I. The Beginning of Daily Matins on Monday of the 1st Week of Great Lent:
1. The Midnight Service is not sung. [1]
2. The priest makes a prostration and enters the Altar, puts on his epitrachelion and receives the censor while standing in front of the Holy Table
3. The priest makes the sign of the cross with the censor saying “Blessed is our God…”
4. The reader “Holy God…Glory…All Holy Trinity…Glory…Our Father…”.
5. The priest “For thine is the Kingdom…”
6. The reader “Amen” “Lord, have mercy” 12x in monotone
7. The priest immediately intones, “Glory to the Holy Consubstantial…”
II. The Beginning of Daily Matins on every day except for Saturday and Sunday days during the rest of Great Lent:
1. We sing all of the Midnight Service.
At its conclusion, we chant:
2. The 3 penitential troparia “Have mercy on us O God…”
3. “Glory…have mercy on us…Now…open unto us…”
4. The ektenia “Have mercy on us…Again we pray for all Orthodox…Again we pray of our (hierarch)…Again we pray that He will keep this Holy Church…Hear us O God our Savior…”
5. Then the Small Dismissal and the ektenia “Let us pray for the peace…” “Through the prayers…”
6. The priest enters the Sanctuary and puts on his epitrachelion.
7. “Holy God…Glory…All Holy Trinity…Glory…Our Father… For thine…”
8. Then the readers read the troparia “O Lord save thy people…Glory…Do thou who of thine own good will…Now…O Champion dread…”
9. The priest says the ektenia.
10. After the exclamation, the readers says “In the name of the Lord, Father Bless”.
11. The priest intones“Glory to the Holy Consubstantial…” [2]
III. The rest of Daily Matins during Great Lent:
1. The 6 Matins Psalms.
2. The Great Litany and the exclamation.
3. “Alleluia” in the tone of the week with its verses, “My soul seeks thee early in the morning…”
4. The Hymns to the Trinity (Triodika) in the tone of the week.
5. The appointed Psalms (see the schedule of the readings in the section Five, Part V of the First Chapter)
6. The litany and exclamation.
7. The poetic kathisma of repentance in the tone of the week from the Triodion
8. The poetic kathisma for the day from the Triodion.
9. Psalm 50.
10. “O God save thy people…”
11. “Lord have mercy” (12 times) and the exclamation.
12. The Biblical ode of the Day. [3]
IV. The Order for the Reading of the Biblical Odes during Daily Matins of Great Lent:
1. We read every verse of the Biblical Ode of the day as indicated below.
2. We read only beginning and end the other Biblical Odes.
3. Between each ode, we say “Glory..., Now…”
4. We chant the entire 8th every day.
5. We chant the entire 9th Ode every day.
6. During the chanting of the Song of the Theotokos from the 9th Ode, “My soul doth magnify the Lord…” we sing the refrain “More honorable…”
Monday 1. The entire 1st Biblical ode followed by “Glory..., Now…”
2. On the 1st Monday, we chant the beginning and end of Biblical odes 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
3. On the remaining Mondays of Great Lent, we chant the beginning and end of Biblical Odes 3 ,4 ,5 ,6 and 7.
4. The entire 8th Biblical Ode.
5. The entire 9th Biblical Ode.
6. During the chanting of the Song of Mary from the 9th Ode, “My soul doth magnify the Lord…” we sing “More honorable…”
Tuesday1. The beginning end of the 1st Biblical ode followed by “Glory..., Now…”
2. The entire 2nd Biblical Ode. [4]
3. The beginning and end of Biblical odes 3, 4, 5, 6.
4. The entire 8th Biblical ode.
5. The entire 9th Biblical ode.
7. During the chanting of the Song of the Theotokos from the 9th ode, “My soul doth magnify the Lord…” we sing the refrain “More honorable…”
Wednesday 1. The first and last verses of the 1st Biblical Ode.
2. The entire 3rd Biblical Ode.
3. The beginning and end of Biblical Odes 4, 5, 6 and 7.
4. The entire 8th Biblical Ode.
5. The entire 9th Biblical Ode.
6. During the chanting of the Song of the Theotokos from the 9th Ode, “My soul doth magnify the Lord…” we sing the refrain “More honorable…”
Thursday1. The beginning and end of the 1st and 3rd Biblical Odes.
2. The entire 4th Biblical Ode.
3. The beginning and end of Biblical Odes 5, 6, and 7.
4. The entire 8th Biblical Ode.
5. The entire 9th Biblical Ode.
6. During the chanting of the Song of the Theotokos from the 9th Ode, “My soul doth magnify the Lord…” we sing “More honorable…”
Friday1. The beginning and end of the 1st , 3rd , and 4th Biblical Odes.
2. The entire 5th Biblical Ode.
3. The beginning and end of the Biblical Odes 6 and 7.
4. The entire 8th Biblical Ode.
5. The Entire 9th Biblical Ode.
6. During the chanting of the Song of the Theotokos from the 9th Ode, “My soul doth magnify the Lord…” we sing “More honorable…”
V. The Order for the canons during Daily Matins of Great Lent:
1. On Monday.
A. The 1st ode from the Menaion.
A. The 1st ode from the Triodion without verses. [5]
B. Then 3rd ode from the Menaion.
C. The heirmos from the Triodion.
D. The Little Litany.
E. The kathisma from the Menaion.
F. Odes 4, 5, and 6 from the Menaion and the heirmos.
G. The Little Litany
H. The kontakion for the saint (if there is no kontakion, we say the martyrion for the tone) [6]
I. The daily monologion
J. Odes 7 and 8 from the Triodion
K. Ode 9 from the Menaion.
L. “We praise, we bless…”
M. The heirmos from the 8th ode from the Triodion .
N. . “More honorable…”
O. The 9th heirmos.
2. During weekdays in the rest of Great Lent:
A. Throughout Great Lent, after each ode from the Triodion we sing the corresponding ode from the Menaion. [7]
B. The 1st ode from the Menaion.
C. The 1st ode from the Triodion without verses. [8]
D. The 2nd ode from the Triodion.
E. Then 3rd ode from the Menaion.
F. The heirmos from the Triodion.
G. The Little Litany.
H. The kathisma from the Menaion.
I. Odes 4, 5, and 6 from the Menaion and the heirmos.
J. The Little Litany.
K. The kontakion for the Saint. (if there is no kontakion, we say the martyrion for the tone) [9]
L. The daily monologion.
M. odes 7 and 8 from the Menaion and the 8th ode for the Triodion.
N. ode 9 from the Menaion.
O. “We praise, we bless…”
P. The heirmos from the 8th ode of the 2nd canon from the Triodion.
Q. . “More honorable…”
R. The 9th heirmos.
VI. The Conclusion of Daily Lenten Matins:
1. The Little Litany follows the 9th ode of the canon.
2. The Hymns of Light (Photogogikon) for the tone of the week. [10]
3. “To thee belongeth all Glory…”
4. The Little Doxology.
5. The ektenia and the exclamation.
6. The aposticha followed by:
A. “It is a good thing…Holy God…”
B. “Standing in the temple of thy glory…”
C. “Lord have mercy” 40x
D. “Glory and Now” “More honorable…”
E. “In the name of the Lord, Father bless”
7. The priest intones, “Christ our God…”
8. “O heavenly King, support the faithful...”
9. The Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian with its prostrations.
The Hours during Great Lent
1. Follow the order found in the Triodion and Horoligion. [11]
2. In the 6th Hour and before “Let thy compassions quickly go before us…” we say the prokeimenon and the reading.
3. In the 9th Hour after the kontakion, we say “Lord have mercy” 40x “Glory..., Now…More honorable…In the name of the Lord…”
4. The priest says “Through the prayers…”
5. We make three great prostrations then immediately the choir chants the Beatitudes “In the Kingdom, remember us O Lord…”
6. . After “Our Father…” we say “Thou hast transfigured…”
7. The daily kontakion and the kontakion of the patron saint of the Church.
8. The martyria for the tone of the week.
9. “Glory…With the Saints…Now…O undisputed intercessor…Lord have mercy (40x)…Thou who, at all times…”
10. The priest says “May God have compassion…”
11. The Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian with the prostrations.
12. Psalm 103. [12]
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End notes:
[1] On Monday of the first week of Great Lent, The Midnight Office is omitted in Greek use, but is said in Slav use.
[2] This order is according to the Typikon. However, many churches follow the order of the First Monday throughout Great Lent except on Saturday and Sunday.
[3] The Nine Biblical Odes are
1. The Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-9)
2. An Ode of Moses (Deut. 32:1-43)
3. The Prayer of Anna (I Kings 2:1-10)
4. The Prayer of Abbacum (Habakkuk 3:2-19)
5. The Prayer of Isaiah (Isaiah 26:9-20)
6. The Prayer of Johan (Jonah2:3-10
7. The Prayer of the Three Holy Children (Daniel 3:26-56
8. The Song of the Three Holy Children (Daniel 3:57-88 in Septuagint, The Song of the Three Young Men: 29-68 in the Apocrypha of the English Bible)
The Song of the Theotokos (Luke 1:46-55) and The Prayer of Zacharias (Luke 1:68-79) Some call The Prayer of Zacharias the Tenth Ode. However, it is actually the Ninth Ode, because the Ninth Ode has two parts, the first is the Song of the Theotokos, the second is The Prayer of Zacharias.
[4] Because of its penitential nature, we only chant the 2nd ode of a canon or the 2nd Biblical ode during Great Lent and Holy Week.
[5] Some says that verse “Glory to thee our God…”, this is not correct, because these verses were said in the Biblical Odes. However, on the 2nd Ode (Tuesday) we say with this ode the verse “Glory to thee our God…” because the 2nd ode does not contain any verse.
[6] If there is a Kontakion, then we say the Martyrion with the Kathisma.
[7] Some say the Ode from the Triodion in place of the corresponding Ode from the Menaion thereby omitting the Ode from the Menaion.
[8] Some says that verse “Glory to thee our God…”, this is not correct, because these verses were said in the Biblical Odes. However, on the 2nd Ode (Tuesday) we say with this Ode the verse “Glory to thee our God…” because the 2nd Praise does not contain any verse.
[9] If there is a Kontakion, then we say the Martyrion with the Kathisma.
[10] In many churches including most churches in the Middle East, the Biblical Odes and the canons are said according to the following order: after the daily Biblical Ode we say the Ode from the canons of the Triodion. The ektenia and the martyria followed by Biblical Ode 8 and The Prayer of Zacharias from the 9th Biblical Ode. Odes 8 and 9 from Triodion followed by “Let us praise, bless…” and heirmos from the Triodion followed by “More honorable…”
[11] If the First Hour follows Matins, we do not say The Trisagion Prayers, “Holy God…” at the end of the First Hour instead we say the prayer of the Hour followed by “Come let us worship…” and the rest of the other Hours. If the Dismissal is given at the end of the First Hour, we postpone the rest of the Hours to the time which we call the Midday Prayer, and we say “Holy God…” “Lord have mercy” 12x and the prayer of the Hours and the Dismissal. At the Midday Prayer, we say “Blessed is our God…Glory to thee…O Heavenly King…Holy God…For thine is the Kingdom…” and the Third Hour.
[12] Some say the prayer of the 9th Hour, however, the above order is standard practice.
