Subject: Re: tc-list In need of more lectionary help

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 15:50:03 -0500

>A few days ago I sent a message out requesting some help on Lectionary
>866.  Thanks to everyone who responded.  I now have a few more questions:

First of all it is important to remember that a lectionary usually consists
of a Synaxarion and a Menologion (please note that these terms are not
always used consistently by Byzantine bookman in liturgical books).

The Synaxarion gives the lections for the days dependent on the Easter
cycle, consisting of the following parts: (1) the period between Easter and
Pentecost: Johannean lections; (2) the period after pentecost, subdivided
in (2a) the Matthean readings (until the Exaltation of the Cross) and (2b)
the Lukan readings; (3) the period of Great Lent (mostly Mark), the start
of which depends on the following Easter date; (4) Holy Week (pericopes and
compilations from all four Gospels).

The Menologion gives the lections for the 'fixed' days of the Byzantine
calendar, which starts with the month September. Nowadays the Feast of the
Exaltation of the Cross (14 Sept) governs the start of period 2b of the
Synaxarion. However, I have the impression this is later adaptation of the
Byzantine 'Typikon': in most MSS I have examined the counting of the
'Lukan' weeks does not start anew. As a result, Tuesday of the second week
of the Lukan period, may be counted as Tuesday of the 19th week after
Easter (in the rubric something like 'G ths ITh').

>(1) Lectionary 866 begins with the Gospel of John, and the various
>readings are fairly easy to pick out.  Am I correct in assuming that the
>readings in the lectionary are arranged day-by-day?  Do the readings for
>one week begin with Sunday and proceed through the course of the next
>seven days to Saturday, or are the Saturday-Sunday lections fall into a
>separate category than the weekday lections?  Put simply, I'm wondering if
>I'll be able to locate my texts (Mark 1:40-45; Matt 8:1-4; Luke 5:12-16)
>by counting days in the lectionary (since Lectionary 866 is complete and
>since I now know the days these three passages are read on).

Yes, the Gospel lectionary starts with John 1:1 (as does the Diatessaron).
Although officiallly Sunday is of course the first day of the week, it is
important to note that after Pentecost first the lections of Monday (=
Deutera = second day) thru Saturday of, for instance, week 3 are given;
they are then followed by the third Sunday lection. This can be confusing:
carefully read the rubrics.

I do not have access here to the new Kurzgefasste Liste (in the old one I
discovered a number of mistakes), because it is important to know what type
of lectionary you are dealing with. The major division is between 'long'
and 'short' lectionaries (see p. 81* of NA27, where the first group is
indicated with 'le' the second with 'lesk' and 'lsk'). Usually in short
lectionaries weekday lections are only provided for period 1. That means
that if your lectionary is of type 'lesk' or 'lsk', you will not find the
Lukan lection you are after.

If one looks at the selection of pericopes, one has the impression that the
historical development of the lectionary may have been as follows: first
the Sunday cycle, then the Saturday lections were added and only later were
lections for the weekdays appointed. This means that the textual character
of the weekday lections may be different, because they could have been
taken from continuous-text MSS at a later stage (something similar holds
for lections for more recent feasts in the Menologion).

A lectionary is a living organism. Before using one as a textual witness,
one should get acquainted with its own structure and historical
development.

>(2) How many weeks are there between Easter and Pentecost?  This should
>help me locate the ending of John with ease.

That's a tough one: 7.

>(3) How many weeks are there between Holy Cross Day and the start of Lent?

Here the two cycles interact, so the number differs from year to year.

Kalh epituchia!

Michael Bakker

Dr H.P.S. Bakker

Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS)
Meijboomlaan 1
2242 PR Wassenaar
The Netherlands
tel.: +31 70 512 2700
fax: +31 70 511 7162

Slavic Seminar
University of Amsterdam
Spuistraat 210
1012 VT Amsterdam