Books Used during the Services.

        The Order of divine service, both public and private, is contained in special books, some of which give the daily service, and others the order of the various ministrations.

        Under the former heading come: the Clergy Service Book, the Bishop’s Service Book, the Horologion, the Oktoëchos, the Monthly Menaion, the Feast-day Menaion, the Common Menaion, the Lenten Triodion, the Pentecostarion, the Eirmologion, and the Typicon.

        The Clergy Service Book (Sluzhébnik) contains the unalterable prayers and ceremonies of Matins, Vespers and the Liturgy, performed by the priest and the deacon. The Bishop’s Service Book (Chinóvnik) is the Pontifical Book of Offices, differing from the other in that it contains all the prayers and ceremonies in use at pontifical services; also the Order of Ordination and Consecration for all grades and dignities of the church. The Horológion (Chasoslóv) contains the unalterable prayers of the daily services recited and chanted by the readers and choristers. The Oktoëchos, the Menéæ,the Triódia and the Eirmológion contain the changeable prayers and compositions in use in the daily services: namely the Oktoëchos (which means the “Book of Eight Tones”) contains the changeable songs of praise of the weekly cycle of services. The name of the book comes from this — that the services of the entire week are sung in one “tone,” and the “tones” are eight in number. In the monthly Meneæ we find the changeable prayers appointed for each day of the 12 months; it is therefore divided into 12 parts. The Feast-day Menaion contains the prayers for the feasts of the Lord, of the Mother of God and of the more honored Saints, selected from the Monthly Meneæ. In the Common Menaion we find the prayers prescribed in the services in honor of all the Saints of the different orders — apostles, martyrs, hierarchs. The Triodion (which means the Book of three songs”) contains the changeable prayers for the moveable days of the yearly cycle of services, and, in the number, the so called Triodes, i.e., incomplete canons, consisting of two, three, or four odes. There are two Triodiæ: the Lenten, giving the services for Lent and the preparatory weeks thereto, and the Festal, or Pentecostarion, giving the services from Easter Sunday to the All-Saints’ Week. In the Eirmologion we find the prayers which are sung — not read or recited — at the various services. This book has its name from the fact that it contains, among others, the eirmoi of the canons. The Order of the service for each day of the year is given in the book called Typicon, (which means “statute”).

        The services performed by private desire are described in the “Book of Needs” (or “of Ministrations”), in the “Order for the Reception into the Church of Members of Alien Creeds,” and in the Book of Chants.

        Some books belong to both private and public worship. Such are the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Psalter. The former two are divided into readings, with the indication of the lesson for each day. The Psalter is divided into twenty kathismata, with each, in turn, divided into three “Glories.” The Psalter is sometimes printed in one volume with the Horologion. It is then called “A Psalter with Sequence.”

        There is still another class of books, which contain extracts from other books, and are meant for private home use, such as: the Book of Rules, which tells how to prepare for Communion, and gives the services and prayers required by these rules; the books “of collected Akathists,” and “of collected canons”; the “Book of Saints,” giving the troparia and kontakia for each day, and the “Euchologion” (Prayer Book), complete or abridged.