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THE EVERGETIS TYPIKON and ITS LITURGICAL WHOLENESS AS an IMPORTANT INSTRUMENT in CODICO-LITURGICAL STUDIES

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THE EVERGETIS TYPIKON and ITS LITURGICAL WHOLENESS AS an IMPORTANT INSTRUMENT in CODICO-LITURGICAL STUDIES THE EVERGETIS TYPIKON and ITS LITURGICAL WHOLENESS AS AN IMPORTANT INSTRUMENT IN CODICO-LITURGICAL STUDIES by Joan Lena Protestant Theological University, Amsterdam The liturgical typikon is the codex that synchronises all codices used in the services of the Byzantine Church. Dating from the 12th century the Evergetis Typikon is one of the oldest and most comprehensive documents that details the liturgical practice of a coenobitic monastery founded in 11th century Constantinople. This liturgical typikon is the culmination of the liturgical traditions and practices of the Evergetis Monastery. It is not a document formulated at the foundation of the monastery. The person in charge of liturgical services used the liturgical typikon on a daily basis to make sure the liturgical synaxeis were accomplished in the correct way. The manuscript Athens, National Library of Greece 788 which transmits the liturgical typikon also contains the foundation document of the Evergetis monastery but the present paper focuses on the liturgical typikon, which makes up the bulk of the codex. The author has worked on photographs of the codex itself, but also has consulted in the main part the latest edition of the liturgical document by R. H. Jordan: The Synaxarion of the monastery of the Theotokos Evergetis, Text and Translation (Belfast Byzantine texts and Translations), volumes 1-3, (Belfast, 2000, 2005, 2007). The Evergetis typikon is divided into two sections. The first follows the fixed calendar (September-August) and the second follows the moveable calendar although in a restricted form as only the Triodion and Pentekostarion are included. Such an order is at odds with the Apostolos and Evangelion codices, which have first the moveable calendar then the fixed one. Both sections are cited in the opening title of the liturgical typikon which reveals the inter dependency of the two sections: Συναξάριον σὺν Θεῷ, ἤτοι τυπικόν ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἀκολουθίας τῆς εὐαγοῦς μονῆς τῆς ὑπεραγίας Θεοτόκου τῆς εὐεργέτιδος ἀρχομένον ἀπὸ μηνὸς Σεπτεμβρίου, περιέχον πᾶσαν ἀκολουθίαν μέχρι συμπληρώσεως Αὐγούστου ὡσαύτως καὶ τῆς ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἀπὸ τῆς κυριακῆς τοῦ τελώνου καὶ τοῦ φαρισαίου μέχρι τῶν Ἁγίων Πάντων The author sets out to convey the liturgical completeness of the Evergetis typikon and how its regulations and rules assume a system of interconnected liturgical codices, making it a key document in codico-liturgical studies. The key research question of the paper is: in which way was the liturgical practice of the Typikon an instrument and a decisive factor in the formation of codices and codex corpora? The article is divided into four sections which address the key research question: 1) The Structure of the Evergetis Typikon 2) The Interconnection of the Anagnosmata 3) The Liturgical Codices in the Evergetis Typikon and 4) Codex Groups in the Evergetis Typikon. 1) The Structure of the Evergetis Typikon. An outline of the textual structure of the typikon is given together with an explanation of why the fixed annual cycle precedes the moveable one. The author proposes that the fixed calendar appears first because it is more stable and the liturgical elements of the moveable cycle can only fit when this is in place. 2) The Interconnection of the Anagnosmata. The readings or anagnosmata in the typikon are divided into scriptural and non-scriptural categories. Apostolos, Evangelion, the Propheteiai and the Psalterion kathismata are part of the first group and logoi, bioi, martyria, hypomnemata, encomia and asketika are in the second. The author details the liturgical services in which the anagnosmata are heard and places emphasis on the interconnectedness of the anagnosmata at various levels. 3) The Liturgical Codices in the Evergetis Typikon. There is a great variety of liturgical codices referred to in the liturgical typikon from the Menaion to the Evangelion. These codices follow either the fixed or moveable cycles or both. The author refers to the three dimensional nature of the liturgical synaxeis, that is some liturgical elements may have taken place in the trapeza or the kellion as well as the church. So some liturgical codices were used outside of the church. For example, according to the Evergetis Typikon hymns had to be sung in the trapeza after the Divine Liturgy of the Great Pascha. 4) Codex Groups in the Evergetis Typikon. The twenty-two liturgical codices explicitly and implicitly mentioned in the Evergetis typikon are divided into 5 groups although the categories are not without their limitations: Scriptural (Apostolos, Evangelion, Tetraevangelion, Praxapostolos, Prophetologion and Psalterion); Liturgical (Typikon, Euchologion, Horologion, Oktoechos, Menaion, Tropologion and Kontakarion), Hermeneutical (Panygerikon, Hermeneia), hagiographical (Synaxarion of the Menologion and Metaphrasis) and Ascetical (Paterikon, Catechesis, Klimax and Hagiou Emphraim). In each category the author deals with complex issues surrounding the codices. For example, there is similarity in content between the Synaxarion of the Menologion and the Metaphrasis, and how Metaphrastic material is found in other codices. The author concludes that the liturgical practice of the Typikon was instrumental and decisive in the formation of codices and codex corpora. Liturgical codices were formed out of liturgical need and on the basis of the rules and regulations set out in the liturgical Typikon. A high degree of interfunctionality exists among the multitude of liturgical codices as witnessed in their explicit and implicit references in the Typikon. .
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