Breviary

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Pages from a breviary used in the Swedish Diocese of Strangnas in the 15th century. Brevarium Strengnense.jpg
Pages from a breviary used in the Swedish Diocese of Strängnäs in the 15th century.

A breviary (Latin: breviarium) is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. [1] [2]

Contents

Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviary, [3] Belleville Breviary, Stowe Breviary and Isabella Breviary, although eventually the Roman Breviary became the standard within the Roman Catholic Church (though it was later supplanted with the Liturgy of the Hours); in other Christian denominations such as the Lutheran Churches, different breviaries continue to be used, such as The Brotherhood Prayer Book. [4] [5]

Different breviaries

The Shehimo Book of Common Prayer is the breviary used in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Shehimo Breviary.jpg
The Shehimo Book of Common Prayer is the breviary used in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.

The "contents of the breviary, in their essential parts, are derived from the early ages of Christianity", consisting of psalms, Scripture lessons, writings of the Church Fathers, as well as hymns and prayers. [6] From the time of the early Church, the practice of seven fixed prayer times, being attached to Psalm 119:164, have been taught; in Apostolic Tradition , Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion." [7] [8] [9] [10] The Apostles themselves gave significance to prayer times (e.g. Acts 3:1 and Acts 10:9). [11]

In the Catholic Church, Pope Nicholas III approved a Franciscan breviary, for use in that religious order, and this was the first text that bore the title of breviary. [2] The ancient breviary of the Bridgettines had been in use for more than 125 years before the Council of Trent and so was exempt from the Constitution of Pope Pius V which abolished the use of breviaries differing from that of Rome. [12]

In 2015, The Syon Breviary of the Bridgettines was published for the first time in English (from Latin). This was done in celebration of the 600th anniversary of Syon Abbey, founded in 1415 by King Henry V. Following the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Communion, in 1916, the Anglican Breviary was published by the Frank Gavin Liturgical Foundation. [13]

In Lutheranism, the Diakonie Neuendettelsau religious institute uses a breviary unique to the order; For All the Saints: A Prayer Book for and by the Church , among many other breviaries such as The Daily Office: Matins and Vespers, Based on Traditional Liturgical Patterns, with Scripture Readings, Hymns, Canticles, Litanies, Collects, and the Psalter, Designed for Private Devotion or Group Worship, are popular in Lutheran usage as well. [5]

In Oriental Orthodox Christianity, the canonical hours of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Indian Orthodox Church are contained within the Shehimo breviary; [14] [15] the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has the Agpeya breviary and the Armenian Apostolic Church has the Sharagnots or Zhamagirk (cf. Octoechos (liturgy)#Armenian Šaraknoc' ). [16] The Assyrian Church of the East has its own 7 canonical hours.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Divine Office is found in the Horologion, which consists of 8 canonical hours: Vespers (sunset), Compline (Before Sleep), Midnight Office, Orthros (Sunrise), 1st hour (07:00), 3rd hour (09:00), 6th hour (12:00), and 9th hour (15:00).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vespers</span> Sunset evening prayer liturgy

Vespers is a liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Lutheran liturgies. The word for this prayer time comes from the Latin vesper, meaning "evening".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canonical hours</span> Christian concept of periods of prayer throughout the day

In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compline</span> Canonical hour in Christian liturgy

Compline, also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer liturgy of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matins</span> Canonical hour of Christian liturgy

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauds</span> Canonical hour in Christian liturgy

Lauds is a canonical hour of the Divine office. In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours it is one of the major hours, usually held after Matins, in the early morning hours.

Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Within Christianity, liturgies descending from the same region, denomination, or culture are described as ritual families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liturgy of the Hours</span> Liturgical prayers of the Catholic Church, used at fixed times throughout the day and night

The Liturgy of the Hours, Divine Office, or Opus Dei are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official set of prayers "marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer." The term "Liturgy of the Hours" has been retroactively applied to the practices of saying the canonical hours in both the Christian East and West–particularly within the Latin liturgical rites–prior to the Second Vatican Council, and is the official term for the canonical hours promulgated for usage by the Latin Church in 1971. Before 1971, the official form for the Latin Church was the Breviarium Romanum, first published in 1568 with major editions through 1962.

Prime, or the First Hour, is one of the canonical hours of the Divine Office, said at the first hour of daylight, between the dawn hour of Lauds and the 9 a.m. hour of Terce. It remains part of the Christian liturgies of Eastern Christianity, but suppressed within the Roman rite by the Second Vatican Council. In the Coptic Church, a denomination of Oriental Orthodox Christianity, the office of Prime is prayed at 6 am in eastward direction of prayer by all members in this denomination, both clergy and laity, being one of the seven fixed prayer times. Roman Catholic clergy under obligation to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours may still fulfil their obligation by using the edition of the Roman Breviary promulgated by Pope John XXIII in 1962, which contains Prime. Like all the liturgical hours, except the Office of Readings, it consists mainly of Psalms. It is one of the Little Hours.

Nones, also known as None ("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 (15:00), about the ninth hour after dawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terce</span> Canonical hour of the Divine Office

Terce is a canonical hour of the Divine Office. It consists mainly of psalms and is held around 9 a.m. Its name comes from Latin and refers to the third hour of the day after dawn. With Prime, Sext, None and Compline it belongs to the so-called "Little hours".

Sext is a canonical hour of the Divine Office in the liturgies of many Christian denominations. It consists mainly of psalms and is held around noon. Its name comes from Latin and refers to the sixth hour of the day after dawn. With Terce, None and Compline it belongs to the so-called Little Hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nocturns</span> Christian prayer

Nocturns is a Christian canonical hour said in the nighttime.

In Christianity, the Little Hours or minor hours are the canonical hours other than the three major hours.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midnight office</span> Canonical Hours

The Midnight Office is one of the Canonical Hours that compose the cycle of daily worship in the Byzantine Rite. The office originated as a purely monastic devotion inspired by Psalm 118:62, At midnight I arose to give thanks unto Thee for the judgments of Thy righteousness (LXX), and also by the Gospel Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.

<i>Agpeya</i> Coptic liturgical book

The Agpeya is the Coptic Christian "Prayer Book of the Hours" or breviary, and is equivalent to the Shehimo in the Syriac Orthodox Church, as well as the Byzantine Horologion and Roman Liturgy of the Hours used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church, respectively. The Agpeya prayers are popular Christian prayers recited at fixed prayer times, facing the east by both individuals and families at home seven times a day, as well as for communal prayers as an introduction to Mass at church; this Christian practice has its roots in Psalm 119:164, in which the prophet David prays to God seven times a day. The vast majority of the Coptic Christians learn the recitation and prayers of the Agpeya at an early age as children at home from their families. The Coptic Orthodox cycle of canonical hours is primarily composed of psalm readings from the Old Testament and gospel readings from the New Testament, with some added hymns of praise, troparia, and other prayers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liturgical book</span> Christian prayer book

A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian prayer</span> Activity in Christianity

Christian prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms used for this practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shehimo</span> Book

Shehimo is the West Syriac Christian breviary of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the West Syriac Saint Thomas Christians of India that contains the seven canonical hours of prayer. The Shehimo includes Bible readings, hymns and other prescribed prayers from the West Syriac Liturgical system. Within the breviary there are certain prayers that are recited at seven fixed prayer times, while facing the east at home or at church. The Shehimo also provides communal prayers as an introduction to the Holy Qurbono. The practice of praying during the canonical hours has its roots taken from Psalm 119:164, in which the prophet David prays to God seven times a day. The Shehimo breviary can be prayed either by reading or chanting the prose or singing the verses. The different versions of the breviary are available in Syriac, Malayalam, English, among other languages.

Fixed prayer times, praying at dedicated times during the day, are common practice in major world religions such as Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.

References

  1. ↑ "breviary". Merriam-Webster . Retrieved 7 February 2022. : a book of the prayers, hymns, psalms, and readings for the canonical hours
  2. 1 2 Palazzo, Eric (1998). A History of Liturgical Books from the Beginning to the Thirteenth Century. Liturgical Press. p. 169. ISBN   9780814661673. It is the Franciscan breviary deriving from the second rule of the order approved by Innocent III in 1223 that for the first time expressly bears the name breviarium: Clerici facient divinum offocoum secundum ordinem sanctae Romanae Ecclesia excepto Psalterio, ex quo habere poterunt breviaria ["The clerics will celebrate the Office according to the ordo of the holy Roman Church, except for the psalter which they may use in shortened forms"].
  3. ↑ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Breviary"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 504.
  4. ↑ Lewis, George (1853). The Bible, the missal, and the breviary; or, Ritualism self-illustrated in the liturgical books of Rome. T. & T. Clark. p. 71. The Goths of Spain had their Breviary; the French Church had its Breviary; England—"the Breviary of Salisbury"—and Scotland, "the Breviary of Aberdeen"—all which, along with many more evidences of the independence of national churches, Rome has laboured to obliterate by commanding the exclusive use of the Roman Breviary, and thus extinguishing every appearance of a divided worship, and of independent national and self-regulated churches.
  5. 1 2 Mayes, Benjamin T. G. (5 September 2004). "Daily Prayer Books in the History of German and American Lutheranism" (PDF). Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2004. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
  6. ↑ Smith, William; Cheetham, Samuel (1 January 2005). Encyclopædic Dictionary Of Christian Antiquities. Concept Publishing Company. p. 247. ISBN   9788172681111. The contents of the breviary, in their essential parts, are derived from the early ages of Christianity. They consist of psalms, lessons taken from the Scriptures, and from the writings of the Fathers, versicles and pious sentences thrown into the shape of the antiphons, responses, or other analogous forms, hymns and prayers.
  7. ↑ Daniélou, Jean (2016). Origen. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 29. ISBN   978-1-4982-9023-4. Peterson quotes a passage from the Acts of Hipparchus and Philotheus: "In Hipparchus's house there was a specially decorated room and a cross was painted on the east wall of it. There before the image of the cross, they used to pray seven times a day ... with their faces turned to the east." It is easy to see the importance of this passage when you compare it with what Origen says. The custom of turning towards the rising sun when praying had been replaced by the habit of turning towards the east wall. This we find in Origen. From the other passage we see that a cross had been painted on the wall to show which was the east. Hence the origin of the practice of hanging crucifixes on the walls of the private rooms in Christian houses. We know too that signs were put up in the Jewish synagogues to show the direction of Jerusalem, because the Jews turned that way when they said their prayers. The question of the proper way to face for prayer has always been of great importance in the East. It is worth remembering that Mohammedans pray with their faces turned towards Mecca and that one reason for the condemnation of Al Hallaj, the Mohammedan martyr, was that he refused to conform to this practice.
  8. ↑ Henry Chadwick (1993). The Early Church. Penguin. ISBN   978-1-101-16042-8. Hippolytus in the Apostolic Tradition directed that Christians should pray seven times a day - on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight, and also, if at home, at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion. Prayers at the third, sixth, and ninth hours are similarly mentioned by Tertullian, Cyprian, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and must have been very widely practised. These prayers were commonly associated with private Bible reading in the family.
  9. ↑ Weitzman, M. P. (7 July 2005). The Syriac Version of the Old Testament. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-01746-6. Clement of Alexandria noted that "some fix hours for prayer, such as the third, sixth and ninth" (Stromata 7:7). Tertullian commends these hours, because of their importance (see below) in the New Testament and because their number recalls the Trinity (De Oratione 25). These hours indeed appear as designated for prayer from the earliest days of the church. Peter prayed at the sixth hour, i.e. at noon (Acts 10:9). The ninth hour is called the "hour of prayer" (Acts 3:1). This was the hour when Cornelius prayed even as a "God-fearer" attached to the Jewish community, i.e. before his conversion to Christianity. it was also the hour of Jesus' final prayer (Matt. 27:46, Mark 15:34, Luke 22:44-46).
  10. ↑ Lössl, Josef (17 February 2010). The Early Church: History and Memory. A&C Black. p. 135. ISBN   978-0-567-16561-9. Not only the content of early Christian prayer was rooted in Jewish tradition; its daily structure too initially followed a Jewish pattern, with prayer times in the early morning, at noon and in the evening. Later (in the course of the second century), this pattern combined with another one; namely prayer times in the evening, at midnight and in the morning. As a result seven 'hours of prayer' emerged, which later became the monastic 'hours' and are still treated as 'standard' prayer times in many churches today. They are roughly equivalent to midnight, 6 a.m., 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Prayer positions included prostration, kneeling and standing. ... Crosses made of wood or stone, or painted on walls or laid out as mosaics, were also in use, at first not directly as objections of veneration but in order to 'orientate' the direction of prayer (i.e. towards the east, Latin oriens).
  11. ↑ "A Brief Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours (For Private/Individual Recitation)" (PDF). St. Raymond of Peñafort Catholic Church. 2012. p. 1. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  12. ↑ The Tablet, 29 May 1897, page 27.
  13. ↑ Hart, Addison H. ""Prayer Rhythms" Redivivus". Touchstone. The Fellowship of St. James. Retrieved 3 May 2015. The Reverend Frank Gavin had himself suggested such a work as early as 1916.
  14. ↑ Silvanos, Ayub (30 April 2020). The Rite of Consecration of the Church According to the Syriac Orthodox Tradition: Malayalam Version. Silvanos Charitable Society. ISBN   978-1-7346009-0-2.
  15. ↑ Daily Prayer of the Syriac Orthodox Church (Sh'imo) – Aramaic
  16. ↑ Diocese of the Armenian Church of the United Kingdom & Ireland: Liturgy of Hours
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