www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Obligation to pray the Horologion

Dear Friends,

Do Orthodox and EC members of Holy Orders have an obligation to pray the Horologion daily i.e. "under pain of sin?"

Is it still an obligation in the Latin Church (I believe it is).

Just wondering.

Alex

Hi Alex,

I know of no obligation in the east for such practice...I know it was for western clergy but don't know if it still is...

Chris

Even in the Latin Church the local bishop as the "competent authority" can modify the obligation of the Office for his diocesan clergy. Religious orders, of course, have to follow the rule of the order or house.

Byzantine monasteries follow their own particular typikon which dictates the prayer cycle. But even then the hegumen allows the new monks to gradually enter into the life; in some monasteries, for example, the new monks are not expected to be at the Midnight Office for the first year or two, etc.

For parochial clergy the spiritual father or the bishop may prescribe a rule.

I generally try follow the recommendations of Bl. Andrey Sheptytsky as he gave them to both the Russian Catholic Sobor in 1917 and to the Redemptorists under his care (which is what my spiritual father recommended). For Sundays and greater feast days Bl. Andrey recommended to take as a minimum Ninth Hour, Vespers, and Matins. He also made the allowance for one to use the prayer rope and Psalter as a option to the Horologion on a daily basis.

Of course if one is an Oblate or some other tertiary, etc. one would also need to heed those obligations as well.

Dear Father DIAKone,

Thank you!

Would you know of the UGCC prescriptions of the prayer rope and the psalter for the Horologion? (please, pretty please . . .)

Alex

Back in the nineteen-fifties when at least in the USA there were a growing number of Latin priests who could not really understand Latin the American bishops asked the Holy See to permit the bishop, at least in individual cases, to allow the priests to recite the breviary in English. The Holy See refused - and then someone in Rome advised the bishops that there was an easy way to get around the ruling, as follows:

a) dispense the priest from the breviary entirely, with a proviso that the bishop would impose a similar exercise of prayer, and

b) impose the recitation of the breviary in English!

No, I am not making this up!

Fr. Serge

Dear Revered Experts,

The Hours in our tradition can be "bunched up" and often are with three Hours at a time at three different times of the day.

Is this a standard? Jordanville does the Vigil daily with Vespers, Matins and the First Hour beginning at 4:00 pm.

Alex

Alex - it is quite vague and only says the Horologion can be replaced with the psalter and prayer rope. One would assume he was referring to the Slavonic Psalter, which has the penitential prayers after each kathisma.

Dear Father DIAKone,

OK - as you know, the Old Rite prescribes a Kathisma for each hour and two or three for Matins as a basic rule. One could also do two kathismata for Vespers and Nocturns (and for Great Compline) and then five kathismata are prescribed for Matins . . .

Calculating 300 Jesus Prayers per kathisma, one would have to do 3,000 to 4200 Prayers to fulfill that rule . . .

Alex

Does the Old Rite prescribe the Inter-Hours for every day?

Alex

I thought the Inter-Hours were only for minor fasts when the kathismata were not taken within the Little Hours and there were no readings from the Ladder.

As well, this was the case with Latin Church. The hours were aggregated as follows: Prime, Tierce, Sext, and Nones in the morning; Vespers, and Compline in late afternoon or early evening; and Matins & Lauds (of the next day) before going to bed, usually around 9:00 p.m. Or Vespers, Compline, Matins & Lauds would be aggregated in one big chunk.

Until very recently the Lay Clerks of Westminster Cathedral followed a schedule like this, but I hear that they have sadly been curtailed somewhat by the liberal clergy. (I won't mention names...)

http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/vinfo/vinfo_times.html

A Cistercian friend told me once that some churches would have an early evening service of simple Benediction with the ciborium, followed by Matins & Lauds of the next day; Vespers & compline having been said in the afternoon (sometimes right before Benediction).

There was a discussion of that on the Yahoo group "ustav" a few years back. A strong argument was made that the interhours were intended to have use well beyond the periods of the minor fasts. Message #7860 on that group was the best synopsis of the argument for expanded usage. If you are not a member, you can PM me and I will look it up and send you the text.

In the Melkite church, we have the following practice concerning the liturgies of the hours:

- Vespers, at sunset and before the evening meal.
- Compline, after the evening meal and before lying down.
- Orthros, at sunrise. In parishes on Sundays this would normally precede the Divine Liturgy.
- Prime, at around 6 am; appended to Orthros.
- Terce & Sext between 9 am and noon; prayed together before noon.
- None, prepended to Vespers. None often starts around 3 pm.
- the midnight office (mesonyktikon) is particularly monastic and usually not prayed by parish clergy or people. However, it does form part of the Paschal Vigil and so is prayed at that time.
- the Intermediate hours (mesoria) are chanted attached to their respective major hour (i.e., after the major hour has been sung). They are chanted only during the lesser fasts on days when "alleluia" is sung. In modern parochial use, they are usually only sung on the first day of these lesser fasts.

The typikia are chanted before None on days without Divine Liturgy (after None during the Great Fast).

The note in the Unabbreviated Horologion from Jordanville states the present usage is to only pray the Interhours on the first day of the Nativity and Apostle's Fast, and then only when they fall on a weekday; and when they are taken, there is no celebration of the Divine Liturgy. The note further interprets Nikol'sky that the interhours are not to be used during the Great Fast as I mentioned previously (when the kathismata are taken at the Hours and there is reading from the Ladder.

I checked Nikol'sky (1900) and he indicates they may be read on any day that is not festal (festal includes pre-festal or post-festal) when the Divine Liturgy is not to be celebrated. He also makes a note that even then they were, as a rule, only read in the monasteries for minor fasts. I'll check my Old Rite Horologion this evening when I retrieve it after Vespers; the Old Rite also retains Middle Compline and may also have a more regular reading of the Mezhdochasya.

Also according to Nikol'sky other times when the Interhours are not to be used include Bright Week, week of Pentecost, Meatfare and Cheesefare Weeks.

The Mega Horologion (Athonite usage) simply states that the Interhours are only to be taken on weekdays when "Alleluia" has been taken at Matins outside of the Great Fast.