Orthros with your assistant

Orthros keeps a free library of prayers, readings, saints, services and teaching. If you already use an assistant such as Claude, you can let it read from that library, so that what it tells you is quoted from Orthros and names its source. Nothing is added to Orthros itself: there is no chat inside the app, and Orthros writes no prayers and gives no advice.

What this is

Orthros offers a read-only connection, called an MCP server, that your own assistant can use. It is free. It needs no account and no sign-in. It holds no personal data of yours, and it can never see your journal, your rule, your diptychs, your confession notes or anything else you keep in the app. Those are never offered to any assistant.

The address

Give your assistant this address:

https://mcp.orthros.app/mcp

In the app, open this topic and choose Copy to place it on your clipboard.

Add it in Claude

1. 1.Open Claude on the web or the desktop app.
2. 2.Go to Customize, then Connectors.
3. 3.Choose + Add, then Add custom connector.
4. 4.Enter a name, such as Orthros, and paste the address. Choose Continue.
5. 5.If you are asked how to sign in, choose No sign in. Choose Add.
6. 6.In a conversation, choose the + button, then Connectors, and turn Orthros on.

On a Free Claude plan you may add one custom connector. On a Team plan an owner adds it for the organization, under Organization settings, then Connectors. Menu names change from time to time, so Claude's own help is the final word: search it for custom connectors.

Add it in Claude Code

In a terminal, run claude mcp add --transport http orthros https://mcp.orthros.app/mcp.

Other assistants

Any assistant that can connect to a remote MCP server by its address can use the same address. Look for custom connectors, tools or apps in that assistant's own help, and choose no authentication when it asks. Orthros does not describe other assistants' menus here, because they change.

Five questions to ask

• What is the feast today, and what is the fast?
• What is the Gospel reading for this Sunday?
• Read me the Trisagion Prayers as Orthros has them, with their source.
• Who was Saint Nicholas? Quote the Prologue.
• What does Orthros teach about the Jesus Prayer?

What the library holds

Your assistant can ask Orthros for the day (feast, fast, tone, commemorations and readings), a saint, a prayer in its received wording, a passage of Scripture, a kathisma of the Psalter, a service part by part, one of the eight tones, a recipe for a fasting day, a person or symbol of the Bible, a definition, the Prologue, a page of teaching, a search across all of these, and the list of sources. Every answer carries its source and licence.

What it will not do

It does not advise. It does not write prayers, design a prayer rule, or decide what you should do. It reads out what Orthros already says, and questions of practice belong with your priest and parish. It cannot change anything in your app, and it does not end or lift a fast.

Privacy

The connection reads only Orthros's public library. It carries no account and no information about you. Your assistant's own privacy terms apply to what you say to it.

Read more

The fuller guide, with every tool and more examples, is at orthros.app/docs/mcp.