Hours of Divine Service

Nocturns or Mattins — Vespers — Lauds — Prime — Tierce — Sext — None — Compline — The Little Hours — Morning Prayer — Evening Prayer — At Morning Prayer — The Litany — The Occasional Prayers and Thanksgivings — The Collects — Epistles — Gospels.

At a very early date the custom was established of offering private prayer at the last hour of the night, that is, between cock-crow and sunrise, and at the end of the day, at twilight, between sunset and darkness: these offices were called 'Nocturns'¹ or 'Mattins' and 'Vespers'. Further offices were introduced after the example of Daniel, who prayed three times a day, and of the Apostles, whom we find were gathered for prayer at the third hour or 'Tierce' at the time of the Pentecost (Acts ii. 15); St. Peter, who at the sixth hour or 'Sext' went up on the house-top to pray before the mid-day meal (Acts x. 9), and St. Peter and John, who went into the Temple to pray at the ninth hour or 'None' (Acts iii. 1).

The day was divided into twelve hours from sunrise to sunset, the night likewise from sunset to sunrise.

Taking, then, the sunrise at about 6 a.m., accordingly we find that 'Mattins' would be about 5 a.m., Prime at 6 a.m., Tierce 9 a.m., 'Sext' noon, 'None' 3 p.m., and Vespers 6 p.m.

To this was added Lauds at dawn, following Mattins, to prevent monks going to bed again after Mattins.

Later Compline was introduced; this was an office between Vespers and the time for retiring to rest; also Prime, before the business meeting of the monks; thus an attempt was made to follow out the words of the Psalmist (Ps. cxix. 164), "Seven times a day do I praise Thee".

The habit arose in the East of men consecrating their lives to Christ by living a life of solitude, fasting, and prayer, who became hermits or lived a coenobic life in rudely constituted organizations. Gradually this spread to the West, and we find hermits in Italy, Gaul, Great Britain, and Ireland, and likewise monasteries. But St. Benedict, who came from Umbria and lived from 480 to 543, may be said to have been the first to found a rule which was the most suitable to Western ideas. The early popularity of the monks was so great that the secular clergy had to adopt the main features of their devotions.

No doubt there was considerable variety in putting into practice the scheme of daily devotions to which reference has just been made, but it really became reduced to two distinct conflicts, one between the Benedictine as opposed to other monastic schemes, which in the end they ousted, but as to which we are not here concerned, and the other between the Roman secular type and other non-monastic types, which they also gradually superseded.

Under the Roman type the Psalms were appointed to be read through in a week at Mattins and were divided into seven portions or Nocturns, from which, however, were excluded the fixed Psalms said at the other services.

In practice Mattins, Lauds, and Prime were said together, likewise Vespers and Compline.

Tierce, Sext, and None, being known as the Little Hours, were not public services until about 400 and were always the same as each other. It is from this fact that the prayers contained in the Primer above referred to, Horae B.V.M., Horae de Trinitate, etc., are called the Little Hours of the B.V.M., etc., because they formed the respective offices of Tierce, Sext, and None upon those days upon which such were commemorated.

The Prayer Book of 1549 dropped the Little Hours and reduced these services to two, Mattins and Evensong, and this has been followed in subsequent revisions, though the title has been altered to The Order for Morning Prayer and The Order for Evening Prayer.

The Permissive Measure includes an Order for Prime and one for Compline.

¹ The term 'Nocturn' was also used of a group of Psalms. Cf. p. 178.

Morning Prayer

The Prayer Book of 1549 commenced with the Lord's Prayer. The Opening Sentences, Invitation, General Confession, and Absolution were added as a fitting introduction in 1552. The General Confession is based on the works of Pullain and Laski (cf. Chap. XXII. pp. 128–130). A similar introduction of mutual confession and absolution had formerly belonged to Prime and Compline, so that when these had been abolished there was an obvious defect in the Book of 1549.

As to the rubric before the Absolution the words "or remission of sins" were added in 1604, and the words "priest standing and people still kneeling" were added in 1662, this being taken from the Scottish Book. This alteration prevents this being done by one in Deacon's orders only. The direction that the Minister shall say the Lord's Prayer in an 'audible' voice has reference to the old Latin devotions, service which began with the priest's private recitation which he said inaudibly, after which he began the service directed with the Versicles. In 1662 for the first time it was directed to be said by the people.

In 1662 the Doxology was added here to the Lord's Prayer, contrary to the general custom in the West, as though found in the Didaché, the earliest MS. of St. Matthew vi. 13 seems to render its right inclusion there as open to doubt.

The Versicles are taken from Psalms li. and lxx. and have been in use since about 500, and were directed to be used on awaking.

It was not until 1662 that the Gloria was made into a versicle. In the First and Second Books of Edward VI. it was said by the priest alone with the additional words 'Praise ye the Lord'. The answer, 'The Lord's Name be praised', was taken from the Scottish Book in 1662.

The Venite, the 95th Psalm or Invitatory, was originally sung as a solo, the choir repeating the first verse in full after the odd verses, and the second part only after the even verses. When in 1549 it was directed to be said or sung without any Invitatory it was to this method that reference was made.

The Psalms are appointed to be sung 'in course' every month instead of every week as in mediaeval services.

Here it must be noted that the Psalms follow the translation of the Great English Bible and not the Authorized Version which was elsewhere employed in 1662, and which was based on the Hebrew and not on the Septuagint or Greek, like the Vulgate.

For some reason the Greek ix. Psalm included the Hebrew ix. and x., and the Greek cxlvi. and cxlvii. were included in the Hebrew cxlvii., hence between these two points the Psalms in the Latin are one less than those of the Prayer Book, except that the Latin cxiii. included Prayer Book cxiv. and cxv. and the Latin cxiv. and cxv. are included in the Prayer Book cxvi. In the revision of 1662 the variation from the Authorized Version is noted in the Preface, but not the variation in the numeration. The only importance of this change in the numeration occurs in the Latin versions of the Prayer Book, in which the Psalms are taken from the Sarum Missal in extenso.

In 1922 sanction was given by Convocation to the optional reduction of the Psalms to be used at Mattins and Evensong.

The Gloria is said after the Psalms and Canticles to signify that we worship the same God as the Jews did under the Old Covenant, but the mystery of the Holy Trinity is more clearly revealed to us through Christ.

In the old Lectionary lessons were nowhere read except at Mattins. Under the Reformation nearly the whole of the Old Testament is read through as the First Lesson, one chapter in the morning and the next in the evening, beginning in January, except the Prophet Isaiah, which is reserved for Advent. But the lessons from the Apocrypha were cut down from fifty days to twenty-one days in 1871.

The lessons for Sunday form a distinct course beginning with portions of Isaiah in Advent and Epiphany, Job and Proverbs for the last three Sundays in Epiphany, and the selections thus proceed through the Historical and Prophetical Books. Further special First Lessons are appointed for Holy Days suitable to their commemoration.

The Second Lessons go through the New Testament twice in the year, beginning with the Gospel according to St. Matthew in January, but omitting the Book of Revelation. No special Second Lessons are appointed for Sundays.

This is a return to the old continuous reading of the Bible, which had become so interrupted by all the special lessons for the particular occasion, animadversion upon which is to be found in the Preface. The rules for finding these special lessons were contained in the Ordinal which contained the 'Pie' or Perpetual Kalendar.

An alternative Lectionary is included in the Permissive Measure.

The Canticle 'Te Deum Laudamus' was written by the Bishop of Remesiana in Dacia, circa 375–400, but was first brought into general use by the rule of St. Benet, circa 530.

In the Sarum Use it was appointed to be sung on Sundays and Festivals except in Advent and Lent, and in 1549 it was ordered to be sung every day except during Lent, when the Benedicite was to be used. This exception was removed in 1552, but the Benedicite was treated as a general alternative, and is now by custom only used during Lent. The Canticle really ends with 'In Glory Everlasting', the remainder being suffrages.

The Canticle 'Benedicite', or the 'Song of the Three Children', is a part of the addition, found in the Septuagint, to Daniel iii.

It was sung amongst the morning Psalms so far back as 300–400, and Cyprian describes it as Scripture (Migne, xlix. 63). It was included in the Rule of St. Benet and found its way into the Office of Lauds. As the 'Te Deum' ended Mattins, which was followed by Lauds, it is not difficult to perceive how it came to be an alternative to the 'Te Deum' when the latter was not used.

The Benedictus, together with the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, were about 350 added to the Psalms as the Hymn Book of the Church, and we find them so placed there in the Codex Alexandrinus, which must be dated from 400 to 500, and which is now in the British Museum.

The 'Benedictus' was placed as the Climax in the Office of Lauds after the 'Little Chapter' or verse whose place was taken by the Second Lesson, and therefore naturally received its present position. In 1552 the 100th Psalm, Jubilate Deo, was added as an alternative, and though not so expressed, is really only meant to be used when it is read in the lesson for the day or the Gospel for St. John the Baptist's Day.

In 1552 the Salutation and Kyrie were postponed to the Creed, which was directed to be said by all instead of by the Minister alone.

The Creed originally belonged to the Baptismal Office, and though we have evidence of its existence as early as Aristides the Apologist, circa 140, and from Irenaeus and Tertullian, it was never reduced to writing. Marcellus of Ancyra in 341 gives an early form, likewise Ruffinus of Aquileia in 390. The practice continued even after the Peace of the Church, for we find Sozomen the historian as late as 400–500 refraining from setting forth the Nicean Creed in his ecclesiastical history lest it should become known to the uninitiated (cf. p. 16).

Additions were made in the Gallic Church to combat Arianism, and what is known as the Apostles' Creed probably did not reach its present form until about 700.

The Apostles' Creed was said several times daily according to the Sarum Use, but like the Lord's Prayer it was said privately with an ecphony, so that the last two clauses were said as a versicle and response.

In 1549 the Minister was directed to say the Creed in a loud voice, but the old method was retained for the Lord's Prayer in that the answer is given, 'But Deliver us from evil'. But in 1552 this was changed into the present use of all standing to say the Creed, and saying both it and the Lord's Prayer with the Minister.

The custom of turning to the East arose in Caroline times, in view of the fact that the Creeds were baptismal Creeds, and that after facing West to renounce the devil the catechumen faced East to express his belief in Christ.

Bowing at the name of Jesus has been retained at the Creed even when not otherwise done, though it is directed generally by Canon xviii. of 1603.

The Salutation which follows is of the greatest antiquity; if not of Apostolic origin, it is found in all the liturgies, both Eastern and Western, of which any records exist.

The Kyrie is in its origin heathen; it was adopted by the Christians between 300 and 400, probably as soon as Christianity was accepted by the Roman Empires.

The Suffrages, or Lesser Litany, consisting of Versicles and Responses, are based on the old Bidding of the Bedes and form the prelude to the Collects. Originally the Deacon mentioned various topics for prayer and then summed up the petitions of the people in the form of a Collection or Collect. The direction that the Priest shall stand is a relic of this ancient form of worship, as he stands to give directions to the congregation as to the subjects of their petitions.

The Collect for the Day, before the Reformation, ended the service, but was sometimes followed by memorials, whose place has been taken by the fixed Collects for Peace and Grace. The Collect for Peace comes from the old Memorial for Peace said at the Lauds of the Blessed Virgin, and the Collect for Grace in the ancient daily Collect for Prime. Here Morning Prayer ended until 1662. The remaining Collects, except for the Royal Family, had been annexed to the Litany since 1559.

The first Collect for the King in English was issued by Berthelet at the end of the reign of Henry VIII., and is very similar to that now in use. It was included in the Edwardian Primer.

It was reduced to its present form and added to the Litany at the revision in 1559.

The prayer for the Royal Family was added to the Litany in 1604, after the Hampton Court Conference, in the time of Archbishop Whitgift. The prayer for the Clergy followed the Litany in the old Sarum Use.

The prayer of St. Chrysostom is found in the Liturgies of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom; it formed a regular part of the Byzantine Liturgy, and Cranmer probably so named it as he had taken it from the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom which is the prevailing Byzantine Use. It was placed at the end of the Litany in 1549.

The Grace was first added to the Litany in 1559.

Evening Prayer

The order of Evening Prayer or Evensong took the place of the old Vespers and Compline.

In 1552 the introduction to Mattins was also added to Evensong, that is to say, the Sentences, Invitation, General Confession, and Absolution, which are identical. The slight variation in the rubric before the Lord's Prayer is, no doubt, due to the fact that until 1662 the introduction was not printed over again in the form of Evening Prayer, but there was only a direction to use that for Morning Prayer.

The First Lesson takes the place of the chapter at Vespers, which was then, as now, followed by the Magnificat. The Magnificat has always been placed here since the time of the Rule of St. Benet, circa 530.

The Second Lesson takes the place of the chapter at Compline. This is followed by the Nunc Dimittis, which is said to have been placed here by St. Gregory the Great, circa 590.

In 1552 the Cantate Domino, Psalm xcviii., and the Deus Misereatur, Psalm lxvii., were added as alternatives to the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. The rest of the service is similar to that of Morning Prayer except the two fixed Collects.

The second Collect at Evening Prayer is found in the old Gelasian Sacramentary, and was the Evening memorial for peace in the Sarum Use.

The third Collect for aid against all perils is also found in the Gelasian Sacramentary and was the invariable Collect of Compline in the Sarum Use.

It had been long the custom to sing an anthem after this Collect; it was therefore natural to direct one in the reformed Prayer Book. This was not provided for in 1549 or 1552, but was introduced by the Elizabethan Injunction, xlix., and the appropriate rubric was inserted in 1662.

At Morning Prayer · Quicunque Vult

This Creed, which is commonly called the Athanasian Creed, is not to be attributed to St. Athanasius. It never was a baptismal creed like the Apostles' Creed or Nicean Creed.

It was a confession of faith written in Southern Gaul between 400 and 500, which has been used by the Western Church as a Canticle since 700–800. In the Sarum Use it was appointed to be sung daily at Prime. Quignon in his reformed Breviary appointed it to be sung on Sundays.

In 1549 it was appointed for Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday. The various Saints' Days for which it is appointed were added in 1552, and in 1662 the rubric was altered by the insertion of the direction "instead of the Apostles' Creed" and describing it as commonly called the Athanasian Creed.

It is chiefly aimed at a repudiation of the Arian, Nestorian, and Monophysists' heresies.

It may not be amiss to point out very shortly without entering into any theological discussion wherein these heresies differ from the Catholic faith, which acknowledges the two natures and one person of Christ.

The Arian heresy maintained that the Son was not equal with the Father in the Trinity.

The Nestorian heresy ascribed two persons and two natures to Christ (cf. p. 21).

The Monophysists' or Jacobites' heresy ascribed one person and one nature to Christ.

The Greek Church deny the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son, and therefore omit Filioque from the Creeds.

The Litany

The term Litany in the Greek (λιτανεία) meant any form of entreaty, but in Christian usage it was confined to a responsorial form of prayer, indicating penitence or supplication. The first mention made of it is by St. Basil of Caesarea, circa 375, who, however, mentions that it had not been in use in the time of St. Gregory of Thaumaturgus, circa 254.

Its first use as a processional is mentioned by St. Chrysostom at Constantinople, circa 398, when it was used to counteract the assemblies in the streets by the Arians, who had been excluded from the churches on account of their heresy. When it spread to the West it came to be used on solemn occasions for the blessing of the crops on Rogation Days and also in times of great calamity. Reference to this has already been made in connection with the fasts, pp. 175–176.

On these occasions the processional chant, or Rogation psalm, was sung responsorially.

Now it has been several times mentioned that another form of responsorial prayer was a prominent feature in all the Greek Liturgies in which the Deacon bid the people pray for different matters called the 'ektene', and to which they made a response of 'Kyrie eleison'. Thus, in time these two coalesced and this form of prayer came to be used also in procession.

So that a form of prayer in dialogue was evolved which might be either used in procession or stationary. The original stationary form of bidding the bedes so far as Mass was concerned became reduced to the ninefold Kyrie and formed a fixed part of the Liturgy.

But at the Stational Masses at Rome, when the Pope went to a special church in procession, it was customary, as he neared it, to sing such Litany, and from this arose the custom, after the Kyrie had become a fixed part of the Mass, to sing a Litany before Mass. This processional Litany was continued in the form of a procession round the church.

In many of the Latin Litanies, the varying forms of petition had been dropped and they had been reduced to an invocation of saints.

Henry VIII. ordered the first English Litany to be prepared in 1544, and Cranmer not merely made a translation from the Latin ones then in use, but also had recourse to that contained in Marshall's Primer produced by Luther in 1529, and also to the Deacon's Litany in the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom, which is still in use in the East.

The Litany in 1544 commenced with the invocations of the Trinity, but the invocation of saints was reduced to three clauses.

St. Mary, Mother of God Our Saviour Jesu Christ,
Pray for us.

All holy angels and archangels and all holy orders of blessed spirits,
Pray for us.

All holy patriarchs and prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins and all the blessed company of Heaven,
Pray for us.

But these clauses were entirely omitted in the Litany of 1549.

The long petition, which comes between the 'invocations' and the 'deprecations' is taken from the anthem to the penitential psalms which immediately preceded the Litany in the Breviary.

In 1549 and 1552 the last deprecation contained the words after privy conspiracy: "From the tyranny of the bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities" — this was omitted in Mary's reign, though the English Litany was retained in use, and it was not restored in the Elizabethan revision.

In 1662 the words 'rebellion' and 'schism' were added. Of the 'obsecrations' which follow, the last, "In all time of our tribulation", is a collection of petitions taken from Luther's Litany of 1529.

Of the 'intercessions', "bishops, pastors, and ministers of the Church" was changed to "bishops, priests, and deacons" in 1662.

"Peace and concord": the Sarum Use was "peace and concord to all Kings and Princes".

"In danger, necessity, and tribulation" is taken from the Liturgy of St. Chrysostom.

"To forgive our enemies" occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Litany.

"Kindly fruits of the earth" is found in both Sarum and Luther's Litanies.

The last intercession is a beautiful composition of Cranmer himself.

Of the Invocations, "Grant us thy peace" was not in Sarum, but is found in other English forms, e.g. Egbert.

The Litany proper ends with the triple Kyrie and the Lord's Prayer.

The form now follows that of Luther, but the prayer "O God, merciful Father" comes from the Sarum Mass, 'pro tribulatione cordis'.

"O Lord, arise, help us" is really the commencement of the processional anthem to the Psalm xliv. 1, 'Amen' having been omitted from the preceding prayer by an oversight: it is inserted in the Permissive Measure.

The Versicles, which follow, are taken from the "Litany in time of War"; these lead up to the final sacerdotal versicle which, until 1662, was marked the versicle but is now marked 'priest' and 'answer', followed by the Collect which was taken from the Sarum last Rogation Day Litany.

The prayer of St. Chrysostom is taken from the Byzantine Liturgy, and the Grace was added in the Elizabethan revision.

The one Litany then is used in three different ways:

• (A) As the procession before the Eucharist, but the Edwardian Injunctions directed that this should be done by the "priest and quire kneeling in the midst of the church".
• (B) As a votive service on Wednesdays and Fridays (cf. p. 171).
• (C) As a special act of pleading at Ordinations and, according to the Egbert Pontifical, at the consecration of a church.

Occasional Prayers & Thanksgivings

The occasional prayers originally were added to the Litany as occasional memorials. They were first collected as a separate portion in 1662; they are all entirely new compositions except "O God whose nature", which is in the Gregorian Sacramentary, and have been varied and added to from time to time.

The Prayer for the High Court of Parliament is attributed to Archbishop Laud.

The Prayer for "All sorts and conditions of men" is attributed to Bishop Gunning of Chichester and Ely at the time of the revision in 1662.

The Thanksgivings were first added after the Hampton Court Conference in 1604.

The General Thanksgiving is attributed to Bishop Reynolds and was added in 1662.

The various parts of the Litany are specifically noted in the Appendix.

The Collects

In the Prayer Book of 1549 the Collects were preceded by the 'Introits', which consisted of a psalm sung at the commencement of the Communion Service, but in 1552 these Introits were dropped and have not since been revived, though they are collated at the end of the English Hymnal hymn book.

The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels are nearly all the same as those for the old Sarum Use, alterations only having been made for the first three Sundays in Advent, Christmas Week, the fourth and sixth Sundays after Epiphany, Quinquagesima, Ash Wednesday, and first Sunday in Lent, Low Sunday, second and eleventh Sundays after Trinity and the Saints' Days. The New Collects for the most part were composed by Archbishop Cranmer, exact particulars of which will be found in the Appendix.

The Collects were the priestly summation of the old Bidding Prayers, wherein the Deacon bid the people to pray (Let us kneel; Flectamus genua), and after the silent prayers of the congregation they were followed by the direction to stand (Levate), whilst the Deacon summed up the motive in a formal prayer which formed the Collect or Collectio.

These followed, generally speaking, a regular form which consisted of:

1. An introductory address or commemoration on which it is based.
2. A central prayer.
3. Other clauses dependent thereupon included by way of petition.
4. A fixed formal ending.

Certain rules determined this formal ending and have been applied to the Collects in the Prayer Book: they are most briefly summarized in the York Missal, and are here taken from the Surtees Publication; they were so fully recognized that in practice they were not written in full.

These rules as to the termination of the Collects are as follows:

1. Si dirigitur sermo ad Patrem absque mentione Filii et Spiritus Sancti sic finietur; per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum tuum: Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus per omnia secula seculorum.
   If the address is made to the Father without mention of the Son or the Holy Ghost, then the end must be: Through Our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son Who with Thee livest and reignest in unity of the Holy Spirit, O God, world without end (lit. for all ages of ages).
2. Si vero de Spiritu Sancto fiat mentio dicetur: In unitate ejusdem Spiritus Sancti Deus, etc.
   But if mention is made of the Holy Ghost, then shall be said: In Unity of the same Holy Spirit, O God, etc.
3. Si vere de Filio fiat mentio ante finalem partem dicetur: Per eundem Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum Filium, etc.
   But if mention is made of the Son before the final clause, then shall be said: Through the same Our Lord the Son Jesus Christ, etc.
4. Si vero in fine fit mentio de Filio dicetur: Qui tecum vivit et regnat, etc.
   But if mention is made of the Son in the final clause, then shall be said: Who livest and reignest with Thee, etc.
5. Si autem ad Filium dirigetur oratio sine mentione Spiritus Sancti dicetur: Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus.
   But if the address is made to the Son without mention of the Holy Ghost, then shall be said: Who livest and reignest with God the Father in unity of the Holy Spirit, O God, etc.
6. Si fiat mentio de Spiritu Sancto dicetur: Qui cum Patre et eodem Spiritu Sancto vivis et regnas.
   If mention is made of the Holy Ghost, then shall be said: Who with the Father and the same Holy Spirit livest and reignest.
7. Item orationes ad Patrem in quibus mentionem de Trinitate facimus sic concludimus: In qua vivis et regnas Deus, etc.
   Note in addresses to the Father in which we make mention of the Trinity we end them: In which Thou livest and reignest, O God, etc.
8. Illas autem quas ad ipsam Trinitatem dirigimus sic finimus: Qui vivis et regnas Deus.
   But those which we direct to the Trinity itself we finish: Who livest and reignest, O God.

It was not till 1662 that the Collects had their proper endings according to the above rules added to them, but when this was actually done they were not adequately or satisfactorily supplied.

As may be noted, the ecclesiastical year is divided into two parts, that from Advent to Trinity being designed to commemorate the Life of Christ on Earth, with its attendant incidents, including the mission of the Holy Ghost: the second part from Trinity to Advent, the Epistles form a continuous series, and the Collects and Gospels are chosen in reference to them, being exhortations to Christian practices.