Protheoria of the Biolakes
Typikon, Translated by Fr. Konstantinos Terzopoulos, (Orthodox Research
Institute, New Hampshire, 2011)
Orthodoxy has been spreading and
has been evolving within the Anglo-Saxon world. It is, therefore, inevitable
that many of the works produced in the East have been and continue to be
translated into the English language. The Protheoria of the Biolakes Typikon is
a book which provides the English speaking reader a general outline of the
structure of the mysteries and services as they should be appropriately ordered
for use within all the Orthodox parishes word wide; hence the ‘taxis’, i.e. the
Order, of the Divine Mysteries of the Ecclesia forms the guidelines for the
services during the whole year.
It is the first time that a work
like this is produced in English, being a translation of the 1888 Patriarchal
edition of the Ecclesiastical Typikon of the Great Church of Christ,
Constantinople. “The goal of the present translation of the Protheoria of the
Typikon is to bring to the English reader a general overview of the actual
structure of the services as they are to be properly ordered for use in the
parishes” (p. v). In 1880 a seven member Synodal Committee was commissioned by
the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Protopsaltes Georgios Biolakes was a
member of this committee which was given the express purpose of clarifying all
ambiguous points in previous typika.
It is of course not a book for
the everyday reader, since it specialises in the order of all the services
celebrated according to the Orthodox Byzantine rite; nevertheless it is of
tremendous help for the chanters, priests, deacons, readers and acolytes within
a parish who wish to follow the Holy Tradition of the Byzantine Church. The
Biolakes Typikon maintains an important place within Orthodoxy since it is a
revised version of previous, Byzantine typika. Therefore, whoever is interested
in Byzantine Music and the way with which the Orthodox Church celebrates its
Sacraments, then this book will enlighten the reader into the practices of
Orthodoxy[1].
[1]
Salapatas, Dimitris, “Book Reviews”, Koinonia, New Series No. 61,
Eastertide/Pentecost 2013, p. 73-74
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