Statute 49

1Concerning the proper times for prayer and hearing instruction, and the sealing of the forehead with the sign of the cross.

2All believing men and women, when they rise at dawn, should wash their hands and pray to God before doing any work; then they may turn to their work. If they are told where the word of instruction is being given, each one should choose to go there, to the place of instruction. Each should know and consider in the heart everything that was heard: that God speaks through the mouth of the instructor, and that it is God who dwells in the church. This will cause all wickedness to pass away from the hearer during that day. It shall be counted a great loss for anyone who fears God not to go to the place of instruction, especially if that person can read. If an instructor is present, no one should delay going to the church and to the place of instruction. Then indeed the word that is spoken will be given to the speaker.

3What each person hears is profitable. You will hear there what you had not expected, and you will benefit from what the Holy Spirit gives you through the instructor. Thus your faith will become firm because of what you hear. Moreover, in that place they will tell you what you ought to do in your home. Therefore everyone should hasten to go to the church and to the place where the Holy Spirit rises like the sun.

4If there is a day on which no instruction is given, each person should remain at home, take the Holy Scripture, and read as well as possible, for this is good.

5If you are at home, pray at the third hour and glorify God. If you are elsewhere when that hour comes, pray to God in your heart, because at that hour Jesus Christ was stripped and nailed to the wood of the cross. Therefore the ancient law commanded that the bread offered at the third hour should be presented as a type of the body of Christ and his precious blood. They also sacrificed the lamb that was a type of the perfect Lamb, for Christ is the Shepherd and the Bread that came down from heaven.

6Pray again at the sixth hour, for at that hour our Lord Christ was hung upon the wood of the cross, the day was divided, and darkness came. At that hour they should offer a strong prayer, and they should be like the word that our Lord Christ prayed when he made all the world dark. The catechumens should also offer a great prayer.

7At the ninth hour they should remain long in prayer, offering prayer with glorification, so that you may join in glorifying with the souls of the righteous. They glorify the living and unfailing God, who remembered his righteous ones and sent them his Son—that is, his Word—to enlighten them. For at that hour Christ’s side was pierced, and blood and water flowed out; then the remainder of the day shone when evening came. Therefore, as you begin another day, as a likeness of the resurrection, pray before resting your body in bed.

8At midnight, rise from your bed, wash your hands with water, and pray. If you have a wife, both of you should pray. If she has not yet become a believer, withdraw from her and pray alone, and then return to your bed. Because you are bound in marriage, you must not cease praying, for you are clean, and you are not to be regarded as unclean. Those who have been baptized do not need to be washed again, because they are clean. If you breathe into your hands and seal yourself with the saliva that comes from your mouth, you will be clean all over. This is from the Holy Spirit, and the drop of the water of baptism rises from the out-gushing, which is the heart of the faithful, and purifies believers.

9They should therefore pray carefully at this hour, because the presbyters who handed this down to us instructed us that all creation prays to God at this hour. The stars and the plants stand upright, and the waters stand up at that hour. All the hosts of heaven and the angels minister at that hour, and together with the souls of the righteous they glorify God. Therefore it is proper for all believers to take care to pray at that hour.

10Our Lord also bears witness to this, saying, “Behold, at midnight there was a cry: ‘Behold, the bridegroom has come! Rise and go out to meet him.’” He said again, “Watch, because you do not know at what hour your Lord will come.”

11At cockcrow, rise and pray in the same way, because at the hour of cockcrow the children of Israel denied our Lord Jesus Christ. Through faith in him, we know how to trust in the eternal light while we hope for the resurrection of the dead.

12Therefore, all you faithful, do all these things. Look forward, remind one another, and teach this wisdom to the catechumens after first building up their faith. You will neither go astray nor be lost while you always remember Christ.

13Always take care to seal your forehead, for this sign of the Passion is manifest against Satan and signifies that you make it in faith. It is not made manifest to people alone. Know that you are putting on a breastplate of righteousness. The adversary sees what is in the heart—the rational strength of the inner person—for that person is sealed inwardly and outwardly with the seal of the Word. The adversary trembles and quickly flees, driven away by the Holy Spirit, who truly dwells in the person who makes within himself a place for him to abide.

14This is what Moses formerly taught us through the Passover lamb that was slain, when he commanded that its blood be smeared on the lintel and doorposts. That smearing declared the faith that we now have dwelling within us, which he gave us in the pure and perfect Lamb. For this reason, if our foreheads are sealed in this way by the hand, we shall be safe from those who wish to kill us.

15If you learn this with thanksgiving and right faith, you will indeed be strengthened, and he will give you eternal life. This is the ordinance given to you who have understanding, so that you may keep it. If you have heard and kept everything, the one who keeps the teaching of the apostles will not be hindered by any heretics.

16The heretics are the perverse people who went astray and corrupted the teaching of the apostles. If people come to them, they teach them in this manner. These heretics have multiplied, and those who listen to them are unwilling to learn the commandment of the apostles. Instead, they do only their own will—the things they have chosen and whatever satisfies them as pleasing to their hearts.

17Brethren, if there is any teaching that we have left incomplete, God will reveal it to those who are worthy, while he steers the holy Church into calm and into harbor.