How to Benefit from the Holy Liturgy - Pope Kirillos Scientific Family

V The Ninth Hour Prayer commemorates the atoning death
of Christ on the Cross.
V The Sunset Prayer commemorates the taking down of the
Lord’s holy body from the Cross. It reminds us that the
sun of our lives must set one day when we leave this
world to be with our God Jesus Christ, so let us be
prepared for this day with care, vigilance and repentance.
The Gospel of the Sunset Prayer narrates how the Lord
Jesus healed the mother in law of St. Peter from a fever and
how He cast out demons. Let us take this opportunity to ask
the Lord to heal our sicknesses, both physical and spiritual,
and to cast away from us the power if the adversary and his
evil hosts which cause us to sin.
At the end of the Sunset Prayer, we pray the absolution
whereby we thank the Lord for He granted us to pass the
day in peace and brought us thankfully to the night and made
us worthy of seeing His light until sunset. He did not allow
for us to perish suddenly without repentance, but in His love
He kept us alive so that we live to the end of the day to see
and enjoy His light.
The Prayer before Sleeping is prayed after the Sunset Prayer
as the church instituted it to commemorate the laying down
of the body of our Lord Jesus in the tomb, for sleep is
considered a little death and the bed we sleep on signifies the
tomb into which we shall be placed into after death. A
particular saint used to speak to his bed each night saying,
"O bed you might become my tomb this night."
The subject of death reminds us to always lead a repentant
life, and this prayer is a prayer of repentance. The Troparia
prayed after the Gospel of the Prayer Before Sleeping says,
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