What is Vesperal Divine Liturgy?

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choy said:
it is the same as anticipated Mass? its Saturday at 5pm
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Where did you see it? It’s Great Vespers combined with the Divine Liturgy, one runs into the other.

As I understand an anticipated Mass of the Latin Church it’s a Mass the evening before Sunday which may satisfy the Sunday Obligation. We don’t have a Sunday Obligation in the same sense in the East.

In my parish we typically have Vesperal Divine Liturgy on Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday, and Eve of the Nativity of Christ, and Theophany of Christ.
 
choy said:
it is the same as anticipated Mass? its Saturday at 5pm
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For the Byzantine Catholic Church USA:

The Vigil Divine Liturgy is a combination of Vespers and Divine Liturgy that is given about sunset before a feast day. It is not identical to an anticipated mass in that the form is different than that used on the next day. For example on Saturday night a Vigil Divine Liturgy could be celebrated and a Divine Liturgy on Sunday. For an anticipated Mass, I believe that the prayers and readings are the same as the next day.

The Vigil Divine Liturgy is the Vespers without the readings from the psalter or small litany, continuing up to the The Hymn of the Evening: “O joyful light”, followed by a transitional litany and the Divine Liturgy beginning from the Trisagion.
 
ok. but my biggest question is, does it fulfill sunday obligation?
 
choy said:
it is the same as anticipated Mass? its Saturday at 5pm
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It is Great Vespers and the Sunday Divine Liturgy in one commingled service, and as Vespers starts the new liturgical day, it is a proper liturgy for the next calendar day. Its use is intended for Sundays and Holy Days or Precept.

It differs from an anticipatory Liturgy in that, liturgically, the day begins and ends at the lighting of the lamps in Vespers. An anticipatory liturgy is done before vespers are taken at that parish.

In Orthodox tradition, it’s allowed for 4 specific feasts, and only those 4, according to Orthodoxwiki. The expansion of the VDL to all sundays is itself not quite a latinization, but it is definitely in imitation of the Latin anticipatory mass. The use of an anticipatory DL without vespers is very much a latinization, and seems to have come first in Ruthenian-American use.

In the (Ruthenian-American) Metropolia of Pittsburgh, The options are for a sunday DL alone, or, optionally for an anticipatory DL on Sat Evening or a VDL on Sat Evening, or for vespers alone on saturday evening.; in either case the Metropolia does understand there to be a Sunday obligation, and either will fullfill it. (Yes, understanding it to be an obligation is a latinization.) Individual pastors within the metropolia seem to be able to grant Vesperal or Matins dispensations liberally; that is, Saturday Great Vespers alone or Sunday Matins alone do not fulfill the obligation, but pastors may allow them to do so for specific causes.

My pastor requires my family to say reader’s matins when I miss liturgy due to illness or vehicular trouble. (A latin pastor would simply dispense the obligation.)
 
Yes going to Saturday mass is just like Sunday If you go Saturday its NOT a sin
 
RobBahoura said:
Yes going to Saturday mass is just like Sunday If you go Saturday its NOT a sin
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For the Latin Church, times after 4 PM are the earliest Mass times for a vigil Mass before a day of oblilgation. For the Eastern Catholic Churches, “from the evening of the vigil” (CCEO 881.2).

This is from one Ukrainian Catholic parish in Pittsburgh:

Divine (Eucharistic) Liturgies: Saturdays at 5:00 pm in English. For the time being, this liturgy is recited rather than sung, in order to accommodate mixed marriages and those not yet used to the more proper traditions of our church;

Divine (Eucharistic) Liturgies: Sundays at 10:00 am. This liturgy is always sung, either by cantor and congregation in English and some Old Church Slavonic, or by church choir in Old Church Slavonic. The priest-celebrant will usually accommodate those present by switching between Ukrainian and English as the need arises.
So I conclude that some evening liturgies may not have vespers although they occur at the time of vespers, but might be called vesperal. It’s a little ambiguous.

Vespers with Divine Liturgy (the Vigil Divine Liturgy) in the Byzantine Catholic Church USA is celebrated on Christmas eve and Theophany eve, and on the evening of the day of the Annunciation (Mar 25) during the Great Fast (which would replace of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts).
 
Vico said:
Vespers with Divine Liturgy (the Vigil Divine Liturgy) in the Byzantine Catholic Church USA is celebrated on Christmas eve and Theophany eve, and on the evening of the day of the Annunciation (Mar 25) during the Great Fast (which would replace of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts).
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It is actually authorized for all Sundays; at least with the “teal terror” edition.
 
It’s Divine Liturgy which fulfills the Sunday obligation. A Ukrainian Catholic parish might have vespers at 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday followed by Divine Liturgy at 5:00.

Despite some complaints noted above, one good thing I’ve noticed about it is, that it’s not entirely about making it easier for the young to attend necessarily. One would be surprised at how many young people take their grandparents or parents to the Liturgy on Saturday evening, especially if the kids live out of town or far away and can’t be around on Sunday mornings to drive “baba” or “dido” on Sunday morning if “baba” or “dido” can’t drive anymore. It does truly put a smile on the faces of many elderly to be able to attend Liturgy and partake in Communion if they couldn’t on their own first thing Sunday morning. Some elderly actually find getting up early and getting ready quickly on Sunday morning to be more difficult than just being ready for an evening liturgy, depending on what medical conditions they may have and how difficult it is to “get up” literally in the morning and take “their pills” which might lead them to nap off again in the morning. Just my 2 cents. 🙂
 
Aramis said:
It is actually authorized for all Sundays; at least with the “teal terror” edition.
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I didn’t know the Vigil Divine Liturgy could be celebrated any Sunday. The 2006 green book is the only authorized one now, along with the 2010 presanctified.

I looked at some of the churches to see what they offered, it varies on Saturday evening with Vespers or Liturgy, it is not clear if they are using the Vigil Divine Liturgy or not.

St. Stephens Procathedral, Phoenix AZ:
Saturday Vespers & Divine Liturgy 5:00 PM
Sunday Divine Liturgy: 8:00 & 10:00 AM

St. Thomas the Apostle, Gilbert AZ:
Saturday 5:00 PM: Vespers
Sunday 9:45 AM: Third Hour
Sunday 10:00 AM: Divine Liturgy

Holy Angels, San Diego CA (where I used to live)
Saturday Evening Vespers: 5:00 PM
Sunday Divine Liturgy: 9:00 AM

Saint Mary Magdalene, Fairview OH
Saturday Evening Vespers: 5 PM
Sunday Matins: 8:15 AM
Sunday Divine Liturgy: 9 AM

Saint Nicholas of Myra, Orlando FL
Saturday Vigil Liturgy: 4:30PM
Sunday Liturgy: 8:30 AM
Sunday Liturgy: 10:30 AM
 
KyivAndrew said:
It’s Divine Liturgy which fulfills the Sunday obligation. A Ukrainian Catholic parish might have vespers at 4:00 in the afternoon on Saturday followed by Divine Liturgy at 5:00.

Despite some complaints noted above, one good thing I’ve noticed about it is, that it’s not entirely about making it easier for the young to attend necessarily. One would be surprised at how many young people take their grandparents or parents to the Liturgy on Saturday evening, especially if the kids live out of town or far away and can’t be around on Sunday mornings to drive “baba” or “dido” on Sunday morning if “baba” or “dido” can’t drive anymore. It does truly put a smile on the faces of many elderly to be able to attend Liturgy and partake in Communion if they couldn’t on their own first thing Sunday morning. Some elderly actually find getting up early and getting ready quickly on Sunday morning to be more difficult than just being ready for an evening liturgy, depending on what medical conditions they may have and how difficult it is to “get up” literally in the morning and take “their pills” which might lead them to nap off again in the morning. Just my 2 cents. 🙂
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thanks! i might attend this saturday 👍
 
I think it might help to look at the history behind this in the Byzantine Catholic Church.

From the late 1950’s onward, Ruthenian Catholics watched Latin-rite Catholic gain access to an anticipated Mass on Saturday evening - intended for “those who have to work on Sunday”, but eventually becoming something of a convenience. (You can see this discussed in issues of Byzantine Catholic World from this era.)

Eventually, MANY of our parishes adopted the practice, either because there was a large enough population to support several Divine Liturgies, or because the pastor served several parishes a significant distance apart. Over the years, I have spoken to a number of pastors and was usually told that “if we stopped having the Liturgy on Saturday evening, most of them would just go to Mass down the street.” So, call it a Latinization or a convenience, a Sunday or feast-day Divine Liturgy, celebrated in exactly the same form, on the previous evening became very well established.

Quite a few years ago, Father David Petras, who compiles the (official) annual typikon or calendar of services for our church, recommended that parishes that celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the evening should begin it with Vespers, as it already done by firm tradition in the Byzantine Rite on a certain number of days throughout the year. In this way, the liturgical oddness of a Divine Liturgy in the evening is -somewhat- ameliorated, and parishes that “don’t know how to take part in Vespers” would become familiar with the first half of that service as well.

(Note that he did not specifically recommend that parishes go out of their way to celebrate such a service - but if they WERE going to have the Divine Liturgy rather than vespers on a given evening, he advised that they begin it with the first part of Vespers.)

When the bishops promulgated new Divine Liturgy books in 2006, about 10% of the book consisted of all the materials needed for following the recommendations Father David for a Vigil Divine Liturgy - and put the remaining hymns of Vespers in an appendix at the end of the book. (At the same time, this provided all the material needed to celebrate Vesperal Divine Liturgy on the eve of the Annunciation, when it falls during the Great Fast.)

The bishops did not require the use of this service, or provide a Liturgikon (priest’s book) for it. Some parishes celebrate an ordinary Divine Liturgy on Saturday evening; some precede it with Vespers; some celebrate Vespers.

In Christ,
Jeff Mierzejewski
 
thanks ByzKat

i do see the point. since Catholics can go to Mass/DL in any Rite, if the Byzantine Rite doesn’t offer DL Saturday night, then the parishoners will just attend at the nearest Latin Rite parish. i guess they don’t have this issue in the Orthodox Church, or do they?

but in any case, thanks for the history lesson. if not this saturday, next saturday i will attend VDL. i just can’t Sunday morning because i don’t want to keep pulling my wife out of her choir
 
It’s important to remember that, in some parishes, Great Vespers is celebrated separately, then an evening vigil DL is celebrated without vespers integrated.

Others use the simplified “prayers of preparation” in lieu of the Canonical Vespers. (Again, it’s in the “teal terror,” which is the 2006 Green book.) At least it’s something.

So, to recap:

Saturday Evening Options:
  1. Nothing
  2. Vespers Alone (Traditional) *
  3. Vespers and DL separately (DL Fills Obligation)
  4. Vespers and DL combined into one VDL Service. (Fills Obligation)
  5. anticipated DL alone (Latinization; Fills obligation)
Sunday Morning Options
  1. Matins and DL separately (Traditional) (DL Fills obligation. Matins might.*)
  2. Matins and DL combined into one service (Limited to certain feasts in current Ruthenian books) (Fills obligation)
  3. DL alone (Fills obligation)
  4. Third Hour and DL separately (DL Fills obligation)
  5. Matins, Third Hour, and DL separately (DL Fills obligation)
  6. Deacon’s Typica **
  7. Reader’s Typica ***
  • May fill obligation in some cases. Check with your pastor.
    ** Only when no priest is present. Fills obligation only in certain circumstances. Might be matins or Third Hour, or a presanctified gifts liturgy. Depends upon the deacon, and if he’s been blessed by the bishop to do the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.
    *** Only when no priest or deacon present; may be done by a deacon if no deaconal form approved separately. Fills obligation only in certain circumstances.
Aside to Jeff: what’s the status on the Ruthenian deaconal forms for Vespers and Matins?
 
KyivAndrew said:
…Despite some complaints noted above, one good thing I’ve noticed about it is, that it’s not entirely about making it easier for the young to attend necessarily. One would be surprised at how many young people take their grandparents or parents to the Liturgy on Saturday evening, especially if the kids live out of town or far away and can’t be around on Sunday mornings to drive “baba” or “dido” on Sunday morning if “baba” or “dido” can’t drive anymore…
Just my 2 cents. 🙂
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Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m a baba who can still drive but it crosses my mind all the time when I’m driving home late alone from a festal vigil “What will happen when I can’t drive myself anymore?” Neither parish I attend is accessible by public transit on a Sunday or at night. At one level it motivates me on days when I’m exhausted to get back in the car and go off to the festal vigil. The memories I have of these feast are so precious to me.

I try not to have a jaded/cynical attitude about anything that goes on in our parishes; contemporary life is such a challenge. But I can sometimes be at least frustrated by the all too frequent story that comes up in our Latin Churches: We can’t get to Mass or CCD etc. because it conflicts with soccer practice, or the golf game for adults. I’m grateful for your reminder of when indeed such a practice is truly a very pastoral accommodation.

Slightly off topic- Glory to God in all things-- we will be having DL this Sat. morning for the first time in a very long time. The priest who is celebrating for us mentioned that he knows of three parishioners who are coming who cannot come on Sundays. (We are a very tiny parish and like many small ECCs we have only one DL, Sunday morning.) I hope this is the beginning of more of this for our parish.
 
Unfortunately, many priests (and parishioners) would rather do a Vesper-Divine Liturgy(VDL) or anticipated DL than full Vespers out of convenience than practicality. I would gather that in most parishes the number of people who could only attend the anticipated DL/ VDL and not be properly able to attend Sunday DL is quite small. For those few Vespers would likely properly fulfill the obligation.

Aramis wrote:
In the (Ruthenian-American) Metropolia of Pittsburgh, The options are for a sunday DL alone, or, optionally for an anticipatory DL on Sat Evening or a VDL on Sat Evening, or for vespers alone on saturday evening.; in either case the Metropolia does understand there to be a Sunday obligation, and either will fullfill it. (Yes, understanding it to be an obligation is a latinization.) Individual pastors within the metropolia seem to be able to grant Vesperal or Matins dispensations liberally; that is, Saturday Great Vespers alone or Sunday Matins alone do not fulfill the obligation, but pastors may allow them to do so for specific causes.
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Much of the confusion arises from a distinct LACK of proper catechesis within the Metropolia, from the Metropolitan and Bishops. The allowable usage should be clearly outllined by the hierechy.
 
I’ve never been to a Vesperal Divine Liturgy, or for that matter a Byz Cath Divine Liturgy at all, but here in the Latin Church (or at least the Anglican Use expression of it) is something that seems to be similar to what is described above, that is, Evensong (Vespers) with the Mass attached to it after what would normally be the Liturgy of the Word. I’ve never been to this form of Evensong/Mass either, but as it is described in the Book of Divine Worship, it does not appear to be an occasion to be encouraged, but rather for those churches who desire Evensong but also need Mass but who for some reason are not able to have them separately. Or at least that was how I remember the rubrics; I may have misread it entirely.
 
angelic06 said:
I’ve never been to a Vesperal Divine Liturgy, or for that matter a Byz Cath Divine Liturgy at all, but here in the Latin Church (or at least the Anglican Use expression of it) is something that seems to be similar to what is described above, that is, Evensong (Vespers) with the Mass attached to it after what would normally be the Liturgy of the Word. I’ve never been to this form of Evensong/Mass either, but as it is described in the Book of Divine Worship, it does not appear to be an occasion to be encouraged, but rather for those churches who desire Evensong but also need Mass but who for some reason are not able to have them separately. Or at least that was how I remember the rubrics; I may have misread it entirely.
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It’s very much the same approach to the combination of the two services.

It’s actually prescribed for certain feasts by longstanding (over a millennium) use… Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday, and Eve before Nativity and Theophany (unless Nativity or Theophany fall on Sunday or Monday). Those 4 combine St. Basil’s Liturgy with Great Vespers. Annunciation when in a fast and not on sunday or monday also gets a VDL in some traditions, but in this case, St John’s is the liturgy combined.

Likewise, Resurrection Matins flow seamlessly into the Easter Divine Liturgy.

And it’s not just the Catholics; according to Orthodoxwiki.org, both the Antiochian Archdiocese of the US and the OCA have VDL forms based upon St John’s DL (not called such, but mentioned in the Vespers article) for use on the evening before a holy day as an economia.
 
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