Order of Service for the Sacred Diaconate (Vespers, Part 1)

Introduction

St. Philotheos also composed the Diataxis tēs hierodiakonias, which gives the order for Vespers and Matins. Given that the introduction refers to the Liturgy, perhaps the Diataxis for the Liturgy was meant to be Part 3 of this work. The Latin translation of the title is Ordo Sacri Ministerii (Order of Sacred Ministry), but given the content of the text, I think that Order of Service for the Sacred Diaconate would be a better translation. This text is translated from Goar's Euchologion (1730).

[Title]

Order of Service for the Sacred Diaconate,

That is, how the deacon serves with the priest in the Great Vespers, Matins, and the Liturgy, compiled and arranged by the Most Holy and Ecumenical Patriarch, Lord Philotheos.

[General Instructions]

It should be known that the deacon never vests at any other time during Vespers and Matins, except for the Saturday Vespers and Sunday Matins of the entire year, and likewise, for the Vespers and Matins of Dominical feasts and feasts of the Mother of God. Likewise, he vests for the Vespers and in the Presanctified Liturgies of the Holy and Great Lent. And for the feast of the Annunciation and for the vigil of the Holy Passion, and in short, for all Vespers services that have an entrance. Similarly, for Matins services when the Great Doxology is chanted. And for all the Liturgies of the entire year if he wishes to serve.

[Order of Great Vespers at an All-Night Vigil]

When the time comes, namely for the Great Vespers, the priest goes with the deacon, and they make three obeisances before the icon of Christ the Master, while all the brothers are seated. Similarly, they make three obeisances before the icon of the Theotokos, one in the middle, and one towards each choir. Then they enter the sanctuary.

The deacon takes his sticharion and orarion, and after bowing to the east three times, approaches the priest and says, Bless, Master, the sticharion with the orarion. The priest blesses them, saying, Blessed is our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Then each puts on their own vestments.

This is not done this way now; instead, the priest alone bows and puts on only the epitrachelion and phelonion, and begins to cense, while a reader or an orderly holds the lamp and exclaims, Command. Preceding him with a lamp, the priest censes the entire church as usual, exiting through the doors. When the orderly exclaims Command in front of the holy doors, everyone stands up.

After censing the entire church, the priest goes out to the narthex, censes there as well, then enters through the beautiful gates and chants, O Lord, bless. After censing the holy icons again, he enters through the holy doors, and while censing the holy table, he exclaims, Glory to the holy, consubstantial, life-giving, and undivided Trinity, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

After the Amen, the superior or the appointed monk chants the Proemial Psalm. The priest, having closed the holy doors, stands inside the sanctuary. When they begin to chant When thou openest thy hand, he comes out with the Canonarch, and they make one obeisance in the middle. Then the priest goes to his own place, while the Canonarch recites the verses standing in the middle of the church.

When they chant In wisdom thou hast made them all, the priest goes and says the prayers of the Lamp-lighting, standing uncovered before the holy doors. After completing them, he says the Great Litany. The deacon vests at the third antiphon of the Psalter and says the Little Litany. If there is no reading from the Psalter, he vests while the Proemial Psalm is being said and says the Great Litany.

[Instructions for Great Vespers celebrated separately from the All-Night Vigil]

These things are done in this way when there is a Vigil. But if there is no Vigil, none of these things are done: they do not make obeisances, the priest does not cense first, and the holy doors are not opened. Instead, standing uncovered before the holy doors, wearing the epitrachelion, the priest exclaims: Blessed is our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. And the superior, or the appointed monk, says the Proemial Psalm straight through. And the priest says the prayers of the Lamp-lighting; after the completion, the priest or the deacon, standing in the usual place, says the great litany: In peace let us pray to the Lord, and the rest.

[Opening of the Holy Doors]

It should be known that the holy doors are never opened, except at the beginning of Great Vespers, when the priest alone censes, and at all the entrances that is, of Vespers and, in the Liturgy, of the Holy Gospel. Likewise, they are opened from Come near until the completion of the Divine Liturgy.

[Vesting of the Deacon]

It should be known that if the deacon does not vest at the beginning of Vespers, he vests while the third antiphon of the psalter is being chanted, if there is a reading, but if not, while the opening psalm is being chanted, as was said. He vests in this way: he makes an obeisance to the superior and enters the sanctuary through the side door, where he finds the priest standing, for the latter precedes him; and the deacon, taking his sticharion, approaches the priest and says: Master, bless the sticharion with the orarion. The priest blesses it, saying: Blessed is our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

And thus the deacon, putting it on, at the completion of the reading, goes out and stands in the usual place. And he says the Little Litany: Again and again, in peace let us pray to the Lord, and the rest. And the priest exclaims: For thine is the dominion, and thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

[Lord, I Have Cried]

And then Lord, I have cried is chanted; while it is being chanted, the deacon, taking the thurible and putting incense in it, approaches the priest, who is also inside the sanctuary, and says: Master, bless the incense. And the priest blesses it, saying: Blessed is our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.

And the deacon censes the sanctuary and the entire church, and returning to the sanctuary, puts away the thurible and waits there. When they chant Glory, both now, the priest enters and puts on the epitrachelion and phelonion, and the entrance takes place.

[Vespers Entrance]

The deacon, taking the thurible and putting incense in it and asking a blessing, as we said, goes out together with the priest through the north side, and when the holy doors are opened with two readers going before with lamps, and after them, the deacon with the censer, the priest also comes out behind, having loosened his phelonion, and they proceed to the usual place.

There, the readers place the candle stands in the middle of the church on either side. The priest stands opposite the holy doors. The deacon also stands to the right of the priest at a slight angle, and bowing slightly, holding his orarion with the three fingers of his right hand, he says quietly, only so that the priest can hear: Let us pray to the Lord.

The priest says this prayer quietly: Evening and morning and at noon. After the prayer, they stand up, and the deacon says to the priest, pointing at the same time to the east with his orarion, holding it with the three fingers of his right hand: Master, bless the holy entrance. And the priest blesses towards the east, saying: Blessed is the entrance of thy saints, O Lord.

Then the deacon goes and censes the holy icon, the one on the stall of the superior, and the superior himself, and again stands in the place where he stood before, waiting for the completion of the verse. When it is completed, the deacon enters the middle, and having made the sign of the cross with the censer, he exclaims: Wisdom! Be upright!

And immediately, the superior, or the appointed monk, chants O Gladsome Light. The readers, taking up the lamps again, proceed to the holy doors, and the deacon, having entered within the sanctuary, censes the holy table. The priest, having made an obeisance before the holy doors and having kissed them, enters, and the holy doors are closed.