From Michael Ruse:
In the Orthodox Church, Saturday vespers is the first worship service of the week. Metropolitan Hilarion focuses on the content of the stichera, or verses in Greek, that are sung during the daily services. The stichera often recall Christ’s death on the Cross and His Resurrection, have Trinitarian and Christological dogmatic content, and speak of the Theotokos and Virgin Mary in what’s called a theotokion. Each day of the week focuses on a canon or mood. On Tuesday, the St. John the Forerunner is included with other verses and canons. On Thursday, St. Nicholas and the apostles are commemorated, and on Saturday, all types of saints and martyrs are commemorated as well as prayers for the departed. In many of our discussions in Volume IV, we have been looking at the practical and spiritual aspects of time, calendars, how we structure our lives around it and how it even points to our cultural identity. Imagine if we could rename the days of the week based on Orthodox themes rather than Saturn, the Moon, or the Germanic goddess Freya. If resurrectional hymns, stichera and canons make up the bulk of what we are singing and thinking about during a single week, what might that imply for living out our Orthodox faith daily? Join us this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. to see how the Orthodox Church divides time into verses.