TheEuchologion (Greek:Εὐχολόγιον;Slavonic: Трeбник,Trebnik;[1]Romanian:Euhologiu/Molitfelnic) is one of the chiefliturgical books of theEastern Orthodox andByzantineCatholic churches, containing the portions of the services which are said by thebishop,priest, ordeacon. The Euchologion roughly corresponds to a combination of themissal,ritual, andpontifical as they are used inLatin liturgical rites.[2][3] There are several different volumes of the book in use.
The comprehensive version is called theGreat Euchologion (Greek: Εὐχολόγιον τό μέγα,Euchológion to méga; Slavonic: Больший Иерейский Молитвослов,Bolshiy Iereyskiy Molitvoslov; Romanian:Arhieraticon), and contains the following:
For a full description of the contents and order of the Great Euchologion, see#Content.
The other books contain only portions of the Great Euchologion:
The Euchologion contains first, directions for the deacon at theVespers,Matins, andDivine Liturgy. The priest's prayers and the deacon'slitanies for Vespers and Matins follow. Then come the Liturgies (Eucharist): first,rubrics for theDivine Liturgy in general, and a long note about the arrangement of theprosphora (breads) at theProskomide (Liturgy of Preparation). TheLiturgy of St. John Chrysostom is the frame into which the other Liturgies are fitted. The Euchologion contains only the parts of priest and deacon in full length, first for the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, then for those parts ofLiturgy of St. Basil that differ from it; then theLiturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, beginning with theHesperinon (Vespers) that always precedes it.
After the Liturgies follow a collection of theSacred Mysteries (sacraments and sacramentals) with various rules,canons, and blessings. First the rite ofchurching the mother after child-birth (euchai eis gynaika lecho), adapted for various conditions, then certain "Canons of the Apostles and Fathers" regardingBaptism, prayers to be said overCatechumens, the Rite ofBaptism, followed by theablution (apolousis) of the child, seven days later;Exorcisms ofSt. Basil andSt. John Chrysostom, and the Rite ofConsecrating Chrism (myron) onHoly Thursday. Then follow theOrdination services for deacon, priest, and bishop (there is a second rite of ordaining bishops "according to the exposition of the most holy Lord Metrophanes, Metropolitan of Nyssa"), the blessing of ahegumenos (abbot) and of other superiors of monasteries, a prayer forthose who begin to serve in the Church, and the rites forminor orders (reader,chanter, andsubdeacon).
The ceremonies fortonsuring monks or nuns come next, the appointing of a priest to be confessor (pneumatikos) and the manner of hearingconfession, prayers to be said over persons who take a solemn oath, for those who incur canonical punishments, and for those who are absolved from them.
Then comes a collection of prayers for various necessities. A long hymn to Our Lady for "forgiveness of sins", written by a monk, Euthymius, follows, and then the rites ofbetrothal,marriage (called the "crowning",Stephanoma, from the most striking feature of the ceremony), the prayers for taking off the crowns eight days later, the rite of second marriages (called "digamy",digamia, in which the persons are not crowned), and the very longunction of the sick (to agion elaion), prescribed to be performed by seven priests.
Next,consecrations for new churches andantimensia (the corporal containingrelics used for theDivine Liturgy; it is really a kind of portable altar), the ceremony of washing the altar onHoly Thursday, erection of aStauropegion (amonastery that is exempt from the control of the local bishop, being instead subject directly to thePatriarch orSynod of Bishops), theLesser Blessing of Waters (hagiasmos), and theGreat Blessing of Waters (used onTheophany), followed by a sacramental which consists of bathing (nipter) afterwards.
After one or two more ceremonies, such as a rite of the Kneeling Prayer (gonyklisis) on the evening ofPentecost,exorcisms,prayers for the sick anddying, come the distinctburial services used for laymen, monks, priests, children and any burial occurring duringBright Week. Then follows a miscellaneous collection of prayers and hymns (markedeuchai diaphoroi),Canons of penance, against earthquakes, in time of pestilence, and war, and two addressed to theTheotokos. More prayers for various occasions end the book.
In modern Euchologia, however, it is usual to add the "Apostles" (the readings from theEpistles) andGospels for theGreat Feasts (these are taken from the two books that contain the whole collection of liturgical lessons), and lastly the arrangement of the court of the Ecumenical Patriarch, with rubrical directions for their various duties during the Liturgy.
Thus the Euchologion is the handbook for bishops, priests, and deacons. It contains only the short responses of the choir, who have their own choir-books (Horologion for the fixed portions of the services, and theTriodion,Pentecostarion,Octoechos andMenaion for thepropers).
The most ancient document of theRite of Constantinople (which is similar to theAntiochene Rite) is theBarberini Euchologion (gr.336), a Greekmanuscript written around 790 A.D.[4]
The first printed edition was published at Venice in 1526. This was followed by another, also in Venice, in 1638 of the Euchologion used byJacques Goar for his edition. Another edition was published at Venice in 1862, which forms the basis of the current edition of the Great Euchologion, such as that published by Astir at Athens in 1970. The text in the Venetian edition of 1862 was the basis of the edition published in Bucharest in 1703. The 7th edition, edited by Spiridion Zerbos, was printed in 1898 at the Phoenix press (typographeion ho Phoinix) at Venice, the official Greek Orthodox printing house.
The Orthodox Churches that use other liturgical languages have presses (generally at the capital of the country, Moscow, Bucharest, Jerusalem) for their translations. The Euchologion was first translated into Church Slavonic in the 9th century. The definitive version of the Euchologion used in theUkrainian Orthodox Church was prepared byPeter Mogila, and published in 1646 (republished in Paris, 1988). This edition contains some 20 rituals that were of local origin and are not performed in other Eastern churches (e.g., services for the uncovering of holy relics and for the blessing of monasteries).
Provost Alexios Maltzew of theRussian Embassy Church at Berlin edited the Euchologion in Old Slavonic and German with notes (Vienna, 1861, reprinted at Berlin, 1892).
A complete Euchologion, in several volumes, was printed in Moscow by the Synodal Press in 1902.
Greek-Catholics use thePropaganda edition and have a compendium (mikron euchologion) containing only the Liturgies, Apostles and Gospels, baptism, marriage, unction, and confession (Rome, 1872). J. Goar, O. P., edited the Euchologion with very complete notes, explanations, and illustrations (Euchologion, sive Rituale Græcorum, 2nd ed., Venice, fol., 1720), which became the standard work of reference for Byzantine Rite Catholics.
Euchologia are also found among theCoptic,Armenian (Mashtots) andEast Syrian Churches, which differ from the Byzantine. TheEuchologion of Bishop Serapion, a contemporary ofSt. Athanasius (c.293 – 373), contains texts from theAlexandrian Rite.[5]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Euchologion".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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