depth, intrigues, inspires, and fascinates a great number of today s

Christians; and yet it remains for many almost inaccessible if not

incomprehensible.
The Typikon, the liturgical book that contains

the order of the liturgical celebration, is complex, whence the

necessity of decoding it both for recent converts and for cradle

Orthodox Christians desiring to deepen their liturgical observance.
And

that decoding is the goal of this book. Developed from courses given at

the Institut Saint-Serge in Paris, it covers the celebration of the

offices throughout the Byzantine liturgical year. The organization and

composition of the liturgical offices are first situated in the context

of their historical development, and then are analyzed in detail from a

practical point of view.
This explanation of Byzantine liturgical

practice, the first of its kind in English, includes an extensive

bibliography and comprehensive glossary.