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Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I am trying desparately to hang on to (find my way) through my byzantine spirituality. I have lived in places much removed from our churches. I know how to pray the office according to the latin rite. (It is quite easy especially with the St Joseph guide for christian prayer, like a cheat sheet telling you of the pages for each day of the year).

Of course I would prefer to pray the eastern office, but have been told it is too complicated. Bless the soul of my pastor, he heard this and said it not true. He gave me a book "The Hours of Prayer," to get me started.

However, I am quite dumb, and cannot even follow this. There does not seem to be any variation for each day. Though many of the prayers the most beautiful I have read (especially prayers before and after communion). The hours however seem to list several beautiful psalms, but there are not associated readings, etc.

In addition, I do not understand what Tropar or Kondak or akathist means. Can someone translate the Greek, and help me to know at which hour I put in the Tropar and Kondak?

Thank you for any help suggested.

Sadly, I may be better off with a more complete Latin approach than my pathetic Byzantine approach?

Your unworthy, sinful, sister in Christ,
Sharon

Dear Sharon,

I too know and like both the Roman (both pre- and post-Vatican II) and Byzantine offices, and have and treasure "The Hours of Prayer' (abridged Byzantine office for home use). I agree "THOP', while giving a good selection of daily Byzantine prayers, falls short with its unchanging and limited psalm selections compared to the versions of the Roman office out there.

Two suggestions:

1) The back of the Orthodox Study Bible New Testament and Psalms has two psalms for each day of the week (some psalms repeat), one for morning, one for evening. I use these in place of Psalm 50/51 often listed in daily prayers. And these psalm choices are:

Sun M: 5 Eve: 69
Mon M: 89 Eve: 142
Tu M: 100 Eve: 140
Wed: M: 3 Eve: 129
Th M: 62 Eve: 129
Fri M: 102 Eve: 16
Sat M: 5 Eve: 50

(Like "THOP' this follows the Septuagint numbering of the psalms found in pre-Vatican II Catholic Bibles. In other Bibles, except for psalms 3 and 5, just go up a number.)

This method is great for those who aren't called to go through a whole monastic schedule of praying the hours, as most Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic laity aren't. I have found this selection also is a great introduction to psalms often heard in church — using it is a painless way for everyman and everywoman to connect to Orthodox/Byzantine Catholic liturgical life.

2. On the Orthodoxy page of my website (the URL for my website is at the end of this posting) there is a link to a page on Protection of the Mother of God Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia's site, which has both a link to all the psalm texts AND the kathismata, a schedule of the psalms Orthodox monks and nuns read for every day of the week. A selection from this list for a given day is a perfect supplement to add what is missing from the "THOP' version of Vespers. In fact "THOP' instructs you to add the kathismata at one point in the service.

Another thing that might be helpful is the troparia and kontakia for each day of the year (the many saints' days). To get them, you can download some free software called Menologion. This even can be fine-tuned by you to give the saint of the day according to the Julian calendar OR (commoner among Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics in New York) the Gregorian calendar (the Julian reckoning is 13 days behind). Here is the URL to download Menologion: http://saintjohnwonderworker.org/menologion.htm

Finally, I find Vespers with a kathisma (selection of psalm readings) more satisfying than the typical Russian usage, taken from the long Vigil service (Vespers, Matins and Prime strung together), in which one psalm, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly', is repeated almost every time (and sometime omitted). When Vespers is done apart from Vigil, the psalms are supposed to be there, but in Russian practice typically the stichera (verses that are nonbiblical commentary or prayer) for the Sunday or feast dominate the service. I don't know where you can find stichera easily — "THOP' assumes the user has them in a separate book. BTW, FYI, I think kathisma in Greek means one may sit down for that part of the service.

God bless.

Serge

http://oldworldrus.com

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: Serge ]

Dear Serge,
What a nice surprise !

Welcome back. Don't let us wait so long for your next post please.
God bless
Angela

Reader Serge,

Welcome back!

Joe

Serge,

Okay, you have given me much to work with.

May God Bless you (and me, he already has in you), for all the effort you put into helping me.

Give me a day or two to ask more questions.

You are an answer to one of my prayers, thank you Serge,

Thank you Father,

Welcome back, Quroyo (Reader) Serge.

Joe Thur, Mor Ephrem and Angela, dear friends, thank you!

Sharon, if you want to add the the Bible readings (epistle and gospel) for each day as a supplement to reading the hours, try getting a (usually free) wall calendar at your church or, if it hasn't got any, at an Orthodox church — sometimes it will tell you what each day's readings are. I assume your Byzantine Catholic church uses the Gregorian calendar (for example, you celebrate Christmas Dec. 25, not Jan. 7) so an Orthodox Church in America (OCA) calendar will work fine for you on weekdays, except during parts of Great Lent and for feasts whose date depends on Pascha/Easter*. Suggestion: go to the Lower East Side, visit the OCA cathedral, Protection of the Holy Virgin, on 2nd Street and ask for a calendar.

*A date difference not related to Julian vs. Gregorian calendars — the Orthodox date, also used by some Byzantine Catholics, always is after the Jewish Passover because of some early (preschism) church council decision. I don't why the Western Easter date is reckoned differently. Some Byzantine Catholics, in Ukraine for example, use the Julian calendar too! In fact, in America before the 1950s they all did, and the Orthodox date for Easter too.

Serge

http://oldworldrus.com

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: Serge ]

Dear Sharon:

The easiest way to do this is go to:

www.byzantines.net [byzantines.net]

and sign up for the BBS Bible Study. It essentially does for you what Serge outlines above. And it comes to your e-mailbox daily. I must admit though that at times it does come a little late.

John

Sharon,

The ecclesiastical wall calendar is published by the Byzantine Seminary Press. It is usually distributed in the churches or during house blessings. Any Byzcath Church should have free copies. The calendar has the Epistle and Gospel readings for each day of the year. It is a layperson's Lectionary.

If you want a lectionary schedule from the internet, then see http://www.archeparchy.ca/liturgical/lectionary.htm

You will see that the Epistles and Gospels are read daily in a serial fashion beginning with Pascha. If you stick to the lectionary you will read the New Testament with the Church each year.


Joe

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: J Thur ]

Does anyone have an opinion on the BYZANTINE DAILY WORSHIP and its version of the Horologion?

Dmitri.

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Dmitri Rostovski ]

Dear Sharon,

There is an on-line, user-friendly Byzantine Horologion aka "Reader Services" or services that Readers (like Reader Sergius) and lay-people (humble folk like you and I) may use.

It is at:

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

You can download it and there are many other liturgical resources on his pages.

God bless,

Alex

Dear Dmitri,

I've used that version of the Horologion for years, when Brendan was still a Melkite . . .

It is excellent, but I now use the Readers' Service Horologion by Fr. John Whiteford since he has graciously prepared it for recitation by a layperson.

Using his version, I don't have to fret about which prayers belong to the priest and which I can say etc.

Alex

Sharon,

"THOP' has the reader service in it and calls it the Typica. It also is sometimes called a "Pro-Liturgy'. It's perfect if you want to make the Bible readings of the day the center of your prayer life.

This service assumes you have the prokimenon to read or sing as well as the readings. No problem if you have an old Byzantine Catholic pew book* like I do (I use it chanting in church too!) - perhaps you can ask your church for one. Just use the prokimenon of the preceding Sunday... or, since daily prokimena are given for Vespers in "THOP', use those, even it's not liturgically "pure' to do so (God won't mind).

Reader Serge

(Alex: Sergius is fine, thanks. And I asked the ROCOR sticklers on Yahoo's Ustav group if readers use "Revd' and the near-consensus is no.)

*Translations by the late Msgr William Levkulic.

http://oldworldrus.com

Dear Reader Sergius,

Many years! Mnogaya Lyeta!

"Behold how good and how pleasant it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity!

"It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, Running down the edge of his garments.

"It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lord commanded the blessing - Life forevermore."

Psalm 133.

Alex

Sharon,

I have faced the same problem you are facing now. How does one maintain a Byzantine spirituality in daily prayer without becoming overly repetitious or becoming overly frustrated trying to use Horologions that are near impossible to follow?

I think the first thing to do is forget trying to use the Byzantine Horologion like the reformed Roman Liturgy of the Hours. It will simply not work. The reformed Roman Office is designed to be prayed as a personal private prayer that can be used liturgically. The Byzantine Office (at least Vespers and Matins) is designed for liturgical use without any thought given to someone praying it privately.

This doesn't mean one can't adapt the Office to a private rule. Personally, I pray daily Prime, Sext and Compline as Morning, Daytime and Evening Prayer respectively. However, instead of taking the normally assigned three Psalms at the beginning of those offices I substitute one Stasis from the Psalter on a rotating basis. The first morning stasis at Prime, the second at Sext, the evening stasis at Compline. This puts the Psalter on a three week cycle. I then take the Epistle of the day with Compline and the Gospel of the day with Prime. During lent there is a reading from Isiah added to Sext.

In the Byzantine tradition the 150 Psalms are divided up into 20 kathisma, and each kathisma into three stasis. Following the numeration of the Psalms in the Septuagint or Greek Psalter:

Kathisma 1: Psalms 1-3, 4-6, 7-8
Kathisma 2: 9-10, 11-13, 14-16
Kathisma 3: 17, 18-20, 21-23
Kathisma 4: 24-26, 27-29, 30-31
Kathisma 5: 32-33, 34-35, 36
Kathisma 6: 37-39, 40-42, 43-45
Kathisma 7: 40-48, 49-50, 51-54
Kathisma 8: 55-57, 58-60, 61-63
Kathisma 9: 64-66, 67, 68-69
Kathisma 10: 70-71, 72-73, 74-76
Kathisma 11: 77, 78-80, 81-84
Kathisma 12: 85-87, 88, 89-90
Kathisma 13: 91-93, 94-96, 97-100
Kathisma 14: 101-102, 103, 104
Kathisma 15: 106, 107, 108
Kathisma 16: 109-111, 112-114, 115-117
Kathisma 17: 118:1-72, 73-131, 132-176
Kathisma 18: 119-123, 124-128, 129-133
Kathisma 19: 134-136, 137-139, 140-142
Kathisma 20: 143-144, 145,147, 148-150

The Kathismata are nomally distributed as follows:

Sunday: Matins 2&3, Vespers none
Monday: Matins 4&5, Vespers 6
Tuesday: Matins 7&8, Vespers 9
Wednesday: Matins 10&11, Vespers 12
Thursday: Matins 13&14, Vespers 15
Friday: Matins 19&20, Vespers 18
Saturday: Matins 16&17, Vespers 1

Also the numbering of the Psalms varies from the Septuagint to those in modern Bibles. I place the correspondence below.

Greek Psalm #s/Hebrew Psalm #s
1-8/1-8
9/9-10
10-112/11-113
113/114-115
114-115/116
116-145/117-146
146-147/147
148-150/148-150

One could also add Canticles to the plan above. In present Byzantine usage the Canticles have been replaced with liturgical poetry called Canons. Only the Canticles of Mary, Zechariah and Simeon, are actually used. The first two at Matins and the last at Vespers. In ancient Byzantine usage the Canticles are:

1. Canticle of Moses 1: Exodus 15:1-19
2. Canticle of Moses 2: Deutoronomy 32:1-43
3. Canticle of Anna: 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 2:1-10
4. Canticle of Habakkuk: Habakkuk 3:2-19
5. Canticle of Isaiah: Isaiah 26:9-20
6. Canticle of Jonah: Jonah 2:3-10
7. Canticle of the Three Children 1: Dan 3:26-56
8. Canticle of the Three Children 2: Dan 3:57-88
9. Canticle of Mary: Luke 1:46-55
10.Canticle of Zechariah Luke 1:68-79
11.Canticle of Simeon Luke 2:29-32

These were distibuted as follows: three at Matins, one variable (Sunday has two) according to the day always followed by the Canticles of Mary and Zechariah. Vespers always has the Canticle of Simeon. The Matins arrangement by day looks like this:

Sun: 1,8,9,10
Mon: 2,9,10
Tues: 3,9,10
Wed: 4,9,10
Thur: 5,9,10
Fri: 6,9,10
Sat: 7,9,10

This could also be added to my system by taking the Canticles of Mary and Zechariah with Prime, a variable Canticle at Sext, and the Canticle of Simeon with Compline.

I hope this helps. If you need a suggetsed format for the Office let me know.

In Christ,
Lance, deacon candidate

[ 01-31-2002: Message edited by: Lance ]