www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology do byzantine catholic priests pray the divine office?

Dia dhuit. (God be with you)

Here's my first set of questions for my Byzantine Catholic brothers. I appreciate your responses.

Do Byzantine Catholic priests pray the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours)?

Is it in the same format as that of their Latin Rite brothers?

Or is there some variations based off of the Byzantine traditions?

Do the Greek Orthodox priests pray a Divine Office of one sort or another?

If Byzantine Catholic priests of America do pray the Divine Office, is it in English or Greek?

Sl�n go f�ill,
Donnchadh
(Goodbye,
Dennis)

Dennis,

The "Liturgy of the Hours" is the Latin title for the prayers that are said at various times during the day. For Eastern Catholics there is an equivalent. In some cases the hours have the same names (vespers, for example, is still evening prayer, lauds and matins may be combined to form Orthros...). The format is slightly different, although still contains readings from the psalms. While each office in the Latin Church can be prayed in about 15-20 minutes, the Eastern hours usually take an hour or more if fully prayed.

Monastics tend to pray the full set of hours while other clerics pray a subset of these. The language tends to be the vernacular. In my Melkite Church some clerics use Arabic while others use English.

Edward, deacon and sinner

Dear Donchadh,

As a Celtic enthusiast myself, greetings to you!

I have a Godson whose name is "Duncan." Is this the Anglicized of "Donchadh?"

Was not St Donchadh the Abbot of Iona in the time of St Margaret of Scotland and who defended the Celtic traditions against the incursions of the Roman Christians? Nigel Tranter wrote about him in his book on her.

You can see an on-line translation of our Divine Office, especially prepared for lay recitation and celebration, at:

http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/services.htm

There is also an English translation of the old Celtic Breviary at: Celticchristianity.org

That group is a "vagante" one, but their Celtic liturgical scholarship is quite good and I know some Catholics of Celtic background who use that Breviary.

The Divine Office was and has always been a liturgical prayer to be celebrated by the community, rather than the individual. The Eastern Churches oblige monastic communities and churches to celebrate the Horologion as a family.

We don't have the same strictures in place regarding the celebration of the Horologion as in the West.

Priests (and Laity) are obliged to "pray always" and the Horologion and the Psalter will figure very prominently in that prayer life.

There are rules that allow one to replace the Hours with certain numbers of recitations of the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

In the book I have, one would recited this prayer about 1,000 times with 150 prostrations (the Celtic Church was the only western Church that performed prostrations).

In an angelic revelation to St Pachomius of Egypt, the Father was given a prayer rule to say 12 Psalms at the turn of every hour, night and day.

This tradition remains in Egypt to this day where every Hour has 12 Psalms (Prime and Midnight Hour have more). St John Cassian brought this tradition to the West and at least two hours of the ancient Roman and Benedictine Breviaries contained 12 Psalms.

The Greek Fathers, as Fr. Taft the liturgist wrote, divided the Psalter into 12 groups or "stases" of 12 psalms (with three more in the first group and three in the last). One such portion was said at the beginning of each hour, night and day.

The Ethiopian monks still practice this form of prayer. The Anglican, Nicholas Ferrar, also practiced this form of prayer with his family at Little Gidding.

The "Office" also referred to any short prayer that was said constantly by monks and laity, throughout the day and during their work.

God bless,

Alex

To build on the fine information Alex has given:

In the Orthodox tradition, the equivalent of the Divine Office/breviary/Liturgy of the Hours is called the horologion, časoslov or "the hours', and is meant to be a community prayer prayed in church by monastics. I don't of any obligation priests have to pray the hours privately every day the way Roman priests do the Divine Office. Of course one can pray all or part of them privately, and the prayer manuals for the laity often have compilations of prayers taken from them.

(Do Byzantine Catholic priests have a set of hours patterned on the Roman breviary that they have to say every day, copying the Roman rule?)

In the Russian tradition in which I live, there is Vespers or Vigil (Vespers, Matins and Prime strung together) the night before Sunday or a holy day (as with the Jews, the church day begins at sundown the night before), then the third and sixth hours are read in the morning before Liturgy.

Also, Orthodox monasteries bunch the hours together for long services in church (like having the third and sixth with Liturgy, and they have the ninth hour with Vespers afterwards) and don't scatter them through the day like Roman monks traditionally do with terce, sext, nones, etc.

Nicholas Ferrar was thoroughly Protestant (Foxe's Book of Martyrs was read every day at Little Gidding) but yes, he did start something quasimonastic in the 1600s Church of England.

http://oldworldrus.com

Dear Serge,

Yes, you are quite right about Ferrar.

But, in his day, "Protestant" meant something more like what "High Church" means today and "Puritan" was what we mean by "Protestant" today.

The Puritans looked with grave suspicion on him and his family. Tracts were published that portrayed nuns with rosaries standing before his Chapel.

He and his family fasted regularly and gave the extra money to the poor.

They made devotional crucifixes for people to wear and display, not exactly the Protestant practice as we know it.

He bowed deeply before the Cross as he entered and left his chapel for the three public liturgical services he held for his family.

In addition to reciting the whole Psalter twice in every 24 hours, he insisted on memorizing the book. He would sleep only for a few hours then rise for the reading of the Psalter throughout the night until morning.

He taught the local village children to memorize the Psalms and gave them a penny for each Psalm memorized. Most of them knew the Psalms off by heart, as did Ferrar's mother and Ferrar himself. The children thought they were getting candy money. The parents saw the wonderful change in their children as a result and asked Ferrar to continue teaching them.

His approach was highly sacramental. His bishop only gave him approval to celebrate the Eucharist once a month. Ferrar insisted on celebrating a "Dry Mass" on other Sundays.

The reading of Foxe's book of martyrs was done primarily out of respect for a relative of Ferrar's, an Anglican bishop by the same name, Nicholar Ferrar, who was killed by Roman Catholics.

The reading of this book was popular among Anglicans and Lutherans of the day.

The fact that it was anti-Roman and listed Protestants killed by Catholics reflected the spirit of the time.

The Orthodox Calendar also lists many Orthodox martyrs, on Athos (Zographou) and elsewhere, killed by Roman Catholics. The Orthodox Calendar (Jordanville)also lists a feast in honour of the return to Orthodoxy of three million Uniates at the time of Bishop Josef Siemashko. And so?

If, and I don't quite know, your argument against Ferrar rests mainly on his Protestantism and his reading of Foxe's book of martyrs, then Ferrar was certainly much closer in spirit to Catholics and to the Protestants of his time, who, in fact, persecuted him throughout his life and destroyed his Chapel and ended his monastic experiment.

Catholic visitors to Little Gidding, including Jesuits, always wrote about how much they admired Nicholar Ferrar. King Charles I told his Catholic wife how the rule of life of Ferrar and his family put to shame "the stricted religious orders of Roman Catholicism."

In reading Foxe's book of martyrs, Ferrar was reading within the tradition of his church at the time, just like St Theophane the Recluse repeated the anti-Catholic prejudices of his own Orthodox Church - many of which still persist.

Ferrar is regarded by High Church Anglicans as "Catholic" although not in communion with Rome.

Every Anglo-Catholic today, including many Anglican converts to Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, esteem Ferrar highly and many continue to venerate his memory privately.

It is just the example of Nicholas Ferrar and his dedication to holiness that could well have been one of the triggers of traditional revivalism within Anglicanism, which has also led many Anglicans to seek membership in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Alex

I just want to add that the hours such as Compline, First, Third, Sixth and Ninth, and the midnight office, like Serge mentioned, are primarily monastic, so our priests are not obliged to celebrate them. However, Vespers and Matins are not monastic, and thus all Byzantine priests *should* be celebrating them, and faithful *should* be attending them when possible. One of the strong evidences that Vespers and Matins were not seen as a "monk" thing is in how there are so many responses to be sung by the people in these services.

Oh and Donnchadh, Fr. Serge Kelleher in Ireland celebrates the Divine Liturgy in Irish sometimes. You might try to find him (he is online) and email him to see if he has produced a tape of it.

in Christ,

anastasios

However, Vespers and Matins are not monastic, and thus all Byzantine priests *should* be celebrating them, and faithful *should* be attending them when possible.

Righto.

Russian usage: Vigil Saturday night, third and sixth hours Sunday morning.
Other Orthodox' usage: Vespers Saturday night, Matins Sunday morning.

Russians don't go to Communion unless they've been to Vespers the night before and said some set of prayers at home. (I actually was asked about this in Confession once.) Also, where Communion is infrequent, people will confess before every Communion.

Western Catholicism could do the whole round of services in its churches too if people wanted to — the books, in the good old days and now, have first Vespers for Saturday night (or before a holy day), then Matins and Mass Sunday morning, then second Vespers Sunday night. Time was, about 100 years ago and particularly among German Catholic immigrants, Sunday night Vespers and Benediction ended the Lord's day. It seems multiple Masses, including the Saturday evening ones, have completely displaced this tradition in most places, including where this latinization has been adopted by Byzantines.

http://oldworldrus.com

Serge,

Obviously I cannot answer for the American Latin Church but here in the UK the laity are being encouraged more and more to join in the Divine Office - and they do so, Secular Orders and laity.

Here the Divine Office is published in several formats - a 3 vol. set for the Clergy and 2 different formats for laity - Morning ( Lauds) and Evening (Vespers)Prayer with Night (Compline) Prayer and also Daily Prayer [ Morning Prayer and the three day Hours 9 Tierce Sext and None) and Evening Prayer together with Night Prayer]
This Volume also contains the Office of Readings for Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Many people are now saying as many parts of the Office as possible in their own lives, as we are reminded that at some time somewhere in the world someone else is saying the same part of the Divine Office as us and it is truly the Prayer of the Church.

May Our Blessed Lady, Mother of us all and My Mistress keep all of us in Her most tender care.

Angela

Dear Slave of Love,

Actually, almost all of my Roman Catholic friends and acquaintances include a portion of the Daily Office into their prayers, using the volumes you discuss.

I have many more Eastern Church friends who consider the Horologion something that only monastics and priests do.

Interestingly, these same ones consider the Jesus Prayer and the prayer rope to be "off limits" to the laity as well.

The Roman Church has done a much better job of bringing the Daily Office back as a prayer for the entire people of God, to be sure.

Alex, your slave in more ways than one!

Orthodox Catholic,

I am astounded, dumbfounded and flabbergasted. :rolleyes:

You mean to say that some folk , since I am a ROMAN Catholic, think that I as a member of the laity , should not say The Office, or the Jesus Prayer or have a Prayer Rope. You'll tell me next that I should put away my 3 Icons --- NO WAY my friend.

May Our Mistress keep us all in her tender care

Angela

Dear Slave of Our Lady,

I don't know who, but certainly not me!

I think there was, and still is, a view among some Eastern Christians that neatly places certain spiritual practices within the exclusive range of clergy, a place in which they were never intended to be.

The Hours, the prayer rope and other practices were and are meant to be practiced by everyone, clergy, monastics and the Royal Priesthood-Laity.

It is just that the Roman Church has, I believe, done a much better job of adapting the praying of the Hours to the lives of busy Christians working in secular employments.

Some Roman parishes have quite active groups who attend Church regularly for Morning and Evening Prayer and the like, with the permission of the Bishop.

My Roman Catholic friends who are devoted to the Horologion will often interrupt a conversation to say they must attend to vespers or compline.

I think you've done that to me too.

Do you really leave me hanging in mid-sentence to go and say compline? Or is it because I've worn out my welcome with excessive verbiage? Yes, I know that's hard to believe, me and excessive verbiage . . .

Your Slave,

Alex

Dear Angela,

Thank you for your kind words about my posts.

here in the UK the laity are being encouraged more and more to join in the Divine Office - and they do so, Secular Orders and laity

That's wonderful! ISTM the translation and availability of the Divine Office, the official prayer of the Roman Church and the second most important next to the Mass, was one of the few well-intended reforms after Vatican II, and unlike the abuses, one that has been spectacularly unsuccessful catching on. AFAIK most Roman Catholics in America of whatever persuasion (sound, middle of the road or liberal) expect quick Masses or in the case of the last, laity doing Communion services, a sort of Mass substitute, for everything in church. Regarding that last one, far better and truly orthodox to have Vespers or Matins together in church to complement Mass or in its place when a priest can't serve. The Byzantine Rite has its own ante-Communion/missa sicca (for the Latinless: dry Mass) service called the typika or obednica (ahBYEDneetsa) for such priestless Sundays. (Basically the equivalent of the "Liturgy of the Word' ending shortly after the Gospel.)

2 different formats for laity - Morning (Lauds) and Evening (Vespers) Prayer with Night (Compline) Prayer and also Daily Prayer [ Morning Prayer and the three day Hours 9 Tierce Sext and None) and Evening Prayer together with Night Prayer

I have the first one on my shelves, got in England years ago. A fine example of the Roman Rite!

Alex, Russians and my priest have told me the č�tki worn on the left wrist is part of the monastic habit and shouldn't be worn thus by those not monks or nuns. But anyone can use it privately, though traditionally it is something given you by your spiritual father. One septuagenarian told me his Russian-born priest father didn't own one. "You've got those monastic things!' he said to me.

http://oldworldrus.com

[ 11-09-2001: Message edited by: Serge ]

Dear Serge,

I pray that you never shave off your beard and I don't care who thinks it is monastic or not!

Some people I know really love their prayer ropes, almost as emblems of identification with the Eastern Church.

Funny you should mention the part about the confessor. My confessor recommended the prayer rope and told me I should always have it with me (although not on the wrist etc.).

When I went back to him for Confession, he would simply prescribe numbers of Jesus Prayers to be done on the prayer rope.

What do you think about our Latin Rite Slave of Our Lady, Angela?

Isn't she wonderful?

I care for her more than I can say . . .

Hee-hee,

Alex

Alex,

Angela of Glasgow is wonderful.

If I lived around 1700 I'd pay Peter the Great's tax. The beard stays!

http://oldworldrus.com

[ 11-09-2001: Message edited by: Serge ]

Glory to Jesys Christ!

I agree with those who noted that Orthodox Priests should be offering their parish a Morning Prayer (Orthros) and an Evening Vespers or Compline Service daily. In my home we read the Orthros and Compline Daily prior to meals.

Recently I discovered a little Gem, a small book printed in English , translated into English from a Greek Orthodox Book of Hours for the Layman by Archmandrite Cherubim. It is available from Light and Life Books and is put out by one of the OCA Convents in the Northeast. It was written to enable the Lay person at work to continue to pray the hours and has helped me greatly in my meditative life as I seek to pray always.

Your brother in Christ,
Thomas