I

The Byzantine period has bequeathed two liturgies to the present-day Orthodox Church, which are designated by the names of Saints Chrysostom and Basil. Both comprise the entire mass service, that is, the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful. The first is usually used, while the second is used on the Sundays of Lent (except Palm Sunday), the vigils of Christmas and Epiphany, and on the feast day of St. Basil, January 1st¹. I have the texts before me in an Euchologion to Mega Great Prayer Book, Athens 1899, pp. 49–77 (Chrys.) and 78–101 (Bas.), which are identical to those that Brightman² has compiled and edited with exemplary clarity on pp. 353–411. Swainson³ provides both liturgies on pp. 101–144 (Chrys.) and 151–171 (Bas.) by offering a print from 1526 and an 11th-century manuscript side-by-side: a compilation that must, of course, be used with caution⁴. R. Engdahl, Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Byzantinischen Liturgie Contributions to the Knowledge of Byzantine Liturgy (Neue Studien zur Geschichte der Theologie New Studies in the History of Theology

1. The Athenian Euchologion (1899) p. 78 names these days. In the text of Goar’s Euchol. (1647) 158 and in Swainson 151, Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday are added.
2. Liturgies Eastern and Western, edited by F. E. Brightman, Vol. 1. Oxford 1896.
3. Greek Liturgies by C. A. Swainson, Cambridge 1884.
4. Brightman lxxxiv f. The second part of the commemorative publication Chrysostomika (Rome 1908), pp. 245–969, offers a wealth of material on the history of the Chrysostom liturgy.