Divine Office / Liturgy of the Hours
Psalms chanted at dawn, dusk and dead of night, sanctifying the whole turning day
The Divine Office, or Liturgy of the Hours, is the fixed daily cycle of prayer services, such as Matins, Vespers and Compline, that mark the hours with psalms, hymns and readings. Witnessed in early sources like the Apostolic Tradition, Egeria's account, and the Rule of St. Benedict, it is kept across Catholic, Orthodox and Oriental churches with differing structures. Anglican and Lutheran reforms reduced it to morning and evening prayer, while many Free churches set it aside.
How it traveled
- The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods— · c. 360 CEexplains
- The Letters of St. JeromeBethlehem · c. 420 CEapplies
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · c. 430 CEapplies
- The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal FaultsMarseille · c. 435 CEexplains
- The Canons of the Council in Trullo; Often Called The Quinisext CouncilConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 692 CEexplains
Key passages(20)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods · The Ecumenical Councils
The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath [i.e. Saturday], with the other Scriptures. Notes. Ancient Epitome of Canon XVI. The Gospel, the Epistle [ἀπόστολος ] and the other Scriptures are to be re
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The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
Of the Canonical System of the Nocturnal Prayers and Psalms. Girt, therefore, with this twofold girdle of which we have spoken, See Book I. c. xi. 1 Thess. v. 17. Of the difference of the number o
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The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
Of their Method of Praying. These aforesaid prayers, then, they begin and finish in such a way that when the Psalm is ended they do not hurry at once to kneel down, as some of us do in this country,
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The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
He is blameworthy, first, as regards his own prayer because he offers it to God in a careless way; and, secondly, because by his unmannerly noise he disturbs the thoughts of another who would otherwis
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The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
Of the services of the third, sixth, and ninth hours, which are observed in the regions of Syria. The nocturnal system of prayers and Psalms as observed throughout Egypt has been, I think, by God’s h
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The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
It will be noticed that in this chapter Cassian alludes to five offices: (1) A morning office; (2) the third hour; (3) the sixth; (4) the ninth; and (5) Vespers; and gives the grounds for their observ
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The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
I.e., Prime. Some confusion is likely to be caused by the fact that Cassian speaks of both “Lauds” and “Prime” by the same title of Mattins. Immediately below, where he speaks of the “Mattin service a
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Christian Cautions · Jonathan Edwards
(2.) Do you not live in sin, in living in the neglect of singing God’s praises? If singing praise to God be an ordinance of God’s public worship, as doubtless it is, then it ought to be performed by t
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
7. Be regular (instate) in prayers at the appointed hours and times. In the oratory let no one do anything else than the duty for which the place was made, and from which it has received its name; so
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The Letters of St. Jerome · Jerome
9. And let it be her task daily to bring to you the flowers which she has culled from scripture. Let her learn by heart so many verses in the Greek, but let her be instructed in the Latin also. For, i
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The Canons of the Council in Trullo; Often Called The Quinisext Council · The Ecumenical Councils
Canon LXVI. From the holy day of the Resurrection of Christ our God until the next Lord’s day, for a whole week, in the holy churches the faithful ought to be free from labour, rejoicing in Christ wi
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The Canons of the Council in Trullo; Often Called The Quinisext Council · The Ecumenical Councils
Canon XC. We have received from our divine Fathers the canon law that in honour of Christ’s resurrection, we are not to kneel on Sundays. Lest therefore we should ignore the fulness of this observanc
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The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus · Socrates Scholasticus
Chapter VIII.—The Arians and the Supporters of the ‘Homoousion’ hold Nocturnal Assemblies and sing Antiphonal Hymns, a Species of Composition ascribed to Ignatius, surnamed Theophorus.Conflict between
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The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
And these labours they keep up for two reasons, besides this consideration,—that they believe that when they are diligently exerting themselves they are offering to God a sacrifice of the fruit of the
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Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons · Constitutions of the Holy Apostles
LVII. But be thou, O bishop, holy, unblameable, no striker, not soon angry, not cruel; but a builder up, a converter, apt to teach, forbearing of evil, of a gentle mind, meek, long-suffering, ready to
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Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious Men · Jerome
Chapter LXII. Cassianus, Scythian by race, ordained deacon by bishop John the Great, at Constantinople, and a presbyter at Marseilles, founded two monasteries, that is to say one for men and one for
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On Fasting. · Tertullian: Part Fourth
Chapter X.—Of Stations, and of the Hours of Prayer. In like manner they censure on the count of novelty our Stations as being enjoined; some, moreover, (censure them) too as being prolonged habituall
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The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods · The Ecumenical Councils
Such is the new theory, which, even if rejected, at least is valuable in drawing attention to the great importance of the vigil-service in the Early Church, an importance still attaching to it in Russ
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The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults · John Cassian
To this what shall we wretched creatures say, who though living in Cœnobia and established under the government and care of an Abbot yet carry about our own keys, and trampling under foot all feeling
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Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen · Gregory of Nazianzus
Reward. Faith is, as Clémencet remarks, “the gift of God”—but cf. S. John vii. 17. 7. I have heard the Scripture say: Who can find a valiant woman? Prov. xxxi. 10, 7. Hesiod: Works and Days, 700.
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