actually a term coined by Western liturgics for worship during the night preceding major feasts. The frequent mention of nighttime watching and prayer in the New Testament (Matt 14:23; 26:41 par.; Acts 16:25; Col 4:2 etc.) gave rise to corresponding liturgical observances, if in fact they do not themselves reflect such practice.
In the Early Church, Tertullian and others attest to the practice of assembling at night for prayer (Tert. Ad uxorem II 4.2). Cyprian of Carthage mentions nighttime prayer (Cyp. Dom. orat. 35). Chapter 41 of the Traditio apostolica speaks of m…