The Psalms in the Services

This section maps the fixed psalmody of the office: which psalms anchor which service, and why. The first file follows the “select” psalms that give each service its character — Psalm 103 opening Vespers, the Six Psalms opening Matins, Psalm 50 recurring everywhere, the Polyeleos and the Praises. The second gathers the fixed psalmody of the lesser services — the three psalms of each of the Four Hours, the psalms of Compline and the Midnight Office, and the Typika.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Overview

The daily office is built of two kinds of psalmody. There is the continuous reading of the whole Psalter in the kathisma cycle, which moves through all 150 psalms over the week (treated in Sections 02 and 07). And there is the fixed or “select” psalmody — particular psalms assigned to particular services because their words fit the hour and its meaning: the creation-psalm at nightfall, the psalms of distress-turning-to-trust in the darkness before dawn, the psalm of repentance at the heart of every gathering. These fixed psalms are the load-bearing walls of the office, the same every day, and they are what give each service its unmistakable character. This section identifies them precisely, verified against the Horologion and the hub essay on the daily cycle.

Files

File Description
which-psalms-anchor-which-services.md Ps 103 at Vespers; “Lord, I have cried” (140, 141, 129, 116); the Six Psalms of Matins (3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142); Ps 50 everywhere; the Polyeleos (134–135); the Praises (148–150)
the-fixed-psalmody-of-the-hours-and-typika.md The three psalms of each of the Four Hours; the psalms of Small and Great Compline and the Midnight Office; the Typika psalms (102, 145) and the Beatitudes

See Also