When will the religious procession take place? Blessing of water, religious procession and jumping into an ice hole - in Russia they celebrate the holiday of Epiphany. Procession with the icon of the Mother of God "Deliverer from Troubles" in Tashlu
Having washed away human sin in the Jordan, Christ crushed the heads of invisible serpents in the water and sanctified the watery nature. In memory of this, a great blessing of water is performed on the feast of Epiphany.
As a matter of fact, on the feast of Epiphany two blessings of water are performed: one on the eve of the feast in the temple, and the second on the feast itself on rivers and wells.
Procession for Epiphany
At the beginning of the religious procession, the clergy emerge from the Royal Doors. The rector holds St. The cross is carried in front by banners, icons and lighted candles.
During the procession of the cross, the singers sing: “The voice of the Lord cries out on the waters, saying” and other troparia of the holiday. Then the proverbs, the Apostle and the Gospel about the baptism of Jesus Christ are read.
The proverbs contain prophecies about the regenerating power of God’s grace, which the prophets liken to water:
“The desert and the dry land will rejoice, and the uninhabited country will rejoice and bloom like a daffodil; It will bloom magnificently and rejoice, it will triumph and rejoice. … Then (at the time of the Messiah) the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap up like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will sing; For waters will break out in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Then the ghost of waters will turn into a lake, and the thirsty earth into springs of water... Thirsty! go, all of you, to the waters; even you who have no money, go... In joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation, and you will say on that day: glorify the Lord, call on His name; proclaim His works among the nations” (see the prophet Isaiah 35:1-10, 55:1-13 and 12:3-5).
After the Gospel, the deacon pronounces a litany with special water-blessing petitions. The priest reads a prayer in which he asks the Lord to grant purification, sanctification, health and blessing to all who receive communion and anoint with holy water.
After the prayer, the priest immerses the Holy Cross in water three times, while singing the troparion: “In the Jordan you are baptized, O Lord.” Then the priest sprinkles consecrated water on the temple, all those present and their homes.
The custom of blessing water on the day of baptism existed already in the 3rd century. St. John Chrysostom calls Epiphany water “agiasma” - a shrine. Since ancient times it has been known that Epiphany holy water does not spoil.
Epiphany water is sprinkled on icons, liturgical vessels, vestments and pectoral crosses during the rite of consecration. It is also used to consecrate houses, food, cars and other objects.
Accepted with faith, it has the power to heal ailments, both mental and physical. Without replacing Communion, it can serve instead of Communion to someone who, for some reason, is deprived of this consolation.
When despondency, embarrassment or upset of spirit, it gives peace and relief. For this reason, Christians keep holy Epiphany water at home in a holy corner and drink it with prayer in the morning on an empty stomach.
So, let us joyfully celebrate the bright holiday of the Baptism of the Lord, thanking the Savior for reviving us with water and the Spirit in the sacrament of baptism and for opening the way to the Kingdom of Heaven for us!
You won’t even need to find out the procession for Easter 2018: what time if you go to the evening service. The service begins on Saturday evening and continues until midnight and then after. As for the Procession of the Cross, which is part of the festive service, it takes place some time before midnight.
About the features of the procession
If we give a brief description of the procession on Easter or another Christian holiday, then we can say that this is a solemn procession. First come the clergy with icons and other paraphernalia, church banners. Behind them come the believers who came to the service. During the Procession of the Cross, a large area of the church is sanctified.
The procession takes place several times during the church year. In addition to Easter, this also happens on Epiphany, on the second Savior for the blessing of water. Also, church processions are often organized in honor of some great church or state events. Sometimes a religious procession is held by the church in emergency situations, for example, during natural disasters, disasters or war.
What else is important to know
Why is the religious procession needed and its meaning?
Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:
A procession of the cross is a crowded ceremonial procession from one temple to another, around the temple or to some designated place (for example, a holy spring) with a large altar or external cross, from which the procession itself received its name. Participants in the procession also carry the Holy Gospel, icons, banners and other shrines of the temple. Priests and clergy perform a procession in liturgical vestments. During the procession, the troparion of the holiday, irmos, and sometimes the festive canon (on Easter week) are sung. Processions of the cross are regular (calendar) and extraordinary (during epidemics, wars and other special events).
The procession of the cross is an expression of the united people's faith and a fervent prayer to the Lord and Mother of God for the granting of grace-filled help to the Church and people.
Processions of the cross arose in the 4th century in Byzantium. Saint John Chrysostom organized night processions through the streets of Constantinople against the Arians. For this purpose, silver crosses were made on poles, which were solemnly carried around the city along with the holy icons. People walked with lit candles. This is how our church processions of the cross arose. Later, in the fight against the heresy of Nestorius, special religious processions were organized by St. Cyril of Alexandria, seeing the emperor’s hesitation. Later, in Constantinople, to get rid of mass diseases, the Life-Giving Tree of the Honest Cross was taken out of the churches and carried along the streets of the city. Thus a holiday was established, called Origin(wearing out, coming out) honorable trees of the cross of the Lord(August 1/14).
On Friday, January 19, Russians, together with other Orthodox Christians, celebrate one of the greatest holidays in the church calendar of each year - Epiphany. On this day, the church and people honor many traditions and perform special rituals designed to cleanse people of sins and receive forgiveness and God’s blessings for the entire next year.
The main symbol of the evening of January 18 and the day of January 19 is water - the source of life, symbolizing life itself. It is consecrated in churches and on open reservoirs so that believers can collect it for storage in their home and subsequent use for medicinal purposes and as a talisman.
They advise you to swim in consecrated reservoirs, despite the winter cold - a ritual performed with pure thoughts and sincere repentance before heaven will bring you a blessing for a healthy and happy life in the next year.
In general, the Epiphany holiday lasts three days. It, like Christmas, begins with Lenten kutya on Christmas Eve, then the day of Epiphany itself continues, and the next day comes the day of John the Baptist - it was then that Jesus Christ was baptized in the Jordan River, which, by the way, is considered sacred on January 18-19.
The procession of the cross is a mandatory attribute of all important church holidays and is a kind of procession of clergy with icons in their hands and a blessing on the lips of believers.
Of the traditions on the feast of Epiphany, the procession of the cross is worth highlighting separately - it is always led by a priest with a cross. The procession of the Cross begins immediately after the end of the morning service. The ministers bless the water for those who brought it with them to the service, and then in a solemn procession they go to open reservoirs to bless all those gathered for the ritual of collecting water and Epiphany bathing.
The course ends at the ice hole, where mass swimming in it then begins. In addition, after the blessing of water, on January 18 and 19, it is considered not only healing, but even magical - it is given to seriously ill people to drink, kept at home for a year until the next Epiphany, corners, cars are blessed, children are blessed for marriage or a long journey, They sprinkle livestock and even a plot of land to protect their property from the evil eye and unkind thoughts of envious people.
Procession for Epiphany 2018
As on any other church holiday, you cannot work or do household chores on Epiphany, reports the Rosregistr portal. There is a particular taboo on washing - today it is better not to dirty water, but to treat it with care and reverence.
Dedicate the day to rest and celebration - since ancient times, after Epiphany bathing, families gathered at rich tables to celebrate the end of a series of winter holidays, united in the Holy week.
Today you cannot drink alcohol, use foul language, swear, have conflicts, offend and be offended - the day must pass in peace and harmony, in reconciliation with enemies and enemies, because only with pure thoughts and an open heart can you plunge into the ice hole in search of complete forgiveness of sins and obtaining health and prosperity for the next year.
In addition, there are many signs for Epiphany. So, if the weather is clear and cold on this day, then the summer will be dry and hot. But if it’s cloudy and snowy, then you can expect a bountiful harvest.
Crying is a bad omen at Epiphany - anyone who sheds extra tears on the holiday will suffer throughout the next year.
In Orthodox churches, as well as in Catholic churches that perform Eastern liturgical rites in their religious life, it has become a tradition to organize solemn processions with banners and icons, in front of which a large cross is usually carried. From him such processions received the name of religious processions. These could be processions organized on Easter week, Epiphany, or on the occasion of any significant church events.
Birth of a tradition
Processions of the cross are a tradition that came to us from the first centuries of Christianity. However, during the times of persecution of followers of the evangelical teaching, they were associated with considerable risk, and therefore were carried out in secret, and almost no information about them has been preserved. Only isolated drawings on the walls of the catacombs are known.
The earliest mention of such a ritual dates back to the 4th century, when the first Christian emperor Constantine I the Great, before the decisive battle, saw in the sky the sign of the cross and the inscription: “By this victory.” Having ordered the production of banners and shields with the image of a cross, which became the prototype of future banners, he moved a column of his troops towards the enemy.
Further, the chronicles report that a century later, Bishop Porfiry of Gaza, before erecting another Christian temple on the site of a ruined pagan temple, made a religious procession to it to consecrate the land desecrated by idolaters.
Emperor in hair shirt
It is also known that the last emperor of the united Roman Empire, Theodosius I the Great, used to perform religious processions with his soldiers every time he went on a campaign. These processions, preceded by the emperor, dressed in a hair shirt, always ended near the tombs of the Christian martyrs, where the honorable army prostrated themselves, asking for their intercession before the Heavenly Powers.
In the 6th century, religious processions in churches were finally legalized and became a tradition. They were given such great importance that the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (482-565) issued a special decree according to which it was forbidden for the laity to perform them without the participation of clergy, since the pious ruler saw in this a profanation of the sacred rite.
The most common types of religious processions
Having become over time an integral part of church life, religious processions today take a wide variety of forms and are performed on a number of occasions. Among them the most famous are:
- The Easter religious procession, as well as all other processions associated with this main holiday of the annual Orthodox circle. This includes the religious procession on Palm Sunday ─ “walking on a donkey.” On Holy Saturday, the prototype of the procession is the removal of the shroud. It is celebrated at Easter Matins (this will be discussed in more detail below), as well as daily during Bright Week and every Sunday until the day of Easter.
- Processions of the cross on the days of major Orthodox holidays, as well as patronal holidays, celebrated by the community of a particular parish. Such processions are often organized in honor of the consecration of temples or celebrations dedicated to especially revered icons. In these cases, the route of the religious procession runs from village to village, or from temple to temple.
- To consecrate the water of various sources, as well as rivers, lakes, etc. They are performed on the day of the Epiphany of the Lord (or on the Christmas Eve preceding it), on Friday of Bright Week ─ the feast of the Life-Giving Spring, and on August 14, on the day of the Carrying of the Venerable Trees of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord .
- Funeral processions accompanying the deceased to the cemetery.
- Associated with any, as a rule, unfavorable life circumstances, for example, drought, floods, epidemics, etc. In such cases, a religious procession is part of a prayer service for the intercession of the Heavenly Forces and the sending of deliverance from the disasters that have befallen, which include also man-made disasters and military actions.
- Inside the temple, performed on a number of festivals. Lithium is also considered a type of religious procession.
- Performed on the occasion of any public holidays or major events. For example, in recent years it has become a tradition to celebrate National Unity Day with religious processions.
- Missionary religious processions held with the aim of attracting non-believers or followers of other religious teachings into their ranks.
Aerial religious processions
It is interesting to note that in our age of scientific and technological progress, a completely new non-canonical form of holding a religious procession using technical means has appeared. This term usually means a flight made by a group of priests with an icon on an airplane, performing prayer services in certain places.
It began in 1941, when the miraculous copy of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God was placed around Moscow in this way. This tradition was continued during the perestroika years by flying over the borders of Russia, timed to coincide with the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ. It is believed that as long as the procession of the cross, performed on an airplane, lasts, the grace of God is sent down to earth.
Features of the religious procession
According to the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic tradition, the Easter procession, like any other procession performed around the temple, moves in the direction opposite to the movement of the sun, that is, counterclockwise - “anti-salt”. Orthodox Old Believers perform their religious processions, moving in the direction of the sun ─ “salt.”
All church clergy participating in it go in pairs in vestments appropriate for the given occasion. At the same time, they sing a prayer canon. A mandatory attribute of a procession is a cross, as well as burning censers and lamps. In addition, banners are carried during the procession, the ancient prototype of which is military banners, which once became part of sacred rites, since emperors took part in them. Also, from time immemorial, the tradition of carrying icons and the Gospel came.
When does the procession start on Easter?
Among the many questions that interest everyone who is just beginning their “path to the temple,” on the eve of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, this one is asked most often. “What time is the procession on Easter?” ─ asked mainly by those who do not attend church regularly, but only on the days of the main Orthodox holidays. It is impossible to answer this by naming the exact time, since this happens around midnight, and some deviations in both one direction and the other are quite acceptable.
Midnight Office
The festive church service, during which a religious procession takes place, begins on the evening of Holy Saturday at 20:00. Its first part is called the Midnight Office. It is accompanied by sad chants dedicated to the suffering on the cross and the death of the Savior. The priest and deacon perform incense (fumigate with a censer) around the Shroud - a cloth plate with an image of Christ laid in the coffin. Then, with the singing of prayers, they take it to the altar and place it on the Throne, where the Shroud will remain for 40 days until the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord.
The main part of the holiday
Shortly before midnight it is time for Easter Matins. All the priests, standing at the Throne, perform a prayer service, at the end of which the ringing of bells is heard, heralding the approach of the bright holiday of the Resurrection of Christ and the beginning of the procession. According to tradition, the solemn procession circles the temple three times, each time stopping at its doors. Regardless of how long the procession lasts, they remain closed, thereby symbolizing the stone that blocked the entrance to the Holy Sepulcher. Only the third time the doors open (the stone is thrown away), and the procession rushes inside the temple, where Bright Matins is celebrated.
Festive singing of bells
An important component of the solemn procession around the temple is the ringing of bells ─ at the time the procession of the cross on Easter leaves the doors of the temple, at the same time its joyful sounds, called “trebelling,” begin to be heard. The complexity of this type of bell ringing lies in the fact that it includes three independent parts, constantly alternating and separated only by a short pause. From time immemorial it was believed that it was during the religious procession that bell ringers had the most favorable opportunity to show off their skills.
The festive Easter service usually ends no later than 4 am, after which the Orthodox break their fast, eating colored eggs, Easter cakes, Easter cakes and other foods. During the entire Bright Week, announced by the joyful ringing of bells, it was customary to have fun, go to visit and receive relatives and friends. One of the main requirements for every owner of the house was generosity and hospitality, so widespread in Orthodox Rus'.
