Liturgical Book - Byzantine Rite

Byzantine Rite

The Rite of Constantinople, observed by the Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, represents one of the most highly-developed liturgical traditions in Christendom. While the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Hours may be published in a single-volume breviary, such a feat is hardly possible for the Byzantine Rite, which requires quite a large library of books to chant the daily services.

The regular services chanted in the Constantinopolitan liturgical tradition are the Canonical Hours and the Divine Liturgy. There are, in addition, occasional services (baptism, confession, etc.) and intercessory or devotional services (molieben, panikhida), which are not chanted on a daily basis, but according to need. The fixed portions of the services are called acolouthia (Greek: akolouthies, ἀκολουθίες; Slavonic: posledovanie), into which the sequences (changeable portions) are inserted. The sequences can also be referred to as propers

The sequences are governed by the convergence of several liturgical cycles, including the Paschal Cycle (movable cycle, dependent upon the variable date of Easter) and the Menaion (fixed cycle, dependent upon the calendar date).

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