Byzantine Liturgy of the Hours

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Without going into the details, we have just found out my husband is a Byzantine Ruthian Catholic this past Christmas. We have verified the information with several East/West sources and it is true.

We have been saying the Roman Liturgy of the Hours for many years. We feel drawn to begin to learn about the Eastern Liturgy of the Hours. It there an equivalent to the Roman Short Christian Prayer: Liturgy of the Hours that many people start with? We do use the four-volume set right now and do not want to start with something that in depth. We would rather begin a bit simpler.

Please do not suggest we go to our local Byzantine Church for assistance – one of our struggles is that we live in an extremely rural area that is 5 hrs from the nearest Byzantine Church.

Bless each of you in advance for your guidance in this matter.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
 
There isn’t really an exact parallel to the shorter Breviary, although there are ways to abbreviate the Hours to suit your spiritual needs and time constraints.

Would you be interested in my sharing with you a copy of the Horologion that I am transcribing for my personal use? I can give you some basic direction on how to pray the Hours as well…
 
MoreThan1Hat said:
There isn’t really an exact parallel to the shorter Breviary, although there are ways to abbreviate the Hours to suit your spiritual needs and time constraints.

Would you be interested in my sharing with you a copy of the Horologion that I am transcribing for my personal use? I can give you some basic direction on how to pray the Hours as well…
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Is this an open offer? If so I would love to take you up on it.
 
justme said:
Is this an open offer? If so I would love to take you up on it.
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Yes! I should let you know that it is, at present, unfinished; I do have the unchangeable parts of all the Hours (for both within and without the Great Fast), plus the Eight Tones, and the commons for weekdays. I’m currently working on the Moveable Feasts and will make that available when it is done. They are in WordPerfect, formatted to print as a booklet, and using the (old) translations according to the Ruthenian Usage. Eventually I will have propers for the Immoveable Feasts and a daily Menaion as well.

It is probably easiest if you PM your email address to me; I will attach the files to an email and send them to you with printing instructions.

For the Psalter, bpbasilphx has a very nice one already formatted to print the same as my Horologion, at this link:
members.cox.net/theotokos/
The Psalter is File 3. It is even divided into the Kathismata already!
 
Do all Eastern Liturgy of the Hours have to be sung? Can they be recited? Do they come in a 4 volume set like the Roman Liturgy of the Hours?

I have been looking for a 4 volume set for Eastern Rite - is there one?
 
jmjconder said:
Do all Eastern Liturgy of the Hours have to be sung? Can they be recited? Do they come in a 4 volume set like the Roman Liturgy of the Hours?

I have been looking for a 4 volume set for Eastern Rite - is there one?
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No, you don’t have to sing them. There isn’t an equivalent, exactly - which is why I am transcribing my own. The structure of the Hours is different in the Eastern Churches - that is, where the Roman Office of Morning Prayer is: opening blessing, hymn, psalm, psalm, OT canticle, reading, responsory, Canticle of Zechariah, intercessions, closing prayer and ending blessing, the Byzantine Office of Matins is: introductory prayers (Sign of the Cross, a form of the Glory be…, the “O Heavenly King”, the Trisagion (Holy God…) prayers, the Doxology (Glory Be…), the Prayer to the Holy Trinity, 3 Lord have mercy’s, the Doxology again, the Our Father, and properly 12 Lord have mercy’s, a Doxology, and the 3 Come, let us adore…), then Glory to God…3x and O Lord, open my lips…2x, followed by the Psalm of the day, the God the Lord…with verses, the proper Kathisma of the Psalter for the day and Hour, the Sessional Hymns, the Polyeleos if indicated in the Menaion [equivalent to Ordo], the Praises of Our Lady (Magnificat), the Great Doxology, the Troparia of the day, then the prayer of Matins and the Concluding Prayers (the Common Hirmos, 3 Lord, have mercy’s and the blessing “Through the prayers of the Holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, + have mercy on us. Amen.”

If any of the above is incorrect I apologize; this is what is in the large and totally not portable book I have, from a Byzantine Catholic Church in Seattle. Corrections welcome.

I tried for several months to find a comparison and could not…perhaps if I knew how to pray the pre-Vatican II Breviary I could see parallels but to me, that is not important; I just quit trying to find points in common and began on Pure Monday with learning the Byzantine Hours. The Byzantine Hours are not the Divine Office with Eastern prayers thrown in; they are their own prayers all by themselves.
 
**Do all Eastern Liturgy of the Hours have to be sung? Can they be recited? Do they come in a 4 volume set like the Roman Liturgy of the Hours?

I have been looking for a 4 volume set for Eastern Rite - is there one?**

**A 4 volume Eastern set does exist, but in Greek: the Anthologion, but it’s highly appreviated. It takes a library of some 20 volumes to celebrate the entire Byzantine office.

Horologion (for the Ordinary)
Psalter (for the Psalms of Matins and Vespers)
Octoechos, aka Paraklitiki (for the “green seasons”)
Triodion (for pre-Lent, Great Lent, and Holy Week)
Pentecostarion (for Pascha through Sunday after Pentecost)
Menaion (12 volumes, one for each month, for the Saints)
Euchologion, Hieratikon, or Sluzhebnic (for Priest’s and Deacon’s parts)

I have an abriged Horologion on line that’s free for the download.

members.cox.net/theotokos

Large parts of the office, such as the Psalter, are read in an inflected monotone. It would be acceptable just to recite, at first in private, then sing more as you learn more.

Hope this helps. Let me know.**
 
Are you Byzantine?

I will go to your web-site a begin…it sounds like it is much more complicated than I thought. What drew you to begin the translation process?

After finding out my husband is Byzantine - we have begun to learn as much as we can about this Eastern Rite. What are the spiritual benefits of learning the Eastern Liturgy of the Hours…it does sound rather difficult…
Glory to Jesus Christ…
Blessings to your work.
 
jmjconder said:
Are you Byzantine?

I will go to your web-site a begin…it sounds like it is much more complicated than I thought. What drew you to begin the translation process?

After finding out my husband is Byzantine - we have begun to learn as much as we can about this Eastern Rite. What are the spiritual benefits of learning the Eastern Liturgy of the Hours…it does sound rather difficult…
Glory to Jesus Christ…
Blessings to your work.
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It is complicated, for sure!🙂 As a Byzantine Catholic who is also a pledged member of the Confraternity of Penitents (and therefore obligated to a Rule of Prayer that, for me, is the full Divine Office) I wanted to pray the Hours as they are prayed in the East…

For me, the spiritual benefits are an increased realization of my own smallness before the majesty of God in His Three Divine Persons; my unworthiness and therefore the great love He has for all mankind; a more personal devotion to the Theotokos; and a greater desire to live as perfectly as possible the Rule and Constitutions of the Confraternity of Penitents to achieve both personal holiness and the sanctification of my family and those people I meet in the course of my life.

For more information about the Confraternity to which I belong, you may visit this link: www.penitents.org Any further discussion of it would more properly be done via PM or on the Spirituality or Vocations subforums.
 
jmjconder said:
Are you Byzantine?

I will go to your web-site a begin…it sounds like it is much more complicated than I thought. What drew you to begin the translation process?

After finding out my husband is Byzantine - we have begun to learn as much as we can about this Eastern Rite. What are the spiritual benefits of learning the Eastern Liturgy of the Hours…it does sound rather difficult…
Glory to Jesus Christ…
Blessings to your work.
Click to expand...
The full Byzantine-American Horologion grew out of my work as a Cantor and Choir Director and my desire to try to see our Holy Services in a consistent, easy to use format–as much as that is possible.

The spiritual benefits of the Byzantine office are the same as any form of the Office: praying in union with the Church of a particular spiritual tradition.

You might find the Little Hours (1, 3, 6, and 9th and Compline) to be the easiest at first. They change very little.

Remember–pray as you can, not as you can’t.

I should also add that among Byzantine Christians (both Orthodox and Catholic), the Office is seen as an anthology of prayer, rather than an exercise in rubrics. In practice, except in the biggest monasteries, the Offices (especially Matins) are more or less abbreviated.

Once you get the hang of this, I can give you a site that can provide more propers.
 
bpbasilphx said:
I have an abriged Horologion on line that’s free for the download.

members.cox.net/theotokos

Large parts of the office, such as the Psalter, are read in an inflected monotone. It would be acceptable just to recite, at first in private, then sing more as you learn more.

Hope this helps. Let me know.
Click to expand...
While bpbasilphx gives you a web address, let me put it in link form, so all you have to do is click on it, and you will be taken there

members.cox.net/theotokos

Hope this helps!
 
I only wish that the word “men” (anthropos) had been retained in the Creed.

**I was following the useage of several Orthodox bishops for whom English is a second language.

Actually, the Greek word “anthropos” (Slavonic, “chellovek”) used is generic, and means human being of either sex.

ANIR (Slavonic, "muzh; Latin “vir”) is gender specific.

These bishops have said that “and was made human” is actuallly closer in meaning to the Greek of the Creed rather than “man”.

Feel free to change any word you think can be improved. It might well be you thought of the word or phrase that escaped me.**
 
bpbasilphx said:
These bishops have said that “and was made human” is actuallly closer in meaning to the Greek of the Creed rather than “man”.

Feel free to change any word you think can be improved. It might well be you thought of the word or phrase that escaped me.
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I know of all the arguments for gender neutral language, and I will never be convinced by any of them. I do not know of any canonical Orthodox Church which has neutralized the Creed. The Byzantine Catholic Church has been reeling over matters such as these for more than a year now.

You have my advice.

Put the word “men” back in the Creed for your Horologion.

It belongs there.
 
A very abbreviated form is in the Ruthenian pew book, under the title “Divine Praises”.
 
bpbasilphx said:
**Do all Eastern Liturgy of the Hours have to be sung? Can they be recited? Do they come in a 4 volume set like the Roman Liturgy of the Hours?

I have been looking for a 4 volume set for Eastern Rite - is there one?**

**A 4 volume Eastern set does exist, but in Greek: the Anthologion, but it’s highly appreviated. It takes a library of some 20 volumes to celebrate the entire Byzantine office.

Horologion (for the Ordinary)
Psalter (for the Psalms of Matins and Vespers)
Octoechos, aka Paraklitiki (for the “green seasons”)
Triodion (for pre-Lent, Great Lent, and Holy Week)
Pentecostarion (for Pascha through Sunday after Pentecost)
Menaion (12 volumes, one for each month, for the Saints)
Euchologion, Hieratikon, or Sluzhebnic (for Priest’s and Deacon’s parts)******

I have an abriged Horologion on line that’s free for the download.

members.cox.net/theotokos

Large parts of the office, such as the Psalter, are read in an inflected monotone. It would be acceptable just to recite, at first in private, then sing more as you learn more.

Hope this helps. Let me know.
Click to expand...
Is your link still active? I have been trying to download it and it comes up blank.
 
bpbasilphx said:
I only wish that the word “men” (anthropos) had been retained in the Creed.

**I was following the useage of several Orthodox bishops for whom English is a second language.

Actually, the Greek word “anthropos” (Slavonic, “chellovek”) used is generic, and means human being of either sex.

ANIR (Slavonic, "muzh; Latin “vir”) is gender specific.

These bishops have said that “and was made human” is actuallly closer in meaning to the Greek of the Creed rather than “man”.
.**
Click to expand...
This is why I love it. Why would it have to be “man.” Thank you. Very interesting to me, a newbie Byzantine.
 
jmjconder said:
Is your link still active? I have been trying to download it and it comes up blank.
Click to expand...
The link is inactive. Bishop Basil was banned 5 years ago. I knew him personally. he was older and in poor health and he may no longer be living, haven’t heard from him in several years.
 
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