Dear brothers and sisters in Christ —

Намагаймося всі смирити тіло стриманням, проходячи божественну путь непорочного посту, і в молитвах і сльозах Господа Спасителя нашого шукаймо.

Let us all make haste to humble the flesh by abstinence, as we set out upon the God-given course of the holy Fast; and with prayers and tears let us seek our Lord and Saviour.

The Office of Vespers as served on the evening of Cheesefare Sunday — marking the beginning of the Great Forty-day Fast. At the Great Prokeimenon, the altar cloths and hangings in the temple are changed to those of sombre, Lenten colour; the priest removes his phelonion and dons a dark epitrachelion. Immediately following the prayer “Vouchsafe, O Lord”, we begin to use Lenten melodies in answer to petitions at the Litany of Supplication and in troparia that follow. After the Dismissal, the clergy ask forgiveness of the faithful; the faithful of the clergy; the faithful of one another — so that as one, reconciled community: fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, we might together, with one voice, with one heart, approach the greater reconciliation that we know has come and is coming — the Passover of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — Holy Pascha.

The books include:

• Penitential Stichera from the Octoechos (the 8-tone weekly cycle),
• the Stichera from the Lenten Triodion,
• Troparia with Prostrations,
• Prayer of Venerable Ephrem the Syrian,
• Prayer at the Beginning of the Great Fast,
• a brief description of the Ceremony of Forgiveness that follows the Dismissal.

The font used at the Psalms, prayers and hymns is relatively large (14pt), intended to help preserve the text’s legibility even under low light conditions. The bilingual booklets are 80 pages in total, and are meant to be coil-bound. The monolingual booklets are half that number of pages, and are meant for the more economical saddle-stitch binding option. The two-colour version helps to distinguish the prayers, petitions and ecphoneses of the clergy as well as rubrics — but at a higher printing cost.

A special B&W “Cantor’s edition” at full, 8.5″ x 11″ letter-size and 20pt font is meant to be printed and placed in a binder on a Reader’s lectern.

As always, in everything to do with the worship life of the community — be guided by your Bishop and Priest.

Pray for us!

Five files to choose from:

1) Ukrainian and English in mirrored pagination — 2 Colour: 80 pages, half-letter size, 14pt font; for coil binding.

2) Ukrainian and English in mirrored pagination — B&W: 80 pages, half-letter size, 14pt font; for coil binding.

More economical printing options:
3) Ukrainian only — B&W: 40 pages, half-letter size, 14pt font; for saddle stitch binding.

4) English only — B&W: 40 pages, half-letter size, 14pt font; for saddle stitch binding.

5) “Cantor’s” Edition — Ukrainian and English in mirrored pagination — B&W, letter size, 20pt font, for placement in a binder. Useful for Readers in low-light conditions. This version does not include the Prayers of Light read by the priest in front of the Holy Doors at the reading of the 103rd Psalm.

Христос Рождається! Славім Його! • Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ —

A pocket-sized collection of Nativity and Epiphany Carols, meant to be bound in a booklet 4.5″ x 7.25″ in size. 15 carols in all, featuring a melody line, words in Ukrainian and transliterated Ukrainian — with additional verses given in mirrored Ukrainian and Transliterated text.

1) Колядуймо! Booklet: 4.5″ x 7.25″ format

For those who would prefer to print these booklets at home, in B&W — on standard, letter-sized pages — a special saddle-stitch booklet file is available. This requires printing double-sided, using the “short-edge binding” option in the print dialogue.

2) Колядуймо! Booklet: Half-Letter, B&W format

Христос Рождається! Славім Його!
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ —

A small collection of Morning Prayers and Small Compline at Evening. Unintimidating in size — it may be a useful introduction for those who are working to establish a daily prayer rule in their own lives and find this, at this initial stage, rather daunting.

pdf: Малий Молитовник • Small Prayer Book

Pray for us!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ —

Half-letter sized booklets, with the text for the service of Great Compline. The bilingual booklet features mirrored pagination, but is constrained by printing cost considerations to a smaller font (12pt) than the monolingual versions (14pt). The total number of pages in the bilingual edition also means that the most economical method of binding (saddle stitching) is unavailable. However, the version may still be useful for readers and choir directors — each page can be printed out onto a full letter-sized piece of paper and inserted into a binder for easy reference.

IMPORTANT: if printing each page to full letter-size, be sure to enable page scaling — which is off by default

In total, there are six files to choose from: Ukrainian-English, Ukrainian only and English only — in both two-colour and B&W versions. The latter are more cost-effective — and the monolingual versions should be saddle-stitch friendly. Always seek advice from a printer before committing to a print-run, however.

The text may be more or less abridged than your parish is used to (seek the advice of your Bishop or Priest and be guided by what they direct) — but the prayers at these Feasts of the Lord are very beautiful — and even those circumstance has consigned to echoes are worth reading, in a quiet moment, apart.

Joy at the coming Feast days!

Pray for us.

Two-colour: EN-UA bilingual booklet | UA-only | EN-only

Black & White: EN-UA bilingual booklet | UA-only | EN-only

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ — 

Updated and revised music in Ukrainian and English for Palm Sunday:

• 1st, 2nd and 3rd Antiphons
• Troparion and Kontakion
• Prokeimenon
• Zadostoinyk (Instead of the Hymn to the Mother of God)

Mirrored Ukrainian and English Music | Ноти — Українскою | Music — in English

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ —

The Ninth Hour and Great Vespers half-letter sized booklets, in parallel Ukrainian and English texts.

The Vesperal Service in the Orthodox Church can have four different orders: Daily Vespers, Lenten Vespers, Paschal Vespers,and Great Vespers. In addition, Great Vespers can be served in conjunction with Matins, to form the All-night Vigil. The booklet you hold in your hands contains the fixed parts of the service of Great Vespers and the 9th hour, and is intended for use when Great Vespers is served by itself on Saturday evening and the eve of feast days, with or without the Litia.

When served by itself, Great Vespers is usually preceded by the 9th hour. The hours of prayer are short, read (not sung) services, which correspond roughly to dawn (1st hour), morning (3rd hour), midday (6th hour), and mid-afternoon (9th hour), comprised of the opening prayers, 3 psalms, hymns, and prayers. These “canonical hours of prayer” have Biblical roots, and, along with Matins, Vespers, and Compline are a manifestation of the “sanctification of time”. It is normal to “aggregate” the hours to the nearest “main” service: the 1st hour following Matins, the 3rd and 6th hours preceding the Liturgy, and the 9th hour preceding Vespers. The 9th hour is the last service of the liturgical day (e.g., the 9th hour on Saturday afternoon is the last service of Saturday, and so we would read the festal or daily tropar and kondak for Saturday during the 9th hour), and Vespers is the first service of the new day (e.g., Vespers on Saturday evening is the first service of Sunday, so all the stykhyry, hymns, the dismissal, etc., are all for Sunday).

Depending on the local parish practice and the particular solemnity of the day or feast being celebrated, certain portions of the service will change.