Orthodox liturgy

[V. Tsurikov]

Gaimpaolo,

One of my colleagues offers the following feedback to your questions  
regarding the Orthodox Liturgy.
Although primative Christian liturgy is in some ways based upon Jewish  
ritual, it very quickly grew apart from Synagogue and Temple worship.  
The contemporary Orthodox rite is a combination of cathedral (i.e.,  
urban, which, in time, absorbed some Imperial ritual) and monastic  
rites. I can see no connection with Oriental rites, other than those  
that may have been present in the average Roman home, e.g., the  
lighting of the evening lamp, which came in time to be a central piece  
of Vespers.

An excellent place to start is Paul Bradshaw's "The Origins of  
Christian Worship," which explores how liturgical studies have  
developed, and gives a synopsis of contemporary opinion.

Uspensky's "Evening Worship" is a good historical introduction to  
Vespers as served in the Orthodox Church.

Alexander Schmemann gives an influential reading of liturgical worship  
in "An Introduction to Liturgical Theology."

As for primary sources for earliest Christianity, one would want to  
look at I Clement, the Didache, Ignatius (esp. Ephesians, Magnesians,  
and Smyrneans), Hippolytus' Apostolic Tradition, The Didascalia, and  
Cyprian of Cathage's On the Unity of the Catholic Church, Egeria's  
travel account, Origen.

For Byzantine mystagogues, see  Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus the  
Confessor, Germanus, Nicholas Cabasilas, and Symeon of Thessalonika.

Also, try the following:
"Springtime of the Liturgy: Litugical Texts of the First Four
Centuries," ed. by Lucien Deiss. This gives all the early texts one
would need.
Robert Taft, "The Byzantine Rite: A Short History." The shortest
and simplest way of getting a grasp on Byzantine liturgical history.

Hope this helps.

Vladimir Tsurikov
Holy Trinity Seminary


On Feb 9, 2006, at 5:09 AM, Giampaolo Gandolfo wrote:

>     Does anyone know which might be the origin of the sumptuous  
> orthodox rite
> Byzantine imperial court
> Hebrew religious cerimonies
> The Orient (but which Orient, how, and when?)
> Any bibliographic reference?
> I will be grateful for whatever hint on this intriguing (at least for  
> me) subject.
>             Giampaolo Gandolfo
>
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