service files weekday_vespers.md

** WEEKDAY VESPERS

A number of Orthodox Christians like to make daily Vespers their evening prayer and so we hope provide over the next few weeks the texts for Vespers for weekdays in the eight tones from the Octoichos.

TONE 1

On weekdays there are always six stichera at ‘Lord, I have cried’, of which three are normally taken from the Octoichos and three from the Menaion. In some monasteries two are taken from the first set in the Octoichos and one from the second. If the Menaia are not to hand, the General Menaion may be used, or, if one prefers, all six from the Octoichos, which was probably the older use. If the Saints of the day have their own doxastikon, then the strict Typikon orders all six stichera to be from the Menaion, with the stichera doubled.

On Friday evening the first Theotokion is always that used on the preceding Saturday evening, regardless of the tone of the doxastikon, if there is one.

FROM THE  OCTOICHOS **

In Tone 1 all the stichera for ‘Lord , I have cried’ use one of two melodies, ‘All-praised Martyrs’ and ‘Joy of the heavenly hosts’. The ‘Automela’, or ‘model’ troparia, can be found at the Aposticha; the former on both Wednesday and Friday and the latter on Sunday.  That on Friday occurs, somewhat curiously, among a set of Idiomela. None of the translations of these texts is metrical.

INTRODUCTION

The Psalm verses for the Aposticha can be found on Sunday, except for those for Friday, which are special.

The phrase which ends many troparia in Greek, literally ‘the great mercy‘, I translate by ‘his/your great mercy‘, because it echoes the opening of Psalm 50, which in Greek literally means ‘the great mercy of you‘; in English, ‘your great mercy‘.

TONE 1

ON SUNDAY EVENING