The Agpeya September 3, 2006

What is the Agpeya? What does the word “Agpeya” mean? The book of the hours. Why is it called “the book of the hours?” What is so important about the Agpeya?

The agpeya is composed of prayers for different hours of the day. Each reminding us of God’s love for us. The agpeya has very specific prayers that teach us to thank God, praise Him, and glorify Him in everything that we do. It is broken up into several different sections for each part of the day.

Prime (the Morning Prayer) The prime is the very first prayer of the agpeya. This is prayed when we wake up in the morning. It reminds us of the Lord’s incarnation, death and resurrection. In it we thank God for granting us a peaceful sleep and waking up to the new day.

Terce ( The Third Hour prayer) This section reminds us of 3 events: Christ’s trial with Pilate His ascension into the heavens. And the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples.

Sext (The Sixth Hour) This prayer reminds us of Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross. In it, we ask that Christ delivers us from every evil passion and that we remember His commandments.

None ( The Ninth Hour) The ninth hour commemorates Christ’s death on the Cross and the repentance of the thief. In this section, we ask that God accepts our repentance as He did the thief.

Vespers ( the Eleventh Hour) This sections commemorates taking Jesus’ body down from the cross. Here we give thanks to God again and ask that we may be counted as those who labored in the Eleventh hour.

Compline (the Twelfth Hour) This section reminds us of Jesus’ burial. Here we ask that God forgives us our sins and allows us a peaceful night’s sleep.

The Midnight Prayers and the Veil The midnight prayers are to remind us about the second coming of Jesus Christ. There are 3 sections for the 3 stages of Christ’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.

The Veil is an extra prayer for the bishops and monks to allow them to examine their hearts.

The order of the prayers. The agpeya has a specific order of prayers that we follow. First, we pray the Lord’s prayer, the thanksgiving prayer, and Psalm 50. Then, we pray some psalms for the correct hour, the Gospel, and the litanies. Followed by, kirie eleison 41 times…Why 41 times? 39 scourges, crown of thorns, and the slap on His face. Finally, each hour is concluded by the absolution and the conclusion to every hour.

Conclusion The agpeya helps us organize our prayers and thoughts during prayer. If you notice, that there are many times where we repeat the same prayer every time. The agpeya helps us see the other kinds of prayers that we can do and what is acceptable in front of God. However, the most important part is the heart of the believer when he/she reads the agpeya.

Memory Verse “Seven times a day I praise you.” Psalm 119:164