What time does the Easter service in the church begin and end? The painting "rural religious procession at Easter" is an example of the religious ignorance of the intelligentsia

In Orthodox churches, as well as in Catholic churches that perform Eastern liturgical rites in their religious life, it has become a tradition to organize solemn processions with banners and icons, in front of which a large cross is usually carried. From him such processions received the name of religious processions. These could be processions organized on Easter week, Epiphany, or on the occasion of any significant church events.

Birth of a tradition

Processions of the cross are a tradition that came to us from the first centuries of Christianity. However, during the times of persecution of followers of the evangelical teaching, they were associated with considerable risk, and therefore were carried out in secret, and almost no information about them has been preserved. Only a few drawings on the walls of the catacombs are known.

The earliest mention of such a ritual dates back to the 4th century, when the first Christian emperor Constantine I the Great, before the decisive battle, saw in the sky the sign of the cross and the inscription: “By this victory.” Having ordered the production of banners and shields with the image of a cross, which became the prototype of future banners, he moved a column of his troops towards the enemy.

Further, the chronicles report that a century later, Bishop Porfiry of Gaza, before erecting another Christian temple on the site of a ruined pagan temple, made a religious procession to it to consecrate the land desecrated by idolaters.

Emperor in hair shirt

It is also known that the last emperor of the united Roman Empire, Theodosius I the Great, used to perform religious processions with his soldiers every time he went on a campaign. These processions, preceded by the emperor, dressed in a hair shirt, always ended near the tombs of the Christian martyrs, where the honorable army prostrated themselves, asking for their intercession before the Heavenly Powers.

In the 6th century, religious processions in churches were finally legalized and became a tradition. They were given such great importance that the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (482-565) issued a special decree according to which it was forbidden for the laity to perform them without the participation of clergy, since the pious ruler saw in this a profanation of the sacred rite.

The most common types of religious processions

Having become over time an integral part of church life, religious processions today take a wide variety of forms and are performed on a number of occasions. Among them the most famous are:

1. The Easter religious procession, as well as all other processions associated with this main holiday of the annual Orthodox circle. This includes the religious procession on Palm Sunday ─ “walking on a donkey.” On Holy Saturday, the prototype of the procession is the removal of the shroud. It is celebrated at Easter Matins (this will be discussed in more detail below), as well as daily during Bright Week and every Sunday until the day of Easter.
2. Processions of the cross on the days of major Orthodox holidays, as well as patronal holidays, celebrated by the community of a particular parish. Such processions are often organized in honor of the consecration of temples or celebrations dedicated to especially revered icons. In these cases, the route of the religious procession runs from village to village, or from temple to temple.
3. To consecrate the water of various sources, as well as rivers, lakes, etc. They are performed on the day of the Epiphany of the Lord (or on the Christmas Eve preceding it), on Friday of Bright Week ─ the feast of the Life-Giving Spring, and on August 14, on the day of the Carrying of the Venerable Trees of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord .
4. Funeral processions accompanying the deceased to the cemetery.
5. Associated with any, as a rule, unfavorable life circumstances, for example, drought, floods, epidemics, etc. In such cases, a religious procession is part of a prayer service for the intercession of the Heavenly Forces and the sending of deliverance from the disasters that have befallen, which include also man-made disasters and military actions.
6. Inside the temple, performed on a number of festivals. Lithium is also considered a type of religious procession.
7. Performed on the occasion of any public holidays or major events. For example, in recent years it has become a tradition to celebrate National Unity Day with religious processions.
8. Missionary religious processions held with the aim of attracting non-believers or followers of other religious teachings into their ranks.

Aerial religious processions

It is interesting to note that in our age of scientific and technological progress, a completely new non-canonical form of holding a religious procession using technical means has appeared. This term usually means a flight made by a group of priests with an icon on an airplane, performing prayer services in certain places.

It began in 1941, when the miraculous copy of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God was placed around Moscow in this way. This tradition was continued during the perestroika years by flying over the borders of Russia, timed to coincide with the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ. It is believed that as long as the procession of the cross takes place on an airplane, the grace of God is sent down to earth.

Features of the religious procession

According to the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic tradition, the Easter procession, like any other procession performed around the temple, moves in the direction opposite to the movement of the sun, that is, counterclockwise - “anti-salt”. Orthodox Old Believers perform their religious processions, moving in the direction of the sun ─ “salt.”

All church clergy participating in it go in pairs in vestments appropriate for the given occasion. At the same time, they sing a prayer canon. A mandatory attribute of a procession is a cross, as well as burning censers and lamps. In addition, banners are carried during the procession, the ancient prototype of which is military banners, which once became part of sacred rites, since emperors took part in them. Also, from time immemorial, the tradition of carrying icons and the Gospel came.

When does the procession start on Easter?

Among the many questions that interest everyone who is just beginning their “path to the temple,” on the eve of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, this one is asked most often. “What time is the procession on Easter?” ─ asked mainly by those who do not attend church regularly, but only on the days of the main Orthodox holidays. It is impossible to answer this by naming the exact time, since this happens around midnight, and some deviations in both one direction and the other are quite acceptable.

Midnight Office

The festive church service, during which a religious procession takes place, begins on the evening of Holy Saturday at 20:00. Its first part is called the Midnight Office. It is accompanied by sad chants dedicated to the suffering on the cross and the death of the Savior. The priest and deacon perform incense (fumigate with a censer) around the Shroud - a cloth plate with an image of Christ laid in the tomb. Then, with the singing of prayers, they take it to the altar and place it on the Throne, where the Shroud will remain for 40 days until the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord.

The main part of the holiday

Shortly before midnight it is time for Easter Matins. All the priests, standing at the Throne, perform a prayer service, at the end of which the ringing of bells is heard, heralding the approach of the bright holiday of the Resurrection of Christ and the beginning of the procession. According to tradition, the solemn procession circles the temple three times, each time stopping at its doors. Regardless of how long the procession lasts, they remain closed, thereby symbolizing the stone that blocked the entrance to the Holy Sepulcher. Only the third time the doors open (the stone is thrown away), and the procession rushes inside the temple, where Bright Matins is celebrated.

Festive singing of bells

An important component of the solemn procession around the temple is the ringing of bells ─ at the time the procession of the cross on Easter leaves the doors of the temple, at the same time its joyful sounds, called “trebelling,” begin to be heard. The complexity of this type of bell ringing lies in the fact that it includes three independent parts, constantly alternating and separated only by a short pause. From time immemorial it was believed that it was during the religious procession that bell ringers had the most favorable opportunity to show off their skills.

The festive Easter service usually ends no later than 4 am, after which the Orthodox break their fast, eating colored eggs, Easter cakes, Easter cakes and other foods. During the entire Bright Week, announced by the joyful ringing of bells, it was customary to have fun, go to visit and receive relatives and friends. One of the main requirements for every owner of the house was generosity and hospitality, so widespread in Orthodox Rus'.

Always on the night from Saturday to Sunday. This action usually takes place around midnight. Because it is after the procession that Easter comes. But the service does not end with the end of the procession. Festive services begin and will last for several more hours.

Why this name

In Orthodoxy, religious processions can be long or short. On Easter, in particular, there is a short religious procession. But there are times when he goes from one city to another or even sails (even sea religious processions are recorded in history).

This action received this name due to the fact that at the very beginning of the procession the priest carries a large cross. Next, the temple servants carry the most important icons and banners. When the procession takes place on Easter 2015, it is always closer to midnight. The clergy and congregation circle the temple three times. Which ones will you cook?

The meaning and significance of the Easter Procession

Despite the fact that the Easter procession takes place around midnight, the service on Holy Saturday begins at 20.00. It is best to come to the service early and listen to at least part of the service. This pre-holiday service is very beautiful and has an important religious meaning for every believer.

The religious procession begins after the bells ring. The priests and believers walk around the temple three times, and each time they stop at the door of the temple. The first two times the doors are closed, and the third time they open, which means Christ is Risen and Easter has come. The temple door in this case is a symbol of the stone that closed the entrance to the cave where Jesus Christ was buried. As you know, on Sunday morning this heavy stone was opened.

After midnight and the religious procession, with the onset of Easter, the priests change into white festive clothes and the service continues.

When to break your fast

What does it mean to break your fast? This is to eat food that we have consecrated during Holy Saturday. This food should not be a lot; the set must include Easter cake and salt, eggs, and a piece of meat. On Easter morning you will need to read a prayer and eat a piece of each blessed product. It is recommended to start your meal this way throughout Flower Week.

Many believers want to know what time the procession is for Easter 2015 in order to plan their holiday meal. But, according to the church charter, the meal should be held on Easter morning, and not immediately after the service.

Usually the procession of the Cross on the eve of Easter takes place in every church, regardless of whether it is a big city or a small village. You can find out the exact start time of the service during the day on Holy Saturday, when all believers go to church to bless their Easter baskets. Of course, each person can choose for himself which of the entire services on Holy Saturday is most important for him. But it is better, of course, to come to the beginning of the service, then join the procession and, if possible, defend the next few hours of the Easter service.

At Easter, as during Lent, it is extremely important to go to church. There are especially suitable days for this, although services are held almost every day. Of course, Easter for modern people is a bright holiday of spring, sweet Easter cakes and colored eggs. But it is much more important to pay attention to the spiritual component of this event. Once upon a time, many years ago, Jesus Christ accepted martyrdom for every sin of man. Today we have the power to avoid sin by respecting the sacrifice of the Son of God.

Procession of the Cross as depicted by Vasily Perov

In the photo: the painting “Procession at Easter”

In 1861, the famous Russian artist Vasily Perov painted the painting “Rural religious procession at Easter.” The canvas depicts a typical scene of the main Orthodox holiday in the village, familiar to most viewers of that time. A group of peasants, men and women, in accordance with the established order of the religious procession, moves along a rural street with icons, banners and crosses. Some faces show signs of religious enthusiasm. But a common feature of their condition immediately catches the eye - the participants in the procession are drunk. The priest standing on the porch of the house with a cross in his lowered hand, and the entire group of characters surrounding him, are very drunk to the point of insanity. Two of them are already lying down, the third is barely being kept from falling by a young peasant woman. In the center of the picture stands a peasant woman holding an icon in her hands and casually dressed (one stocking is pulled down). There is a mixed expression of ecstasy and drunken stupor on her face. An elderly man walking next to him with an icon lowered his head low, stupefied by hops. On the left you can see the dark figures of the procession participants, one of whom is reading a book. They are all poorly dressed, and no one expresses joy about Easter. The alienation of these people from each other is noticeable - they look in different directions. Above the hut stands a bare tree without leaves, and the sky is overcast with clouds, through which sunlight is barely visible, which enhances the general mood of despondency emanating from the procession.

The artist expressed in his painting a sharply negative attitude towards the tradition of the religious procession and, perhaps, towards religion in general, emphasizing the low cultural level of believers. In the middle and second half of the 19th century, the work of Vasily Perov was popular in Russia, largely due to the atheistic and realistic trends in the description of social mores. The painting “Rural Procession at Easter” is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, reminding our contemporaries of the dark pages of the country’s history. This needs to be discussed in the context of the artificial return of church orders and customs to public life in recent years, sanctioned by officials and taking clearly uncivilized forms. The thoughtless idealization of religion in the media and education can lead us to a spiritual dead end.

In the photo: painting by V. Perov “Meal in the Monastery”

Vasily Perov’s painting “Meal in the Monastery” continues the line of realistic depiction of the Russian clergy in the artist’s work, begun by the painting “Rural Procession at Easter”. The plot of this monumental painting represents a multi-figure composition of participants in a feast in a monastery. As in the previous work, the clergy feast with copious alcoholic libations. In this state, they openly show their true attitude towards people. The monastery authorities push around the servants and people of low rank, demonstrating conceit and arrogance. They have no trace of “Christian humility.” In the foreground is a fat priest, he is already drunk. Opposite him, another visibly inebriated priest looks at his plate in bewilderment. Near the table, the figure of an equally drunken monk bent in a low bow. On the right side of the picture there is a pair of noble guests - an important lady and her elderly husband or patron, with a priest obsequious to them. They pay no attention to the poor woman with her children holding out her hand for alms. A group of petitioners and singers is concentrated in the background. And the image of the crucified Christ between the tables looks completely out of place in this drunken orgy.

In the church-monastic environment, obviously, the same morals prevail as throughout Russian society. People are bound by feudal relations of dominance and subordination. The importance of each person is determined by his position in the social hierarchy. This idea is the content of Perov’s painting.

As part of my work, I regularly look through various masterpieces of painting. Very often you come across pictures with a very interesting fate and history. Unfortunately, it is impossible to put all the pictures on the front page of the newspaper. I will display them here. The first “Rural religious procession at Easter” by the brilliant Vasily Perov. The presentation of the picture at one time was met with a great scandal... however, even in our time, when clerical sentiments are propagated by the authorities, the picture would have been met with indignant cries from various Chaplins.

The painting “Rural Procession at Easter” is permeated with the ideas of the so-called critical realism, which flourished in post-reform Russia. During this period, Perov, following the common ideologists, was confident that the main meaning and purpose of art was to expose the vices of Russian society. In this context, the “Rural Procession at Easter” is extremely characteristic.

The most expressive are the faces of a drunken priest, who has lost his human form, and a young, simple-minded peasant woman with lowered ankle boots. Clearly drunk, she earnestly sings a prayer service, her eyes half-closed. The man holding the inverted icon is also expressive; it must be understood that he is also not entirely sober. From the peasant house, in which the priest and the clergy celebrated the Resurrection of Christ, there is a difficult path ahead to the church, visible in the distance. Judging by the degree of their intoxication, the path will be difficult.

Perov cannot be denied his artistic talent. The social and psychological characteristics of the film characters are precisely verified. The artist has brought the rendering of the texture of the material to the illusion of natural authenticity. Only the wooden hut is not painted convincingly enough; obviously, it was painted from memory, and not from life. The landscape of early rural spring, against which a church procession takes place, is successful.

A year later, the canvas was exhibited to the general public at the St. Petersburg annual exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, and a public scandal began. The pious and well-meaning spectators were shocked. Critics appreciated the picturesque features of the canvas. Nihilists and the “advanced” public, who professed Chernyshevsky and Pisarev, received Perov’s creation with a bang. Meanwhile, Stasov noted that such satire “bites painfully.” The writer Kovalensky praised the painting for its “fidelity to reality and for its excellent technical execution.” The famous official sculptor Mikeshin criticized it for being “snatched... from living reality,” “seeing nothing but dirt in it.”

The reaction to Dostoevsky’s painting was unexpected; after hard labor he could not stand the “negative direction,” in which he found “sarcasm and mockery that splashed out when it became permitted.” But Fyodor Mikhailovich, oddly enough, spoke very positively about “The Procession of the Cross”: “In Perov, almost everything is true, that artistic truth that is given to true talent.”

The authorities found the picture outrageous. For the Russian authorities, as always, were very sensitive to any criticism of the existing reality. The painting was removed from the exhibition to be put away where no one would see it. But Pavel Tretyakov intervened. He managed to buy the canvas, despite the warning that the author could end up in the Solovetsky Monastery on charges of blasphemy.

Meanwhile, the proceedings proceeded, as usual, very slowly: only six years later, investigators from the Khamovnichesky judicial district asked the Academy of Arts to display an immoral painting with a drunken priest. To which the Academy reasonably responded that “for the last six years, the painting has not been exhibited here.” That was the end of it. Perov remained firm in his “critical direction” and responded with such satirical paintings as “Tea Party in Mytishchi” and “Monastery Meal”.

At the same time, the “Rural Procession of the Cross” can be understood not as an attack against the Christian Orthodox faith, but as an exposure of the shortcomings of domestic parish clergy. Soviet art critic A.A. Fedorov-Davydov wrote about the ideological concept of the painting: “Being anti-clerical, like Perov’s other paintings on the same topic, it was not essentially anti-religious. It exposed the clergy as a servant of the autocracy, showed the carrion of the official religion, but did not at all deny religion in general...”

The painter indeed exposed the morals of the Russian clergy in the early 1860s, but his paintings on evangelical themes in the late 1870s - “Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane” (1878), “The Descent from the Cross” (1878), “The First Christians in Kyiv” "(1880) - indicate that the author was not alien to religious consciousness. True, Perov’s later religious paintings are inferior in their pictorial qualities to “Rural Procession of the Cross at Easter.”

Biography of the artist

Vasily Grigorievich Perov was the illegitimate son of Baron Georgy Karlovich Kridener. Despite the fact that soon after the boy’s birth his parents got married, Vasily had no rights to his father’s surname and title. For a long time, official documents indicated the surname “Vasiliev”, given by the name of the godfather. The surname “Perov” arose as a nickname given to the boy by his literacy teacher, an ordinary sexton, who recognized his student with this nickname for his diligence and skillful use of a pen for writing.

V.G. Perov completed a course at the Arzamas district school and was sent to the art school of A.V. Stupin (also in Arzamas). In 1853 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied with M. I. Scotti, A. N. Mokritsky and S. K. Zaryanko. In 1856 he received a small silver medal for a sketch of a boy's head submitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Subsequently, the Academy awarded him other awards:

a large silver medal for the painting “The Arrival of the Stanovoy for Investigation” (1858),

small gold medal for the paintings “Scene at the Grave” and “Son of a Sexton Promoted to the First Rank” (1860),

a large gold medal for the painting “Sermon in a Village” (1861).

Having received, along with a large gold medal, the right to travel abroad at public expense, Perov went to Europe in 1862, visiting a number of cities in Germany, as well as Paris. This period includes paintings depicting European scenes of street life (“Seller of Figurines”, “Savoyard”, “Organ Grinder”, “Beggars on the Boulevard”, “Musicians and Onlookers”, “Rag Pickers”).

Having returned to Moscow ahead of schedule, from 1865 to 1871 Perov created the paintings “The Next Ones by the Pool”, “Monastery Meal”, “Seeing Off the Dead Man”, “Troika”, “Clean Monday”, “The Arrival of the Governess at the Merchant’s House”, “The Art Teacher” ", "Scene by the Railway", "The Last Tavern at the Outpost", "Birder", "Fisherman", "Hunters at a Rest".

In 1878 he painted the painting “Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane”, in 1880 “The First Christians in Kyiv”. In 1866 he received an academician's degree, and in 1871 he received a professorship at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Around the same time, he joined the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

The artist died of consumption in the village of Kuzminki (now the territory of Moscow). He was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery.

Mood: So-so

Music: Coolio - Gangsta Paradise

Attitude to the world: Chkrk

Vasily Perov has always been interested in Russian types. He even returned from a trip to Italy, where the Academy of Arts sent him for his merits, ahead of schedule, because he considered that that life was incomprehensible to him, and he would not be able to create something of his own there. Perhaps his most resonant painting was “Rural Procession at Easter.” Some praised the painting for its truthfulness, while others were indignant: lest the artist end up in exile to Solovki for his insolence.

At first glance, the painting by Vasily Perov, painted in 1861, depicts uniform disgrace. The drunken priest can barely stand on his feet, and next to him lie men in even worse condition. And the procession is not in its best shape. The icon in the woman’s hands is scratched, and the old man walking next to him holds the image upside down.

The action takes place on Bright Week (the week after Easter), so the picture does not depict a procession around the temple on Easter night, as it might seem. So what then happens on Perov’s canvas?

The fact is that in the Russian Empire priests were not paid salaries. As a rule, parishes had land plots and a tiny subsidy from the state. Therefore, in an effort to increase their income, the priests came up with the custom of glorification at Easter. In the week after the Holy Day, the priests went to peasant farmsteads. They entered each hut and sang church hymns. The peasants, in turn, had to thank the priests for their wishes of prosperity with a gift or money.

In reality, things didn't look so good. The priests, trying to go around as many houses as possible, sang chants very quickly. The peasants believed that they were simply being robbed. After all, Easter was the most economically difficult time, when after winter there was no money left, and food supplies were running out. To get rid of the priests, they were most often given alcohol and escorted out of the hut.

It was this side of the relationship between the church and the peasants that Vasily Perov depicted in his painting. It is worth noting that his painting caused a storm of indignation both in church circles and among artists. The painter Vasily Khudyakov wrote an emotional appeal to Tretyakov, who acquired the painting “Rural Procession at Easter” for his collection:

“And other rumors are circulating that they will soon make a request to you from the Holy Synod; On what basis do you buy such immoral paintings and display them publicly? The painting (“Priests”) was exhibited on Nevsky at a permanent exhibition, from where, although it was soon removed, it nevertheless raised a big protest! And Perov, instead of Italy, would like to avoid ending up in Solovki.”.
Tretyakov had to remove the painting from the exhibition.

But there were also those who considered the true situation of the peasants in the picture of the forefather Perov. Critic Vladimir Stasov spoke of the painting as truthful and sincere, conveying real types of people.

Another incredibly emotional painting by Vasily Perov cannot leave anyone indifferent.