Midnight Office - E04 - The Hours at Home

Enacting the Kingdom

Midnight Office is a service that Orthodox Christians rarely do, if ever. But don't worry, we are not going to ask you to set an alarm in the wee hours of the morning, disrupting your much-needed rest! The question this series is attempting to answer is, "How do the Hours make sense in (and how do they help us make sense of) our lives?", and not, "How do we artificially liturgize throughout our day?".

Fr Geoffrey and Fr Yuri explore the history of how the midnight office developed, discuss an ancient sleep pattern that fell into disuse (thanks, Thomas Edison!), and suggest opportunities we might have to re-incorporate these prayers and hymns of watchfulness, vigilance and protection. Perhaps we should not aim to serve the Midnight Office, the way our modern schedules work, but we should be prepared to serve it nonetheless. This practice might just bring purpose and peace to your middle of the night wakefulness!

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