Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church
- CAMBRIDGE COMPANIONS TO RELIGION
- The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgement
- Abbreviations
- An Introduction to the Byzantine Church
- Part IOutlines of the Byzantine Church
- Part IITheology
- Part IIIExperiencing the Liturgy
- 15Liturgy at the Great Church after Iconoclasm
- 16Experiencing Scripture
- 17Hymnology
- 18Iconic Subjects
- 19Hagiography
- 20Architecture
- Part IVLiving the Faith
- Part VThe Late Byzantine Church and Its Afterlife
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE COMPANIONS TO RELIGION (continued from )
- References
16 - Experiencing Scripture
from Part III - Experiencing the Liturgy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 July 2026
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church
- CAMBRIDGE COMPANIONS TO RELIGION
- The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgement
- Abbreviations
- An Introduction to the Byzantine Church
- Part IOutlines of the Byzantine Church
- Part IITheology
- Part IIIExperiencing the Liturgy
- 15Liturgy at the Great Church after Iconoclasm
- 16Experiencing Scripture
- 17Hymnology
- 18Iconic Subjects
- 19Hagiography
- 20Architecture
- Part IVLiving the Faith
- Part VThe Late Byzantine Church and Its Afterlife
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE COMPANIONS TO RELIGION (continued from )
- References
Summary
Looking broadly at the place of Scripture in the Byzantine Church, this chapter focuses on the place and symbolism of the Gospel reading in the Divine Liturgy. The reader is provided with an overview of the various manuscripts used in the liturgical rite and the Biblical readings deployed therein, as well as an outline of the rites in the Divine Liturgy that surround the recitation of the Gospel. Using as a case study the Christmas Day reading found in an illustrated lectionary, now at the Vatican Library (Vat. gr. 1156), the chapter walks the reader through the variety of evidence preserved in Byzantine Gospel lectionaries for understanding the performance of the liturgy, the chanting of the Gospel text and the artistic and scribal practices of the manuscript tradition. Through this chapter, readers will gain a better understanding of how the Gospel was recited in the Byzantine Church, while also acquiring a sense of the various primary and secondary sources for undertaking further research in this area of study.
Keywords
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- The Cambridge Companion to the Byzantine Church , pp. 292 - 312Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
References
Suggested Reading
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Nicholas and Theodore of Andida, Protheoria Kephalaiodes (PG 140, 418–68).Google Scholar
Anonymous, Liturgical Poem, trans. Betancourt, Roland, ‘A Byzantine Liturgical Commentary in Verse: Introduction and Translation’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica 81 (2015), 433–72;Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
Bornert, René, Les commentaires byzantins de la Divine Liturgie du VIIe au XVe siècle (Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1966), esp. 181–213.Google Scholar
Betancourt, Roland, Performing the Gospels in Byzantium: Sight, Sound, and Space in the Divine Liturgy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolezal, Mary-Lyon, ‘The Middle Byzantine Lectionary: Textual and Pictorial Expression of Liturgical Ritual’, 2 vols., unpublished PhD thesis, University of Chicago (1991).Google Scholar
Lowden, John, The Jaharis Gospel Lectionary: The Story of a Byzantine Book (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009).Google Scholar
Nelson, Robert S., ‘Patriarchal Lectionaries of Constantinople: History, Attributions, and Prospects’ in Krueger, Derek and Nelson, Robert S. (eds.), The New Testament in Byzantium (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2016), 87–115.Google Scholar
Velkovska, Elena, ‘Il lezionario patriarcale Ottoboni gr. 175’ in D’Agostino, Marco and Degni, Paola (eds.), Alethes Philia: Studi in onore di Giancarlo Prato, vol. 2 (Spoleto: Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull’alto Medioevo, 2010), 687–94.Google Scholar
Yota, Elisabeth, ‘The Lectionary’ in Tsamakda, Vasiliki (ed.), A Companion to Byzantine Illustrated Manuscripts (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 287–99.Google Scholar
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