Should I go to Matins before Liturgy?

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I am a Latin Catholic who is interested in going to Byzantine Divine Liturgy. I called the local Byzantine Catholic Cathedral (St. John the Baptist in Parma, Ohio) to find out the schedule. The recording said that Matins are at 9:30 am, and Liturgy is around 10 am. I got the impression that most people go to the Matins first, since there was no exact time given for when the Liturgy starts. Should I go to the Matins to make sure I am on time for the Liturgy? Is it considered proper etiquette to be at the church for the Matins and not just the Liturgy?

If I do go to the Matins, will there be a book in the pew that I can use to follow along? Is there anything on-line that would help me to understand what is going on during the Matins?
 
lak611 said:
I am a Latin Catholic who is interested in going to Byzantine Divine Liturgy. I called the local Byzantine Catholic Cathedral (St. John the Baptist in Parma, Ohio) to find out the schedule. The recording said that Matins are at 9:30 am, and Liturgy is around 10 am. I got the impression that most people go to the Matins first, since there was no exact time given for when the Liturgy starts. Should I go to the Matins to make sure I am on time for the Liturgy? Is it considered proper etiquette to be at the church for the Matins and not just the Liturgy?

If I do go to the Matins, will there be a book in the pew that I can use to follow along? Is there anything on-line that would help me to understand what is going on during the Matins?
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If you want to be truly authentic and lead the life of a venerable Ruthenian, you get there when you get there. 🙂

Such concerns over punctuality are very western of you!

It would be a good thing to get there for Matins… but you will find people trickle in at different times… some (and I have been guilty of this) several minutes after the start of the DL.
 
If you want to be sure you don’t miss the start of the Divine Liturgy, yes, go for matins.

If you want to get the full teachings of the day (and the matins are of the full, priest-or-deacon-led variety, rather than Reader’s Matins), again, go.

Since they are not listing a specific time for DL, I suspect the standard to be Priest-led matins, with DL following directly on; they may be a break or not. If anything, be EARLY for matins (by 5-10 minutes), to have some time to simply drink in the environment.
 
And if you are early for matins, don’t be surprised if you are one of the very few there.

I also recommend you go. Here’s some information on it.
 
Thank you, all. 🙂 I will go to Matins before Liturgy. Will there be anything in the pew to guide me through the Matins?
 
Thank you, all. I will go to Matins before Liturgy. Will there be anything in the pew to guide me through the Matins?

Frankly, I don’t know. Matins can get rather complex–more than the average person in the pew can be expected to keep up with. And every parish has its own customary abbreviations.

But I’m sure if you go to

metropolitancantorinstitute.org/

or similar site you can find it. This Sunday will be Tone 7, btw.
 
30 minute long matins? I can’t spell it, but the Rusyn designation of matins is (pardon the spelling) utreniya. This is more likely what it will be. From what I gather it is a shortened matins service, nothing wrong with that, just the tradition in that parish.
 
bpbasilphx said:
Thank you, all. I will go to Matins before Liturgy. Will there be anything in the pew to guide me through the Matins?

Frankly, I don’t know. Matins can get rather complex–more than the average person in the pew can be expected to keep up with. And every parish has its own customary abbreviations.

But I’m sure if you go to

metropolitancantorinstitute.org/

or similar site you can find it. This Sunday will be Tone 7, btw.
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Thank you for the link. 🙂
 
mgy100 said:
30 minute long matins? I can’t spell it, but the Rusyn designation of matins is (pardon the spelling) utreniya. This is more likely what it will be. From what I gather it is a shortened matins service, nothing wrong with that, just the tradition in that parish.
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There are several matins options in the Ruthenian church…

One is full matins, lead by the celebrant for the DL, which can be blended, or can be separated from, the DL. It includes additional readings, with troparia, kontakia, and (if appropriate) magnification and irmos.

Another is the use of the third hour, lead by a priest, deacon, reader or cantor, with troparia, kontakia, and (if appropriate) magnification and irmos.

Yet another is the reduced form Divine Praises, which are an abbreviated form of matins (about 15-20min) which lacks even the kontak and tropar. It can be lead by cantor or reader as well.

Discouraged, but allowed, is no divine praises at all.
 
Aramis said:
There are several matins options in the Ruthenian church…

One is full matins, lead by the celebrant for the DL, which can be blended, or can be separated from, the DL. It includes additional readings, with troparia, kontakia, and (if appropriate) magnification and irmos.

Another is the use of the third hour, lead by a priest, deacon, reader or cantor, with troparia, kontakia, and (if appropriate) magnification and irmos.

Yet another is the reduced form Divine Praises, which are an abbreviated form of matins (about 15-20min) which lacks even the kontak and tropar. It can be lead by cantor or reader as well.

Discouraged, but allowed, is no divine praises at all.
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Does the pew book that you have a link for in your signature have the Matins in it?
 
Aramis said:
There are several matins options in the Ruthenian church…

One is full matins, lead by the celebrant for the DL, which can be blended, or can be separated from, the DL. It includes additional readings, with troparia, kontakia, and (if appropriate) magnification and irmos.

Another is the use of the third hour, lead by a priest, deacon, reader or cantor, with troparia, kontakia, and (if appropriate) magnification and irmos.

Yet another is the reduced form Divine Praises, which are an abbreviated form of matins (about 15-20min) which lacks even the kontak and tropar. It can be lead by cantor or reader as well.

Discouraged, but allowed, is no divine praises at all.
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I am quite familiar with the various forms of Matins. I was merely stating that if it is 30 minutes it may be the Utrenja (once again spelling). I don’t know about Alaska, but in Rusyn Central many Churches across the board on both sides of the fence do not have Matins. Utrenja (spelling) is a fair option as it doesn’t require a high number of people to pray this service and it is 30 minutes long-ish.
 
mgy100 said:
I am quite familiar with the various forms of Matins. I was merely stating that if it is 30 minutes it may be the Utrenja (once again spelling). I don’t know about Alaska, but in Rusyn Central many Churches across the board on both sides of the fence do not have Matins. Utrenja (spelling) is a fair option as it doesn’t require a high number of people to pray this service and it is 30 minutes long-ish.
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Will I be able to recognize the type of Matins when I do go?
 
lak611 said:
Will I be able to recognize the type of Matins when I do go?
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Yes. If there is a gospel, it’s Matins proper. Typical matins for sunday run 30-45 minutes.
If no gospel nor epistle, but there is the tropar and kontak of the day, odds are it’s third hour. 20-30 minutes.
If it follows the pewbook, it’s Divine Praises.
 
Aramis said:
Yes. If there is a gospel, it’s Matins proper. Typical matins for sunday run 30-45 minutes.
If no gospel nor epistle, but there is the tropar and kontak of the day, odds are it’s third hour. 20-30 minutes.
If it follows the pewbook, it’s Divine Praises.
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Thank you! That helps. 🙂
 
There is a rotating cycle of 11 Matins Gospels on Sundays; proper Matins Gospels are appointed for greater feast days. Weekday Matins outside of great feasts do not have a particular Gospel.

Don’t worry about what version or degree of abbreviation of Matins you are participating in; just take it in and thank God there are still people and clergy willing to celebrate the Divine Praises.

Not to overwhelm or confuse, but technically there are four types of Matins: Daily Matins, Matins with Great Doxology, Matins with Polyeleos and Paschal Matins. Paschal Matins are celebrated on the day of Pascha and throughout Bright (Paschal) Week.

Matins with Polyeleos are celebrated on Sundays and on those days, for which the *Typikon *(book of Church rubrics throughouth the year) indicates the singing of the *Polyeleos *(“Praise ye the name of the Lord”).

Matins with Great Doxology are celebrated on those days, when the Typikon indicates the singing of the Great Doxology (“Glory be to God in the highest”), but does not prescribe the singing of the Polyeleos. Daily Matins are celebrated on those days, when the *Typikon *does not prescribe the Polyeleos nor the singing of the Great Doxology.

In many traditions the Polyeleos is sung at every Sunday Matins so Sunday Matins generally falls into that category.

The Alberta Benevolent Cantors Association has a nice schematic of the services if you wish to go into greater detail; while this is a Ukrainian Orthodox site it is essentially the same as the Ukrainian Greek Catholic and other Eastern Catholic Churches using the Byzantine Rite.
FDRLB
 
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