Why Are Prayers Said In Church Without Kneeling On All Sundays and From Pascha Until Pentecost?

As is evident from the Holy Scriptures, bows, kneeling and prostrations were employedduring prayer even in the Old Testament. The holy Prophet King David refers to bowing downto God or to His temple in many of the psalms, for example: "Bow down to the Lord inHis holy court" (Ps. 28:2); "I shall bow down toward Thy holy temple in fear ofThee" (Ps. 5:8); "O come, let us worship and fall down before Him" (Ps.94:6); "Let us go forth into His tabernacles, let us bow down at the place where Hisfeet have stood" (Ps. 131:7), etc.

About kneeling, it is known that the holy Prophet Daniel, for example, thrice daily"knelt upon his knees, and prayed and gave thanks before his God" (Dan. 6:10).Full prostrations are also mentioned in the books of the Old Testament. For example: theProphets Moses and Aaron besought God, "having fallen on their faces" (Numbers16:22), to be merciful to the children of Israel who had grievously sinned. In the NewTestament also, the custom of performing kneelings, prostrations and, of course, bows hadbeen preserved and still had a place at the time of the earthly life of our Lord JesusChrist, Who sanctified this Old Testament custom by His own example, praying on bendedknees and failing down upon His face. Thus, we know from the Holy Gospels that before Hispassion, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He "kneeled down, and prayed" (Matt.26:39), "fell on the ground and prayed" (Mark 14:35). And after the Lord'sascension, during the time of the holy apostles, this custom, of which the Holy Scripturesalso speak, existed unchanged. For example, the holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen"knelt down," and prayed for his enemies who were stoning him (Acts 7:60); theApostle Peter, before raising Tabitha from the dead, "knelt down, and prayed"(Acts 9:40), etc. It is an indisputable fact that, as under the first successors of theapostles, so even in much later periods of the existence of the Church of Christ,kneelings, bows and prostrations upon the ground were always employed by true believers atdomestic prayers and at the divine services. In antiquity, among the other bodilyactivities, kneeling was considered the outward manifestation of prayer most pleasing toGod. Thus, St. Ambrose of Milan says: "Beyond the rest of the ascetic labors,kneeling has the power to assuage the wrath of God and to evoke His mercy" (Book VIon the Six Days of Creation, ch. 9).

The canons concerning bows and kneelings now accepted by the Orthodox Church and setforth in the books of the divine services, and particularly in theChurch Typicon, are observed in monasteries. But in general, Orthodox Christian laymen whohave zeal are, of course, permitted to pray on their knees in church and to make fullprostrations whenever they wish, excepting only those times when the Gospel, Epistle, OldTestament readings, six psalms and sermon are read. The Holy Church lovingly regards suchpeople, and does not constrain their devout feelings. However, the exceptions with regardto Sundays and the days between Pascha and Pentecost apply generally to everyone.According to ancient tradition and a clear church law, kneeling must not be performed onthese days. The brilliant solemnity of the events which the Church commemorates throughoutthe period of Pentecost and on Sundays precludes, in and of itself, any externalmanifestation of sorrow or lamentation over one's sins: for ever since Jesus Christ,"blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, ... nailing itto His Cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly,triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:14-15)—ever since then "there is,therefore, no condemnation to them who are in Jesus Christ" (Rom. 8:1). For thisreason, the practice was observed in the Church from the earliest times, beyond a doubthanded down by the apostles, whereby on all these days, in that they are consecrated tothe commemoration of the glorious victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death, it wasrequired to perform the public divine service brightly and with solemnity, and inparticular without kneeling, which is a sign of repentant grief for one's sins. The secondcentury writer Tertullian gives testimony concerning this practice: "On the Lord'sDay (i.e. Sunday) we consider it improper to fast or to kneel; and we also enjoy thisfreedom from Pascha until Pentecost" (On the Crown, ch. 3). St. Peter ofAlexandria (3rd cent.—cf. his Canon XV in theRudder), and theApostolicConstitutions (Book II, Ch. 59) also say the same thing.

Subsequently, the First Ecumenical Council found it necessary to make this legallybinding by a special canon obligatory for the entire Church. The canon of this councilstates: "Since there are some persons who kneel in church on Sundays and on the daysof Pentecost, with a view to preserving uniformity in all parishes, it has seemed best tothe holy council for prayers to be offered to God while standing" (Canon XX).

Pointing out this canon, St. Basil the Great explains the rationale and meaning of thepractice established by it thus: "We stand up when praying on the first of the week,though not all of us know the reason. For it is not only that it serves to remind us thatwhen we have risen from the dead together with Christ we ought to seek the things above,in the day of resurrection of the grace given us, by standing at prayer, but that it alsoseems to serve in a way as a picture of the expected age. Wherefore, being also thestarting point of days, though not the first with Moses, yet it has been called the first.For it says: ‘The evening and the morning were the first day’ (Gen. 1:5), on theground that it returns again and again. The eighth, therefore, is also the first,especially as respects that really first and true eighth day, which the Psalmist too hasmentioned in some of the superscriptions of his psalms, serving to exhibit the state whichis to succeed this period of time, the unceasing day, the day without a night thatfollows, the day without successor, the never-ending and unaging age. Of necessity,therefore, the Church teaches her children to fulfill their obligations to pray thereinwhile standing up, in order by constantly reminding them of the deathless life to preventthem from neglecting the provisions for the journey thither. And every Pentecost is areminder of the expected resurrection in the age to come. For that one first day, beingmultiplied seven times over, constitutes the seven weeks of the holy Pentecost. For bystarting from the first day of the week, one arrives on the same day… The laws of theChurch have taught us to prefer the upright posture at prayer, thus transporting our mind,so to speak, as a result of a vivid and clear suggestions, from the present age to thethings come in the future. And during each kneeling and standing up again we are in factshowing by our actions that is was through sin that we fell to earth, and that through thekindness of the One Who created us we have been called back to Heaven…" (CanonXCI of St. Basil the Great). The three well-known kneeling prayers of Pentecost composedby this great Father of the Church are thus not read at third hour, when the Holy Spiritdescended upon the Apostles, nor at Liturgy on Pentecost, but at vespers, which is alreadypart of the following day, after the Entrance. The holy Father was determined not to breakthe ancient custom of the Church.

In Canon XC of the Council of Trullo, held in conjunction with the Sixth EcumenicalCouncil, we read: "We have received it canonical from our God-bearing Fathers not tobend the knee on Sundays when honoring the resurrection of Christ. Since this observationmay not be clear to some of us, we are making it plain to the faithful, that after theentrance of those in holy orders into the sacrificial altar on the evening of the Saturdayin question, let none of them bend the knee until the evening of the following Sunday,when, following the entrance after the lamps have been lit, again bending knees, we thusbegin to offer our prayers to the Lord. For, inasmuch as we have received it that thenight succeeding Saturday was the precursor of our Savior’s rising, we commence ourhymns at this point in a spiritual manner, ending the festival by passing out of darknessinto light, in order that we may hence celebrate the resurrection together for a whole dayand a whole night." John Zonaras, explaining the canon, says: "Various canonshave made it a law not to kneel on Sundays or during the fifty days of Pentecost, andBasil the Great also supplied the reasons for which this was forbidden. This canon decreesonly with regard to Sunday, clearly indicates from what hour and until hour to kneel, andsays: ‘On Saturday, after the entrance of the celebrants into the altar at vespers,no one may bend the knee until vespers on Sunday itself, when, i.e., again the entrance ofthe celebrants takes place: for we do not transgress by bending the knee and praying insuch a manner from that time on. For Saturday night is considered the night of the day ofresurrection, which, according to the words of this canon, we must pass in the chanting ofpsalms, carrying the feast over from darkness to light, and in such manner celebrate theresurrection for the entire night and day" (Book of the Canons WithInterpretations, p. 729).

There appears in the Church Typicon a direction concerning how the priest must approachand kiss the Gospel after reading it during the all-night vigil for the resurrection:"Do not make prostrations to the ground, but small bows, until the hand touches theground. For on Sunday and feasts of the Lord and during the entire fifty days betweenPascha and Pentecost the knee is not bent," (Typicon, ch. 2).

Nevertheless, standing at the divine services on Sunday and on the days between Paschaand Pentecost was the privilege of those who were in full communion with the Church; butthe so-called "penitents" were not dispensed from kneeling even on those days.

We will close with these words from the famous interpreter of the Church canons,Theodore Balsamon, Patriarch of Antioch: "Preserve the canonical decrees, whereeverand however they should be phrased; and say not that there are contradictions among them,for the All-holy Spirit has worded them all" (Interpretation of Canon XC of theCouncil of Trullo).

FromOrthodox Life, Vol. 27, No. 3 (May-June, 1977), pp. 47-50.