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

Dear Alex,

In the Syrian tradition, everyone--clergy and laity--has an obligation to pray all seven canonical hours. Although the obligation is the same for everyone, clergy get special mention in the relevant "literature". If a priest or deacon does not pray the full office daily during the week, he's technically not allowed to offer/serve the Qurbana (I don't know how this is enforced, however). I suppose in the same way, the faithful would not be able to commune, all other preparations (fasting, confession, etc.) being presumed. As far as I can tell, there is no "under pain of sin" clause, although I suppose it is something you could confess.

How this actually gets practiced varies. The required books are certainly available. Clerics have and use them, and many of the laypeople use the same books. Abbreviated versions for laypeople also exist and are popular in some regions. In the past, for those who could not read or did not own the books, use of the common prayers (Trisagion prayers, unchanging Psalms, etc.) of those offices sufficed, and many laypeople still follow this method.

Also, there are seven hours, but they can be prayed in two aggregates (midnight, matins, third, and sixth in the morning, ninth, vespers, and compline in the evening) or three (midnight and matins in the morning, third, sixth, and ninth at noon, and vespers and compline in the evening), or at the appropriate hours. If the seven hours are not possible, then the canons say that three (morning, noon, and evening) hours are sufficient, citing the example of the Prophet Daniel. There is no option of substituting the Jesus Prayer or anything else for the hours--even if abbreviated, the hours are required, and anything else is on top of that.

The Old Rite Horologion from Erie notes that when the Interhours are to be taken, they are not read in church but are only taken in the cell beginning with the Trisagion. This certainly assumes a monastic practice.

The Melkite tradition has similar requirements of its priests: they are to have completed Orthros and Prime before they offer the Divine Liturgy.

The usual Russian Orthodox understanding is that the clergy must serve Vespers and Matins publicly in church before each Divine Liturgy, or at the very least read them in kellia himself before serving. It is also understood that those who commune at the Liturgy ought to have attended Vespers and Matins the night before the Liturgy when the commune.

Fr David Straut

Father David:

Father bless!!


Does this mean simply reading them silently in one's home or is this requirement to be done as a chanted Reader's Service?

Asking for your blessing,

BOB

Dear Bob,

Generally speaking they would be done as Reader's Services, ideally chanting the hymns that are appointed, though some might simply read or intone them.

1. All [reader's] services are to begin with the exclamation: "Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.

2. All the priest's prayers and exclamations are omitted.

3. In place of the Great and Augmented Ectenias and the Ectenia of Supplication, "Lord, have mercy" is said twelve times; in place of the Small Ectenia, three times.

4. The Gospel is not intoned, but read in an ordinary voice.

5. All other hymns, psalms and prayers are read or sung as when a priest serves.

Fr David

Father bless,
Is the rule for the OCA as well? (The rule to attend vespers before Communion) Does any other Orthodox body require the Laity to attend Vespers or Orthos?

May the Lord bless you.

Matins is rarely served in most OCA churches . One would hope that OCA priests were at least saying Matins privately before serving the Divine Liturgy, but I'm sure this is also seldom the case. I would think that the more traditional and/or Russian the OCA parish or priest is, the more likely Vespers attendance before Holy Communion is expected. But in general, I don't think that one hears often that it is the expectation in the OCA that laity must attend evening services before receiving Holy Communion.

Greek parishes almost always have some kind of Orthros (Matins) before serving the Divine Liturgy, even if is only a half hour long. (Don't ask me how Matins could be served in half an hour! ) I hasten to add: I think that normative Greek parish practise would be to serve Orthros for Sundays or Feasts in 1-1.25 hours. Saturday evening Vespers is not nearly as often encountered in Greek parishes. (I am speaking from a New Jersey perspective here.) If attendance at Vespers and/or Orthos was expected before receiving Holy Communion in the Greek Archdiocese, there would be very few Communions. So I'm sure this is not the rule.

Fr David Straut

Dear Katholikos Mor Ephrem,

A true blessing to hear from you, Brother in Christ, and thank you for your comprehensive explanation of the tradition of the most Holy and revered Syriac practice in this regard!

How long does it take to fulfill the Syriac Horologion?

With prayers that all is well, and even SUPERB with you, I am,

your servant,

Alex

Dear Friends,

As Mor Ephrem said of the Syriac tradition, so too in the Coptic tradition, laity must say the seven prayers of the Horologion daily and if they do not, they cannot approach Holy Communion and must go to confession.

In the Ethiopian tradition, the laity are obliged to pray seven times daily as well (monastics pray 12 times in the day and 12 times in the night, in accordance with the Rule of St Pachomius).

The Old Rite laity appear to be more disciplined in this regard than us (Nikonians).

It seems that we lose the zeal for prayer and a more intense Christian life without the daily discipline of praising the Lord liturgically seven or three times (when the Hours are aggregated lest we be aggravated . . . ;))

The Horologion is certainly a great school of prayer as it outlines the Church's way which is always the best way, the balanced way and the way in which it is the Will of God for us to grown in prayer and adoration of His Majesty.

This thread shows that the Horologion is alive and well!

Alex

Father David:

Father bless!!

Thank you for yoru reply. I didn't understand the word "kellia."

Asking for your blessing and continued holy prayers,

BOB

The Lord bless.

Sorry about that! Kellia is the Greek word for "cell." A monk would say the Office in his own cell. Lay folk and clergy outside a monastery would say the Service at home.

Fr David

Personally, I'm trying to do too much & jumping from one rule to another...a spiritual ball of confusion

I need a deep long breath...and simplify

james

Well, that depends on how much of it you do and how you do it. If you read the evening aggregate straight through, omitting the priest's parts, but reading all the "stichera", it can be about forty minutes or so, give or take. The same service, chanted in church on a Saturday evening, can take an hour or so.

But this is due to the abbreviated versions in use in India. The book of hours is called "Sh'himo", and has prayers and hymnography for every day of the week. Unlike the Byzantine tradition, where each tone has its own hymnography for that week, the Syriac has one set of hymnography which can be sung to all eight tones. Although unabridged versions have been printed in India, it was apparently the practice in India at one point to divide the hymnography of the offices in half. So, instead of having four "stichera" for the Mother of God, you would have two: the first and third were grouped together, and the second and fourth were grouped together; so for all the hymnography. In this way, they could cut the length of the office in half but still do the whole thing twice a month. They even published the office in this format in two-volume sets. At some point, however, it became customary to just use one set (of the halved office) every week, and this has prevailed in India, resulting in a permanently abridged weekly office. If one reads the unabridged office and it takes the same amount of time as the sung office, it's most likely due to this abbreviation. Interestingly, this doesn't seem to have affected Sundays and feast days, which contain the full hymnography--if a parish is short on time, the priest knows exactly how to shorten the service.

Dear Katholikos Mor Ephrem,

Thank you, brother in Christ - a blessed Nativity season to you and yours!

Alex