All-night vigil

The All-night vigil is a service of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches consisting of an aggregation of the canonical hours of Compline (in Greek usage only), Vespers (or, on a few occasions, Great Compline), Matins, and the First Hour. This service may be performed (commencing the evening before) on any Sunday or major feast, any feast for which a Litia is prescribed; these feasts are marked in the Typikon and in liturgical calendars by a Greek cross printed in red in a properly shaped semicircle [open at the top]. Order When celebrated at the all-night vigil, the orders of Great Vespers and Matins vary somewhat from when they are celebrated separately. In parish usage, many portions of the service such as the readings from the Synaxarion during the Canon at Matins are abbreviated or omitted, and it therefore takes approximately two or two and a half hours to perform. Note that the Psalms cited below are numbered according to the Septuagint, which differs from that found in the Masoretic. Great Vespers