Typicon

The Typicon is the document containing all the rules for the recitation of the Divine Office and the regulations and rubrics for our ceremonies.

Each principal Church had its own Typicon. The most famous is the Typicon of Jerusalem, written by St. Sabbas (439-532) in the dessert of Judea. These rules and regulations were handed down to him by St. Euthymius the Great(377-473) and by St. Theoktistos (+467). These rules were started and compiled originally by St. Chariton the Confessor (+350).

St. Sabas’ Typicon was destroyed during the destruction and desecration of the monasteries of Palestine. St. Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem (550-638) assembled and reconstituted St. Sabas’ Typicon, and then St. John Damascene (+749) further reconstructed it after that.

All the monasteries and the churches followed St. Sabas Typicon with the exception of a few modifications and adaptations generated by the Church of Constantinople and some other churches to accommodate the secular clergy for whom the monastic rules were not practical. The Typicon of Constantinople also contains rules stemming from the Studite Monastery in Constantinople. Despite these changes, the basic statutes are the same and generally conforming to St. Sabas’ Typicon. If anything is to distinguish them, it is probably the detailed ordinances for the Feast days, which are very explicit and practical in the Typicon of Constantinople.

Many of our churches followed an Arabic Typicon compiled in a manuscript format by Father R. P. Hermes, a Basilian monk of Saint-Savior Monastery. In 1896 Father Philippe Mallouk published an extremely practical, Arabic Typicon in compliance with the Typicon of Constantinople. After that second Typicon, Reverend Gerasimos Masarra, the Orthodox Bishop of Beyrouth published another Arabic Typicon, which was very helpful. Many of our priests composed and followed their own typicons.

In 1909, our Melkite Synod gathered in Ain Traz, decided to bring uniformity to all the Melkites. They adopted the Typicon, presented to them by Archimandrite Cyrille Rezk. It was prescribed for all the dioceses and all the monasteries and religious Orders. They based their decisions on the recommendation of Pope Benoit XIV in "Demandatam", asking the Bishops to protect the inherited traditions, stop all innovations, and correct all abuses.