The church life of a Christian is subject to special laws. Its rhythm is largely determined by the schedule of services - both annual and daily. It is very important for a person who has recently come to faith to understand this.
The schedule of services in Orthodox churches is subject to the Typikon - Church charter. It began to take shape in the 9th century, and was fully established within a hundred years.
Daily circle of worship
The daily circle of services consists of 9 services: Matins, first hour, third, sixth and ninth, Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office, Divine Liturgy.
At one time, all these services took place separately, but later, to make it more convenient for the parishioners, they were combined into three services: evening, morning and afternoon. The first in this list is the evening service, because the church time count differs from the secular one, the beginning of the day is not morning, but evening. This is in line with the Hebrew tradition of time counting inherited by the Christian Church.
The ninth hour, Vespers and Compline are combined into the evening service, the Midnight Office, Matins and the first hour - in the morning, and the third hour, the sixth and Divine Liturgy - in the afternoon.
Each service is dedicated not only to certain events described in the Bible, but also characterizes various aspects of a person's relationship with God.
Service time
The starting point of the daily circle of services is the ninth hour, which corresponds to 15.00 Moscow time. This service is dedicated to thanksgiving for the day lived and remembering the sufferings of Jesus Christ. This is followed by Vespers, dedicated to repentance and forgiveness, and Compline. The midnight office, dedicated to the prayer of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, was celebrated at midnight.
The earliest service, if we proceed from the secular reckoning of time, can be considered the first hour that sanctifies the day that has come - 7 o'clock in the morning. The third hour corresponds to 9.00, the sixth to 12.00, and the Divine Liturgy - the most important of the services, during which the holy sacrament of the Eucharist takes place - was performed during the day.
This was the order of services in Orthodox churches in the Middle Ages.
At present, such a busy schedule has been preserved only in monasteries, because monks completely devote their lives to serving God. For the laity, however, such an order of church life is impracticable, therefore in most parish churches there are two services: evening - at 17.00 and morning - at 9.00.
Sometimes the times of services in individual churches are changed at the discretion of the rectors, who are trying to take care of the interests of the parishioners.
