Vespers

On Saturday our church will be doing Vespers for the first time in quite a while. Vespers is usually not as well attended as Divine Liturgy even in larger churches. Partly that may be because of the schedules people have. Some people may have work schedules that make it difficult to attend any services outside of Divine Liturgy on Sundays. But it may also be because Vespers does not include the Eucharist, nor does it usually include a Gospel reading or a Sermon. When there are readings for Vespers, they are usually from the old testament. So, in this post I would like to take a look at Vespers is, and why it is important to try to attend Vespers.

First, what is Vespers? Vespers is a daily service, the first service of the liturgical day, and is supposed to occur at sunset. It may seem strange to us westerners that the evening is the beginning of the day, but it is biblical. In Genesis it says “And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day,” (Gen 1:5). So the tradition that the evening is the beginning of the day actually has Jewish roots, and this tradition continued in the early church, and is maintained to this day by the Orthodox Church. So, for example Vespers on Saturday is called “Great Vespers,” and during that evening service we sing the hymns for Divine Liturgy on Sunday because it is the same liturgical day. That is why if you go onto the OCA website to look for the liturgical texts for Great Vespers on March 27th (Saturday), you actually need to look at texts for March 28th (Sunday).

We now have the proper context to talk about the second question “Why is it important to attend Vespers?” There is more than one reason. I will talk about two different aspects. First, the music and readings for Vespers during the year collectively reveal a lot about Orthodox Christian theology. Sure we sing the Troparion and Kontakion for the day during Divine Liturgy, but most of what we sing in Vespers is not in the Liturgy. For example, this Sunday is the 2nd Sunday of Lent on which we commemorate St. Gregory Palamas. During Vespers on Saturday we sing:

How shall we who dwell on earth praise the holy bishop? He is the Church’s teacher, the herald of the Uncreated Light, the initiate of the Trinity’s heavenly mysteries, the adornment of the monastic life, renowned alike in action and contemplation, the pride of Thessalonica; And now he dwells in heaven with the great and glorious martyr Demetrius, whose relics flow with holy oil.

We see a fair amount of detail about who St. Gregory Palamas was and what he taught. We hear that he was a Bishop from Thessalonica who taught about the Uncreated Light, and we are also introduced to the fact that the relics of the martyr Demetrius flow with holy oil. The Troparion and Kontakion for St. Gregory Palamas sung on Sunday reveal much less detail: not a word of the Uncreated Light, and no mention of St. Demetrius and his myrrh streaming relics. Of course, a person hearing about the Uncreated Light might want to know more about what that is, and about the teaching of St. Gregory Palamas. There is a link on our resources page to a YouTube video by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware about St. Gregory Palamas. The resources page also has links to the podcasts by Fr. Thomas Hopko, and one of the episodes of “Speaking the Truth in Love” is on St. Gregoray Palamas. Both are highly recommended. So, of course, if one wants to know more about the things that show up in the hymns sung at Vespers there are often many resources available for learning more.

When Vespers has readings from the old testament, there is always a very particular purpose behind them. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus explains to His disciples the Old Testament references to Him (Lk 24:13-35). Even hints about the Resurrection or about the Theotokos, the Virgin Mary, can be found in the Old Testament, and often these exact passages from the Old Testament are read during Vespers on relevant days. Over the course of a whole year the scripture readings and the hymns collectively build a detailed picture of Orthodox Christian Theology. A person attending vespers, and paying attention to the hymns and the readings will come away with a much deeper understanding of what Orthodox Christians believe.

The second aspect I would like to address as a reason for attending Vespers — and as many of the services in the daily cycle as possible — is that it helps maintain a rhythm of Christian life. When you are just starting to do something regularly, sometimes it can take an extra initial effort. If you allow long periods of time to go in between, then that extra effort must be exerted over and over again, and it is very hard to get anywhere. But if we can build some inertia, then we do not need to keep exerting the extra effort, and everything becomes much easier. If we are only in church on Sunday, then there are six days in between. But it we are in church on both Saturday and Sunday, there are only five days in between, and the extra time in church is helpful for developing more momentum.

Most people these days are not able to attend daily services. I was lucky though. When I was in Jerusalem for my postdoctoral studies I lived at the Monastery of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives. Every day I would wake up and go to the morning service. I would then go down to the refectory for breakfast. Then I would change out of my church clothes and walk to Dasmascus Gate where I would take a tram and bus to the Givat Ram campus. This trip took about an hour, so I would plan ahead and leave campus at such time that I could expect to get back for Vigil (a combination of Vespers and Matins). That was my life for basically a whole year, and I miss it. But unless you live in or very near to a monastery, it is usually not possible to participate in services on a daily basis. No matter what, Christians are expected to pray daily. Saying the Trisagion prayers in the morning and the Lord’s Prayer is a good start, as is saying a prayer before each meal.

It is a mistake to think that we can just go to the services but not pray outside the services, and likewise it is a mistake to think that we can just pray at home and not go to the services: the two go hand in hand. Christians must do both. The services are like a metronome setting the rhythm, but prayer outside of services is needed to maintain the rhythm. When we develop the rhythm of Christian life, our life is transformed. Thus the more services we can attend and the more we pray outside of the services the more we are benefited. Great Lent has many extra services to offer including the Canon of St. Andrew and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. So at the present time, regardless of our current level of engagement, we have the opportunity to increase our efforts and strengthen our spiritual rhythm. If you are not currently attending Vespers regularly, it is worth it to try to fit Vespers into your schedule, and if you are in the Oneonta area we would be glad to see you this Saturday.