The Holy Orthodox Church: Chapter XII
Symbolical Books. Containing the Services, Offices, and Ritual of the Orthodox Church
The books containing the Divine Services of our Orthodox Church may be classed under three heads, namely: 1, Those for the use of the Laity; 2, Those for the use of the Readers and the Choir; 3, Those for the use of a Bishop, Priest, and Deacon.
1. The principal book for the use of the Laity is the Molitvoslov, or Euchologion, i.e. the prayer book, which is published both in large and small editions, and contains extracts, more or less complete, from the various other Service Books suitable to the needs of the people in their own homes, or when assisting at the public worship of the Church.
2. The books for the use of the Readers and the Choirs are: the Chasoslov or Horologion, the Psalter, the Irmologian the Octoechos, the Menaion, the Lenten Triodion, and the Ferial Triodion or Pentecostarion.
The Chasoslov contains the Daily Offices of Vespers, Compline, Nocturns, Matins, and Hours, with some of the more frequently used Commemorations, such, for example, as the Troparia for Sundays and Week Days, and other matter.
The Psalter, in its smaller edition, contains the Psalms of David divided into the twenty Kathisma, the Magnificats with selected verses for Festivals, the nine Scriptural Odes, and the Diptychs. In its larger edition, it contains moreover all that is found in the Chasoslov, together with many other devotions, such as the Prayers before and after the Holy Communion, a Service for Sunday and one for every day in the week, etc.
The Irmologion contains those parts of the Service that are usually sung by the Choir, notably the Irmi, or the first verses of each of the nine odes, in the Canons, whence its name.
The Octoechos, the Menaion, and the Triodia are books containing exclusively ecclesiastical compositions, namely, the Canons, Stichera, Troparia, etc., that make up the Commemorations for the whole year. They are used concurrently. The Octoechos, or Book of eight tones, contains Commemorations for eight weeks: On Mondays, of the Angels; on Tuesdays, of the Forerunner; on Wednesdays, of the Mother of God; on Thursdays, of the Apostles and of St. Nicholas; on Fridays, of the Cross; on Saturdays, of all the Saints and of the souls departed; and on Sundays, of the Resurrection. The rule is to begin this Book on the Monday following the Sunday of All Saints, which is the first Sunday after the Pentecost, and in this week the Canons, etc., in Tone One are sung, in the next week those in Tone Two, and so on, and when eight weeks have elapsed Tone One is sung again, this order, with a few exceptions, being repeated throughout the year. Most of the music of today in the Eastern Church is constructed on chants, which were sung 1500 years ago in Palestine and other countries of the East.
The Menaion contains the Canons, etc., for the whole year according to the days of the month. It is published in two forms, one as a work of twelve volumes—a book for each month, and the other is a work of two volumes, one containing the Canons, etc., for the Greater Festivals, and the second containing those common for the Saints.
The Lenten Triodion contains the penitential Commemorations from the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee until Easter Eve; and the Festal Triodion, the joyful ones from Easter Day until the Sunday of All Saints.
3. The books for the use of the Ministers of the Altar are the Sluzebnik and the Trebnik. The Sluzebnik or Book of Service, contains the prayers, audible and secret, of the Priest and Deacon at Vespers, Matins, and the Liturgies. The Trebnik or Book of Needs, in its small form, contains the following offices: 1. Prayers on the first day after a child is born to a woman. 2. Prayer at the signing of a child when it receiveth a name on the eighth day after its birth. 3. Prayers for a parturient woman after forty days. 4. Prayer for a woman when she hath aborted a child. 5. Prayer at the making of a catechumen. 6. The order of holy baptism. And a prayer for holy baptism, that is, how briefly to baptize a child because of fear of death.
Concerning how it behooveth a spiritual person to behave himself: 7. The order concerning confession. 8. Prayer on the releasing from prohibition. 9. The order that is used at betrothals. 10. The order of the coronation. 11. Prayer at the taking off of the crowns on the eighth day. 12. The order for a second marriage. 13. The order of the blessing of the oil. 14. The office when in extreme urgency occasion ariseth to give communion to a sick person. 15. Prayerful canon to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the most holy God-bearing Mother of the Lord at the parting of the soul from the body of every right believer. And the prayer at the departure of a soul. 16. The mortuary order over lay bodies. 17. The ordinance that is observed concerning the carrying forth of them that fall asleep in holy Pascha, and in all the bright week. 18. The mortuary order over a departed priest. 19. The office of the burial of a babe. 20. The order of the lesser blessing of water. 21. The order of the blessing of water on the feast of the Theophany (Epiphany, 6th of January). 22. Prayer at the blessing of food. 23. Prayer for them that gather first fruits. 24. Prayer at the laying of the foundation of a house. 25. Prayer for one that purposeth to go on a journey, etc.
There is also a large Trebnik, which contains, besides the aforementioned, the laying-on of hands in the Sacrament of Ordination, the tonsure of Monks, the Consecration of the Holy Table, the Antimins, Churches, etc.
Now for a word of the Book of books—the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is ever kept, decorated in a precious binding, on the holy Table only. This book of the Gospels is used by a Bishop, Priest, and by a Deacon—when taken from the hands of a priest. The Book of the Epistles (written by the Messengers—Apostles—of our Savior) is read in public worship by a Reader, who is a man set aside for such assistance in the services by the blessing of a Bishop. Sometimes the Book of the Apostles is read by an honorable member from among the Congregation. At the full-episcopal Liturgy, the second deacon is the minister who reads the Epistle.
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