Указанията за литургийните антифони в типиците, използвани в богослужебната практика на Българската Православна Църква
Instructions for the liturgical antiphones in the typicon used in the liturgical practice of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to trace and analyse the situation with antiphons in liturgical typicons as well as to note some incorrect practices in performing the antiphonal part of the Holy Liturgy that have developed.The comparative review of the antiphonal parts in the published liturgical books leads to the conclusion that towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries the correct practice of performing antiphons with their verses started dying out. They began to be performed more frequently only with their refrains, and at present these are the sole parts sung. Moreover, in the liturgical books, there are attempts for this dominating incorrect practice to be legitimated and presented as a universally accepted norm.With the publication of the Typicon in 1959 and 1980 this incorrect practice became a norm due to the authority of this type of Holy Synod publications, which, as a rule, regulate the correct order and manner of performing the liturgy. Before it was fixed in writing in the Typica, the incorrect practice in question found its reflection in a number of other Bulgarian Church-liturgical books: missals, books of hours, song collections, etc. When a historically ungrounded liturgical practice originates in the course of time, it should not be codified in official liturgical books, especially in the Typika, as this makes it a rule and a model to follow. This situation also applies to liturgical antiphons, whose incorrect performance has established itself everywhere. The majority of the priests and ministrants (choir singers and readers) in the diocese of our Church do not know the antiphonal tradition in its historical development. By following the instructions of the Typicon from 1980 and the contradictory instructions of the Books of hours and some other liturgical books published in our country, the contemporary singers and readers contribute to further spreading of this manner of singing the liturgical antiphons.

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