About the middle of Vespers there comes a hymn which we call, “O Gladsome light” that is joy giving light, or “Fos ilaron”. It gives us joy. The the life-giving, the joy giving light, is of course, Jesus Christ. This hymn is so ancient, it’s about the most ancient of Christian hymns that we still have.

Transcript:

The evening service of the Orthodox Church is called Vespers and it’s likely to be the first service a newcomer or visitor might go to. Most Orthodox churches have a Vespers service every Saturday night. You’re supposed to have Vespers before you go to the liturgy the next day. It’s a lovely and a very quiet service. It’s very meditative. As people come in, you’ll see them, as Orthodox do any time they enter the Worship space, the nave, they cross themselves, venerate an icon, and then go to sit or to stand somewhere to prepare themselves for the service.

The Vespers service opens with the chanting or reading of Psalm 103, it’s also 104, in Western Bibles. This is the long Psalm about the beauties of nature and how God takes care of all His creatures. We finish Psalm 103, 104 in Western Bibles, and we read Psalm 8 and then go into a series of verses from Psalms 141 and 142, chanting a line and then chanting a prayer. Initially there’ll be prayers about Christ’s resurrection and then they become prayers about the saint or the Holy Day or event that is coming up the next day. As we go through the service we alternate these these hymns, Psalms, and litanies, and intercessions.

About the middle of Vespers there comes a hymn which we call, “O Gladsome light” that is joy giving light, or “Fos ilaron”. It gives us joy. The the life-giving, the joy giving light, is of course, Jesus Christ. This hymn is so ancient, it’s about the most ancient of Christian hymns that we still have. In the fourth century, Saint Basil the Great writes about this hymn. He uses it as an example of the early Christians referring to the Trinity, because the hymn says we give praise to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He says this early, early hymn that refers to the Trinity, he could say, in the fourth century, it’s so old, nobody knows who wrote it. It’s the earliest Christian hymn that we have, and it’s a beautiful one.