The Paschal Hours are the form in which the Little Hours are chanted on Pascha (Easter) and throughout Bright Week in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite.
Specifically, the Paschal Hours replace:
- The First Hour at the end of Matins
- The Third Hour and Sixth Hour before Divine Liturgy
- The Ninth Hour before Vespers
- Compline and the Midnight Office
The Paschal Hours may also be chanted in place of the usual Thanksgiving after Communion. In addition, it is a pious tradition to substitute the Paschal Hours for Morning Prayers and Evening Prayers during all of Bright week.
In this way, the faithful take a little rest from the long prayer services, but do not neglect to give joyous thanks to God, so as not to fall into despondency and gluttony, as they partake of festive foods.
Read more about Paschal Hours: Outline
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“The student may read Homer or Æschylus in the Greek without danger of dissipation or luxuriousness, for it implies that he in some measure emulate their heroes, and consecrate morning hours to their pages.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)