Typikon,
Part 1
Contents:
The Church Typikon.
The Temple.
The Temple Plan. The Symbolism of the Church. Temple Illumination.
The Structure of Services.
The Ecclesiastical Day. The Cycles. Movable feasts. Acolouths in Aggregation.
Liturgical Books.
Tones. Sacerdotal Vestments. The Sign of the Cross and Prostrations. Prostrations During Great Lent. The Ringing of Bells. Incensing.
Daily Vespers.
The Little Entrance. The Aposticha. Conclusion.
Great Vespers.
The Great Ektenia. Kathismata. Kekregarion. The Entrance. Gladsome Light. The two Ektenias. The Litia. The Aposticha. The Dismissal.
Orthros (Matins).
Hexapsalmos (Six psalms). Alleluia. Eulogetaria. Polyeleos. Megalynarion. Anabathmoi. The Prokoemenon. The Gospel. The Kanon. Katabasia. Ektenias During the Kanon. The Ainoi. The Doxology. The Apolytikion. The Great Doxology. Conclusion. The Great Dismissal. The First Hour.
Daily Orthros (Matins).
Aposticha. Dismissal Troparia.
The Three Divine Liturgies.
St. John Chrysostom. St. Basil the Great. St. Gregory Theologos. Non-liturgical days.
Preparation for Celebrating the Holy Liturgy.
Weekday Preparation. Paschalion.
General Directions for Celebration of the Liturgy.
Incensing. Antiphons. Little Entrance. Epistle and Gospel Lessons. Ektenias. Great Entrance. Royal Doors. The Polychronion. Intercessions. Archiereical or Hierarchical Liturgy.
Concelebratioin of the Liturgy.
Prayers Before Liturgy. Prothesis. Liturgy of the Catechumens. Little Entrance. The Trisagion. Epistle and Gospel Lessons. Ektenia of Fervent Supplication. Great Entrance. The Anaphora. Receiving Holy Communion. Thanksgiving. The Dismissal.
The Order for the Singing of Troparia and Kontakia at Liturgy.
On Sunday. During the Weekdays. In Temples Dedicated to the Mother of God. In Temples Dedicated to a Saint.
Triodion.
The Historical Development of the Lent. The Rules of Fasting. The Contents of the Triodion. The Inner Unity of the Triodion.
Holy Great Passion Week.
Great Monday. The Typica. Vespers with Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Great Tuesday. Vespers with Presanctified Liturgy. Great Wednesday. The Typica. Vespers with Presanctified Liturgy. Great Holy Thursday. Holy Great Friday. Holy Great Saturday.
Pentecostarion.
Preface. The Text of Pentecostarion. Introduction.
Holy Pascha.
Mesonyctics. Orthros of Holy Pascha. The Paschal Hours. Paschal Holy Liturgy.
Sacraments.
The Rite of Baptism and Chrismation. The Rite of Matrimony. Ordinations. The Consecration of a Bishop. Holy Unction.
Private Services.
The Burial of a Laymen. The Burial of a Priests. The Panikhida. The Consecration of a Church.
Instructions for the Church Reader.
Prokoemena — Alleluaria — Koinonica.
From the Triodion. Saturdays and Sundays of Lent. Pentecostarion. Pentecost. The Duodenary Feasts and Minor Feasts. The Prokoemena And Alleluaria For The Sunday Eight Tones. The Weekday or Daily Prokoemena. The Psalter Order for reading the Kathismata during the year.
Glossary of Liturgical Terms.
The Church Typikon.
The Typikon is the book which contains directions for the celebration of the daily cycle of divine services (Orthros, Hours, Liturgy, Vespers, Aftersupper); for the weekly cycle (Octoechos); for the monthly cycle (Menaeon); for the divine services of Holy Lent (Triodion) and the Holy Pentecostarion; and also for the various rites when combinations are necessary as the result of the coinciding of feasts, etc.
The Ecclesiastical Typicon has been accepted by the HolyChurch and has been in effect for more than a thousand years. All priests and deacons at ordination take an oath to observe it All Orthodox bishops at their consecration in the rite of the “Profession of Faith” take a solemn oath in the presence of bishops, clerics, and people faithfully to observe the Church Typicon.
The Typicon acquired the strength of the law in the Church for the externals of Divine Worship of Almighty God. The Church looks upon it not as an ordinary work of man’s mind, but as a holy book, obligatory in the celebration of divine services for all Orthodox Catholic Christians. During its more than thousand year usage, the Church Typicon has not turned into useless forms or dead directives; it was constantly enriched with new services and rites. The Typicon does not merely legalize all sorts of minor peculiarities in the divine service and thus eliminate the freedom of the celebrants, as it portrays the ideal in divine service, but it also sets the model and the type of the divine service in bringing out our own involuntary desire to fulfill this ideal according to the instructions of the Church Typicon.
The main content of the Church Typicon, to a considerable extent, includes the works of the Holy Fathers and the ascetics of the Church and their prayers. For example, the prayers and canticles of Saint John Damascene, Saint Cosmas, Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom, and their sacerdotals, rituals, rites, etc., have all been accepted and preserved by the Church and are now in force in the Church Typicon as set forth by the Jerusalem St. Sabbas the Blessed monastery, dating to the 5th century.
Prayer is the main activity in the spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian. Prayer is the necessary means for spiritual growth and the struggle with passions and is an endless need for the believer. But, prayer must be learned under the direction of those who have already achieved perfection in prayer, i.e., from the Holy Fathers, whose prayers, rites, and customs have been accepted by the whole Church and introduced into the Order of Divine Services. From here then is derived the sacred significance for the Church Typicon. The indication of the Church Typicon and the measure of its greatness, its educational significance and strength, may be seen, for example, in the Typicon for the service of the Annunciation of the All-holy Theotokos, and for the various days of Great Fast (Tessaracost or Quadragesima) and Holy Pascha.
The pious and exacting fulfillment of the Church Typicon has an immense import for pastors and for congregations, it unites all of them, preserves them in Orthodoxy, and saves them from perversion into sectarianism, Lutheranism, and Roman Catholicism. This is especially essential to remember in the peripheral dioceses of our Patriarchate. The pastors, having taken an oath to uphold the Typicon, must look upon it as a matter of common concern for all, and not only as one for the flocks (people). Therefore, the actions of those priests may not be justified who, during the divine services, leave the Holy Altar to hear confessions (sometimes even give a general confession), or spend part of the service at the Altar of Pro thesis commemorating and removing particles from the prosphora. It is not permitted, during divine services, to be occupied with private matters, such as: the reading of the akathistoi and the Office of Preparation for Holy Communion. It is not permitted willfully to change any order of services, and to introduce one’s own prayers, hymns, rituals, or rites.
For this reason then, so that we have all things done “decently and in order,” according to the command of the holy Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 14:40); so that the saving and instructional significance of the Church Typicon directives be most effective and realistic.
The Temple.
The Typicon prescribes that Divine Services be celebrated in the temple.
The temple is an edifice consecrated to God in which faithful gather to offer common prayer to the Lord (Luke 19:46), and to receive the grace of God through Holy Communion and other holy Mysteries (Sacraments; I Cor. 11:22).
The temple is also called a church, i.e., the term which is applied to the society of believers in Jesus Christ (I Cor. 14:23; I Tim. 3:15; Acts 5:11). In the Typicon “church” most frequently refers to what is generally called the nave — the place designated for the faithful as opposed to the place set apart for catechumens. Each Orthodox temple is a temple of God, the house of the Lord (Luke 19:45-46), The Altar within the Sanctuary of the temple is the Altar, the Throne, of the Triune God.
Each temple is given its own name: one may be called Nativity of Christ, another Holy Dormition, a third SS. Peter and Paul, still another All Saints, and so forth. Temples are so named because they are erected and consecrated to God in honor of one or another event in the history of the Faith, or in honor of a Saint of God chosen to be the special intercessor before the Lord on behalf of the community — the parish.
Sometimes within a temple there may be several other ‘temples.’ One part, or the largest portion of a given temple, is known as the main temple. A second “chapel” (with an Altar) is known as the paraecclesia. The paraecclesias are also consecrated in Honor of a feast or a saint. A paraecclesia may be consecrated in honor of two (or more) saints whose feast days may even be on different days — thus, such “chapel” (the paraecclesia) may have an Altar feast day several times during the year.
The TemplePlan.
The temple may be constructed in several ways: cruciform to symbolize that the Church of Christ received life and strength through the Cross; as a circular edifice to indicate the eternity of the Church for there is no beginning nor an end in a circle; as a star (octagon) to express that the Church, like stars gives off the Light of Christ; and the elongated ship-type structure shows the Church to be like a ship which takes us through the sea of life to the harbor of eternal life.
The roofs of the temples are adorned with cupolas or domes: one cupola signifies the highest head of the Church, Christ Jesus Himself; three cupolas tell us of the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity; five cupolas express our Lord Jesus Christ and the four Evangelists; seven cupolas symbolize the Seven Holy Mysteries, seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, or the seven Ecumenical Councils; nine cupolas indicate the nine ranks of angels; thirteen indicate Christ and His twelve Apostles.
The Cross, as the symbol of victory, adorns the uppermost part of the temple, the top of the cupola, or if there is no cupola or dome, the uppermost portion of the structure. There may be used the three-barred Cross or the single barred.
As the Old Testament Temple of Solomon, built by God’s direction (Exodus 25:40), was divided into three parts: the Holy of Holies, the Sanctuary and the Courtyard, so also the Christian temple incorporates three basic parts: the Sanctuary, the church proper called the temple (nave), and the narthex which is the vestibule and the porch. The Typicon calls the “inner narthex” (the vestibule) the trapeza, since in monastic temples this is normally the dining area for monastics.
The Sanctuary signifies the heavenly world where God resides in everlasting light; the earthly paradise where our original parents Adam and Eve lived; and finally, the place from where our Lord had gone forth to preach, where He had established the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, where He suffered, died on the Cross, rose from the Dead and Ascended into Heaven. The Sanctuary is the place where only the celebrant and the assistants (priests, deacons, sub-deacons, servers — all in sacredotal vestments) serve at the Throne of the King of Glory. All others may not enter the Sanctuary (VI Ec. Council Canon 69, Laodoc. 44, etc.).
The church or temple (nave) is reserved for the Faithful, i.e., for the laity who believe in Christ and sacramentally participate in the life of the Church. The vestibule is the place of preparation for those wishing to enter the Kingdom of Grace and it is where the catechumens and penitents remain.
The Holy Sanctuary is in the eastern portion of the temple, so that all those praying face Eastward. Traditionally it is held that paradise was in the East, and our salvation took place in the East. The Lord is called The East (Orient; Zachar. 6:12, Ps. 67:34), The East (Orient) from on High (Luke 1:78), Sun of Truth (Justice; Malachias 4:2). St. Basil the Great states that Christians always turn to the East when praying. The Altar (Latin alta ara — an elevated place of sacrifice) is elevated, or is in the Sanctuary which is already elevated above the nave, so that people may easily see and look upward toward the heavenly world.
The Symbolism of the Church.[1]
The Exterior. A Temple has sometimes a single dome, sometimes many domes. One dome serves as a symbol of the One Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. Three domes typify the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. Five are symbolical of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Four Evangelists.
Each dome — and where there is no dome the apex of the Temple — is crowned by a Cross, the emblem of victory.
Bells. A Belfry is generally constructed in connection with the church, either in a separate tower or in one of the domes. The direct use of the belfry is to summon the faithful to worship, although the rubric concerning the use of the different bells and their manner of chiming and pealing is very detailed and complicated. It is impossible to make it clear, in a foreign language, to those who are not personally acquainted with the beautiful Russian bells, which are treated in a peculiar way, wholly unknown in the WesternChurch. They are rung at certain points in the service, in order that the faithful who, for any reason, are not in church, may unite their prayers with those of the worshippers in the Temple at the most solemn moments. At Matins, for example, they are rung before the Gospel is read, while the lights are being kindled, and the choir is singing: Praise ye the Lord. At the Divine Liturgy one bell is rung while the Holy Gifts are being consecrated.
The Interior. The Temple is usually built in the form of a ship (the ship of salvation), or of a cross (the emblem of salvation). The Temple is divided into four parts: I. The Sanctuary (Altar), beyond the Image-screen (Ikonostas). 2. The prolongation of the Sanctuary platform outside the Image-screen, called the Solea, which consists of: (a) the Amvon, or Tribune, which is the portion immediately in front of the Holy Door, in the center of the Screen, and (b) the railed Kliros, or places for the two choirs, on either side of the Amvon. 3. The Body of the church. 4. The Porch (Pritvor).
The Sanctuary must be built, except when that is impossible, at the eastern end of the church.
The Altar (Prestol) represents the throne of God in heaven, and the Lord God Almighty himself is present thereon. It also represents the tomb of Christ, since his Body is placed thereon.
The first covering of the Altar, the white linen Sratchitza, represents the winding-sheet in which the body of our Lord was wrapped. The upper Altar-cloth (Inditia), of rich and brilliant material, represents the glory of God's throne. Both cloths cover the Altar to the ground.
On the Altar is placed the Corporal (Antimins), a silken (formerly a linen) cloth, having upon it the representation of the Deposition of Christ in 'the tomb and the four Evangelists. This is spread out only in the Divine Liturgy, at the beginning of the Liturgy of the Faithful, and is folded up again as soon as that is finished. If any accident should happen to the holy Altar, the Holy Oblation can be made upon the Corporal alone, in an unconsecrated building or suitable place. In this Corporal (Antimins), or Vice-Altar, are placed relics of the Saints. Other relics are placed under and in the Altar itself, in a specially prepared coffer; because the blood of the Martyrs, after that of Christ himself, serves as the foundation of the Church. And also because, in. the early days of Christianity, the Holy Eucharist was celebrated in the Catacombs, on the tombs of the Martyrs.
Under the Corporal, and upon the upper Altar-cloth is placed a square of fine linen or rich material called the Iliton, which symbolizes the swaddling-clothes wherein the Lord was wrapped after his birth; and also the winding-sheet wherein his body was enveloped in the tomb, as the Altar represents the gravestone.
Behind the Altar a seven-branched candelabra is usually placed (seven being the customary sacred number); and, sometimes a large Cross, for carrying in processions.
The Book of the Holy Gospels, being the Word of God, is laid upon the Altar, to denote that God himself is mystically present thereon; and the Cross stands on the Altar as upon the place where is celebrated the unbloody sacrifice offered up to God.
As the Altar represents the sepulchre of the Lord, an Ark (Kovcheg) is set thereon, being the Tabernacle in which are placed the Holy Gifts, the Body and Blood of Christ reserved for the sick, and (during the Great Fast — Lent) for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.