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At the English version of the website of Sretensky Monastery I found the following: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/30199.htmFr. Antipas was in charge of the “Unsleeping Psalter.” If it would happen that someone could not read the Psalter during his assigned hour due to illness or work (the reading never ceased even for an hour), then Fr. Antipas would come and read it himself, along with the commemoration books. He himself had four hours of Psalter reading every night, it seems.
He also prayed with his whole heart for people when he read the akathists. People would sometimes order special akathist services containing as many as twelve to fifteen akathists. Many monks did not like these long services very much—long akathists, and then endless lists of names… But Fr. Antipas would shine during these long, hard services; he so rejoiced, and felt how important the Church’s prayers are for the living and the dead.
Well, the time came when Fr. Antipas was no longer able to climb the long stairway leading to St. Michael’s cathedral on the hill. Batiushka celebrated his final service tearfully. The parishioners also wept, because they loved Fr. Antipas very much, and were grieved that this great man of prayer would no longer be present at the akathist services. Fr. Antipas also grieved because he would be deprived of the possibility to read his beloved akathists. This was during the mid 1980’s, when akathist books were not being published; people read from hand-written notebooks in those days. The suitcase full of akathists that Fr. Antipas had always governed was now being delegated to other clergymen. Two questions: 1) What is the practice of the Unceasing Psalter, and where is it done? 2) I've never heard before of these "twelve-to-fifteen akathist" services with endless commemorations of names, which must be awfully long. Could someone please add more info on this practice?
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There are monasteries where the Psalter is read without cease, usually a brother or monk reads 2 hours. During the Great Lenten the Psalter is read at our Cathedral by rotation.
The faithful souls send, here for instance, to monasteries akhatists with names of the alive or asleep...All the names are mentioned and the kinotita prays for during the Church services. Evening, midnight, night, morning, day..At the Divine Liturgy the priests prays for these names. Every monastery has an order, there are read more akhatists to our Lord, to Most Holy Mother of God, Saints Archangels etc, these akhatists are accompanied by reading of the names. I love this part with the names, it is beautiful to pray during a night service for all those souls with their names.
These said very briefly with my poor EN.
God help.
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There are monasteries where the Psalter is read without cease, usually a brother or monk reads 2 hours. During the Great Lenten the Psalter is read at our Cathedral by rotation.
The faithful souls send, here for instance, to monasteries akhatists with names of the alive or asleep...All the names are mentioned and the kinotita prays for during the Church services. Evening, midnight, night, morning, day..At the Divine Liturgy the priests prays for these names. Every monastery has an order, there are read more akhatists to our Lord, to Most Holy Mother of God, Saints Archangels etc, these akhatists are accompanied by reading of the names. I love this part with the names, it is beautiful to pray during a night service for all those souls with their names.
These said very briefly with my poor EN.
God help. You mean, there are assigned monks who take turns chanting akathists in the monasteries, according to the requests of the faithful?
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There is a similar tradition in some of our large Cathedrals.
Fr. Serge
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Akhatist = a special service dedicated to our Lord, Most Holy Mother of God and Saints, read or chanted.
to send an akhatist = ALIVE or ASLEEP: a list with names of alive or asleep persons, who are mentioned during the Church 7 lauds, within the Divine Liturgy. The 7 lauds, as vesper or orthros or etc contain daily an akhatist (see no. 1 def) to our Lord..At the end of this special service, or how decides the hieromonk or the Father egumenos himself, there is read the no.2 akhatist, namely the names. There are many traditions, that of St. Sabba, as there are the monasteries from northern Moldavia, that from Agio Oros, as there are a monastery and more sketes somewhere in Carpathians etc.
There are monks, brothers, nuns, sisters etc. assigned to read the Psalter by rotation. Why this? It would be fine that a Father here explain the meaning and the significance of the psalms in the Church life or the monastic life inside the monastery kinotita or at the monk's cell, where this has in his daily or night prayers order also the psalms.
There is a symbiosis between the faithful and the Church or monastery, of course, respecting the rule and order.
I have no idea how is in the Catholic Church, but I am sure that it must be a similar rule or tradition.
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Two questions:
1) What is the practice of the Unceasing Psalter, and where is it done?
2) I've never heard before of these "twelve-to-fifteen akathist" services with endless commemorations of names, which must be awfully long. Could someone please add more info on this practice?] The sayings of the Desert Fathers mention the continuous recitation of the Psalter, and it is likely this has been present in one form or another since the early days of Christianity. Quite a few monastic fathers have also suggested the practice more recently. One example is St. Theodore of Sanaxar, who in his rules for the nuns under his spiritual care of Arzamas, directed that the Psalter be read continuously by one of the nuns in another room or side chapel set aside for that purpose. The underlying idea is, of course, that the monastery prays without ceasing with this practice. Regarding Akathists, in especially the Ukrainian and Russian traditions there are many. Some monks and even parochial clergy pray a cycle of Akathists every day for the intentions given them. There are Akathists for the great feasts as well as the saints and events commemorated in the usual weekly cycle, as well as others for special occasions (the sick, the departed, the Passion of the Savior for Great Lent, etc.) Several monastic fathers have also recommended an Akathist to be prayed by their spiritual children with Compline or at some other time of the day. St. Theodore in his rule for the monks of Sanaxar recommended a rotating Akathist to be prayed with the Canons at Small Compline every evening.
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