Let us Complete our Morning Prayer unto the Lord

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By: Fr. Edward Henderson of St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church in
Berkeley, CA | June 17th, 2021

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According to The Statute of the Orthodox Church in America, our local church is “governed by Holy Tradition, that is, the whole body of teaching and practice of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. That Tradition is expressed first of all in Holy Scripture; in the dogmatic decisions and canons of the seven Ecumenical Councils, the canons of the local councils, the canons and writings of the Holy Fathers; in the liturgical life of the Church…” 1

Through the common prayer and worship offered and the grace imparted during the divine services and sacraments, we enter into the experience of Holy Tradition that is, according to Father Alexander Schmemann, “the entering of men into, and communion with, the reality of the Kingdom of God”. 2 The pinnacle of our liturgical and sacramental life is, of course, the Divine Liturgy. However, the daily offices (i.e. Vespers, Matins, Compline, etc.) are also an essential part of the life of a Christian community, be it a parish or a monastery. The psalms, along with the prayers and hymnody contained in the Horologion, Octoechos, Menaion, Lenten Triodion, and Pentecostarion imbue us with the empirical theology handed down by the saints and inspire us to follow in their footsteps. Furthermore, these services prepare us to more fully participate in the Divine Liturgy. In 2015, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church issued a document entitled: On the Participation of the Faithful in the Eucharist, which states: “Since the Liturgy is the summit of the whole liturgical cycle, the attendance at the services that precede the Liturgy- primarily, Vespers and Matins (or the Vigil)- is an important part of preparation for the partaking of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ.”3 The Guidelines for Clergy, compiled by the OCA Holy Synod, also reflect this understanding, stating: “As part of the necessary preparation demanded of the clergy in order to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, he must fast from the previous evening, celebrate (or read) Vigil (or, at least, Vespers), the canons and prayers before Holy Communion, and be clean in body and conscious.” Likewise, it states: “In addition to the Vigil, or Vespers and Matins, and the Divine Liturgy celebrated on Sundays and on the prescribed Great Feasts, the priest must strive to enhance the daily liturgical life of his parish by celebrating these services and other devotional services at appropriate times.” 4

Of all the daily offices, Matins (ὄρθρος, u4тренz) is the longest, most complicated, and most variating. Moreover, it is the richest of the services of the daily cycle. Sadly, it also is a most neglected service in that the majority of parishes in the OCA have completely omitted it from their regular liturgical life, serving it only during Holy Week, on Pascha, and maybe on the feasts of Christmas and Theophany. Many of our clergy, having not regularly attended a Sunday, festal, or daily Matins service since seminary, do not even know how to properly serve it. In my few years as a priest, I have never seen Matins served during our diocesan assemblies or clergy retreats. In 2018, during the All-American Council in Saint Louis, MO, on the eve of the Hierarchal Divine Liturgy, when it was announced that Vespers and Matins would be served, rather than just Vespers, many clergy bemoaned this last minute change to our schedule.

We call ourselves the Orthodox Church in America because we are called to be Christ’s Church in this land, yet Orthodox Christians, desiring to attend Matins, must often go to parishes of other jurisdictions. Our clergy are well educated in our seminaries, our faithful love the divine services, yet why can we not regularly serve Matins, while parishes of other Orthodox jurisdictions do? Why do we publish service texts for and instruct seminarians in the historical development, theological meaning of, and the details of serving Matins only to then grossly neglect this service in our parishes?

If we perceive Matins as an unnecessary inconvenience, why stop there? Why not omit Vespers as well, serving only the Divine Liturgy in our parishes? Moreover, why not conveniently transfer the feasts that fall outside Sunday to the nearest Sunday? Such practices have prevailed in the Christian West, contributing to the severe impoverishment of their liturgical life. Should such impoverishment become a hallmark of the OCA, given we are the only autocephalous Orthodox Church, whose sole canonical territory is in the West?

From the Six-Psalms to the Great Doxology, we journey through the entirety of salvation history during Matins, encountering both the persons and events of that history, while celebrating and proclaiming God’s mercy and revealing of Himself to mankind. When we omit this service, we impoverish ourselves liturgically and spiritually. How tragic that so many of us only hear the Paschal canon once a year! We deny ourselves the poetic retelling of the dialogue between the Mother of God and the Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation or instruction concerning the place of Our Lord’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor in the economy of our salvation. What other service of the daily cycle offers such edification and teaching and yet, we cannot be bothered to offer Matins in our parishes!

Imagine what kind of transformation and renewal would take place in the OCA if Matins became a regular part of our liturgical life! Nevertheless, I am not suggesting that all of our parishes should simply forthwith implement serving Matins, either as part of an evening Vigil or prior to the Divine Liturgy. What must change first is our attitude towards Matins. We must not encourage and ingrain an attitude in ourselves that Matins is too difficult and complex to serve. Our service books provide very clear rubrics, the OCA website now publishes the particular instructions for Sunday and festal Matins, and there are many excellent printed and online sources (including our own diocesan website) containing liturgical and rubrical instruction. In reality, if we can serve Vespers and the Divine Liturgy properly, it will not take much effort to learn to serve Matins. Likewise, we must not approach Matins with an attitude that offering it in our parishes is an impossibility. While it may not be possible to offer this service next weekend, we should have as a definite goal the eventual implementation of serving Matins regularly in our parish.

How then do we implement Matins? Clergy who are unfamiliar with serving Matins should read through it in the service book. Likewise, they should contact clergy within their own deanery and/or diocese who do regularly serve Matins if they have further questions. Those clergy, who regularly serve Matins, should make the time to help those who approach them wishing to learn and never speak to them in a condescending way. Clergy of other jurisdictions, most particularly of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (given our common liturgical heritage), can also help us. A local deanery or even the diocese itself could organize practical workshops to help implement Matins in the parishes.

In the current Russian practice, Matins is usually served with Vespers as part of a Vigil. In the Greek practice, Matins is served immediately prior to the Divine Liturgy. Throughout the OCA, we have parishes that follow either practice. So, parishes must determine what would work best for them. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Perhaps a parish first serving Matins should try both variations and see which works best.

Very few communities, including monasteries, serve Matins exactly according to the Typikon. While we must follow the liturgical directives of our hierarchs, there are several common abbreviations, such as omitting certain litanies and psalm readings, abbreviating the Matinal canons, and reducing the number of stichera at the Praises. A shortened Matins service is certainly better than no Matins service at all. Likewise, it can set the foundation upon which, as the clergy, readers, servers, and singers grow more competent and the parish community grows to more love this service, that it would eventually be served in a fuller form.

“Divine worship”, according to one Athonite Elder, “is the expression of man’s love for his Creator. It is man’s response to God’s love. Christians express their love for God either by glorifying His holy name, by giving thanks for His countless divine gifts, or by asking for His divine mercy.” 5 Such should be our primary motivation for serving Matins, as well as all the other divine services, in our parish. In an encyclical composed by the OCA Holy Synod entitled: On Spiritual Life in the Church, we read: “The liturgical prayer of the Church is performed according to the traditional rule of worship which we have received from God through the saints. The psalmody and hymnology of liturgical prayer is the breathing of the Holy Spirit in the Church. It is the Word of God given to us for God’s own glory. Every parish and every family and every person should be immersed in the liturgical prayer of the Church. The liturgical worship of the Church should be the context of our lives, the content of our spirits, the atmosphere in which we think and speak and act.” 6

Let us then more fully immerse ourselves in the liturgical prayer of the Church by offering the rich treasures contained in Matins. Let us grow to love this service and foster in our flock the desire to attend and participate in this great doxology. Let us encourage and help one another in serving Matins in our parishes. Let us all grow in our love for God so that we echo the words of the Prophet and King David: “Evening, and morning, and noon-day will I call out, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.” (Ps.54:18, LXX)

1 The Statute of the Orthodox Church in America, Preamble, https://www.oca.org/statute.
2 Problems of Orthodoxy in America, part III: The Spiritual Problem, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly, 1965, Vol. 9 , #4,
3 The Rule of Holy Communion, Jordanville: Printshop of Saint Job of Pochaev, p. 112.
4 https://www.oca.org/files/PDF/official/clergyguidelines.pdf
5 Hieromonk Gregorios, The Orthodox Faith, Worship, and Life, Cell of St. John the Theologion, Koutloumousiou Monastery, Mount Athos, 2016, p. 95.
6 https://www.oca.org/holy-synod/encyclicals/on-spiritual-life