Week 1 Discussion Topic: Do You Chant Daily Services?

[Peter George]

After viewing this week’s lesson, I would you like to explain the difference the between Daily Services and Festal Services. After doing so, let us know if you have experience doing Daily Services and, if so, how do you prepare for them? Also, what sort of Lenten services do you do in a typical week?

• This topic was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by Peter George.

[Kathryn Baker]

It seems like the biggest difference between Daily and Festal services is the use or absence of the Octoechos. Daily matins has no anavathmoi, Gospel, seasonal katavasias, praises, or Great Doxology; vespers has no entrance and uses shorter versions of the hymns at LIHC.

I don’t have any experience chanting daily vespers or matins; our parish has done the Forty Liturgies for the most recent Advent cycle, which are different from a regular DL but I don’t know if that counts as a “daily” service as described in the video.

After the first week of Lent, we have Compunctionate Vespers on Sunday n ights, Great Compline on Mondays, Sixth Hour and Presanctified Liturgy on Wednesday evenings, Presanctified Liturgy on Friday at noon (I don’t remember if we started with Third Hour or not), and Salutations on Friday evenings.

[Ναταλία]

The Service follows festal rubrics if it is the feast of the Master, a feast of the Theotokos, or a Saint is celebrated to the 8th

The Service follows the Daily rubrics if the Saint is Semi-celebrated (to the 6th) or if the Saint is uncelebrated. Another indicator of a daily service is if the Octoechos is needed to complete the service.

I will begin the answer to the second question by saying that I wish our church did more daily services and I pray that we will soon, by the grace of God, have the ability to do so. We have been in tricky renting situation since covid and so somethings like our Wednesday vespers and bible study had to be temporarily stopped. By the intercession of St. Elias, our patronal Saint, and the mercy of God we have finally, a few weeks ago, purchased a building. I am hoping that since we now have an adequate facility to use we will be able to hold more services in addition to our current celebration of Sundays and Feast days.

[Ephraim Burshek]

The order of a daily service is a simplified, and shorter service due to some hymns such as the Great Doxology being omitted and some hymns chanted in a shortened or brief setting such as “Lord, I have cried.” Festal services are more particularized and the order is found using the Menaion for the special hymns, and not the Octoechos.\

We do have services on the weekday (which I noted is not the criteria for a daily service), but these will be festal services.

[Michael Dixon]

Hi – I also attend the same parish as Kathryn, and I don’t believe we chant Daily Services. As she noted, we did however do the 40 Liturgies during Nativity.

[yaulanda]

The daily Vespers use the Octoechos taking into account the mode of the week. The shorter version of LIHC is chanted in general and might not be an idiomelon doxastikon at LIHC. There is no entrance at “O Gladsome Light” at Vespers. And the weekday dismissal hymns can be chanted.

The daily Matins do not have Gospel reading, the Octoechos is used for poetic kathismata and the canons. We do not chant the seasonal katavasias and the Praises. And we do not chant the Great Doxology.

I do not have experience doing daily services.

We do Compline, Presanctified Liturgy and Akathist during Great Lent.

[Philip Sells]

I have no experience with daily services chanting myself that I can recall.

It seems to me that the main division is between feasts of the Master and the Theotokos plus the celebrated saints on the one hand, and the semi-celebrated or uncelebrated saints on the other. One main thing I think I should look for is the nature of the Aposticha at Vespers and/or Matins.

After viewing this week’s lessons, I think that the difference between Daily services and Festal Services is the order of the service in the Horologion (i.e., the placement of certain litanies, the singing of the polyeleos), the performance of ritual actions (i.e., the entrance at vespers) and the book used for the hymns sung at the services (Menaion vs Octoechos). I have some experience performing daily services at home and church. My parish does a weekly Wednesday night service, which is a daily service if there is no celebrated saint. During the fasting seasons, we usually add services to the weekly schedule, which may be daily if it does not coincide with a feast. Usually, the menaion or typikon is the first book I look at to determine service “rank”; from there, I can look to the other service books to locate the appropriate hymns. My parish usually serves presanctified on Monday and Wednesday, Lenten Vespers on Tuesday, Great Compline on Thursday, Akathist & Small Compline on Friday,  Divine Liturgy on Saturday Morning,  Vespers on Saturday night, and Orthros & Divine Liturgy on Sunday. This regular weekly taxis gets shifted for feast days like 40 martyrs and Thursday of Repentance.

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