Menaion

JOHN A. MCGUCKIN

The Menaion (plural Menaia, since there are usually twelve volumes) derives from the Greek word for “month” and refers to the books of special liturgical texts associ­ated with, and assigned as propers to, the feastdays of the various saints (or holy days related to the life of Jesus and the Virgin Theotokos) who are commemorated on each day of the twelve months of the year. Often, several saints may be com­memorated together on the same day. A church cantor, therefore, will use the proper texts contained in the Menaia for every service. The General Menaion is a collection of generic services for various “types” of saints (prophets, apostles, angels, hierarchs, and so on). The Menaia texts for the greater feastdays of the church year were assembled and given a modern English ver­sion in 1969. They demonstrate how much theology is contained in these prayers, hymns, and antiphons, and show how the liturgy gives a truer sense of the character of Orthodoxy than can often be found in any other way – which illustrates the patristic adage Lex orandi, lex credendi; or “the way the church prays is demonstrative of what it believes.”

SEE ALSO: Calendar; Feasts; Liturgical Books

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Brotherhood of St. Seraphim (1994) The General Menaion. Wallasey, UK: Anargyroi Press.

Ware, K. and Mother Mary (eds.) (1969) The Festal Menaion. London: Faber and Faber.