ORTHROS. -
In the Byzantine rite this word designates the hour of the Divine Office that corresponds to Matins of the Latin Office, including also Lauds. This very long hour, composed somewhat differently according to whether it is the festal, Sunday or ferial Office, can be divided into four main parts.

1) The six psalms of Matins (= hexapsalmos) 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142, recited by the reader while the priest says 12 prayers in a low voice; the Great Collect; some verses of psalm 117 with tropes; 2) the variable psalmody, which comprises three cathismata or series of psalms; the last series is psalm 118 or psalms 134 and 135 called polyoleos; there follow a brief hymn, in ancient times the reading of the Fathers, gradual antiphons, and the Gospel (on feast days and Sundays); 3) psalm 50 with a diaconal prayer, the nine scriptural canticles (omitted almost everywhere) and the Canon, composed of two, three and for the most part 8 odes; after the 6th ode, the reading of the Synaxarion; 4) the psalms of Lauds, 148, 149 and 150, the Great Doxology (= the «Gloria in excelsis» of the Roman liturgy with the second part of the «Te Deum»), Collect and dismissal.

From the fragmentary studies made on the history of the O. one can, with some solid foundation, deduce that the present O., almost fixed from the 10th century, is the fusion of two originally separate hours, joined before the 7th century: the Nocturn or Vigil and Matins ad galli cantum; to the ancient Matins belong psalm 50, the hexapsalmos (or at least 62), the scriptural canticles (at least the «Magnificat»), the psalms of Lauds and the Great Doxology.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: K. Nikolski, Posobie Kizuceniju ustava bogotluzenija, St. Petersburg 1907, pp. 262-327, excellent explanation of the present use; A. Baumstark, Festbrevier und kirchenjahr der syrischen Jakobiten, Paderborn 1910, pp. 121-50, compares the Office of the Syrians with that of other rites; M. Skaballonovič, Tulkovii Tipikon, Kiev 1923, explains the present use and the history of the individual parts; E. Mercenier and F. Paris, La prière des Eglises de rite byzantin, Chevetogne 1947, pp. 90-148, French trans. with notes.

Alfonso Raes

@incollection{ec9_orthros, author = {Raes, Alfonso}, title = {Orthros}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {388}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/orthros} }

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