science

Royal Hours

Royal Hours is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Royal Hours rather than just read about it. In short: The Royal Hours, also called the Great Hours or the Imperial Hours, are a particularly solemn celebration of the Little Hours in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite. The Royal Hours are celebrated only three times a year: on the Eve of the Nativity, the Eve of Theophany, and Great Friday.

Key takeaways

Royal Hours belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Royal Hours to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Royal Hours from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Royal Hours, also called the Great Hours or the Imperial Hours, are a particularly solemn celebration of the Little Hours in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite. The Royal Hours are celebrated only three times a year: on the Eve of the Nativity, the Eve of Theophany, and Great Friday. This service takes its name from the fact that it used to be officially attended by the Emperor and his court at Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Because of the presence of the Emperor, there was a special singing of "Many Years" to the Emperor, the Imperial Court, and the Hierarchy. This singing of "Many Years" continues to this day (in modified form) in cathedrals and monasteries. By his presence, the Emperor acknowledged his submission to Christ the true King. The three holy days on which the Royal Hours are celebrated were chosen as days in the church year which most particularly demonstrate Jesus' kenosis (self-emptying), and thus His true royal majesty. According to Sacred Tradition, the Royal Hours of Great Friday were composed by St. Cyril (378 - 444), Patriarch of Alexandria. Although the Royal Hours are splendid, they are also penitential. On days when the Royal Hours are celebrated it is not permitted to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. The Royal Hours are an aggregate of five services, all served together as one:

First Hour Third Hour Sixth Hour Ninth Hour Typica For the Royal Hours, the priest vests in Epitrachelion and Phelonion, and the deacon vests fully in Sticharion, Orarion and Epimanikia. The Holy Doors and Curtain are open for most of the service, and the Gospel Book is placed on an analogion (lectern) in the center of the Temple (church). At the beginning of each Hour the priest or deacon censes the Gospel, Icons and people. When it is time to begin the First Hour, the bell is rung in the usual manner (blagovest). At the beginning of each of the succeeding Hours, the bell is struck the number of times that corresponds to the Hour (i.e., three times at the beginning of the Third Hour, six times at the beginning of the Sixth Hour, nine times at the beginning of the Ninth Hour). At the beginning of the Typica the bell is struck twelve times. At each of the Hours, one of the three fixed Psalms is replaced by a Psalm that is significant to the Feast being celebrated; the Troparion and Kontakion of the day are replaced by numerous hymns chanted by the choir; and each Hour has an Old Testament reading, a Prokeimenon, and an Epistle and Gospel. There was a service of Royal Hours for Pentecost composed by the priest Nicholas Malaxus (fl. c. 1538), and published in 1568. This service, however, has not come to wide usage in the Church.

Notes

References

External links Recordings of Live Services during Royal Hours Retrieved 5 April 2013 The Royal Hours of the Orthodox Church: Christmas, Theophany and Pascha on GoogleBooks Retrieved 5 April 2013

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Royal Hours

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Royal Hours claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Royal Hours before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Royal Hours ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Royal Hours

In research: Royal Hours appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Royal Hours in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Royal Hours is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Byzantine Rite, Hagia Sophia, Little Hours, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Royal Hours outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Royal Hours in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Royal Hours means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Royal Hours out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Royal Hours in simple terms?

Why does Royal Hours matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Royal Hours?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Royal Hours.