ABSTRACT
Robert Taft has discussed the evidence for a Cappadocian cathedral rite in the writings of Basil the Great, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and the latter's account of their sister Macrina's death in 379. Preparatory recitation of the Psalter leads to the Light ritual and a Thanksgiving for light at the end of the day. The treatise de Virginitate, of a writer close to the Cappadocians, has a longer exposition of Morning Prayer. The Longer Rules mention prayer at bedtime, with the classical Compline psalm, 90; and also a midnight office, so as to pray like Paul and Silas. The Armenian lucernarium psalms are a singular grouping of psalms 139, 140 and 141. The poetic material of the night office is late, hymns are attributed to the twelfth-century Nerses Shnorhali. The intercessions possibly date from the period of John Mandakuni in the late fifth century.
