Byzantine
The prayer of the heart, the way of the East.
A plan rooted in the Christian East and its hesychast tradition — offered here for Eastern Catholics and for Roman Catholics drawn to the East. Its horizon is theosis, divinization: becoming by grace what Christ is by nature. Its method is hesychia, the stillness and watchfulness of the heart, with the body a full participant — the breath, the bow, the prostration.
The Jesus Prayer runs through the whole day as ceaseless prayer — "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner" — often counted on a knotted prayer rope. The Divine Liturgy when it can be reached, a nightly examination of the heart, and confession deeply prepared. The liturgical year, with its great fasts and feasts, becomes the actual structure of the interior life, and the icons are windows onto heaven.
For Eastern Catholics of every Church, for the Roman Catholic who longs for a more bodily prayer and a stronger calendar, for anyone who wants the year itself to pray.
The Philokalia; The Way of a Pilgrim
What it proposes
- Morning Rule — Byzantine 06:30 · Daily · Essential
The full Byzantine morning rule — opening prayers before the icons, Heavenly King, Trisagion, the Trinity, the Our Father, Psalm 50, one hundred fifty repetitions of the Jesus Prayer on the prayer rope, and the hymn to the Mother of God.
- Evening Rule — Byzantine 21:30 · Daily · Essential
The full Byzantine evening rule — Heavenly King, Trisagion, the Trinity, the Our Father, the evening Psalm 140 ("Let my prayer rise as incense"), one hundred fifty repetitions of the Jesus Prayer, the hymn to the Mother of God, and a brief examination of the day.
- The Jesus Prayer 12:00 · Daily · Essential
The Jesus Prayer as ceaseless prayer through the day — "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner" — carried beyond the morning and evening rules into walking, working, and waiting.
- Holy Mass 10:00 · Sun · Ideal
The Divine Liturgy, attended when it can be reached — the East's celebration of the Eucharist and foretaste of the heavenly worship.
- Kathisma of the Psalter Daily · Ideal
A daily kathisma from the Byzantine Psalter, which is divided into twenty sections that rotate the whole book of Psalms through one's prayer.
- Examination of Conscience 21:30 · Daily · Ideal
The nightly examination of the heart, the watchfulness — nepsis — that guards the prayer of the heart.
- Confession 16:00 · Essential
Confession, often less frequent than in the Roman practice but more deeply prepared, before one's spiritual father.
- Wednesday & Friday Fast Weekly · Ideal
The weekly fast of the East on Wednesday and Friday, in memory of the betrayal and the Cross — strict forms abstain from meat, dairy, oil, and wine.
- The Great Fasts The four seasons of fasting · Ideal
The four great fasts of the Byzantine year — Great Lent before Pascha, the Apostles' Fast, the Dormition Fast, and the Nativity Fast — each with its own discipline and proper liturgies.
Daily rule of prayer from the Byzantine Catholic Church: A Morning Rule of Prayer and An Evening Rule of Prayer (byzcath.org).
In the Ember app, adopt this tradition as your own plan of life, practice by practice, with times and reminders.