Great Lent.
The rite of passion is inserted into the sequence of Great Vespers, performed in the evening of the week. Before the stichera, vespers takes place according to the usual rite.
On "Glory, And Now" choir sings slowly “For you to get dressed...”. At this time, the deacon opens the royal doors, the priest brings the Gospel to the center of the temple and places it on the lectern, and the entire incense of the temple is performed.
Deacon: “Let's see. Wisdom. Let's remember. Prokeimenon, tone 4. I divided my garments for myself...”(the prokeimenon is sung according to custom).
Deacon: “And we pray that we may be worthy to hear the Holy Gospel of the Lord God.”
Choir: "Lord have mercy" (three times).
Deacon: “Wisdom, forgive me, let us hear the Holy Gospel.”
Priest: "Peace to all".
Choir: "And to your spirit."
Priest: "From… (names the evangelist) Reading of the Holy Gospel."
Choir: "Glory to Thy passion, Lord."
Deacon: “Let’s hear it.”
Priest reads the Gospel.
1st Passion – Matt. Chapters 26–27.
2nd passion – Mk. 14–15.
3rd Passion – Luke. 22–23.
4th Passion – John. 18–19.
Choir(after finishing reading): “Glory to your long-suffering, Lord.”
Abbot(or another clergyman) delivers a sermon.
Choir: "Come, let us please Joseph..."(the clergy go to the altar and take away the Gospel, closing the royal doors).
Reader: “Now you are letting go...” and further according to rank.
At the end of Vespers, the Akathist to the Passion of Christ is read separately (immediately after “The Great Master...” the Akathist begins with the singing of the 1st Kontakion, ends with the three-fold reading of the 13th Kontakion, then the 1st Ikos is read and the 1st Kontakion is sung). During the reading of the akathist, anointing with oil is performed. IN Week 5 in the evening instead of the akathist, 24 stichera of the Great Canon are read (from Wednesday of the 5th week) without verses, but with the singing of the refrain “Lord, first even to the end...”.
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The services of Holy Week are distinguished by their extraordinary beauty and a kind of sad, sad solemnity. It seems that many will agree with the statement that the services of these six days are the most
Features of Vespers on the Week of Vai in the evening
At Great Vespers, celebrated on Vai Week in the evening, the celebration of the Feast of the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem is celebrated. True, this giving appears to us in a very truncated form: with the theme of the holiday
Small Compline on Sunday evening
Small Compline is usually celebrated immediately after Great Vespers.
Compared to the usual rite of Small Compline, the service of this day has only 3 features.
Canon: tr
Great Compline on Monday and Tuesday evenings
Matins on these days, as always, is the central divine service of the daily cycle, most saturated with liturgical features. In general, Matins in Maundy Monday,
Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Lent
“Save, O God, Thy people...”, “Lord, have mercy” 12 times, “With mercy and bounty...”. Canon: on Holy Monday and Great Wednesday
Lenten hours
- three-song, in the Great Deuteronomy
Kathismas are read at the 3rd and 6th o'clock according to custom (there are no kathismas at the 1st and 9th).
Lenten troparia are sung according to custom with bows.
Fine
A) Maundy Monday and Maundy Tuesday: “Blessed” are sung with bows according to custom.
According to “Our Father...”: Kontakion of the Triodion.
Vacation
Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
During the first three days of Holy Week, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated. Her rite on all these days has the following features: Kathisma 18th On “Hosp.
The ideological meaning of worship
We will consider the ideological content of the last three days of Holy Week according to a single two-part plan. First, the main themes that are revealed in chants, readings and
Saturdays of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks of Lent
Features of Small Compline on Great Wednesday evening
Kathismas are read at the 3rd and 6th o'clock according to custom (there are no kathismas at the 1st and 9th).
This is the first service at which prostrations to the ground are completely abolished. Otherwise, Little Compline has almost the same features as on the eve of Holy Monday: Canon
Features of Matins
According to “Our Father...”: Kontakion of the Triodion.
Matins on Maundy Thursday is performed according to the rite of daily matins and we can say that this is the most standard matins of all the days of Holy Week. In principle, if we take the scheme of daily matins,
Canon: complete canon of the 6th tone “The cut is cut...”. Irmos are sung twice, troparia are read at 12, katavasia is sung for each song (the same irmos). Chorus to the troparions - “Glory
“Blessed” is read without singing, “Glory, even now”: “Remember us, Lord...” (read without bowing). The Creed cannot be read in practice, on “And now”: In general, the scheme of this service corresponds to a similar service performed on the eve of the Nativity of Christ or Epiphany in those cases when the holiday occurs from Tuesday to Saturday. Exactly t
The central theme of the Good Friday service is the remembrance of the redemptive suffering and death of the Savior. This idea permeates all the chants of the daily cycle and biblical readings. "To the divine service
Small Compline is celebrated in the same way as on the eve of Maundy Thursday. It is with regret that we have to state that in many parishes this Compline is not celebrated, since on Thursday evenings almost
Matins. Following the Holy Passion
Matins of Good Friday is one of the most complex divine services of the annual cycle in terms of regulations. Of course, the skeleton of daily matins is preserved, but so many inserted parts are added that there is everything
E Gospel
Immediately after the 8th Gospel, the Irmos of the canon is sung and the continuation of Matins takes on a more familiar form.
Canon - three songs: irmos are sung twice, troparia are read
E Gospel (last)
Immediately after reading the Gospel, the clergy go to the altar (the priest, having risen to the pulpit, overshadows the worshipers with the Gospel) and closes the royal doors.
Reader: “There is goodness.
Great watch and fine
In parish practice, Great Hours and Fine Hours are usually celebrated on Friday morning (most often at 8:00 local time). There is no liturgy on this day; the service of the hours itself will depict
Kathismas are read at the 3rd and 6th o'clock according to custom (there are no kathismas at the 1st and 9th).
Great watch
The Great Hours are performed generally according to the same rite as on the eve of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany. We set out the complete order of the great hours in the first part of the book (see §5 of chapter 5 of part
The pictures, as always during Lent, begin with “Blessed”; this is why the following of the figurative Good Friday differs from the similar services of the eve of the Nativity of Christ and Epiphany
Great Vespers and Little Compline
According to generally accepted practice, this Vespers is performed at approximately 14.00 (local time) and separately from Matins (about another option, when Matins is added to this Great Vespers, say at the beginning of
According to “Our Father...”: Kontakion of the Triodion.
Holy Saturday
In practice, the service of Holy Saturday has one notable feature: all the main liturgical actions take place in the center of the temple in front of the Shroud. In particular, all readings starting from CT
In the synaxarion of this day there is a very interesting and even paradoxical in its conclusion reasoning about the status of Holy Saturday, its place in the annual circle of worship: “All four days of the Holy
Matins of Holy Saturday
While singing the doxology, the rector censes the Shroud three times around, and while singing the final Trisagion, a procession of the cross is made around the temple with the Shroud. During the cathedral service
Kathismas are read at the 3rd and 6th o'clock according to custom (there are no kathismas at the 1st and 9th).
“Blessed” is read without singing, “Glory, even now”: “Remember us, Lord...” (read without bowing).
The Creed cannot be read in practice, on “And now”: immediately “Loosen, leave...”, since
Liturgy of St. Basil the Great in conjunction with Vespers
In general, the scheme of this service is similar to the liturgy of Maundy Thursday: Great Vespers is celebrated in the same way, passing after the paremias and small litany into the liturgy of St. Basil the Great.
N
Proverbs from Triodion
After the 6th and after the 15th paremia, verses with choruses are read (the order of singing is the same as on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, therefore we will not describe it in detail). According to the 6th proverb it is sung “Glorious Preparation for the Easter holiday. Reading the book of Acts Soon after the end of the Holy Saturday liturgy, clergy, clergy and church workers begin preparations for Easter service. It is clear that
general cleaning
xp himself
Easter Midnight Office Although the Easter Midnight Office is in fact the initial part of the service of Holy Pascha, in an ideological sense it is the last service of Holy Saturday and the last service of the Lenten Triod Nowadays, Orthodox Christians are undergoing Great Lent. The main goal of such a feat, of course, is repentance. For only in this way can we draw closer to the Lord and become ready to worthily meet His Glorious Resurrection and Easter. But without the crucifixion, without the Savior’s death on the Cross, there is no Resurrection of Christ. Throughout the seven weeks of Lent, Orthodox Christians undertake this spiritual journey. Invaluable helpers in it are special services that are performed only on this day.
Lenten time
. One of these special liturgical observances is the Passion. The observance of Passion occurs 4 times a year (according to the number of evangelists): on the second, third, fourth and fifth Sundays (or Fridays) of Great Lent, in the evenings. The name of this special service comes from the Latin word for “suffering,” and the purpose is spiritual empathy with the passion of Christ.
Sometimes you can hear the prevailing misconceptions that the Passion is an imitation of the Lutheran “Passion according to Matthew, John, Mark, Luke.” But "Passion" has a theatrical character. Vocalists and readers, often in costumes, play out their roles, one might say, playing out the story. last days earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ, using musical accompaniment - the masses of Johann Sebastian Bach from the cycle Holy Week, known as the St. Matthew Passion and the St. John Passion. This is exactly how the Gospel text is conveyed to the listeners at these services, evoking empathy for the Passion of Christ among the flock. Thus, “Passion” is a unique way of retelling and experiencing the gospel narrative through musical means.
Passion is an Orthodox liturgical form into which some Orthodox chants are inserted. In it, all elements are Orthodox in themselves or borrowed from Orthodox worship: Akathist to the Passion of Christ, Gospels, taken from the Passion Services, prokeimenon and stichera.
From the history of this, the latest in time, divine service, it is known that in the Colored Triodion, printed in 1702 under the Archimandrite of Kiev-Pechersk Joasaph Krokovsky, at the end of the book there was precisely an addition to the ordinary church charter, where the rite of Passion was described. Established, as already mentioned above, by the Kyiv Metropolitan Peter Mogila, this rite was initially performed in some monasteries and cathedral churches of southwestern Rus'. Subsequently, Saint Innocent (Borisov), Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride, compiled a service with an akathist to the Passion of Christ.
Saint Innocent (Borisov)
For a long time, Passions were performed only in Ukraine. But at the end of the 19th century, this special service began to be served in Russian dioceses, and already in the 20th century, it became almost universal. With their inner content, the Passion delivers to parishioners Orthodox churches high spiritual consolation and edification.
How does this worship take place?
A crucifix is installed in the center of the temple, to which all those present reverently apply before and at the end of the service. Also in the center of the temple, in front of the crucifix, the Gospel is placed on a lectern. Passion is celebrated four times during the entire period of Lent - according to the number of Gospels. Each time the priests read chapters dedicated to the saving Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first Passion they read the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 26 and 27, for the second - the Gospel of Mark chapters 14 and 15, for the third - the Gospel of Luke chapters 22 and 23, for the fourth - the Gospel of John chapters 18 and 19. As a rule, the rector of the church begins the reading - he serves the first Passion, and then the services are continued by the rest of the priests according to rank. While reading the Gospel, parishioners hold lighted candles in their hands and kneel. In conditions of special, grace-filled silence, a special empathy for the Passion of Christ occurs, a person becomes involved in this Great Sacrifice.
On Passion
Also during Passion, touching chants from Good Friday services are heard. Before reading the Gospel, they sing the prokeimenon: “Having divided My garments for yourselves, and casting lots for My clothing...” - these are the words from the 21st psalm of the holy King and Prophet David, in which he spiritually foresaw the Savior’s Passion on the Cross. They also sing the stichera: “Come, let us bless Joseph of ever-memorable...”, which is usually performed while applying to the Shroud. It contains the following words: “I adore Christ with Thy Passion, show us Thy glorious Resurrection” - while especially pious parishioners bow to the ground.
Also, during the Passion, the priest must preach a sermon. It is especially heartfelt, as it tells about the Saving Sacrifice of Christ. The parishioners listen to her with bated breath and often with tears in their eyes. And the point here is not in the expressiveness of the voice or any other external effects, but in the deep content. Deeply spiritually shocked by the reading of the Gospel about the Passion of Christ, pilgrims continue to empathize with the Lord Crucified for us, listening to the words of the priest.
Archimandrite John (Krestyanskin)
As an example of such a pastoral word, we give an excerpt from a sermon on the fourth Passion of the famous Russian elder, Archimandrite John (Krestyankin):
“...Almost two thousand years ago, human malice nailed Divine Love to the Cross. She was crucified because the new sublime teaching about love and peace brought to earth by the Lord was not compatible with the habitual life of people, based on selfishness and selfishness.
People were afraid of this teaching, rejected it and crucified Christ as a troublemaker of the people. Human passions and vices do not tolerate reproof. The bishops and scribes rebelled against the Preacher of truth. And He, accused by them as a flatterer and an opponent of Moses and the prophets, was mocked, tortured and ascended to the Cross. The apostles were confused by everything that happened and fled in fear and confusion. Peter denied, who had just assured the Lord at the supper that even if all the disciples were offended because of Him, then he, Peter, even if he was threatened with death, would not deny his Lord.
In His farewell conversation, the Lord tried to prepare His disciples for the upcoming terrible event. This whole conversation also testified to the deep sorrow of Christ the Savior Himself. But it also contains bright thoughts that the Cross is glory, that suffering leads to eternal joy, to peace in Christ and firm hope for the final victory of good over evil.
“You will be in a world of sorrow,” the Lord said to his friends, “but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Spiritually strengthened by His Heavenly Father after the solitary prayer of Gethsemane, Christ reveals Himself completely ready to endure everything for the sake of saving the world and to call everyone into His Heavenly Kingdom
. And all the words and actions spoken and performed by Him after Gethsemane tended to call everyone into the Kingdom opened by His suffering. At that terrible moment, the disciples and apostles forgot the words of their Divine Teacher: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32). And with these words, the Lord predicted what the end of His earthly life would be and what opportunities would open up to people as a result of His redemptive suffering.
But already on Calvary a spark of firm faith was born. The Savior of the world, dying on the Cross, even then attracted people to Him who did not know Him before. This, as we know, is a prudent thief, who felt in his heart that God was next to him, and asked Him only to remember him, a sinner, in the Kingdom of God. And the second, as we also know from the Gospel, the centurion is one of the military guards who performed his service during the execution. Observing everything that was happening and seeing the death of the Innocent Sufferer, he said: “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39).”
“Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39)
It should be noted that Passion is celebrated in Ukraine in parish churches on Friday evenings, and on Sunday this service continues with the singing of the Akathist to the Passion of Christ, which is also performed in the evening, as part of Small Compline. In monasteries and Russian parishes, Passion, as a rule, is served on Sundays.
Such a liturgical rhythm creates a special mood for a person, which is so necessary during Lent in order to truly cleanse the soul with repentance, and not just the body by abstaining from food and carnal pleasures. And also gradually prepare for the goal of Lent - Easter.
During Passion, a special prayer atmosphere reigns in churches; many parishioners, together with the choir, sing hymns and an akathist to the Passion of Christ. The Holy Apostle Paul writes about the need to crucify one’s flesh with its “passions and lusts” (Gal. 5-24), and so Orthodox Christian during the Passion he feels the need for purification, and this is where Orthodox participation in the Passion of Christ lies. The meaning and words of prayers and gospel words are the main ones in this service, and the parishioners present at the Passion again and again think about their lives and repent of their sins.
During this Lent, there is still time to visit the temple during Passion for those who have not yet prayed at this service. While there is still time, “Let each of us in our souls and hearts, with all honesty and sincerity, compare what our Savior did for us and what I do for Him. Is my personal life evidence of the truth I believe?” - Archimandrite John (Krestyankin) admonished the Orthodox. Let us also listen to his words.
The most recent Orthodox service in terms of its origin - passia (Greek "suffering") - was compiled in mid-XVII century by Metropolitan Peter (Mogila) of Kyiv, the creator of many liturgical forms. Initially, passions were common in the southern regions of Russia, but by the 20th century they began to be performed everywhere.
The following of the passion occurs 4 times a year (according to the number of evangelists): on the second, third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Great Lent, in the evenings. As the name implies, these services commemorate the saving suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. For each passion, the Gospel narratives about this are read: on the first - 26 and 27 chapters from Matthew, on the second - 14 and 15 from Mark, on the third - 22 and 23 from Luke, on the fourth - 18 and 19 from John. According to tradition, while reading the Gospel, worshipers stand with lit candles in their hands.
In addition, during the Passion we hear some touching hymns from the service of Good Friday - the day of the Lord’s bodily death. Thus, the stichera “Come, let us bless Joseph of ever-memorable” is performed, which is sung while kissing the Shroud of Christ; before the reading of the Gospel, the prokeimenon sounds: “I have divided My garments for myself, and cast lots for My clothing...” These and other prayers lift us to Calvary, again and again reminding us of the ultimate goal of Lent - co-crucifixion with Christ.
At the Passion, a sermon with a teaching about the Redemption is certainly preached. The early rite of this service did not include any parts, but popular piety added an akathist to the Gospel and sermon - to the Cross of Christ or the Passion of the Lord, which are usually sung not only by the singers, but by all pilgrims. It is not surprising that Russian Orthodox Christians love passion so much. True, in some circles there is an opinion that passion is a product of Catholicism. They see in it a similarity to Bach’s Catholic masses for Holy Week (the famous “Matthew Passion”, “John Passion”). This opinion is unfounded. On the contrary, Metropolitan Peter formed a following in contrast to the magnificent Catholic services, because of which many adherents of external splendor accepted the union. The spirit of passion is completely Orthodox: the casual similarity with Catholic services in form is dissolved by the deepest spiritual and moral content.
Do not give me the spirit of idleness, despondency, covetousness and idle talk!
Grant me the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love, Thy servant!
To her, Lord the King, grant me to see my sins and not condemn my brother, for blessed are you forever and ever! Amen.
During Great Lent, believers constantly read this prayer. From Monday to Friday it is recited at every temple service.
Prayer to St. Ephraim the Syrian is pronounced twice. During the first reading, after the words “do not give it to me,” “Thy servant” and “Amen” should be considered one at a time bow to the ground. Then bow twelve times at the waist, saying the prayer “God, cleanse me, a sinner!” Then repeat the prayer in full again, and at the end make one bow to the ground.
This prayer is for us a kind of “remembrance notebook”, an aid to our personal Lenten effort, which aims to free us from certain spiritual illnesses that prevent us from turning to God, destroy our inner essence and separate us from our neighbors.
Why bow? The Church has never separated the soul from the body. In his fall, man turned away from God, and now must be reborn again. The body is holy, so holy that God “became flesh.” Salvation and repentance are not contempt of the body, not neglect of the body, as some claim, but, on the contrary, restoration of the body to its true function - as a temple of the Spirit. Christian asceticism is a struggle not against the body, but for it. Therefore, the whole person repents – soul and body. Bows are signs of repentance and humility, obedience and worship of God.