The presanctified liturgy in the Byzantine rite
Subtitle: a comparative analysis of its origins, evolution, and structural components
By: Stefanos Alexopoulos
Series: Liturgia condenda -- 21; Liturgia condenda -- 21.
Publisher: Peeters
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Leuven [Belgium]; Walpole, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 358
ISBN-13: 9789042921092
Subjects: Liturgy; Liturgics; Orthodox Eastern Church; Orthodoxe Kirche; Liturgik; Fastenzeit; Bysantinsk kyrkohistoria; Liturgie der Vorgeweihten Gaben; History
Description: The Presanctified Liturgy, a communion service attached to vespers, is an office peculiar to the period of Great Lent in the Byzantine liturgical tradition. It is the ambition of this study to trace the origins, the evolution and history of the Presanctified Liturgy in the Byzantine liturgical tradition. The method of comparative liturgy and structural analysis of liturgical units is followed. The book presents a thorough investigation of sources from the early Church that could point to the origins of Presanctified Liturgy, and examines the occurrence of the Presanctified Liturgy in the other Christian traditions. Heavily drawing upon the manuscript tradition it examines in depth the text of the Presanctified Liturgy itself, tracing the evolution of its structural components throughout history. The author argues that three dynamics have been behind the evolution and growth of the Presanctified Liturgy: imitation, conservatism, and differentiation.
Notes: Dissertation.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-355).
Table of contents: title: The search for the origins of the Presanctified; title: The Presanctified in context; title: The Presanctified in the non-Byzantine East and the West; title: The vesperal part of the Presanctified; title: The communion part of the Presanctified; title: Conclusion; title: Appendix one: the text of the Presanctified; title: Appendix two: cathedral and monastic psalter; title: Appendix three: the Prothesis ritual of the Presanctified in the manuscript tradition; title: Appendix four: readings for Trithekti and vespers; title: Appendix five: manuscript table.