In the Orthodox Church, Sunday is a special day of the calendar. This is the focus of the entire liturgical week, a special holiday, the very name of which indicates the miraculous event of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is no coincidence that every Sunday in Orthodoxy is called Little Easter.
All Orthodox divine services are divided into certain services from the daily circle, departing at a fixed time. Over the hundreds of years of the formation and development of Orthodox worship, a charter has been developed that determines the order and characteristics of each service.
In Orthodoxy, a liturgical day begins on the evening of the day on the eve of the celebrated event. Therefore, the Sunday church service begins on Saturday evening. Most often, Saturday evening is marked by the departure of Sunday Great Vespers, Matins and the first hour.
At Sunday Vespers, among other standard chants, the choir performs certain stichera dedicated to the risen Lord. In some churches, at the end of Sunday Great Vespers, lithia is celebrated with the consecration of bread, wheat, oil (oil) and wine.
On Sunday morning a special troparion is sung to one of the eight tones (tunes); the polyeleos is performed - a special chant "Praise the name of the Lord", after which the choir sings the Sunday troparia "The Cathedral of the Angel". Also on Sunday morning special canons are read: the Sunday canon, the honest cross and the Mother of God (sometimes, depending on the order of the connection of the Sunday service with the memory of the revered saint, the canons may change). At the end of Matins the choir sings a great doxology.
The Saturday evening service ends with the first hour, after which the priest performs the sacrament of confession for those who wish to commune of the holy Body and Blood of Christ during the Sunday liturgy.
On Sunday itself, the service in the Orthodox church begins in the morning. Usually at half past eight. First, the successions of the third and sixth hour are read, and then the main service of Sunday follows - the divine liturgy. The liturgy itself usually begins at nine in the morning. Most often, in Orthodox churches on Sunday, the liturgy is celebrated, compiled by the great St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. This order is standard, except that the choir performs special Sunday troparia, depending on the current voice (there are eight of them).
Usually on Sundays in churches at the end of the liturgy, a prayer service is performed, during which the priest solemnly prays for the needs of believers: for health, for healing in diseases, blessings on a journey, etc.
After the end of the prayer service in the church, a memorial service in memory of the dead and a funeral service can be performed. Thus, the Church on Sunday does not forget to pray especially not only for the health of living people, but also for deceased relatives.
