The Sunday of the Holy Fathers / Eve of the Nativity of Christ

32nd Sunday after Pentecost / Tone 7

Vespers: Blessed is the man.

Lord I have Cried, Tone 6, on 10: Fathers 6 (Unto the ends of the earth); Forefeast 4 (The never-setting Sun); G: Fathers (Daniel, the man of divine desires); N: Forefeast (Splendidly adorn thyself, O cave).

Entry; O Gladsome Light; Prokimenon of the day, Tone 6: The Lord is King.

3 Readings for the Fathers.

Aposticha: Forefeast (O house of Ephratha – with the verses found in the Menaion for the Sunday before Nativity); G: Fathers (Rejoice, ye honorable prophets); N: Forefeast (Behold, the hour of our salvation hath arrived).

Troparia: Fathers (Great are the achievements of faith) x2; Forefeast (Once Mary, being with child by a seedless conception) x1.

Matins: God is the Lord, Tone 7; Troparia: Resurrection x2; G: Fathers (Great are the achievements of faith); N: Forefeast (Once Mary, being with child by a seedless conception).

After each Kathisma: Sessional hymns from the Fathers.

Blessed are the blameless; Evlogitaria (The assembly of angels was amazed).

Sessional hymn of the Fathers (With hymns let us all praise Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob); G/N: Forefeast (From the bosom of the Father).

Hymns of Ascent, and Prokimenon, Tone 7.

Matins Gospel 10, John 21:1-14 (§66).

Having beheld the resurrection; Psalm 50; G: Through the prayers of the apostles; N: Through the prayers of the Theotokos; Have mercy on me, O God; Jesus having risen. Save, O God, Thy people.

Canon: Resurrection & Fathers 4 Glory to Thy Holy Resurrection, O Lord.

Fathers 4 Holy Fathers, pray to God for us.

Forefeast 6 Glory to Thee, O God, glory to Thee.

Irmos of the canon of the Resurrection & Fathers (The children of those who were saved).*

Katavasia: Christ is born!

After Ode 3, Hypakoe of the Fathers (An Angel bedewed the children).

After Ode 6, Kontakion (Rejoice, O Bethlehem!) and Ikos of the Fathers.

At Ode 9, More Honorable.

Holy is the Lord, our God.

Exapostilaria: Fathers (From the seed of Abraham); G: Fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob); N: Forefeast (Be glad, O Bethlehem).

Praises, Tone 5, on 6: Fathers 3 (Lift up thy voice, O Zion); Forefeast 3 (The proclamation of Isaiah is fulfilled); G: Fathers (The compilation of the teachings of the Law); N: Most blessed art thou. After the Great Doxology, the Troparion: Today is salvation; the two remaining Litanies and Resurrectional Dismissal. After the dismissal: G/N: Gospel Sticheron; First Hour.

*From the Menaion for the Sunday before Nativity. None of the canon is taken from the Octoechos.

Hours: Troparia: Resurrection, G: Fathers; Kontakion: Fathers & Forefeast, alternating.

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: Beatitudes on 8: Fathers: 4, from Ode 3; Forefeast: 4 from Ode 6.

After the entrance: Troparion of the Resurrection, Fathers, Forefeast; G: Kontakion of the Fathers; N: Forefeast.

Prokimenon, Tone 4: Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the God of our fathers.

Epistle: Heb. 11:9-10,17-23,32-40 (§328).

Alleluia, Tone 4.

Gospel: Matt. 1:1-25 (§1).

Communion Hymn: Praise the Lord in the heavens & Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous.

Resurrectional Dismissal.

Note: The Eve of the Nativity of Christ is always a strict fast day; food with oil, but without fish, is allowed after Vespers. But if the Eve falls on a Saturday or Sunday, as it does this year, then after the Liturgy (which is celebrated not with Vespers but in the morning at its usual time), we are allowed to eat bread and some wine prior to Vespers, simply in order to observe the fact that it is Saturday or Sunday – days on which the fast is always relaxed.

Vespers: At 1:00 o’clock (the seventh hour of the day according to the ecclesiastical time):

Priest: Blessed is our God. Reader: Amen. Reader: Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee; O Heavenly King; The Trisagion, etc.; O come let us worship; Psalm 103; Great Litany; Blessed is the man.

Lord I have Cried, Tone 2, on 8: Feast 8 (Come let us rejoice in the Lord); G/N: Feast (When Augustus reigned alone upon the earth).

Entrance with the Gospel; O Gladsome Light; Prokimenon of the day, Tone 8: Behold now, bless ye the Lord.

8 Readings of the Feast.

After the 3rd reading the Royal doors are opened, and the reader intones the Troparion: Thou wast born, with its verses, and the choir sings a refrain after each verse; at the conclusion, the reader sings the same refrain. The Royal doors are closed.

After the 6th reading the Royal doors are opened, and the reader intones the Troparion: Thou hast shone, with its verses, and the choir sings a refrain after each verse; at the conclusion, the reader sings the same refrain. The Royal doors are closed. After the 8th reading, the royal doors are opened.

Small litany with the exclamation: For holy art Thou.

Prokimenon, Tone 1, The Lord said unto me.

Epistle: Hebrews 1:1-12 (§303).

Alleluia, Tone 5.

Gospel: Luke 2:1-20 (§5).

Litany: Let us all say. Vouchsafe, O Lord. Litany: Let us complete our evening prayer. The prayer at the bowing of the heads, and the exclamation (Blessed and most glorified be the dominion of Thy kingdom).

Wisdom! Choir: (Father) Bless! And the rest as at the end of daily vespers. Festal dismissal.

After the dismissal a candle is placed in the center of the Church, and the chanters come to the center of the Church and sing the Troparion of the Feast (Thy Nativity, O Christ our God), G/N and the Kontakion of the Feast (Today the Virgin giveth birth); and then they congratulate each other with the feast.

Note: When this Vespers is celebrated separately from the Liturgy as it is this year, the Typikon and other liturgical books prescribe different Epistle and Gospel readings than are read when this Vespers is celebrated in conjunction with the Liturgy: namely, reading §207 from the Epistle to the Galatians and reading §53 from the Gospel of Matthew. However, this instruction is incorrect. St. Philaret of Moscow and Archbishop Sergei both wrote about this, as noted by both Archpriest K. Nikolski and S. Bulgakov. In addition, this instruction is not found in the Greek books. Thus, at Vespers on the Eve of the Nativity of Christ, whether or not it is combined with the Liturgy, the readings are always the same: Hebrews reading §303 and Luke reading §5, which speaks about the events of the feast of the Nativity of Christ.