Vespers

Vespers /ˈvɛspərz/ (from Latin vesper 'evening' ) is a liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic (both Latin and Eastern Catholic liturgical rites), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies. The word for this prayer time comes from the Latin vesper, meaning "evening".

Vespers typically follows a set order that focuses on the performance of psalms and other biblical canticles. Eastern Orthodox liturgies recognised as vespers (εσπερινός, esperinós) often conclude with compline, especially the all-night vigil. Performing these liturgies together without break was also a common practice in medieval Europe, especially outside of monastic and religious communities.

Old English speakers translated the Latin word vesperas as æfensang, which became evensong in modern English. The term is now usually applied to the Anglican variant of the liturgy that combines vespers with compline, following early sixteenth-century worshippers who conceived these as a single unit. The term can also apply to the pre-Reformation form of vespers or forms of evening prayer from other denominations.

Vespers is usually prayed around sunset. In Oriental Orthodox Christianity, the office is known as Ramsho in the Indian and Syriac traditions; it is prayed facing the east by all members in these churches, both clergy and laity, being one of the seven fixed prayer times.

Vespers, also called Evening Prayer, takes place as dusk begins to fall. Evening Prayer gives thanks for the day just past and makes an evening sacrifice of praise to God (Psalm 141:1).

The general structure of the Roman Rite Catholic liturgy of vespers is as follows:

Sundays and solemnities have two Vespers. The church worship day begins in the evening with the setting of the sun or at sunset. This practice follows the tradition of the Old Testament which says in the story of creation: "Evening came, and morning followed – the first day." (Gen1:5). The solemnity begins with First Vespers prayed around sunset on the day before the observance, with Second Vespers held around sunset on the day itself.

The Byzantine Rite has three basic types of vespers: great, daily, and small. Great vespers is used on Sundays and major feast days (those when the Polyeleos is prescribed at matins) when it may be celebrated alone or as part of an All-Night Vigil, as well as on a handful of special days e.g., Good Friday and Pascha afternoon; on certain days of strict fasting when, in theory, fasting before communion should be day-long, vespers also commences the divine liturgy and always commences the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Daily vespers is otherwise used. Small vespers, which is seldom used except in monasteries, is a very abbreviated form used only on the afternoon before a vigil and is redundant to the subsequent great vespers, being a placeholder between the ninth hour and compline.