Singing the services >

Singing the Daytime Hours

This article covers the practical aspects of singing the Hours of the day in the Byzantine Rite: the First Hour (7 AM), Third Hour (9 AM), Sixth Hour (noon), and Ninth Hour (3 PM). Note that these times are not exact; they are simply an indication of the general time of day which each is intended to be served.

You will need a copy of the MCI book, The Hours and Typica for Ordinary Days. Note that this book does NOT include music, and is intended to be printed on letter size paper (as opposed to the legal size paper that MCI books with music are designed for). A musical supplement is in preparation; in the meantime, this article provides the required musical information.

Celebrating a single Hour

In its simplest form, a single Hour is celebrated by itself. In the MCI Hours book, start on page 1.

Each of the Hours begins with the opening invocation (either "Blessed is our God...." if a priest leads the service, or "Through the prayers of our holy fathers...." if the service is led by someone other than a priest). The response, of course, is the usual short "Amen."

This is followed by the customary beginning prayers, which are chanted to a psalm tone. Note: if no priest is present, then the doxology "For thine is the kingdom..." is omitted. If the Lord's Prayer is chanted to a psalm tone, just add "Amen." to the end of the last line. If the Lord's Prayer is sung to some other melody, sing the short "Amen" afterwards.

At this point, flip to the page for the particular Hour.

We chant the call to prayer ("Come, let us worship....") and three psalms, which are specific to each Hour. For example, all three psalms for the First Hour refer to the morning, while at the Sixth Hour, Psalm 90 mentions the "noonday devil" (which is the term the Desert Fathers used for the difficulty of continued prayer, and our temptation to leave our prayer for something more pleasant). Again, these are chanted to a psalm tone; different psalm tones may be used for variety. Also, you can alternate the changing between cantor and congregation, the two sides of the church, or men and women.

The psalms are followed by troparia, as appointed in the Typikon:

  First Hour Third Hour Sixth Hour Ninth Hour
Sunday with an ordinary saint Resurrection Resurrection, and saint of the day Resurrection, and patron of the church Resurrection, and saint of the day
Sunday with a polyeleos or vigil saint Resurrection, and saint of the day Resurrection, and saint of the day Resurrection, and saint of the day Resurrection, and saint of the day
Great feast Feast Feast Feast Feast
Polyeleos or vigil saint Saint of the day Saint of the day Saint of the day Saint of the day
Saint with Great Doxology Saint of the day Saint of the Day Patron of the church Saint of the day
Ordinary weekday Day of the week Saint of the day Patron of the church Saint of the Day

For Sunday, "Resurrection" refers to the Troparion of the Resurrection in the Tone of the Week. The troparia for the saint of the day can be found in the Menaion, or you can use the common hymns for the classes of saints on pages 358-405 of the Divine Liturgies book. (The hymns for the days of the week, Monday through Saturday, are on pages 406-413).

If there are two saints of equal rank for a particular day, the troparion for the first saint is sung at the Third Hour, and the troparion for the second saint is sung at the Ninth Hour. There are additional rules in the Typikon for pre-festive and post-festive days; usually on these days, the troparion of the pre-feast or feast is sung along with any other hymns for the day.

In each case, there is one additional troparion sung after the ones in the table above. This is a theotokion, or hymn to the Mother of God, which is different for each Hour. That is, there is a theotokion for the First Hour, the Third Hour, and so on.

If there is one troparion, we sing:

All four parts are sung to the troparion melody in the tone of that first troparion. So for example, the troparion for the feast of Saint Nicholas (December 6) is in Tone 4. So at each of the Hours, we would sing:

The music for "Glory..." and "Now and ever..." in each of the eight tones can be found in the Cantor Verses book, under "Resurrection Tones." They will also be printed in the forthcoming musical supplement for the MCI Hours, along with the music for the theotokion of each Hour, in all eight tones.

It takes some practice to get used to singing "Glory..." at the start of a set of troparia. Just remember that (a) we sing "Glory..." and "Now and ever..." to the melody for the hymn that follows it; and (b) the theotokion of each Hour is sung in the same tone as the troparion that precedes it. In one sense, this makes things simpler, since there is little switching of tones.

If there are two troparia appointed for an Hour, we sing:

The first troparion is sung in whatever tone is given for it, and then from "Glory..." onwards, we sing everying in the troparion melody for the tone of the SECOND troparion.

That's the hard part of the Hours. The troparia are followed by some Scriptural verses appropriate to the Hour (chanted to a psalm tone), then the Trisagion prayers through "Our Father", ending with "Amen."

Next we chant the kontakion (or kontakia) of the day, which follow the same general scheme as the troparia:

  First Hour Third Hour Sixth Hour Ninth Hour
Sunday with an ordinary saint Resurrection Saint of the day Patron of the church Resurrection
Sunday with a polyeleos or vigil saint Resurrection Saint of the day Resurrection Saint of the day
Sunday with a feast of the Mother of God Feast Resurrection Feast Resurrection
Great feast Feast Feast Feast Feast
Polyeleos or vigil saint Saint of the day Saint of the day Saint of the day Saint of the day
Saint with Great Doxology Saint of the day Saint of the Day Patron of the church Saint of the day
Ordinary weekday Day of the week Saint of the day Patron of the church Saint of the Day

There is only one kontakion, and no theotokion afterwards.

After the kontakion comes the Prayer of the Hours (intoned by the priest or leader) and the dismissal, chanted to the psalm tone, and ending with the long "Amen."

When several Hours are combined

If for any reason several Hours are celebrated together, chant the beginning prayers ONCE, then each of the hours. At the end of each hour is an indication of where to proceed to the next one if several Hours are combined. The dismissal comes at the end of the final Hour.