Order of Service

To the Uninitiated, it is often difficult to tell what is going on during the service. This page is intended as an Illustrated Guide to a Typical Service using  phrases from the Divine Liturgy as Sign Posts. An excellent guide as to what to expect from an Orthodox Service can be found in the pamphlet "12 Things I Wish I Had Known" by Frederica Mathewes-Green, summarized in the Web Page Link of the same name.

 

. . . enter with faith, reverence, and fear of God

 

  

Let us pray to the Lord.

 

Lord have Mercy. Lord have Mercy. Lord have Mercy.

Oh come let us worship and fall down before Christ.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal have mercy on us.

The Prokeimenon in the Fifth Tone.

Wisdom!

Let Us attend!

Wisdom! Arise!

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to . . .

Glory to Thee, O God!

  

Let us all say . . .

 

Pray ye unto the Lord, ye Cathecumens!

All Life's Cares now lay aside.

Grant this, O Lord!

 

Let us complete our prayer unto the Lord.

 

 I believe in one God the Father Almighty . . .

 

In the fear of God with faith and love . . . 

 

A new commandment I give to You.

 

The precious and holy Body and Blood . . .

Our Father, Who art in Heaven.

 

 

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers . . . 

 

Preserve Us in Thy Holiness.

 

 

 . . . let us worthily give thanks to the Lord.

 

 

Let us Depart in Peace.

 Special thanks to Fr. Aaron A. Archer, whose advise made this page possible.

 

 

Orthodox Church Liturgy has attracted the attention and talents  of  such great composers as Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov, Peter Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Rimsky-Korsakov, composer of the Flight of the Bumblebee and The Russian Easter Overture, composed some some musical settings for the Liturgy. Tchaikovsky frequently used liturgical music in the 1812 Overture and Marche Slave.

Rimsky-Korsakov

The Lord's Prayer

  

Tchaikovsky

The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

 

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