Reading the Gospel on the first day of Easter in different languages ​​and rituals accompanying this reading

Among the many customs performed during our services during Holy Week and on the first days of Easter and transferred to us from the East tacitly, without recording these customs on the pages of our current Typikon, a fairly prominent place is occupied by the firmly established custom of reading the Gospel in various languages ​​on the first day of Easter at the liturgy. This custom is not only practiced in cities, where among those praying there are actually people who understand and know the languages ​​in which the Gospel is read, but recently, since the appointment of priests from those who have completed courses in theological seminaries, it has been transferred, following the example of cities, to villages and villages, where, except for the reader himself, and even then, often with a sin, no one understands “what is being read.” Thus, a custom that is completely natural in the place of its origin and has a deep meaning there, in our country, as an imitation, loses its meaning and importance and turns into an empty beating of air and an unnecessary prolongation of the divine service. Meanwhile, if this traditionally established custom is given a slightly different formulation in our Rus', then it can have enormous educational significance and will bring undoubted benefit to the Church and those praying. Our current Typikon says this about the reading of the Gospel at the liturgy on the first day of Easter: “When the time has come for the reading of the Holy Gospel, the initial deacon, although the Gospel of honor says: “Bless, O Master, the evangelist.” The rector also says: “God through the prayers of the glorious saint” and so on, as indicated in the liturgiary. The deacon leaves, and at the usual place, right at the royal gates, facing the east. And to the abbot I first exclaimed before the throne: “Wisdom, forgive us, let us hear the Holy Gospel.” Likewise, all priests and elders are servants. According to this, the deacons also speak in various places, having become one after the other from the holy throne to the western gates of the church. Last of all stands the archdeacon. And everyone honors the abbot, one by one, according to the articles, as the abbot orders. And the rector begins: “Reading the Gospel from St. John.” Others too. Abbot of "Vonmem". Others too. The abbot, standing before the throne facing east, reads: “In the beginning was the word” and so on. Others too. And at every exclamation or article of the Gospel, the Church strikes once in candia. The paraecclesiarch was outside the church during the Great Beaten, and during the Great Campanian. At the last exclamation they strike the whole campanium and the great bell” (fol. 401 vol.). This remark is not found either in the current Greek Typicon of Jerusalem 1 or in the modern Charter of the Church of Constantinople; Nor was it in the most ancient liturgical monuments of the Greek Church. Obviously, this note was developed in Rus' under the influence of the very custom of reading the Gospel on Easter in sections to the priest and deacon together, which (i.e., the custom), as we will see below, was entirely transferred to us from the east and has existed with us for a very long time. The beginning of this custom can be seen in the practice of our Church in the 11th-12th centuries. According to the studio charter, on the first day of Easter the entire liturgy was performed inside the altar, except for the antiphons, which were sung by the people in the church. Here at the throne the Prokeimenon, the Apostle, Hallelujah and the Gospel were read. The latter was read in the hands of two deacons 2. This custom later took on a more complex form. With the advent of the so-called Jerusalem Rule in Rus', the custom of performing the entire liturgy at the altar ceased, but the custom of reading the Gospel to the priest behind the altar, facing west, in the hands of two persons serving him at the altar 3 was preserved almost entirely. The only thing that changed was the position of the priest, who now had to stand behind the throne, facing west, and the two deacons were replaced by two persons who served the priest at the altar. The changes in relation to the reading of the Gospel were actually the most insignificant. However, the inconvenience of the position of the priest in the altar and the inconvenience for those praying in the church, to whom much of what the priest read could not be heard clearly and distinctly, prompted us to make and allow some changes and deviations in relation to the custom that had been established among us almost since the very first centuries of Christianity. Therefore, in the liturgical monuments of the 16th century we see this ritual with significant complications and changes. The section read by the priest standing behind the throne was repeated for greater clarity by the deacon, standing on the sole. After each section from the Gospel reading, they struck “the kandiliya” (opanica) hanging in the church, and the paraecclesiarch struck “the great kamban and the great beat.” After reading the entire Gospel, they hit “in vain all the kambans and the great one beat clearly” 4 . The real form of reading the Gospel for Easter was finally developed in the 17th century. It is presented, as can be seen from reading the current Typikon, in relation to the conciliar ministry of priests. But saying above that the present remark of the current Typikon regarding the reading of the Gospel on Easter does not have an original in the most ancient and newest Typikons of the Greek Church, and that it was developed in Russia under the influence of custom itself, we do not at all want to say that this note and, at the same time, our current custom have nothing in common with the practice of the Eastern churches, and that both are a work of purely Russian creativity, a product of the development of the life of the Russian Church, Russian-ecclesiastical practices. On the contrary, we are positively confident that our present custom in all its smallest details represents a positive identity with the practice of the churches of the Christian East. Here we see it in its entirety, although in a different service, namely at Vespers on the first day of Holy Easter. According to the statutes of the Church of Constantinople, a rather muted remark is made about reading the Gospel at this particular time. Then, says this Charter, the Holy Gospel is read according to custom (κατὰ τ ό σύνηθες): “I will be later,” the end “I will not believe” 5. How we need to understand the expression of the Charter: “according to custom” - the answer to this is given to us by the current Bulgarian Typikon. “The Holy Gospel is also read, it says, from the patriarch and from the holy archbishops (in various languages, as usual).” 6 Thus, it is clear that the reading of the Gospel in articles, by all bishops and, moreover, in various languages, is timed in the practice of the Greek and South-Slavic churches precisely for this vespers. This ritual, performed in the east with particular solemnity and pomp, always attracted the attention of our Russian travelers, who gave the most detailed descriptions of it. “At first the service went quickly in Greek and did not represent anything special,” writes a certain A. Selivanova about the celebration of Vespers in Jerusalem on this day of St. Easter, until the Greek deacon proclaimed: “And make us worthy.” “Vonmem,” the voice of the patriarch answered from the depths of the altar in Greek. Involuntarily, everyone became quiet, and in the midst of the ensuing silence, the first words of the Gospel were clearly heard in the Slavic language. They read about the second appearance of Christ to his disciples, which is why Vespers is called the second resurrection. The reading did not last long: after 7-8 minutes the reader stopped. A strange metallic sound suddenly rang through the church and then a loud bell rang overhead. Everyone shuddered. “And make us worthy,” the clear, calm voice of the deacon is heard again, and again the Gospel is read in Greek. As soon as his last word died away, the same strange sound, the sound of iron hitting iron, spread throughout the church and was repeated: the bell rang twice. The Gospel is read again and the mysterious ringing is heard again. One after another, from different sides of the church, the monks read the Word of God, it seems, in twelve languages: Slavic, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Turkish, Arabic, Jewish and other dialects sound alternately in the vast church, full of silent crowds, and are accompanied by a loud ringing. The impression, Ms. Selivanova concludes her description, is strong. Perhaps that is why the people love this Vespers so much.” 7 From the descriptions of another Russian traveler of this vespers, we learn about the position of the Gospel readers in the church. The patriarch reads the Gospel in a high place, one bishop on the throne, another in the royal doors, priests and hierodeacons in the church on the pulpits 8. Thus, there is no doubt that our custom, reading the Gospel with divisions into sections for the priest and deacon and with bells after each section, was developed in all its details under the influence of a similar custom of the Greek-Eastern churches, a custom that takes place at vespers on the first day of Easter. Not only that, we are extending this dependence further. We think that here lies the reason for the emergence of another custom among us, a strong one, established in cities and even spread to villages, the custom of reading the Easter Gospel in various languages, such as Greek, Latin, Hebrew, etc. We saw above that the statutes of the Church of Constantinople, and especially the current Bulgarian one, date this custom precisely to this Easter Vespers. As for the Gospel at the Easter liturgy, then, according to the Rule, it is read in the usual way, and the entire liturgy and Easter service in general, as we have seen, is performed quickly and with significant abbreviations, contrary to the Jerusalem Rule. Only in Jerusalem the Gospel is read in various languages ​​during the liturgy. 9 But here, too, all the detailed details of the present reading are undoubtedly transferred from the evening service. The custom called by the Greeks “devtera anastasis (Δευτέρα ἀνἀστασις), or the second resurrection, or the second Orthodoxy, enjoys, according to our travelers, special respect and attracts masses of people. A huge gathering of people still happens in the church of the former Greek Archangel Michael Church in the city of Nizhyn 10, where this custom has been practiced for a long time. Such love for this custom among the people is explained, first of all, by the physical vigor that all pilgrims feel, having already sufficiently strengthened their strength with rest, as well as by their festive mood, which seeks, accordingly, a great celebration and majestic ceremonies 11, and extraordinary spiritual triumph. Not without some curiosity they listen to the reading of the Gospel in various languages ​​during the liturgy, and we have tired and half-asleep pilgrims of this day, although they definitely do not receive any benefit from this reading. Readable for most of them is an empty phrase and the satisfaction of one idle curiosity. That is why, having nothing in principle against the existence of such a custom in Rus', we intend to say a few words about its better and more expedient implementation in our country. We have already said that among the Greeks in Jerusalem, where pilgrims from all countries flock to Easter days, as well as in Constantinople and other eastern cities, where people of different tribes and dialects are present at the divine services, the reading of the Easter Gospel (whether it will be during the liturgy or during Vespers is still indifferent) in various languages and namely, in Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Jewish makes sense and is completely expedient. Each of the nationalities present in the church can hear the gospel word in a language it understands. It’s a completely different matter here in Rus', where Greek and Latin are understood only by bookish people, and most praying ordinary people know about these languages ​​and peoples only from hearsay from others. Consequently, for them, reading the Gospel in these languages ​​will be completely incomprehensible and pointless. Therefore, in Russia, inhabited by many tribes, nationalities and dialects, it is possible to replace the reading of the Gospel in Greek, Latin, etc. reading in the dialects of those peoples who inhabit this or that area of ​​our vast fatherland and for whom the Slavic and Russian languages ​​are completely incomprehensible. So, for example, in the parishes of the St. Petersburg diocese, priests can successfully read the Gospel in Finnish, in the Kazan province in the Tatar, Cheremis and Mordovian dialects, in the Vyatka province in Votsk, in Siberian - in the language of those nationalities that inhabit this or that area, in the Astrakhan province - in Kalmyk, etc. In a word, it is desirable that on this day of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, “all creation” would listen to the Word of God in a language that everyone understands, and would not remain an indifferent listener to alien sounds. Such reading should be especially desirable in foreign parishes, where more than half of the worshipers have difficulty understanding the Slavic language. It will be pleasant 12 for our foreign Christians to hear the Word of God on this bright holiday in their native dialect. They will understand that their St. The Church considers her sincere children and readily gives them spiritual food, which they will accept with joy in their hearts and with the praise of God on their lips. For this purpose, it is possible to publish the Easter Gospel in the Russian alphabet 13 in all dialects that are found within vast Russia, so that the Easter Gospel can be read by priests serving in parishes with foreigners, but who do not know the language of these latter. Reading the Gospel in this way would be a direct response to the words of the Savior: “Go and teach all languages... preach the Gospel to every creature.” And this, in turn, can be a wonderful sermon about Christ to those who do not yet believe in Him. Our Easter service, with its solemnity and extraordinary majesty, quite often attracts pagans, non-believers, etc., to our churches, who, having become interested in our service, can listen to the Word of God in their own language. We are even confident that if the custom of reading the Gospel in the languages ​​of the area in which the Easter service is celebrated becomes a universal practice, then non-believers and pagans will go to our churches directly for the purpose of listening to their language as applied to Christian worship. And the seed of Christ’s teaching, which accidentally falls on a heart that is not hardened, can bear abundant fruit... That is why the question arises by itself: is it not better, in accordance with the practice of the Eastern churches, to postpone the reading of the Gospel in various languages ​​for Easter Vespers. This will greatly relieve those praying who spend the whole night without sleep, and will give them the opportunity to listen to the evening service with full vigor of body and spirit, which will become even more interesting and solemn by adding to it the reading of the Gospel in various languages. This is one side of the real matter. Another more serious thing is that the real Easter Gospel, setting out the sublime theological teaching about God the Word, can with difficulty be assimilated by purely Orthodox people, and there is nothing to say about fellow believers... Whereas the evening Gospel, which treats the second appearance of the Lord to his disciples, gathered in one place, is a Gospel, so to speak, of a purely missionary nature and can provide an abundant lesson of edification for all believers and non-believers. Here we hear Christ endowing his disciples with the gifts of grace: “Receive the holy spirit”... Here we hear a reproach to those who want to touch everything and know through experience: “Blessed are those who have not seen, but have believed” (John 20, 22, 29). Such a Gospel, when read in an understandable dialect, can in itself be easily assimilated by those present in the church and can provide abundant material for words of teaching to shepherds. In this case, about the use of different languages ​​during worship, one must remember the wise instruction of the teacher of languages, St. Apostle Paul. “Whoever speaks in an unknown tongue, he writes in his letter to the Corinthians, edifies himself... So if you also utter unintelligible words with your tongue, how will they know what you are saying? You will speak into the wind... For if you bless in spirit, how will one standing in the place of a commoner say: Amen, at your thanksgiving? Because he doesn't understand what you're saying. You give thanks well, but the other is not edified... But in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue... Tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers... (14, 4, 9, 16, 17, 19, 22). From all that has been said, the following provisions clearly follow: 1) The current remark of the Typikon about reading the Easter Gospel with divisions into articles and with the reading of the latter by priests and deacons was developed under the influence of the very custom that has appeared in Russia since ancient times. 2) In its present form, this rite was finally established in the 16th or 17th centuries, when our current note about it appeared in the Typikon. 3) Detailed details were undoubtedly borrowed from the practice of the Eastern churches, where the custom of such a reading of the Gospel is practiced at Vespers on the first day of Easter. 4) The reading of the Gospel at the liturgy of the first day of Easter in Greek, Latin, etc. appeared in our country under the influence of the contemporary practice of the Eastern churches, where this custom takes place at Vespers on the first day of Easter. 5) Such multilingual reading of the Easter Gospel, having a deep meaning and significance in the place of its origin, in Rus' can be replaced by reading in the languages ​​of those of our foreigners who live in this or that province, in this or that parish. 6) Finally, in purely missionary forms, the reading of the Gospel in different languages, in accordance with the practice of the Eastern churches, can be transferred from the liturgy to Vespers on the first day of Easter, which from this ceremony will become more solemn and will attract even pagan foreigners to the temple. For the same purpose, it is necessary to publish the Easter Gospel in all foreign dialects that can be found here in Russia and certainly in the Russian alphabet, so that priests who do not know the languages ​​of the foreigners around them can use this publication. Εὐαγγέλτον κατὰ Ἰ ωάννην. Ἑ ν ἀρχ ῇ ἦ ν δ λ ό γος, καὶ καθεξῆς ἡ θε ί α λειτονργ ί α τοῦ Χρνοσοτ ό μον. Charter XI-XII centuries M. Typogr. bib. No. 285 l. 9 rev.–11; RKP. XII-XIII centuries M. Synod. bib. No. 330 l. 36–38; Triode. RKP. XII century M. Typogr. bib. No. 254 l. 186 rev. – 187; No. 255 l. 54–55. Service RKP. XV century No. 1020 l. 31; XVI century No. 1025 l. 57; No. 1026 l. 47 rev; RKP. Volokol. bib. No. 342 l. 42; RKP. Typogr. bib. No. 132 l. 61 rev., 62 Typical. RKP. 1553 M. Synod. bib. No. 337 l. 452; XVI century No. 814 l. 275; RKP. Solov. bib. No. 1118 l. 478 rev; RKP. Anz.sk. No. 86 l. 348; RKP. Typogr. bib. No. 288 l. 502; RKP. Volokol. bib. No. 338 l. 262 rev; No. 342 l. 41 rev; Service RKP. Solov. bib. No. 1024 l. 38; No. 1025 l. 51; No. 1026 l. 47 rev; Triode. Ed. Moscow 1591 yr. 219. Τυπικ. edit. Κωνσταντ., 1838, p. 193. Church Charter. according to the order of Christ's great Church ed. 2nd, G. K. Protopsalt. 1860 Constant. page 303 Historical Vestn. 1884 book. XII page 761 Lent is great. in St. gr. Jerusalem, pp. 76–79 “The liturgy in the Church of the Resurrection was without waste, our Russian traveler describes the service on the first day of Easter in Jerusalem in 1858, 6 bishops served: His Eminence Meletius (patriarchal governor), Metropolitan Peter of Arabia, Samuil of Naples, Philemon of Gaz, Amir Macarius (visiting) and the head of the Russian mission Kirill, Bishop of Melitopol. The Gospel was read: on the throne, the Right Reverend Meletios - in Greek, the Right Reverend Cyril - in Slavic at the royal doors, the priests and the hierodeacon in the church - on the pulpits, in Greek, Slavic, Arabic, Wallachian and Turkish" (Lent in the Holy City of Jerusalem, p. 76). But there is no reason to connect our custom with this custom of the Jerusalem Church. Here we see the natural and completely reasonable desire of the Holy Sepulcher clergy to give strangers from distant and different countries the opportunity to listen to the Easter Gospel in their native language. In Jerusalem, this is done not only in relation to the Gospel, but to entire sequences performed in one language or another, or to individual exclamations and prayers pronounced by Greek hierarchs in Slavic, Moldavian, etc. “Matins was in Greek, writes A. Selivanova, but the litanies were pronounced alternately in Russian and in Greek, even two or three prayers were sung somehow timidly and quietly by our pilgrims” (Historical Vestn. 1884, book XII, p. 700). Whereas our current custom of reading the Gospel in different languages ​​is nothing more or less than a simple ceremony, which among the Greeks and throughout the East already takes place after vespers on the first day of Easter. The reading of the Gospels in different languages ​​at this time is viewed as a ceremony by modern Greek and Bulgarian Charters (Greek, 1838, p. 193; Church Charter, 1860, p. 303). That is why we do not connect our custom with the custom of the Jerusalem Church in relation to the reading of the Gospel at the liturgy of the first day of Easter. This is how the celebration of Vespers on this day is described in a handwritten booklet given to the candilapt of this church, or to the sexton in charge for the whole year. “On the first day of the Resurrection, says the little book we mentioned, Vespers should be with ceremony. The Gospel is read in different languages ​​by all (serving) priests and deacons. They are dressed in the best vestments in full attire. When they sing “I have cried to the Lord,” the sexton sprinkles rose water on the worshipers. At the last stichera, boys in surplices with green candles should be placed in a circle (around) in the middle of the church. When they make the entrance (with the Gospel), the boys should stand behind the priests and not move from their place upon exit while the priests begin to leave (from the altar) with the Gospel. Then each boy must follow the priest or deacon and stand on the right side of the lectern. Shine (i.e., light) candles in advance (in front of local images), chandeliers and polyeleos” (i.e., chandeliers in which lamps with wooden oil are placed instead of candles). In the east, Vespers on the first day everywhere begins with a solemn procession of the cross from the patriarch’s house to the church where this Vespers is to be celebrated. “At three o’clock in the afternoon, the patriarch and all the holy bishops put on all the bishop’s (sacred) clothes, says the Charter of the present Church of Constantinople, in the large synodal hall (εἰς τὸ μέγα σονιδικὸν), (where the meetings of the synod take place), and with the presentation of the honorable cross with ripids (? and with the singers singing “Christ is Risen” they go to church. After the initial exclamation: “Glory to the saints” (this exclamation is pronounced at all Easter services and at the celebration of Easter instead of: “Blessed is our God”), “Christ is Risen” is sung with its verses. Then the great litany, “I cried to the Lord” with “Let him be corrected,” the patriarch burns incense for all the people. After the resurrection stichera, “Before the Ages,” we are in six order, glory, “Singing the song of salvation,” and now, “The shade of the law has passed away.” Entrance with the Gospel, “Quiet Light”, prokeimenon: “Who is the great God, even as our God” (sung by the patriarch and bishops in the altar). Then, according to custom, the holy Gospel “I am present is late” is read (in various languages, as usual - the Bulgarian church charter), the litany: “Recite all”, “Lord vouchsafe”, “Let us fulfill our evening prayer”. After the exclamation, we sing stichera on the stichera: “Thy Resurrection is Christ the Savior.” Then “Holy Easter” with their verses, glory and now “Resurrection Day”, “Christ is Risen” three times and dismissal. Upon leaving the church, we sing “Christ is risen” to the synodal hall (μέχρι τοῦ συ v οδικοῦ), where, upon the arrival of the patriarch and bishops, the protopsalt of the patriarch is celebrated and the service ends” (Τυπιχ. 1838 pp. 192, 193). In the procession in Jerusalem, the clergy walks with lighted candles, and the patriarch walks, “holding a lighted candle in his left hand, and in his right hand a wonderful amal image of the Resurrection, in a frame of emeralds, rubies and diamonds” (Historical Vestn. 1884, p. 701). “At the exit (in the same place) the deacons with trikirii and dikirii are in front, then the priests with arks and crosses, then the bishops. While singing “Quiet Light,” they together overshadow the people” (Lent in the Holy City of Jerusalem, p. 76). In the Bulgarian church, the great prokeimenon is first sung in the altar, and then once in the choir (Church Charter, 1860, p. 302). We know the fact of reading the “Acts of the Apostles” in various foreign dialects on the first day of Easter during the liturgy in the church of the Kazan Foreign Teachers’ Seminary. This custom, established according to the thoughts of the highly enlightened director of the seminary N.I. Ilminsky, makes a deep impression on the students of the seminary and gives the entire divine service extraordinary majesty. In a similar way, many spiritual, moral and even liturgical books are printed in Kazan in various foreign dialects by the translation commission existing there at the missionary department. The translation of the Gospel we recommend could easily be carried out by this commission. You might be interested in: