Liturgy of Saint Apostle James
On November 5th, 2023, the Liturgy of Saint Apostle James, the brother of the Lord, was celebrated in our church.
The tradition of celebrating this Liturgy goes back to the time of Saint James and the Church in Jerusalem.
Throughout the first millennium, the Liturgy of Saint James was celebrated on par with the Liturgies of Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil the Great.
In Russia, this Liturgy only appeared in the second half of the 20th century.
The Liturgy of Saint James is celebrated a few times a year: November 5, January 8 and 17 – the days of memory of the apostle.
The ceremonial rite of the Liturgy of Saint James includes a number of particularities:
• no Proscomedy;
• the litanies are pronounced towards the West (towards the audience);
• proverbs from the Old Testament are added to the evangelical and apostolic readings;
• the bishop celebrates in priestly vestments (wearing only the large omophorion), without miter, cross and panagia;
• the dikiri and trikiri, the orlets, the festive meeting with the bishop, the solemn chants, usual for the Pontifical Liturgy, are absent;
• priests do not wear crosses, kamilavkas or miters. Everything happens in a very modest and simple way;
• the hymns are sung in minor and are more reminiscent of the services of Great Lent.
His Eminence Irénée, Archbishop of Ottawa and of the Archdiocese of Canada presided over the celebration of the Liturgy of Saint James. Hieromonk Seraphim, archpriest Alexander and deacon Denis concelebrated with the Archbishop.
We would particularly like to highlight the professionalism of the singers – Elena Volgin, Andrei and Marina Protsko, Alexander and Tatiana Pozdnyakov, who were able to perfectly reproduce previously unknown songs and enhance the service.
