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Byzantine
Vespers
This short account of evening prayer presents the essential core of Byzantine Vespers as we can know it from ancient sources. This core of vespers allows a meaningful service of evening praise in a non-church setting for prayer by individuals and small groups. A more complete introduction is forthcoming. Psalm 103 [104] When we place ourselves before God in prayer, or first act is to praise Him for being God, and to thank Him for the wonder of our being and the wonderful universe. It is in creation that God first reveals Himself; in it is the first Theophany or encounter with the living God. Psalm 140 [141] Saint John Chrysostom testifies that Psalm 140 is prayed daily during Evening Praise. He mentions that not only is this psalm appropriate for this time of day, that is, it is an evening hymn (the lifting of my hands like an evening sacrifice), but also he calls it a saving and healing medicine. Those who pray it with sincerity while recalling their faults and sins of the day gone by are forgiven their sins and healed by this medicinal psalm. Hymn of the Evening Christ is the Light of the world, the true God who enlightens (i.e., saves) everyone who comes into the world (John 1:9). The light of Christ is salvation, and it is received in baptism. Therefore, our Christian ancestors would light a lamp as daylight declined and offer eucharist, that is, thanksgiving, to the risen Christ, present, working and illumining the world. The response of the believer to the work of Christ is to offer ceaseless thanksgiving to God, and secondly to join in the sacrifice of Christ, our God. The ancient hymn of thanksgiving, O Joyful Light, is one of most ancient Christian hymns. Prayers of Petition Traditionally, at the end of morning and evening prayer as well as the Liturgy of the Word, the priestly people of God offer prayers and intercessions for the needs of the world, the Church, their community and loved ones. The Lord's Prayer The Didache, the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, written sixty to one hundred years after the Lord's ascension, commands followers of Jesus Christ to pray three times per day, morning, noon, evening, praying the Our Father at these hours. It is the wonderful privilege of the baptized, those who have been adopted as brothers and sisters by Jesus Christ, to be able to call God, our Father. The core of morning and evening prayer, then, from the time of this primitive document, is the Lord's Prayer, prayed at the conclusion of the service. |