Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees For Harvard University

Mount Athos: A Late Chapter in the History of the Byzantine Rite
Author(s): Robert F. Taft

Source: Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 42 (1988), pp. 179-194
Published by: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University
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Mount Athos: A Late Chapter in the History
of the ByzantineRite
ROBERTF. TAFT, S.J.
INTRODUCTION
interrogated the wise ones and the ancients, and
agiorite liturgy is not an overworked field. Of those having knowledge of these matters and sea-
H the
twenty-seven hundred entries in the 132- soned in things pertaining to the office of eccle-
page Athos bibliography at the end of Cheve- siarch and the rest, of the holy monastery of our
togne's millennium volumes, only twenty-seven holy father Sabas in Jerusalem, including the office
deal with liturgy, most of them little more than de- of hegumen ... (Preface, 9)."4 After informing
scriptions of actual practice.' We still lack those himself on the "order (taxis) of the church and the
specialized studies that can only be done painstak- psalmody," and on the various traditions oral and
ingly, leaf after leaf, by a phalanx of caterpillars, to written, he adapts them for his own purposes in
borrow Ihor Sevcenko's metaphor.2 This is not sur- his typikon (Taktikon,I).
prising when one considers the formidable ob- That sums up both the way in which Byzantine
stacles that immediately confront one who delves monastic liturgy developed and the consequent
into the sources of Byzantine monastic liturgy. problems its extant manuscripts pose for the
These difficulties are not new. Already in the scholar today. Monastic legislators, compilers, and
eleventh century, Nikon of the Black Mountain (ca. copyists sifted through the sources from a plethora
1025-post 1088), a monk of the Theotokos mon- of related usages, picking and choosing what
astery on the Mai0ov 6Qog north of Antioch in suited them, not haphazardly but within the pa-
Syria and something of an embryonic student of rameters of basic fidelity to a tradition that was in
comparative liturgy, saw the problem.3 In his 'Ev their blood, much as a writer fully in command of
Td?eL 8aCO16xg, a spiritual testament by way of his mother tongue and its literary forms brings
preface to his typikon, he recounts, inter alia histo- forth from his storehouse what is at once old and
rica et biographica:"I came upon and collected dif- new. The role of Mount Athos in this process is the
ferent typika, of Stoudios and of Jerusalem, and subject of this article.
one did not agree with the other, neither Studite
with another Studite one, nor Jerusalem ones with THE SOURCES
Jerusalem ones. And, greatly perplexed by this, I
Like everything else in cultural history, liturgies
An abridged version of this paper was read at the Dumbar-
of the past are recuperable, at least in part, via
ton Oaks Symposium on Mount Athos, 1-3 May 1987. their extant monuments, literary and archeologi-
'I. Doens, "Bibliographie de la Sainte Montagne de l'Athos,"
cal: documents that contain (service books), regu-
Le millinaire du Mont Athos, 963-1063: Etudes et milanges (Cheve- late (typika, diataxeis, canonical legislation), or de-
togne, 1964), II, 337-483. scribe (mystagogia, ekphraseis, histories, pilgrim
21. ?evienko, "Two Varieties of Historical Writing," in idem,
Ideology,Lettersand Culturein theByzantine World(London, 1982),
I.
4V. N. Beneevic, ed., TaktikonNikona &ernogorca: Greceskij
3On Nikon see I. Doens, "Nicon de la Montagne Noire," Byz tekstpo rukopisiNo. 441 Sinajskagomonastyrjasv. Ekateriny.Vypusk
24 (1954), 131-40; J. Nasrallah, "Un auteur antiochien du lie I, Zapiski Ist.-Filol. Fakul'teta Petrogradskago Universiteta, cast'
sikcle, Nicon de la Montagne Noire (vers 1025-debut du XIIe 139 (Petrograd, 1917). References to the internal divisions of
s.)," POC 19 (1969), 150-61; A. Solignac, "Nicon de la Mon- this document in this edition will be given in the text of the
tagne-Noire," DSp 11, cols. 319-20; and the further bibliogra- article. See also idem, Opisanie greceskichrukopisejMonastyrjasv.
phy cited in these works. Ekaterinyna Sinae (St. Petersburg, 1911), I, 561-601.

180 ROBERT F. TAFT, S.J.
accounts) the celebrations; and what remains of ments, the ordinaryand the proper.The ordinary of
the edifices built to house them. I shall be con- an office is the basic skeleton that remains invari-
cerned here with the literary documents. Particu- able regardless of the day, feast, or season. The
lar studies, especially those by J. Mateos (typikon, proper comprises those pieces that vary according
psalter, orthros, canon),5 G. Bertonibre (Easter to the calendar. The ordinary is the bearer of each
Vigil),6 and M. Arranz (typikon, Divine Office, es- service's immutable thrust: vespers remains even-
pecially the "sung office," and other services of song, prayer at sundown to close the day, be it
Hagia Sophia),7 have thrown considerable light on Christmas or any simple feria. The propers nu-
the types, nature, and development of Byzantine ance this basic thrust with festive and seasonal col-
liturgical manuscripts. A taxonomy of these docu- oration.
ments, contextualized within the history of Stu- There are two liturgical books for the ordinary
dite, Sabaitic, and hagiorite monasticism, is basic to of the Byzantine offices (euchology, horologion)
an understanding of the role of Mount Athos in and several others for the propers, of which only
the fixation of the final Byzantine synthesis during the psalter and antiphonarion need concern us
the hesychast ascendancy. here. Two further books regulate the use of the
Liturgical books are of two kinds: (1) liturgical above library: the typikon or ordinal which con-
texts actually used in the services; (2) books that trols the meshing of the conflicting cycles of the
regulate how those texts are to be used. Category propers; and the diataxis, a ceremonial or manual
1, the texts themselves, comprises two levels of ele- of rubrics telling the celebrants what to do when.8
Since the hagiorites had little impact on the de-
5Le Typikonde la GrandeEglise, 2 vols., OCA 165-66 (Rome, velopment of the liturgical texts, especially of the
1962-63); "La psalmodie variable dans le rite byzantin," Socie- proper, we can concentrate on the typikon and dia-
tas Academica Dacoromana, Acta philosophica et theologica 2 taxis, and, to a lesser extent, on the two books of
(Rome, 1964), 327-39; "Quelques probKlmes de l'orthros the ordinary, the euchology or sacramentary, and
byzantin," POC 11(1961), 17-35, 201-20.
6The Historical Developmentof the Easter Vigil and Related Ser- the horologion or book of hours. An examination
vices in the GreekChurch, OCA 193 (Rome, 1972). of the earliest manuscripts of the latter two books
7I shall cite only those that concern the Divine Office: Kak shows that they originate in two distinct and ini-
molilis'Bogu drevnie vizantijcy:Sutocnyjkrug bogosluienijapo drev-
nim spiskamvizantijskogoevchologija(Leningrad, 1979); "La litur- tially unrelated liturgical traditions. The euchol-
gie des heures selon I'ancien Euchologe byzantin," Eulogia: Mis- ogy is the prayer book of the rite of Hagia Sophia;
cellanea liturgica in onore di P. Burkhard Neunheuser, Studia
it contained the prayers and diakonika for the ca-
Anselmiana 68, Analecta Liturgica 1 (Rome, 1979), 1-19; "Le
sacerdoce ministdriel dans les prieres secretes des vepres et des thedral services of the capital. Its earliest manu-
matines byzantines," Euntes docete 24 (1971), 186-219; "Les
script, Barberini 336, dates from the middle of the
grandes 6tapes de la Liturgie Byzantine: Palestine-Byzance-
Russie: Essai historique," Liturgie de l'Pgliseparticuliere
eighth century.9 For the celebration of the hours,
et liturgie de d'apergu
l'gglise universelle, BiblEphL, Subsidia 7 (Rome, the services would be filled out with psalms, re-
1976), 43-72; "Les prieres presbytdrales de la 'Pannychis' de frains, and lections from the antiphonarion and
l'ancien Euchologe byzantin et la 'Panikhida' desddfunts," OCP
40 (1974), 314-43, 41 (1975), 119-39; "Les prieres presbyt6- prophetologion, for Constantinople had no sepa-
rales de la Tritoekti de l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," OCP 43 rate book of hours. The main Byzantine office
(1977), 70-93, 335-54; "Les prieres prebyt6rales des matines book in use today, the horologion, is not Byzantine
byzantines," OCP 37 (1971), 406-36, 38 (1972), 64-115; "Les at all. It comes from Palestine, and its earliest ex-
prieres presbyterales des Petites Heures dans l'ancien Eucho-
loge byzantin," OCP 39 (1973), 29-82; "Les prieres sacerdotales tant manuscripts, Sinai gr. 863 and 864, date from
des vepres byzantines," OCP 37 (1971), 85-124; "L'office de the ninth century.1'
I'Asmatikos Hesperinos ('vepres chantees') de l'ancien Eucho-
loge byzantin," OCP 44 (1978), 107-30, 391-412; "L'office de
l'Asmatikos Orthros ('matines chantees') de l'ancien Euchologe 80n these books see the bibliography in Taft, loc. cit.; also
byzantin," OCP 47 (1981), 122-57; "L'office de la veillee noc- idem, The Great Entrance, 2nd ed., OCA 200 (Rome, 1978),
turne dans l'Eglise grecque et dans l'Eglise russe," OCP 42 xxxi-xxxviii.
(1976), 117-55, 402-25; "N. D. Uspensky: The Office of the 9Description in A. Strittmatter, "The 'Barberinum S. Marci'
All-Night Vigil in the Greek Church and in the Russian of Jacques Goar,"EphL 47 (1933), 329-67; critical edition by A.
Church," St. Vladimir'sTheological Quarterly24 (1980), 83-113, Jacob is in preparation for ST.
169-95 (trans. of the previous title); ed., Le Typicondu Monastare '0J. Mateos, "Un horologion inedit de S. Sabas: Le Codex
du Saint-Sauveur &Messine: CodexMessinensisGr. 115, A.D. 1131, sinaitique grec 863 (IXe siecle)," Mdlanges E. Tisserant, III, ST
OCA 185 (Rome, 1969). On the asmatikeakolouthiasee also C. 233 (Vatican City, 1964), 47-76; Sr. Maxime (Leila) Ajjout, Basi-
Hannick, "Etude sur l'akolouthia asmatike (avec quatre fi- lienne Choueirite, Le CodexSinaiticus Gr. 864 (IXCs.). Horologion,
gures),"JOB 19 (1970), 243-60; 0. Strunk, "The Byzantine Of- I: Introduction et traductionfranfaise, II: Textegrec et index, diss.
fice at Hagia Sophia," DOP 9-10 (1955-56), 175-202. For a (Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome, 1986). This important dis-
complete bibliography see R. Taft, "Select Bibliography on the sertation, directed by M. Arranz, will be published in SC. Cf.
Byzantine Liturgy of the Hours," OCP 48 (1982), 358-70. also Arranz, "Les grandes 6tapes," 57.

MOUNT ATHOS: THE BYZANTINE RITE 181
This double tradition is confirmed by the exis- The other Byzantine liturgical psalter is the
tence of two distinct Byzantine liturgical psalters. VaXtig(tLov) or Jerusalem psalter, called "of the
A liturgical psalter is not just the biblical psalter or Anastasis."7 Its 150 psalms in 4,882 verses are di-
150 psalms as found in the Bible-in this case, ac- vided into twenty sections with three groups,
cording to the Greek Septuagint text. It is, rather, called oTdoteLg or 66?at, of (ideally) three psalms
the biblical text arranged in liturgical units accord- each.'8 Here, too, biblical canticles, eleven of those
ing to the exigencies of a particular liturgical tra- found in the odes of the antiphonarion, are
dition. How these units are then distributed grouped into a "canon" of nine "odes" to form an
throughout the offices of the liturgical cycle is appendix to the psalmody.'9 This Palestinian litur-
called the pensum or quota of psalmody: so many
units per office, per day, per week, according to the
season. psaltiri IX veka iz sobranija A. I. Chludova v Moskve (Moscow,
1878); Marfa V. Svepkina, "Issledovanie licevogo kodeksa IX v.
The antiphonarion or liturgical psalter of the ca- (Chlud. 129-d)," Slavia 36 (1967), 601-4; and esp. the facsimile
thedral office of the Great Church-the &o`0taulx1
edition, idem, Miniatjury ChludovskojPsaltyri: Greceskijilljustriro-
vannyj kodeksIX veka (Moscow, 1977). N. Malickij seems to have
axokovOCa or "sung office," as it was called- been the first to recognize the cathedral character of this psal-
grouped the biblical psalter into antiphons of ter, in his study "Le psautier byzantin A illustrations marginales
psalms, seventy-four or seventy-six depending on du type Chludov est-il de provenance monastique?" L'art byzan-
the manuscript." Sixty-eight of these antiphons, tin chezles Slaves, 2me recueil, Orient et Byzance 5 (Paris, 1932),
235-43.
comprising 140 of the 150 psalms, 0. Strunk '7"Psalter" is also used for the antiphonarion: cf. Mateos, Ty-
called "The Distributed Psalter,"because they were picon, II, 327-28. In liturgy, as elsewhere, Byzantine technical
terms are multiple and fluid.
movable, distributed throughout the offices ac-
'18See the tables in La prikredes heures: QQok6yLov,La pri re
cording to a set cycle.'2 The rest of the antiphons des Eglises de rite byzantin 1 (Chevetogne, 1975), Appendice
pertained to the ordinary and had a fixed place in II: Composition des cathismes du psautier (pp. 481-83); Repar-
the structure of certain hours.13 The psalms of this tition des cathismes du psautier (pp. 483-85).
'gThe odes of both psalters are as follows:
psalter were subdivided into 2,542 verses, each of
which was followed by a refrain.14 In addition, the Constantinople Jerusalem
(Chludov 129 A)
antiphonarion appended to the biblical psalms 1. Ex 15:1-19 1
fifteen "odes," all biblical canticles save two, the 2. Dt 32:1-43 2
3. 1 Kings (= 1 Sam) 2:1-10 3
eighth and fifteenth.'5 These odes were also dis- 4. Hab 3:1-19 4
tributed throughout the hours according to a set 5. Is 26:9-20 5
6. Jonah 2:3-10
system. The earliest extant manuscript of the an- 7. Is 38:10-20
6
tiphonarion is the famous Lobkov or Chludov 8. "Prayer of Manasse"
Psalter in the ninth-century Moscow Gosudarst- 9. Dan 3:26-45(?) 7: Dan 3:26-56
10. Dan 3:52-56(?)
vennyj Ordena Lenina Istori'eskij Muzej Codex 11. Dan 3:57-88 8
129A.'16
12. Lk 1:46-55 (Magnificat) 9: Lk 1:46-55, 68-79
13. Lk 1:68-79 (Benedictus) Lk 1:46-55, 68-79
14. Lk 2:29-32 (Nunc dimittis)
" On the psalter of the asmatikosoffice see M. Arranz, "L'of- 15. Gloria in excelsisand Kataxioson -
fice de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos, IIe partie: La psalmodie," OCP
44 (1978), 391-419; also idem, "Les prieres sacerdotales des (Dignare, domine)
vepres byzantines," 109-122; "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," Since the Nunc dimittisand Gloria with Kataxiosonare found,
137-46; Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia," 175- respectively, in vespers and matins (lauds) of the Byzantine
202. monastic office, which uses the Jerusalem psalter (R. Taft, The
'2Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia," 180-202 Liturgyof theHours in East and West:The Origins of theDivine Office
passim, esp. 200-201. The distribution of psalms in the asmati- and Its Meaning for Today[Collegeville, Minn., 1986], 279, 281);
kos psalter is attributed to Patriarch Anthimos (535-536); Ar- and the nonbiblical "Prayer of Manasse" is used in Great Comp-
ranz, "Les grandes 6tapes," 50. line of the same tradition (La priere des heures, 446-47; Greek
13Strunk loc. cit., and, in greater detail, the articles of Arranz text as ode 12 in A. Rahlfs, ed., Septuaginta, 8th ed. [Stuttgart,
cited above, note 11. 1965], II, 180-81); only ode 7 of the Constantinopolitan list is
,4For the verse count here and in the Palestinian psalter be- not common to both systems.
low, I am indebted to M. Arranz. For the refrains, see the works The above list of Chludov odes is Arranz's reconstruction
cited above, note 11. ("L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 140 note 36) on the basis of
'5See below, note 19. the description of Arch. Amfilochij (pp. 15-16) and the facsim-
'60n this ms. see Archimandrit Amfilochij (Sergievskij), Ar- ile edition of Sepkina (fols. 148v-164v), both cited above, note
cheologiceskijazametkigreceskojpsaltiri, pisannoj v konce IX veka i 16. Rahlfs, Septuaginta, II, 164-83, gives the Greek text of all
perepisannojpoWtivsej v XII vekes miniatjuramiX-XII veka, prinad- the odes, dividing them into Novem odae ecclesiaegraecae (the Je-
lezascejdejstvitel'nomutlenu ObeiestvaDrevnerusskagoIskusstvapri rusalem nine-ode canon) and Odae aliae (the rest). This results
RumjancevskomMoskovskomMuzee i drugich Obsestv A. N. Lobkovu in an arbitrary numbering of the odes that does not correspond
... (Moscow, 1866); N. P. Kondakov, Miniatjurygredeskojrukopisi to either liturgical system.

182 ROBERT E TAFT, S.J.
gical psalter would be adopted as the Byzantine tan and hagiopolite usages adds to the more sober,
monastic psalter and is the only one still in use in desert prayer of Palestine a ritual solemnity to give
the Byzantine liturgy today. Its earliest manu- it what Arranz calls "a strong Byzantine coloration,
script, Leningrad 216, dates from 862.20 In this a certain taste for the cathedral traditions, an im-
codex the twenty major divisions of the psalter are portance assigned to chant to the detriment of the
not yet called kathismata,since that was originally psalter, etc."26--all of which would become per-
the name of the poetry chanted after each set of manent characteristics of the Byzantine hours.
three doxai. Meanwhile, with the completion of the synaxar-
ion or cycle of fixed feasts in Constantinople by the
THE STUDITE SYNTHESIS ninth century,27 from then through the twelfth
How these traditions meld into one is the history century the series of offices for these feasts (later
of the present Byzantine Rite. To understand how gathered in the menaion) is composed and added
to the already existing weekly (oktoechos) and pas-
this all began we must turn to Constantinople at
chal (triodion, pentekostarion) propers of the mo-
the beginning of the ninth century. It is only with
bile cycle that revolves around the date of Easter.28
the iconoclast struggle and its aftermath that Byz-
It is only in this period, at the beginning of the
antine monks begin to play a significant role in the
second millennium, that typika begin to appear, at
government of the Church of Constantinople2' first rudimentary, to regulate the interference
and in the history of its liturgy. In 799 some monks
of these three conflicting cycles of the proper.29
of Sakkoudion in Bithynia take refuge in the cap-
In Byzantine monasticism the earliest instances
ital and install themselves in the dying Monastery are the Hypotyposisof Stoudios30and, from Mount
of Stoudios. From this momentous event their ab-
bot St. Theodore (d. 826) acquired the sobriquet Athos, its closely related descendant, the Hypoty-
posis of Athanasius of the GreatLaura.31
by which he is known to us.22 He summoned to the
capital some monks of St. Sabas to help combat THE STUDITE RITE ON MOUNT ATHOS
iconoclasm, for in the Sabaitic chants Theodore
discerned a sure guide of orthodoxy, he writes to The Hypotyposisof St. Athanasius theAthonite
Patriarch Thomas of Jerusalem.23 So it was the of-
It is at this point that Mount Athos enters litur-
fice of St. Sabas, not the axokov1Oa ?Tbv
axot~tiioTv
then currently in use in the monasteries of Con- gical history, when Athanasius the Athonite adopts
the Studite rule and succeeds in instituting ceno-
stantinople,24 which the monks of Stoudios would bitism definitively at Lavra after the death of Em-
synthesize with material from the asmatike ako-
louthia or cathedral office of the Great Church to
create a hybrid "Studite" office,25 the ancestor of 26"Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines, II: Les
the one that has come down to us to this day: a manuscrits," OCP 38 (1972), 85.
Palestinian horologion with its psalmody and 27Mateos, Typicon,I.
28Arranz, "Les grandes etapes," 52-63.
hymns grafted onto a skeleton of litanies and their 29Ibid., 59-70. On the nature of the typikon, a term of mo-
collects from the euchology of the Great Church. nastic vintage, see 62-63, and idem, "L'office de l'Asmatikos
Like the fusion of Anglo-Saxon and French in the Hesperinos," OCP 44 (1978), 401-2. Older Russian studies of
the typikon, while still retaining considerable value, require up-
formation of English, this unlikely mongrel would dating on the basis of Arranz's far more nuanced conclusions:
stand the test of time. I. Mansvetov, Cerkovnyjustav (Tipik), ego obrazovaniei sud'ba v
This new Studite synthesis of Constantinopoli- greceskoji russkojcerkvi (Moscow, 1885), with the important re-
view by A. Dmitrievskij in Christianskoe&tenie(1888), no. 2, 480-
576; M. Skaballanovic, TolkovyjTipikon,Ob'jasnitel'noeizlozenieTi-
20Arranz, "Les grandes 6tapes," 57-58. pikona s istoriteskimvvedeniem,3 vols. (Kiev, 1910-15); A. Schme-
21H. G.
Beck, Das byzantinischeJahrtausend (Munich, 1978), mann, Introductionto Liturgical Theology(New York, 1966).
210-11. 30Edited from the 13th-14th-c. codex Vatopedi 322 (956) by
22See J. Leroy, "La r6forme studite," IIlmonachesimoorientale, A. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie liturgiceskichrukopisej
chranjagtichsjav
OCA 153 (Rome, 1958), 181-214; further bibliography in Taft, bibliotekachpravoslavnago vostoka, 3 vols. (Kiev, 1895, 1901; Pe-
"Select Bibliography," 358-59. trograd, 1917), I, xii-xxxi, 224-38, with variants from Vatican
23Ep. II, 15, PG 99, cols. 1160-64; also II, 16, PG 99, cols. gr. 2029 (= A. Mai, Nova patrum bibliotheca,V.4 (Rome, 1849),
1164-68. Cf. N. Egender, "Introduction," La prikre des heures, 111-25 and PG 99, cols. 1704-20, which Bertoniere, Easter
36. Vigil, 165-66, says is an older redaction, closer to the Athana-
24On these "sleepless monks" and their office see Taft, "Select sian typikon (see the following note). I am indebted to Prof.
Bibliography," nos. 3, 9, 19, 20, 23-26, 79. Timothy Miller for making available to me his version of this
25Arranz, "La liturgie des heures selon l'ancien Euchologe text, prepared for the Dumbarton Oaks typika project.
byzantin," 2, calls this the "tradition of the Byzantine West" 31Editions from codex Iviron 754 (228), 16th c.:
Dmitrievskij,
(Athos, Georgia, Rus', S. Italy) to distinguish it from the neo- Opisanie, I, 246-56; P. Meyer, Die Haupturkundenfiir die Ge-
Sabaitic Palestinian monastic usage treated below. schichte der Athoskloster(Leipzig, 1894), 130-40. On these edi-

peror Nikephoras II Phokas, 11 December 969.32 of the Great Lavra, and refers to Athanasius'
Theodore of Stoudios apparently wrote no rule conversion to cenobitism.38
himself, but in his Great Catechesis,I, 1 and 33, he 3. The AtarIt6oa tg or last will and testament of
refers to the xav6v of the cenobitic life as well as Athanasius, written sometime after December
to a Diatyposisof Theodosiusthe Cenobiarch(Cat., I, 53 984 (Lemerle), or perhaps even later than Sep-
and Carm., III, 40), and after his death the Studite tember 993 (Noret), and before the author's
rule or Hypotyposis was codified by his followers.33 death in the first years of the eleventh century.39
For the beginnings of this cenobitic movement on
The liturgical information in the Vitae,especially
Athos we have the two Vitae of St. Athanasius,34 as
Vita B, 26, is too general and mostly descriptive to
well as the three writings attributed to him, listed
be of much use to us except to confirm that orthros
here in chronological order:35
began, as now, with the doxa versicle of Luke
1. The or rule, the Urtext of which 2:14.40 But the Hypotyposis is another matter.
'YnoTr-i0Wotg
was composed by Athanasius soon after the Though copied in later manuscripts as simply a
foundation of the Lavra in 962-963.36 continuation of the Testament,41 the earliest codex
2. The Tow tx6v or Kavovtx6v, written during the with the Hypotyposis, the eleventh-century Lavra
reign of Emperor John I Tzimiskes (11 Decem- Skeuophylakion 1, gives it separately under the
ber 969-10 January 976).37 This is the charter lemma that summarizes well its contents: "On the
sacred offices, on the quantity of food and drink,
on the discipline at table, and on certain other
rules and counsels."42
tions and the mss. consulted see Bertonieire, Easter Vigil, 165-
66. To these early Byzantine monastic sources one could also The present redaction of the Hypotyposis is
add the rudimentary Typosof St. Sabas in codex Sinai gr. 1096, from the Lavra within a generation of Athanasius,
ed. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, I, 222-24 and E. Kunz, BZ 3 (1894), and it clearly represents his heritage.43 For in both
167-70. I am grateful to my confrere Prof. George Dennis, S.J.
for making available to me his version of the Athonite Hypoty- his Typikon and Diatyposis Athanasius alludes to
posis prepared for the Dumbarton Oaks typika project. his authorship of a rule,44 and the abandonment
S2VitaA, 114-28, esp. 123, ed. J. Noret, Vitae duae antiquae of so venerated a founder's patrimony shortly after
Sancti AthanasiiAthonitae, CCSG 9 (Turnhout, 1982), 54-62. See
J. Leroy, "La conversion de St. Athanase l'Athonite a l'ideal c&-
his demise would hardly have gone unchallenged
nobitique et l'influence studite," Le millinaire du Mont-Athos(note and unnoticed in the annals of the Holy Mountain!
I above), I, 101-20. Further bibliography on Studite life and
The first part of this precious document, our
liturgy in Taft, "Select Bibliography."
33
Leroy, "La reforme studite," 208-9, and notes 218, 220 (see
earliest source for the liturgy at the origins of
p. 186 note 43 on Leroy's system of referring to the Catecheses; Athonite cenobitism, manifests in every place its
where no edition is cited, the Catechesisin question is unedited). unmistakable dependence on the Studite Hypoty-
Cf. also I, 14 in A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, ed., Too 60oCov
tTovuiiTou MEydkXrKaTrXfalg (St. Petersburg,
ToO posis, of which, indeed, it is simply a light Athonite
Eo•i~Qov
1904), 95. On the confusing issue of Theodore's Greatand Little retouching of no substantial import in the history
Catecheses,which still await a critical edition, see J. Leroy, "Les of Byzantine liturgical development.45
Petites Catecheses de S. Theodore Studite," Le Musion 71
(1958), 329-58. More important for the history of the liturgy is
34Ed. Noret (above, note 32). On the relative precedence of
the Vitae see ibid., chap. 3 and the review by J. Darrouzbs, REB 38Meyer, Haupturkunden, 115.
42 (1984), 305; also P. Lemerle, "Chronologie de Lavra des ori- 39Ibid., 123-30; Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, I, 246-56. For the
'
gines 1204," in idem, A. Guillou, N. Svoronis, and D. Papa- date, Lemerle, Lavra, I, 20; Noret, "La Vie la plus ancienne,"
chryssanthou, eds., Actes de Lavra, I: Des origines &1204, Texte, 564. Noret notes (ibid., 565) that the Diatyposis is cited in Vita
Archives de l'Athos 5 (Paris, 1970), 24-30 (hereafter Lavra, I). A 214:4-9 (ed. Noret, 105 = Meyer, Haupturkunden, 124:10-
Noret and Darrouz6s opt with Lemerle, against Leroy and J. 15).
Mossay, for the priority of A. A. Kazhdan argues against the 40Ed. Noret, 154.
absolute priority of A and raises the possibility of an Urvita as 41Cf. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, I, 238-46, 246-56.
source of both A and B ("Hagiographical Notes," Byz 53 [1983], 42Meyer, Haupturkunden, 272.
538-44). 43Leroy, "S. Athanase l'Athonite et la Regle de S. Benoit," 113
s50n these documents and their relation to one another and ff.
to Vita A, see J. Noret, "La Vie la plus ancienne de S. Athanase 44Meyer, Haupturkunden, 115:21-116:9, 124:20 ff. Lemerle
l'Athonite confrontee aux ecrits laisses par le saint," AB 100 takes both texts as referring to the Hypotyposis (Lavra, I, 21).
(1982), 545-66; Lemerle, Lavra, I, 13-22; J. Leroy, "S. Atha- 45Leroy, "S. Athanase l'Athonite et la Regle de S. Benoit,"
nase l'Athonite et la Reigle de S. Benoit," Revue d'ascetiqueet de 115, gives some examples that show the sort of process under
mystique29 (1953), 111 ff. way here. Vita B, 26 (cf. A, 84) attributes to Athanasius the in-
36Editions cited above, note 31; for the date of the Hypoty- stitution of two epistimonarchoi, one for each choir; of an
posis see Noret, "La Vie la plus ancienne," 547, against Lemerle, &ufrnvCnitlqg to keep the monks awake during the offices; and of
Lavra, I, 21; for the foundation of Lavra, ibid., 36. porters to control the traffic in and out of church and keep the
"7Ed. Meyer, Haupturkunden, 102-22. For the date see Noret, monks from leaving the services early. It is such minor prescrip-
"La Vie la plus ancienne," 551-52, against Lemerle, Lavra, I, 17, tions that distinguish the Athanasian Hypotyposis (Meyer,
who argues for ca. 973-975. Haupturkunden, 135) from its Studite sources.

the development in this same period of the full twelfth century, as witness the Typikonof S. Salvatore
Studite typikon to regulate the synthesis of Sabaitic of Messina (A.D. 1131) edited by my colleague
and Constantinopolitan practices. This fusion, Miguel Arranz, S.J.53
completed by the twelfth century, will spread to
Athos and as far as Italy, and even to the monas- From Hagiopolites to Hagiorites. Georgiaand the
teries of Palestine.46 Still extant typika of Southern AthoniteConnection
Italy, Russia, Georgia, and Athos remain as mon-
uments to this shortlived Studite Golden Age, soon The earliest evidence for the developed Studite
to give way to another wave of Sabaitic influence.47 usage on Mount Athos comes from Iviron. Arab
incursions into Palestine in the ninth and tenth
The first developed Studite typikon48 was com-
centuries disrupt once again the monastic life that
posed by Alexis, patriarch from 1025-43 and ear- had flowered anew in the renaissance following
lier hegumen of Stoudios, for the monastery he
founded near Constantinople.49 It is this typikon, the Persian onslaught of 614, and "at the end of
extant only in Slavonic,50 that St. Theodosius Pe- the tenth century the center of Georgian literary
activity shifts from Palestine to Athos. The Athon-
cerskij translated into Slavonic in the eleventh cen- ite Iviron Lavra becomes the source from which
tury and introduced as the rule of the Kievo-
the new, fresh current of liturgical life pours into
Peterskaja Lavra or Monastery of the Caves in
Kiev, cradle of Orthodox monasticism among the Georgia."54
East Slavs.51 From Ukraine it passed to the whole
of Rus' and Muscovy. There are six extant Slavonic 1. St. Euthymius55
manuscripts of this document, dating from the Iviron, first Iberian monastery on Athos, was
eleventh to fifteenth centuries.52 This same usage thrust into liturgical history by its second abbot,
appears in Magna Graecia at the beginning of the Euthymius, hegumen from 1005-16 and founder
of the Athonite Georgian literary movement. He
completed most of his prodigious literary activity
46Arranz, "Les grandes etapes," 63 ff; "Les prieres presbyt6- before his abbacy, though he resumed it from his
rales des matines byzantines," OCP 38 (1972), 85 ff, 91 note 2; retirement until his death on 13 May 1028.56
"Les prieres presbyterales des Petites Heures dans l'ancien Eu-
chologe byzantin," 81; "L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos"
It is with this movement that we first encounter
109-16 (all cited above, note 7). Also A. Baumstark, "Denk- a major Athonite role in the history of Byzantine
miler der Entstehungsgeschichte des byzantinischen Ritus," OC liturgy. For it is precisely in the eleventh century,
24 = ser. 3, vol. 2 (1927), 22 ff.
47Arranz, "Les prieres presbytdrales des matines byzantines," through the influence of Iviron, that we see clear
OCP 38 (1972), 85. evidence of the Byzantinization of Georgian lit-
48On the Studite-type typikon mss. see Arranz, "Les grandes
urgy.57Not of course that there were no Byzantine
etapes," 64-65; Bertoniere, Easter Vigil, 163-220; and passim
in the articles of Arranz cited in note 7.
49Balsamon (PG 137, cols. 1041-43) says "Patriarch Lord 53 Typicon(cited above, note 7).
Alexis built the monastery called 'of the Lord Alexis'," and that 54 K. Kekelidze, Liturgiceskiegruzinskiepamjatniki v otelestven-
is how R. Janin identifies it in La geographieeccltsiastiquede l'em- nych i ich naulnoe znac'enie(Tiflis, 1908), 478.
pire byzantin,IsrePartie, tome III: Les ggliseset les monasttres(Paris, knigochranilis:ach
On Georgian monks in Palestine see ibid., 23, 61-64, 185; also
1969), 19. Mansvetov, Cerkovnyjustav, 118, on the basis of the G. Peradze, "An Account of the Georgian Monks and Monaster-
Slavonic mss. of the typikon, says it was named Dormition (vo ies in Palestine as Revealed in the Writings of Non-Georgian
imja Uspenija Boziej Matere) according to Moscow Synod Slav Pilgrims," Georgica 1, nos. 4-5 (1937), 181-237.
333/381 (A.D. 1398), fol. 82v, and Theotokos (vo imja Bozestven- 55On Euthymius and his work, see M. Tarchnilvili and J. AB-
nyja Matere), in the 12th-13th-c. Moscow Synod Slav 330/380, falg, Geschichteder kirchlichengeorgischenLiteratur,ST 185 (Vati-
fol. 196v. But Janin (pp. 156-244) knows no Koimesis monas- can City, 1955), 126-54; Vita of John and Euthymius in I. V.
tery, nor does he associate any of the innumerable Theotokos Abuladze et al., eds., Jveli k'artculiagiograpciuliliteraturisjeglebi,
monasteries of the capital with Alexis' foundation. II (Tbilisi, 1967); Latin version, P. Peeters, "Histoires monas-
50oM.Lisicyn, Pervonacal'nyjslavjano-russkijTipikon:Istoricesko- tiques georgiennes," AB 36-37 (1917-19), 8-68; French trans.,
archeologiceskoeizsledovanie(St. Petersburg, 1911); Skaballanovi', Irenikon 6 (1929), 767-84; 7 (1930), 50-67, 181-96, 448-60.
TolkovyjTipikon,I, 399-401; Bertoni re, Easter Vigil, 167. 56 Vita, 24-26, 75; Tarchni'vili-Affalg, Geschichte,128-29; on
51See the Povest' vremennychlet for 1051, ed. D. S. Lichacev, Iviron see ibid., 70-72, and esp. J. Lefort, "Histoire du monas-
east' pervaja: Teksti perevod (Moscow-Leningrad, 1950), 107;
tiere d'Iviron, des origines jusqu'au milieu du XIe sie'cle," in
Eng. trans. in S. H. Cross and 0. P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor, TheRus- idem, N. Oikonomides, D. Papachryssanthou, and H. Metreveli,
sian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text, Mediaeval Academy of eds., Actes d'Iviron, I: Texte,Archives de l'Athos 14 (Paris, 1985),
America Pub. 60 (Cambridge, Mass., n.d.), 142; and the Vita of 3-91 (hereafter Iviron, I).
Theodosius for the year 1064, in O. A. Knjazevskaja, V. G.
57Though much has been written on various aspects of the
Dem'janov, M. V. Ljapon, and S. I. Kotkov, eds., Uspenskijsbor- pre-Byzantine Iberian liturgy, there is no general synthesis. Es-
nik XII-XIII vv. (Moscow, 1971), 89. I am grateful to my col-
pecially useful among recent studies is the overview of M. van
league Prof. Sophia Senyk, O.S.B.M., for these references. Cf. Esbroeck, "Eglise georgienne des origines au Moyen Age," BK
Skaballanovi?, TolkovyjTipikon,I, 399-400. 40 (1982), 186-99, esp. 195-96; to which must be added his
52Arranz, "Les grandes etapes," 65 note 34, lists them. "Le manuscrit sinaitique g6orgien 34 et les publications recentes

elements in Iberian usage before this date, but From the list of books Euthymius is credited
as M. Tarchnilvili and J. ABfalg affirm: "To the with translating, one can see the new synthesis
[Georgian] monks of Mount Athos is due the under way: not only does he translate the synax-
honor of having created practically all the biblical arion (i.e., typikon) and the Constantinopolitan
and liturgical textus recepti still in use among the euchology, but also the prayers and hours of the
Georgians. Their influence on the whole life of the Palestinian horologion.62 The typikon was doubt-
Church, her culture and tradition, was so lasting less a redaction of the Athanasian Diatyposis. Ivi-
and so general that Georgian Christianity since the ron was closely linked to the Great Laura, where
eleventh century is hardly conceivable apart from Euthymius and his father John the Iberian, first
the Athonite school."'58 hegumen of Iviron (979/80-1005),63 were received
A reflection of the import and success of this by Athanasius himself ca. 963-969,64 and became
momentous change of liturgical tradition, as well such favored disciples that in his Diatyposis Atha-
as a precise confirmation of its dating, is found in nasius names them successive trustees (ir(TQonog)
the Questions and Responses of Euthymius, num- of Lavra, to oversee the choice of his successor as
ber 6: hegumen after his death.65
Question:What about the Liturgyof James?Is it au-
thentic or not? 2. The Synaxarionand Lectionaryof St. George
Answer:The Liturgy of James is indeed authentic, MtCacmindeli
and originally was in use in the Greek Churchesand
among us [Georgians].But since St. Basil and Blessed But our most important Athonite liturgical doc-
John Chrysostomcomposed their liturgies, the faith- ument after the Athanasian Hypotyposis is a typi-
ful preferred these because of their brevity.The Lit- kon from the hand of George III Mtcacmindeli (ca.
urgy of James has fallen into oblivion, and all now 1009-d. 29 June 1065), that is, "the Hagiorite"
make use of the Liturgy of Chrysostom,or in Lent
that of Basil.59 (from Mt'acminda, "The Holy Mountain"), eighth
hegumen of Iviron from ca. 1044 until his resig-
It is obvious what is behind all this. The Byzan- nation in 1056.66 His typikon, the so-called Synax-
tine takeover has disturbed Euthymius' interlocu- arion of George Mtcacmindeli, is extant in several
tor,60leading him to question the legitimacy of the Georgian manuscripts, the earliest of which are
older hagiopolite Georgian tradition in the face of the eleventh-century codices Tiflis A-97 and
contemporary Byzantine hagiorite usage. Euthy- A-193, along with Sinai Georgian 4.67 Based on a
mius' answer reflects exactly the relative prece-
Constantinopolitan Greek original that Bertoniere
dence of the Constantinopolitan anaphoras at the dates before 906, it was translated between 1042
turn of the century, when Chrysostom gained the and 1044 when George was dekanoz(dean, i.e., ec-
upper hand over Basil to assume primacy as
the main liturgy of the capital, and as first text in
the new Constantinopolitan recension of the eu- dent, Lex Orandi 47 (Paris, 1970), 111-13; and more fully in
idem, Histoire du formulaire grec de la Liturgie de S. Jean Chrysos-
chology.61 tome, diss. (Louvain, 1968), 43-56, where he cites Euthymius in
this context (54).
62Vita, 25 and Tarchnilvili-ABfalg, Geschichte, 131-53, esp.
150-51. K. S. Kekelidze found a fragment of Euthymius' Syn-
de liturgie palestinienne," OCP 46 (1980), 125-41; idem, "Les axarion in codex Tiflis Ecclesiastical Archeological Museum
manuscrits de Jean Zosime Sin. 34 et Tsagareli 81," BK 39 648, which he describes at length: lerusalimskijkanonar VII veka
(1981), 63-75; idem, "L'Hymnaire de Michel Modrekili et son (Gruzinskajaversija) (Tiflis, 1912), 38-39, 297-310.
sanctoral (Xe sikcle)," BK 38 (1980), 113-30; H. Metreveli, "Die 63Not, however, the founder: see Lefort, Iviron, I, 19 ff, 93.
georgischen Liturgie-Handschriften des 9. u. 10. Jahrhunderts 64Ibid., 20.
und ihre Bedeutung fur die Erforschung der byzantinischen 65Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, I, 240; Meyer, Haupturkunden, 124-
Hymnographie," in H. Voigt, ed., XX. DeutschenOrientalistentag, 25. On this question see Lemerle, Lavra, I, 19-21, 45-46.
ZDMG Suppl. 4 (Wiesbaden, 1980), 161-69; A. Wade, "The 660n George and his works see Lefort, Iviron, I, 50 ff, 94;
Oldest ladgari: TheJerusalem Tropologion, V-VIII c.," OCP 50 Tarchnilvili-ABfalg, Geschichte,154-74; Vita, ed. Abuladze (note
(1984), 451-56; and the literature they refer to. 55 above), II, and Peeters, "Histoires monastiques g6or-
58Geschichte,72; for earlier Byzantine liturgical influence, see giennes," 69-159.
p. 35. Cf. G. Peradse, "L'activit6litt6raire des moines georgiens 67On this typikon and its mss., sources, date, etc., see M. van
au monastere d'Iviron, au Mont Athos," RHE 23 (1927), 530- Esbroeck, "L'empereur Jean Tzimisces dans le calendrier de
39. Georges l'Athonite," BK 41 (1983), 68-69; Bertoniere, Easter
59G. Peradse, "Ein Dokument aus der mittelalterlichen Litur- Vigil, 115, 136, 141-43, 169-71; Kekelidze, Liturgiceskiegruzin-
giegeschichte Georgiens," Kyrios 1 (1936), 77. skie pamjatniki,483-506. Kekelidze gives a Russian trans. of the
60On the problem of who this was, see Tarchnigvili-A1falg, text from A-193 (ibid., 228-72) with the missing lenten-Easter-
Geschichte,330-31. Pentecost cycle filled in from the 12th-c. codex Tbilisi A-222
61A. Jacob, "La tradition manuscrite de la Liturgie de S. Jean (ibid., 272-313). The Georgian text is edited by E. Gabidzach-
Chrysostome (VIIIj-XIIe siecles), Eucharisties d'orient et d'occi- vili in Abuladze (note 55 above), IV (Tbilisi, 1968).

clesiarch) of Iviron before becoming hegumen. Its gian the Byzantine lectionary, of which manu-
title, Synaxarion, is enough to betray its Constantin- scripts such as the contemporary Iviron Georgian
opolitan antecedents. It is actually a complete ty- 60, copied on Athos itself in 1043, are still extant.
pikon of the Studite heritage, dependent on the It is from the same century, too, that our earliest
Hypotyposis of Stoudios and the Diatyposis of extant Georgian version of the Chrysostom liturgy
Athanasius, but filled out with a sanctoral (synax- dates, Sinai Georgian 89, a Palestinian monastic
arion) derived from the Typikonof the Great Church, manuscript, which shows how fast the movement
an influence also reflected in the Holy Saturday affected the Georgian monasteries of the Holy
and Easter celebrations. Land.72
George's Vita Euthymii, 80, 83-84, also written
before 1044, already reflects the conflict between Characteristicsof the Studite Cursus
Byzantine hagiorite and older hagiopolite Iberian It has become a topos for modern scholars sol-
usages,68 and with his typikon there is no longer
emnly to inform us that there was no such thing as
any doubt to whom the victory will go. This ex- a religious order in Byzantium. But the Studite
tremely important document is the earliest extant confederation of nearly a thousand members in
detailed description of liturgical life on Athos. It
half a dozen monasteries under one rule and, what
shows that the earliest hagiorite liturgy is based on
is more important, under the complete jurisdiction
Studite usage, which by the time of our text was
of the abbot of Stoudios, was as much like an or-
already an amalgam of Sabaitic uses (Phas hilaron der, call it what you will, as anything in the contem-
at vespers, Palestinian orthros with canon, etc.)
with the rite of the Great Church. Indeed, as porary West.73 Cenobitism means not just life to-
gether, but commonlife, that is, life under the same
Bertonieire has hypothesized, the sparse liturgi- rule, and it was the Studite cenobitic rule and its
cal material in the earlier Athonite Hypotyposis
and Diatyposis is so rudimentary probably be- liturgy that St. Athanasius adopted for his laura.
What are some of the characteristics of this Stu-
cause the needed material was already available
to the monks in the liturgical books of the Great dite-hagiorite usage in the foundational period of
Athonite monasticism? Nikon of the Black Moun-
Church.69 This is especially true for the Divine Lit-
tain puts his finger on the main issue when he tells
urgy. Only with the massive infusion of Sabaitic us in his Taktikon,I, 20, that his typikon does not
elements into the monastic offices of Stoudios, and
have the Sabaitic all-night vigil for Sundays and
the explosion of poetic compositions, do we see the
feasts but follows rather the Studite and Athonite
gradual formation of anthologies of the proper horarium of compline, mesonyktikon, and or-
(oktoechos, triodion, pentekostarion, menaion) to
accommodate this new material, necessitating, in thros, in accord with the Ascetica of Basil, the Vita
of Pachomius, and the usage of Stoudios and the
turn, complex typika to control the interference of
rest of the ancient coenobia: "It is necessary to
the conflicting cycles.70
know that according to the former typikon [of the
G6rard Garitte has shown this same shift from
Holy Fathers] there is no agrypnia the whole night
hagiopolite to hagiorite usage reflected in the
through, neither on feasts nor on Sunday, but
manuscripts of the Iberian lectionary tradition.7" rather the order of the ritual (akolouthia) at the
The earliest Georgian manuscripts of the lection-
time of apodeipnon and of mesonyktikon and of
ary follow the ancient lection system of Jerusalem, orthros according to the Typikon of Stoudios and
before the Byzantinization of hagiopolite usage in
of the Holy Mountain and, in a word, according to
the second millennium. But by the first half of the
the custom of the cenobitic diataxeis."
eleventh century, George had translated into Geor-
So the difference between Studite and Sabaitic
usage concerns mainly the order of night prayer,
68Peeters, "Histoires monastiques gdorgiennes," 60-61, 63- and Nikon indicates the basis for this difference
64; for the date cf. G. Garitte in Le Musion 71 (1958), 58.
69EasterVigil, 171. when he cites his sources, all cenobitic. Psalmody
70Arranz, "Les grandes 6tapes," 52-63. and vigils were the core of the prayer of the Pales-
71G. Garitte, "Analyse d'un lectionnaire byzantino-georgien
des 6vangiles (sin. gdorg. 74)," Le Musion 91 (1978), 150-52;
idem, "Un fragment d'evangdliaire gdorgien a la Bodl6ienne," 72A. Jacob, "Une version gdorgienne inedite de la Liturgie de
Le Musion 85 (1972), 144 and notes 17-18; R. B. Blake, "Cata- S. Jean Chrysostome," Le Musion 77 (1964), 65-119. On the
logue des manuscrits g6orgiens de la bibliotheque de la Laure Georgian monks of Sinai see Tarchnigvili-ABfalg, Geschichte,62-
d'Iviron au Mont Athos," ROC 9 (29) (1933-34), 249-50, no. 64, 69.
60. 73Statisticsfrom Leroy, "La reforme studite," 205-7.

tinian anchorites, and this agrypnia will be one of THE NEO-SABAITIC

SYNTHESIS
the main characteristics distinguishing the looser
As Anton Baumstark said, it is of the very nature
lavriote and hesychast organization from the tight
of liturgy to adapt itself to the circumstances of
cenobitism of the Studites, who, if we can believe
time and place.76 So the eleventh-century Palestin-
Nikon, had a lighter pensum of psalmody and fewer
ian monks did not just adopt the readily available
offices, as well as the effrontery to sleep at night.
Studite synthesis; they modified it to suit their
But although Nikon lists the differences between
needs. Their positioning of the agrypnia at the
the uses of Jerusalem and Stoudios, and insists that
head of the book, in place of the Easter Vigil,
a monk needs both typika to know the traditions
which opens the movable cycle of the liturgical
of the Fathers (I, 23), a close reading of the Takti-
kon, I, 1-23, makes it obvious that he is contrasting year and so is found at the head of Byzantine lec-
tionaries and Studite typika, doubtless betrays a
not two totally distinct traditions but two variant
conscious attempt at restoration. The agrypnia
uses of the same Palestinian rite. Both use the
had probably fallen into disuse during the fre-
same Palestinian psalter of twenty kathismata-they
quent disruptions of monastic life in Palestine. At
just distribute the pensum differently. Both have, at
orthros, stichera with lauds and aposticha, but the any rate this Palestinian vigil, which characterizes
the final generation of typika as first found in
hagiopolites omit the stichera on ferias. Further,
the Studites do not say little vespers before supper twelfth-century neo-Sabaitic manuscripts (Sinai
and great vespers after, as in the agrypnia, and gr. 1094, 1095, 1096, etc.), represents a return to
more austere monastic usage.77
there are differences in the use of the Great Dox-
ology at orthros, though Nikon is wrong in claim- The Agrypnia
ing that the Studite office doesn't have it at all
(I, 22).74 According to the Vita 32, it was Sabas himself
This issue of the night office will become a crux who first instituted at the laura that "there an
interpretumfor following the trail of later Sabaitic agrypnia be held, uninterruptedly from evening
infiltrations into the typika, where a taxonomy until morning, in both the churches [of the laura]
of the manuscripts is also demanded. A rule of on Sundays and dominical feasts."'78And his short
thumb is immediately available: some typika open testament, come down to us in a twelfth-century
with Easter, others begin with the weekly agrypnia manuscript, insists on the duty of all monks to
or all-night monastic vigil from Saturday night ves- come in from their solitude for the Saturday night
pers until Sunday eucharist.75 In other words, agrypnia.79
some follow the order of the temporal or mobile Palestinian monastic life was lavriote, not strictly
cycle of the Constantinopolitan church year, which cenobitic, "monk" was more ajob description than
begins with Easter orthros, whereas others, more a permanent address, and koinonia was a precari-
purely monastic and less concerned with the litur- ous business at best. The Saturday night agrypnia
gical cycles of the cathedral calendar, begin with was of great importance in this system: as in Lower
what is dearest to the monks, the most important Egypt, the brotherhood assembled for common
and characteristically monastic office of the weekly synaxes only on the weekend. The hundreds of
cycle, the vigil. The books that begin with Easter anchorites who lived in small groups or as solitar-
are Studite typika, books representing the Con- ies in scattered huts and grottoes came in from the
stantinopolitan monastic synthesis. Those that be-
gin with the agrypnia represent a later reworking
of this synthesis in the monasteries of the Judean 76Comparative Liturgy (Westminster, Md., 1958), 18.
77For a general history of the agrypnia see the lengthy article
desert between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, prob- by N. D. Uspenskij, "tin vsenoscnogo bdenija (HP agrypnia) na
pravoslavnom vostoke i v Russkoj Cerkvi," BogoslovskieTrudy18
ably in the period following the disruption of ha- (1978), 5-117, 19 (1978), 3-69. The chapters in vol. 18 cover
giopolite liturgy through the destruction of the the origins of the neo-Sabaitic agrypnia and its spread to Athos;
Cathedral of the Anastasis by Caliph in see also Arranz, "Les grandes 6tapes" 69; idem, "N. D. Uspen-
al-.Hakim
1009. Let us call this the neo-Sabaitic synthesis. sky: The Office of the All-Night Vigil," 174 ff. The term "agryp-
nia" alone betrays a Palestinian influence; the Constantinopoli-
tan term for vigil was "pannychis": Mateos, Typicon, II, 311;
Arranz, "Les pri4res presbyterales de la 'Pannychis'," OCP 40
74The Gloria in excelsisis not mentioned in the Hypotyposis, (1974), 314-15, 342-43; 41 (1975), 135 ff.
cf. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, I, 224-38, but other Studite typika 78Kyrillos von Skythopolis, Leben des Sabas, ed. E. Schwartz,
have it: see Arranz, Typicon,392. TU 49.2 (Leipzig, 1939), 118.
75Arranz, "Les grandes etapes," 64. 79Codex Sinai 1096, ed. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, I, 223.

wilderness for the vigil in droves, overflowing the Our Father

Church of St. Sabas into the courtyard and sur- Kyrieeleison50 times
Lesson from 1, 2, or 3 John
rounding chapels (the Armenians had their own)
so that the kXal at which bread was blessed and Nine Odes of BiblicalCanticles,with Our Father
distributed to sustain the brethren during their and Kyrieeleisonafter the 3rd and 6th
all-night watch had to be celebrated in several The Ainoi Pss 148-150
places.80 The overriding importance of the vigil in Gloriain excelsis
early anchoretic monasticism is confirmed by the Creed
fact that in the early monastic sources, visions dur- Our Father
ing monastic prayer almost always take place at the
Kyrieeleison300 times
night vigil.8'
The agrypnia of the Sabaitic monks is described Concluding Prayer
in the account of a visit paid by the Abbots John
and Sophronios to the Abbot Nilos of Sinai, a
The Canon
Greek source of the late sixth or early seventh cen-
tury preserved in the Hermineiai of our intrepid Henceforth this agrypnia, whose origins and de-
collector Nikon of the Black Mountain.82 The vigil velopment I need not detail here since they are not
comprised hagiopolite vespers, followed by the part of Athonite liturgical history, will form the
hexapsalmos,undoubtedly of orthros, and then the centerpiece of Byzantine monastic liturgy, on
entire psalter, divided into three staseis of fifty which further developments of the neo-Sabaitic
psalms each. Each stasis concluded with the Our synthesis will depend. For instance, this is why the
Father, Kyrie eleison fifty times, and a New Testa- Byzantine pensum of psalmody still begins its
ment reading (from the epistles of James, 1-2 Pe- weekly cycle with Psalm 1 at Saturday vespers, re-
ter, and 1-3 John). After the third stasis came all gardless of the season. It is also why orthros, ini-
nine odes of the canon, with the Our Father and tially only on Sunday, later every day, acquired the
Kyrie after the third and sixth. The service ended entire canon of nine odes. At first, of course, this
with lauds (ainoi), as in schema I. canon comprised the biblicalcanticles83with refrains
Schema I: THE AGRYPNIA or troparia, not the poetic odes which later substi-
tuted for them. The earliest manuscripts with tro-
Hexapsalmos (Pss 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142) paria for biblical canticles are the seventh-century
Our Father Egyptian papyrus Rylands 466 and the fragment
Psalmody Stasis I Pss 1-50 Heidelberg 1362, and by the eighth century the
Our Father nine odes and their refrains have been systema-
Kyrieeleison50 times tized.84
Lesson from James Although this nine-ode poetic canon is the char-
Stasis II Pss 51-100 acteristic centerpiece of present-day Byzantine or-
Our Father
thros,85 it is difficult to imagine that such an enor-
Kyrieeleison50 times mous quantity of ecclesiastical poetry, covering
Lesson from 1 or 2 Peter
Stasis III Pss 101-150 each day page after page in the oktoechos, tri-
odion, pentekostarion, and menaion, could have
been destined for daily matins. In fact, during the
80Vita, 20, 32, ed. Schwartz, 105, 117; cf. Arranz, "N. D. earlier period of the Studite hymnographers,
Uspensky: The Office of the All-Night Vigil," 175-78.
81E.g., the Historia monachorumin Aegypto,Rufinus' additions, triodia, or canons of only three odes, were com-
23; Cassian, Institutes, II, 5-6; Vita B, 28, of St. Athanasius the posed for ferial days, and tetraodia for Saturdays.
Athonite, ed. Noret, 156-57; Vita of St. Stephen the Sabaite, Mateos, analyzing the Byzantine office documents
162-65 (see below, note 82).
82A. Longo, "Il testo integrale della Narrazionedegli abati Gio- against the backdrop of the broader tradition, has
vanni e Sofronio attraverso le Hermeneiai di Nicone," RSBN 12-
13 (1965-66), 233-67. The agrypnia is described in lines 5-30,
with further details passim throughout. Less detailed descrip- 83See above, note 19, right column. On the later suppression
tion also in the Vita of St. Stephen the Sabaite (d. 31 March 794), of ode 2 except in Lent, see L. Bernhard, "Der Ausfall der 2.
Greek recension, 162-65, ActaSSJulii, III, 3rd ed. (1867), 570- Ode im byzantinischen Neunodenkanon," T. Michels, ed. Heu-
71; Georgian recension, 162-65, esp. 162:8, 163:3, 165:3, ed. resis:Festschriftfiir A. Rohracher(Salzburg, 1968), 91-101.
G. Garitte, "Un extrait gdorgien de la Vie d'Etienne le sabaite," 84 H. Schneider, "Die biblischen Oden seit dem sechsten Jahr-
Le Museon 67 (1954), 83-90. See also Arranz, "N. D. Uspensky: hundert," Biblica 38 (1949), 261-63.
The Office of the All-Night Vigil," 174-78.
85See Taft, Liturgy of the Hours, 281-83.

concluded that initially the canticles of the canon this second stratum of development, Sunday or-
were distributed throughout the week, two per thros is integrated into the neo-Sabaitic agrypnia
day, one variable, one fixed (the ninth: Magnificat- with the entire psalter plus all nine odes, and the
Benedictus of Luke 1:46-55, 68-79), with three on original Sunday three-ode system is extended to
Sunday because of the cathedral vigil.86 Ode 1 was the rest of the week, beginning with Monday, as in
reserved for the Sunday cathedral vigil. The rest Schema II, Stratum 2.
ran through the week, Monday to Sunday, as below
in Schema II, Stratum 1. Schema II: DEVELOPMENT OF THE NINE-ODE
The present nine-ode daily canon-except CANON OF ORTHROS
in
the season of the triodion which, following Baum- Stratum1 Stratum2 Present
stark's famous law, "Das Gesetz der Erhaltung des (hypothetical) (9thc. Leningrad11) usage
Alten in liturgisch hochwertiger Zeit,"87that is, the
Day Odes Odes Odes
law of the liturgical conservatism of high seasons,
retains an older structure-is the result of the Sun. 1, 8-9 1-9 1-9
Mon. 2, 9 1, 8-9 1-9
Sunday agrypnia, keystone of the Sabaitic week. Tues. 3, 9 2, 8-9 1-9
We can see this growth already under way in one Wed. 4, 9 3, 8-9 1-9
of our two Georgian documents of the Studite pe- Thurs. 5, 9 4, 8-9 1-9
riod, the ninth-century codex Leningrad 11 de- Fri. 6, 9 5, 8-9 1-9
scribed by K. S. Kekelidze under its old pressmark Sat. 7, 9 6, 8-9 1-9
Monasticagrypnia: 1-9
Tiflis H 2123.88 Only the feast of St. Basil on Jan-
uary 1, and Theophany on January 6, have all nine Both this second stratum and the origins of the
odes at orthros. Lesser feasts have one, two, or daily nine-ode canon in the agrypnia pensum are
three odes, though not in the order of Mateos' re- confirmed by the fact that Psalm 50, traditional in-
construction. Here is a sampling: vitatory psalm of cathedral matins, which now pre-
Feast Odes cedes the entire canon, is found at Easter in the
St. Stephen (Dec. 27) 1, 9 older typika of Stoudios and the Great Laura, and
St. Abo (Jan. 7) & octave 8, 9 in some other pre-neo-Sabaitic sources, only after
St. Anthony (Jan. 17) 1 the first six odes.89 This shows that orthros itself
Holy Fathers (Jan. 28) 1 had only three odes; the first six were seen as part
Especially interesting are the Lenten and Holy of the vigil pensum.
Week rubrics, which I give complete, in the se- But why bother with such speculations and hy-
quence in which they appear: pothetical reconstructions in the first place? Why
not just accept this presumed "second" stratum as
6th Sat. Lent 1
7th Mon. Lent the original triodion? Because ode 1 is the paschal
1, 8-9
7th Tues. Lent 2, 8-9 canticle of Moses, Cantemus Domino of Exodus
7th Wed. Lent 3, 8-9 15:1-20, which, along with ode 8, the Benediciteof
7th Thurs. Lent 4, 8-9 Daniel 3:57-88, are classic Sunday canticles right
Good Fri. 5, 8-9 across the traditions. So Mateos' hypothesis that
Holy Sat. 4, 7, 9
Thomas Sun. 1 originally they could not have been anywhere but
Sunday is by no means presumptuous.90
Though not found in the ordering of Mateos' At any rate it does seem that the entire nine-ode
reconstruction, the odes in this source indicate that canon was not meant originally for daily use, and
he was on the right track: here not only two but appears daily only in the neo-Sabaitic reform. Its
three odes, one variable, two fixed, were destined very name betrays its origins in the vigil: when Cy-
for daily orthros, and all nine for Sunday. For in ril of Scythopolis' Vita of St. Sabas refers to the
night canon,9' or Vita B, 71, of Athanasius the
86"Quelquesproblemes de l'orthros,"31-32; "Lapsalmodie Athonite to the "canon of orthros" (zoo 6QOtQvof
variable,"337-38. On the originsof this "cathedralvigil"and its
integration into later eastern offices, see Taft, Liturgyof the
Hours, "Sunday resurrection vigil" in the index, 421; for its 89Mateos,"Lapsalmodievariable,"338; Arranz,"Lesprieres
place in Byzantine Sunday orthros, ibid., Schema 2, 280-81 presbyt6ralesdes matines byzantines,"OCP 38 (1972), 70 note
(right column), and 288-89. 1.
87Article with this title, Jahrbuch fiir Liturgiewissenschaft7
90"Quelquesproblemesde l'orthros,"31-32.
(1927), 1-23; Baumstark,Comparative
Liturgy,27-30. 91Vita,18, 28, 32, 43, ed. Schwartz, 102:7, 26; 113:9, 16;
88Liturgiteskiegruzinskiepamjatniki, 350-72. 117:21; 133:20.

xav6vog),92 they do not mean "canon" in the pre- Stoudios and Athos, adds only an extra lection to
sent, technical sense of the nine odes, but simply the summer stichology.
the vigil psalmody pensum or, by hendiadys, the Both here and in the canon, we see the same dy-
vigil tout court, as in the Russian adverb nakanune.93 namic at work: the pensum is made more burden-
some by the simple device of eliminating its light-
The Psalter94 est phase, shifting into that slot the next lightest
Neo-Sabaitic developments are also clearly re- burden, and adding a heavier burden in the vac-
uum created by that shift. Such slight turns of the
flected in the evolution of the pensum of psalmody.
dial will appear banal or insignificant only to the
I have already noted that the Byzantine monastic
unschooled eye. Recall what Baumstark once said:
psalter is divided into twenty kathismataof (ideally)
nine psalms each, grouped into three doxai of "Die Entwicklung der Liturgie nur aus Sonderent-
wicklungen entsteht";95 the evolution of the liturgy
(again, ideally) three psalms apiece. This psalter is only a series of individual developments, just as
was used in all the Byzantine monastic traditions
a necklace is no more than a string of individual
that I have been discussing-Sabaitic, Studite, neo-
beads.
Sabaitic-except for that of the akoimetoior "sleep-
less monks" of the capital. But not all these mo-
THE NEO-SABAITICUSAGE ON MOUNT ATHOS
nastic usages employed the psalter in the same way.
The pensum of psalmody at Stoudios, Evergetis, For reasons not altogether clear, this new Pales-
and other monasteries of Constantinople before tinian monastic liturgy soon becomes popular else-
the Fourth Crusade, as well as at the Great Laura where. Early in the twelfth century, by the time of
of St. Athanasius on Mount Athos, was distributed the essentially Studite Typikon of Evergetis,96 we
in a way different from our current, neo-Sabaitic already see a large infiltration of second-genera-
usage. In summer the psalter was spread over tion Sabaitic material into the monasteries of Con-
three weeks, with only one kathisma at nocturns stantinople.97 The authors of several other twelfth-
during these short nights. Vespers had a kathisma century typika borrow heavily from the Evergetis
on Saturday. But only in winter, with two kathismata code, and the Typikon of St. Sabas for the Serbian
at nocturns and one at vespers, was the psalter got Monastery of Hilandar on Mount Athos, which
through in one week. During Lent the pensum was dates from ca. 1199, is little more than a Serbian
increased to completing the whole psalter twice a translation of it, as John Thomas has pointed out.98
week, as today. Since we see this distribution in Later Athonite typika, from the fifteenth century
Southern Italy, which never adopted the neo- on, are all of neo-Sabaitic provenance.99 From
Sabaitic reform, it must represent general Studite Athos the new usage spread everywhere but
usage anterior to the neo-Sabaitic revival. Southern Italy in the train of Athonite hesy-
What the neo-Sabaitic reform did was (1) sup- chasm. 100
press the older, mitigated summer pensum by mov-
ing the winter weekly psalter into the summer pe- 951
recall this from my reading of Baumstark's work but have
been unable to retrace the source.
riod; and (2) create a new winter system of three 96Ed. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, I, 256-656. This huge liturgical
kathismataat nocturns by adding the former ves- codex is not in the new edition of G. Gautier, "Le Typicon de la
peral kathisma to the two traditional kathismataof Theotokos Evergetis," REB 40 (1982), 5-101. On this monas-
nocturns, and chanting kathisma18 at vespers daily, tery see Janin, La geographieecclhsiastique,I. iii, 178-84.
97 Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines,"
as today. We see the beginnings of this shift already OCP 38 (1972), 91 note 1; idem, "N. D. Uspensky: The Office
in the typikon of Nikon of the Black Mountain in of the All-Night Vigil," 181-83.
his Taktikon,I, 21, where the summer and Lenten 98"The Evergetis Monastery at Constantinople as a Center of
Ecclesiastical Reform," Eleventh Annual Byzantine Studies
pensum, to which he attributes hagiopolite prove- Conference, Abstractsof Papers (1985), 18.
nance, already have the neo-Sabaitic system, 99Arranz, "Les grandes etapes," 67; "Les prieres sacerdotales
des vepres byzantines," 123; "Les prieres presbyterales des ma-
whereas the winter pensum, called the usage of
tines byzantines," OCP 38 (1972), 86 note 1; "Les prieres pres-
byterales de la 'Pannychis'," OCP 40 (1974), 331-32, cf. 342;
"L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 113 and note 20. Earlier
92Ed. Noret, 206:38. Cf. also Longo, "Il testo integrale della Athonite typika, as Arranz shows in these references, followed
Narrazione degli abati Giovanni e Sofronio,"232 and 251:10. Studite usage. Numerous neo-Sabaitic typika are edited in Dmi-
93On the meaning of "canon" see Leroy, "Les Petites Cat6- trievskij, Opisanie, III. On these documents see also Bertoniebre,
chases" (above, note 33), 354 note 116, and the references given Easter Vigil, Part II.
there. '00On S. Italy see Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des ma-
94See Mateos, "La psalmodie variable." tines byzantines," OCP 38 (1972), 91 note 2; Typicon,xxvi.

PhilotheosKokkinosand the HesychastAscendancy LEQo6LaXovLag.'13Though little known today, this

ceremonial had a permanent influence on the pre-
Except for the Iberian connection, it is only with sent ordo of the Byzantine Divine Office. Miguel
the hesychast ascendancy in the fourteenth cen-
Arranz, who knows Byzantine office manuscripts
tury that Mount Athos will occupy center stage in better than anyone dead or alive, has grouped the
Byzantine liturgical history. In the history of Byz- office euchologies into several manuscript families
antine monasticism, Athos represents the victory
that can be reduced basically to four, which reflect
of hesychasm over the more rigorously cenobitic
the history that I have been describing:104
organization of the Studites.
Modern studies emphasize not only the doc- 1. Early (eighth to twelfth century) euchologies
trinal and spiritual aspects of hesychasm. They like Barberini 336, Leningrad 226, Sevastianov
have also set in relief its impact as an ecclesiastical 474, Grottaferrata Gb I, Paris Coislin 213, and
sociopolitical movement.1'0 Vindicated by the syn- the oldest Sinai manuscripts, all of which give
ods of 1347 and 1351, which made their doctrine the unadulterated cathedral asmatikPakolouthia
obligatory, the hesychasts saw themselves as win- of Constantinople. The zenith of this patriar-
ners in a long struggle for hegemony and sought chal rite of the Great Church is reached in the
to place their followers in important positions eleventh/twelfth-century codex Grottaferrata
in the Orthodox hierarchy. Hesychast candidates Gb I, only to be brusquely interrupted by the
controlled the patriarchal throne of Constanti- Fourth Crusade and never resumed. From
nople throughout the rest of the century. The iconoclasm until 1204, the period of the popu-
most celebrated of these was Philotheos Kokkinos larization of Sabaitic usages by the Studites, this
(d. 1379), twice patriarch (1353-55, 1364-76), rite coexists at Constantinople with those in the
and an intimate friend, disciple, and biographer of next two categories. The first sign of these Stu-
Gregory Palamas (1300-1379).1?2 Born in Thessa- dite incursions is observable in vespers of the
loniki around 1300, Philotheos received his mon- tenth-century euchology Grottaferrata Gb VII
astic initiation at St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, (fols. 137-144).
transferring later to the Great Laura on Mount 2. Later, Constantinopolitan-type offices, which
Athos, where he was hegumen before becoming already betray in the suppression of certain
bishop of Heraclea in 1347. On his second acces- prayers the effects of outside influences. Man-
sion to the patriarchal throne Philotheos' panor- uscripts of this type stretch from the tenth to
thodox hesychast policy inaugurated a period of the sixteenth centuries.
intense relations between the Phanar and the local 3. In the same period we also find Studite euchol-
Orthodox Churches beyond the Greek-speaking ogies like Patmos 105 that present a full-blown
world. synthesis of Palestinian monastic usages with
the Constantinopolitan euchology. No two of
Philotheos'Diataxis t~sHierodiakonias these manuscripts are alike. This synthesis is
found in several Athonite manuscripts, such as
Athos owes to Philotheos its influence not only the fourteenth-century Lavra B 7 and Vatopedi
in the imposition of the neo-Sabaitic typikon 113 before the Philothean reform.
throughout Orthodoxy, but also in the canoniza- 4. In the final, neo-Sabaitic stage, seen in sources
tion of Athonite rubrics for the eucharist and ves- from the fourteenth-sixteenth centuries, man-
pers. For it was during his abbacy at the Great uscripts juxtapose the two traditions, giving the
Laura that Philotheos composed his ALdLa~Ltg Tig Constantinopolitan prayers in one block at the
start, but distributing the litanies and ekpho-
'01oA.A. Tachiaos, "Le mouvement h6sychaste pendant les neseis throughout the rest of the office, which
dernimres d6cennies du XIVe siecle," Kldronomia6 (1974), 113- is the unadulterated akolouthia of the Palestin-
30. For the effects of the hesychast victory and Philotheos' poli-
ian horologion.
cies in Kievan Rus' and Muscovy, see J. Meyendorff, Byzantium
and the Rise of Russia: A Study of Byzantino-RussianRelations in the It is this neo-Sabaitic usage, the triumph of hesy-
FourteenthCentury (Cambridge, 1981), chaps. 5-8 and app. 2,
chast spirituality over the urban Studite variety,
esp. chap. 8; also D. Obolensky, "Aphilorhomaiosanthropos:Met-
ropolitan Cyprian of Kiev and All Russia (1375-1406)," DOP 32 that will replace all others after the Byzantines re-
(1978), 83 ff.
1020n Philotheos, whose works deserve more attention than '03Ed. J. Goar, EU'xok6yLovsive Rituale Graecorum,2nd ed.
they have received, see V. Laurent, "Philothee Kokkinos," DTC (Venice, 1730), 1-8 = PG 154, cols. 745-66.
12.2, cols. 1498-1509. 104"L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 109-16.

turn to Constantinople in the restoration of 1261. prayers, sometimes numbered.'08 Where they were
It also represents the hagiorite solution, codified to be inserted into the course of the service was
by Philotheos, and found in most Athonite manu- indicated at most by a rudimentary title. Whatever
scripts from the fifteenth century on, the sources else the presbyter or bishop was supposed to do
on which the first, Venetian editions of Byzantine during the celebration, and the diakonika of the
liturgical books were based.1'5 This, basically, is the deacon,'09 were left to oral tradition and praxis.
usage still in force today. The fact that there are This is why the argument from silence in liturgical
very few Italo-Greek manuscripts of this type manuscripts is worth even less than it is elsewhere.
shows that the Athonite Philothean usages for the But by the tenth century we begin to get our first
office, as for the eucharist, reached the Byzantine evidence of a codification of rubrics among the
liturgical hinterlands beyond Greece and Constan- Byzantines. In manuscripts from Magna Graecia,
tinople only gradually. Indeed, in Southern Italy rubrical directions begin to be incorporated into
Studite usage held its own until 1587 when the the liturgical text itself, along with the text of the
new Typikon of St. Sabas was adopted at St. Savior diakonika. In Constantinople, however, the old,
in Messina by order of the pope.'06 And Slavonic rubricless euchology text continues to be copied
manuscripts reflect these developments with one right up until the advent of printing, though with
or two centuries delay. the insertion of diakonika, while the rubrical tra-
dition develops independently, codified in a sepa-
MOUNTATHOS AND THE BYZANTINE rate manual, the diataxis. Andre Jacob has identi-
DIVINELITURGY fied the first extant Constantinopolitan diataxis
Philotheos'Diataxis tMsTheiasLeitourgias rubrics in the material that Leo Tuscan inserted
into his twelfth-century Latin translation of the
Another, more famous ceremonial from Philo- Chrysostom liturgy.1l0
theos' pen while abbot of the Great Lavra is his From that time until Philotheos, I know of six
ALd"TtILg TnjgOE(agAstEovQy(lag, of which we have other complete diataxeis, one an archieratikon de-
numerous extant manuscripts. One of them, Pan- tailing the eleventh-century ceremonial of the pa-
teleimon 770, edited by P. Trempelas, 07 is practi- triarchal rite of the Great Church, which I have
cally contemporary with the work's composition, edited from the twelfth/thirteenth-century codex
copied before Philotheos became patriarch of Con- British Library Add. 34060;"' and five others, all
stantinople in 1353, as the title itself informs us: of them monastic: Athens Ethn. Bibl. 662 (12th-
"Diataxis of the Divine Liturgy, in which are also 13th c.);"2 Moscow Synod 275 (381) (A.D. 1289-
the diakonika, composed by His Holiness my Lord
1311);"3 Vatican gr. 782, fols. 215r-219r; the roll
of Heraclea Kyr Philotheos, who was named he-
Esphigmenou 34 (A.D. 1306);"4 and a codex in the
gumen in the holy and pious and virtuous monas- private library of A. A. Dmitrievskij."5 The un-
tery of the Laura of Athanasius the Great on edited Vatican gr. 782116 and the Dmitrievskij
Athos, where he composed this." codex are apparently Palestinian monastic manu-
The definitive history of Byzantine rubrics re- scripts; the others, probably from Athos and its en-
mains to be written, but from what we know, the virons, are predecessors to that of Philotheos.
early Constantinopolitan-type euchologies, almost One need not look far for the reason behind this
totally rubric-free, were little more than a list of new development. From the twelfth century the
105Ibid., 113 ff; idem, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines

080Onthis question see Taft, GreatEntrance, xxxii-xxxiii.
byzantines," OCP 38 (1972), 79-80, 84. On the Venetian edi- '09There were also separate diakonika collections (ibid., xxxii
tions, see A. Raes, "Les livres liturgiques grecs publies ' Venise," note 44).
Mslanges E. Tisserant,III, ST 233 (Vatican City, 1964), 209-22; "1oA.Jacob, "La conc616bration de l'anaphore a Byzance
N. B. Tomadakis, 'H v x6)
XAv
'ITaXak( ~EooLgEXakkVL
xX•Noato- d'apreis le t6moignage de Leon Toscan," OCP 35 (1969), 249-
TLx6Cv tlflfkCv (xvQ(Wg XELTOUQYLXGCV) 56, esp. 252-53; cf. Taft, GreatEntrance, xxxv, 124-27.
YEVO•fV1 •L•AEXkE(
'EkXXk ovw 6 0o66Mov xrlTQLxWv xa r toljg E-0 cativag, "'R111.Taft, "The Pontifical Liturgy of the Great Church ac-
'En.'Et.Bvu. rIn. 37 (1969-70), 3-33, rpr. in La Chiesa Greca in cording to a Twelfth-Century Diataxis in Codex British Museum
Italia dall' VIII al XVI secolo, Atti del Convegno Storico Interec-
Add. 34060," OCP 45 (1979), 279-307, 46 (1980), 89-124.
clesiale, II (Bari, 30 aprile-4 maggio 1969), Italia sacra. Studi e
112Ed. Trempelas, loc. cit. (above, note 107).
documenti di storia ecclesiastica 21 (Padua, 1972), 685-721.
113Ed. N. F. Krasnosel'cev, Materialy dlja istorii inoposledova-
106See above, note 100.
07P. Trempelas, At TQseg nija Liturgii sv. Ioanna Zlatoustago(Kazan, 1889), 18-29.
AELtovLyCaL xaC &TOSg v 'A0CVaLtg 114Ed. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, II, 262-69.
xb)&xag, Texte und Forschungen zur byzantinisch-neugriech- 1"5Ibid., III, 117-21.
ischen Philologie 15 (Athens, 1912), 1-16.
"6Jacob, Histoire duformulaire, 439 note 6.

prothesis rite or preparation of the gifts before the 1380 Demetrios Gemistos, deacon, notary under
Divine Liturgy grows apace,"17 and we have evi- Philotheos and later protonotary of the Great
dence that the proliferation of variant local usages Church, used the Philothean rubrics in his archi-
was causing confusion among the lower clergy. eratikon regulating the ceremonial of the patriar-
Around 1120 an Orthodox parish priest, probably chal rite of Hagia Sophia.'21 Another influence of
of Crete, wrote to Metropolitan Elias II of Crete, Philotheos' diataxis on the present form of the
in residence at Constantinople, exposing his scru- Divine Liturgy, especially in monasteries, and
ples about this matter."l8 The attention that mon- among the Russians and Romanians, was the sub-
astic diataxeis give to the prothesis shows that they stitution of the typika (Pss 102, 145, and the Beat-
were aimed at putting an end to this anarchy. 119As itudes) for the traditional antiphons,'22 a Palestin-
hegumen of the Great Laura, Philotheos could not ian usage first seen in the early Georgian text of
be indifferent to this problem. the Chrysostom liturgy.'23 This usage was picked
But his manual regulating the customs for his up with the introduction of neo-Sabaitic uses into
community might have remained just one among the Studite monasteries of the capital, as witness
others were it not for his subsequent advancement. the Typikon of Evergetis'24 which, as we have seen,
Upon his accession to the patriarchal throne of had considerable influence on Athos.
Constantinople in 1353, his Diataxis of the Divine The numerous manuscripts of Philotheos' dia-
Liturgy gained great prestige. It spread throughout taxis (Athens Ethn. Bibl. 751, 752, 765, 766, 770,
the Greek Orthodox world, and was translated 771, 773, 779, etc.) in both Greek and Slavonic,
into Slavonic by Philotheos' contemporary, the and the varying redactions they reveal, show, how-
Bulgarian hagiorite St. Euthymius of Trnovo, later ever, that all evolution did not stop with his stan-
Bulgarian patriarch from 1375-93.'12 Around dardization of the Byzantine rubrics of the mass."25
Like any living text-the commentary of Germa-
"7 Cf. O. Birlea, "La proscomidie: L'offrande dans le rite by-
nos is a perfect parallel'26--the rubrics were ad-
zantin. Son echo sur la communion," Societas Academica Da- justed to suit new developments and local peculiar-
coromana, Acta philosophicaet theologica2 (Rome, 1964), 26-28. ities. In the course of the fifteenth century, though
"8V. Laurent, "Le rituel de la proscomidie et le metropolite
de Cre'te Elie," REB 16 (1958), 116-42. On the development of
other diataxeis and usages continued to exist in
the prothesis the most recent study is G. Descoeudres, Die Pas- competition with the Philothean handbook,127 the
tophorienim syro-byzantinischenOsten: Eine Untersuchungzu archi- latter gradually spread its influence throughout
tektur-und liturgiegeschichtlichenProblemen,Schriften zur Geistes-
the patriarchate of Constantinople, and its rubrics
geschichte des 6stlichen Europa 16 (Wiesbaden, 1983), 79-126.
"9The prothesis rite occupies a disproportionately large part were incorporated into Demetrios Doukas' editio
of the diataxeis-almost a third in Athens Ethn. Bibl. 662 and
princeps of the liturgies in 1526 (Rome).'28 Except
Philotheos, for instance: Trempelas, Hai treisLeitourgiai, 1-5. Of
the twenty-five diataxeis known to me, several deal with the pro-
thesis almost exclusively: Barberini gr. 316 (12th c.); Moscow
Synod 321 (428) (14th c.), ed. S. Muretov, K materialamdlja istorii and the Rise of Russia, 129 if, 197 if, and chaps. 9-10; Obolensky,
cinoposledovanijaliturgii (Sergeev Posad, 1895), 17-24; Sinai gr. "A philorhomaiosanthropos,"78-98; I. Talev, SomeProblemsof the
986 (15th c.), 987 (16th c.), ed. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, II, 602- Second South Slavic Influence in Russia, Slavistische Beitrige 67
6, 708-9; Panteleimon 5924 (19th c.), ed. Krasnosel'cev, Mate- (Munich, 1973); also studies on Athos and the Slavs in Le milld-
rialy, 6-16; and the diataxis in an 1 Ith-c. letter of the patriarch naire, I-II (above, note 1).
of Constantinople to Bishop Paul of Gallipoli, ed. I. Cozza-Luzi, 121Ed. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, II, 301-19; for other editions
"Excerpta e Typico Casulano," A. Mai, Nova PatrumBibliotheca, see Taft, GreatEntrance, xxxvii-xxxviii.
X.2 (Rome, 1905), 167-71. Some later mss. simply insert a Phi- 122J.Mateos, La celibrationde la Parole dans la liturgie byzantine:
lothean diataxis of the prothesis before the beginning of the Etude historique,OCA 191 (Rome, 1971), 68-71.
liturgy: Esphigmenou 162 (A.D. 1545), ed. P. Syrku, K istorii is- '23Jacob,"Une version g6orgienne," 90-92, nos. 4, 5, 6.
pravlenija knig v Bolgarii v XVI veke, Tom I, Vypuski 1-2 (St. 124Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, I, 512, 515, 603, and passim.
Petersburg, 1889-90), 1.2: Teksty,149-54; Sinai gr. 986 (15th 125Laurent, "Philoth6e Kokkinos," col. 1507; further mss. in
c.); Istanbul Metochion Panagiou Taphou 425 (16th c.); and Es- Krasnosel'cev, Materialy, 36-78; Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, II, pas-
phigmenou 120 (A.D. 1602), ed. Dmitrievskij, Opisanie, II, 602- sim; several unedited Sinai codices; etc.
6, 817-22, 954-58. 126See R. Bornert, Les commentairesbyzantinsde la Divine Litur-
120Ed. E. Kaluvniacki, Werkedes Patriarchenvon Bulgarien Eu- gie du VIPIau XV sikcle,AOC 9 (Paris, 1966), 128-68.
thymius(1375-1393) (Vienna, 1901), 283-306; and Syrku, K is- 127E.g., Vatican gr. 573 (14th-15th c.) and Sabas gr. 305, ed.
torii, 1.2, 1-31. There is another Slavonic version by Kiprian, Krasnosel'cev, Materialy, 80-114; Paris gr. 2509 (15th c.), ed.
also a Bulgarian hagiorite and disciple of Philotheos, who or- Goar, Euchologion, 78-83; Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
dained him metropolitan of Kiev at Constantinople in 1375. Cf. 540 (A.D. 1416); and the mss. cited above, note 119.
Syrku, K istorii, I.1, 252 if; I. D. Mansvetov, MitropolitKiprian v 128On this edition see E. Legrand, Bibliographiehellinique ou
dejatel'nosti:Istoriko-liturgileskoeizsledovanie(Mos-
ego liturgicEeskoj descriptionraisonnie des ouvragespublies en grec par des grecs au XVe
cow, 1882); also in Pribavlenija k izdaniju tvoreni svjatychotcev v et XVIesikcles, 4 vols. (Paris, 1885-1906), I, 192-95, no. 76; A.
russkomperevode 29 (1882), 152-205, 413-95. On the role of Strittmatter, "Notes on the Byzantine Synapte," Trad 10 (1954),
these Bulgarian hagiorites in Rus', see Meyendorff, Byzantium 75-76.

for a later reduction in the number of saints com- CONCLUSION

memorated at the prothesis, a reworking of the pe-
After all that, one can perhaps understand why
culiar Philothean redaction of the litany and pray-
the accusations of immobility commonly brought
ers of the faithful, and a few other differences, it is
these Philothean rubrics that still govern the cele- against eastern rites provoke only amusement
bration of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy today. among oriental liturgiologists. Closer to the mark
is what Abbot Nicholas Egender has said: "... no
In general the monastic diataxeis opted for Con-
rite of our Christian Churches has known such dy-
stantinopolitan monastic usage in regulating the namism and so many changes as the Byzantine.
ritual, and local customs die out after this period The Roman Rite through all its history, even after
except in Southern Italy, where the Italo-Greek the reform of Vatican II, has remained a rite sin-
editioprinceps of 1601, printed in Rome for the use
of Italo-Greek monks, still preserves at the pro- gularly archaic in its structure and theology. The
thesis a local Calabrian rite far simpler than that of Byzantine Rite, on the contrary, has undergone
multiple influences of place, persons, theological
Constantinople.129 But by this time Philotheos' dia-
taxis has spread the latter usage almost every- currents.: 132
In this process the liturgy of Mount Athos is de-
where, even to the editions published in Venice rivative and largely unoriginal. In the formation of
from the sixteenth century on.'30
the Byzantine liturgical tradition, hagiorites were
With the ultimate victory of the Philothean
more curators than artists, more consolidators
usage, the history of the Greek redaction of the than innovators, not so much creators as borrow-
Byzantine liturgical books ceases to be of much in- ers, synthesizers, propagators. Their chief merit
terest, and the center of attention shifts to Ro- was to canonize and popularize the Byzantine
mania and especially the Slavic lands, as Athonite
monastic hours and eucharist in its (more or less)
hesychasm spreads north.'1' final form. They did their job well, for its results
are still with us today.
129Jacob,Histoire duformulaire, 466; E. Legrand, Bibliographie
hellinique ... au dix-septiemesiecle, 5 vols. (Paris, 1894-1903), I,
1-2, no. 1. Pontifical Oriental Institute
S30See above, note 105.
13 For the Slavic lands see the references above, note 120; for
Romania see A. Scrima, "Les roumains et le Mont Athos," Le
millinaire (above, note 1), II, 147. 132"Introduction" (above, note 23), 88-89.


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Mount Athos: A Late Chapter in the History of the Byzantine Rite

Author(s): Robert F. Taft

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tinian anchorites, and this agrypnia will be one of THE NEO-SABAITIC

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wilderness for the vigil in droves, overflowing the Our Father

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PhilotheosKokkinosand the HesychastAscendancy LEQo6LaXovLag.'13Though little known today, this

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105Ibid., 113 ff; idem, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines

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for a later reduction in the number of saints com- CONCLUSION

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