www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Vespers? There was one?

Since this has been bantered around in the past and recently.

I am curious:

a) For the Feast of St. Nicholas (Gregorian Calendar) earlier this week. Was there a single Ruthenian Rite parish in the the whole USA that had Vespers on Tuesday? No, not Vespers with Liturgy, but pure (or whatever you want to call it) Vespers.

b) this coming Saturday, how many Ruthenian Rite parishes in the the whole USA will have Vespers? No, not Vespers with Liturgy, but pure (or whatever you want to call it) Vespers. And does your parish normally do this.

c) this coming Sunday, how many Ruthenian Rite parishes in the the whole USA will have Matins?

I wonder what kind of list we'll have?

I'd rather this not turn into a spitting match and I humbly ask that it simply stays in the realm of whether or not your parish had these services. I sure don't envy the job of our moderators.

Monomakh

Glory to Jesus Christ!

You asked about parishes. These are the parishes which, to my knowledge, serve Vespers on Saturdays and the eves of great feasts:

In the Eparchy of Parma:

(1) St. John Chrysostom, Columbus, OH
(2) Annunciation, Homer Glen, IL
(3) St. Luke, Kansas City, MO

In the Eparchy of Van Nuys:

(1) Holy Angels, San Diego, CA
(2) Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Albuquerque, NM

In the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh:

(1) St. John Chrysostom, Houston, TX*
(2) St. Basil the Great, Irving, TX*

(these two parishes have new pastors and are in the process of setting up the structure for weekly Vespers)

I have no information about parishes in the Eparchy of Passaic which have a weekly celebration of Vespers. I hope that, if there are parishes, someone will post their names.

Of course, the Seminary in Pittsburgh has Vespers on Saturdays and the eves of all great feasts, and Matins on Sunday.

Can someone else fill in the list more?

Prof. J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

Lets see now, 7 parishes do or will start to have vespers. Out of 218 parishes, that works out to......3%. There will be more vespers services celebrated in the Orthodox Churches in Mckeesport Pa. Saturday night than in the whole Byzantine Catholic Metropolia.

Alexandr

St John the Baptist in Wilkes Barre (Passaic) has Great Vespers on Saturday afternoons. There is Vespers with Divine Liturgy on the eves of Gmost feasts.

So..in the afternoon? What time?

Vespers should be reasonably close to sunset, since it is the beginning of the liturgical day, and forms the cornerstone for one of the Church's missions: the sanctification of time.

+Fr. Chris

Dear Monomakh:

Glory to IC XC!

Please join us for Great Vespers on Saturday evenings at 5:00 p.m. at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church in Pittsburgh, PA. We will be happy to have you.

Dear Monomakh:

St. Emilian in Brunswick, Ohio, celebrates Vespers then has a separate Divine Liturgy on Saturdays. On Sundays, we have the Office of Matins followed immediately by Divine Liturgy. On feast days we have a Vigil Divine Liturgy instead of Vespers for the feast.

SK

SS. Cyril and Methodius in Cary, NC has Vespers at 6:30 pm every Saturday and before all major Holy Days. Matins is served at 7:30am on Sundays, followed by Divine Liturgy at 10:00. It is also served at 6:30am on Holy Days.

St Stephen's in Phoenix had Great Vespers of St Nicholas on Tuesday evening. We are also doing Compline on the Fridays preceding Christmas.

It appears that not one of our Cathedrals celebrates Vespers and/or Matins. I know that in Parma at St. Johns that they do Vespers with Liturgy, but not straight Vespers. I'll assume that the others don't as well.

Sophia, thanks for noting that a church in the Metropolia actually had Vespers for St. Nicholas, I was beginning to get depressed.

If I had a prize to give out you would have won.

Monomakh