TYPICON. — From the Greek «τυπικόν», it means rule, regulation. These T., which exercised such considerable influence on the development of Byzantine law, especially monastic law, came into widespread use in the East beginning in the 10th century.
At that time, in fact, the custom was introduced whereby the founder or restorer of a monastery also established a detailed regulation for it, containing either only liturgical rules and prescriptions, or also—and perhaps principally—disciplinary prescriptions. Hence the distinction between the liturgical and disciplinary T., the latter having gained greater acceptance, though without excluding every liturgical element.
Among the disciplinary typica, which are the most important, first place is occupied by those that also contain specific provisions intended to ensure the foundation’s economic life in the future, commonly called τυπικά κτητορικά (from the Greek κτήτωρ = founder). In these t., the founder or restorer disposes of his property in favor of the monastery, while at the same time setting out the rules for its use and administration, as well as for the election of the hegumen or superior, the admission of monks, etc. It was natural that, in drafting these documents, particularly foundation documents, the formalities prescribed by law for such documents should be observed. What these formalities were cannot now be determined, because the T. have come down to us in an imperfect state. It seems, however, highly probable that the author’s signature was the only formality deemed necessary for their validity. A list of the T., with an indication of the edition, vedi in P. de Meester, O.S.B., in Atti del V Congresso Internazionale di Studi bizantini, II, Roma 1940, pp. 489-508.
Several T. are in use: the Greeks, Romanians, and Bulgarians have that of the Great Church of Constantinople; the Russians and Serbs, that of S. Sabbas; the monks of Mount Athos, the Athonite T.; while other monasteries have their own.
The T. of S. Sabbas is divided into two parts; as its 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 detailed description of the Small Vespers and the Night Vigil (chapters 1 and 2), there follows a general section explaining how the feast of those saints who possess some degree of festivity is combined with the Sunday Office, how Vespers and Orthros are celebrated on Sunday when they are not united in a night vigil (3–7), and how the Office is performed on weekdays and Saturdays (9–15). Up to chapter 25, instructions are given concerning secondary parts of the Office, such as the Psalter, the canons, the Gospels with their commentary, etc. After this section, the T. gives prescriptions for monastic life (26–46). Then follows a description, down to the smallest details, of the Office for every day of the ecclesiastical year, both of the fixed cycle, which begins on 1 September and ends on 31 August, and of the Paschal cycle, which begins with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee and ends with the Sunday of All Saints. This highly developed section also contains the texts of the troparia and kontakia, as well as the so-called chapters of Mark (as the articles of the hieromonk Mark are called, indicating how the various movable parts of the Office follow one another when the feasts of the Mother of God and the pre-feasts and after-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 of the troparia, kontakia, theotokia, prokeimena, epistles, etc. (52–60). The second part, in its sixty chapters, deals with the coincidence of the titular feast of the church with other feasts, with Sunday, etc. Finally, the Paschal tables are found. The T. of the Great Church follows a different plan; in 1838, a new recension reduced its monastic character in order to adapt it better to parish life. After some preliminary observations, it treats systematically of all the secondary parts of the Ninth Hour, Vespers, Orthros, and the liturgy, and indicates the various possibilities according to which these parts may occur throughout the year. There then follows the body of the T., that is, the explanations of the weekday and Sunday Office, of the Office of the saints who are actually celebrated during the twelve months of the year, beginning in September, and of the Office of the days of Lent and of the Paschal season. An appendix, which is not identical in all editions, contains the particulars for certain Offices according to the manner of their celebration in the Great Church, for example, for the Saturday of the Akathist, the recitation of the twelve Gospels on Good Friday, concelebration, etc.
The practical importance of the T. is exceptional. In Russia it was called the guide to all the liturgical books. The various manuscript texts of the T. are also a first-rate source for the history of Byzantine liturgy. A complete study of the history of the T., however, does not exist, despite the work carried out especially by Russian liturgists. The most complete collection of manuscript texts, sometimes published extensively, is that of A. Dmitrievskij (v. BIBLICA). The studies of the same author establish: 1) the existence of an ancient T. of the patriarchal church of Jerusalem, which had a great influence on the entire development of the T.; 2) the Rule of S. Sabbas, left by the Saint at his death, is a norm for the life of his monks and has no connection whatsoever with the liturgical T. called that of S. Sabbas; 3) no text reproducing the original and authentic T. has so far been found; 4) the various ktistoric T. (that is, those of the founders of monasteries) are very important for the development of the T., because they lead to the complete T. of the twelfth century.