Order of Service for the Sacred Diaconate (Matins 1)

At Matins, if Vigil is after the end of the reading, the superior or the appointed monk recites the Six Psalms.

[Sunday Midnight Office]

But if there is no Vigil and it is Sunday, the Canon to the Trinity is chanted, and at the end, [the Hymns to the Trinity, which incipit is] It is truly meet. Note that in the Midnight Office, the great litany takes place outside the holy doors, and the priest standing before the holy doors performs the great litany for the protection of this city, and Lord, have mercy is chanted forty times; the dismissal takes place, and a reading is appointed.

[Matins]

[Royal Office]

And the priest, having entered the sanctuary and put on the epitrachelion, and opening only the sanctuary door, exclaims: Blessed is our God, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. And the Trisagion prayers are chanted, and the customary psalms [19 and 20], and again the Trisagion prayers. And the priest censes while we chant these, both the sanctuary and the whole temple, coming out from the northern side [of the iconostasis], the brethren, and the narthex, and after each of the two Trisagions he exclaims: For thine is the kingdom and the power. The ones chanting and the one censing ought to have precision, so that when he may say the exclamations, they are found before the icon of Christ.

And after the censing of the whole temple and completion of the customarily chanted troparia, within the sanctuary the priest exclaims: Glory to the holy, consubstantial, life-giving, and undivided Trinity.

[Six Psalms]

And at once the superior or the appointed monk says the Six Psalms. And when O Lord God of my salvation, is said, the priest comes and stands before the holy doors bare-headed, and says secretly the Matins prayers. And after the Six Psalms are read, then is chanted: The Lord is God and the rest of the customary order. At the completion of each kathisma, the priest does the Little Litany and exclaims for the first kathisma, For thine is the might, and thine is the kingdom and the power. And for the second: For a good God art thou, and the friend of mankind. And after that, for the Polyeleos, or the Blameless: For blessed and glorified is thine all-honorable and magnificent name.

[Gospel Sequence]

And while the Hymns of Ascent are being chanted, the priest together with the deacon enters within the sanctuary and, having blessed the sticharion, the deacon vests himself with it, as usual, and likewise the priest also vests himself with the epitrachelion and the phelonion. And after the completion of the antiphons, the Prokimenon of the feast or of Sunday is chanted. And after that, the deacon says, Let us pray to the Lord.

And the priest exclaims: For holy art thou, O our God, who restest upon the holy ones, and unto thee do we send up glory.

And Let every breath is chanted, and then the deacon: Wisdom! Be upright! Let us hear the Holy Gospel.

Priest: Peace be unto all, and immediately adds: The lesson from the Holy Gospel according to N.

People: Glory to thee, O Lord, glory to thee.

Deacon: Let us give heed.

And the priest reads the Gospel, which, after its completion, the brethren chant Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, if it is Sunday, as well as the Fiftieth Psalm with melody.