The Cell Rule of Five Hundred of the Optina Monastery
In ADDITION to the church services: the Liturgy, Matins, and
Vespers with Compline, which all of the brethren of the monastery
are obligated to attend, many of them daily read in their cells:
One chapter from the Gospel in order, beginning first with the
Gospel of Matthew, to the last chapter of the Gospel of John, and
two chapters from the Epistle, likewise in order, beginning with
the Acts of the holy Apostles and ending with the last chapter of
the Apocalypse of Saint John the Theologian. The last seven
chapters of the Apocalypse are read one a day. In this way the
last chapter is read on exactly the same day as the last chapter
of the Gospel of John. Then, after the completion of the reading
of the whole New Testament, in this manner they begin again from
the first chapters a new cycle of reading in precisely the same
order. From the Psalter they read one kathisma a day,
beginning with the first and ending with the last. In addition to
this, they perform the so-called Cell Rule of Five Hundred in the
following order:
After the customary three prostrations performed at the
commencement of every rule of prayer, both in church and in one's
cell, with the prayers: (1) God, be merciful to me a sinner. (2)
God be gracious unto my sins and have mercy on me. (3) O
Thou Who hast fashioned me, Lord, have mercy. I have sinned
beyond measure, O Lord, forgive me. In one's cell a fourth
prostration is added together with the prayer: My Lady, Most
Holy Theotokos, save me a sinner. Then the following prayers
are said:
Through the Prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord
Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee. O
Heavenly King. Holy God (3). Glory. Both Now. Amen.
All Holy Trinity. Lord, have mercy (3).
Glory. Both Now. Amen.
Our Father. Through the prayers of our holy
Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.
Lord, have mercy (12). Glory. Both Now. Amen.
O come,
let us worship God our King.
O come, let us worship and fall down before
Christ our King and God.
O come, let us worship and fall down before
Him, Christ the King and our God.
Psalm 50. Symbol.
First group. Then one hundred prayers: Lord Jesus
Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner, with full
prostrations for the first ten prayers, full bows for the next
twenty prayers, and on the last, that is, the hundredth prayer,
again a full prostration.
After this, the following Prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos:
My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, by thy holy and all-powerful
entreaties dispel from me, thy humble, wretched servant,
despondency, forgetfulness, folly, carelessness, and all
impure, evil, and blasphemous thoughts out of my wretched
heart and my darkened mind. And quench the flame of my
passions, for I am poor and wretched, and deliver me from my
many cruel memories and deeds, and free me from all evil
actions: for blessed art thou by all generations, and
glorified is thy most honourable name unto the ages of ages.
Amen.
At the end of this prayer a full prostration.
Second group. Then again one hundred Jesus Prayers in
the same order as before with ten full prostrations and twenty
full bows. On the last Jesus Prayer a full prostration and again
the same prayer: My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, with a full
prostration.
Third group. One hundred likewise as the first and
second.
Fourth group. One hundred consisting of prayers to
the Most Holy Theotokos: My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, save me
a sinner. In this group of one hundred the first ten prayers
are likewise made with full prostrations and the following twenty
with full bows, the remaining without bows. The last and
hundredth prayer is made with a full prostration, after which
with a full prostration the prayer: My Most Holy Lady
Theotokos.
Then fifty prayers: O Holy Angel of God, my Guardian, pray
to God for me a sinner. On the first five prayers, full
prostrations; on the following ten, full bows; the remaining
thirty-four, without bows. Only on the last prayer a full
prostration and again the prayer: My Most Holy Lady Theotokos,
with a full prostration.
Then fifty prayers: All Saints, pray to God for me a
sinner. On the first five prayers, full prostrations; on the
following ten, full bows; the remaining thirty-four, without
bows. Again the last prayer with a full prostration, after which
is said the prayer: My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, with a
full prostration. Then:
It is truly meet to call thee blessed, the Theotokos, the
ever-blessed and all-immaculate and Mother of our God. More
honourable than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more
glorious than the Seraphim, thee who without corruption
gayest birth to God the Word,the very Theotokos, thee do we
magnify.
At the end of this prayer a full prostration.
After this: Glory to Thee, Christ God, our Hope, glory be
to Thee. Glory. Both now. Lord, have mercy (3) and Through the
prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have
mercy on us. Amen.
On weekdays all of the above-mentioned bows and prostrations
are performed. On the days of Pentecost, on days when there is
the Polyeleos, on Forefeasts and for the duration of the Feasts,
on days when the Great Doxology is chanted at Matins and in the
church services full prostrations are dispensed with, in like
manner in one's cell the full prostrations are replaced with full
bows, as is also the case on all days throughout the year when
there is a Vigil. On the last two days of Passion Week, for all
of Bright Week, and from the twenty-fourth of December until the
seventh of January, this cell rule is completely dispensed with,
as is likewise the case on all Sundays throughout the year, even
if the all-night Vigil has not been performed, but only Vespers
and Matins, as is done in winter.
Any change in the composition of this cell rule, as well as
deduction from it or addition to it, is left to the will and
blessing of the Elder or Spiritual Father of the individual.
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