Short History of the Typikon at the Psaltic Musings Blog

Read a short history of the Typikon from the Psaltic Musings Blog.

Fr. Constantine Terss, the author of the blog, gives a short history of the Typikon and its Palestinian and Constantinopolitan influences.

Online Version of the Typikon at typikon.gr

The site typikon.gr has an online version of the Typikon.

The author of the site has compiled a Typikon for parish use "based on the Typikon of Violakis and other, newer and older, Typika" as is stated on the site.

Site content is in Greek.

Click here to view the Typikon.

A note about online resources such as typikon.gr:

While the efforts of such sites as typikon.gr, are greatly appreciated and much needed, the accuracy of these sites cannot be verified. These sites should be used as aids to a better understanding of the Typikon, and not be substituted for the official editions of the Typikon. In no way does my listing of such sites endorse the validity of the content on them.

Resources at analogion.net

Resources on the Typikon at analogion.net

The site analogion.net has some great resources on the Typikon of the Great Church in a section of its website typikon.analogion.net. The author of the website, has compiled a companion to the Typikon entitled " Τυπικόν Ὄρθρου Ἐνοριῶν" (Typikon for Parish Orthros), and is available for download as a pdf.

The site content is in Greek.

In general this website has a wealth of information divided into several sections. One of the sections of note is on Byzantine Music, where you can download audio recordings, and pdf's of compositions in Byzantine Musical Notation. Surely more posts to come on this site.

Don't confuse this site with analogion.com which is a completely different site with similar but much more focused content on Byzantine Music. More to come about analogion.com.

Short Biography of Georgios Violakis

Georgios Violakis, (c. 1820-1911), Archon Protopsaltis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, together with two Committees of the Holy and Sacred Synod, were responsible for publishing the Typikon in 1888 that came to bear his name. The detailed "Protheoria of the Typikon" that can be found in the introductory pages of the 1888 edition was compiled by Violakis himself.

Read a short biography of Georgios Violakis from the official website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate www.ec-patr.org

Also of note is a short introduction on the Tradition of Byzantine Music at the Ecumenical Patriarchate by Fr. Seraphim Farasoglou.

The links above are also available in Greek:
Ἄρχοντες Προτοψάλται τοῦ Οἰκουμενικοῦ Πατριαρχείου
Βίος τοῦ Γεωργίου Βιολάκη
Εἰσαγωγή τοῦ π. Σεραφείμ Φαράσογλου

For a simple definition of Protopsaltis in English see the orthdoxwiki.org page on "cantor".

Read an article on the History of the Typikon

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America's award-winning website www.goarch.org, includes an article by Fr. Alkiviadis Calivas (Prof. of Liturgics, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology) on "The Origins of Pascha and Great Week". In the article Fr. Calivas has an excellent short history of the Typikon, including the 19th century revisions. Scroll down about half-way on the page to "The Liturgical Text According to Present Usage" for the relevant part of the article. From what I can gather this is the basis of both wikipedia's and orthodoxwiki's articles on the Typikon.

The Great Church

The Typikon of the Great Church of Christ (Τυπικόν τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ Μεγάλης Ἐκκλησίας) derives its name from the Great Church (Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία), the Cathedral Church of Hagia Sophia, in Constantinople. Until the 15th century the services at Hagia Sophia were regulated by the Typikon of the Great Church, and were characteristic of the Cathedral Office which differed from those of the Monastic Office. Gradually however, the Cathedral Office fell into disuse and was replaced by the Monastic Office and the Typikon of St. Savas. After the Fall of Constantinople, and the relocation of the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate from the Church of Hagia Sophia to subsequent locations, the Patriarchate itself began to be known as The Great Church, regardless of where it was located. By the beginning of the 19th century the Ecumenical Patriarchate saw the need to publish a Typikon reflective of the current practices of the Great Church. The revised Typikon, based on the Typikon of St. Savas, came to be known as The Typikon of the Great Church of Christ.

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.

Read the full article at orthodoxwiki.org