Sext is a canonical hour of the Divine Office in the liturgies of many Christian denominations.
In Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Oriental Protestant Christianity, the office is prayed at 12 pm, being known as Sheth sho`in in the Syriac and Indian traditions; it is prayed facing the eastward direction of prayer by all members in these denominations, both clergy and laity, being one of the seven fixed prayer times.
[10] It is also a time to ask God to grant one health and peace of heart, as in the traditional hymn Rector Potens.
St. John Cassian treats it as an hour of prayer generally recognized in his monasteries.
But this does not mean that the observance of Sext, any more than Prime, Terce, None, or even the other Canonical Hours, was universal.
John Cassian tells us that in Palestine three psalms were recited for Sext, as also for Terce and None.
This number was adopted by the Rules of St. Benedict, St. Columbanus, St. Isidore, St. Fructuosus, and to a certain extent by the Roman Church.
Sext, like Terce and None, was composed at most of three psalms, of which the choice was fixed, the Deus in adjutorium, a hymn, a lesson (capitulum), a versicle, the Kyrie Eleison, and the customary concluding prayer and dismissal.
[citation needed] The term siesta derives from the canonical hour Sext.
These are followed by a short reading from Scripture, once referred to as a “little chapter” (capitulum), and by a versicle and response.
[13] The 1979 Book of Common Prayer's Order of Service for Noonday is based upon the traditional structure of the Little Offices.
Our Father...” In the Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches the office of the Sixth Hour is normally read by a single Reader and has very little variation in it.
The Troparion of the Day is replaced by special Lenten hymns that are chanted with prostrations.
Then, a special Troparion of the Prophecy is chanted, which is particular to that specific day of Great Lent.
During Holy Week, on Great Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the services are similar to those during Great Lent (including the reading of a kathisma), but instead of the normal Lenten hymns which replace the Kontakion, the Kontakion of the day (i.e., that day of Holy Week) is chanted.