Byzantine Liturgy of the Hours, Part I: Introduction and The Psalms
Posted by Karl (May 9, 2006 at 9:20 am)
One might think that Christian worship begins and ends on Sunday, but that is not the case. All the hours of every day have been made holy, and are proper times to sing praise to God. The Church, following ancient customs going back to Jewish practice, has specific liturgies for the various hours of the day. By praying along with the Church at “morning, noon, and night” as the Psalmist puts it, we can sanctify the whole day and the whole week. Sunday is not the only liturgical day, but the biggest celebration in a constant symphony of praise.
Consider this: one is busy at work, fighting to remain Christian in a stressful and non-Christian environment. It would be very easy at that moment to forget one’s vocation to “love your enemies, and do good to those who hurt you.” But then, you look at your watch, see that it is three o’clock, and stop and pray the liturgy of the ninth hour (None), where the crucifixion of Christ is commemorated. Then you complete the day remembering the good God has done for you, and you are kinder, realizing your own need for his mercy.
But, you may ask, how do I start? First, you must remember Karl’s First Rule of Praying the Byzantine Hours: It can’t be done. It’s impossible. I don’t mean that one shouldn’t try, but to do the hours in their complete form would require almost more hours than there are in the day, and certainly more than you can spare and still remain gainfully employed. Admit from the start that you will fail, and don’t let it bother you when you do. It’s like golf: if you start to play golf thinking that you will actually be good, you will hate golf. Start by admitting you will be a complete failure, and you will enjoy whatever success you do have much more. With that disclaimer, let’s talk about the Psalms.
All prayer in the Church starts with the Psalms. They are “the Spirit teaching us how to pray as we ought.” If you do nothing else, you should try to pray the psalms with regularity. In Byzantine practice, the 150 psalms are prayed in their entirety every week. During the Great Fast (Lent) they are prayed twice a week. (You can see the wisdom of the previous paragraph–just to pray the psalms will be a lot of praying!) For the next step, take a bible and a pen–you will need to do some marking of the Psalms, to determine which to pray each day of the week. They are divided into 20 kathisma, each of which is divided into three stases. The division is as follows, numbered according to the Hebrew Psalter (most bibles are numbered this way, with the Septuagint numbering in parentheses):
| I.1 1-3 I.2 4-6 I.3 7-8 II.1 9-11 II.2 12-14 II.3 15-17 III.1 18 III.2 19-21 III.3 22-24 IV.1 25-27 IV.2 28-30 IV.3 31-32 V.1 33-34 V.2 35-36 V.3 37 VI.1 38-40 VI.2 41-43 VI.3 44-46 VII.1 47-49 VII.2 50-51 VII.3 52-55 |
VIII.1 56-58 VIII.2 59-61 VIII.3 62-64 IX.1 65-67 IX.2 68 IX.3 69-70 X.1 71-72 X.2 73-74 X.3 75-77 XI.1 78 XI.2 79-81 XI.3 82-85 XII.1 86-88 XII.2 89 XII.3 90-91 XIII.1 92-94 XIII.2 95-97 XIII.3 98-101 XIV.1 102-103 XIV.2 104 XIV.3 105 |
XV.1 106 XV.2 107 XV.3 108-109 XVI.1 110-112 XVI.2 113-116:9 XVI.3 116:10-118 XVII.1 119:1-72 XVII.2 119:73-131 XVII.3 119:132-176 XVIII.1 120-124 XVIII.2 125-129 XVIII.3 130-134 XIX.1 135-157 XIX.2 138-140 XIX.3 141-143 XX.1 144-146 XX.2 147 XX.3 148-150 |
Now that you’ve got your bible marked up, you can follow the schedule. I have taken these tables from Orthodox Wiki:
Outside of Great Lent
Outside Great Lent the kathismata are appointed to be read according to the following cycle:
| Day | Matins | Vespers |
|---|---|---|
| Su | II, III | — |
| M | IV, V | VI |
| Tu | VII, VIII | IX |
| W | X, XI | XII |
| Th | XIII, XIV | XV |
| F | XIX, XX | XVII |
| Sa | XVI, XVII | I |
During Great Lent
During the weekdays of Great Lent, kathisma readings are added to the the services of the Hours so that the entire Psalter is read through twice each week. The cycle of appointed kathismata readings for Great Lent are as follows:
| Day | Matins | First Hour | Third Hour | Sixth Hour | Ninth Hour | Vespers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Su | II, III | — | — | — | — | — |
| M | IV, V, VI | — | VII | VIII | IX | XVIII |
| Tu | X, XI, XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI | XVIII |
| W | XIX, XX, I | II | III | IV | V | XVIII |
| Th | VI, VII, VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XVIII |
| F | XIII, XIV, XV | — | XIX | XX | — | XVIII |
| Sa | XVI, XVII | — | — | — | — | I |
Now that you’ve seen how the psalms are prayed according to the Byzantine Rite, you can see the wisdom of my rule given above. You will never be able to stay on the schedule. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, but realize that unless you are a monk, you just won’t be able to keep up with all the prayers. Enjoy those that you do pray, and don’t worry about those hours you miss.
Next: The Hours.
Dankeschoen, diese Infos haben mir noch gefehlt. Habe dich zufaellig über google gefunden.
Comment posted December 6th, 2007 at 10:37 am