Cele 7 laude bisericești

The Church of God, from the time of the Holy Apostles, with the seven praises.

The Church brings its gift of praise, praise and thanksgiving to God, through a series of services that are performed every day (in monasteries and cathedrals) or at least every holiday (in parish churches) and which are generally called with a consecrated term, the seven Praises. They are as follows:

1. Vespers (evening service);

2. Pentecost or After-dinner (prayer after dinner or before bed);

3. Polunoşniţa or Miezonoptica (midnight prayer);

4. Matins (morning service) (with the First Hour);

5. Clock III;

6. Clock VI;

7. Clock IX

Their line begins with Vespers, that is, the evening service, because, as we have seen, the Christian Church inherited from the Old Testament, among other things, the tradition of counting the beginning of the liturgical or church day not from midnight, as in civil life, but in the evening. Therefore, in Mineie, Octoih, Triod and Pentecost, the liturgical praise of each saint or of each church day begins with the evening service, so with the Vespers.

Why are these services called the Seven Praises? There are actually eight, but Matins and the First Hour are usually both counted as one Praise, so they remain seven. That is why the First Hour is always read immediately after Matins, before its end and without the usual blessing from the beginning. The clocks, numbering four (I, III, VI, IX), mark the main moments (clocks) of the day.

Why was the number of daily Praises set at seven? It is known that among the ancient peoples of the Middle East, such as the Assyro-Babylonians, and then the Jews, the number seven played a significant role as a symbol in religious life. Thus, the days of the creation of the world were numbered seven (Exodus 31: 15-17). He had seven days a week (there were also weeks of months and years, according to Leviticus 25: 3-12). The candlestick in the Tabernacle had seven arms and seven candles were burning above it, as a symbol of divine fullness (Exodus 25:31). For seven days the loaves of the altar were kept, and the feast of the Passover or the Unleavened Bread was held for seven days (Leviticus 23: 4). The Christian Church also inherited from the Jews the number seven of the services or moments of the day, in which she feels obliged to remember God, to glorify Him, to thank Him and to pray to him, according to the psalmist. : "Seven times a day do I praise thee, O Lord, for thy righteous judgments" (Psalm 118, 164).