The custom of making the sign of the cross during prayer dates back to the times of the Apostles. In order to depict the cross on themselves, Orthodox Christians put together the first three fingers of their right hand in honor of the Holy, One-in-Essence and Indivisible Trinity, and bend the other two to the palm as a sign of the union in Jesus Christ of the two natures, Divine and human. Fingers folded in this way are placed on the forehead as a sign of the sanctification of our mind, then on the chest, as a sign of the sanctification of the heart, then on the right shoulder, and then on the left, as a sign of the sanctification of all our forces and activities. By combining the sign of the cross with prayer, we thereby beseech God to accept our prayers for the sake of the merits of His Divine Son on the Cross. The sign of the cross must be made correctly, unhurriedly, earnestly.

Small and great prostrations. The worship we perform at the entrance to the temple of God and during prayer in it serves as an expression of our reverent feelings for God, our love, humility before Him and repentance. The Ustav strictly distinguishes between small and great prostrations.

Small prostrations are otherwise called light, or throwing. They are accompanied by the prayer: "O God, cleanse me, a sinner, and have mercy on me." Small prostrations are made in those cases where it is written in the Ustav simply: "bowing." They are performed three times at the entrance to the church, during the reading and singing of the Trisagion, "Come, let us worship" and "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God", in other cases according to the instructions of the Ustav, and also, instead of great prostrations, when great prostrations are canceled. The Typikon characterizes the small bow in the following way: "A bow is called as long as a person can bow while standing without falling on his knees, and bow his head to the ground, and this is an image of a slight bow until he reaches the ground with his hand." The great, or prostration, is called falling to the ground with kneeling, and the one who makes such a prostration touches the ground with his forehead. According to church rules (1 Ecumenical Sob. 20 Pr.; 6 Ecumenical Sob. Pr. 90 and St. Peter's Alex. pr. 15), prostrations to the ground on Sundays and during the period of Pentecost, are completely abolished and replaced by small, or, as they are also called, "waist-length". Kneeling is not an Orthodox custom, which has spread among us only recently and was borrowed from the West. Prostration is an expression of our reverent feelings for God, our love and humility before Him. Prostration to the ground is an expression of a deep feeling of repentance, which is why prostrations are so frequent during Great Lent, when they are combined with the pronunciation of the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, which also happens on some days of other fasts.

The blessing of the clergy is a sign of the bestowal of God's blessing on people. It is God's blessing, because: 1) the priest represents the image of the Savior Himself during the service, 2) he blesses the worshippers with the sign of the Cross, which is the instrument of our salvation, 3) in the very finger of the blessing hand are depicted the initial letters of the Savior's name: IS. CHOLESTEROL. The blessing of the people by the clergy has a basis, firstly, in the right that the elders have always had to bless the younger. Thus, the Old Testament patriarchs bless their children. Melchizedek, a priest of the Most High God, blessed Abraham; and, secondly, in the commandment of God given to Moses about the Old Testament priests it is indicated: "Let them put my name on the children of Israel, and the Lord will bless me" (Num. 6:27).

Lighting candles. The use of candles and lamps during divine services took place in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament it appeared from the very beginning of the Church of Christ. Necessity, which forced the first Christians to gather for divine services in the evening or at night, was the first reason for the use of lamps. But there is no doubt that very early lamps began to be used not only out of necessity, but also for greater solemnity of divine services and because of their symbolic signification. The canons of the Church prescribe the use of lamps during the celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist, at baptism and burial, even if they are performed in sunlight. Lamps are used: 1) to signify that the Lord, Who dwells in the unapproachable light (Acts 20:7-8), enlightens us with the knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). And the holy saints of God are lamps, burning and shining, as the Lord said about John the Baptist (John 5:35). Lamps during divine services also serve: 2) to signify that the hearts of believers are warmed by the flame of love for God and His saints (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and, finally, 3) to depict the spiritual joy and triumph of the Church (Isaiah 60:1).

For lamps, it is customary to use oil and wax, brought as a sacrifice to the temple by believers. Oil and wax, as the purest of the substances used for burning, signify the purity and sincerity of the offering made for the glorification of the name of God (Apostolic Prov. 3). Oil signifies the zeal of people, similar to the zeal of the wise virgins, who took oil with their lamps to meet the bridegroom (Matt. 25:3-4), that is, it means the desire of Christians to please God with their good works. Tree spruce is used. Wax, as gathered from fragrant flowers, signifies the spiritual fragrance of the offering, the faith and love of those who bring it. Electricity, as a dead fire, can in no way replace the living fire of the lamps received by the New Testament Church from the Old Testament Church. In the Old Testament, the Lord Himself commanded Moses that pure oil should burn in a golden lamp in the tabernacle (Exodus 27:20), for which the children of Israel had to bring oil, beaten from olives, pure without sediment. The substance for combustion, like any gift to God, must be the best.

Some of the lamps in the church are stationary, others are moved from place to place during the rite. Candles are always lit on the altar and altar, which are placed in candlesticks. Oil and candles are lit before the icons. Vessels for this purpose are called candils and lampadas. Candilas that have from seven to twelve candles are called polycandils. The seven candles signify the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Spirit; the twelve faces of the Apostles. Candilas that have more than 12 candles are called chandeliers.

The lighting of lamps in the church is consistent with the hymns and rites of the services. The more solemn the service, the more lamps are lit. The Ustav specifies when and how many lamps should be lit at which services. Thus, for example, during the Six Psalms, almost all the lamps are extinguished, and during the singing of the polyeleos, all the candles in the church are lit. At the Liturgy, as the most solemn service, it is customary to light the most candles. Candles in the church and altar, except for the altar and the altar, are lit by the candilov-burner, or sexton. Candles on the altar and altar are prescribed to be lit and extinguished only by a priest or deacon. For the first time in the altar, during the consecration of the church, the bishop himself lights a candle. Believers who come to church themselves light candles in front of the icons as they wish. This is an expression of love and fervent faith for the saint, in front of whose image we place a candle.

Censing before holy icons expresses our reverence for the saints depicted on icons, and censing addressed to the faithful expresses the desire that they be filled with the Holy Spirit and fragrant before the Lord with their good deeds, like incense. The smoke of incense, embracing the worshippers, symbolizes the grace of God that surrounds us. Censing in general expresses the desire of the worshippers that their prayers be lifted up to the throne of God, just as incense is lifted up to heaven, and would be as pleasing to God as the fragrance of incense is pleasant. Censing is always combined with a prayer pronounced by the bishop or priest, blessing the censer before censing. In this prayer there is a petition to God that He accept this censer into the stench of spiritual fragrance, that is, that the people who stand before and pray may be a spiritually pleasant fragrance to Christ (2 Corinthians 2:15), that the Lord, receiving the censer into His most heavenly altar, send down the grace of His Most Holy Spirit. For incense there is a censer on chains, a hand censer called a censer, a vessel for incense, called a palm, and other special vessels that are placed in certain places of the church to fill the church with incense, as the Ustav indicates to be done at Paschal Matins. Incense, or frankincense, is the fragrant tree resin of certain trees; it is sometimes prepared artificially from various fragrant substances. Censing is performed at different moments of the service, sometimes by one priest, sometimes by a priest with a deacon, and sometimes by one deacon. During the episcopal service, the censing is sometimes performed by the bishop himself. According to the rules, the censer must, with each stroke of the censer, make a cross with it, and bow to the person or icon with which he is censing. The deacon, when censing with a priest or bishop, precedes him with candles in his hands. In addition to the deacon with candles, the censing bishop is preceded by subdeacons with the dikirion and trikirion. Censing can be of different types: sometimes only a certain part of the church or a certain object is censed, as, for example, a lectern with an icon, or a cross, or the Gospel. The rite of incense is described in detail in Chapter 22 of the Typicon. The full censing of the entire church from the altar begins as follows: first, the altar is censed on all four sides, then the high place and the altar, (if the Holy Gifts are prepared on the altar, then the altar first) and the entire altar. Then the censer goes through the north doors to the ambo, censes the Holy Doors, then the icons of the south side of the iconostasis, beginning with the icon of the Savior, then the icons of the north side of the iconostasis, beginning with the icon of the Mother of God, then the right and left faces, or kliros, and all those present in the church. Then, going around the church from the south side, he censes the icons of the entire church, then enters the narthex, censes the "red gates", leaving the narthex, goes to the altar with the north side, censing all the icons of the church on this side, and returns again to the Holy Doors, censes the Holy Doors, the icon of the Savior, the icon of the Mother of God, and enters the altar through the south door, after which, standing before the altar, censes it from the front. If the Royal Doors are open, he goes out onto the ambo and returns to the altar through the Royal Doors. In case of incomplete censing, the censer, having censed the iconostasis, the icons and the people from the ambo, turns, censes again the Holy Doors, the icon of the Savior and the Mother of God, and enters the altar. Sometimes the censing begins in the middle of the church from the analogion, on which the icon of the feast lies. Then first they cense this icon, lying on the analogion, on all four sides, then they enter the altar through the royal doors, cense the altar, leave it through the royal doors, and then the entire church is censed in the usual order, after which they return from the royal doors not to the altar, but again to the analogion with the icon in the middle of the church. Sometimes the censing is performed by two deacons at once: in this case, they disperse in opposite directions: one censes the southern part of the church, the other the northern part, and then they come together again and cense together at the same time.

The censing of the entire church, which begins from the altar, takes place at Vespers at the beginning of the All-Night Vigil and during the singing of "Lord, I have cried", at Matins at the beginning of it, during the singing of the "Immaculate", during the singing of the polyeleos, as well as at the 8th and 9th cantos of the canon, at the Liturgy at the end of the proskomedia and the reading of the Hours. The censing of the entire church, which begins in the middle of the church, takes place at the festal Matins after the singing of the magnification, at Matins of Great Friday, when the 12 Gospels are read in the middle of the church, at the Royal Hours, on Great Friday, and on Christmas and Epiphany Eves, at which the reading of the Gospel takes place, and at Matins of Holy Saturday during the singing of funeral praises. The censing of one altar and iconostasis takes place at the Liturgy during the reading of the Epistle (and according to the Ustav during the singing of the Alleluia after the Epistles), during the singing of the Cherubic Hymn, and during the Hierarchal Liturgy, the bishop himself censes immediately after the Little Entrance. It should be known that at the Liturgy, after the censing of the entire altar, the clergy and clergy in it are not immediately censed, but first they leave through the Royal Doors, then the iconostasis is censed, after which they return to the altar, cense those who are in it, and again go out through the Holy Doors to the ambo, and then the people standing in the church, beginning with the faces, censes. Upon returning to the altar and censing the altar, the bishop or primate is always censed for the last time. For the first time, the bishop is censed three times, that is, not one, as usual, but three crosses with censers. The censing of one altar table or altar takes place at the Liturgy at the end of the proskomedia, before the Great Entrance, after the Great Entrance, at the words: "O Most Holy One...", and after the exclamation: "Save, O God, Thy people..."

7. Liturgical books

The books according to which divine services are performed in the church are called liturgical books. They are divided into simple and musical (singing).

About Simple Books

There are four types of simple liturgical books: 1) for public worship, 2) for private worship at the need of one or more persons, 3) used for both services, and 4) for home worship without the participation of clergy.