Over the past several Bible Study sessions we have been reviewing some of the services that we hold at our parishes. To supplement this, I have included below some information regarding the various Cycles of services and Feasts that are celebrated in the Orthodox Church.
Daily Services – A daily service cycle are services that take place in a twenty-four hour time period. In most ancient cultures they view this cycle’s beginning as sunset. During this time the church observes the following services and prayers in this order: Vespers (Daily or Great), Compline, Midnight Office, Matins, First Hour, Third Hour, Sixth Hour, and the Ninth Hour. That is the basic daily cycle however there may be other prayers observed to complete the cycle such as the inter hours (prayers that are read in between the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th during certain periods of fasting), prayers before and after meals, morning and evening prayers, and as well the commemoration of the living and for the deceased. The Divine Liturgy can be placed in the cycle normally where the sixth hour would fall. The daily cycle is normally not followed in a parish setting because it is very intense and very in depth and can be impractical for a parish to follow it strictly. However, as far as I am aware most monasteries do observe it to the extent that their daily lives allow but it usually differs from monastery to monastery.
Intermediate Cycle - In addition to the daily cycle we incorporate three distinct cycles that function on their own but are a part of the other cycles. The first cycle being the weekly cycle of the Eight Tones. This cycle begins on St. Thomas Sunday, which is the Sunday after Pascha. Starting with the first tone, it carries on the entire week effecting different verses and hymns in various services. The beginning of Sunday, which happens at Great Vespers on Saturday night, the next tone begins. This continues till the cycle reaches tone eight and then starts all over again at tone one. The next cycle is the cycle of movable feasts, which are centered upon Easter. That means that whatever date Easter falls on the particular year will affect all movable dates as they are not fixed to any date in particular but depend on the location of Easter in the calendar (i.e. Ascension and Pentecost). The last cycle is the cycle of the fixed feasts. This cycle begins with the liturgical New Year on September 1st, and each different feast is designated to a specific date on the calendar. There are minor as well as major feasts during this cycle. The major feasts all deal with the life of Christ (i.e. The Nativity of Christ, Theophany, Presentation of our Lord in the Temple), whereas the minor feats deal with different saints and other events that occur in the bible (i.e. Feast days of St. George the Wonderworker and St. Mary the Protectress).
It is important to not only know how we as Orthodox Christians view our Daily cycle and when the various Feast days of our church are, but what they mean. The life of Christ is commemorated throughout every yearly cycle of the church. It corresponds with other intermediate cycles as well as daily cycles. The cycle of a Christian’s life is truly important to grasp and understand because it happens only once, and these services and Feats in the cycle are blessed ways that bring us closer to God.
