Vespers (Hesperinos)
M. C. STEENBERG
Vespers (Greek, Hesperinos) is the divine service associated with the setting sun, and thus the beginning of the liturgical day in the Orthodox Church. It is made up of three broad parts: the great psalm of creation (Ps. 103 LXX) followed by the hymn “Lord, I have cried ...” and its associated verses (stichera); the christological “Hymn of Light”; and the Aposticha and Song of Symeon (“Lord, Now Lettest Thou Thy Servant”). With these are interspersed various litanies and other prayers.
Theologically, Vespers signifies the calling out of creation for its Redeemer, who is encountered in the incarnate Jesus Christ: hence its focus on the created world (e.g., “There is the great and wide sea, wherein are creeping things innumerable,” Ps. 103.25), expectation, and the encounter with Christ (“O Gladsome Light of God the Father’s glory”; “Now Lettest Thou Thy Servant Depart in Peace,” etc.). Liturgically, Vespers constitutes the shift from one day to the next (technically, this takes place at the prayer “Vouchsafe, O Lord”),”), building upon the biblical ordering of a “day” as starting with the night (“And there was evening and there was morning: one day,” Gen. 1.5). Vespers can be served on its own, or (a common practice in the Russian parishes) as part of the monastic All-Night Vigil, where it is combined (abbreviatedly) with Matins (Orthros) and the First Hour.
Plate 76 An Orthodox bishop wearing the mantya robe and carrying the episcopal staff (rabydos) presides over the Vespers service. Pascal Deloche/Godong/Corbis
SEE ALSO: Apodosis; Apolytikion; Aposticha; Hieratikon, Horologion; Kathisma; Orthros (Matins); Prokeimenon; Sticheron
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Taft, R. (1985) The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.