SINASSARIO. — From the Greek συναξάρχων, from συ-
νάγω = to gather, and σύνδεσμος = assembly. This term
designated a “liturgical book that was read in religious
assemblies.” This meaning is purely Christian, and so its
various meanings followed the liturgical developments of
Christian assemblies. However, the fundamental meaning
of “liturgical book” always remained attached to II.
In antiquity, the synaxarion constituted a kind of lectionary
that contained especially pericopes from Scripture, without
excluding other edifying writings. These pericopes were
intercalated between the sixth and seventh *ody* (hymn) of
the *ephthinon* (“Divine Office of dawn, lauds of the Latin
rite”).
Little by little, from a predominance of biblical texts, it
passed to that of hagiography. Thus the synaxarion became
a liturgical book that in the West might be compared to a
martyrology, in which the memory of the saint was accom-
panied by a brief edifying biographical notice, as in the
Second Nocturn of the Office of the Latin rite. In this case it
is called a “great synaxarion.” If, instead, the saints of the
day are simply commemorated, one has the “little synaxarion.”
The synaxarion is the historical part of the Divine Office.