Euchologion


The Euchologion is one of the chief liturgical books of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches, containing the portions of the services which are said by the bishop, priest, or deacon. There are several different volumes of the book in use.

Types

The comprehensive version is called the Great Euchologion, and contains the following:
The other books contain only portions of the Great Euchologion:
The Euchologion contains first, directions for the deacon at the Vespers, Matins, and Divine Liturgy. The priest's prayers and the deacon's litanies for Vespers and Matins follow. Then come the Liturgies : first, rubrics for the Divine Liturgy in general, and a long note about the arrangement of the prosphora at the Proskomide. The Liturgy 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 of Liturgy of St. Basil that differ from it; then the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, beginning with the Hesperinon that always precedes it.
After the Liturgies follow a collection of the Sacred Mysteries with various rules, canons, and blessings. First the rite of churching the mother after child-birth, adapted for various conditions, then certain "Canons of the Apostles and Fathers" regarding Baptism, prayers to be said over Catechumens, the Rite of Baptism, followed by the ablution of the child, seven days later; Exorcisms of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom, and the Rite of Consecrating Chrism on Holy Thursday. Then follow the Ordination services for deacon, priest, and bishop, the blessing of a hegumenos and of other superiors of monasteries, a prayer for those who begin to serve in the Church, and the rites for minor orders.
The ceremonies for tonsuring monks or nuns come next, the appointing of a priest to be confessor and the manner of hearing confession, 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 we come to the rites of betrothal, marriage, the prayers for taking off the crowns eight days later, the rite of second marriages, and the very long unction of the sick, prescribed to be performed by seven priests.
Next, consecrations for new churches and antimensia, the ceremony of washing the altar on Holy Thursday, erection of a Stauropegion, the Lesser Blessing of Waters, and the Great Blessing of Waters, followed by a sacramental which consists of bathing afterwards.
After one or two more ceremonies, such as a rite of the Kneeling Prayer on the evening of Pentecost, exorcisms, prayers for the sick and dying, come the distinct burial services used for laymen, monks, priests, children and any burial occurring during Bright Week. Then follows a miscellaneous collection of prayers and hymns, Canons of penance, against earthquakes, in time of pestilence, and war, and two addressed to the Theotokos. More prayers for various occasions end the book.
In modern Euchologia, however, it is usual to add the "Apostles" and Gospels for the Great Feasts, 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.

Publication

The most ancient document of the Rite of Constantinople is the Barberini Euchologion, a Greek manuscript written around 790 A.D.
The first printed edition was published at Venice in 1526. This was followed by another, also in Venice, in 1638 of the Euchologion used by Jacques 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 at Venice, the official Greek Orthodox printing house.
The Orthodox Churches that use other liturgical languages have presses for their translations. The Euchologion was first translated into Church Slavonic in the 9th century. The definitive version of the Euchologion used in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was prepared by Peter Mogila, and published in 1646. This edition contains some 20 rituals that were of local origin and are not performed in other Eastern churches.
Provost Alexios Maltzew of the Russian Embassy Church at Berlin edited the Euchologion in Old Slavonic and German with notes.
A complete Euchologion, in several volumes, was printed in Moscow by the Synodal Press in 1902.
Greek-Catholics use the Propaganda edition and have a compendium containing only the Liturgies, Apostles and Gospels, baptism, marriage, unction, and confession. J. Goar, O. P., edited the Euchologion with very complete notes, explanations, and illustrations, which became the standard work of reference for Byzantine Rite Catholics.

Oriental Orthodox

Euchologia are also found among the Coptic, Armenian and East Syrian Churches, which differ from the Byzantine. The Euchologion of Bishop Serapion, a contemporary of St. Athanasius, contains texts from the Alexandrian Rite.