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Matins is the early morning Prayer service in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Liturgies of the Canonical Hours . The term is also used in some Protestant denominations to describe morning services. After the Second Vatican Council , the Matins of the Roman Catholic Church has been reduced in length, and is now called the ''Office of Readings'' in English translations. More importance is now given to Lauds as the Morning Prayer. The older form of prayer is being used again under episcopal permission by new Traditional Catholic communities such as the Priestly Fraternity Of St. Peter and the Institute Of Christ The King Sovereign Priest . MATINS IN EASTERN CHRISTIANITY Called "Orthros" in the Eastern Churches, Matins includes the three Nocturns that once belonged to Vigils and occurs at sunrise within the traditional Orders. MATINS IN CATHOLICISM ''From the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917; note that this describes the office before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council ; the numbering system of Psalm s is that of the Septuagint and are said in Latin '': Name The word "Matins" (-Leclercq, "''Hist. des Conciles''", V, III, 188, 189.) Origin (matins and vigils) The word Vigils, at first applied to the Night Office, also comes from a Latin source, both as to the term and its use, namely the ''Vigiliae'' or nocturnal watches or guards of the soldiers. The night from six o'clock in the evening to six o'clock in the morning was divided into four watches or vigils of three hours each, the first, the second, the third, and the fourth vigil. From the liturgical point of view and in its origin, the use of the term was very vague and elastic. Generally it designated the nightly meetings, ''synaxes'', of the Christians. Under this form, the watch (Vigil) might be said to date back as early as the beginning of Christianity. It was either on account of the secrecy of their meetings, or because of some mystical idea which made the middle of the night the hour par excellence for prayer, in the words of the psalm: ''media nocte surgebam ad confitendum tibi'', that the Christians chose the night time for their synaxes, and of all other nights, preferably the , singing of psalms, divers prayers. What gave them a Christian character was the fact that they were followed by the Eucharistic service, and that to the reading from the Law, the Apostles and the Acts Of The Apostles was very soon added, as well as the Gospel s and sometimes other books which were non-canonical, as, for example, the Epistles of Saint Clement , that of Saint Barnabas , the Apocalypse Of Saint Peter , ''etc''. The more solemn watches, which were held on the anniversaries of martyrs or on certain feasts, were also known by this title, especially during the 3rd Century and 4th Century . The Vigil in this case was also called ''pannychis'', because the greater part of the night was devoted to it. Commenced in the evening, they only terminated the following morning, and comprised, in addition to the Eucharistic Supper, homilies, chants, and divers offices. These last Vigils it was that gave rise to certain abuses, and they were finally abolished in the Church (see VIGILS ). Notwithstanding this, however, the Vigils, in their strictest sense of Divine Office of the Night, were maintained and developed. Among writers from the 4th Century to the 6th Century we find several descriptions of them. The "''De Virginitate''", a fourth-century treatise, gives them as immediately following Lauds. The author, however, does not determine the number of psalms which had to be recited. Methodius in his "Banquet of Virgins" (''Symposion sive Convivium decem Virginum'') subdivided the Night Office or ''pannychis'' into watches, but it is difficult to determine what he meant by these Nocturnes . St. Basil also gives a very vague description of the Night Office or Vigils, but in terms which permit us to conclude that the psalms were sung, sometimes by two choirs, and sometimes as responses. John Cassian gives us a more detailed account of the Night Office of the 5th Century Monk s. The number of psalms, which at first varied, was subsequently fixed at twelve, with the addition of a lesson from the Old Testament and another from the New Testament . St. Jerome defended the Vigils against the attacks of Vigilantius, but it is principally concerning the watches at the Tombs of the Martyrs that he speaks in his treatise, "''Contra Vigilantium''". Of all the descriptions the most complete is that in the "''Peregrinatio AEtheriae''" the Author Of Which assisted at Matins in the Churches of Jerusalem , where great solemnity was displayed. (For all these texts, see Bäumer-Biron, ''loc. cit.'', p. 79, 122, 139, 186, 208, 246, etc.) Other allusions are to be found in Caesaurius Of Arles , Nicetiuis or Nicetae of Treves, and Gregory Of Tours (see Baumer-Biron, ''loc. cit.'', I, 216, 227, 232). The elements of matins from the fourth to the sixth century In all the authors we have quoted, the form of Night Prayers would appear to have varied a great deal. Nevertheless in these descriptions, and in spite of certain differences, we find the same elements repeated: the psalms generally chanted in the form of responses, that is to say by one or more Cantor s, the Choir repeating one verse, which served as a response, alternately with the verses of psalms which were sung by the cantors; readings taken from the Old and the New Testament , and later on, from the works of the Fathers and Doctors ; Litanies or supplications; prayer for the divers members of the Church, Clergy , faithful, Neophyte s, and Catechumen s; for emperors; travellers; the sick; and generally for all the necessities of the Church, and even prayer for Jews and for heretics. ''Litanie u. Missal'', in "''Studien des Benediktinerordens''", II (Raigern, 1886), 287, 289. It is quite easy to find these essential elements in our modern Matins. Matins in the Roman and other liturgies In the modern Roman Liturgy , Matins, on account of its length, the position it occupies, and the matter of which it is composed, may be considered as the most important office of the day, and for the variety and richness of its elements the most remarkable. It commences more solemnly than the other offices, with a psalm (Ps. xciv) called the Invitatory , which is chanted or recited in the form of a response, in accordance with the most ancient custom. The Hymn s, which have been but tardily admitted into the Roman Liturgy, as well as the Hymn s of the other hours, form part of a very ancient collection which, so far at least as some of them are concerned, may be said to pertain to the 7th or even to the 6th Century . As a rule they suggest the symbolic signification of this Hour (see No. V), the prayer of the middle of the night. This principal form of the Office should be distinguished from the Office of Sunday, of Feasts, and the Ferial or week day Office. The Sunday Office is made up of the invitatory, hymn, three nocturns, the first of which comprises twelve psalms, and the second and third three psalms each; nine lessons, three to each nocturn, each lesson except the ninth being followed by a response; and finally, the Canticle Te Deum , which is recited or sung after the ninth lesson instead of a response. The Office of Feasts is similar to that of Sunday, except that there are only three psalms to the first nocturn instead of twelve. The week-day or ferial office and that of simple feasts are composed of one nocturn only, with twelve psalms and three lessons. The Office Of The Dead and that of the three last days of Holy Week are simpler, the absolutions, Benediction s, and invitatory being omitted, at least for the three last days of Holy Week, since the invitatory is said in the Offices of the Dead. The principal characteristics of this office which distinguish it from all the other offices are as follows: The Psalms used at Matins are made up of a series commencing with Psalm i and running without intermission to Psalm cviii inclusive. The order of the Psalter is followed almost without interruption, except in the case of feasts, when the Psalms are chosen according to their signification, but always from the series i-cviii, the remaining Psalms being reserved for Vespers and the other Offices. The Lessons form a unique element, and in the other Offices give place to a ''Capitulum'' or short lesson. This latter has possibly been introduced only for the sake of symmetry, and in its present form, at any rate, gives but a very incomplete idea of what the true reading or lesson is. The Lessons of Matins on the contrary are readings in the proper sense of the term: they comprise the most important parts of the Old and the New Testament, extracts from the works of the principal Doctors Of The Church , and legends of the martyrs or of the other saints. The lessons from Holy Scripture are distributed in accordance with certain fixed rules (rubrics) which assign such or such books of the Bible to certain seasons of the year. In this manner extracts from all the Books of the Bible are read at the Office during the year. The idea, however, of having the whole Bible read in the Office, as proposed by several reformers of the Breviary , more especially during the 17th and 18th Centuries , has never been regarded favourably by the Church, which views the Divine Office as a prayer and not as an object of study for the clergy. The Invitatory and, on certain days, the ''Finale'' or ''Te Deum'' also form one of the principal characteristics of this Office. The Responses, more numerous in this Office, recall the most ancient form of psalmody; that of the psalm chanted by one alone and answered by the whole choir, as opposed to the Antiphon ic form, which consists in two choirs alternately reciting the psalms. The division into three or two Nocturns is also a special feature of Matins, but it is impossible to say why it has been thought by some to be a souvenir of the military watches (there were not three, but four, watches) or even of the ancient Vigils, since ordinarily there was but one meeting in the middle of the night. The custom of rising three times for prayer could only have been in vogue, as exceptional, in certain monasteries, or for some of the more solemn feasts (see Nocturns ). In the Office of the Church of Jerusalem, of which the pilgrim Ætheria gives us a description, the Vigils on Sundays terminate with the solemn reading of the Gospel , in the Grotto Of The Holy Sepulchre . This practice of reading the Gospel has been preserved in the Benedictine Liturgy. It is a matter for regret that in the Roman Liturgy this custom, so ancient and so solemn, is no longer represented but by the Homily . The s of the third Nocturn, which are not found in the Roman Liturgy, and the Gospel, which is sung solemnly at the end, the latter trait, as already pointed out, being very ancient. In the Mozarabic Liturgy (''q.v.''), on the contrary, Matins are made up of a system of Antiphons, Collects, and Versicles which make them quite a departure from the Roman system. Signification and symbolism From the foregoing it is clear that Matins remains the principal Office of the Church, and the one which, in its origin, dates back the farthest, as far as the Apostolic ages, as far even as the very inception of the Church. It is doubtless, after having passed through a great many transformations, the ancient Night Office, the Office of the , St. Jerome , and St. Isidore , the Christians, being ignorant of the date of Christ 's coming, thought He would return during the middle of the night, and most probably the night of Holy Saturday or Easter Sunday , at or about the hour when He arose from the sepulchre. Hence the importance of the Easter Vigil , which would thus have become the model or prototype of the other Saturday Vigils, and incidentally of all the nightly Vigils. The idea of the Second Advent would have given rise to the Easter Vigil , and the latter to the office of the Saturday Vigil (Batiffol, "''Hist. du Bréviaire''", 3). The institution of the Saturday Vigil would consequently be as ancient as that of Sunday. SEE ALSO
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