Pochaev Lavra Choir
Establish, O God, the holy Orthodox faith of Orthodox Christians forever and ever!
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This short chant is performed at the end of daily and Great (except for those performed as part of a vigil) Vespers, as well as at the end of Matins (at any Matins except Lenten); in all cases, the singing of “God establish...” is preceded by the exclamation of the presbyter, “Blessed be Christ our God...”.
The full text of this petition is found only in the Typikon (Chapter 7) and in the Service Book (not found in other liturgical books).
At Lenten Matins, instead of singing “Confirm, O God...”, another text is read, which has a similar content - “Heavenly King, confirm the faith...”.
In modern practice, “God confirm...” is most often sung “quickly” (“reading); however, on holidays and at solemn services (for example, at bishop's services), there is a practice of singing this prayer with the participation of a soloist, who can be either a deacon or protodeacon (preferably), or a singer from the choir.
It is important that this short prayer petition underwent significant changes after the revolution of 1917: until that time, the basis of this chant was the commemoration of the emperor, and the text looked like this: “God confirm the most pious, most autocratic, great Sovereign of our Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich and the holy Orthodox faith, Orthodox Christians forever and ever.” After 1917, the mention of the emperor and all epithets associated with him were removed, and the text of the chant acquired a modern short form.
Historically, this prayer for the emperor originated in Constantinople and is mentioned in almost all sources, starting from the 10th – 11th centuries. True, there it had a slightly different form: “God establish our kings; by this, Lord, preserve their holy kingdom for many years.” In modern Greek worship, just as in Slavic, there is no mention of the monarch, but the text of the chant is a little more extensive and has the following form: ἀμώμητον πίστιν τῶν εὐσεβῶν καὶ ὀρθοδόξων Χριστιανῶν, σὺν τῇ ἁγίᾳ αὐτοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ τῇ πόλει (ἢ τῇ μονῇ, ἢ χώρᾳ, ἢ τῇ νήσῳ) ταύτῃ εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. = “May the Lord God establish the holy, immaculate faith of pious and Orthodox Christians, together with His Holy Church and this city (or monastery, or village, or island) forever and ever. Amen".