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Hi-
I tried asking this question on the other Byzantine board but no response so far so I'll try it here:
On pp. 30-34 of Byzantine Daily Worship there is a table for determining where to insert the troparia/kontakia for the times of prayer. It differs whether the feast of the saint of the day is of the "first rank", the "second rank" and so on through the fifth rank. I was wondering whether there were a simple reference or method that would already have that worked out for me as to the importance of the day's feast?
In Christ,
David

Dear David,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

If I understand the question, you're asking if there's some basic rule of thumb to rank each saint's feast, right? Now, you have to remember this is Byzantium we're talking about, so there's nothing that clear!!!

First of all, various usages seem to rank saints differently. The simplest way to find out what your church does is to get hold of it's official calendar. In the case of the Byzantine Catholic Metropolia of Pittsburgh, our calendars are put out by the Seminary press. They indicate medium feasts in bold, and bigger feasts in red/caps. It's rough and ready, OK for most homes, but quite inadeqate for those who try to follow the Typikon with some degree of accuracy.

For a more accurate classification, you have to go to the Church Typikon, or some adaptation of this, such as that published annually by Father David Petras for the Byzantine Catholic Metropolia. This will give you pin point accuracy.

As for a basic rule of thumb to help you find your way without the aid of any calendar, here a couple of basic rules, again according to Ruthenian usage:

1. The Twelve Great Feasts are obviously the highest class.

2. Other feasts of the Lord and of the Mother of God are generally at least of the rank of Great Doxology, often of Polyeleos.

3. The Twelve Apostles are generally observed as Polyeleos.

4. Other saints are accorded their rank in a rather haphazard way. Generally a popular saint, such as George or the Prophet Elias, is given a high rank. But really there is no objective rule of which I am aware. Why, for example, is St. Savas the Sanctified (Dec. 5) celebrated with a Vigil, but St. Maximos the Confessor is a simple feast? Actually, I do know why. Our Church Typikon was compiled in its present form in the Monastery founded by St. Savas in Palestine. Hence the patron of that monastery gets a higher profile than your average monk saint. Historical accidents have shaped our liturgical life as surely as the wind and sea give a coastline its distinctive contours.

As a final note, the use of the "class" system set out in Raya is unique to the Melkite Church. I think they introduced it in the 1800s. The rest of the Byzantine Churches rather sensibly denote the rank of each feast by the distinguishing liturgical feature that flows from the rank: vigil, polyeleos, Great Doxology, Six Stichera, Double (ie 2 saints), Simple.

Clear as mud???

In Christ
unworthy monk Maximo

David,

Here are some rules of thumb given to me by some cantor friends:

There is a maximum of ten stichera at Psalm 140 at Vespers (Psalm 141 for you Westerners) that can be sung for a feast. The more the stichera DEDICATED to that feast the more important the feast.

Having Litija is a sign of importance too. Elias is important because he is a TYPE of Christ, therefore he gets around six stichera (not much) but also a Litija stichera. St. Maximos is not a TYPE of Christ.

From a TONE point of view, the greater the feast will determine whether all the stichera at Psalm 140 is sung according to one tone; which might be reflective of its venerable use when everything was sung according to tones and not hymn-like melodies.

St. Nicholas is the Patron of the Byzantine Church and his stichera is sung according to all sorts of tones - samohlasen, podoben, bolhar and sidalen for the troparion (or theme song). This is unique and is quite a challenge for cantors.

It is no coincidence that those feasts having their stichera sung at Psalm 140 according to one tone (only) also have an icon of that same feast on the 'Festive' row of the iconostasis AND a litija service at Vespers and Polyeleos at Matins.

The liturgical calendar published by Pittsburgh Seminary is not in line with the Typicon. The General Menaion makes no mention of an "Immaculate Conception," though gives now an option to celebrate the Conception of Anne on December 9. If an icon is on the iconostasis then it is important and any liturgical calendar with its "Solemn" or "Obligation" days is a sign of Latinization and confuses the heck out of those who read otherwise in the Typicon.

Lastly, those feasts that are more important will take more wind out of the cantors. Check out the condition of the cantor(s) after the service is done. If they look like they need a drink, then the feast was important.


Elias, the Ninny (not the Monk)

[This message has been edited by Elias (edited 07-25-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Elias (edited 07-25-2000).]

Dear Elias,

Glory to Jesus Christ!

"Lastly, those feasts that are more important will take more wind out of the cantors. Check out the condition of the cantor(s) after the service is done. If they look like they need a drink, then the feast was important."

Is that why the Typikon also prescribes wine on those days?

It might be nice if there were clear rules about what makes one saint a higher rank than others. But the Byzantine beast is a wild animal, difficult to tame. If St. Elias is given a vigil because he is a type of Christ, why is St. Moses the God-Seer only given a simple feast on September 4th? And why is St. Panteleimon a polyeleos saint for the Greeks, but only a Doxology saint for many Slavs?

The Menaion cycle was especially liquid in Byzantine times. Hymns were composed for saints in an astonishing volume. Different places valued the same saints differently. Then all of a sudden the printing press came along (not to mention the Turks) and all this free-flowing water froze over. Where once each monastery and decent sized Church could produce its own liturgical manuscripts (both original compositions and cutting and pasting other hymns and rubrics), now printing technology and political conditions imposed the discipline of standard texts. Where once the Byzantine churches had hundreds of usages, now we have only a few. And within those few, even the inconsistencies have become so entrenched that they are almost canonized!

In Christ
unworthy monk Maximos

Brother Maximos-
Bless, Father!
Thank you for your reply- and thanks to Elias for your post as well :-)
Of course, what was I thinking, all these years Orthodox and STILL looking for quick simple answers for Byzantine practices- Oy vey!
Actually, I am with ROCOR, so I guess I will check with my parish for help in ranking feasts according to our usage.
It was interesting what you said, Br. Maximos about the printing press causing a standardization of liturgical usages- I remeber when I was living in Japan that I was told that TV had done the same to their regional dialects. Since all the programming was from Tokyo region, that dialect of Japanese had become the standard. I'm sure other factors contributed as well, but it was interesting at the time :-)
In Christ,
David

St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in Dallas, TX, has a site with a lot of good information, including an e-mail Typicon:
http://www.orthodox.net/ustav/index.html

Some of the links there might be of assistance.

You can also download a "CyberTypicon" (Melkite usage) at:
http://www.typicon.com/CyberTypicon.htm

I am also of the understanding that Lector Isaac Lambersen (ROCOR) has published a typicon in addition to the wealth of English-language liturgical translations he has made available to the Church.

You can get a copy of the Common Typikon and the Typikon 2000 by Fr. David Petras from Eastern Christian Publications ( JackFigel@Compuserve.com ).

The links section of this website also has some excellent links you might wish to follow (go down to "Worship").

Thank you, Moose, for the links. I downloaded the Cybertypicon and am currently fascinated by it. I keep playing with the years and weekdays in relation to feasts.....hmmmmm, perhaps I should get a life ;-)