Matins (alsoMattins) is acanonical hour inChristian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning (betweenmidnight anddawn).

The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called thevigil, which was originally celebrated bymonks from about two hours after midnight to, at latest, the dawn, the time for the canonical hour oflauds (a practice still followed in certain orders). It was divided into two or (on Sundays) threenocturns. Outside of monasteries, it was generally recited at other times of the day, often in conjunction with lauds.

In theLiturgy of the Hours of theRoman 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 ofpatristic authors or saints.^{[citation needed]}

In theByzantine Rite, these vigils correspond to the aggregate comprising theMidnight office,orthros, and thefirst hour.^{[citation needed]}

Lutherans preserverecognizably traditional Matins, distinct from the office ofmorning prayer.^{[citation needed]}

In theAnglican Daily Office, Matins, occasionally spelled Mattins, combines the hours of Matins and Lauds as established bySt. Benedict in Roman Catholicism and observed in England until the Reformation, most grandly in theSarum Rite. It is one of the two daily times for prayer, the other beingEvensong, which combines St. Benedict's Vespers and Compline.^{[citation needed]}

InOriental Orthodox Christianity andOriental Protestant Christianity, the office is prayed at 6 am, being known asSapro in theSyriac andIndian traditions; it is prayed facing theeastward direction of prayer by all members in these denominations, both clergy and laity, being one of theseven fixed prayer times.^[1][2][3]

"Matins" is sometimes used in otherProtestant denominations to describe any morning service.^{[citation needed]}

From the time of theearly Church, the practice ofseven fixed prayer times has 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."^[4][5][6][7] With respect to praying in the early morning, Hippolytus wrote: "Likewise, at the hour of the cock-crow, rise and pray. Because at this hour, with the cock-crow, the children of Israel refused Christ, who we know through faith, hoping daily in the hope of eternal light in the resurrection of the dead."^[8]

The every-night monasticcanonical hour that later became known as matins was at first called a vigil, fromLatinvigilia. For soldiers, this word meant a three-hour period of being on the watch during the night. Even for civilians, night was commonly spoken of as divided into four such watches: the Gospels use the term when recounting how, at about "the fourth watch of the night", Jesus came to his disciples who in their boat were struggling to make headway against the wind,^[9] and one of thePsalms says to the Lord: "A thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night."^[10]

The sixth-centuryRule of Saint Benedict uses the termvigiliae ("vigils") fifteen times to speak of these celebrations, accompanying it four times with the adjectivenocturnae ("nocturnal") and once with the wordsseptem noctium ("of the seven nights", i.e., the nights of the week).^[11]

English versions of this document often obscure its use of the term vigil, translating it as "Night Hour" or "Night Office". Thus Leonard J. Doyle's English version uses "Night Office" to represent indifferently the unaccompanied nounvigilia ("vigil"), the phrasenocturna vigilia ("nightly vigil"), and the phrasesnocturna hora ("night hour) andnocturna laus ("nocturnal praise").^[12]

The practice of rising for prayer in the middle of the night is as old as the Church.^[13]Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 240) speaks of the "nocturnal convocations" (nocturnae convocationes) of Christians and their "absence all the night long at the paschal solemnities" (sollemnibus Paschae abnoctantes)[14]Cyprian (c. 200 – 258) also speaks of praying at night, but not of doing so as a group: "Let there be no failure of prayers in the hours of night — no idle and reckless waste of the occasions of prayer" (nulla sint horis nocturnis precum damna, nulla orationum pigra et ignava dispendia).[15] TheApostolic Tradition speaks of prayer at midnight and again at cockcrow, but seemingly as private, not communal, prayer.^[16] At an earlier date,Pliny the Youngerreported in about 112 that Christians gathered on a certain day before light, sang hymns to Christ as to a god and shared a meal.^[17] The solemn celebration of vigils in the churches ofJerusalem in the early 380s is described in thePeregrinatio Aetheriae.

Prayer at midnight and at cockcrow was associated with passages in theGospel of Matthew^[18] and theGospel of Mark.^[19][20] On the basis of theGospel of Luke,^[21] too, prayer at any time of the night was seen as having eschatological significance.^[22]

The quotation from Tertullian above refers to the all-night vigil liturgy held at Easter. A similar liturgy came to be held in the night that led to any Sunday. By the fourth century this Sunday vigil had become a daily observance, but no longer lasted throughout the night. What had been an all-night vigil became a liturgy only from cockcrow to before dawn.^[23] Saint Benedict wrote about it as beginning at about 2 in the morning ("the eighth hour of the night") and ending in winter well before dawn (leaving an interval in which the monks were to devote themselves to study or meditation),^[24] but having to be curtailed in summer in order to celebrate lauds at daybreak.^[25]

The wordmatins is derived from theLatin adjectivematutinus, meaning 'of or belonging to the morning'.^[26] It was at first applied to the psalms recited at dawn, but later became attached to the prayer originally offered, according to the fourth-centuryApostolic Constitutions, at cockcrow^[27] and, according to the sixth-centuryRule of Saint Benedict, at could be calculated to be the eighth hour of the night (the hour that began at about 2 a.m.).^[28][29]

Between the vigil office and the dawn office in the long winter nights there was an interval, which "should be spent in study by those [monks] who need a better knowledge of the Psalter or the lessons"; in the summer nights the interval was short, only enough for the monks to "go out for the necessities of nature".^[30][31] The vigil office was also shortened in the summer months by replacing readings with a passage of scripture recited by heart, but keeping the same number of psalms. Both in summer and in winter the vigil office was longer on Sunday than on other days, with more reading and the recitation of canticles in addition to the psalms.^[32]

Outside monasteries few rose at night to pray. The canonical hour of the vigil was said in the morning, followed immediately by lauds, and the name of "matins" became attached to the lengthier part of what was recited at that time of the day, while the name of "lauds", a name originally describing only the three Psalms 148−150 recited every day at the end of the dawn office (until excised in the 1911reform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X; seeLauds), was applied to the whole of that office, substituting for the lost name of "matins" or variants such aslaudes matutinae (morning praises) andmatutini hymni (morning hymns). An early instance of the application of the named "matins" to the vigil office is that of theCouncil of Tours in 567, which spoke ofad matutinum sex antiphonae.^[33]

TheRule of Saint Benedict clearly distinguished matins as the nighttime hour, to which he appliedPsalm 118/119:62, "At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules".^[34][35]

The wordvigil also took on a different meaning: not only a prayerful night watch before a religious feast, but the day before a feast.^[36][37]

The canonical hour began with theversicle "Lord, open our lips: And we shall praise your name" (the latter said three times) followed byPsalm 3 andPsalm 94/95 (theinvitatory). The invitatory was to be recited slowly out of consideration for any late-arriving monk, since anyone appearing after its conclusion was punished by having to stand in a place apart.^[38] After this a hymn was sung.

Next came two sets of six psalms followed by readings. (Such sets would later be callednocturns.) The first set was of six psalms followed by three readings from theOld orNew Testaments or fromChurch Fathers. Each reading was followed by aresponsory. The second set of six psalms was followed by a passage from theApostle Paul recited by heart and by some prayers. The Night Office then concluded with a versicle and a litany that began withKyrie eleison.^[39]

Since summer nights are shorter, from Easter to October a single passage from the Old Testament, recited by heart, took the place of the three readings used during the rest of the year.^[40]

On Sundays, the office was longer, and therefore began a little earlier. Each set of six psalms was followed by four readings instead of three after the first set and a single recitation by heart after the second set. Then threecanticles taken from Old Testament books other than the Psalms were recited, followed by four readings from the New Testament, the singing of theTe Deum, and a reading by the abbot from the Gospels, after which another hymn was sung.^[41]

In theRoman Breviary, use of which was made obligatory throughout theLatin Church (with exceptions for forms of theLiturgy of the Hours that could show they had been in continuous use for at least two hundred years) by Pope Pius V in 1568, matins and lauds were seen as a single canonical hour, with lauds as an appendage to matins.^[42]

Its matins began, as in the monastic matins, with versicles and theinvitatory Psalm 94 (Psalm 95 in the Masoretic text) chanted or recited in the responsorial form, that is to say, by one or morecantors singing one verse, which thechoir repeated as a response to the successive verses sung by the cantors. Ahymn was then sung.^{[citation needed]}

After that introduction, Sunday matins had three sections ("nocturns"), the first with 12 psalms and 3 very short scriptural readings; the second with 3 psalms and 3 equally shortpatristic readings; and the third with 3 psalms and 3 short extracts from a homily. Matins of feasts ofdouble or semidouble rank had 3 nocturns, each with 3 psalms and 3 readings.^[43] On a feast of simple rank, aferia or a vigil day, matins had 12 psalms and 3 readings with no division into nocturns.^[44][45]

The psalms used at matins in the Roman Breviary from Sunday to Saturday were Psalms 1−108/109 in consecutive order, omitting a few that were reserved for other canonical hours: Psalms 4, 5, 21/22−25/26, 41/42, 50/51, 53/54, 62/63, 66/67, 89/90−92/93.^[46] The consecutive order was not observed for the invitatory psalms, recited every day, and in the matins of feasts.^{[citation needed]}

Each reading was followed by aresponsory, except the last one, when this was followed by theTe Deum.^{[citation needed]}

Matins underwent profound changes in the 20th century. The first of these changes was thereform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X in 1911, resulting in whatPope Paul VI called "a new Breviary".^[47] The reservation of Psalms 1-108/109 to matins and the consecutive order within that group were abandoned, and, apart from the invitatory psalm, which continued in its place at matins every day, no psalm was ordinarily repeated within the same week. To facilitate an even distribution among the days of the week, the longer psalms were divided into shorter portions, as only the very long Psalm 118/119 had been previously. Matins no longer had 18 psalms on Sundays, 12 on ordinary days and 9 on the more important feasts: on every day it had 9 psalms, either distributed among three nocturns or recited all together, maintaining the distinction between celebrations as three nocturns with nine readings (including Sundays) and those arranged as a single nocturn with only three readings.^[46]

In 1947,Pope Pius XII entrusted an examination of the whole question of the Breviary to a commission which conducted a worldwide consultation of the Catholic bishops. He authorized recitation of the psalms in a new Latin translation and in 1955 ordered a simplification of the rubrics.^[47]

In 1960,Pope John XXIII issued hisCode of Rubrics, which assigned nine readings only to matins on first-class and second-class feasts, and therefore reduced the readings at Sunday matins to three.^[48]

TheSecond Vatican Council'sConstitution on the Sacred Liturgy dealt in some detail with the Divine Office, requesting that "the hour known as Matins" should become an office with fewer psalms and longer readings, suitable for nocturnal praise in a communal setting and for use at any time of the day in other cases.^[49] Subsequently in 1970,Pope Paul VI published a revised form of theLiturgy of the Hours, in which the psalms were arranged in a four-week instead of a one-week cycle, but the variety of other texts was greatly increased, in particular the scriptural and patristic readings, while the hagiographical readings were purged of non-historical legendary content.^[50] Matins was then given the name of "Office of Readings"(Officium lectionis) and was declared appropriate for celebrating at any hour, while preserving its nocturnal character for those who wished to celebrate a vigil.^[51] For that purpose alternative hymns are provided and an appendix contains material, in particular canticles and readings from the Gospels, to facilitate celebration of a vigil. The Catholic Church has thus restored to the word vigil the meaning it had in early Christianity. Pope John XIII'sCode of Rubrics still used the word vigil to mean the day before a feast, but recognized the quite different character of theEaster Vigil, which, "since it is not a liturgical day, is celebrated in its own way, as a night watch".^[52] The Roman liturgy now uses the term vigil either in this sense of "a night watch" or with regard to aMass celebrated in the evening before a feast, not before the hour of First Vespers.^[53]

The psalmody of the Office of Readings consists of three psalms or portions of psalms, each with its own antiphon. These are followed by two extended readings with their responsories, the first from theBible (but not from the Gospels), and the second being patristic, hagiographical, or magisterial. A Gospel reading may optionally be added, preceded by vigil canticles, in order to celebrate a vigil. These are given in an appendix of the book of theLiturgy of the Hours.^[54]

To those who find it seriously difficult, because of their advanced age or for reasons peculiar to them, to observe the revised Liturgy of the Hours, Pope Paul VI gave permission to keep using the previous Roman Breviary either in whole or in part.^[47] In 2007Pope Benedict XVI allowed all clergy of theLatin Church to fulfil their canonical obligations by using the 1961Roman Breviary issued under Pope John XXIII (but not earlier editions such as that of Pius X or Pius V).^[55] This is done bytraditionalist Catholic communities, such as thePriestly Fraternity of St. Peter and theInstitute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

In the office of the Church of Jerusalem, of which the pilgrimÆtheria gives us a description, the vigils on Sundays terminated with the solemn reading of theGospel, in theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre. This practice of reading the Gospel has been preserved in theBenedictine liturgy. In the TridentineRoman Liturgy this custom, so ancient and so solemn, was no longer represented but by theHomily;^[33] but after theSecond Vatican Council it has been restored for the celebration of vigils.^[56]

TheAmbrosian Liturgy, better perhaps than any other, preserved traces of the great vigils orpannychides, with their complex and varied display of processions, psalmodies, etc. The same liturgy also preserved vigils of long psalmody. This nocturnal office adapted itself at a later period to a more modern form, approaching more and more closely to the Roman liturgy. Here too were found the three nocturns, withAntiphon, psalms, lessons, and responses, the ordinary elements of the Roman matins, and with a few special features quite Ambrosian.^[33]

As revised after theSecond Vatican Council, the Ambrosianliturgy of the hours uses for what once called matins either the designation "the part of matins that precedes Lauds in the strict sense" or simply Office of Readings.^[57] Its structure is similar to that of the Roman Liturgy of the Hours, with variations such as having on Sundays three canticles, on Saturdays a canticle and two psalms, in place of the three psalms of the other days in the Ambrosian Rite and of every day in theRoman Rite.^[58]

In theMozarabic liturgy, on the contrary, Matins is a system of antiphons, collects, and versicles which make them quite a departure from the Roman system.^[33]

In theEastern Churches, matins is calledorthros inGreek (ὄρθρος, meaning "early dawn" or "daybreak") andOútrenya inSlavonic (Оўтреня). It is the last of the four night offices, which also includevespers,compline, and midnight office. In traditional monasteries it is celebrated daily so as to end at sunrise. In parishes it is normally served only on Sundays andfeast days.^{[citation needed]}

Matins is the longest and most complex of the daily cycle of liturgies. Theakolouth (fixed portion of the liturgy) is composed primarily ofpsalms andlitanies. The sequences (variable parts) of matins are composed primarily of hymns andcanons from theOctoechos (an eight-tone cycle of hymns for each day of the week, covering eight weeks), and from theMenaion (hymns for each calendar day of the year).^{[citation needed]}

Matins opens with what is called the "Royal Beginning", so called because the psalms (19 and 20) are attributed toKing David and speak of theMessiah, the "king of kings"; in former times, the ektenia (litany) also mentioned the emperor by name. The Sunday orthros is the longest of the regular orthros liturgies. If celebrated in its entirety it can last up to three hours.^{[citation needed]}

In theSyriac Orthodox Church andIndian Orthodox Church (both of which areOriental Orthodox Churches), as well as theMar Thoma Syrian Church (anOriental Protestant denomination), the Midnight Office is known as Sapro and isprayed at 6 am using theShehimo breviary.^[59][3]

In the Armenian liturgy of the hours, Matins is known as the Midnight Office (Armenian: ի մեջ գիշերի ""i mej gisheri""). The Armenian Book of Hours, or Zhamagirk` (Armenian: Ժամագիրք) states that the Midnight Office is celebrated in commemoration of God the Father.^{[citation needed]}

Much of the liturgy consists of the kanon (Armenian: Կանոնագլուխ ""kanonagloukh""), consisting of a sequence of psalms, hymns, prayers, and in some instances readings from the Gospels, varying according to tone of the day, feast, or liturgical season. The Armenian kanon is quite different in form from the canon of the Byzantine matins liturgy, though both likely share a common ancestor in the pre-dawn worship of the Jerusalem liturgy.^{[citation needed]}

Introduction (common to all liturgical hours): "Blessed is our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our father...Amen."

Fixed Preface

“Lord, if you open my lips, my mouth shall declare your praise.” (twice)

Acclamation: “Blessed is the consubstantial, unitary, and undivided Holy Trinity...Amen.

Psalms, Hebrew numbering in parentheses: 3, 88 (87), 103 (102), 143 (142)

“Glory to the Father...now and always...Amen”

Hymn of the Night Liturgy by Nerses Shnorhali: “Let us remember your name in the night, Lord...”

Proclamation by John Mandakuni “Having all been awakened in the night from the repose of sleep...”

“Lord, have mercy” (variable number of times: thrice for Sundays and feasts of Christ, 50 times for the feasts of saints, 100 times on days of fasting)

Hymn of Nerses Shnorhali: “All the world... (Ashkharh amenayn)”

“Lord, have mercy” (thrice). “Through the intercession of the Birthgiver of God: Remember, Lord, and have mercy.”

Hymn of Nerses Shnorhali: “The rising of the sun... (Aṛawowt lowsoy)”

Prayer: “We thank you...”

Blessed is our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Alleluia, alleluia.

At this point a section of the Psalter is read, followed by a canticle from the Old or New Testament. SeeArmenian Liturgy.Following the Psalms and the Canticle is the Canon, a complex sequence of psalms, hymns, and prayers which varies in part according to the liturgical calendar.

Conclusion: "Our father...Amen."

The Armenian Matins or Midnight Office bears some resemblance with the Midnight office of the Byzantine Rite, such as the recitation of a movable set of hymns depending on the feast. However, the Armenian Midnight Office is generally more elaborate than the Byzantine Midnight Office, in that the Armenian counterpart includes readings from the Gospel, as well as cycles of psalms and prayers reflecting the liturgical season or feast. Other material in the Byzantine office of Matins which has a counterpart in the Armenian daily office, such as the recitation of large sections of the Psalter and the recitation of biblical canticles, occurs in the Armenian liturgy at the Sunrise Hour which follows Matins, corresponding to Lauds.

• Liturgy of the Hours
• Canonical hours
• Diurnum
• Compline
• Vigil (liturgy)
• Matins in Lutheranism
• Anglican Morning Prayers
• Book of Hours

• "Matins" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). 1911.
• Sunday Orthos Greek Orthodox Church in America
• Daily Matins Russian Orthodox (in English)
• Byzantine Catholic Daily Prayer
• The Office of Readings for today's date (Roman Catholic)

• Major hours
• Liturgy of the Hours
• Catholic liturgy
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