Vesting Prayers - in The Eastern Rites - Divine Liturgy - Bishop

Bishop

When a bishop is going to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, all of the other clergy arrive early, before the bishop. The deacons and servers receive blessings and vest in the manner described above. However, only the priest who will be performs the Liturgy of Preparation will vest, the other priests remain in choir dress.

The bishop is formally received in the church before the Little Hours. The bells ring as the bishop approaches the church, and the clergy come out of the altar (sanctuary). The priest who celebrated the Liturgy of Preparation carries a tray covered with an aër on which is placed a blessing cross. The protodeacon carries the censer. Other servers carry the dikirion and trikirion, the bishop's crozier and a standing candlestick.

The bishop enters the church clothed in his monastic habit and klobuk, and carrying his walking stick. As he enters the narthex, a server takes his walking stick and the subdeacons place the episcopal mandyas on him as the choir chants Axion Estin (or, if it is one of the Great Feasts, the Ninth Irmos of the canon of the feast). The bishop kisses the blessing cross and holds it for each of the priests to kiss. The bishop is then handed his crozier and the clergy go in procession to the ambon in front of the iconostasis. Instead of saying his own vesting prayers, the prayers are recited aloud for him by the protodeacon, and the bishop venerates the icons. He then turns and blesses as the choir sings Ton Despotin. He then stands on the kathedra (a platform in the center of the temple) and the priests each come to him, receive a blessing, and return to the altar to vest. The subdeacons remove the bishop's mandyas and place his episcopal vestments on him. As each vestment is placed on him, the protodeacon swings the censer and recites the appropriate vesting prayer, changing any reference from "my" and "me" to "thy" and "thou", and ending each prayer with "always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

During the vesting, the choir chants the following hymn (especially during the Liturgy of St. Basil):

The prophets proclaimed thee from on high, O Virgin: the Jar, the Staff, the Tablets of the Law, the Ark, the Candlestick, the Table, the Mount Uncloven (Daniel 2:49), the Golden Censer and the Tabernacle, the Gate Impassable (Ezekiel 44:1-3), the Palace (1 Chronicles 29:1) and Ladder, and the Throne of Kings.

They may also chant the first vesting prayer, the one for the sticharion:

Thy soul shall rejoice in the Lord, for He hath clothed thee in the garment of salvation...

A server brings the vestments on a tray to the bishop. Before each vestment is put on, the bishop blessed it with both hands and the subdeacons lift it up so he can kiss the cross on it. They then place the vestement on him, fastening any buttons or ties on the vestment for him. A bishop wears the same vestments as a priest (note that a bishop always wears the epigonation), except for the following:

• Instead of the phelonion, the bishop wears the sakkos, with the same prayer being said as for the phelonion.

• The Great Omophorion:

When Thou hadst taken upon Thy shoulders human nature which had gone astray, O Christ, Thou didst bear it to heaven, unto Thy God and Father, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

• The Panagia (pectoral icon of the Theotokos)

May God create in thee a new heart, and renew a right spirit within thee, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

• If the bishop bears the dignity of wearing an Engolpion (Icon of Christ), the prayer above is said as the engolpion is placed on the bishop, and the following prayer is said as he is vested with the panagia:

Thy heart is inditing of a good matter; thou shall speak of thy deeds unto the King, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

• The Pectoral cross:

If any man will come unto Me, let him deny himself, saith the Lord, and take up his cross and follow Me, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

• The Mitre:

The Lord set upon thy head a crown of precious stones. Thou askedst life of Him, and He shall give thee length of days, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Then the subdeacons bring the dikirion and trikirion to the bishop,

May thy light so shine before men that they may see thy good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

And the bishop blesses with the dikirion and trikirion to the four directions of the compass: East, West, South and North, as the choir sings, Ton Despotin.

Then the Third and Sixth Hours begin and the protodeacon begins a censing of the entire temple. Near the end of Psalm 90 (the last psalm of the Sixth Hour), at the words "asp and basilisk", the two subdeacons and a server—holding a basin and ewer, and with a towell around his shoulders—exit from the altar and come forward to wash the bishop's hands. The subedacons pour rose water over the bishop's hands and then lift the towel from the server's neck and give it to the bishop for him to dry his hands. Meanwhile, the protodeacon swings the censer and says the concluding verses of Psalm 25:

I will wash my hands in innocency and I will compass Thine altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of Thy praise and tell of all Thy wondrous works. O Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth. Destroy not my soul with the ungody, nor my life with men of blood, in whose hands are iniquities; their right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, in mine innocence have I walked; redeem me, O Lord, and have mercy on me. My foot hath stood in uprightness; in the congregations will I bless Thee, O Lord.

After the bishop finishes drying his hands, the subdeacons replace the towel over the server's neck, and all three bow to the bishop and return to the sanctuary.