When it is said
It is sung at Vespers on the evening of Forgiveness Sunday, the last Sunday before Great Lent, the fast before Easter. That service is known as Forgiveness Vespers. A great prokeimenon is a set of verses from a psalm, and the clergy come out with the censer to sing this one.
The deacon or priest sings it first, and the choir sings it back. After each verse he sings, the choir answers with its opening words. At the end he sings only its first half, leaving the choir to finish it.
As soon as it is sung, the clergy change into dark vestments and the services of Lent begin. The same verses come back on the evenings of the second and fourth Sundays of Lent.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Where Lent begins
The Orthodox priest Alexander Schmemann wrote that Lent “is inaugurated” with these verses. Until this point the evening’s service is still festive, with the clergy in bright vestments. After the prokeimenon they put on dark ones. From then on the choir answers the deacon’s prayers in the chant of Lent.
Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: A School of Repentance; Azbyka.ru, Forgiveness Sunday
Three Sundays and a new week
The Church sings these verses on two more evenings, the second and fourth Sundays of Lent. Every Sunday evening in Lent has a great prokeimenon of this kind, and Schmemann saw each one as the start of a new week of the fast.
Azbyka.ru, Forgiveness Sunday: a short history; Orthodox Church in America, the great prokeimena of Lent (music); Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: A School of Repentance
What the words mean
“Your child” or “Your servant”
The Greek word in the first line means a child, and it also means a servant, so English books give it both ways. Some write “Thy servant”, while the Orthodox Church in America sings “Your child”.
Liddell and Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, παῖς; St Jonah Orthodox Church, Forgiveness Vespers; Orthodox Church in America, the great prokeimena of Lent (music)
The Scripture in it
Hide not Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly! Draw near to my soul and redeem me; ransom me because of my foes.
But I am in pain and distress; let Your salvation protect me, O God.
The humble will see and rejoice. You who seek God, let your hearts be revived!
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Church Slavonic
Не отврати́ лица́ Твоего́ от о́трока Твоего́, я́ко скорблю́, ско́ро услы́ши мя:
вонми́ души́ мое́й, и изба́ви ю́.
Спасе́ние Твое́ Бо́же да прии́мет мя.
Да у́зрят ни́щии, и возвеселя́тся.
Взыщи́те Бо́га, и жива́ бу́дет душа́ ва́ша.
Не отврати́ лица́ Твоего́ от о́трока Твоего́, я́ко скорблю́, ско́ро услы́ши мя.
In Greek
Μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς τὸ πρόσωπόν Σου ἀπὸ τοῦ παιδός Σου, ὅτι θλίβομαι, ταχὺ ἐπάκουσόν μου,
πρόσχες τῇ ψυχῇ μου, καὶ λύτρωσαι αὐτήν.
Ἡ σωτηρία Σου ὁ Θεὸς ἀντιλάβοιτό μου.
Ἰδέτωσαν πτωχοί, καὶ εὐφρανθήτωσαν.
From the Vespers of Forgiveness Sunday (2023), printed by Pemptousia, a Greek Orthodox publisher.