Although we are called to pray at "all times", there are seven particular times during the day appointed by the Church for prayer: evening (vespers), before sleep (compline), midnight, daybreak (matins and first hour), then the third, sixth and ninth hours after daybreak.
The latter four of the above list, except matins, are available to download below in a format to be prayed at home.
The text is larger because it has been edited for printing: if you select "Booklet" in the printing options and follow the instructions, you should end up with an A5 booklet made from 12 pages of A4 paper using any good home printer.
The idea is not that all the hours are prayed every day, but that one of the hours (whichever is most convenient) can be chosen as your daily prayer. Said aloud, an hour should take around 15 minutes to pray. The troparia and kontakia provided are for ordinary Mondays to Saturdays, but these can be replaced with other hymns on particular feast days.
It is hoped that the hours with daily hymns can be used to build an uncomplicated prayer rule with some variety.
Comments