![]() ![]() Benedict gives the detailed composition of this Office. Others recited six psalms at each hour and this custom became general among the Gauls. However, Cassian says that in some provinces three psalms were said at Terce, six at Sext, and nine at None. Fructuosus, and to a certain extent by the Roman Church. ![]() This number was adopted by the Rules of St. John Cassian tells us that in Palestine three psalms were recited for Sext, as also for Terce and None. In the fourth and the following centuries the texts which speak of the compositions of this Office are far from uniform. Western Office ĭespite its antiquity the hour of Sext never had the importance of those of Matins, Lauds, and Vespers. Discipline on this point varied widely according to regions and Churches. But this does not mean that the observance of Sext, any more than Prime, Terce, None, or even the other Canonical Hours, was universal. John Cassian treats it as an hour of prayer generally recognized in his monasteries. Basil made the sixth hour an hour of prayer for the monks. In the 4th century the hour of Sext was widely established as a Canonical Hour. But probably most of these texts refer to private prayer. It is therefore evident that the custom of prayer at the sixth hour was well established by the 3rd century. Origen, the " Canons of Hippolytus", and St. The Didache, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian all speak of these three hours of prayer. As early as the third century the hour of Sext was considered as important as Terce and None as an hour of prayer. It is also a time to ask God to grant one health and peace of heart, as in the traditional hymn Rector Potens.Īll these reasons and traditions, which indicate the sixth hour as a culminating point in the day, a sort of pause in the life of affairs, the hour of repast, could not but exercise an influence on Christians, inducing them to choose it as an hour of prayer. "Lead us not into temptation" is the message of this hour. This scene from Good Friday is the background for Sext. Lastly and above all, it was the hour when Christ was nailed to the Cross this memory excelling all the others left a still visible trace in most of the liturgy of this hour. Augustine, and several others regard this hour as favourable to prayer. Ambrose, because that is the time when the Divine light is in its fullness. Noon is the hour when the sun is at its full, it is the image of Divine splendour, the plenitude of God, the time of grace at the sixth hour Abraham received the three angels. The Fathers of the Church dwell constantly on the symbolism of this hour. Thus you should pray a powerful prayer at this hour, imitating the cry of him who prayed and all creation was made dark. Because when Christ was attached to the wood of the cross, the daylight ceased and became darkness. ![]() įrom the time of the early Church, the practice of seven fixed prayer times have been taught in Apostolic Tradition, Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion." With respect to sixth hour prayer, Hippolytus wrote: It was the middle of the day, also the usual hour of rest, and in consequence for devout men, an occasion to pray to God, as were the morning and evening hours. Peter went up to the higher parts of the house to pray ( Acts 10:9). In the Acts of the Apostles we read that St. Among the Jews it was already regarded, together with Terce and None, as an hour most favourable to prayer. The hora sexta of the Romans corresponded closely with our noon. In Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Oriental Protestant Christianity, the office is prayed at 12 pm, being known as Sheth sho`in in the Syriac and Indian traditions it is prayed facing the eastward direction of prayer by all members in these denominations, both clergy and laity, being one of the seven fixed prayer times. With Terce, None and Compline it belongs to the so-called "Little hours". Its name comes from Latin and refers to the sixth hour of the day after dawn. It consists mainly of psalms and is held around noon. Sext, or Sixth Hour, is a canonical hour of the Divine Office of almost all the traditional Christian liturgies. For the sexual type of text message, see Sexting. For the computer arithmetic operation SEXT, see Sign extension. This article is about the liturgical hour. ![]()
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