Why is the Midnight Hour divided into three watches?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

The Midnight Prayer of the Agpeya is divided into three distinct watches for theological, scriptural, and ascetical reasons rooted in ancient Christian practice and monastic tradition.

1. The Three Prayers of Christ in Gethsemane

The primary theological foundation for dividing the Midnight Hour into three watches is the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed.

During His agony, the Lord withdrew and prayed three distinct times, returning each time to find the disciples sleeping:

"He went away again the second time and prayed... And He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words." (Matthew 26:42, 44)

He rebuked the disciples: "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:40–41). By dividing the midnight prayer into three watches, the Church enters into the agony of Christ, keeping vigil with Him and overcoming the sluggishness of the flesh.

2. Eschatological Vigilance and the Second Coming

In the ancient world, the night was divided into military watches (Greek: φυλακή, written in Coptic script as). Christ specifically warned His disciples to be alert throughout these watches because the Son of Man will return at an hour no one expects:

"And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants." (Luke 12:38)

The three watches cultivate constant expectation for the Parousia (the Second Coming):

• The First Watch focuses on the midnight cry: "Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him" (Matthew 25:6). The Gospel reading is the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13), exhorting the soul to keep its lamp filled with oil (good deeds, faith, and the grace of the Holy Spirit).
• The Second Watch centers on repentance and compunction, drawing from the Gospel of the penitent woman who washed Christ’s feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36–50). It teaches the soul to stand before God in the night, offering tears for sins before the judgment comes.
• The Third Watch focuses on readiness and unceasing stewardship, taking its Gospel from Luke 12:32–46: "Do not fear, little flock... Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning." It reminds the servant to remain faithful until the Master returns.

3. The Trinitarian Offering

The three watches also form a continuous nocturnal offering to the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In the quiet of the night, when worldly distractions cease, the believer rises three times to offer glorification, thanksgiving, and repentance before the throne of God.

4. Monastic Vigil (Agrypnia)

In the early monastic communities established by St. Anthony the Great and St. Pachomius in the Egyptian deserts, the night was seen as the primary battleground against spiritual slumber and the demons. Dividing the nocturnal prayer into intervals allowed the monks to sustain vigilance without succumbing to continuous deep sleep. It transformed the night into a disciplined sacrifice of bodily rest, imitating the unceasing worship of the bodiless heavenly hosts.