Liturgies Eastern and Western (Hammond)

Preface.

This reprint of texts is an attempt to provide, to some extent, this desideratum original Latin: "desideratum"; a thing that is needed or desired but is currently missing.. A glance at the Table of Contents will show the scope of this work. The Introduction contains the reasons for choosing and grouping these specific liturgies The official sets of words and rituals used in public worship., as well as an account of the sources used for the texts.

I have not attempted a critical scholarly editing of the texts, except in two or three isolated places where a footnote calls attention to it. This is not because I am unaware of the need for such a critical revision. Rather, it is because such a work would truly require—as my previous remarks show—a whole generation of scholars and must be completed piece by piece. We may hope that before very long, a recollation The process of re-examining and comparing manuscripts to identify variations. of the earliest manuscripts original: "MSS." of the Greek Liturgies, at least, may be undertaken and a critical edition based upon it. Meanwhile, it is a worthwhile step, though a modest one, to put existing materials into a form available for beginners. Lecturers may also find it useful as a textbook for their classes.

Regarding the execution of this work, I ask the reader to notice the following points:

One goal I have set for myself is to make it as easy as possible to compare different liturgies through a uniform arrangement and typeface. Since these have been collected from several different sources, this goal has sometimes required slight alterations to the original documents. With very few exceptions—which I believe are always noted—these changes are limited to the punctuation and the layout of the type. The texts are transcribed exactly as they appear in the cited authorities; however, I am responsible for the punctuation and, in some places, for the new paragraph divisions.

I am also responsible for everything in the margins and for the footnotes, except for some of those in the Armenian Liturgy. Those marked with an (M) were provided by the Reverend S. C. Malan Solomon Caesar Malan (1812–1894), a highly respected linguist and expert in Eastern languages and church history..