Canonical hours are
a type of special, fairly brief divine offices that mark certain times of day,
at which a certain important event of the Savior's earthly life occurred. There
are four hours in the worship practice of the Orthodox Church, namely, the
Ninth Hour, the First Hour, the Third Hour, and the Sixth Hour. The principal
topic of the Ninth Hour is the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the
Cross. The First Hour reminds of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden
of Eden, as well as the trial of the God-man at the Caiaphas' court and His
Passion. The Third Hour is devoted to the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the
apostles, while the Sixth Hour reminds of the Lord's Crucifixion. The names of
the hours can be traced back to Jewish customs. The ancient Jews divided the
day into four parts, hence the hours' names. The tradition of fixed prayers at
regular intervals dates back to the Old Testament but it acquired a new meaning
in Christianity. The Ninth Hour is at 3 p.m., the First Hour is at 7 a.m., the
Third Hour is at 9 a.m., and the Sixth Hour is at 12 p.m. Currently, the Hours
are appended to longer services out of convenience. The Ninth Hour is appended
to the Vespers, the First Hour is appended to the end of the Matins, and the
Third and Sixth Hours are served before the Liturgy.
However, the
worship practice of the Church includes Great Hours—alternatively referred to
as Royal Hours—too. They are served on the greatest Orthodox holidays, three
times a year: on Holy Friday, Christmas Eve, and Theophany Eve.
They are called
Great because they are served in an especially solemn manner. A priest wears a
phelonion. The Royal Door is open. The beginning of each hour is marked by
censing, with the entire church censed at the first and the final hour, with a
lit candle, like during the polieley. There are paroemias (Greek, 'proverbs’ —
special readings from the Old Testament) read at every hour, followed by the
Epistle and the Gospel readings. The Scripture readings are selected to match
the holiday. Apart from that, Psalms, prokeimenons, troparions and
kontakions—in fact, almost all prayers of the Great Hours—are dedicated to the
celebrated event (the Nativity of Christ, the Baptism of the Lord, or the
Passion of Christ).
This service is
called Royal because Byzantine emperors had a habit of attending them due to
their grandeur. It underlined not only spiritual and liturgical importance of
these services but also their public value.
Heortologically
(Greek root heortē means 'feast’,
thus, heortology is a branch of theology, which studies religious holidays),
Christmas Eve and Epiphany Eve are twin holidays. Their liturgical structures
are similar. It can be attributed to the fact that the Nativity of Christ and
the Baptism of the Lord were celebrated as one holiday, called the Holy
Theophany, in the past. Christmas was first celebrated as a separate holiday
only in the 4th century.
According to the
contemporary tradition of the Church, the Great Royal Hours are celebrated one
by one in the following order: 1, 3, 6, 9. Usually, a bell strikes the number
of the hour at its beginning.
This year, the
Great Hours will be held on Friday (because Christmas is on Monday). There is
no Liturgy on that day. According to the rubrics, the Royal Hours service
starts at 8 a.m.
The Royal Hours,
filled with Scripture readings and prayers, introduce us to the celebration of
Christmas and tune our hearts and souls up for the holiday.
We often can't find
the road to Bethlehem due to the chaotic shopping spree and because we're busy
cooking a festive meal for the traditional family reunion. We tend to forget
about the main reason for the season, i.e., the birth of Jesus Christ, the
Savior of the world. We often forget that we should come to Him, and not to our
relatives, first. We can enjoy being with your families later. First of all, we
must come to Baby Jesus.
The Royal Hours are
our first step to Him. We enter the church as if it were the cave where God is
waiting for us. We must be united with Him to the best of our abilities. We've
got to honor Him in the first place. We should fill our hearts and minds not
with public traditions of celebrating the feast (they can wait) but with the
spirit of Christmas, which sets everything in motion. We can acquire this
spirit at the divine offices of these wonderful, glorious, and happy days of
remembrance of the salvation that God brought for the human race.
Dear brothers and
sisters, I'd like to wish you all to be able to see that tender shimmering star
that leads us to the Divine Baby on this merry holiday of the Nativity of
Christ, in spite of all troubles and worries of this world.
The Rev. Andrei Chizhenko
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds
Source: https://pravlife.org/content/chto-takoe-velikie-carskie-chasy-v-kanun-rozhdestva-hristova
CONVERSATION