The Daily Cycle

This section walks the full cursus of the daily office and the theology of each service’s hour. The first file follows the evening and night services — Vespers, Compline (Great and Small), and the Midnight Office — and the principle that the liturgical day begins at sunset. The second follows the services of light — Matins/Orthros and the Four Hours — and gathers the theology of the whole round: the sanctification of time.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Overview

The Orthodox daily office is a cycle of services distributed around the clock, each keyed to a moment of the natural day and, through it, to a moment of salvation history. In its full form there are the evening and night services (Vespers, Compline, the Midnight Office), the morning service (Matins), and the four daytime Hours — eight services in all, sanctifying the whole span of the day. Their governing principle is that the day begins at evening, on the biblical pattern of Genesis. This section presents the services in that order, evening first, and draws out the meaning the tradition assigns to each hour. It treats the shape and theology of the services; the psalms that fill them are set out in Section 03, and the history behind them in Section 05.

Files

File Description
the-evening-and-night-services.md The liturgical day beginning at sunset; Vespers; Compline (Great and Small); the Midnight Office — the services of evening, sleep, and the midnight watch
matins-the-hours-and-the-liturgical-day.md Matins/Orthros as the service of the Resurrection; the Four Hours and their commemorations; the sanctification of time as the meaning of the whole cursus

See Also