Introduction
Prayer is an important aspect of the apostolic deposit once delivered to the saints (Jude 3). The apostles adapted for a Christian context the tradition they received from Second Temple Judaism and transmitted it in the deposit to their successors. This deposit included both the concepts of prayer at fixed hours and continuous prayer. The fixed hour aspect of prayer has evolved into the Christian daily office or "canonical hours of prayer". This paper will explore three things: the historical foundations for fixed-hour and continuous prayer as well as how they have been applied in Church history.
Fixed Hour Prayers
Although the patriarchs are never recorded as observing fixed-hour prayers, three different patriarchs are recorded to have interacted with Yahweh at three different times of the day, which taken together has provided fuel for the Jewish myth that each of them instituted one of the three fixed-hour prayers:
- Abraham, morning (Genesis 22:3)
- Isaac, afternoon (Genesis 24:63)
- Jacob, night (Genesis 32:22, 46:2)
Probably the impetus for fixed-hour prayer was to answer the question of how to apply the all in this passage:
“And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. (Deuteronomy 11:13-14).
Since one cannot practically offer animal sacrifices all the time and only priests could offer them anyway, this service needed to be something heart-based, so it was applied as prayer. But again, prayer all the time has practical limitations, so a daily cycle of prayer was implemented.
So, the cycle started off with mornings and evening prayers, which coordinated with activities that priests did each morning and evening: sacrifice an animal (Exodus 29:38-46; 1 Kings 18:29, 36; 2 Kings 16:15; Ezra 9:4-5; and Ezekiel 46:13-15) and tend lamps and showbread (Exodus 27:20-21; Leviticus 24:2-3; 2 Chronicles 13:11). Two passages explicitly link the evening sacrifice with prayer:
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! (Psalm 141:2)
[W]hile I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. (Daniel 9:21)
It is important to realize that Daniel is in Babylon, not Jerusalem, so he was clearly not participating in the sacrifice only permitted in Jerusalem. Thus, the way that he applied the prescription for evening sacrifice was through prayer.
This is just my own opinion, but I think 1 Samuel 3:3 gives a clue about the significance of a cycle of prayer: “The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.” After we pray in the evening and are encouraged, our fervor will naturally expire over time through sleep and needs to be recharged the next morning. Similarly, after we pray in the morning and are encouraged, our fervor will naturally expire over time through labor and needs to be recharged in the evening.” A fixed cycle of prayer has a built-in manner of staying charged spiritually.
During the Second Temple period, the pattern of Jewish prayer three times a day is well established in extra-biblical texts. But we see hints of it even in the Bible:
When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. (Daniel 6:10)
Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice. (Psalm 55:17)
So, under the Old Covenant, the foundation was laid for an intermittent (sometimes twice, sometimes thrice per day) cycle of prayer. It is also important to note that it is not just the priests and Levites doing this. We see that pious believers did this individually, or, if they lived in proximity to the Temple, corporately in conjunction with the sacrifices:
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. (Luke 1:8-10)
Now we turn to the apostolic church. In the book of Acts, we learn that it is not just Jews who followed the cycle of 3 fixed-hour prayers. Cornelius, as a God-fearer followed it:
About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. (Acts 10:3-4).
And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. (Acts 10:30-31)
It obvious that the Jewish believers continued following the daily cycle of prayer:
Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. (Acts 3:1)
The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. (Acts 10:9)
And given the emphasis on the priesthood of the believer, it was not just ordained clergy who continued the practice. The fact that prayers is plural and has a definite article in this passage, I believe, implies that it is referring specifically to the cycle of 3 fixed-hour prayers:
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42)
In other words, the apostolic deposit for all believers included two practices: Eucharist and fixed-hour prayers. The Didache (c. 60 AD) explicitly prescribe the Lord’s Prayer be included in the 3 daily offices (chapter 8).
The church fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries combined the 3-office prayer cycle (9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m.) with the 2-office cycle (6 a.m. and 6 p.m.), producing a 5-office prayer cycle. This was obviously well-established and widespread by the 6th century because Islam inherited it.
Continuous Prayer
It is also interesting to note that even under the Old Covenant, there were those who attempted a maximal implementation of continuous prayer by utilizing rotations of people. David organized 24 shifts of priests and musicians (1 Chronicles 24 and 25) in order to be able to offer 24/7 prayer:
Now these, the singers, the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites, were in the chambers of the temple free from other service, for they were on duty day and night. (1 Chronicles 9:33)
This model of prayer was continued under Solomon (2 Chronicles 8:14-15) and revived under Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:20-22, 28), Joash (2 Chronicles 23-24), Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29, 30:21), Josiah (2 Chronicles 35), and Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 3:10, Nehemiah 12:28-47).
So, under the Old Covenant, the foundation was laid for a continuous cycle of prayer. But the desert fathers of the 3 - 5th centuries were maximalists like David. The following passages with their repeated use of all, always, constantly, without ceasing, etc weighed heavily upon them.
Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous rules. (Psalm 119:164)
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1)
But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36)
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (Romans 12:12)
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers ... (Eph 1:16)
In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, (Ephesians 6:16-18).
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, (Philippians 1:3-4)
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2)
Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. (Colossians 4:12)
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, (1 Thessalonians 1:2)
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. (1 Timothy 5:5-6)
I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. (2 Timothy 1:3)
The desert fathers meditated upon these passages and sought a way to obey. In the end, the common consensus was that the best solution was constant breath prayer (also known as the Jesus Prayer, or prayer of the heart), punctuated by fixed hour prayers.
The Monastic Filter
Due to monastic fervor, the five offices of prayer a day evolved to eight. So the Great Tradition ended up including continuous prayer, plus Eucharist, plus 8 offices of prayer per day. The backbone of the eight offices is the chanting of the Psalter, but added to this are rite-specific prayers and hymns based on the time of day (e.g., the Holy Spirit since he descended at the 3rd hour or 9 a.m.), the day of the week, the day of the year (e.g., who was martyred on this day in history from whose example we might derive inspiration), or the number of days before or after a festival (such as Pascha or Christmas). How to divide up the Psalter also varied by rite. My understanding is that in the Ethiopic rite, the entire Psalter is prescribed to be chanted each day. In the Byzantine rite, it takes a whole week to chant the entire Psalter.
Interestingly, whereas in the apostolic church, the prayer cycle was simple enough that simple working folk could participate. After it went through a monastic filter, it became so complicated that it required a multi-volume library, literacy, a specialist to put together the service, skilled musicians to execute it, and so much time that sleep was reduced to less than 3 hours each night. Clearly, this was not accessible anymore to the common believer, and so actually militated against the priesthood of the believer so core to the new covenant.
Conclusion
The daily office, as well as continuous prayer, are important aspects of the apostolic deposit. I am less than a beginner in continuous prayer. But I have some experience in applying the daily office.
Why would someone want to pray a daily cycle? Many people in the Bible did. Their example is instructive. You could use the recharge metaphor. But in my experience, the most compelling reason is that the renewal of the mind prescribed in Romans 12:2 requires a lot of repeated exposure to truth. And without a prescribed cycle, I lapse.
