Proposal for a Flexible Form of the Office - Part I, Section B

Part I:  Psalter
Section B:  Weekly Psalter without repetition

For the weekly Psalter scheme that mostly eliminates repetition, this is what I propose.  I actually have two sub-options – one that would preserve the practice of eight offices a day, and one that would reduce the number to five, with one day office replacing Prime, Terce, Sext, and None (in the tradition of some Anglican orders, I will call this Diurnum). 

Since Matins and Vespers do not include repetition (other than the Invitatory Psalm 95), I have left these untouched.  For Lauds, I have used one of the repeating Psalms for each weekday, with the unique daily Psalm, using 51 for Fridays.  For Compline, I use the longest Psalm, 91, for Sunday, with the other three used successively on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and again on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

For the eight-office option, Prime has the daily Psalm (with 54 on Saturday, which has no daily Psalm) and 119 is distributed among Terce, Sext, and None.  For the five-office option, Psalm 119 is included with the Prime option for the one office of Diurnum. 

Here is the scheme in full:

MORNING:

Matins:

Daily:  Invitatory: 95

Sunday: First Nocturn:  1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9-10 (one Psalm in Septuagint/Vulgate), 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Second Nocturn:  16, 17, 18

Third Nocturn:  19, 20, 21

Monday: 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38

Tuesday: 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52

Wednesday: 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 66, 68

Thursday:  69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80

Friday: 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 94, 96, 97

Saturday: 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109

Lauds:

Sunday:  93, 100 – during Pre-Lent and Lent, 51 and 118 are recited instead

Monday: 5, 63

Tuesday: 43, 67

Wednesday: 65, 148

Thursday: 90, 149

Friday: 51, 143

Saturday: 92, 150

DAY OFFICE OPTION A:

Prime:

Sunday:  118 (except Pre-Lent and Lent, 93 & 100 recited instead), Athanasian Creed recited as last Psalm (this was superseded on certain Sundays – however, I would require it every Sunday as part of the weekly Psalter recitation)

Monday: 24

Tuesday: 25

Wednesday: 26

Thursday: 23

Friday: 22

Saturday: 54

Terce:

Sunday: 119:1-8

Monday:  119:33-40

Tuesday:  119:57-64

Wednesday:  119:81-88

Thursday:  119:105-112

Friday:  119:129-136

Saturday:  119:153-160

Sext:

Sunday:  119:9-16

Monday:  119:41-48

Tuesday:  119:65-72

Wednesday:  119:89-96

Thursday:  119:113-120

Friday:  119:137-144

Saturday:  119:161-168

None:

Sunday:  119:17-32 (two sections instead of the usual one)

Monday:  119:49-56

Tuesday:  119:73-80

Wednesday:  119:97-104

Thursday:  119:121-128

Friday:  119:145-152

Saturday:  119:169-176

DAY OFFICE OPTION B:

Diurnum (replaces Prime, Terce, Sext, None)

Sunday:  118 (except Pre-Lent and Lent, 93 & 100 recited instead), 119: 1-32, Athanasian Creed recited as last Psalm (this was superseded on certain Sundays – however, I would require it every Sunday as part of the weekly Psalter recitation)

Monday: 24, 119:33-56

Tuesday: 25, 119:57-80

Wednesday: 26, 119:81-104

Thursday: 23, 119:105-128

Friday: 22, 119:129-152

Saturday: 54, 119:153-176

EVENING:

Vespers:

Sunday:  110, 111, 112, 113, 114-115 (one psalm in Septuagint/Vulgate)

Monday: 116:1-9 (separate psalm in Septuagint/Vulgate, verse division as in Hebrew), 116:10-19 (separate psalm in Septuagint/Vulgate, verse division as in Hebrew), 117, 120, 121

Tuesday: 122, 123, 124, 125, 126

Wednesday:  127, 128, 129, 130, 131

Thursday: 132, 133, 135, 136, 137

Friday: 138, 139, 140, 141, 142

Saturday: 144, 145, 146, 147:1-11(separate psalm in Septuagint/Vulgate, verse division as in Hebrew), 147:12-20 (separate psalm in Septuagint/Vulgate, verse division as in Hebrew).

Compline:

Sunday:  91

Monday:  4

Tuesday:  31:2-6 (Hebrew verse numbers)

Wednesday:  134

Thursday:  4

Friday:  31:2-6 (Hebrew verse numbers)

Saturday:  134