 |
 Vespers Compline Midnight Prayer
Matins + I st Hour III rd Hour VI st Hour IX th Hour
“Seven times a day do I prise Thee because of Thy righteous judgments” ( Ps.118 )
Liturgical Day
Liturgical Time: Living in the Time of God
Moses, the Prophet and great lawgiver, tought his people how to set definite times for prayer, computing their day from sunset to sunset, into two divisions, day and night, as was mentioned in Genesis, “And it was evening and it was morning, one day” (Gen 1:5). After dividing, initially, the day into six unequal watches, then following the Roman method of dividing the night into four watches, they divided the day into four periods, each consisting of three Hours: 1.the 1st Hour (3 hours, starting at sunrise), 2.the 3rd Hour (after sunrise till noon), 3.the 6st Hour (from noon to 3.oo in the afternoon), 4.the 9th Hour (3.oo afternoon to sunset). These divisions of three hours were called trihorae ( consisting of three hours ). From this followed the service which accompanied the hours of prayer, and from which came the names of the services of the canonical Hours and the number of this services.
This is our liturgical day today: seven times of praising God, - Vespers, Compline, Midnight Prayer, Matins+1st Hour, 3rd Hour, 6th Hour, 9th Hour, - a day above human time, - a day in the Time of God.
|
 |
