Sunday in the Orthodox Church takes a special calendar day. This is the focus of the entire liturgical week, a special holiday, the very name of which indicates the wonderful event of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is no coincidence that every Sunday in Orthodoxy is called Little Easter.
All Orthodox worship is divided into certain services from the daily circle, departing at the appointed time. For hundreds of years of the formation and development of Orthodox worship, a charter was developed that defines the order and features of each service.
In Orthodoxy, a liturgical day begins on the evening of the day before the celebrated event. Therefore, Sunday worship in the temple begins on Saturday evening. More often than not, Saturday night is marked by the departure of the Sunday Great Vespers, Matins and the first hour.
On Sunday Vespers, among other standard chants, the choir performs certain sticheras dedicated to the risen Lord. In some temples, at the end of Sunday's Great Vespers, lithium is celebrated with the blessing of bread, wheat, oil (oil) and wine.
On Sunday morning, a special troparion is sung to one of the eight voices (tunes); polyeleos is performed - a special chant "Praise the name of the Lord", after which the choir sings Sunday troparia "Angel Cathedral". Also on Sunday morning special canons are read: the canon is Sunday, to the honest cross and the Virgin (sometimes, depending on the order in which the Sunday service is connected with the memory of the venerable saint, the canons can change). At the end of Matins, the choir sings a great hymn.
The Sabbath evening service ends the first hour, after which the priest performs the sacrament of confession for those who wish to receive the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ at the liturgy on Sunday.
On Sunday itself, service in the Orthodox church begins in the morning. Usually at half past eight. First, the followings of the third and sixth hours are read, and then the main Sunday service follows - the Divine Liturgy. The liturgy itself usually begins at nine in the morning. Most often, in the Orthodox churches on Sunday a liturgy is organized by the great hierarch John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. This ordering is standard, except that the choir performs special Sunday troparia depending on the current voice (there are only eight of them).
Usually, on Sundays, in the churches, after the liturgy, a prayer service is held, during which the priest purely prays for the needs of believers: for health, for healing in illnesses, blessings for travel, etc.
After the prayer service in the temple, a memorial service can be performed in memory of the departed and a funeral service. Thus, the Church on Sunday does not forget to especially pray not only for the health of living people, but also for the deceased relatives.
