A Brief History of the Typikon

The liturgical books presently used by the Orthodox Church have originated either in monasteries or have been greatly influenced by monastic practices. The services of the daily cycle of worship used today in the Orthodox East reflect monastic usages and traditions, especially those of the two monastic centers that produced and developed them, the Holy Lavra of St. Savas of Jerusalem and the Monastery of Studion in Constantinople.

The liturgical tradition originating with The Typikon of St. Savas produced by the Lavra in its initial stages was influenced by the customs and practices of the monastic communities in the Near East, Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor. Under St. Theodore, the Studion Monastery in Constantinople became the center of monastic revival and reform in the imperial city. During the times of the iconoclastic controversy the Palestinian monastic typikon came to the Constantinople monasteries. In the Studion Monastery a synthesis occurred as elements of the Cathedral Office of Constantinople were added to the Palestinian typikon. In time this Studite synthesis was further modified by Palestinian monks to produce a revised Typikon of St. Savas that remained in general use until the nineteenth century.

The Typikon of the Great Church

The difficulty of using a monastic typikon at the parish level came to a head as the nineteenth century began, and abbreviations and omissions of the services became widespread. Thus, the Ecumenical Patriarchate authorized the revision of the typikon for parish use. This revision became known as the Ecclesiastical Typikon according to the Style of the Great Church of Christ, and was published in 1838. This revision was further revised by Protopsaltis Georgios Violakis in the Typikon of the Great Church of Christ, published in 1888.

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