In completing the Twelve Days of Christmas, that is the festal cycle of the Epiphany of the Incarnate Son and Word of God, Jesus Christ, we come to the feast of Theophany, at which we recall the Baptism of Christ, at the age of thirty, by Saint John the Forerunner, in the River Jordan. A particular feature of the Church festivities is the service of the Great and Royal Hours, on the eve. In fact, this service isn’t a unified whole, but rather four separate ones linked together. Since they’re celebrated together, without any obvious breaks between them, they’re thought of as one. They’re the services of the First, Third, Sixth and Ninth Hours, which make up the familiar monastic rule ...
