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Orthros
''Orthros'' (Greek: , meaning "early dawn" or "daybreak") or ''útrenya'' ( Slavonic ѹ́тренѧ) in the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, is the last of the four night offices (church services), the other three being vespers, compline, and midnight office. Traditionally, in monasteries it is held daily so as to end immediately following sunrise, in contrast to parishes where it is held only on Sundays and feast days. It is often called matins after the office it most nearly corresponds to in Western Christian churches. Orthros is the longest and most complex of the daily cycle of services. It is normally held in the early morning, often — always in monasteries — preceded by the midnight office, and usually followed by the First Hour. On great feasts it is held as part of an all-night vigil commencing the evening before, combined with an augmented great vespers and the first hour. In the Russian tradition, an all-night vig ...
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Octoechos (liturgy)
The book Octoechos (from the Greek language, Greek: ; from wikt:οκτώ, ὀκτώ 'eight' and wikt:ἦχος, ἦχος 'sound, mode' called echos; , from wikt:осмь, о́смь 'eight' and wikt:гласъ, гласъ 'voice, sound') is a liturgical book containing a repertoire of hymns ordered in eight parts according to eight echoi (Musical mode, tones or modes). Originally created in the Monastery of Stoudios during the 9th century as a hymnal complete with musical notation, it is still used in many Christian liturgy, rites of Eastern Christianity. The book with similar function in the Western Christianity, Western Church is the tonary, and both contain the melodic models of an Hagiopolitan Octoechos, octoechos system; however, while the tonary serves simply for a modal classification, the octoechos is organized as a cycle of eight weeks of services. The word itself can also refer to the repertoire of hymns sung during the celebrations of the Liturgy of the Hours, Sunda ...
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Byzantine Rite
The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian church of Constantinople. The canonical hours are extended and complex, lasting about eight hours (longer during Great Lent) but are abridged outside of large Monastery, monasteries. An iconostasis, a partition covered with icons, separates Sanctuary#Sanctuary as area around the altar, the area around the altar from the nave. The Sign of the cross#Eastern Orthodoxy, sign of the cross, accompanied by bowing, is made very frequently, e.g., more than a hundred times during the Divine Liturgy#Byzantine Rite, divine liturgy, and there is prominent veneration of icons, a general acceptance of the congregants freely moving within the church and interacting with each other, and distinctive traditions of liturgical chanting. Some traditional ...
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Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity, with approximately 230 million baptised members. It operates as a Communion (Christian), communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its Bishop (Orthodox Church), bishops via local Holy Synod, synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the pope of the Catholic Church. Nevertheless, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is recognised by them as ''primus inter pares'' (), a title held by the patriarch of Rome prior to 1054. As one of the oldest surviving religious institutions in the world, the Eastern Orthodox Church has played an especially prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Since 2018, the ...
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Canonical Hours
In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of Fixed prayer times#Christianity, fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers. In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, canonical hours are also called officium, since it refers to the official prayer of the Church, which is known variously as the ("divine service" or "divine duty"), and the ("work of God"). The current official version of the hours in the Roman Rite is called the Liturgy of the Hours () or ''divine office''. In Lutheranism and Anglicanism, they are often known as the daily office or divine office, to distinguish them from the other "offices" of the Church (e.g. the administration of the sacraments). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite, Byzantine Catholic Churches, the canonical hours may be referred to as the Divine Service (Eastern Or ...
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Matins
Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning (between midnight and dawn). The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated by monks from about two hours after midnight to, at latest, the dawn, the time for the canonical hour of lauds (a practice still followed in certain orders). It was divided into two or (on Sundays) three nocturns. Outside of monasteries, it was generally recited at other times of the day, often in conjunction with lauds. Liturgy In the Liturgy of the Hours of the Roman Catholic Church, Matins is also called “the Office of Readings”, which includes several psalms, a chapter of a book of Scripture (assigned according to the liturgical seasons), and a reading from the works of patristic authors or saints. In the Byzantine Rite, these vigils correspond to the aggregate comprising the Midnight office, orthros, ...
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Great Lent
Great Lent, or the Great Fast (Greek language, Greek: Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή, ''Megali Tessarakosti'' or Μεγάλη Νηστεία, ''Megali Nisteia'', meaning "Great 40 Days", and "Great Fast", respectively), is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denominations of Eastern Christianity. It is intended to prepare Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Easter, Pascha (Easter). Great Lent shares its origins with the Lent, Lent of Western Christianity and has many similarities with it. There are some differences in the timing of Lent, besides calculating the date of Easter and how it is practiced, both liturgically in the public worship of the church and individually. One difference between Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity is the calculation of the date of Easter (see Computus). Most years, the Eastern Pascha falls after the Western Easter, and it may be as much as five weeks later; occasionally, the two dat ...
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Greek Language
Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), southern Albania, and other regions of the Balkans, Caucasus, the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the list of languages by first written accounts, longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet, which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer, ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon. Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts ...
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Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of Biblical Hebrew, Hebrew religious hymns. In the Judaism, Jewish and Western Christianity, Western Christian traditions, there are 150 psalms, and several more in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches. The book is divided into five sections, each ending with a doxology, a hymn of praise. There are several types of psalms, including hymns or songs of praise, communal and individual laments, royal psalms, Imprecatory Psalms, imprecation, and individual thanksgivings. The book also includes psalms of communal thanksgiving, wisdom, pilgrimage and other categories. Many of the psalms contain attributions to the name of David, King David and other Biblical figures including Asaph (biblical figure), Asaph, the Korahites, sons of Kora ...
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Ektenia
An ektenia (, ), often called by the better known English word litany, consists of a series of petitions occurring in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic liturgies. In Greek, is the prevalent ecclesiastical word for this kind of litany, while in Church Slavonic, is the preferred word. A litany is normally intoned by a deacon, with the choir or people chanting the responses. As he concludes each petition, the deacon raises the end of his orarion and crosses himself; if there is no deacon serving, the petitions are intoned by a priest. During many litanies the priest says a prayer silently; after the last petition of the litany, the priest says an ecphonesis which, when a silent prayer is said during the litany, is the final phrase of that prayer. When there is no priest present during the canonical hours, the litanies are not said; rather, the reader replaces them by saying "Lord, have mercy," three, twelve, or forty times, depending on which litany is being repla ...
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Canon (hymnography)
A canon () is a structured hymn used in a number of Eastern Orthodox services. It consists of nine ''odes'', based on the Biblical canticles. Most of these are found in the Old Testament, but the final ode is taken from the Magnificat and Song of Zechariah from the New Testament. The roots of this type of hymn go as far back as the 5th century, reaching maturity in the Greek language through the work of St. Andrew of Crete, whose penitential '' Great Canon'' is still used on certain occasions during Great Lent. It was further developed in the 8th century by Sts. John of Damascus and Cosmas of Jerusalem, and in the 9th century by Sts. Joseph the Hymnographer and Theophanes the Branded. Over time the canon came to replace the , a vestigial form of which is still used on several occasions and which has been incorporated into the performance of the canon. Each canon develops a specific theme, such as repentance or honouring a particular saint. Sometimes more than one canon ...
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Triodion
The Triodion (, ; , ; , ), also called the Lenten Triodion (, ), is a liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. The book contains the propers for the fasting period preceding Pascha (Easter) and for the weeks leading up to the fast. The canons for weekday Matins in the Triodion contain only three odes and so are known as "triodes", after which the Triodion takes its name. The period which the book covers extends from the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee (the tenth week before Pascha: twenty-two days before the beginning of Great Lent), and concludes with the Midnight Office of Holy Saturday. The Triodion contains the propers for: * The Pre-Lenten period, begins with a week in which there is no fasting, including on Wednesdays and Fridays, which are normally kept as fast days throughout the year (with few exceptions). *The ''Apokreo'' marks the change of diet to the fasting practice of Lent: meat is no longer eaten after the "First ...
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Menaion
The Menaion (; Slavonic: Минїѧ, ''Miniya'', "of the month") is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox Churchand those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite containing the propers for fixed dates of the calendar year, ''i.e.'' entities not dependent on the date of Easter. The Menaion is the largest volume of the propers for the Byzantine Rite and is used at nearly all the daily services. Editions The complete Menaion is published in twelve volumes, one for each month; the first volume is for September which commences the Byzantine liturgical year. The Festal Menaion is an abridged version containing texts for those great feasts falling on the fixed cycle, some editions also containing feasts of the major saints. The General Menaion contains services for each type of celebration ( apostles, martyrs, etc.) with blank spaces for the name of the saint(s) commemorated. Originating before the invention of printing when the enormous volume of the ...
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