SYNODIKON OF ORTHODOXY

SYNODIKON OF ORTHODOXY. This document appears as a list of blessings (q.v.) and curses after the defeat of iconoclasm (q.v.) in 843. It is still read or chanted aloud during the Vespers of the first Sunday in Lent (q.v.), the celebration of the “Triumph of Orthodoxy.” Composed of two parts, the first is a thanksgiving (blessings) addressed to Christ for the defenders and champions of the faith, and the second is a catalog of anathemas (curses) against the great heresies (q.v.) and their promulgators. The Constantinopolitan version of the Synodikon was updated through 1429, and some local Orthodox churches have continued the process.