Liturgy of the Hours

Definition and Meaning

The Korean term seongmu ildo (聖務日禱) means "daily prayer offered as a sacred duty." Used chiefly in the Catholic Church, it refers to the public prayer of the church in which psalms and canticles are sung or recited, Scripture is read, and prayers are offered at fixed times of the day. The term translates the Latin Officium Divinum (the Divine Office, the duty offered to God). Since the Second Vatican Council it has also been called the Liturgy of the Hours (Liturgia Horarum).

The present-day Catholic Liturgy of the Hours centers on Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, to which are added the Office of Readings, Daytime Prayer, and Night Prayer (Compline), which is prayed before sleep. By tradition, the Canticle of Zechariah (the Benedictus, Luke 1:68-79) is sung at Morning Prayer, the Canticle of Mary (the Magnificat, Luke 1:46-55) at Evening Prayer, and the Canticle of Simeon (the Nunc Dimittis, Luke 2:29-32) at Night Prayer.

Biblical and Historical Background

The practice of praying at fixed times originates in the Old Testament. The psalmist declares, "Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray" (Psalm 55:17), and "Seven times a day do I praise thee" (Psalm 119:164). Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10). In the New Testament, Peter and John went up to the temple "at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour" (Acts 3:1), and Peter is recorded as praying about the sixth hour (Acts 10:9).

The early church inherited these Jewish hours of prayer. Later, within the monastic movement, the practice of singing psalms at each hour of prayer took on a systematic form. The monastic rule written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century established several hours of prayer throughout the day and exerted a strong influence on the Western monastic tradition.

After the Reformation, many Protestant churches abolished or greatly reduced the Divine Office in its monastic form. The Church of England, however, in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, combined the several hours of prayer into two services, Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, so that the congregation could pray them together. Lutherans likewise retained services of morning and evening prayer in their service books. The abridged version of the Book of Common Prayer that John Wesley prepared for American Methodists also included Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.

Practice in the Korean Church

In Korea, the term seongmu ildo is used chiefly by the Catholic Church. Catholic priests and religious are obligated to pray the Liturgy of the Hours daily, and laypeople may also take part.

The Anglican Church of Korea includes services for the hours of prayer, such as Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, in its prayer book, and clergy and laity pray them together.

Most Korean Protestant denominations, including the Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, and Full Gospel churches, have no Divine Office with a fixed order. Some observers hold that in these denominations the early morning prayer meeting, held every day at dawn, has filled the role of daily prayer instead.

In recent years, interest has grown among some Protestant pastors and laypeople in the "daily office" or "daily prayer," in which believers pray at set times of the day following the church calendar and the Psalms. Some regard this as a spiritual discipline that restores the Psalms as prayer. Others view it with caution, noting that repeating fixed texts can lead to formalism.