Reply To: Week 2 Discussion Topic: Do You Think We Need a New Typikon?
I see a lot of wisdom in sticking to the typikon of Violakis for now, at least until Orthodoxy becomes more indigenous to the people in our country because there is so much we don’t know that we don’t know contained in the ancient typikon that Violakis tries to preserve that much could be lost if we tried to make a new typikon too soon. However, I wish I could find more of an explanation (rather than mere descriptions–like in “The Typikon Decoded”) of *why* we do things the way we do and in the order we do them in the current typikon. Sometimes things do seem so random in the services, but perhaps that’s good. Maybe it only seems random to those of us (myself included) who are so heavily infuenced by rationalism. I also don’t see the point in making a new typikon since the one we already have is so underutilized in so many parishes who only ever do Vespers and Divine Liturgy. Maybe instead of conformimg the services to our own secular and over-busy society, we should conform ourselves to the ancient practices of the Church. I would hope that if we ever did update the typikon, it would be in the spirit of Violakis: for the sake of preserving that which was handed down and making in into something even more truly itself.