The Liturgikon, or Služebnik
The Liturgikon (Gk., "liturgy book"; Slav. Služebnik, "service book") is the priest's book for the Divine Liturgies, and also contains the other prayers used by the priest at the altar, such as the prayers of Vespers and Matins. It is also used by the deacon. The corrresponding book used by a bishop is the Archieratikon.
At one time, the Liturgikon formed part of the Great Euchologion (Gk. Euchológion to méga; Slav. Bolshói Ieréiskiy Molitvoslóv , "Large priestly prayer-book") - a single book that contained all the priest's prayers for the Divine Liturgies, the hours of prayer, and the sacraments and other services. Eventually this book was split in two, to form the Liturgikon, containing the Divine Liturgies and the daily prayer services, and the Small Euchologion, or simply Euchologion, containing the other Mysteries and blessings.
Contents of the Liturgikon
The contents of the Liturgikon, like that of all liturgical books, change slightly depending on the needs and traditions of each local church. The Roman Služebnik, which is the normative Liturgikon for the Byzantine Catholic Church, contains:
Small vespers
Great vespers
Daily vespers
Vespers for Cheesefare Week and the Great Fast
Vespers for Great Friday
Vespers on the Sunday of Pascha, and during Bright Week
Compline and the Midnight Office (very brief)
The service of Matins
Sunday and festal matins
Daily matins
Matins on Meatfare Saturday
Matins for Cheesefare Week and the Great Fast
Matins for the holy and great Sunday of Pascha
The Divine Liturgies
Preparation for the Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Thanksgiving prayers after Holy Communion
Festal dismissals at Vespers, Matins, Divine Liturgy and Hours
Daily dismissals
Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great
Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
Calendar of saints, September through August
For each day, provides the class and name of the saint commemorated, and the rank of the feast
For greater saints, provides proper prokeimenon, alleluia and Communion hymn, or indicates the common to be used
Prokeimeina, Alleluia and Communion Hymn, with their verses
From Meatfare Saturday to the Sunday of All Saints
Thursday after the Sunday of All Saints - Feast of the Holy Eucharist
Third Friday after Pentecost - Feast of Christ, Lover of Mankind
For Sunday (in each of the eight tones)
For weekdays
For classes of saints
The Liturgikon in Church Slavonic
Before the publication of the Roman books in the 1940's, the L'vov Služebnik of 1905 was widely used among Greek Catholics in Europe and America. This large volume, organized in some respects like the "altar missal" used in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, contained the "model liturgy" requested by the Synod of L'vov in 1891; this liturgy was intended to clearly distinguish Greek Catholics from Orthodox, and contained rubrics which resembled those of the Mass of the Roman Rite in certain places.
As part of the Ruthenian reform of the 1940's, a new Liturgikon for the Ruthenian Recension of the liturgy was published in Rome in 1942. This Liturgikon is reprinted occasionally by the Vatican Polyglot Press, and can sometimes be found in used book stores. It is available online, courtesy of Patronage of the Mother of God Catholic Church, Baltimore, Maryland.
Excerpts from the Roman Liturgikon (for the individual Divine Liturgies) can be obtained from the Vatican Polyglot Press.
The Liturgikon in English
The 1965 translation of the Divine Liturgies into English, currently used in the Byzantine Catholic Church, was made from the 1942 Roman Liturgikon. It is available as individual service books from the Byzantine Seminary Press, and is also available online, courtesy of Patronage of the Mother of God Catholic Church, Baltimore, Maryland.
The 1965 translation also forms the basis for the texts of the Divine Liturgy used in such anthologies as Monsignor Levkulic's The Divine Liturgy, and the Byzantine Book of Prayer.