During the prayer to the Holy Spirit “Heavenly King,” when it is read (or sung) at the beginning of any sequence, we protect ourselves with the sign of the cross without bowing, and during the Great Lent at the end of this prayer we bow down to the ground, with the sign of the cross.
On the „Three Holies“: “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us” (three times) we make three bows. Only when this prayer is sung at the end of the Great Doxology at the all-night vigil, as well as at the liturgy before the reading of the Apostle (or when it is sung in other cases according to the Typikon) there are no bows.
In the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father” there is a bow from the waist at the end of it, when it is sung at the liturgy and before lunch; in all other cases there is no bow.
There are three bows with “Come let us bow.” And besides this, when in the psalms, sticheras and troparions there are the words: “I bow”, “I worship”, “we bow”, “we worship”, and “those worshipping” – we always bow from the waist. On “hallelujah,” when it occurs after “glory” after some psalm, in the form “hallelujah, hallelujah, glory to you God,” three times, we make three bows from the waist, except for “hallelujah,” which occurs in the middle of the hexapsalms, when it is pronounced without bows.
At the prayers “Honour, O Lord, that this evening we may be preserved without sin” at the evening service and “Glory to God in the highest” (in the beginning) at the night service and at the morning service we make three bows from the waist.
When a priest or a deacon pronounces a special litany, three bows from the waist are made on the petition ending with the words “Let’s say all together” (at the beginning of singing “Lord, have mercy” 12 times; in other cases, sometimes 40 and 50 times); when the service is performed without a priest, instead of a special litany, “Lord, have mercy” is sung forty times, and also instead of “diligent prayers” at the litia (going into the vestibule at the all-night vigil, Sunday and some other services), the same prayer is sung 40, 30, and 50 times. In all these cases, three bows are also preserved at the beginning of the singing “Lord, have mercy.”
Before the prayer of dismissal, at the evening and morning services, and at the prayer service, starting with “More honourable than the Cherubim,” and at the liturgy and midday service (obednitsa), with “It is right,” “Glory,” “now,” “Lord have mercy,” twice, “Lord bless,” we always make four bows, at the evening, morning, and prayer services all bows are from the waist, and at the liturgy and midday service the first bow is always down to the ground.
With “More honourable than the Cherubim,” when this prayer occurs in the middle of any sequence (for example, when praying for dinner), there is always a bow from the waist.
At the beginning of the Midnight Office at the prayer “Glory to Thee, our God, Glory to Thee for everyone’s sake,” they are surrounded by the sign of the cross without bowing once; and in the prayer that follows, “God, cleanse me, a sinner,” three bows to the waist.
After the first and last exaltations of the feast, during the festive morning service (usually performed in the evening), the bow is always down to the ground.
When singing “Glory to you, O Lord” before and after the reading of the Gospel, bows are from the waist.
At the first chant of the first and ninth songs, in all canons, there are always bows from the waist.
After the katabasia of the eighth song of the canon at the morning service, a bow to the waist.
At prayer services, for each katabasia after each song, there is a bow from the waist, and for the threefold “Lord have mercy,” which is after the katabasia at a prayer service, there are three bows, also from the waist.
For the song of the Mother of God “My soul magnifies the Lord,” which is sung at Matins before the ninth song of the canon, for each refrain of “More honourable than the Cherubim” – a bow from the waist, and for the last, sixth refrain – a bow down to the ground.
In all cases when, according to the Typikon, the song of the Mother of God “My soul magnifies the Lord” is not sung, then bows from the waist are made with the irmos of the ninth song of the festive canon.
After the prayer to the Mother of God “It is right” or the hymn that replaces it (zadostoynik), the bow is always down to the ground.
