A Byzantine Monastic Office, A.D. 1105

Description

This book centers on a Greek text that was likely compiled in Constantinople, in 1105, for use in one of the monasteries located there. The book consists of a liturgical psalter, containing the fixed structure (the ordinary) in both the Greek original and in English translation, as well as a description of the hours themselves. The extensive commentary explains the development of the divine office, and the particular history of the translated manuscript, while brief notes clarify and explain, in a way suitable for non-liturgists, the more-technical aspects of the divine office. Based on a single dated manuscript, the book presents the first, full example of the daily structure of monastic hours as they were celebrated at a time when services had reached a degree of maturity. The book, by presenting the ordinary of the office, compliments recent work on the propers of the office, and thus helps to complete our picture of the medieval monastic office in Byzantium. Illustrations vii Preface ix Abbreviations xi Part 1 • Text and Translation, Jeffrey C. Anderson Introduction 3 Common, Repeated Formulas 27 I. Kathismata and Office for Trespasses 29 II. Horologion 79 III. Synaxarion-Menologion 181 Part 2 • The Harvard Manuscript and the History of the Horologion of the Greek Liturgical Psalter, Stefano Parenti Introduction 257 I. The Greek Liturgical Psalter and Its Typology 260 II. The Harvard Psalter 273 III. The Horologion 287 IV. The Synaxarion-Menologion 338 V. The Twenty-Four-Hour Cursus and Monastic Prayer in Constantinople 341 VI. Conclusion 349 Selected Bibliography 355 Liturgical Index 375 Scriptural Passages 375 Prayers 376 Troparia, Chants, and Formulas 376 Saints and Fixed Commemorations 380 Index of Manuscripts Cited 387 General Index 389