While the situation surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic continues to make normal attendance at Divine Services within the temples difficult or impossible for many of the faithful, the Diocese continues to provide resources to aid in praying at home, in the sacredness of the ‘domestic Church’, during this period. Below, you will find ‘Readers versions’ (i.e. arrangements of the Divine Offices for situations in which no priest is present, to be prayed by laypeople) of the holy services of the principal Divine Services of Holy and Great Friday, on which we keep the Royal Hours, the Vespers Service of the Burial of the Lord, and the Lamentations at the tomb of Christ. His Grace Bishop Irenei has blessed all the pious faithful of the Diocese to pray these services at home, either alone or amongst household family members, standing before your sacred icons, confident in the knowledge that God hears the prayers of those who love Him, from wherever they are offered.
The Royal Hours of Holy Friday (served on Friday Morning):
royalhours_pascha_rsVespers of the Burial of Christ (served Friday afternoon around 1.00 p.m.):
holyfriday_vespers_rsMatins of Holy Saturday, with the Lamentations at the Tomb of Christ (served Friday evening):
holysaturday_matins_rsFull text of the Lamentations themselves, set into sheet music for singing (as part of the above service):
lamentations-holy_friday_bookThe texts above are gratefully taken from the website of Archpriest John Whiteford, of the Mid-American Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, via his page here. The texts have been formatted to European / British page sizes and converted to an embedded format for display here. The sheet music of the Lamentations is provided via the Antiochian Archdiocese of America.
You must be logged in to post a comment.