After the Antiphons
comes the lesson or reading from the Gospels. In order to arouse the worshippers
to attention and reverence, the deacon calls out, “Let us attend!” and thereupon
a prokimenon is sung, which indicates the substance of the coming lesson
or reading, after which the deacon invites the faithful first to praise God, in
the words “Let every breath praise the Lord,” then to pray that “the Lord may
make us worthy to hear the Holy Gospel,” and lastly calls out, “Wisdom! Aright!” The priest then blesses the worshippers and
announces from which Evangelist the lesson will be read. In response to this
the worshippers sing, “Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee!” Just before the
reading the deacon once more invites attention by calling out, “Let us attend!”
Then the priest begins the reading, on Sundays in the Sanctuary before the
altar, and on feast-days in the middle of the church before the icon of the
feast. The Gospel lesson is adapted to the event commemorated on each given
day. On Sundays, the lessons selected for Matins are those that speak of
Christ’s Resurrection and His apparition after the Resurrection.
Veneration
of the Gospel or the Icon, and Anointing with Oil. — After the Gospel lesson, if the day
is a feast-day, veneration is paid to the icon of the feast which is laid on a
lectern in the middle of the church; if it is a Sunday, the Gospel is brought
into the middle of the church. The worshippers reverently meet the sacred Book,
as it were Christ Himself, and sing a hymn in honor of Him Who was crucified
and rose from the dead. During the singing, the faithful pay reverent obeisance
to the sacred Book and press their lips to it, as being the living Word of Christ.
“Having beheld the
Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only Sinless
One. We worship Thy Cross, O Christ, and Thy holy Resurrection we hymn and
glorify. For Thou art our God, and we know none other beside Thee, we call upon
Thy Name. O come, all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection;
for behold! through the Cross joy hath come to all the
world. Ever blessing the Lord, we hymn His Resurrection; for having endured
crucifixion, He hath destroyed death by death.”
If the loaves were
blessed earlier in the service, the brow of the faithful is anointed with oil,
with the words: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit!” in token that the mercy of God is vouchsafed to them, and as a
reminder that the Lord demands from them acts of mercy.
The veneration of the
Gospel or icon ends with a hymn, entreating the Lord to have mercy on us
according to His great mercy (Psalm 50), and to the prayers of the Apostles and
of the Mother of God. The deacon asks for the granting of this same mercy in
the prayer, “Save, O Lord, Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance.”
As the Sunday troparia,
the Magnifications, the Antiphons, and the Gospel lesson are closely connected
with one another and with the verses of the Polyeleos Psalm, and are
chanted only when that Psalm is sung, this whole portion of the service is
sometimes called “Polyeleos.” Thence the expression “a service with the Polyeleos”
signifies that at the Matins in question there will be a lesson or reading from
the Gospel.