The Feast of the Theophany

Part II: Arrangement of Services

Introduction - Arrangement of Services - Vespers - Great Compline - Matins - Divine Liturgy - Great Blessing of Water

The feasts of the Nativity (January 6) and the Theophany (January 6) take place during wintertime in the Northern Hemisphere, when the days are darkest and the nights long. The Church distinguishes these two feasts with a special round of services:

A day of strict fast, with the service of the Royal Hours
A vigil service in the afternoon or early evening, consisting of the Vespers and the Divine Liturgy
A night-time service of Great Compline with Litija, followed by Matins
The celebration of the Divine Liturgy on the morning of the feast

But the Church's ancient tradition that Saturday and Sunday must never be days of fasting leads to variations in the arrangement of the Theophany services. These variations are quite similar to those for the feast of the Nativity.

January 6 on Tuesday through Saturday

Suppose Theophany falls on a Tuesday. (It will become clear later why we start with Tuesday!) Then Monday will be a day of strict fast, with the Royal Hours sung in the morning or throughout the day. The faithful spend the day in preparation for the feast, and fasting.

In the afternoon or early evening, the service of Vespers with the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great is served, along with the Great Blessing of Water in church. This service recounts prophecies connected with the Jordan River and our Lord's baptism, and the faithful receive Holy Communion, breaking the day's fast. The Vesper service may be followed, according to custom, by a Holy Supper in the home or the church hall. This meal is festive but meatless, since it is a strict fast day.

In the late evening, the faithful gather in church for the night-time service of Great Compline, which marks the actual beginning of the feast; the Canticle of Isaiah ("God is with us") forms a highlight of the service. A litija procession is celebrated, and Matins follows the Great Compline (or may be celebrated separately in the morning, depending on local custom).

In the morning, the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is celebrated for Theophany. Water is blessed a second time, at a nearby river, stream, or lake. (In practice, water is often blessed just once, in church, on either the eve or the morning of the feast.) In former times, it was also customary to conclude the feast day with a Vespers service on the evening of January 6.

Thus, the arrangement of services is as folllows:

Sunday	Monday, January 5	Tuesday, January 6	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	Day of strict fast Royal Hours Afternoon or evening: Vespers with Divine Liturgy (Basil); Blessing of Water in church During the night: Compline and Matins	In the morning: Divine Liturgy of the feast; Blessing of Water outdoors

If Theophany Day falls on Wednesday, the same set of services is held, moved one day later in the week:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday, January 5	Wednesday, January 6	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
		Day of strict fast Royal Hours Afternoon or evening: Vespers with Divine Liturgy (Basil); Blessing of Water in church During the night: Compline and Matins	In the morning: Divine Liturgy of the feast; Blessing of Water outdoors

Theophany on Thursday:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday, January 5	Thursday, January 6	Friday	Saturday
			Day of strict fast Royal Hours Afternoon or evening: Vespers with Divine Liturgy (Basil); Blessing of Water in church During the night: Compline and Matins	In the morning: Divine Liturgy of the feast; Blessing of Water outdoors

Theophany on Friday:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday, January 5	Friday, January 6	Saturday
				Day of strict fast Royal Hours Afternoon or evening: Vespers with Divine Liturgy (Basil); Blessing of Water in church During the night: Compline and Matins	In the morning: Divine Liturgy of the feast; Blessing of Water outdoors

Theophany on Saturday:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday, January 5	Saturday, January 6
					Day of strict fast Royal Hours Afternoon or evening: Vespers with Divine Liturgy (Basil); Blessing of Water in church During the night: Compline and Matins	In the morning: Divine Liturgy of the feast; Blessing of Water outdoors

January 6 on Sunday

But if Theophany is on Sunday, the arrangement of services has to change. Fasting is forbidden on Saturday (with the one exception of Holy Saturday); so the strict fast is transferred to Friday, January 4, along with the Royal Hours. Since it IS a strict fast day, there is no Divine Liturgy.

Saturday is normally a Eucharistic Day in the Byzantine Rite, so on Saturday, January 5, the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is celebrated in the morning.

Vespers WITHOUT Divine Liturgy is celebrated in the afternoon or evening, since only one Divine Liturgy is to be celebrated on a given day, and that Liturgy was already celebrated (in the morning). The Great Blessing of Water, in church, follows Vespers.

During the night, Great Compline and Matins are sung, as before.

In the morning, the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil is celebrated, so that the faithful can hear the account of salvation history woven into the texts of this Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy is followed by the Great Blessing of Water, outdoors.

Thursday	Friday, December 23	Saturday, January 5	Sunday, January 6	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
	Day of strict fast Royal Hours	In the morning: Divine Liturgy (Chrysostom) Afternoon or evening: Vespers; Blessing of Water in church During the night: Compline and Matins	In the morning: Divine Liturgy of the feast (Basil); Blessing of Water outdoors

January 6 on Monday

Again, if Theophany Day falls on Monday, the arrangement of services has to change. Fasting is forbidden on Sunday; so the strict fast is transferred to Friday, January 3, along with the Royal Hours. Since it IS a strict fast day, there is no Divine Liturgy.

In this case, Sunday, January 5 is both the Sunday before Theophany, and the vigil of the feast, so the hymns for these two days are combined at the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom which is celebrated on Sunday morning.

During the night, Great Compline and Matins are sung.

Thursday	Friday, December 22	Saturday	Sunday, January 5	Monday, January 6	Tuesday	Wednesday
	Day of strict fast Royal Hours		In the morning: Divine Liturgy (Chrysostom) Afternoon or evening: Vespers; Blessing of Water in church During the night: Compline and Matins	In the morning: Divine Liturgy of the feast (Basil); Blessing of Water outdoors

Pastoral variations

In the past, this arrangement of services, appointed in the Typikon and the liturgical books, was often modified due to a number of factors:

In keeping with the Latin practice of restricting the Eucharistic Liturgy to the morning hours (except on Holy Thursday), the Vespers and Divine Liturgy of Theophany Eve were often celebrated on the morning of January 5. This not only affected the nature of the fast day, with the fast being broken by the reception of Holy Communion; but also pushed the Royal Hours even earlier in the day, leaving a large gap until the evening.
In this country, with the loss of the sense that only one Divine Liturgy should be celebrated per day, the celebration of a separate Vespers on Theophany Eve (when January 6 fell on a Sunday or Monday) usually disappeared.
Also in this country, while night-time services continued to be celebrated on Christmas Eve, the night-time vigil (Great Compline service and Matins) or Theophany often disappeared entirely.

Of course, once these changes were made, they were often passed down as "the way we do things." Furthermore, some changes have been necessary when a priest has had the care of several parishes at some distance from each other.

We hope that this explanation helps to clarify the "special rules" for the services on the feast of Theophany, and that the faithful may have an opportunity to experience and appreciate the traditional round of services.