These canticles are rather long, and the weekday ones display something of a penitential theme; but the latter were not often used, as all feasts, even simples, all over s, and all weekdays in Eastertide took the Canticle of Daniel from the Sunday. The 1911 reform introduced for weekdays not of penitential nature, and for lesser feasts and days of the lesser octaves, the following Canticles:
For the weekdays in Advent, Shrovetide, Lent and Ember Days, if not superseded by higher-ranking feasts—due to the multitude of feasts in the rest of the year, these make up almost the totality of the days that did not have the Canticle of Daniel before—the original seven Canticles would still be used. The Liturgy of the Hours uses one canticle from the Old Testament each day at Lauds, "each weekday of the four-week cycle its own proper canticle and on Sunday the two sections of the Canticle of the Three Children may be alternated". The liturgy prior to the reform after the II Vatican Council used fourteen Old Testament canticles, having two weekly cycles. At Vespers according to the Liturgy of the Hours, a canticle from the New Testament is used. These follow a weekly cycle, with some exceptions. Additionally, the following Canticles from the Gospel of Luke occur each day:
At Lauds, the "Canticle of Zachary", commonly referred to as the Benedictus
At Vespers, the "Canticle of Mary", commonly known as the Magnificat.
In the Church of England, Morning and Evening Prayer according to the Book of Common Prayer makes extensive use of canticles. There are 21 different canticles listed, recommended for use at various times including the below.
In the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches there are nine Biblical Canticles that are chanted at Matins. These form the basis of the Canon, a major component of Matins. The nine Canticles are as follows:
Originally, these Canticles were chanted in their entirety every day, with a short refrain inserted between each verse. Eventually, short verses were composed to replace these refrains, a process traditionally inaugurated by Saint Andrew of Crete. Gradually over the centuries, the verses of the Biblical Canticles were omitted and only the composed troparia were read, linked to the original canticles by an Irmos. During Great Lent however, the original Biblical Canticles are still read. Another Biblical Canticle, the Nunc Dimittis, is either read or sung at Vespers.
Armenian Liturgy
At Matins, one canticle from the Old Testament is sung, associated with a reading from the Psalter, followed by hymns according to tone, season, and feast. There are eight such canticles which are determined by the musical tone of the day. These are, along with their respective portions of the Psalter and their tones:
Tone Five — The Prayer of Hezekiah — Psalms 89-105
Tone Six — The Prayer of Jonah with material from Isaiah — Psalms 106-118
Tone Seven — The Prayer of Habakkuk — Psalms 119-147
Note that Psalms 148-150 and Psalm 151 are not part of this system because they are read every day at the Morning Hour, following the canticles presented below. At the Morning Hour, corresponding to Lauds, the following canticles are fixed parts of the service each day:
Following the Song of the Three Youths and the Prayer of Simeon there are sets of hymns as well as other texts which are proper to the commemoration of the day or of the liturgical season. In the other hours, sections of these and other canticles are included in fixed material, consisting of amalgams of verse material from the Old Testament: Ninth Hour: a citation of Daniel 3:35; Peace Hour :, ; Rest Hour : Daniel 3:29-34, Luke 2:29-32, Luke 1:16-55. This list does not take into account citations of these texts in the Divine Liturgy or in the movable Old Testament verse material or in hymnody.
