pdfallon
@pfallonumw-edu
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Erick, I love these ideas. Let’s put those monks and seminarians to work! We definitely need things like this. I’m going to start saving up now!
Absolutely yes, we need a new Typikon. If the Church is to make inroads in the Anglophone world, it needs a bilingual Typikon. There is only one, to my knowledge, the one translated by Rev. Robert T. Athas and ed. by George T. Demos and Theodore Bogdanos, published by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver Church Music Federation as The Ritual Order of the Services of the Great Church of Christ by George Violakis, Bilingual Edition, 2015 (ISBN: 978-0-692-24874-4). While admirable in many ways, this work is still somewhat difficult to use. Formatting changes, especially in an electronic edition, could go a long way to help.
For example, this hefty work of xiii + 979 + 176 (1,168 pp.) lacks page headers. This is frustrating because the Annunciation has 24 cases covered over 71 pages (435-505). St George (Apr 23) is covered over 35 pages. Layout is further confused when the situations spread to cover relevant changes to fore- and afterfeasts. When they are intertwined, such as the Sundays before Christmas to the post-Epiphany feast, clear layout is all the more necessary.
If a revised version were ever printed, pages for the same feast could be printed to the edge (differing by date and repeating as necessary), creating tab-like effects on the page edge opposite the binding.
Organizationally, a modest reform could be to standardize the situation numbers as much as possible so that the user would know that let’s say, all situation 1 is when the feast is on a Monday, situation 2 is Tuesday, etc. And we could introduce letters for more specific variations like 5B is a Friday in Lent. I’d love to see more of the variables in chart-like format so that a full service is displayed like our templates, with changes clearly highlighted and unchanged staples of the service not highlighted.
As for reforms, one inadequacy is that the Violakis of 1888 is inadequate for the calendar reform of 1923. We’ve had a century of practice with new situations and we should own it. We need to record how we are dealing with situations in which the 40 Martyrs (March 9) might not occur in Great Lent, or when St. George (April 23) does and does not occur during Great Lent/Holy Week and when exactly it gets moved to after Pascha and when it doesn’t.
And like what we’ve heard about the Systema Typikou (and some of the variables in DCS), choices are great. And they should be laid out and indicated, full of rubrics. The Typikon might have recommendations for less experienced chanters and then full-blown rubrics and all the options for left and right chanters who want all the canons and bells and whistles.
And ideally, time estimates would be cool. For example, a faster chanter could do this service in 60 minutes while a slower chanter might take 75 minutes (or whatever). This is helpful for parishes like mine because once we’re done, a mission parish of another jurisdiction uses our church, so it’s helpful to know approximate timings of services.
A revision of the Typikon should be useful as a guide. And with footnotes, it can be invaluable as a record of practice. For example, we could note that x% of parishes in y Archdiocese do not say the stichologia, or z% omit Psalms a,b,c. From that point, we at least have data. Conservative hierarchs might then consider restoring or codifying practices with their area. (Sidebar: is it conservative to restore an abandoned practice, or is that the innovation–like when Peter mentioned certain parishes singing odes 1,3, 9 of canons that are mostly abandoned?)
Finally, I’d love for the Typikon to be much more explicit about the readings assigned. I’d love to see the design principles for how to lay out the lectionary in different situations, e.g. when we have x-many Sundays between Christmas and Pascha, y-many Sundays, and so on. This could also be invaluable in revised editions of the Apostlos and Gospels as well.
Hi! I’m Paul Fallon, from Fredericksburg, VA. I have a wife, and a boy (10) and a girl (5). I was received into the Church (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese) in 1997, and have been in the choir at the church since about 2010. This past September, I was tonsured Reader. I’m the de facto English language chanter in the parish, relying heavily on Digital Chant Stand. I took Peter George’s Typikon 100 in late fall 2024 and wish to continue learning the intricacies of compiling services.
Since you’ve mentioned Typikon 101, I don’t really understand the course sequence, since Typikon 100 is not listed in the course catalog. What is the difference between 100, that we’re in, and 101? You might have said this in the beginning but I had some technical issues logging into the beginning of the first class.
When will information about the next classes be available? Thanks.
The Menaion page you want is 169 and following = pdf electronic page 177.
After Oct. 31, the Menaion has “additional services” for more recent saints and that part ends on Oct. 20 (Part 2) for St Gerasimos of Kephalonia.Yes, do the vespers service for Saturday night Oct 26, which liturgically begins Vespers for Oct 27.
So, a question about the homework. For the dismissal hymns, what if the Menaion shows two dismissal hymns, each in a different tone? Which one governs the Theotokion? Or is it only of the tone of the doxastikon previously used? And I assume that the tone and theotokion stick together, that is, we select the dismissal theotokion based on the governing tone, right? You’d never use the words of a hymn in tone y to the tune of tone z, right?
I’m Paul Fallon, from Fredericksburg, Virginia. I’m supposedly 77% of the way through my actuarial journey through life. My church is the Nativity of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church. I have sung in the choir for about 15 or more years. In recent years, though, I realized if we wanted more in English, I’d have to step up. So I’m essentially self-taught. I’ve leaned heavily on DCS. So I’ve been one of the chanters and in the last two years, the English language chanter and backup for when the main chanter can’t make a service. On 9/8/2024, I was tonsured a Reader.
I’d like to know things like why during the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos on a Sunday, the prescribed reading for the feast was not used. I don’t know if we’ll cover any of the lectionary.
I’m disappointed that the EP’s typikon on the website has been under construction for years. I’m disappointed that the red ΕΠΕΤΗΡΙΣ is so expensive and only in Greek. So I hope this course will help me understand the variables and changes in especially vespers, orthros, and liturgy.
We’ll see what our instructor says, but available in a bunch of discrete files in Greek are many texts:
https://glt.goarch.org/
