XI
(pp. [243], [347])
Excursus on the so-called Typica
The term Typicum is used first of all by Greek liturgists and rubricists to denote those short parts of the liturgy which are composed of verses from the psalms in connection both with the Canonical Hours and with the Mass, there is nothing exactly corresponding in the Western rite. (Leo Allatius, De Libris Eccl. Græc., 14, 15. Daniel, Thes. Lit., iv. 313, 319). Typicum is also used as a technical term, in the Eastern Church especially during the Byzantine period, in the sense of statute, regulation, etc. It was applied chiefly to two kinds of documents. First, it designated the catalogues of the possessions of ecclesiastical establishments and corporations, especially in so far as they were based upon testamentary donations, along with the duties entailed by them upon the clergy. Typica of this kind were called (κτητορικά), and correspond to the chartularies and “traditiones” of Western monasteries and bishoprics. Secondly, typicum was a term of a liturgical character, and as such must be considered here. Typica, in this sense, were the lists of the feasts recurring in the course of the year, of liturgical observances, fasts, etc., such as were to be observed in one of the larger churches or monasteries, along with detailed descriptions of each; they correspond to the consuetudines of Western monasteries and cathedrals.
Typica of this last kind exist in large numbers, although only a few of them have been published, and these not in editions useful for critical purposes. The best known and most important are: (1) the Typicum S. Sabæ; (2) that belonging to the monastery of the Studium at Constantinople; and (3) that formerly belonging to the famous Monastery of St Auxentius in Bithynia, now Ka-ish-dagh, dating from the time of Michael Paleologus († 1268).
The typicum of St Sabas is sometimes valuable as a source of liturgical information, and for its references to the festivals of the Church, but it is only to be used with the greatest caution. It derives its name not so much from St Sabas himself as from the monastery called after him near Jerusalem. Leo Allatius gives the following account of its origin from a dialogue of Simeon of Thessalonica; St Sabas drew up an order for the canonical hours and divine service to be observed in his monastery; this “diatyposis” was destroyed owing to the ravages of the Saracens, but was re-established by the patriarch Sophronius from memory, and retouched by St John Damascene; later on it was altered yet again to meet the requirements of the time. In the sixteenth century it was printed for practical purposes, as, for example, in Venice in 1545. In this form the typicum contains the order for divine service throughout the year for monasteries following the rule of St Sabas, rubricks for the canonical hours, the fasts and festivals, with information as to the liturgy to be used, the gospels and epistles, the menology, instructions on the canonical hours, etc., also rules of life and statutes for the monks and selected passages from the Greek Fathers. It received its present form apparently from John Grammaticus in Constantinople in the twelfth century, and cannot, of course, be regarded as a work of St Sabas. This cannot be appealed to for evidence concerning ecclesiastical customs in use before the twelfth century.
In the Eastern Church typica are issued from time to time, somewhat corresponding to our directories.
With regard to the literature on this point, it is well to mention: Theodoras Toscanus, Ad Typica Græcorum Animadversiones, Romæ, 1864. Pitra in Spicil. Solem., iv. 466 seqq. Ehrhard, Röm. Quartalschr., 1893. Krumbacher, Byzant. Zeitschr., ii. 348; iii. 167 seqq. Waldemar Nissen, Die Diataxis des Michael von Attalia von 1077, Jena, 1894. Meyer in the Theol. Literaturztg. of Shürer and Harnack, 1894, 588 seq., and 1896, No. 10. Gedeon, Μιχαὴλ τοῦ Παλαιολὸγου τυπικόν, etc., Constantinople, 1895.