A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services.
Christianity Roman Rite
In the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the primary liturgical books are the Roman Missal, which contains the texts of the Mass, and the Roman Breviary, which contains the text of the Liturgy of the Hours. With the 1969 reform of the Roman Missal by Pope Paul VI, now called the "Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite", the selection of Scriptural readings was expanded considerably and thus required a new book called the Lectionary. The Roman Ritual contains the texts for administering some sacraments other than the Mass such as baptism, the sacrament of penance, the anointing of the sick, and the sacrament of marriage. The texts for the sacraments and ceremonies normally reserved to bishops, such as Confirmation and Holy Orders, are contained within the Roman Pontifical. The Caeremoniale Episcoporum (The Ceremonial of Bishops)Caeremoniale Episcoporum ex decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum, auctoritate Pauli Ioannis Pauli II promulgatum describes in greater detail than the ordinary liturgical books the ceremonies involved when a bishop presides over the celebration of Mass, the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours or of the Word of God, particular Masses such as Candlemas, Palm Sunday or the Easter Vigil, the other sacraments, sacramentals, pastoral visitations etc. The Roman Martyrology, meanwhile, gives an account of all the saints (not only martyrs) commemorated in the Church each day.
Other Roman-Rite liturgical books include the Roman Gradual and the Gospel Book or Evangeliary.
The Catholic Church is composed of 24 autonomous particular churches, the largest of which is the Latin Church. The other 23 churches are collectively called the Eastern Catholic Churches; Eastern Catholic liturgy encompasses the Alexandrian Rite, Antiochene Rite, Armenian Rite, Byzantine Rite, and the East Syriac Rite among others.
While the Roman Rite of the Latin Church is by far the most common liturgical rite found within the Latin Church, a number of local Latin liturgical rites and uses also exist.
Byzantine Rite
The Rite of Constantinople, observed by the Eastern 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, this is not feasible for the Byzantine Rite, which requires a large number 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 (, ; ), 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).
Acolouthia The fixed portions of the services are found in the following liturgical books:
Horologion (; ), or Book of Hours, provides the fixed portions of the services as used by the reader and the chanters. For the sake of convenience, some small portions of the sequences are often included as well, such as feast day troparia, kontakia, and those portions which change according to the day of the week. The Horologion may also contain some devotional material such as the Prayers Before Communion, Thanksgiving After Communion, and Morning and Evening Prayers. Euchologion (, ; )—Contains the fixed portions of the services which are said by the priest and deacon, as well as some of the variable portions which the clergy use, such as prokeimena and dismissals. The Great Euchologion contains the clergy parts of Vespers, Matins, the three Divine Liturgies, Compline and Midnight Office, the Lenten Hours. It also contains the complete services (including the parts for reader and chanters) for the Sacred Mysteries (Sacraments), Funeral, Monastic Tonsure, Consecration of a Church, and other occasional services. For convenience, the contents of the Great Euchologion in the Slavic tradition have been divided up as follows: Litourgicon ()—contains Vespers, Matins and the three Divine Liturgies Archieratikon ()—contains the parts of services performed by a bishop Euchologion ()—omits the portions contained in the Litourgicon and Archieratikon, and adds other minor acolouthia (such as the blessing of an Iconostasis, Holy Vessels, Vestments, etc.)
Sequences Into this fixed framework, numerous movable parts of the service are inserted. These are taken from a variety of liturgical books:
Psalter (, ; ) – A book containing the 150 Psalms divided into Kathismata together with the Biblical Canticles which are chanted at Matins. The Psalter is used at Vespers and Matins, and normally contains tables for determining which Kathismata are to be read at each service, depending upon the day of the week and the liturgical season of the year. Octoechos (, ; , or , ) – Literally, the Book of the "Eight Tones" or modes. This book contains an eight-week cycle, providing texts to be chanted for every day of the week at Vespers, Matins, Compline and (on Sundays) the Midnight Office. Each week, the hymns are sung in a different liturgical Mode or Tone. The origins of this book go back to compositions by St. John Damascene. Menaion (; ) – A twelve-volume set which provides all liturgical texts for each day of the calendar year (including the akrosticha for the Irmologion). The twelve volumes correspond to the months of the year. The liturgical year begins in September, so the first volume of the Menaion is September. Sticherarion (Greek: , today ) was called a chant book usually with musical notation. It is subdivided in the stichera for the cycle of the fixed feasts according to the yearly cycle between September and August (Menaion). The cycle of mobile feast is subdivided into two books. The first called Triodion contains the stichera sung during Lent and the Holy week, the second called Pentecostarion contains the post-paschal period between Easter and Pentecost, the weekly cycle after Pentecost until the Sunday of All Saints. Triodion (, ; ; )—Also called the Lenten Triodion. During Great Lent the services undergo profound changes. The Lenten Triodion contains propers for: the Pre-Lenten Season the Forty Days of Great Lent itself Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday Holy Week Pentecostarion (Greek: Πεντηκοστάριον, Pentekostarion; , literally "Flowery Triodon"; Romanian: Penticostar) – This volume contains the propers for the period from Pascha to the Sunday of All Saints. This period can be broken down into the following periods: Bright Week (Easter Week) – The seven days from the Pascha (Easter Sunday) through the following Saturday Paschal Season – The period from Thomas Sunday until Ascension Ascension and its Afterfeast Pentecost and its Afterfeast All Saints Sunday (the Sunday after Pentecost) Synaxarion (; : ) – The Synaxarion contains brief lives of the saints for each day of the year, usually read at Matins. Irmologion (, ; ) – Contains the Irmoi chanted at the Canon of Matins and other services. Gospel Book (, ; ) – Book containing the Gospel readings that are used at Matins, Divine Liturgy, and other services. Among the Greeks the is laid out in order of the cycle of readings as they occur in the ecclesiastical year, with a section in the back providing the Gospel readings for Matins, Feasts and special occasions. In the Slavic usage, the contains the four gospels in canonical order (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) with annotations in the margin to indicate the beginning and ending of each reading (and an index in the back). Epistle Book (, ; ) – Contains the readings from the Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles (the Apocalypse is not read during Divine Services in the Orthodox Church). It also contains the Prokeimenon and Alleluia verses that are chanted with the readings. The is laid out in the same manner as the , depending on whether the book was prepared for the Greek or Slavic usage.
Other Typicon (, ; )—The book which ties all of the above together. It contains all of the rubrics, i.e., the rules for the performance of the Divine Services, giving directions for every possible combination of the materials from the other liturgical books into the Daily Cycle of Services. Many churches also publish annual liturgical calendars which give detailed instructions from the Typicon which are specific to the concurrence of sequences for that particular year. Anthologion (, ; )—There are numerous smaller anthologies available, taking portions from the books mentioned above, or from other sources. For instance, the Festal Menaion contains only those portions of the Menaion that have to do with the Great Feasts; and the General Menaion contains propers for each class of saints (with blank spaces for the name of the saint) which may be employed when one does not have the propers for that particular saint; etc.
There are many different editions of these books which have been published over the years in a variety of liturgical languages. In Greek the Orthodox books are published at the Phœnix Press (formerly located in Venice, now at Patras), the Eastern Catholic Churches (Byzantine rite) books are published by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. Each national Church has further its own editions in its liturgical language. There are also books of all kinds which collect and arrange materials from the list of books above into compendiums by various editors.
Assyrian The books of the Church of the East, all in Syriac, are:The Catholic Encyclopedia cites Badger, "The Nestorians and their Rituals", London, 1852, II, pp. 16–25 the Liturgy (containing their three liturgies) the Gospel (Evangelion), Apostle (Shlicha), and Lessons (Kariane) the "Turgama" (Interpretation), containing hymns sung by deacons at the liturgy (corresponding to the Graduals and Sequences of the Roman Rite) the David (Dawidha = Psalter) the "Khudhra" (= "cycle", containing antiphons, responsories, hymns, and collects for all Sundays) the "Kash Kõl" (= "Collection of all"; the same chants for week-days) the "Kdham u-Wathar" (= "Before and after"; certain prayers, psalms, and collects most often used, from the other books) the "Gezza" ("Treasury", services for feast-days) the Abu-Halim (the name of the compiler, containing collects for the end of the Nocturns on Sundays) the "Bautha d'Ninwaie" (= "Prayer of the Ninevites", a collection of hymns ascribed to Ephrem the Syrian, used in Lent). the Baptism Office ("Taksa d'Amadha") (generally bound up with the Liturgies) the "Taksa d'Siamidha" (containing ordination services) the "Taksa d'Husaia" (containing the office for Penance) the "Kthawa d'Burrakha" (containing the marriage service) the "Kahneita" (containing the burial of clergy) the "Annidha" (containing the burial of laypeople) the "Khamis" (a collection of hymns) the "Warda" (a collection of hymns).