Passion or rites in Russian. Special Lenten service - Passion

Text of the Lord's Prayer in Russian:

Our Father who art in heaven!
Hallowed be it your name;
Yes he will come Your kingdom;
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Text of the prayer “Our Father” in Church Slavonic (with accents):

Our Father, who art in heaven!
Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors;
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Interpretation of the Lord's Prayer:

Our Father, Who art in Heaven! Look how He immediately encouraged the listener and at the very beginning remembered all the good deeds of God! Indeed, he who calls God Father, with this one name he already confesses forgiveness of sins, and liberation from punishment, and justification, and sanctification, and redemption, and sonship, and inheritance, and brotherhood with the Only Begotten, and the gift of the spirit, since one who has not received all these benefits cannot name God Father. So, Christ inspires His listeners in two ways: both by the dignity of what is called, and by the greatness of the benefits that they received.

When does he speak Heavens, then with this word he does not imprison God in heaven, but distracts the one praying from the earth and places him in the highest countries and in the mountain dwellings.

Further, with these words He teaches us to pray for all the brothers. He does not say: “My Father, who art in Heaven,” but - Our Father, and thereby commands us to offer prayers for the entire human race and never have in mind our own benefits, but always try to benefit our neighbor. And in this way he destroys enmity, and overthrows pride, and destroys envy, and introduces love - the mother of all good things; destroys the inequality of human affairs and shows complete equality between the king and the poor, since we all have equal participation in the highest and most necessary matters. Indeed, what harm comes from low kinship, when by heavenly kinship we are all united and no one has anything more than the other: neither the rich more than the poor, nor the master more than the slave, nor the boss more than the subordinate, nor the king more than the warrior, nor the philosopher more than the barbarian, nor the wise more ignorant? God, who honored everyone equally to call Himself Father, through this gave everyone the same nobility.

So, having mentioned this nobility, this highest gift, the unity of honor and love between brothers, having taken the listeners away from earth and placed them in heaven, let’s see what Jesus finally commands to pray for. Of course, calling God Father contains a sufficient teaching about every virtue: whoever calls God Father, and the common Father, must necessarily live in such a way as not to prove unworthy of this nobility and show zeal equal to a gift. However, the Savior was not satisfied with this name, but added other sayings.

Hallowed be your name, He says. To ask for nothing before the glory of the Heavenly Father, but to esteem everything below His praise—this is a prayer worthy of one who calls God Father! Hallowed be it that means let him be glorified. God has his own glory, full of all majesty and never changing. But the Savior commands the one who prays to ask that God may be glorified by our life. He said this before: So let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:16). And the Seraphim glorify God and cry out: Holy, Holy, Holy! (Isa. 6:3). So, hallowed be that means let him be glorified. Grant us, as the Savior teaches us to pray, to live so purely that through us everyone will glorify You. To demonstrate a blameless life before everyone, so that each of those who see it exalts praise to the Lord - this is a sign of perfect wisdom.

Yes kingdom come Your. And these words are appropriate for a good son, who is not attached to what is visible and does not consider present blessings to be something great, but strives for the Father and desires future blessings. Such prayer comes from a good conscience and a soul free from everything earthly.

This is what the Apostle Paul desired every day, which is why he said: and we ourselves, having the firstfruits of the Spirit, and we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of sons and the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). He who has such love can neither become proud among the blessings of this life, nor despair among the sorrows, but, like one living in heaven, is free from both extremes.

Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth. Do you see the beautiful connection? He first commanded to desire the future and strive for one’s fatherland, but until this happens, those living here should try to lead the kind of life that is characteristic of the inhabitants of heaven. One must desire, He says, heaven and heavenly things. However, even before reaching heaven, He commanded us to make the earth heaven and, living on it, to behave in everything as if we were in heaven, and to pray to the Lord about this. Indeed, the fact that we live on earth does not hinder us in the least from achieving the perfection of the heavenly Forces. But it is possible, even if you live here, to do everything as if we lived in heaven.

So, the meaning of the Savior’s words is this: how in heaven everything happens without hindrance and it does not happen that the Angels obey in one thing and disobey in another, but in everything they obey and submit (because it is said: mighty in strength, doing His word - Ps. 102:20) - so grant us, people, not to do Your will halfway, but to do everything as You please.

You see? – Christ taught us to humble ourselves when he showed that virtue depends not only on our zeal, but also on heavenly grace, and at the same time he commanded each of us, during prayer, to take care of the universe. He did not say: “Thy will be done in me” or “in us,” but throughout the whole earth - that is, so that all error would be destroyed and truth would be implanted, so that all malice would be driven out and virtue would return, and thus, nothing there was no difference between heaven and earth. If this is so, He says, then what is above will not differ in any way from what is above, although they are different in properties; then the earth will show us other angels.

Give us our daily bread today. What is daily bread? Everyday. Since Christ said: Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth, and He talked with people clothed in flesh, who are subject to the necessary laws of nature and cannot have angelic dispassion; although He commands us to fulfill the commandments in the same way as the Angels fulfill them, he nevertheless condescends to the weakness of nature and seems to say: “I I demand from you equal angelic severity of life, however, not demanding dispassion, since your nature, which has a necessary need for food, does not allow it.”

Look, however, how there is a lot of spirituality in the physical! The Savior commanded us to pray not for wealth, not for pleasures, not for valuable clothes, not for anything else like that - but only for bread, and, moreover, for everyday bread, so that we would not worry about tomorrow, which is why he added: daily bread, that is, everyday. He was not even satisfied with this word, but then added another: give it to us today so that we do not overwhelm ourselves with worries about the coming day. In fact, if you don’t know whether you will see tomorrow, then why bother yourself with worrying about it? This is what the Savior commanded and then later in his sermon: Don't worry , - speaks, - O tomorrow (Matt. 6:34). He wants us to always be girded and inspired by faith and to yield no more to nature than necessary needs require of us.

Further, since it happens to sin even after the font of rebirth (that is, the Sacrament of Baptism. - Comp.), then the Savior, wishing in this case to show His great love for mankind, commands us to approach the man-loving God with a prayer for the forgiveness of our sins and say thus: And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors..

Do you see the abyss of God's mercy? After taking away so many evils and after the inexpressibly great gift of justification, He again deigns to forgive those who sin.<…>

By reminding us of sins, He inspires us with humility; by commanding to let others go, he destroys rancor in us, and by promising us forgiveness for this, he affirms good hopes in us and teaches us to reflect on the ineffable love of God for mankind.

What is especially worthy of note is that in each of the above petitions He mentioned all the virtues, and with this last petition He also includes rancor. And the fact that the name of God is sanctified through us is an undoubted proof of a perfect life; and the fact that His will is done shows the same thing; and the fact that we call God the Father is a sign of an immaculate life. All this already implies that we should leave anger at those who insult us; however, the Savior was not satisfied with this, but, wanting to show how much concern He has for eradicating rancor among us, he especially speaks about this and after prayer he recalls not another commandment, but the commandment of forgiveness, saying: For if you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you (Matt. 6:14).

Thus, this absolution initially depends on us, and the judgment pronounced on us lies in our power. So that none of the unreasonable, being condemned for a great or small crime, has the right to complain about the court, the Savior makes you, the most guilty one, a judge over Himself and, as it were, says: what kind of judgment will you pronounce on yourself, the same judgment will I I will say about you; if you forgive your brother, then you will receive the same benefit from me - although this latter is actually much more important than the first. You forgive another because you yourself need forgiveness, and God forgives without needing anything; you forgive your fellow servant, and God forgives your slave; you are guilty of countless sins, but God is sinless

On the other hand, the Lord shows His love for mankind by the fact that even though He could forgive you all your sins without your doing, He wants to benefit you in this too, in everything to give you occasions and incentives to meekness and love of mankind - drives out of you bestiality, quenches your anger and in every possible way wants to unite you with your members. What will you say about that? Is it that you have unjustly suffered some kind of evil from your neighbor? If so, then, of course, your neighbor has sinned against you; and if you have suffered justly, then this does not constitute sin in him. But you also approach God with the intention of receiving forgiveness for similar and even much greater sins. Moreover, even before forgiveness, you never know, when you have already learned to keep within yourself human soul and instructed in meekness? Moreover, a great reward will await you in the next century, because then you will not be required to account for any of your sins. So, what kind of punishment will we deserve if, even after receiving such rights, we ignore our salvation? Will the Lord listen to our requests when we ourselves do not spare ourselves where everything is in our power?

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Here the Savior clearly shows our insignificance and overthrows pride, teaching us not to abandon exploits and not to arbitrarily rush towards them; in this way, for us, victory will be more brilliant, and for the devil, defeat will be more painful. As soon as we are involved in a struggle, we must stand courageously; and if there is no call to it, then we must calmly wait for the time of exploits in order to show ourselves both unconceited and courageous. Here Christ calls the devil evil, commanding us to wage irreconcilable warfare against him and showing that he is not like that by nature. Evil does not depend on nature, but on freedom. And the fact that the devil is primarily called the evil one is due to the extraordinary amount of evil that is found in him, and because he, without being offended by anything from us, wages an irreconcilable battle against us. Therefore, the Savior did not say: “Deliver us from the evil ones,” but - from the evil one, - and thereby teaches us never to be angry with our neighbors for the insults that we sometimes suffer from them, but to turn all our enmity against the devil as the culprit of all evils. By reminding us of the enemy, making us more cautious and stopping all our carelessness, He further inspires us, introducing us to the King under whose authority we fight, and showing that He is more powerful than all: For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen , says the Savior. So, if His is the Kingdom, then one should not be afraid of anyone, since no one resists Him and no one shares power with Him.

When the Savior says: Yours is the Kingdom, then shows that our enemy is also subordinate to God, although, apparently, he still resists by God’s permission. And he is from among the slaves, although condemned and rejected, and therefore does not dare to attack any of the slaves without first receiving power from above. And what do I say: not one of the slaves? He did not even dare to attack pigs until the Savior himself commanded; nor over the herds of sheep and oxen, until he received power from above.

And strength, says Christ. So, even though you were very weak, you must nevertheless dare, having such a King, who through you can easily accomplish all glorious deeds, And glory forever, Amen,

Saint John Chrysostom

Prayers in Christianity are divided into thanksgiving, prayers of petition, festive and universal. There are also prayers that every self-respecting Christian should know. One such prayer text is the “Our Father.”

The meaning of the Lord's Prayer

Jesus Christ passed this prayer on to the apostles so that they, in turn, would pass it on to the world. This is a petition for seven blessings - spiritual shrines, which are ideals for any believer. With the words of this prayer we express respect for God, love for Him, as well as faith in the future.

This prayer is suitable for any life situations. It is universal - it is read at every church liturgy. It is customary to offer it in honor of thanksgiving to God for the happiness sent, to ask for healing, for the salvation of the soul, in the morning and evening, before going to bed. Read “Our Father” with all your heart; it should not be like ordinary reading. As church leaders say, it’s better not to say this prayer at all, than to read simply because you have to.

Text of the Lord's Prayer:

Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And now and ever, throughout the age of centuries. Amen.

"Hallowed be Thy name"- this is how we show respect for God, for his uniqueness and unchanging greatness.

"Thy Kingdom come"- this is how we ask that the Lord deign to rule us and not turn away from us.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"- this is how a believer asks God to take an invariable part in everything that happens to us.

"Give us this day our daily bread"- give us the body and blood of Christ for this life.

“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,”- our willingness to forgive insults from our enemies, which will return to us in God's forgiveness of sins.

"Lead us not into temptation"- a request that God does not betray us, does not leave us to be torn to pieces by sins.

"Deliver us from evil"- this is how it is customary to ask God to help us resist temptations and the human desire for sin.

This prayer works wonders; she is able to save us in the most difficult moments of our lives. That is why most people read the Lord’s Prayer when danger approaches or in hopeless situations. Pray to God for salvation and happiness, but not earthly, but heavenly. Keep the faith and don't forget to push the buttons and

02.02.2016 00:20

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There is no person who has not heard or does not know about the existence of the prayer “Our Father who art in heaven!” This is the most main prayer, to which Christian believers all over the world turn. The Lord's Prayer, as it is commonly called “Our Father,” is considered the key property of Christianity, the oldest prayer. It is given in two Gospels: from Matthew - in chapter six, from Luke - in chapter eleven. The version given by Matthew has gained great popularity.

In Russian, the text of the prayer “Our Father” exists in two versions - in modern Russian and in Church Slavonic. Because of this, many people mistakenly believe that in Russian there are 2 different prayers Lord's. In fact, this opinion is fundamentally incorrect - both options are equivalent, and such a discrepancy occurred due to the fact that during the translation of ancient letters, “Our Father” was translated from two sources (the above-mentioned Gospels) differently.

Biblical tradition states that the prayer “Our Father, Who art in heaven!” Christ himself taught the apostles God's Son. This event took place in Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives, on the territory of the Pater Noster temple. The text of the Lord's Prayer was imprinted on the walls of this temple in more than 140 languages ​​of the world.

However, the fate of the Pater Noster temple was tragic. In 1187, after the capture of Jerusalem by the troops of Sultan Saladin, the temple was completely destroyed. Already in the 14th century, in 1342, a piece of a wall with an engraving of the prayer “Our Father” was found.

Later, in the 19th century, in the second half, thanks to the architect Andre Leconte, a church appeared on the site of the former Pater Noster, which subsequently passed into the hands of the female Catholic monastic order of the Discalced Carmelites. Since then, the walls of this church have been decorated every year with a new panel with the text of the main Christian heritage.

When and how is the Lord's Prayer said?

“Our Father” is an obligatory part of the daily prayer rule. Traditionally, it is customary to read it 3 times a day - in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Each time the prayer is said three times. After it, “To the Virgin Mary” (3 times) and “I Believe” (1 time) are read.

Modern Russian version

In modern Russian, the “Our Father” is available in two versions - in the presentation of Matthew and in the presentation of Luke. The text from Matthew is the most popular. It sounds like this:

Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer is more abbreviated, does not contain doxology, and reads as follows:

A praying person can choose any of the available options for himself. Each of the texts of “Our Father” is a kind of personal conversation between the person praying and the Lord God. The Lord's Prayer is so strong, sublime and pure that after saying it, every person feels relief and peace.

CD I

N. Ozerov. Great Litany.

Protodeacon Vsevolod Argamakov Prokeimenon the Great “Do not turn away Your face”(Lavra chant)

. Protodeacon Vsevolod Argamakov

P. Turchaninov. Getting dressed for you

N. Ozerov. Kontakion Akathist. Soloist S. Arkhangelsky (Bass)
Akathist to the Divine Passion of Christ.
. . .
“Chanting” as narrated by Abbot Nikifor Kirzin), edited by G. Smirnov.
Read by Archpriest Vladislav Provotorov
Ikos 10
Kontakion 11
Ikos 11
Kontakion 12
Ikos 12

Kontakion 13

Ikos 1

CD II

Prayer. Read by Archpriest Vladislav Provotorov

Now you are letting go. Reader Denis Karamalikov

Trisagion according to Our Father. Reader Denis Karamalikov P. Chesnokov. Come, let us please Joseph. Arranged by G. Smirnov Recorded at the Church of the Annunciation

Holy Mother of God

With. Pavlovskaya Sloboda in May and September 2008. Sound engineer Alexander Kalashnikov. PassionPassion (from the Latin “passio” - “suffering”) appeared in southwestern Russia in the second quarter XVII century, becoming the latest in time for the emergence of Orthodox worship. Its prototype was the Catholic Passions (“Passion”) - dramatic depictions of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. But if in the West these services were, in fact, theatrical performances, then in practice Orthodox Church their rites were always based only on those ritual and hymnographic elements that have been forming since ancient times

The need for the appearance of Passion in the practice of the Russian Church was dictated by the strengthening of Catholic expansion in the southwestern region. Catholic worship was replete with external effects and exalted pomp. It was this aesthetic component that prompted many Orthodox residents of Galicia and Volyn (now the territory of central Ukraine) to accept the union. In contrast to this, a zealous defender of Orthodoxy and one of the most educated people of his time, the rector of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, Archimandrite Peter (Mogila) (1596–1647), offers a number of new liturgical forms for church use. Among them is the Passion, presumably approved at the Kiev Council of 1629 under Metropolitan Job (Boretsky) of Kiev.

In 1632, after the death of Bishop Job, Peter (Mogila) was elected metropolitan, and from that time the Passion began to take place everywhere in the southwest of Rus'. Its wide distribution by the beginning of the 18th century can be evidenced by the fact that already in 1702 the publishing house of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra published a charter for its implementation in an appendix to the Colored Triodion. However, in the commentary accompanying this publication, it is said that “all this is remembered by advice, and not by command, even though all Orthodox saints are submitted to the church for disposition.” Thus, the question of introducing the Passion into liturgical use even at that time was of a purely advisory nature, because the Typikon (Charter of the Orthodox Church) knew nothing about it.

Initially, Passion was celebrated in the rite of Small Compline. After the final prayers, the choir sang the stichera of the Great Heel “For You Who are Clothed with Light, Like a Robe...”, at the end of which the prescribed Gospel was read. After reading the Gospel, a stichera was sung Holy Saturday“Come, let us bless Joseph of ever-memorable…” and a sermon was preached about the meaning of the atoning Sacrifice of Christ the Savior, after which Compline ended in the usual manner. Approximately this order of performing the Passion remains to this day in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, as well as in many churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The modern rite of Passion has been formed over more than three centuries. The absence of a generally accepted pattern allowed for the possibility of free form creation, based on the liturgical preferences and aesthetic taste of the clergy and parishioners. It often happened that in the temples of one city it could be performed differently and even on different days.

Interestingly, this diversity continues today.

From the middle of the 19th century, the reading of the akathist to the Divine Passion of Christ often began to be added “at will” to the observance of the Passion. This touching akathist, beloved by the people, is Uniate in origin. Its thorough revision for use in the Orthodox Church was carried out in the 1840s by Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride Innocent (Borisov), who considered the effect of akathists on the spirituality of the people “extremely strong and noble.” At the beginning of the 20th century, Passion spread throughout Russia and immediately became one of the people’s favorite Lenten services. Interesting feature

What happened was that it began to be performed, as a rule, not in the rite of Small Compline, but as part of the daily Vespers of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Weeks (Sundays) of Great Lent. As in the 17th century, the Gospel of the Passion of Christ is read on it: on the first Passion - the 26th and 27th chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, on the second - the 14th and 15th from Mark, on the third - the 22nd and 23rd from Luke, on the fourth - 18th and 19th from John. Received “permanent registration” and reading of the Akathist. Otherwise, the observance of the Passion during the 20th century underwent a number of changes, especially in the Moscow practice of its implementation. New chants joined her Holy Week

: prokeimenon “Dividing My garments for myself...”, 15th antiphon of the Matins of Great Heel “Today hangs on the Tree” and others. At the end of the 20th century Publishing Council Russian Orthodox Church in the annual publication " Liturgical instructions "The Charter for the Celebration of the Passion begins to be published, taking into account the elements of the diversity of its rite, and in 2003, with the blessing His Holiness Patriarch

Moscow and All Rus' Alexy II, a separate publication “Passion, or rites with an akathist to the Divine Passion of Christ” is published, reflecting the Moscow practice of her ministry.

Denis Karamalikov This is the latest in time of occurrence Orthodox service

The following of the passion occurs 4 times a year (according to the number of evangelists): on the second, third, fourth and fifth Sundays (or Fridays) of Great Lent, in the evenings.For each passion, the Gospel narratives about the sufferings of Christ are read: on the first - chapters 26 and 27 from Matthew, on the second - 14 and 15 from Mark, on the third - 22 and 23 from Luke, on the fourth - 18 and 19 from John.According to tradition, while reading the Gospel, worshipers stand with lit candles in their hands.

At the end of the service, all believers come up with reverence to bow before the Crucifixion, the Cross of Christ, which is carried to the middle of the temple during the service.

Passion: the history of its origin

With the advent of Great Lent, the liturgical Rules offer believers a wide variety of special prayers and rites that help them tune into a repentant mood and worthily complete the Lenten journey. All these works of church hymn-making, prayers and special liturgical sequences are mainly ancient origin and with for a long time rooted in liturgical practice. However, among them there is a divine service that is quite late in origin and is not reflected in the Charter. This service is called Passion - from the Latin word passio, which translated into Russian means “suffering”, and in Slavic language translated as "passion".

The appearance of this rank is associated with Catholic influence on Orthodox worship. It was in the West in the 16th-17th centuries. This is the first time that rites with a similar name appear. This innovation was later taken up by Protestants. The meaning of Passion is empathy with Christ in the last days of His earthly life and, in particular, His Death on the Cross.

The Western tradition of performing the Passion was more like a theatrical performance, during which several priests (sometimes dressed in appropriate costumes) read passages from the Passion Gospel cycle in roles. Reading was interspersed with music and singing. Some Western composers, for example, I.S. Bach, composed music for the Passions (“Matthew Passion”, “John Passion”).

In the Russian Church, this worship begins to spread from the southwestern borders of Little Russia. The compiler of the rank was Metropolitan Peter of Kiev (Mogila) (1596 - 1647). In the Orthodox version, Passion was also a sequential reading of Gospel passages telling about last days and the hours of the Savior’s earthly life. In addition, chants taken from the service were performed Good Friday. The Passion, as a rule, ended with a sermon. Later, an akathist to the Passion of the Lord was included in the rite. For a long time this service was performed only in the southwestern dioceses, but with late XIX V. interest in it is growing, it is also appearing in the central Russian dioceses. By the end of the 20th century. The passion has spread widely, and, despite the fact that it is not prescribed by the Charter for mandatory execution, today it is performed almost everywhere.

Order of Passion

During Lent, the Passion is celebrated four times, according to the number of evangelists. According to established custom, this service is performed on Sunday evening and is combined with Great Vespers. Although until the 20th century. it could also be performed on Fridays, as part of Small Compline. This practice has been preserved to this day in some dioceses of Ukraine. As a rule, the Passion cycle begins with the second Week of Great Lent, dedicated to St. Gregory Palamas.

Traditionally, the Passion is celebrated in the middle of the temple in front of the Crucifixion. On the stichera, the last stichera on “And now” is replaced by a stichera Good Friday: “For you, who is clothed with light...” The clergy comes out from the altar to the center of the temple, where the Gospel is placed on the lectern. After censing the entire church, the reading of the akathist to the Passion of the Lord begins. At the end of it, the deacon proclaims the prokeimenon “Dividing my garments for myself...”, also taken from the Good Friday service. After this, the priest reads the Gospel. After reading the Gospel, the 15th antiphon of the Great Heel service is sung - “Today hangs on the tree...”, at the end of which the worship of the Resting is performed and the usual end of Vespers follows. As a mandatory addition, after the dismissal, a sermon is preached or a lesson is read.

The spiritual meaning of Passion in Orthodox worship

In modern liturgical tradition, the celebration of Passion faces many contradictions. There is still a lot of debate about whether this service can or cannot be performed. The main argument against it is the Western origin of the Passion, and as a consequence it is called a Catholic innovation. Another argument expressed against the celebration of the Passion is the lack of mention of it in the Typikon.

However, upon closer examination of the problem, the validity of these claims can, if not be refuted, then at least questioned. The question of the absence of this service in the Typikon must be considered from the perspective of the changeability of Orthodox worship. The Charter does not allow liberties in the rites of the main parts of the service. However, over time, changes occur in the successions of the minors. There are many reasons for this: persecution, peculiarities national character people, local liturgical traditions, geographical location, etc. In addition, new forms of worship appear, such as the Passion. And its later (relative to the Typikon) origin does not confirm that it contradicts the spirit or letter of the Charter. It can also be noted that Passion has traditionally enjoyed wide popularity and was not rejected by popular piety.

The opinion that Passion is purely Catholic worship, transferred to the soil of Russian Orthodoxy, is deeply erroneous and incorrect. In the rite of this service there is not a single Catholic chant or text that contradicts Orthodox dogma. All hymns are taken from the Lenten Triodion, from the Good Friday service. The text of the akathist to the Passion of the Lord was compiled in the middle of the 19th century. Archbishop Innocent of Kherson (Borisov). Although Archbishop Innocent took the Uniate akathist as a basis, the latter was carefully revised and brought into line with Orthodox dogma and piety.

In addition, many researchers of Christian worship say that in the period from the 14th to the 17th centuries. The question of the spiritual benefits of empathy with the suffering of Christ was raised not only in Western theology. In this regard, the appearance of Passion in Orthodox worship is no longer seen as just a repetition of the newfangled Western tradition, but as an original understanding of a serious spiritual question, and with a clearly ascetic understanding.

It is also important that Catholic prayer practices traditionally distinguished by their vivid emotionality and imaginative presentation. The Catholic Passion, touching mainly on the area of ​​feelings, evokes in a person a sense of participation precisely in the historical moment. The main result of this empathy is an attempt to understand what Christ felt at the moment of carrying the Cross, abandoned by the disciples and spat on by the crowd, what torment He experienced on the Cross at the time of the Crucifixion, etc. Through such an experience, having felt all the horror of the last hours of Christ’s earthly life, realizing his guilt for the death of Christ, a person must realize his sinfulness and come to repentance.

However, similar states of mind cannot be truly spiritual, since they more closely resemble the sensations of a spectator in the theater stalls. He can deeply and sincerely empathize with a talented performance, but at the same time remain callous to his own spiritual situation, and not perceive the call to repentance as directed towards him personally.

IN Orthodox understanding participation in the suffering of Christ is expressed primarily by the words of the Apostle Paul about the need to crucify the flesh “with the passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24). The words and meaning of prayer, and not the emotional experience of involvement in a historical moment, have the main and paramount importance in this service for Orthodox Christian. We were not given the opportunity to be present at the Passion and Death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the service of Passion does not take us back to those distant times when the Lord suffered on the Cross. She, pointing to the image of Christ’s Suffering and Death, like a metronome, forces us to verify our spiritual state. Do we take upon ourselves the voluntary cross of self-denial and following Christ? Are we, like Christ, able to also uncomplainingly and humbly endure insults and insults from our near and far? Can we, like Christ, sincerely pray for our offenders? Do we have the strength to voluntarily crucify our passions, desires of the flesh and sinful thoughts, becoming like Christ, who voluntarily accepted the Crucifixion and death for us? If this is so, then we truly become partakers of the Savior’s Sacrifice on the Cross, because the righteous virtuous life in itself is a great feat; it is always associated with cutting off one’s will, fighting passions and becoming like Christ. If we do not strive for righteousness, we thereby renounce Christ. And our sins become similar to those wounds that His tormentors and murderers inflicted on Christ. This is exactly what is said in the akathist to the Passion of the Lord: “We, truly we know with the prophet, that Your garments are scarlet: I, Lord, I have wounded You with my sins,” that is, “I know, Lord, I know why Your garments are red, this is me.” I have wounded You with my sins.”

Thus, the focus of Passion is the human soul, either becoming like Christ or rejecting Him. Through this, believers are called to repentance of their sins and to carefully and strictly consider their relationship with God.

There are also more justified claims against this service. Already from the second week of Great Lent, breaking the sequence of events, chants illustrating the events of Good Friday begin to be inserted into the service. And this allegedly violates the logic and order of the church liturgical year. The pedagogical and edifying meaning of those events that the Charter offers us for prayerful empathy during Great Lent is lost and confused.

But if we look more broadly, we will see that there are days that also fall out of the general semantic connection of Great Lent and are not even considered fast in the liturgical sense - these are Sunday days. In its semantic meaning, any resurrection is a small Easter, and spiritually it is experienced precisely as the victory of Christ over death, the overthrow of the power of sin and the devil. And if it were not for the Liturgy of Basil the Great, celebrated on Sundays of Great Lent, and not for the continuing restriction in food, these days would differ little from any Sunday outside Lent.

In this regard, the celebration of Passion on Sunday evening acquires a certain logic and justification. After a short rest, believers who follow the path of fasting again concentrate for further fasting. Passion again reminds people of the main goal of fasting: repentance and bringing one’s spiritual appearance into a state of participation in the Easter joy of the Risen Christ the Savior.

Moreover, according to the compilers liturgical rite Passion, it must necessarily end with a sermon. Thus, the clergy always have the opportunity to comment and explain the meaning of this service if anyone is confused by the above objections to the validity of its application.

As mentioned earlier, despite the fact that Passion is not a statutory rite, it has already found its place in modern practice Lenten worship and became traditional feature Great Lent. The Passion service has always found and continues to find a living prayerful response in the hearts of believers. Therefore, if you do not look for contradictions with the Typikon and the statutory tradition in this service, but try to understand for yourself its true meaning, then, undoubtedly, you can derive spiritual benefit from it.