APODIPNON (ἀπόδειπνον). — In the churches of the Byzantine rite, it is an office of divine worship intended to implore God’s blessing upon sleep. It originated in the monasteries of the East. It follows the institution of the nocturnal prayers, vespers, and the three minor hours, arising from the religious soul’s desire to close the day by commending itself to the Lord and consecrating its rest to Him. Such is the sense of Question 37 in the Longer Rules of St. Basil, composed between 358 and 362, which first mentions this prayer, prescribing Psalm 90, which has remained in use to this day.
In the Byzantine rite, a distinction is made between the ordinary Apodipnon and the Great Apodipnon, recited during Great Lent and on certain vigils of the year. The form of the latter would be more ancient than that of the simple Apodipnon, which is like a summary and represents a third part of II. The general structure of the Apodipnon is as follows: 1) Introductory prayers; 2) Invitatory with three psalms; 3) Doxology (Gloria in excelsis with its symbolism); 4) Creed; 5) Trisagion, with appropriate troparia; 6) Kyrie eleison (40 times) with prayers and kontakions or troparia of the Virgin; 7) Apolysis and forgiveness; 8) Final litanies and blessing. During Easter Week, the Apodipnon consists of certain passages taken from the solemn office of the feast. In monasteries, the Apodipnon is recited in the narthex, and in a laura each monk recites it in his cell.