(Gk. Εὐαγγέλιον.) This contains the text of the four Gospels arranged in sections (Gk. περικοπαί; Slavonic, zachála), following the order in which they are read throughout the year. The Book of the Gospels rests normally on the centre of the Holy Table, and whenever possible its cover is elaborately decorated with silver or gold: it should on no account be bound in the skins of dead animals (i.e. in vellum or leather). The Gospel Book plays an important part in Orthodox ceremonial: it is carried in procession at the Small Entrance in the Liturgy; and when there is a Gospel reading at Mattins, it is afterwards placed on an analogion in the centre of the church—or held up by the priest—and the congregation approach one by one in order to venerate it. In general the Gospel Book is treated in the same way as the Holy Icons, and is regarded as an icon of the Saviour, more particularly in His teaching ministry.

(Gk. Ἀπόστολος.) This contains the readings from the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles for the whole year: as with the Book of the Gospels, it is arranged in extracts according to the order of the daily Epistle readings. It also includes the prokimena which precede the Epistle, and the verses upon Alleluia which follow it.

(Gk. Ψαλτήριον.) The 150 Psalms of David, divided into their kathismata, together with the nine Biblical Canticles.

There is no separate book containing the lessons from the Old Testament: these are to be found in the relevant choir book containing the texts for the day in question—the Triodion, Pentekostarion, or Menaia, as the case may be.

(Gk. Εὐχολόγιον, ‘Book of Prayers’.) This is a book for the use of the priest—and to a lesser degree, of the deacon—containing the sacraments and other services, together with numerous special prayers and blessings. Its contents and arrangement vary widely. There is in the first place a comprehensive volume known as the Great Euchologion (Gk. Εὐχολόγιον τὸ μέγα; Slavonic, Bolshói Ieréisky Molitvoslóv.) In this are to be found:

(i) The fixed portions of Vespers, Mattins, and the Liturgy (the priest’s part in full; that of deacon, choir, and reader usually in an abbreviated form).

(ii) The six remaining sacraments (Baptism, with related services; Chrismation or Confirmation; Ordination; Confession; Marriage; the Service of the Holy Oil or Anointing of the Sick). Here the text is more or less complete, with the reader’s part as well as the priest’s.

(iii) Other services and blessings, often known in the west as ‘sacramentals’ (monastic profession; the consecration of a church; the Great and Small Blessing of the Waters; funeral offices, etc.).

Alongside the Great Euchologion, there exist various shorter books of prayers intended for the use of the clergy. These fall into two categories: (a) prayers for use at the standard public services; (b) prayers for use at services of a more personal character, concerned with the particular needs of one or several individuals. Accordingly there are:

(a) The Ieratikon or Service Book (Gk. Ἱερατικόν; Slavonic, Sluzhébnik): an altar book, containing the priest’s parts at Vespers, Mattins, and the Liturgy, with some supplementary material.

(b) The Small Euchologion or Book of Needs (Gk. Ἁγιασματάριον, Μικρὸν Εὐχολόγιον; Slavonic, Trébnik) containing five of the sacraments (the Liturgy and Ordination are omitted), the funeral offices, and various other services in common use. Some Greek editions include as well the priest’s part at Vespers, Mattins, and the Liturgy.

In addition there is a special book of prayers and blessings for use by the bishop, the Archieratikon or Pontifical (Gk. Ἀρχιερατικόν; Slavonic, Chinóvnik).

(Gk. Ὡρολόγιον; Slavonic, Chasoslóv.) The Euchologion is an altar book for the priest; the Horologion, a choir book for the reader and the singers. As with the Euchologion, its exact contents vary in different editions. In its comprehensive form—what is termed the Great Horologion (Gk. Ὡρολόγιον τὸ μέγα)—it includes:

(i) The fixed portions of the daily offices (Midnight Office; Mattins; the Hours; the Typika; prayers before and after meals; Vespers; Compline, Great and Small). The parts for choir and reader are given in full; most of the priest’s and deacon’s part is omitted.

(ii) A list of the feasts and saints’ days throughout the year. For each day a short account of the feast or life of the saint is given, together with the appropriate apolytikion (troparion) of the day and the kontakion. This is followed by a similar section, covering Sundays and movable feasts within the period of the Triodion and the Pentekostarion. Then follow apolytikia and theotokia for different days of the week.

(iii) Miscellaneous canons and other services in frequent use.

In the Greek Church the Horologion is normally printed in a full form, with all these three sections. Editions in the Russian Church are often shorter, containing (i) in its entirety, but (ii) and (iii) considerably abbreviated.

A reader provided with the Great Horologion will find it possible to recite in full both the fixed and the variable portions of the Hours, the Typika, the Midnight Office, and Compline. But in order to sing Vespers or Mattins, choir and reader must also consult, besides the Horologion, one or more of the books in the section that follows.

also known as the PARAKLETIKE

(Gk. Ὀκτώηχος; Παρακλητική, from παρακαλεῖν, ‘to supplicate’.) This contains the variable portions for the daily offices throughout the week. Eight series of offices are provided, one for each of the eight tones; and within each series there are seven sets of services, one for each day of the week. Throughout the year, the services proceed week by week through the various tones: on the Sunday of St. Thomas (the first after Easter) the sequence begins with Tone One, and then through the different tones until Tone Eight is completed; after which the offices for Tone One are resumed, and so once more through the whole sequence.

The texts of the Octoechos are combined with those for the fixed feasts from the Menaia; and more or less of the Octoechos will be read, depending on the status of the feast of the day. During Lent, the Octoechos is used only on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday. It is not used at all from Lazarus Saturday (the day before Palm Sunday) until the Sunday of All Saints (the first after Pentecost): any material in the weekly cycle of the eight tones that is used during the period of the Pentekostarion is provided in full in the Pentekostarion itself.

The Octoechos is sometimes published in a smaller edition, containing only the eight Sunday offices, and omitting all those for weekdays.

(Gk. Τριῴδιον, ‘the Book of the Three Odes’. Also termed more specifically Τριῴδιον κατανυκτικόν, and in Slavonic Póstnaya Triód, the ‘Penitential’ or ‘Fasting’ Triodion.) Here are found the texts for the Great Fast of Lent: the book begins with the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee (the tenth before Easter: twenty-two days before the beginning of Lent), and concludes with Saturday in Holy Week. Many canons in the Triodion contain only three canticles or odes: hence the title of the work.

(Gk. Πεντηκοστάριον, or more specifically Πεντηκοστάριον χαρμόσυνον, the ‘Joyful’ Pentekostarion; in Slavonic, Tsvetnáya Triód, the ‘Flowery’ or ‘Festal’ Triodion.) This is a companion volume to the Lenten Triodion, and contains the services for Eastertide and Pentecost: it covers the period from Easter Sunday until the Sunday of All Saints (the first after Pentecost).

(Gk. Μηναῖα, from μῆν, ‘month’.) In this are contained the services for the fixed feasts throughout the twelve months, from 1 September (the beginning of the ecclesiastical year) until 31 August: it corresponds to the ‘proper of saints’ (proprium sanctorum) in the west. It is normally divided into twelve volumes, one for each month.

There is also a single volume known as the General Menaia (Slavonic, Obshchaya Minéya), containing general offices which may be used on all saints’ days of a particular type.

For completeness, two further books should be added, somewhat different in scope from those already described:

(Gk. Εἱρμολόγιον.) This gives the text of the irmoi sung at the beginning of the various canticles of the canon. The larger service books, such as the Menaia and the Triodion, often give only the opening words of the irmos and so a cantor who does not know the irmoi by heart will need to have the Irmologion ready to hand.

(Gk. Τυπικόν, from τύπος, ‘ordinance’, ‘decree’.) This contains the rules and rubrics governing every aspect of the Church services and their celebration throughout the year.

To explain the principles of arrangement which we have adopted in this present translation, it is necessary to consider briefly the history of the Typikon. It is associated specially with the name of St. Sabas (439–532), abbot of the monastery close to Jerusalem that bears his name. Older Greek editions, for example, are entitled Typikon of the Church Service of the Holy Lavra at Jerusalem of our God-bearing Father St. Sabas. According to the traditional account, the Typikon was drawn up by St. Sabas himself, and later revised by St. Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem (ca. 560–638), who supplemented it with material from the ordo followed by the monastery of St. Catherine at Sinai. A further revision was then undertaken by St. John of Damascus (ca. 675–ca. 749), himself a monk at the Lavra of St. Sabas.

Modern liturgists, while not accepting this account as historically exact, nevertheless acknowledge that it contains an important element of truth. In the evolution of the ecclesiastical ordo, a decisive rôle was played by the rite of the Church of Jerusalem, and in particular by the celebrated monastery of St. Sabas. On the other hand the Typikon in its present state is later than the time of St. John of Damascus; and other centres besides the Lavra of St. Sabas have exercised a formative influence upon its development, most notably the monastery of Studion—more correctly, Studios—at Constantinople.

The Typikon as we now have it represents essentially a crystallization in liturgical practice which occurred between the ninth and twelfth centuries. It embodies a synthesis between two traditions, originally distinct: first, the ‘cathedral’ rite, as observed at the ‘Great Church’ of Agia Sophia in the imperial capital, and elsewhere; and secondly, the strictly ‘monastic’ rite. From the ninth century onwards these were normally combined into one. The Orthodox Church of the later Byzantine period, unlike the Roman Catholic Church in the West, usually made no distinction between the monastic and the ‘secular’ or parochial use: monasteries and parishes since that time have both followed the same Typikon, although in most parishes there are inevitably numerous omissions and abbreviations.

Until the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Typikon observed by the Greek, Slav, and Romanian Churches was substantially the same, apart from minor points of detail. In 1888, however, there appeared at Constantinople a new edition of the Typikon, prepared by the protopsaltis George Violakis (died 1911), and issued with the approval and blessing of the Ecumenical Patriachate. Violakis made extensive and often ill-advised changes, especially in the order of service for Mattins on Sunday: for example, the katavasiai are appointed to be sung all together at the end of Canticle Eight of the Canon, instead of occurring one at the end of each canticle; and the reading of the Gospel is moved from its old position before the Canon, and awkwardly inserted between Canticles Eight and Nine. Thus Canticle Nine is separated from those which precede it, and the whole structure of the Canon is unhappily obscured.

The new Constantinople Typikon has now been generally adopted throughout the Greek-speaking Orthodox Churches; the Church of Russia, on the other hand, adheres faithfully to the older ‘Typikon of St. Sabas’. The remaining Orthodox Churches vary in their practice, some approximating more or less closely to the modern Constantinople use, and others remaining virtually uninfluenced by it. The older Typikon is still followed strictly in most Greek monasteries, particularly those of St. Sabas at Jerusalem, of Mount Athos, and of St. John on Patmos. Thus in Greek Orthodoxy today, there is once more—as in the earlier period—a difference between the monastic and the parochial use, but in the earlier period the divergence was of course far more radical.

In the present translation we have preferred to follow the pre-1888 ‘Typikon of St. Sabas’, and for the most part we have taken no account of the changes made in the Violakis edition.