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A typikon (or ''typicon'', ''typica''; gr, , "that of the prescribed form";
Slavonic: Тvпико́нъ ''Typikonə'' or Оуставъ, ''ustavə''
) is a
liturgical book
A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.
Christianity Roman Rite
In the Roman Rite of the Catholic ...
which contains instructions about the order of the
Byzantine Rite
The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople.
Th ...
office and variable hymns of the
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...
.
Historical development
Cathedral Typikon
The ancient and medieval cathedral rite of Constantinople, called the "asmatikē akolouthia" ("sung services"), is not well preserved and the earliest surviving manuscript dates from the middle of the eighth century.
[As quoted in Taft, "Mount Athos...", Description in A. Strittmatter, "The 'Barberinum S. Marci'of Jacques Goar," EphL 47 (1933), 329-67] This rite reached its climax in the Typikon of the Great Church (
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
) which was used in only two places, its eponymous cathedral and in the
Basilica of Saint Demetrios in Thessalonica; in the latter it survived until the Ottoman conquest and most of what is known of it comes from descriptions in the writings of Saint
Symeon of Thessalonica
Saint Symeon of Thessalonica (c. 1381–1429) was a monk, bishop and theologian in Greece.
Biography
Symeon was born in Constantinople, most likely between 1381 and 1387. He became a monk in one of the monasteries there, possibly the Xanthopouloi ...
.
Monastic Typikon
Typika arose within the
monastic
Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...
movements of the early
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
era to regulate life in
monasteries
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
and several surviving typika from Constantinople, such as those of the
Pantokrator monastery and the
Kecharitomene nunnery The Theotokos Kecharitomene Monastery ( gr, Θεοτόκος Κεχαριτωμένη, , Theotokos Kecharitomene , Mother of God, full of grace) was a female convent built in the early 12th century in the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, by Empres ...
, give us an insight into ancient Byzantine monastic life and habits. However, it is the typikon of the
Holy Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified near
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
that came to be synthesized with the above-mentioned cathedral rite and whose name is borne by the typikon in use today by the
Byzantine Rite
The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople.
Th ...
.
In his ''
Lausaic History
The ''Lausiac History'' ( grc-x-koine, Ἡ Λαυσαϊκή Ἱστορία, E Lavsaike Istoria) is a seminal work archiving the
Desert Fathers (early Christian monks who lived in the Egyptian
desert) written in 419-420 by Palladius of Galatia, at ...
'',
Palladius of Galatia
Palladius of Galatia ( el, Παλλάδιος Γαλατίας) was a Christian chronicler and the bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia. He was a devoted disciple of Saint John Chrysostom. He is best remembered for his work, the ''Lausiac History.' ...
,
Bishop of Helenopolis
Helenopolis ( el, Ἑλενόπολις) or Drepana (Δρέπανα) or Drepanon (Δρέπανον) was an ancient Greco-Roman and Byzantine town in Bithynia, Asia Minor, on the southern side of the Gulf of Astacus. It has been identified with ...
, records that the early Christian
hermits
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
not only prayed the
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
, but also sang hymns and recited prayers (often in combinations of twelve). With the rise of
Cenobitic
Cenobitic (or coenobitic) monasticism is a monastery, monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a Monastic rule, religious ru ...
monasticism (i.e., living in a
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...
under an
Abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
, rather than as solitary hermits), the cycle of prayer became more fixed and complex, with different ritual practices in different places.
Egeria, a pilgrim who visited the
Holy Land
The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
about 381–384, recorded the following:
But among all things it is a special feature that they arrange that suitable psalms and antiphons are said on every occasion, both those said by night, or in the morning, as well as those throughout the day, at the sixth hour, the ninth hour, or at lucernare, all being so appropriate and so reasonable as to bear on the matter in hand. (XXV, 5)
The standardization of what became Byzantine monastic worship began with Saint
Sabbas the Sanctified
SabasPatrich (1995). (439–532), in Church parlance Saint Sabas or Sabbas the Sanctified ( el, Σάββας ο Ηγιασμένος), was a Cappadocian Greek monk, priest and saint, who was born in Cappadocia and lived mainly in Palaestina Prima. ...
(439–532), who recorded the office as it was practiced at his time in the area around Jerusalem, passing on what had been handed down to him by St. Euthymius the Great (377–473) and St. Theoktistos (c. 467). This area was at the time a major center of both pilgrimage and monasticism, and as a result the daily cycle of services became highly developed.
St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (560–638) revised the Typikon, and the material was then expanded by
St. John Damascene
John of Damascus ( ar, يوحنا الدمشقي, Yūḥanna ad-Dimashqī; gr, Ἰωάννης ὁ Δαμασκηνός, Ioánnēs ho Damaskēnós, ; la, Ioannes Damascenus) or John Damascene was a Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and a ...
(c. 676 – 749). This ordering of services was later known as the ''
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
'' or ''
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
'' or ''Sabbaite Typikon''. Its usage was further solidified when the first printed typikon was published in 1545. It is still in widespread use among most Byzantine monastic communities worldwide as well as in parishes and cathedrals in large swaths of
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first m ...
, notably, in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
Synthesis
In the 8th century, the development of monastic liturgical practice was centered in the Monastery of the
Stoudios
The Monastery of Stoudios, more fully Monastery of Saint John the Forerunner "at Stoudios" ( grc-gre, Μονή του Αγίου Ιωάννη του Προδρόμου εν τοις Στουδίου, Monē tou Hagiou Iōannē tou Prodromou en to ...
in Constantinople where the services were further sophisticated, in particular with regard to Lenten and Paschal services and, most importantly, the Sabbaite Typikon was imported and melded with the existing typikon; as Fr.
Robert F. Taft
Robert Francis Taft (January 9, 1932 – November 2, 2018) was an American Jesuit priest, first in the Russian Greek Catholic Church and later an archimandrite of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. An expert in Oriental liturgy, he was a pro ...
noted,
How the cathedral and monastic traditions meld into one is the history of the present Byzantine Rite. ... t. Theodore the Studite">Theodore_the_Studite.html" ;"title="t. Theodore the Studite">t. Theodore the Studitesummoned to the capital some monks of St. Sabas to help combat iconoclasm, for in the Sabaitic chants Theodore discerned a sure guide of orthodoxy, he writes to Patriarch Thomas of Jerusalem. So it was the office of St. Sabas, not the [sung service] currently in use in the monasteries of Constantinople, which the monks of Stoudios would synthesize with material from the asmatike akolouthia or cathedral office of the Great Church to create a hybrid "Studite" office, the ancestor of the one that has come down to us to this day: a Palestinian horologion with its psalmody and hymns grafted onto a skeleton of litanies and their collects from the euchology of the Great Church. Like the fusion of Anglo-Saxon and French in the formation of English, this unlikely mongrel would stand the test of time.[As quoted in Taft, "Mount Athos...", p 182]
The typika in contemporary use evolved from this synthesis.
Modern Typika
The
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
inherited only the monastic Sabbaite typikon, which is used to this day
[ in parishes and cathedrals as well as in monasteries.
However, some remnant of the cathedral rite remained in use elsewhere in the Byzantine Rite world, as is evidenced by, for example, the ]Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...
commencing at the end of matins
Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning.
The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated by ...
and the all-night vigil The All-night vigil is a service of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches consisting of an aggregation of the canonical hours of Compline (in Greek usage only), Vespers (or, on a few occasions, Great Compline), Matins, and the First H ...
's use only on occasions when a service that actually lasts through the whole night is served.
With the passage of time, the rite evolved but no descriptive typikon was published until 1839 when, finally, Constantine Byzantios, the Protopsaltes
In Christianity, the cantor, sometimes called the precentor or the protopsaltes (; from ), is the chief singer, and usually instructor, employed at a church, with responsibilities for the choir and the preparation of the Mass or worship service. ...
of the Great Church, composed and published the typikon twice in Greek as ''The Ecclesiastical Typikon according to the Style of the Great Church of Christ''[''Τυπικὸν Ἐκκλησιαστικὸν κατὰ τὸ ὕφος τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ Μεγάλης Ἐκκλησίας.] and once in Slavonic; in 1888, George Violakis, then the Protopsaltes of the Great Church, wrote a report correcting mistakes and ambiguities in Byzantios' typika and later published the completed and corrected typikon as ''Typikon of the Great Church of Christ''[Τύπικον της του Χριστού Μεγάλης Εκκλήσιας, Tipikon tis tou Christou Megalis Ekklisias''] which is still in use today, in most of the Byzantine Rite, excluding the churches of the Russian tradition. This typikon is often described as prescriptive and an innovation; however, as Bishop Kallistos Ware
Kallistos Ware (born Timothy Richard Ware, 11 September 1934 – 24 August 2022) was an English bishop and theologian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1982, he held the titular bishopric of Diokleia in Phrygia ( gr, Διόκλεια Φρυ ...
noted,
"In making these and other changes, perhaps Violakes was not innovating but simply giving formal approval to practices which had already become established in parishes.
Notes
Citations
References
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Further reading
*
See also
* Some typikon symbols in Unicode
* Karyes Typikon
The Karyes Typikon ( sr, Карејски типик/Karejski tipik) was written for the Karyes cell on Mount Athos in 1199 by Saint Sava, at the time a monk and later the first Serbian Archbishop. It is basically a translation from a standard Gr ...
* Studenica Typikon
The Studenica Typikon ( sr, Студенички типик/Studenički tipik) is a Serbian Orthodox ''typikon'' written in 1208 by Serbian Archbishop Sava, a member of the Nemanjić dynasty and the first head of the autocephalous Serbian Orthodo ...
External links
(in Slavonic) The Typicon of Saint Sabbas as used in the Russian Church
Archbishop Averky — Liturgics", Retrieved 2011-11-15
(in Greek) Typicon for the current year (and other information) based on Violakis' work and other descriptive practices
A Dictionary of Orthodox Terminology - Part 2
Fotios K. Litsas, Ph.D., Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, referenced December 27, 2006
Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha in the Greek Orthodox Church
Rev. Alkiviadis Calivas, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, referenced December 27, 2006
Translation project
A translation project is a project that deals with the activity of translating.
From a technical point of view, a translation project is closely related to the project management of the translation process. But, from an intercultural point of vi ...
Online Greek Orthodox Typikon
1888 Violakis Typikon of the Great Church of Constantinople
draft of the English translation from the Arabic edition, prepared by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
A Brief History of the Typicon
{{Eastern Orthodox liturgical books
Byzantine Rite
Liturgy of the Hours
Eastern Orthodox liturgical books