Typical

TYPICAL. - From the Greek "musév", it means rule, regulation. These Typika, which exercised so much influence on the development of Byzantine law, especially monastic law, came into wide use in the East from the 10th century onward.

At that time, in fact, the custom was introduced that the founder or restorer of a monastery should also set down a detailed rule for it, containing either only liturgical norms and prescriptions, or also, and perhaps chiefly, disciplinary prescriptions. Hence the distinction between liturgical and disciplinary Typika, the latter being the one that has found the most acceptance, without however excluding every liturgical element.

Among the disciplinary ones, which are the most important, the first place is occupied by those that also include particular provisions intended to secure for the future the economic life of the foundation, commonly called τυπικά κτητορικά (from the Greek κτήτωρ = founder). In these Typika the founder or restorer disposes of his goods in favor of the monastery, indicating at the same time the norms for their use and administration, as well as for the election of the hegumen or superior, for the admission of monks, etc. It was natural that in the drafting of these documents, particularly in those of foundation, the formalities prescribed by law for such documents should be observed. What these formalities were, it is not possible today to determine, because the Typika have come down to us in an imperfect state. It seems, however, very probable that the signature of the author of the Typikon was the only formality deemed necessary for its validity. For a list of the Typika, with an indication of the edition, see P. de Meester, O.S.B., in Atti del V Congresso Internazionale di Studi bizantini, II, Rome 1940, pp. 489-508.

Clemente Pujol

LITURGICAL TYPICAL

It is the liturgical book of the Byzantine rite, which contains the norms (οἱ τύποι) of the Divine Office. The T. explains in a systematic way the course of the Offices, indicates how and where the variable parts must be inserted into the Ordinary and, where necessary, gives clarifications on particular ceremonies. The T. therefore has some analogy with the "Ordo Officii et Missae" of the Latin rite, but it is much more developed and is perpetual.

Several T. are in use: the Greeks, Romanians and Bulgarians have that of the great Church of Constantinople, the Russians and Serbs that of St. Sabas, the monks of Mount Athos the Athonite T., while other monasteries have their own.

The T. of St. Sabas is divided into two parts; as a model it takes the T. of Moscow of 1904. The first part deals with the Offices that must be celebrated in all churches. After a minute description of Little Vespers and the night Vigil (chaps. 1 and 2), there follows a general part in which it is explained how the feast of those saints who have some degree of festivity is joined with the Office of Sunday, how Vespers and the Orthros are celebrated on Sunday, when they are not united in a night vigil (3-7), and how the Office is done on ferias and on Saturday (9-15). Up to chapter 25 instructions are given on secondary parts of the Office, e.g., the Psalter, the canons, the Gospels with their commentary, etc. After this part the T. gives prescriptions for the monastic life (26-46). Then follows the description, down to the smallest details, of the Office of every day of the ecclesiastical year, both of the fixed cycle that begins on Sept. 1 and ends on Aug. 31, and of the paschal cycle, which begins with the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican and ends with the Sunday of All Saints. This part, very developed, also contains the text of the troparia and kontakia, as well as the so-called chapters of Mark (thus are called the articles of the hieromonk Mark which indicate how the different movable parts of the Office follow one another when the feasts of the Mother of God and the pre-feasts and post-feasts of the twelve great feasts fall on a Sunday or on a day of the cycle of the Triodion and the Pentecostarion [47-50]).

The first part ends with explanations on the troparia, kontakia, theotokia, prokimena, epistles, etc. (52-60). The second part deals in its sixty chapters with the coincidence of the titular feast of the church with other feasts, with Sunday, etc. Finally there are the paschal tables. The T. of the great Church follows another plan; in the year 1838, a new redaction diminished its monastic character in order to adapt it better to parish life. After some preliminary observations it deals in a systematic way with all the secondary parts of the Ninth Hour, of Vespers, of the Orthros and of the liturgy and indicates the different possibilities according to which these parts can present themselves during the year. Then comes the body of the T., that is, the explanations of the ferial and Sunday Office, of the Office of the saints who are in fact celebrated in the twelve months of the year, beginning from Sept., of the Office of the days of Lent and of the Easter season. An appendix, not the same in all editions, contains the particularities for certain Offices according to their manner of celebration in the great Church, e.g., for the Saturday of the Acquist, for the reading of the twelve Gospels on Good Friday, for the concelebration, etc.

The practical importance of the T. is exceptional. In Russia they called it the guide of all the liturgical books. Also for the history of the Byzantine liturgy the various manuscript texts of the T. are a source of the first order. A complete study, however, of the history of the T. does not exist, despite the works carried out especially by Russian liturgists. The most complete collection of manuscript texts, sometimes extensively published, is that of A. Dmitrievskij (v. op. cit. in bibl.). From the studies of the same author it results: 1) the existence of an ancient T. of the patriarchal church of Jerusalem, which had great influence on the whole evolution of the T.; 2) the Rule of St. Sabas, left by the Saint when dying, is a norm for the life of his monks and has no relation to the liturgical T. called of St. Sabas; 3) no text reproducing the original and authentic T. has been found so far; 4) for the evolution of the T. the various ktetorika T. (that is, of the founders of monasteries) are very important because they lead to the complete T. of the 12th century.

Gabriele di Aalst