For both monuments, the lamp was brought into the prayer meeting by the deacon. This, obviously, was a general church custom. According to the Egyptian Church Decrees, when the deacon brought in the lamp, the bishop greeted those present — "The Lord is with you all." According to the Testament, such a greeting was pronounced by the deacon carrying the lamp himself, who said: "The grace of our Lord is with you all." In both cases, Christ the Saviour appeared to the spiritual gaze of those present, repeatedly appearing to the apostles after His resurrection, when the doors of their upper room were closed, and greeting them with the words: "Peace be unto you" (Luke 24:36; John 20:19 and 26). The people responded to the greeting of the bishop or deacon with the then generally accepted in the church: "And with thy spirit." According to the Egyptian ecclesiastical decrees, the bishop called the people to glorify Him Who invisibly entered the assembly together with the lamp brought in; "Let us give thanks to the Lord," in response to which the people sang: "Worthy and righteous — greatness and glory to Him." Then the bishop read a prayer. The testament does not cite any specific doxology, but notes that the psalms and songs sung referred to the lampstand. It is possible that among them was the modern evening hymn "O Gentle Light...", which St. Basil the Great already spoke of as ancient. "Our fathers," he wrote, "were pleased not to receive the grace of the evening light in silence, but to give thanks immediately when it appeared. And although we cannot say which father was the creator of these sayings of the lamp of thanksgiving, the people in any case proclaim the ancient song...  "We praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" [9].

In scholarship, the identity of the thought and similarity of the expressions of this hymn with the above-mentioned prayer from the Egyptian ecclesiastical decrees has already been noted [10]. Both this prayer and the hymn praise God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ, Whom the prayer calls "the Immaterial Light" and the hymn "the Quiet Light of the holy glory of the immortal Heavenly Father." The words of the prayer "Having ended the length of the day and reached the beginning of the night, having been satiated with the daylight created by Thee for our contentment, we now have no lack of evening light by Thy mercy — holy and glorifying Thee through Thy one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ" — received a laconic and poetic expression, as the hymn requires: "Having come to the setting of the sun, having seen the evening light, we sing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God."

Итак III век был временем, когда возникшая в христианском быту на основе ветхозаветных богослужебных установлений традиция вечернего светильничного благодарения получила значение церковного обряда, литургическое оформление которого было идейно связано с прославлением невидимо сопребывающего на христианских молитвенных собраниях Сына Божия — Иисуса Христа.

Вечернее богослужение в IV в.

От конца IV века сохранилось два описания вечернего богослужения. Первое из них, сделанное в плане литургической записи, находится в VIII книге Постановлений Апостольских и относится к 380-м годам [11]. Она не содержит полного чинопоследования. Автор этой записи не имел в виду излагать порядок всего чинопоследования от начала до его конца. На основании его слов; „Когда настанет вечер, ты, епископ, собери церковь, и после того, как скажут светильный псалом, диакон пусть возгласит об оглашенных и обуреваемых и просвещаемых и кающихся, как прежде сказали мы. А по отпусте их диакон пусть скажет: „Елицы вернии, Господу помолимся...“ [12]