Prayer

Relationship of Prayer to the Cross

Early Christians concentrated their attention in prayer on the cross, facing East. This is because our only access to God is through the passion of Christ. The early Christians prayed in hours tied to the cross of Christ. St. Hippolytus of Rome wrote about year 210 concerning the significance of the prescribed hours of prayer. The prayer hours evolved over the first two centuries into a pattern of praying seven times per day, the scriptural basis of which can be found in the psalter, i.e., the Church's prayer book:

Seven times a day I praise you because of your just regulations. - Psalm 119:164 (NET)

The monastic prayer schedule:

• Matins (6am)
• Third Hour (9am)
• Sixth Hour (Noon)
• Ninth Hour (3pm)
• Vespers (6pm)
• First Hour (9pm)
• Midnight Hour (Midnight)

St. Hippolytus claims that this tradition of prayer came from the Apostles themselves. He further describes the prayer hours thusly:

• Matins - Upon awaking one is to pray, then read from the Bible.
• Third Hour - At this hour the lamb was slain in the morning sacrifice in the temple. Also, the shew bread was put out at the third hour. We inherited praying at this hour from the Jews. Christians pray at this hour, because the true Pascal lamb was nailed to the cross, who is to be identified with the living shew bread that came down from Heaven.
• Sixth Hour - At this hour the sun was at it's zenith, but the world was cloaked in darkness as Jesus died. Darkness precedes the death of Christ. The ninth plague of Egypt was darkness, which preceded the slaying of the first born.
• Ninth Hour - At this hour, Jesus died. Hippolytus reminds us that at this time Jesus' side was pierced with a spear, and blood and water flowed out; that is, the sacramental life of the Church.
• Vespers - This is the time of the burial of Christ.