Prayer and Fasting
What is the Agpeya?
The Agpeya is the Coptic Book of Hours, the daily prayer book of the Church. It gives the faithful Psalms, Gospel readings, litanies, and prayers for appointed hours of the day. The Agpeya teaches a Christian to pray with the Church and to remember Christ's saving work throughout ordinary time.
Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments.
The Meaning Of The Hours
Each hour has its own time and spiritual memory. The exact daily rule should be guided by a person's father of confession, but the shape of the hours is stable.
| Hour | Usual time | What it remembers | | --- | --- | --- | | Prime or First Hour | Morning | Thanksgiving for a new day and the power of Christ's Resurrection. | | Third Hour | Around 9 a.m. | Christ's trial, His Ascension, and the descent of the Holy Spirit. | | Sixth Hour | Around noon | The Crucifixion of Christ. | | Ninth Hour | Around 3 p.m. | The death of Christ in the flesh. | | Vespers or Eleventh Hour | Evening | The taking down of Christ's Body from the Cross. | | Compline or Twelfth Hour | Before sleep | Christ's burial and entrusting the night to God. | | Midnight Prayer | Night | Watchfulness, repentance, and readiness for the Lord's coming. | | Prayer of the Veil | Night | A monastic and clergy prayer of deeper watchfulness and repentance. |
The hours teach the heart to return to Christ again and again. A person can begin with one hour, pray it steadily, and let the rhythm grow with pastoral guidance.
Psalms As A School Of Prayer
The Psalms become the daily school of the heart. They give words for repentance, thanksgiving, fear, hope, sorrow, joy, and trust. When private words are weak, the Agpeya teaches the person to pray with the words the Church has received.
The repeated litanies and prayers also train mercy. A person learns to pray for the Church, the world, the departed, forgiveness, protection, and a peaceful completion of life.
Prayer, Fasting, And The Calendar
Prayer, fasting, feasts, and the Church calendar belong together. Fasting without prayer becomes a diet. Prayer without repentance becomes shallow. The Agpeya helps hold the day together around Christ, especially during fasting seasons when the Church calls the faithful to greater watchfulness.
A Faithful Beginning
Start small and under guidance. Many people begin with the Morning Prayer or the prayer before sleep. A small rule kept faithfully is better than a large rule abandoned quickly. The goal is a life that returns to God throughout the day.
- Agpeya Prayers, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Diocesan answer on praying from the Agpeya.
- The Agpeya, Mighty Arrows Magazine, SUSCopts. Introductory article on the Book of Hours and daily prayer.
- Using the Agpeya in Prayer, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Pastoral answer on praying with the Agpeya and growing in personal prayer.
- The Origin of the Agpeya, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Pastoral answer on the Agpeya's authorship and received prayer tradition.
- The Agpeya, A.G.A.P.E. Curriculum, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Teaching material naming the Agpeya as the Book of Hours and explaining what the major hours commemorate.
Agpeya: The Coptic Book of Hours, a daily pattern of psalms, Gospel readings, and prayers that teaches the day to return to Christ.
Confession: The sacrament of repentance in which a person confesses sins before God in the presence of the priest and receives absolution and guidance.