Psalms 119:164

Bishop Epiphanius of Cyprus, of holy memory, was told this by the abbot of his monastery in Palestine. 'By your prayers we have kept our rule; we carefully observe the offices of terce, sext, none and vespers.' But Epiphanius rebuked him and said, 'Then you are failing to pray at other times. The true monk ought to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). He should always be singing psalms in his heart.'

Frequent prayer also commends us to God. For if the prophet says, "Seven times a day have I praised you," though he was busy with the affairs of a kingdom, what ought we to do, who read, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation"? Certainly our customary prayers ought to be said with giving of thanks, when we rise from sleep, when we go forth, when we prepare to receive food, after receiving it and at the hour of incense, when at last we are going to rest.

The seven loaves signify the sevenfold working of the Holy Spirit; the four thousand people, the church established under the four Gospels; the seven baskets of fragments, the perfection of the church. This number, you see, stands for perfection extremely often. I mean, how come it says, "Seven times a day shall I praise you"? Is a person going wildly astray who does not praise God that number of times? So what else can be the meaning of "seven times a day shall I praise you," but "I shall never cease from praising"? You see, when he says seven times he signifies the whole of time; that is why the ages unfold in the weekly round of seven days. So what else can "seven times a day shall I praise you" mean but his "praise is always in my mouth"?