First Hour

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FIRST HOUR

Note that on the Mondays of holy Lent we do not add a Kathisma of the Psalter at the First Hour. On the other days we do, and we make 3 prostrations at each Antiphon. The First Hour being joined to the Morning Office, as has been said above, begins straight away with:

Come, let us worship and fall down before the King, our God.
Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ, the King, our God.
Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ himself, the King, our God.

Three Metanias and the Psalms:

Psalm 5
Give ear to my words, O Lord, understand my cry. Attend to the voice of my supplication, my King and my God; for to you I shall pray, O Lord. In the morning you will hear my voice. In the morning I shall stand before you, and you will watch over me; because you are not a God who wants iniquity. The evildoer will not dwell with you, nor will the lawless remain before your eyes. You have hated all those who work iniquity; you will destroy all those who speak lies. The Lord abhors a man of bloodshed and deceit. But I in the abundance of your mercy shall enter your house, I shall worship towards your holy temple in fear of you. Guide me, Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies, direct my way before you. Because there is no truth in their mouths; their heart is vain. Their throat is an open tomb, they deceive with their tongues. Judge them, O God. Let them fall through their counsels; according to the multitude of their impieties cast them out, for they have embittered you, O Lord. And may all those who hope in you be glad; they will rejoice for ever, and you will dwell among them, and all those who love your name will boast in you. Because you will bless the righteous; you have crowned him, O Lord, with your good pleasure.

Psalm 89
Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to another. Before the mountains came into being or the earth and the world was formed, from age to age you are. Do not turn mankind back to humiliation, and you said: Turn back, children of men. Because a thousand years in your eyes, O Lord, are like a day, or like yesterday which has passed, and like a watch in the night. Their years will be mere trifles, in the morning like grass may he pass away. In the morning let him flower and pass away; in the evening let him fall, dry up and wither. Because we have perished in your anger, and in your wrath we have been dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you; our age in the light of your countenance. Because all our days have perished, and in your anger we have perished; our years they considered like a spider. The days of our years there are seventy years in them, but if we are strong, eighty, and the majority of them are labour and toil; because weakness has come over us and we shall be chastened. Who knows the might of your anger? And can gauge your wrath from fear of you? So make your right hand known to me, and those chastened in heart by wisdom. Turn back, O Lord, how long? And be entreated for your servants. We have been filled in the morning with your mercy, O Lord, and we have rejoiced and been glad. In all our days let be glad; in return for the days when you humbled us, the years when we saw evils. And look upon your servants and upon the work of your hands and guide your children. And let the brightness of the Lord be upon us, and direct the works of our hands for us and direct the work of our hand.

Psalm 100.
I will sing to you of mercy and judgement, O Lord, I will chant and think on a blameless way: when will you come to me? I have walked in the midst of my house in the innocence of my heart. I have set no lawless deed before my eyes; I have hated those who commit transgressions. No twisted heart has been attached to me; the evil man who avoids me I have not acknowledged. The man who secretly slanders his neighbour, him I have driven out. With a man of proud looks and insatiate heart, I have not eaten. My eyes are upon the faithful in the land, for them to dwell with me; the man who walks on a blameless way, he has ministered to me. The man who acts proudly has not dwelt in my house; the man who speaks calumnies has not prospered before me. Morning by morning I slew all the sinners in the land, to purge from the Lord’s city all workers of iniquity.

Glory. Both now. Alleluia (x3). Lord, have mercy (x3).

Then the Canonarch or the designated Monk chants following in the middle in the 6th Tone.

Hearken to my voice in the morning, my King and my God.

And as we repeat it, he makes a genuflexion to the ground; and the same at the following Verses. Then he makes a bow in front of the Beautiful Gate and returns to his place.

Verse 1: Give ear to my words, O Lord, understand my cry.

Hearken to my voice in the morning, my King and my God.

Verse 2: For to you I shall pray, O Lord. In the morning you will hear my voice.

Hearken to my voice in the morning, my King and my God.

Glory. Both now. Theotokion:

What shall we call you, O Full of grace? Heaven? For you made the Sun of righteousness to dawn. Paradise? For you made the flower of incorruption blossom. Virgin? For you remained incorrupt. Pure Mother? For you held in your holy embrace a Son who is the God of all. Implore him that our souls may be saved.

Then we chant the following Verses, doubling the first three and tripling the last, chanting it loudly and slowly:

Direct my steps according to your word, and let no iniquity lord it over me. (Twice)

Deliver me from the slander of men, and I shall keep your commandments. (Twice)

Let your face shine on your servant, and teach me your statutes. (Twice)

Let my mouth be filled with your praise, O Lord, that I may hymn your glory, all day long your splendour. (Three times)

On the Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the 4th week of Lent, that is after the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, instead of the verses of Direct my steps, we say:

We worship your Cross, O Master, and we glorify your holy Resurrection.

Then: Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times)

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and for ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our iniquities. Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for your name’s sake. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and for ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen

Our Father, in heaven, may your name be hallowed; your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Priest: For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever, and to the ages of ages.

Reader: Amen.

On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday say the following:
With heart and mouth never silent let us hymn the most glorious Mother of God, holier than the Angels, confessing her to be Mother of God, for she truly gave birth to God incarnate, and intercedes unceasingly for our souls.

But on Wednesday and Friday we say this:
Before we are enslaved, speedily prevent the foes who blaspheme you and threaten us, O Christ our God; destroy by your Cross those who war against us; may they know how strong is the faith of the Orthodox; through the intercessions of the Mother of God, O lover of mankind.

But on Saturday, say this:
As nature’s first-fruits, O Lord, the whole world offers you, who planted creation, the god-bearing Martyrs; at their intercessions keep your Church in profound peace, through the Mother of God, O most merciful.

In the 4th week of Lent we say the Kontakion of the Cross.

Then: Lord, have mercy. (x40)

At every time and at every hour, in heaven and on earth worshipped and glorified, Christ God, longsuffering, great in mercy, great in compassion, loving the just and merciful to sinners, calling all to salvation by the promise of the blessings to come; do you, Lord, yourself accept our entreaties at this hour, and direct our lives to your commandments. Sanctify our souls, purify our bodies, correct our thoughts, cleanse our ideas and deliver us from every distress, evil, and pain. Wall us about with your holy Angels, that protected and guided by their host we may reach the unity of the faith and the knowledge of your unapproachable glory; for you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.

Lord, have mercy (x3). Glory. Both now. Greater in honour than the Cherubim, and beyond compare more glorious than the Seraphim, without corruption you gave birth to God the Word, truly the Mother of God we magnify you. In the name of the Lord, bless, Father.

Priest: May God be merciful...

We say the Prayer of St Ephrem with 4 full and 12 small metanias.

The Prayer of Saint Ephrem The Syrian

Lord and Master of my life, do not give me a spirit of sloth, idle curiosity, love of power and useless chatter. (Prostration)

Rather accord to me, your servant, a spirit of sobriety, humility, patience and love. (Prostration)

Yes, Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to condemn my brother; for you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen. (Prostration)

Then Trisagion, All-holy Trinity, Our Father. For yours. Lord, have mercy (x12) and the Superior says the following prayer:

Christ, the true light, you enlighten and hallow everyone who comes into the world, may the light of your countenance be signed upon us, that in it we may see your unapproachable light; and direct our steps to the doing of your commandments; at the intercessions of your all-most pure Mother and of all your Saints. Amen.

Reader: To you my Champion and Commander I your city saved from disasters dedicate, O Mother of God, hymns of victory and thanksgiving; but as you have unassailable might from every kind of danger now deliver me, that I may cry to you: Hail, Bride without bridegroom!

And Dismissal. And we process into the Narthex, where the customary prayers are said, and the Catecheses of our venerable Father Theodore the Studite, by the Superior or the Ecclesiarch, as mentioned previously; that is to say on Wednesday and Friday. Then the conclusion and the Dismissal.

This is the arrangement for Matins and the First Hour for the whole of holy Lent.

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This page was last updated on 10 February 2001