TheMidnight Office (Greek:Μεσονύκτικον,Mesonýktikon;Slavonic:Полу́нощница,Polúnoshchnitsa;Romanian:Miezonoptică) is one of theCanonical Hours that compose the cycle of daily worship inEastern Christianity, including theByzantine Rite,West Syriac Rite,East Syriac Rite andAlexandrian Rite. The office originated as a purely monastic devotion inspired byPsalm 118:62,At midnight I arose to give thanks unto Thee for the judgments of Thy righteousness (LXX),[1] and also by the GospelParable of theWise and Foolish Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13).
The name of the Midnight Office is sometimes translated as "Nocturns"; but this is misleading, as in the West "Nocturn" refers to a division within the completely different office ofMatins.
Originally, monks would rise in the middle of the night to sing praises to God.Saint Symeon the New Theologian mentionsPsalm 118, a significant component of the Midnight Office on weekdays, being said privately in the cells before Matins.[2] Today, in most places where the Daily Cycle is observed, the Midnight Office is combined with Matins and the First Hour into one of the three dailyaggregates called for in theTypikon.[3]
Concerning the Midnight Office,Saint Mark of Ephesus says: "The beginning of all the hymns and prayers to God is the time (kairos) of the midnight prayer. For, rising from sleep for it, we signify the transportation from the life of the deceit of darkness to the life which is, according to Christ, free and bright, with which we begin to worship God. For it is written,The people who sat in darkness saw a great light" (Isaiah 9:2 andMatthew 4:16).[4] The general tone of the office is one of penitence, tempered by an attitude of hopeful expectation.
In the Russian tradition the Midnight Office often begins with the reading of the Morning Prayers in common, which otherwise would be said privately by the brethren in their cells. At the conclusion of the Midnight Office, just as at the end of Compline, it is traditional in many places for everyone present to venerate theicons andrelics of the saints that are present in thetemple (church building).
In GreekPrayer Books, a modified form of the Midnight Office is used for Morning Prayers for laymen, while a modified form ofSmall Compline is used for eveningprayers.
InSyriac Christianity, the office is prayed at 12 am, being known asLilio in the West Syriac tradition andLeliya in the East Syriac tradition; it is prayed by all members in these denominations, both clergy and laity, being one of theseven fixed prayer times.[5][6]
From the time of theearly Church, the practice ofseven fixed prayer times have been taught; inApostolic 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] With respect to midnight prayer and theablutions preceding it, Hippolytus wrote:[11]
Around midnight rise and wash your hands with water and pray. If you are married, pray together. But if your spouse is not yet baptized, go into another room to pray, and then return to bed. Do not hesitate to pray, for one who has been joined in marital relations is not impure. Those who have bathed have no need to wash again, for they are pure. By catching your breath in your hand and signing yourself with the moisture of your breath, your body is purified, even to the feet. For the gift of the Spirit and the outpouring of the baptism, proceeding from the heart of the believer as though from a fountain, purifies the one who has believed. Thus it is necessary to pray at this hour. For those elders who handed down the tradition to us taught us that in this hour every creature hushes for a brief moment to praise the Lord. Stars and trees and waters stand still for an instant. All the host of angels serving him, together with the souls of the righteous, praise God. This is why it is important that all those who believe make certain to pray at that hour. Testifying to this, the Lord says thus, "Behold, a cry was made at midnight, saying, 'Behold the bridegroom is coming! Arise to meet him!'" And he adds, saying, "Watch, therefore, for you do not know when the hour is coming."[11]
The Midnight Office can be divided into four parts:[12]
At the present time, the Midnight Office will take one of four forms, depending upon the particular day: (a) Weekdays, (b) Saturday, (c) Sunday, and (d) a unique form which is observed only on Holy Saturday as part of the Paschal Vigil.
The distinguishing feature of the Midnight Office on weekdays is the reading of the Seventeenth Kathisma comprising Psalm 118, the longest Psalm in theBible, in the First Part of the office. The troparia chanted in the First Part are the Troparia of the Bridegroom: "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh at midnight...", recalling the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. The first of these troparia is also solemnly chanted at Matins duringHoly Week, from which the Matins service on these days derives its name of "Bridegroom Prayer."
On Saturday, Psalm 118 is always read at Matins as kathisma,[14] so here it is replaced by the Ninth Kathisma, comprising Psalms 64-69. The troparia in the First Part are different from those used on weekdays. Before the Second Part, a special Prayer ofSaint Eustratius is read.
On Sunday, Psalm 118 is often (though not always) read at Matins, so it is not read at the Midnight Office. The psalm is normally replaced by aCanon to theHoly Trinity, composed bySt. Theophanes, according to the tone of the week in theOctoechos. Since the Sunday services, which celebrate theResurrection of Christ, are normally longer than the weekday services, the Midnight Office is shortened. The Nicene Creed, Troparia and prayers from the First Part, as well as the entire Second Part of the service are omitted. Instead, after the canon, special hymns to the Trinity by SaintGregory of Sinai are chanted, followed by the Trisagion, the Lord’s Prayer and resurrectional hymn called theYpakoë in the tone of the week. The Prayer to the Most Holy Trinity byMark the Monk is read and then the mutual asking of forgiveness, Litany and dismissal.
In the Russian tradition, anAll-Night Vigil is celebrated every Sunday (commencing in the evening on Saturday), and so the Midnight Office and Compline are usually omitted. In some places the Midnight Office is read on Sunday morning before theLittle Hours andDivine Liturgy. The Greeks do not normally celebrate an All-Night Vigil on Sunday, so they read the Midnight Office in its usual place before Matins on Sunday morning.
OnGreat and Holy Saturday, the Midnight Office takes a very particular form in which it is celebrated on only this one night of the year. Holy Saturday is often the only time that the Midnight Office will be read in parishes. It is the last office found in theliturgical book that contains the services ofGreat Lent, the LentenTriodion. The Office is read around theepitaphios, a shroud embroidered with the image of Christ prepared for burial in theTomb, which has been placed on acatafalque in the center of the church. After the Opening and Psalm 50, the Canon of Great Saturday is chanted (repeated from the Matins service the night before) as a reflection upon the meaning of Christ’s death and HisHarrowing of Hell. During the last Ode of the Canon, the priest and deacon carry the epitaphios into the sanctuary and lay it upon the Altar, where it will remain throughout the Paschal season as a reminder of the burial cloth left in theEmpty Tomb (John 20:5). Then a brief litany is read and the priest says the dismissal. All lights in the church are extinguished, and everyone waits in silence and darkness for the stroke of midnight, when theResurrection of Christ is to be proclaimed. Then thePentecostarion will begin.
Due to the all-importance of thePassion andResurrection of Christ, the Midnight Office is not read in church from Thursday in Holy Week until afterThomas Sunday (The Sunday after Easter), except for the Paschal Vigil. If the Office is chanted during this time, it is done so privately. If one reads the Midnight Office privately duringBright Week the format used is that of thePaschal Hours.
In theSyriac Orthodox Church andMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church (both of which areOriental Orthodox Churches), as well as theMar Thoma Syrian Church (anOriental Protestant denomination), the Midnight Office is known as Lilio and isprayed at 12 am using theShehimo breviary.[5][15]
In theCoptic Orthodox Church, anOriental Orthodox denomination, the Midnight Praise isprayed at 12 am using theAgpeya breviary.[16]
Peterson quotes a passage from theActs 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.
Hippolytus in theApostolic 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.
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).
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, Latinoriens).