The Royal Hours, also called the Great Hours or the Imperial Hours, are a particularly solemn celebration of the

Little Hours In Christianity, the Little Hours or minor hours are the canonical hours other than the three major hours. In the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Indian Orthodox Church, two denominations in Oriental Orthodox Christianity, these fixed prayer time ...

in the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

and

Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of t ...

. The Royal Hours are celebrated only three times a year: on the Eve of the Nativity, the Eve of

Theophany Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is a personal encounter with a deity, that is an event where the manifestation of a deity occurs in an observable way. Specifically, it "refers to the temporal and spatial manifest ...

, and

Great Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Holy ...

. This service takes its name from the fact that it used to be officially attended by the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

and his court at

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. Because of the presence of the Emperor, there was a special singing of "Many Years" to the Emperor, the Imperial Court, and the Hierarchy. This singing of "Many Years" continues to this day (in modified form) in

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

s and

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

. By his presence, the Emperor acknowledged his submission to Christ the true King. The three holy days on which the Royal Hours are celebrated were chosen as days in the church year which most particularly demonstrate Jesus' ''

kenosis In Christian theology, ''kenosis'' () is the 'self-emptying' of Jesus. The word () is used in Philippians 2:7: " made himself nothing" ( NIV), or " eemptied himself" ( NRSV), using the verb form (), meaning "to empty". The exact meaning vari ...

'' (self-emptying), and thus His true royal majesty. According to

Sacred Tradition Sacred tradition is a theological term used in Christian theology. According to the theology of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian churches, sacred tradition is the foundation of the doctrinal and spiritual authority o ...

, the Royal Hours of Great Friday were composed by St. Cyril (378 - 444), Patriarch of Alexandria. Although the Royal Hours are splendid, they are also

penitential A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christian sacrament of penance, a "new manner of reconciliation with God" that was first developed by Celtic monks in Ireland in the sixth century AD. It consisted of a list of sins ...

. On days when the Royal Hours are celebrated it is not permitted to celebrate the

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of ...

. The Royal Hours are an aggregate of five services, all served together as one: *

First Hour Prime, or the First Hour, is one of the canonical hours of the Divine Office, said at the first hour of daylight (6:00 a.m. at the equinoxes but earlier in summer, later in winter), between the dawn hour of Lauds and the 9 a.m. hour of Terc ...

* Third Hour * Sixth Hour *

Ninth Hour Nones (), also known as None ( la, Nona, "Ninth"), the Ninth Hour, or the Midafternoon Prayer, is a fixed time of prayer of the Divine Office of almost all the traditional Christian liturgies. It consists mainly of psalms and is said around 3 pm ...

* Typica For the Royal Hours, the

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

vests in

Epitrachelion The ''epitrachelion'' ( grc-gre, ἐπιτραχήλιον "around the neck"; Slavic: епитрахиль, ''epitrachil''; often called simply a '' stole'' in casual English-language usage) is the liturgical vestment worn by priests and bisho ...

and

Phelonion The phelonion (Greek: , plural, , ''phailónia''; Latin: '' paenula'') is a liturgical vestment worn by a priest of the Byzantine Christian tradition. It is worn over the priest's other vestments and is equivalent to the chasuble of Western Chr ...

, and the

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

vests fully in Sticharion,

Orarion The Orarion (Greek: ; Slavonic: орарь, ''orar'') is the distinguishing vestment of the deacon and subdeacon in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches. It is a narrow stole, usually four to ...

and

Epimanikia Epimanikia (singular ''epimanikion'') are liturgical vestments of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. They are cuffs (Russian: ''porútchi'') made of thickened fabric, usually brocade, that lace onto the wrists of a bishop, ...

. The Holy Doors and Curtain are open for most of the service, and the

Gospel Book A Gospel Book, Evangelion, or Book of the Gospels (Greek: , ''Evangélion'') is a codex or bound volume containing one or more of the four Gospels of the Christian New Testament – normally all four – centering on the life of Jesus of Nazareth ...

is placed on an

analogion An analogion ( el, Ἀναλόγιον) is a lectern or slanted stand on which icons or the Gospel Book are placed for veneration by the faithful in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. It may also be used as a lectern ...

(lectern) in the center of the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

(church). At the beginning of each Hour the priest or deacon censes the Gospel,

Icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...

and people. When it is time to begin the First Hour, the bell is rung in the usual manner ( blagovest). At the beginning of each of the succeeding Hours, the bell is struck the number of times that corresponds to the Hour (i.e., three times at the beginning of the Third Hour, six times at the beginning of the Sixth Hour, nine times at the beginning of the Ninth Hour). At the beginning of the Typica the bell is struck twelve times. At each of the Hours, one of the three fixed Psalms is replaced by a Psalm that is significant to the

Feast A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes i ...

being celebrated; the

Troparion A troparion (Greek , plural: , ; Georgian: , ; Church Slavonic: , ) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas. The wi ...

and Kontakion of the day are replaced by numerous hymns chanted by the choir; and each Hour has an Old Testament reading, a Prokeimenon, and an Epistle and

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

. There was a service of Royal Hours for Pentecost composed by the priest Nicholas Malaxus (fl. c. 1538), and published in 1568.''The Pentecostarion''. Tr. Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Boston, MA), p. 15. This service, however, has not come to wide usage in the Church.

References

{{reflist

External links

Recordings of Live Services during Royal Hours
Retrieved 5 April 2013

Retrieved 5 April 2013 Little Hours Byzantine Rite