www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Which books needed to pray the Byzantine Office?

Christ is in our midst!

I'm a Latin Catholic (traditionalist), but have been drawn more and more into an Eastern spirituality and love of its rich Liturgy. I was once a seminarian for the Fraternity of St. Peter, so I have everything I need to pray/sing the Divine Office for that rite. I was wondering, however, which books I would need to be able to do so in the Byzantine rites? Where do I find the propers (troparions, etc.) set into the eight tones?

Also, is the idea of praying Vespers alone totally foreign to an Eastern way of thinking? What if one doesn't have a choice?

Thanks,
Todd

To celebrate the services fully you need usually four different books for any given Vespers or Matins:

Throughout most of the year you would need:
(a) The Horologion
(b) The Psalter
(c) The Octoechos
(d) The Menaion Volume of the current month

During the period of the Triodion, on weekdays and Saturdays:
(a) The Horologion
(b) The Psalter
(c) The Triodion
(d) The Menaion Volume of the current month

During the Triodion, on Sundays:
(a) The Horologion
(b) The Psalter
(c) The Sunday Octoechos
(d) The Triodion

During the period of the Pentecostarion:
(a) The Horologion
(b) The Psalter
(c) The Pentecostarion
(d) The Menaion Volume of the current month

However, if you want to read the lesser Hours (1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th Hours) or the Midnight Office, all you need is a complete Horologion (one that has troparia and kontakia for the whole year).

Compline is properly served with a canon. So in addition to the Horologion you find the canon in the Octoechos, or the Triodion, or the Pentecostarion. But Compline is often read either without a canon at all or with the Akathist to the Mother of God instead of the canon. The Akathist would be found in the Horologion.

One can certainly read Vespers alone. I do it all the time. But I am blessed with a full liturgical library.

Fr David Straut

If you can find a copy, "Byzantine Daily Worship" by Archbishop Joseph (Raya) is a very good all-in-one book for someone wanting to pray the Divine Praises of the Byzantine Tradition. it gives the basic order of the services, the fixed parts, references to the readings and Kathismata of the Psalms, and a Menaion (festal calendar) with the appropriate propers for each day. In addition to this, you will need a Bible, preferably one with the Byzantine Orthodox numbering of the Psalms, for the Kathismata and the readings. That's about it, although it should be remembered that the Office in the Byzantine rite is still meant to be celebrated liturgically, and not just as private prayers.

Whatever the merits of Byzantine Daily Worship, it really is not adequate as a stand alone book to celebrate the Daily Offices. I've seen other Greek Catholic attempts at imitating the Roman Breviary that do a better job. As I said, any complete Horologion is all you need for all the daily services except Vespers and Matins. (And despite Stuart's opinion, it seems these were originally often done alone by monastics and pious laity). Although indisputably Vespers and Matins were designed to be celebrated in church with clergy, these two services are indeed celebrated liturgically when done alone in one's kellia, if one does not have access to a celebration in church, because one prays with the entire church.

Fr David Straut

Father David and Stuart have given good advice. If recent similar threads are any indication, JLF will suggest Eastern Christian Publication's books, which are also good.

I'd add a few things:

- praying the daily office is heavily dependent on one's spiritual life - i.e. the amount one can stand, and the suggestions of one's spiritual father. Praying it in entirety is not necessarily what any one person should do. I've yet to go to a monastery which says all of the hours - even once a week. One monastery I know - not a liberal, modernist one, mind you - says only a kathisma psalm-less Orthros and Vespers each day. Moreover, I've yet to go to a parish that prays even that amount each day.

- the office is not intuitive. It's not easy to pick up, and there is no instruction manual for how to arrange the office (well, there is, but it's not available in English and it's really written for those who already know what they're doing). The best way to learn it is to attend it. While the little hours are easy, I'm afraid doing a "correct" Orthros or Vespers is impossible unless one know what one is doing. Especially since they are supposed to be sung, and I would consider the regular recitation of them (vice singing) in a parish church or monastery to be a liturgical abuse, unless there was good local reason.

- a Synaxarion is also a good book to have; it's a collection of hagiographies for the Saints of the Day. The one from the Monastery of Simonopetra is availble in the US and excellent. It's expensive though. For that matter, some (but thankfully not all) of the best translations in the smorgasborg of offerings out there are also quite expensive.

- once one gets a handle on the office, understanding why it works the way it does is IMO important. One good book is Father Taft's "The Liturgy of the Hours, East and West". Reading the lives of the desert fathers and other great saints is also important context.

- Praying Vespers alone is entirely feasible. I'd consult your local parish priest or other spiritual father. My suggestion (I'm in no position to be anyone's spiritual father) would be to buy an horologion (or ECP's books) and limit oneself to that (i.e not the full service), at least at first.

Adding the psalter is also good. Unfortunately, after having tried them all, the only psalter I personally can work with with is Holy Transfiguration Monastery's - despite the difficulty of its attempts at Elizabethan English. You may prefer the Douay-Rheims or even the Vulgate (and there's no reason you couldn't use either). The Odes of the Psalter, done after Ps. 50 at Orthros, is long but very much worth praying at least a few times in one's life.

edited to add: I thought about this; please don't think I'm trying to discourage you or daunt you with knowledge.

The "Liturgy of the Hours" is about our daily thanksgiving to God. It's entirely connected with the rest of our spiritual, sacramental, and even non-ecclesial lives. Work from that premise, and connect it with the rest of your life as well.

Posters here have reccommended a lot of good things.

i would add that there are a few online resources one can use which are good substitutions for purchased books, which are expensive.

I like the general menaion in English at http://www.st-sergius.org/services.html

If you don't mind Elizabethan English, you can find the Coverdale psalter used in the Book of Common Prayer divided into stases and kathismata at:

http://www.synaxis.info/psalter/5_english/5_english.html It is about five items down.

If you go to http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/ and click on "show troparion" it will give you the troparion for the day. It also gives you a number of other things that are useful in the sidebar, such as how many stichera to say.

It follows the Julian Calendar, though it has new calendar dates outline; the information it gives on each day is for the Julian date.

Small vespers is also an option to learn stuff;

it has the kathismata missing and a few other things missing as well. It is often said at monasteries.

I forgot: an horologion, and some basic instructions, are available here:

http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/horologion.htm

The contents of the site are basically the same as would be used in an Eastern Catholic parish. I'd say start with this site, add your favorite psalter, and you're a-OK.

Fr David


I haven't used it but does this Manual of the Hours of the Orthodox Church [holymyrrhbearers.com] look like it would be useful? "It contains abridged selections from the fixed prayers of the Church for the 24-hour period to make it easy for lay people to pray the hours whether at home or at work."

"Those wishing to supplement these abbreviated services with a fuller use of the Psalms and Canticles, may want to consider using our Kathisma Psalter." [holymyrrhbearers.com]

If anyone has these I'd be interested in hearing what you think. (I like supporting these Sisters whenever I can purchase anything from them.)

Not Vespers and Matins but I have used The Publicans Prayer Book [melkite.org] and the so called Jordanville Prayer Book [tinyurl.com] for Troparia and Kontakia (and much more).

The Daily readings via email from goarch [goarch.org] include the the readings and Synaxarion.

I'm not Father David, but I do have an opinion on this one. It's basically a somewhat corrected version of the RSV Psalter to make it conform to the Septuagint. I'm no Greek expert, but it seems to me that it's not 100% there. While I like the clear modern English, there are enough RSV- and Masoretic-isms that I consistently prefer the HTM version. To much "dumbed-down" language in the RSV, IMHO. As I recall (I can't compare right now), it also sometimes is not correct when one wants to use it antiphonally, e.g. Psalm 89 and the Orthros Apostica of Praises.

That being said, which translation of the Psalter one uses - Septuagint, Vulgate, Authorized Version, RSV, HTM, OSB, NAB, or whatever - should be the one that one's comfortable with.

Thank you all for the replies. I'll check into the online links you have provided. I had no idea that so many books would be required! I was hoping to be able to ask for one book for Christmas, but am now a little discouraged about needing so many. Thanks again!

You may get a better taste of Byzantine prayer if you buy one of the prayerbooks used privately by everyone from the clergy to the monastics to the average Orthodox Christian. There are some threads dealing with those titles on the forum.

You might look for the Jordanville Prayerbook. There is also an Eastern Catholic book that slips my ming right now. Take a look through the books section of this area--Faith and Worship. There is a Ukrainian Catholic book mentioned on approximately page 3.

Go to Eastern Christian Supply Company and check out their inventory, too.

BOB

There's some prayerbook online: http://www.archive.org/details/ByzantineCatholicPrayerForTheHome

The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford has a compiled prayerbook that is simular to a Latin breviary. This is the link to a review of it. I have been looking for this book for a while and can't find it. If you find it please let me know!

http://byzantineramblings.blogspot.com/2007/02/divine-office-prayer-books-divine.html

Since it seems very hard and expensive to pray the Byzantine Office, wouldn't it be okay to pray the Roman rite Liturgy of the Hours instead? It just seems to be more readily available and easier to follow. Not sure if this makes sense or not. Please let me know your thoughts.

God Bless!

It would be okay in the sense that praying something rather nothing is always preferable. However, if you want you personal prayer life to be in sync with your liturgical life you will need to stick with some form of Byzantine prayer. It is not as hard and expensive as it is being made out. One is not expected to have and use every possible combination of texts. One could prayer the ordinary only to start and then add propers a little at a time. I highly recommend the Daily Office from Eastern Christian Publications as a good starter. It has a shortened ordinary and propers for each day of the week. I also like New Skete's 1976 Prayerbook.