PANNYCHIS. — This word may designate various liturgical Offices in the Byzantine rite.
1) Among the Greeks today, the p. is the Divine Office that lasts all night and thus corresponds to the vigils of the Latins. This Office is celebrated in monasteries, especially on Mount Athos, from 30 to 50 times a year, on the night preceding the great feasts; beginning around 8 or 9 in the evening with Great Vespers, it is followed by the orthos (= Matins and Lauds), together with the Hours of Prime, Terce, and Sext, so that the Eucharistic liturgy will end around 9 or 10 in the morning. In parishes, however, the p. is generally celebrated in the evening, every Saturday, in an abbreviated ceremony (Vespers, orthos, and Prime), partly read rather than sung.
2) The Slavs give the Office described the name vsenoscnoe Bdienie (= vigil of the whole night) and reserve that of p. for the Office of the dead, which nevertheless essentially follows the structure of the orthos.
3) In ancient times, as can be seen from the Greek manuscripts, there existed an Office called p. which was added to Vespers, or preceded the orthos, or formed part of the apodeipnon; it comprised Psalm 50, one or several canons, and the Great Doxology (cf. A. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie..., I, Kiev 1895, pp. 604 and 607).