Fr. John Whiteford: Reader Services through the 31st Sunday after Pentecost

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Reader Services through the 31st Sunday after Pentecost

This installment covers the Sundays of Old Calendar December, which on the civil Calendar runs from December 14th through January 13th. I intend to keep these texts posted as long as there are states or English speaking countries that are still under lockdown due to the Coronavirus.

The Eves

For the Eves of the upcoming Sundays and Feasts, you could ideally do the Vigil. The fixed portions can be downloaded here:

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/reader_vigil.doc

or viewed in HTML, here:

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/vigil.htm

For the Rubrics, see: http://www.saintjonah.org/rub/

The variable portions of the service can be downloaded here (all of these would be served on the eve of their respective days). The Sunday services require two files, because these combinations do not repeat annually. In addition to the files linked for the Sundays below, you will need to use the appropriate Katavasia, which for this time period is the Katavasia of the Nativity -- the respective Rubrics will tell you which. Also, on Sundays, there are some hymns that are appointed according to which Matins Gospel is read. To find out which one is read, you also need to look at the Rubrics. For those texts, you will find them here: http://www.saintjonah.org/services/matinsgospel.doc Those hymns are usually done at the Exapostilaria and then at the Doxasticon at the Praises.

Also, the texts below do not always have the full canon for the Menaion, but you can find that here:

https://orthodox-europe.org/liturgics/menaion/december/ (you will need to look up the service according to the Old Calendar (o.s.) date).

For the Feast of St. Nicholas (December 19th n.s. / December 6th o.s.):

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/vigil_stnicholas_sat_t2.doc

For the 28th Sunday After Pentecost / St. Ambrose of Milan (December 20th n.s. / December 7th o.s.):

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/12-07stambroseofmilan.doc

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/tone3.doc

For the 29th Sunday after Pentecost / The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (December 27th n.s. / December 14th o.s.):

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/12-11-17forefathers.doc

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/tone4.doc

For the 30th Sunday after Pentecost / The Sunday of the Holy Fathers (January 3rd n.s. / December 21st o.s.):

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/12-20-23holyfathers.doc

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/tone5.doc

Christmas Eve Vigil (January 6th n.s. / December 24th o.s.)

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/vigil_christmas_eve.doc

(This service is not set up as a reader service, but by following the usual modifications, you could easily use this text to do it as a reader service)

Vespers for Nativity (the eve of January 7th n.s. / December 25th o.s.):

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/nativity_vespers_rs.doc

Vigil for Nativity (January 7th n.s. / December 25th o.s.):

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/nativity_vigil_rs.doc

For the 31st Sunday after Pentecost / Sunday after Nativity (January 10th n.s. / December 28th o.s.):

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/12-28or30sundayafternativity.doc

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/tone6.doc

Typika

In place of the Liturgies, you would do Typika:

For the Feast of St. Nicholas (December 19th n.s. / December 6th o.s.):

http://www.saintjonah.org/services/typika_stnicholas_sat.doc

For the 28th Sunday After Pentecost / St. Ambrose of Milan (December 20th n.s. / December 7th o.s.):