Sunday Service
THE FIRST HOUR..........................................
CLOCKS AND FINE ARTS
(OBEDNITSA)............................................
HOUR THREE ..........................................
THE SIXTH HOUR........................................
NINE HOUR.......................................
PICTORIAL ..............................
BLESSED...........................................
APOSTLE...............................................
GOSPEL...........................................
THE END OF THE PICTORIAL .. Necessary explanations.....................
Preface
Sunday is a special, festive day. This is not just a day of rest from earning "daily bread", from everyday, everyday work. This is a day dedicated to God. "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work therein, but the seventh day ... To the Lord thy God..." (Exodus 20:9-10). According to the Old Testament, such a day was the Sabbath day. We, Christians of the New Testament, celebrate and honor Sunday - the day of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.
How to spend a Sunday with dignity? First of all, of course, prayer in church, participation in church services. On
The Bloodless Sacrifice is offered to the Divine Liturgy for us, for our sins, so it is the duty of the faithful children of the Church to reverently be present at this Great Mystery and prayerfully participate in it, and in the course of spiritual growth, it becomes necessary for a believer to participate, if not all, then at least Sunday and feast church services.
It must also be remembered that according to Canon 80 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council, a Christian who misses three Sunday services in a church in a row is excommunicated from unity with the Church of Christ.
But what should an Orthodox person do if he lives far from the church? How can one honor Sunday when one is sick, infirm, when a person is physically unable to reach church? How to pray for a disabled person who has not left the house for years? How are those who are in bonds, those who are imprisoned and have come there to the saving faith? How to pray on a Sunday feast day for a community of believers in a church that is being restored, where there is no priest yet? What to do if you are on a long trip or a business trip abroad?
Our book, in no way replacing church services, will help an Orthodox person who finds himself in such
difficult circumstances, to honor Sunday with dignity. Unfortunately, many, not knowing how to pray at home, either read the entire sequence of the service, including priestly exclamations and litanies on what is not supposed to be done, or read something at their own discretion (for example, akathists), or are left without prayer at all. But a faithful child of the Church must be obedient in everything. Therefore, according to the words of the Holy Confessor Athanasius
(Sakharov), an Orthodox person both in church and at home should "pray not only as everyone wants, but for holy obedience, with love and humility fulfill the Ustav of the Church." Our book will help you with this.
Our pious ancestors, the Russian Orthodox people, knew well not only how to perform their cell rule at home, but also how a layman, if necessary, if there is no opportunity to be in church, can read church services at home. Until recently, many elderly parishioners knew what a liturgy was. Now this is less and less common. And "Obednitsa" is another name for a part of the liturgy of the catechumens - pictorial. "To rule the obednitsa" is a very ancient tradition of hermits, monastic sketes, where there was no priest.