Manual · መመሪያ
User Guide
How to pray the canonical hours, read the scriptures, and order your devotional life with Sinq.
An app for praying
Sinq holds the daily prayers of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, appointed for each hour and day.
Sinq is designed for quiet prayer, not browsing. The app opens to whichever prayer the current time of day suggests, resolves the lectionary (ግጻዌ) and Synaxarium (ስንክሳር) for today through the computus (ባሕረ ሐሳብ), and gathers the 81 canonical books of Scripture and the Psalter in one offline place on your phone.
Offline by construction
Everything you pray is already on your phone. The Horologium, the complete Psalter, the 81-book Bible, the lectionary, and the Synaxarium are bundled inside the app before you install it. Reading them requires zero network, no user account, and no subscriptions.
Your journal reflections, prayer streaks, and tithe records stay strictly on your device. Android automatic cloud backups are intentionally disabled so your prayer records never reach Google either.
The Four Tabs
Sinq is organized into four main tabs along the bottom of the screen, keeping navigation direct and distraction-free:
ገጾች The 4 Tabs
- ቤት · Home The spiritual dashboard. Highlights the prayer recommended for the current canonical hour, displays the day's lectionary readings (ግጻዌ), active fasts and commemorations, daily devotion shortcuts, and the Desert Fathers saying.
- መጻሕፍት · Books The church library. Access the full 81-book Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, all 150 Psalms (መዝሙረ ዳዊት) in LXX order, the daily Synaxarium (ስንክሳር), and 181 Mahlet feast orders (ሥርዓተ ማኅሌት).
- ጸሎት · Prayers & Hours The seven canonical prayer hours of the Horologium (መጽሐፈ ሰዓታት), ውዳሴ ማርያም, and ጸሎት ዘዘወትር, with adjustable prayer levels (Short, Medium, Full) and bilingual Ge'ez toggles.
- ቅንብሮች · Settings & Records Manage prayer alarms and chimes, quiet hours, spiritual records (tithe ledger, vows, prayer journey heatmap, journal), and typography preferences.
Inside the Daily Life
የመነሻ ገጽ Home dashboard
- The Now Card (የሰዓቱ ጸሎት) The prominent green card at the top suggests the canonical hour called for right now. Tapping it opens the reader directly to that hour's opening prayer without hunting through menus.
- የዕለቱ ግጻዌ · Daily Lectionary Displays the readings appointed for today from the Pauline Epistles, Catholic Epistles, Acts, and the Holy Gospel. Every scripture citation opens directly in the Bible reader.
- አጽዋማትና በዓላት · Fasts & Feasts Highlights whichever canonical fast is in effect (ዓቢይ ጾም, ጾመ ሐዋርያት, ጾመ ፍልሰታ, ጾመ ነቢያት, or Wednesday/Friday) and the primary saint commemoration from the Synaxarium.
- የአበው ምክር · Desert Fathers Wisdom A daily patristic saying for quiet reflection, sourced from the monastic Desert Fathers, complete with bookmarking and contemplation notes.
- Daily Devotion Shortcuts One-tap shortcuts to today's portion of ውዳሴ ማርያም, today's 30 Psalms (መዝሙረ ዳዊት), and ጸሎት ዘዘወትር.
፯ቱ ሰዓታት The seven hours
- ፩. ጸሎተ ነግህ · Morning (6:00 AM / 12:00 ቀትር ግእዝ) At dawn: commemorates the Creation of the world and Christ standing before Pontius Pilate. Opens with Psalm 62 (አምላኬ አምላኬ ወደ አንተ እገሰግሳለሁ).
- ፪. ሠለስት · Terce (9:00 AM / 3:00 ሰዓት) The third hour: commemorates Christ's condemnation and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Upper Room at Pentecost.
- ፫. ቀትር · Sext (12:00 PM / 6:00 ሰዓት) Midday: commemorates the Crucifixion of Christ on Golgotha and the darkness that covered the earth from the sixth to the ninth hour.
- ፬. ተሰዓት · None (3:00 PM / 9:00 ሰዓት) The ninth hour: commemorates Christ giving up His spirit upon the Cross, the tearing of the temple veil, and the salvation of the penitent thief.
- ፭. ሰርክ · Vespers (6:00 PM / 12:00 ምሽት) Sunset: commemorates the taking down of Christ's body from the Cross and His embalming by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
- ፮. ንዋም · Compline (9:00 PM / 3:00 ሌሊት) Nightfall: commemorates the burial of Christ in the tomb, thanksgiving for the day's protection, and prayers for peaceful sleep.
- ፯. መንፈቀ ሌሊት · Midnight (12:00 AM / 6:00 እኩለ ሌሊት) Midnight: divided into three nocturnal watches (ተስክሆ), commemorating Christ's prayer in Gethsemane and vigilantly awaiting the Second Coming.
- ፫ቱ የጸሎት ደረጃዎች · Prayer Levels Each hour adapts to your available time: choose Short (ዋና ዋና ጸሎታት), Medium (መካከለኛ), or Full (የተሟላ የሰዓታት ሥርዓት) in Settings or right before praying.
ንባብ Scripture & books
- The complete 81-book canon (፹፩ መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ) The full Ethiopian Orthodox biblical canon (46 Old Testament books including Enoch, Jubilees, Meqabyan; and 35 New Testament books including Sinodos, Clement, Didascalia) in Amharic.
- መዝሙረ ዳዊት · All 150 Psalms Arranged in LXX numbering and divided into the 7 traditional daily portions (የዕለት ተከፍሎ), with a toggle between Amharic (1980) and Ge'ez text.
- ስንክሳር · Synaxarium Commemorations and miracles of the saints for all 365 days plus Pagumen, with parallel Amharic and Ge'ez editions and the closing አርኬ hymn for each entry.
- ሥርዓተ ማኅሌት · 181 Feast Orders Vigil (ዋዜማ) and dawn (ማኅሌት) orders for the whole church year, with antiphons linked directly to the corresponding shelf books and stanzas.
- Distraction-free prayer mode The reading surface immerses automatically after 3 seconds of stillness or upon scroll, gently fading status bars and controls. A single tap restores them.
- ቀይ ጽሑፍ · Liturgical Rubrication Holy names (God, Christ, St. Mary) and liturgical directives are rubricated in traditional sacred red ink, as in printed manuscripts.
ፍለጋ Global search
- Homophone-tolerant search (የሆሄያት አንድነት) Ethiopic homophones (ሀ/ሐ/ኀ, ሰ/ሠ, አ/ዐ, ጸ/ፀ) are treated as equivalent, so searching "ሃይማኖት" finds "ሐይማኖት" and "ጸሎት" finds "ፀሎት" regardless of orthography.
- Instant cross-corpus indexing A single search query scans the Horologium, the 150 Psalms, the 81 books of Scripture, the 37 Church shelf books, and the Synaxarium simultaneously.
- Direct scripture citations Type citations directly (like "ዮሐ 3:16", "ዮሐ ፫:፲፮", or "መዝ 23") to jump straight to that chapter and verse.
ማሳሰቢያዎች Alarms & reminders
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Exact prayer time alarms
Scheduled via Android's exact alarm API (
setAndAllowWhileIdle) so prayer chimes fire reliably even when the device enters deep Doze battery mode. - Mode-specific chimes Choose between acoustic bells, monastic chimes, or quiet notifications independently for each prayer hour.
- የጸጥታ ሰዓት · Quiet Hours Configure silent hours (e.g. 10:00 PM – 5:00 AM) to suppress all notification sound and vibration while sleeping.
- Android battery settings For guaranteed timely prayer alarms on Samsung, Xiaomi, and Pixel devices, set Sinq's battery usage to Unrestricted (ያልተገደበ) in Android Settings → Apps → Sinq → Battery.
የግል መዝገብ Records & journal
- ማስታወሻ · Spiritual Journal Record prayers and spiritual reflections tagged by Ethiopian date, feast, and fast. Protected by an optional local passphrase, with screenshot blocking enabled.
- አስራትና ስእለት · Tithes & Vows A private, offline ledger to calculate and record tithes and keep track of vows made to God and His saints.
- የጸሎት ጉዞ · Prayer Journey Heatmap A non-punitive yearly heatmap showing days of prayer and spiritual habits kept throughout the Ethiopian year. There are no broken streaks; every prayer is recorded for what it was.
- Private encrypted backup Export all bookmarks, journal entries, and spiritual records into an offline JSON archive to restore whenever you switch devices.
ጥያቄዎች Common questions
- Do I need an internet connection to use Sinq? Never. All text, prayers, scriptures, and calendar computations are 100% self-contained on your phone. Sinq works in airplane mode, in basements, and without a SIM card.
- Why are my prayer alarms silent or delayed? Modern Android phones aggressively stop background apps to save battery. In your phone's Settings → Apps → Sinq → Battery, choose Unrestricted (ያልተገደበ). In Sinq, tap Settings → Battery Help for a direct button.
- How do I change the text size or typeface? While reading any book or prayer, tap anywhere on the screen to reveal the top bar, then tap the Aa icon to choose among five text sizes, four Ethiopic fonts, three line spacings, and reading themes.
- How do I back up my journal and bookmarks? Navigate to Settings → Records & Data → Backup & Restore. You can export a single backup file to your phone's storage or drive. Your data is never uploaded to any remote server.
Where to go next
Install it
Sinq is distributed as a signed APK. Three steps, plus a way to get updates automatically.
What changed
Release notes for recent versions, written for the people using the app.
Corrections
If a reading is mapped to the wrong day, a translation reads wrongly, or a commemoration is missing, that is worth reporting. Corrections to the prayer text mapping and the Amharic are the most useful contribution anyone can make. Send it here, or open an issue on GitHub if you have an account there.