SERVICE BOOK OF THE HOLY ORTHODOX-CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH COMPILED, TRANSLATED, AND ARRANGED FROM THE OLD CHURCH-SLAVONIC SERVICE BOOKS OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH AND COLLATED WITH THE SERVICE BOOKS OF THE GREEK CHURCH BY ISABEL FLORENCE HAPGOOD REVISED EDITION WITH INDORSEMENT BY PATRIARCH TIKHON ASSOCIATION PRESS NEW YORK : 347 MADISON AVENUE 1922 COPYRIGHT 1905 AND 1922 BY ISABEL FLORENCE HAPGOOD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED & 5 (0 o >• < Xft & (0 & < [-. J5 *=; *° • -Q 1» m d 6 3 § ) « CQ © « 45 W X d SIR m 8 3 3I If» . § I § | <d 3 « & 1 S 1 & « S & 45 &1 "> £ S 1 ENGLISH VERSION OF PATRIARCH'S ENDORSEMENT THE PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND OF ALL RUSSIA TIKHON Trinity Patriarchal House, Moscow November 3, 192 No. 793 To the AMERICAN YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, Berlin. Grace to you and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. We are profoundly touched by your noble and truly Christian desire and decision to re-publish that worthy work, "The Orthodox Service Book," the fruit of many years of labour on the part of Miss Isabel F. Hapgood. With prayerful and whole-souled sincerity We invoke God's all- effectual blessing upon this pious undertaking, which has for its object the spreading abroad upon earth of the faith of Christ, and aiding the living communion of believers in Christ with our Lord and Saviour, who is marvellous in His Saints; and We wish abundant success and joy in the Holy Spirit to all who shall labour in this great work. We express the joyful conviction that in the execution of the work thus undertaken, Dr. John R. Mott, whom I highly esteem, and his associates, will accord their favourable consideration to Miss Hapgood, and will invite her valuable and helpful assistance in the task of correcting the inaccura- cies, omissions and typographical errors that occurred in the first edition, of which, as We well know, she has already prepared a special record, for use in case a second edition should be issued. Glory be unto God for all things! Committing unto His provident will the completion of the work which has been undertaken to His Glory, We shall account Ourselves happy if the Lord shall grant Us the spiritual solace of hearing, while We are still among the living, that this book, so indispensable for understanding the teachings of the Holy Orthodox Apostolic Church, is published as an evi- dence of the zeal of the Young Men's Christian Association for the pro- claiming abroad of the truth of Christ. Our Patriarchal Blessing be upon Our American flock, always so near to Our heart; and upon Our never-to-be-forgotten American friends, and unto you all. Our Patriarchal Blessing and prayerful greeting! TIKHON (I F H) ' Patriarch of Moscow and of all Russia PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION OF THE SERVICE BOOK Had communications with Moscow been less complicated, His Holi- ness, Patriarch Tikhon would have received a complete set of the new proofs for his inspection. On January ist (the 14th N.S.), 1917- I dis- cussed with him, in Petrograd — he being then Archbishop of Vilna and Lithuania — the possibility of a much needed new edition , my own efforts to secure such an edition and a list of corrections which I had already prepared. The first edition was prepared and published under his super- vision, while he was at the head of The American Mission, as Archbishop of the Aleutian Islands and North America. From beginning to end the preparation of this second edition of The Service Book has been unreservedly and exclusively entrusted to me by the Young Men's Christian Association. I have made no changes whatso- ever, beyond the correction of accidental errors and omissions — none of them important — natural in the first edition of an exceedingly difficult work; with one exception: The word "Ruler" has been substituted for any more specific title in the prayers, litanies and hymns. This renders it easy for any one of the score of autonomous churches belonging to the Eastern Orthodox Con- fession to supply the appropriate Official title for the head of the State, wherever occasion may be found to use this version at their wonderful services. The Services, as herein set forth, are regularly and officially used, with unimportant local differences, in all the branches of the Orthodox Catho- lic Church. They are, also, used in one branch of the Roman Catholic Church, known historically as the "Uniat," or "Greek-Catholic" (Roman Catholic of the Greek Rite). The most considerable section of this Uniat Church is that which, at the close of the XVI. century, in South-West (Little) Russia, broke away from its Mother Church, the Russian, and became "Uniat" by recognizing the headship of Rome. It has retained the Old Church Slavonic language and all the Service Books of the Russian Church ; but the divergent dogmas and most of the customs of the Roman Church have gradually been substituted for those of the Mother Church. Since the World War this branch of the Roman Catholic Church has adopted the title of "The Ukrainian Church." (Signed) Isabel F. Hapgood January 14, 1922, PREFACE Some explanation is necessary touching the aim and scope of this Service Book, and my methods in compiling it. It has always been the policy of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic Church of the East to have her services celebrated in the languages of the countries inhabited by her members. In accordance with this policy it is desired, eventually, to make English the language, in this country, of the Russian Church, which was the first to bring Christianity to Alaska, and now has more parishes in all sections of the land than either of the other representatives of that Communion, — the Greek and Syro-Arabian branches. Moreover, the adoption of the English language is the sole solution of many difficulties encountered by the priests of that church in admin- istering to the spiritual wants of their flocks, who come from many countries, each of which has its own language or dialect, — Great Rus- sia, Little Russia, Galicia (in Eastern Austria), Hungary, Servia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Rumania, Syria, Greece, and, possibly, other localities. English is the Pan-Slavonic language in America, as Ger- man is the Pan-Slavonic language on the Continent of Europe. The children are reared in our American public schools, as a rule, and it will be difficult to teach them their church services in the original tongue, under the prevailing conditions. An English version of the services is also desirable for the pupils in such parish schools as exist, where much attention is given to instruction in English. I have used the Old Church-Slavonic books of the Russian Church, rather than the original Greek, because my work has been done, prima- rily, for the use of the Russian Church in America. Slight differences in arrangement and practice (not in dogma) have arisen between the Russian Church and the Greek Church, similar to those between the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church in America. I have carefully compared everything with the original Greek. My object has been to make a book which shall show, as precisely and clearly as possible, all services in and that in a the general use ; manner which shall be practical, not only for the ecclesiastics who are familiar with them and their congregations, but also "for students of Liturgies and for travellers in the various lands where the Orthodox Church exists, as well as visitors to the churches in America and in numerous capitals and cities of Europe. To that end I have adopted an arrangement of my own devising. The difficulty and intricacy of the undertaking have been very great, owing to this arrangement and to other factors in the case. The treasure of services in the Orthodox- vi PREFACE Catholic Church is so vast and so rich that a complete version, within a reasonable, convenient compass, is utterly out of the question. Accord- ingly, I have selected those services which are generally used, and in- clude, practically, all that are ordinarily required. For instance, I have omitted even the skeleton of such services as the Midnight Service (Polunosktchnitza), Little Vespers, the Blessing of a Ship (at launching), and many of a private nature, such as the Blessing of a Pectoral Cross, the Blessing when a Well is dug, and so forth. In the original the Litanies, Prayers, and certain of the Hymns in the unchanging framework of the Liturgies, Vespers, Compline, and Matins are printed consecutively. The movable portions and specially appointed Hymns are inserted according to the rubrics, at the proper points, from various other volumes. I have combined the fixed parts and have arranged them in such way as to show what takes place simultaneously within the Sanctuary and outside. I have also indicated the usual variations during Pontifical Services, Feasts, Fasts, and so forth, selecting these and the most important representative Hymns for various occasions from the numer- ous volumes in which they are dispersed. For the sake of convenience, I have combined the Liturgies of St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, and the Pontifical Liturgy, thus avoid- ing repetition, but keeping them as distinct, otherwise, as in the original. I have been obliged to leave the service for Vespers almost in a skeleton state, as it appears in the original service books (instead of filling it out, as in the case of the other services), because of its very great flexibility, which causes immensely wide variations dependent upon the seasons — the proximity of Fasts, Feasts, and so forth.