Prayers of the Hours

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Vespers, 2nd Sunday of Epiphany; Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS) Ft. Wayne Indianna, and a picture of the Chancel:

 

[All4Christ]

I see you did post where Peter was praying at the hour of prayer. There may be other brief mentions in Scripture - I'm really not sure - but that's the one I noticed when reading.

It also mentions Cornelius praying at the 6th hour.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Lutheran Compline sung by 400+ students at a youth conference, in a hotel lobby:

 

[~Anastasia~]

This prayer is more a model than a quote each time. "After this manner therefore pray thee"... daily needs, forgiveness of sins, etc. Just wanted to be clear on what I meant.

Ah, ok, I see.

In the same way I use certain general guidelines for part of my personal prayers in the evening.

 

[All4Christ]

Vespers, 2nd Sunday of Epiphany; Redeemer Lutheran Church (LCMS) Ft. Wayne Indianna, and a picture of the Chancel:

Beautiful! I love it when we pray the hours communally. It reminds me that the living saints across the world and those already in Heaven worship God always, at the same time. Thank God for the body of Christ!

 

[All4Christ]

Third Hour Prayers
Lord, Who sent down Your Holy Spirit in the third hour to Your Apostles; take not Your Spirit from us, but rather restore Your Spirit in us who pray to You, O Good One.

You are blessed, O Christ our God, Who made the fishermen wise by sending down Your Holy Spirit. Through them You have captured the world into their nets. Glory to You, O Lover of Mankind!

Prayer of St. Mardarios

O God the Master, Father All-Powerful, O Lord, the Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit; One Godhead, One Power, have mercy on me a sinner and save me, Your unworthy servant, as You are the knower of all judgments. For You are blessed now and always. Amen.

 

[Anhelyna]

I enjoy Praying the Hours .

Normally I pray [ or try to ] 3rd and 6th Hour every day.

If I'm unable to get to Liturgy for any good reason then I'll pray 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th Hour and follow with Typica

 

[All4Christ]

...

 

[All4Christ]

...

 

[Shane R]

In the Anglican tradition, the daily offices consist primarily of Morning and Evening Prayer (or song). In one way, I appreciate what Cranmer did by consolidating the offices into two roughly similar times of prayer (Morning Prayer is a bit longer). I think his approach had the lay-man in mind and was an attempt to get laymen praying in more of a monastic manner. There are breviaries floating around that also include offices of Noon Prayer and Compline, but it is rare to see an Anglican praying the traditional monastic hours as seven times of prayer.

As to the suggestion by the Baptist poster that this could be boringly repetitious, that is possible for many. However, the services do make some attempt to provide variety by offering alternative canticles and psalms and a variety of collects to choose from. Also, the Scripture readings and portion of the Psalter vary day by day as one works through the lectionary. And for the more Anglo-Catholic minded Anglican, there are many 'black letter' commemorations scattered throughout the church calendar.

 

[All4Christ]

In the Anglican tradition, the daily offices consist primarily of Morning and Evening Prayer (or song). In one way, I appreciate what Cranmer did by consolidating the offices into two roughly similar times of prayer (Morning Prayer is a bit longer). I think his approach had the lay-man in mind and was an attempt to get laymen praying in more of a monastic manner. There are breviaries floating around that also include offices of Noon Prayer and Compline, but it is rare to see an Anglican praying the traditional monastic hours as seven times of prayer.

As to the suggestion by the Baptist poster that this could be boringly repetitious, that is possible for many. However, the services do make some attempt to provide variety by offering alternative canticles and psalms and a variety of collects to choose from. Also, the Scripture readings and portion of the Psalter vary day by day as one works through the lectionary. And for the more Anglo-Catholic minded Anglican, there are many 'black letter' commemorations scattered throughout the church calendar.

There are some Eastern Orthodox Christians who use a prayer rule that consolidates many of the prayers into morning, afternoon and evening. Some only do morning and evening. Others do more of an abbreviated prayer of the hours at regular times, and others yet do a reader's version of the hours in their entirety.

There also are different Prayers of the Hours for each day of the week, and different prayers for some of the feast days. I think it would be great for more EOs to even just prayer the specific prayers of the hours, as they often are just three or four paragraphs worth of text. That said, I do like that each person's prayer rule can be customized to that particular person, though increasing prayer at all times is certainly important . Often a spiritual father or priest will work with a person to determine the best path to help a person at their particular time of their life / spiritual journey.

Thanks for sharing a bit about your Church's Tradition!

 

[gordonhooker]

Our Society of St. Francis Daily Office prayer book has dropped some of the prayers from the Divine Office and we now do just do the main 4 - Lauds (morning prayer), Sext (midday prayer), Vespers (evening prayer) and Compline (night prayer). The timing changes depending the Friary or House normally 6am, 12 midday, 6pm, and 9pm.