Introduction

Abstract

The introductory chapter deals with the Byzantine Orthodox Holy Week and its hymnography. This section of the book covers the Great Lent, a forty-day fasting period preceding Holy Week, as a baptismal/penitential liturgical cycle. The focus shifts then to Holy Week which culminates with Pascha or Easter vigil. The chapter reconstructs briefly the history of the Byzantine Holy Week with its main moments (i.e., Mar Sabas and Constantinopolitan rites and Constantinopolitan-Sabaic synthesis/symbiosis) and primary sources of evidence, such as the pilgrim Egeria’s Diary (384 C.E.) on Jerusalem rite. A close examination of Holy Week (Holy Monday through Holy Saturday) as observed currently by Orthodox communities follows. The introduction concludes with a brief summary of Byzantine hymnography prescribed for Holy Week, along with some of the most famous hymnographers, such as Theodore the Studite.