The History of the Divine Service to All Russian Saints

Abstract

In this article the author considers the history of the divine service to All Russian Saints since its beginning until present time. The divine service, created in the middle of the 16 century by Grigoriy, a monk of Suzdal the Saviour Monastery of Saint Euthymius, had been in oblivion for many years, during the Synodal period of the Russian Church history and was reborn at the 1917-1918 Church Council due to efforts of Boris Aleksandrovich Turaev. Since the Council it has been improved and complemented by St Afanasiy (Sakharov) and other hymnographers for many years. In 1918 the close of the Church Council saw the first publication of the text of the divine service to All Russian Saints. Its next «politically» edited option was published in 1946 after the Great Patriotic war. In 1987, in commemoration of the 1000th anniversary of Russian Baptism, the text was published in May Mineya. The text had been used for worship until 2015. Later it was once again edited by the decision of the Holy Synod.The divine service to All the Saints, whose light shone forth in Russian land, is undoubtedly the most remarkable work of Russian hymnography of the 20th century. The acquaintance with its history allows the reader to understand the sense of not only this service order, but also the Feast itself.