midnight office

Morning Watches - (unless there be an all-night vigil) midnight office, matins, first hour.

The Sacristy was connected to the church by a covered passageway, probably to provide shelter for the Vicars Choral as they processed to their midnight offices in the church.

After the dismissal of the midnight office all the lights in the church are extinguished except for the unsleeping flame on the Holy Table (altar), and all wait in silence and darkness.

The Paschal Vigil begins with the Midnight Office, which is the last service of the Lenten Triodion and is timed so that it ends a little before midnight on Holy Saturday night.

Today, in most places where the Daily Cycle is observed, the Midnight Office is combined with Matins and the First Hour into one of the three daily aggregates called for in the Typikon.

In Greek Prayer Books, a modified form of the Midnight Office is used for Morning Prayers for laymen, while a modified form of Small Compline is used for evening prayers.