Saturday, April 26, 2014

Κυριακή τοῦ Θωμά - Sunday of Saint Thomas

Is the Orthros Gospel read from inside the Holy Altar on the Sunday of Saint Thomas?

There seems to be some confusion about the answer to this question among the different liturgical traditions of St. Savas and the modern Great Church.

Perhaps, the confusion commences from the inclusion of the Sunday of Saint Thomas in the list of Feasts of the Lord (Δεσποτικές Εορτές).  No hymns from the Sunday Octoechos are chanted on this day - but it's not correct to say that Resurrectional hymns are not chanted.  We do chant Christ is Risen...  as well as several other hymns.

What do the different typika say about it?

The Church of Greece appoints the Orthros Gospel to be read from within the Holy Altar and for the 50th Psalm to be chanted as any other Sunday, which means that the Gospel is then accordingly brought out from the Sanctuary to be reverenced by the faithful.  See for example this years description on April 27th (p. 179 and on):

Diptychs of the Church of Greece April, 2014
Δίπτυχα της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος Απρίλιος 2014

Konstantinos' Typikon (1838, p. 196) states "ἅπασα ἡ τάξις τοῦ Ἑωθινοῦ Εὐαγγελίου" meaning that the Gospel is read and the 50th Psalm is chanted and venerated, without explicitly stating that the Gospel is read from the Holy Altar.  This is what Violakis Typikon (1888, p. 392) states as well.

The Typikon of Saint Savas (as seen below in the edition by Antionios Pinellos, 1615) on the other hand doesn't even mention the Eothinon, it simply states "Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ματθαὶου" - leaving even more to interpretation than even the typika of the Great Church.



The confusion occurs in an obscure footnote in Konstantinos' Typikon (1838, p. 196) - after the Anavathmoi it prescribes the reading of the Eothinon Gospel and then references a footnote that states that in the Great Church the Gospel is read after the Katavasies.  In fact it is after the Katavasies that Konstantinos states "ἅπασα ἡ τάξις τοῦ Ἑωθινοῦ Εὐαγγελίου"in the main text.  Violakis' Typikon  follows suit and has a similar footnote without mentioning the Gospel after the Anavathmoi in the text.  Like Konstantinos' text only after the Katavasies  does it prescribe "ἅπασα ἡ τάξις..." (1888, p. 392).