Synaxarion

SYNAXARION. - From the Greek συναξάριον, from συνάγει = to gather, and σύναξει = assembly. This term designated a "liturgical book that was read at religious assemblies." This meaning is purely Christian, and so the meaning also varied following the liturgical developments of Christian assemblies. However, the fundamental meaning of "liturgical book" always remained with it.

In ancient times the synaxarion constituted a kind of lectionary that contained especially biblical pericopes without excluding other writings of an edifying nature. These pericopes were inserted between the sixth and seventh ὕδῃς (hymn) of the ὕρθρος (the divine office of dawn, the laudes of the Latin rite).

Little by little, the biblical predominance gave way to the hagiographic one. Thus the synaxarion became a liturgical book that in the West could be compared to the martyrology, in which the commemoration of the saint was accompanied by a brief edifying biographical notice, as in the Second Nocturn of the Office of the Latin rite. In this case it is called the "great synaxarion." When, instead, the saints of the day are simply commemorated, one has the "little synaxarion." The synaxarion is the historical part of the Divine Office.