CONTINUED ………………………
THE TRANSPOSITION OF THE SERVICES
Throughout the centuries the faithful have observed Great Week and Pascha with fervor and great solemnity. Twice each day in the morning and in the evening, they would gather in the churches to celebrate the designated service at the appointed times.
However, at some point in history the appointed times of the services began to change. The morning services were moved to the preceding evening and the evening services to the morning. It is not clear when and why these changes began to occur. By the middle of the nineteenth century, if not much sooner, it had become a common practice throughout the Orthodox Church. P. Rombotes in his book Christianiki Ithiki met' Leitourgiki published in Athens in 1869 makes reference to the custom, as does the new Typikon of Constantinople. The reasons for the change appear to be ambiguous. Both Rombotes and the Typikon mention that it was done to accommodate the people. This may have meant any number of things. For example, the new Typikon hints at one such possibility. By mentioning the fact that the services were very lengthy, it implies that the transposition occured in order to address this problem. Another reason for the change may have come about as a result of some socio-political factors during the Ottoman rule. For example, a rule regulating the time for the public assembly of the Christian populace may have resulted in the shift of the services. Sometimes, an imposed practice in one generation or period has a way of becoming permanent.
Perhaps the most plausible reason for the rearrangement of the divine services is based on late medieval attitudes concerning the time of the celebration of the Divine Liturgy and the reception of Holy Communion. According to long held popular beliefs, it was thought that the morning hours of the day were the most suitable and acceptable for the reception of Holy Communion. This being the case, it follows that all celebrations of the Divine Liturgy should be placed in the morning hours, regardless of the fact that some such celebrations were in fact nocturnal in nature.
An additional factor of considerable importance, which may also help explain the transfer of the morning services to the previous evening is the vigil or extended nocturnal service. There were several different types of vigils in the early and medieval Church. Their structure, content and length varied according to purpose and local custom and usage. They were conducted as late night, all-night or pre-dawn observances. Vigils were held on the eve of great feasts as a sign of watchfulness and expectation. We know from several early and medieval documents that the Passion of our Lord was observed liturgically in both Jerusalem and Constantinople with some type of vigil service. There is sufficient evidence to connect the present Great Friday Orthros with these earlier vigil services. It is reasonable to assume from this that the present Orthros was originally observed as a nocturnal celebration. Thus, as the order and hours of the divine services of Great Week began to change and shift, this service - and by extension the other morning services of the Week - was advanced to earlier evening hours.
Whatever the reasons for the transposition of the services, we have in fact inherited a particularly peculiar tradition, which circumvents both the normal liturgical practice as well as the natural order of things. Beginning with Great Monday and lasting through Great Saturday, the divine services are in an inverted position. Morning services are conducted the evening before and evening services are celebrated in the morning of the same day. Thus, on Palm Sunday evening, we conduct the Orthros of Great Monday and on the morning of Great Monday we celebrate the Vespers with the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy. This pattern places us one half day ahead of the historical events and the natural order.
Of particular interest in this matter, is the order of the divine services for Great Thursday contained in the now defunct Typikon of the Great Church. The services of the Orthros and the Trithekte in this Typikon are assigned to the morning hours, while a series of long services are designated for the evening hours. They are: the Vespers, followed by the Nipter (Washing of the feet), to which the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil is added beginning with the entrance of the Gospel. Before Holy Communion was distributed, the Patriarch also consecrated the Holy Myron. After the Divine Liturgy came the service of the Pannychis. In the Cathedral Office the Pannychis was a type of vigil service. This particular Pannychis on Great Thursday commemorated the passion of the Lord ("Ti de auti espera eis tin ida ton pathon tou Kiriou imon Ihsou Christou...). The twelve Gospel pericopes narrating the events of the passion were read at this service. These pericopes are the same as those now read in the present service of the Orthros of Great Friday, which in current practice is conducted on the evening of Great Thursday by anticipation.
From this description we learn at least two things. First, that Great Thursday evening in the late medieval church was supplied heavily with a series of long services. Second, the commemoration of the passion was conducted in the context of a vigil service (the Pannychis) on the night of Great Thursday. Because of the length of these services, I think we can safely assume they lasted well into the night. Can we assume also that Great Thursday evening with its overburdened liturgy became the pivotal day in the process that saw the breakdown of liturgical units and their transposition to earlier hours? The Vesperal Divine Liturgy, for the reasons stated above, may well have been the first to be dislodged from its original moorings, moving steadily forward in the day until it came to be celebrated in the morning hour. Next, the Pannychis or Vigil lost its original meaning and began to gravitate to an earlier hour. As these arrangements gradually evolved, the transposition of the morning services to the preceeding evening became the established practice.
Difficult as it may be, however, I believe that the Church is obliged to press the issue through careful study and find a way to restore the proper liturgical order. She can do no less, if she is to be true to her quest for and commitment to liturgical renewal and reform. St. Symeon of Thessalonike (+ 1429), an inspired student and teacher of liturgy noted in one of his treatises that once the Church has clarified and determined correct liturgical usages, we are obliged to change even those things that have become a practice by default. While we must honor and reverence our liturgical inheritance, we are also obliged to look at it more carefully and to distinguish between Tradition and custom. Here let me stress the point that it is the Church in her collective wisdom that must authenticate the need and procede to the reform of liturgical practice and usage.
THE ETHOS OF GREAT WEEK
The salvific events, which the Church remembers and celebrates in Great Week, are rooted in the inexhaustible mystery of God's ineffable love for the world that culminated in the incarnation, the death and resurrection of His only-begotten Son and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The solemnities of Great Week help us to enter and penetrate the depths of this mystery. Each day has a particular theme, focus and story. Each story is linked to the other; and all together, they are bound up in the central event: the Pascha of the cross and the resurrection - the stavrosimon kai anastasimon Pasxa. Everything converges on the person of Jesus Christ, who was betrayed, crucified and buried; and who rose on the third day. These events are the keystones of the structure of Great Week. Through them we embrace the mystery of our salvation. Their radiance helps us to see again more clearly the depth of our sins, both personal and collective. Their power bursts upon us to remind us again of God's immeasurable love, mercy and power. Their truth confronts us again with the most crucial challenge:
"... to dare to be saints by the power of God...To dare to have holy respect and reverence for ourselves, as we are redeemed and sanctified by the blood of Christ ... To dare to have the courage to grasp the great power that has been given to us, at the same time realizig that this power is always made perfect in infirmity, and that it is not a possession."
Great Week brings us before two realities. On the one hand we are made aware of the dreadful blight of human sin, issuing from the rebellion against God that resides in us and around us; on the other hand, we experience anew the omnipotent, transforming power of God's love and holiness.
From the beginning, Jesus and His gospel were met by a twofold response: some believed and became His disciples; others rejected Him and came to hate him, and to despise and scorn His Gospel. These opposing attitudes towards the person and the message are especially evident in the events of Great Week. As the events unfold, false religiosity is unmasked (Matt. 23:2-38); and the hellish bowels of the power of darkness are laid bare (Lk. 22:53). Ensconced in the hearts of evil men - demonic, malignant and odious - the darkness seethes with deception, slander, deviousness, greed, cowardice, treachery, betrayal, perfidy, rejection, hatred and aggressive hostility. Evil, in all its absurdity and fury, explodes on the Cross. But it is rendered powerless by the love of God (Lk. 23:34). Christ is victor. Death is swallowed up. The tombs are emptied (Matt. 27:52-53). Life is liberated. God and not man controls the destiny of the world.
In the course of the events of Great Week we encounter many contrasting figures and faces that call to judgement our own dispositions towards Christ. Great Week is not simply a time to remember; it is a time for repentance, for a greater and deeper conversion of the heart. Two hymns from the Orthros of Great Tuesday say it best:
"O Bridegroom, surpassing all in beauty, Thou hast called us to the spiritual feast of Thy bridal chamber. Strip from me the disfigurement of sin, through participation in Thy sufferings; clothe me in the glorious robe of Thy beauty, and in Thy compassion make me feast with joy at Thy Kingdom.
"Come ye faithful, and let us serve the Master eagerly, for He gives riches to His servants. Each of us according to the measure that we have received, let us increase the talent of grace. Let one gain wisdom through good deeds; let another celebrate the Liturgy with beauty; let another share his faith by preaching to the uninstructed; let another give his wealth to the poor. So shall we increase what is entrusted to us, and as faithful stewards of His grace we shall be counted worthy of the Master's joy. Bestow this joy upon us, Christ our God, in Thy love for mankind."
In the solemnities of Great Week we experience afresh the embrace of God's love and forgiveness; the gift and promise of eternity and plenitude. Quickened and energized by the experience, we continue by faith to climb the ladder of divine ascent. Certain of His love, we live in the saving tension of joyous-sorrow (charmolipi) until He comes. With a repentant heart we live the joy of hope and the rapture of expectation for things to come (1 Cor. 2:9).
CONCLUDING REMARKS
As the order in the liturgical books clearly indicates, the full cycle of the daily services is observed on each day of Great Week at least in principle. In practice, however, parish communal worship is generally centered on the daily Orthros and Vespers and the Divine Liturgies assigned to particular days. In the chapters that follow, I shall endeavor to give a detailed explanation of these divine services as they are currently observed and practiced. Each chapter begins with a brief reflection to help introduce the reader to the inner meaning of the observance. This is followed by some general observations and comments on the liturgical celebration of the day. Then, the order of the divine services of the particular day is presented, together with a description of special rites and an analysis of the rubrics. Finally, the reader will find useful historical, liturgical and bibliographical information in the endnotes.
The descriptions and rubrics of the divine services as we have noted are based chiefly on the book H Agia kai Megali Ebdomas, authorized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. For the sake of brevity, further reference to this book will be noted simply as, The Patriarchal Text.
It is hoped that the present study will lead the reader to a deeper appreciation of the spiritual riches contained in the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church in general, and in the divine services of Great Week in particular.
