By Octavian-Adrian Negoiță | Institute for the History of Religions, Romanian Academy

Description

The so-called Slavonic Leitourgikon (Sluzebnik) of Macarie the Hieromonk, created sometime at the turn of the 16th century, is a liturgical book intended for the divine liturgical service of the Eastern Church, whose core texts are the liturgies of John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, and Gregory the Dialogist. Published on November 10, 1508, in the Slavonic language of the middle-Bulgarian redaction, the Leitourgikon is the product of the printing house established at Dealu Monastery in Târgoviște by prince Radu the Great (r. 1495–1508). It comprises liturgical texts along its 256 pages (128 sheets, the first four unnumbered) that are numbered according to 16 fascicles. The first 15 fascicles contain 8 sheets (16 pages) and are numbered in Cyrillic numerals, while the last one has only 4 unnumbered sheets (8 pages). The dimensions of the book are 220 x 150 mm.

The ornaments of the Leitourgikon features six frontispieces in three variants, along with many other ornamented initial letters. The frontispieces mainly take the form of interlaced braids with two crowns on the upper sides (variant 1), braids that form two interlaced circles with two crowns positioned on the upper sides (variant 2), and a square of interlaced braids bearing in the middle the Wallachian coat of arms, the eagle with a cross in its peak. The initial letters are also formed of interlaced braids with floral and herbal motifs imitating the Glagolitic uncial script. The origins of these ornaments have been disputed, with some scholars arguing in favor of Venetian origins, while others considering Moldavian roots as the ornaments resemble those of the Moldavian manuscripts from the time of Stephen the Great (r. 1457–1504). The identity of the miniaturist is also unknown, although the hypothesis of Macarie himself has been put forward.

The text generally stretches throughout 15 lines on the page, and is printed in black and red ink. The red ink was reserved for some of the first frontispieces, titles, initial letters, and some of the liturgical indications for the clergy. Moreover, the paper presents six types of filigranes: the Libra in a circle with two variants (with triangular plates and with round plates), the anchor in a circle (and without the circle), the cardinal’s hat, and the isolated star.

The book does not have a title page. The epilogue placed at the end of the book (fols. 255–56) provides the reader with information about the patron, the typographer, and the date of production. The unnumbered pages at the beginning of the book contain the Teaching by Basil the Great towards the priest about the divine service and about the Eucharist (fols. 1–5), and the Table of contents (fols. 6–8), which includes also the title of Basil’s teaching presented before. Then the disposition of the contents throughout the book is as follows: 1. The Order of the Divine Service that Includes the Service of the Deacon (fols. 9–23); 2. The Liturgy of John Chrysostom (fols. 24–112), which is omitted in the Table of contents; the text of the Liturgy begins in fact on page 31, while on page 24 there is the text of the Proscomedia and between pages 29–31 there is the Service of Preparation of the Clergy for the Liturgy; 3. The Liturgy of Basil the Great (fols. 113–72); 4. The Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts of St. Gregory the Dialogist (fols. 173–212); 5. The Prayers the Deacon Recites during the Great Vesper at Litia (fols. 213–25); 6. The Service of the Vespers (fols. 225–9); 7. The Service of the Matins (fols. 229–34); 8. The Endings of the Services (fols. 234–43), 9. The Prayer Recited by the Bishop or Confessor for the Forgiveness of All Sins, Intentional or Unintentional, All the Curses and Anathemas and Every Other Sin (fols. 244–52); 10. The Second Prayer for the Same Things (fols. 252–3); 11. Cherubic Hymn for the Great Saturday (fols. 253–4); 12. Cherubic Hymns for the Regular Liturgical Week (fols. 254–5), for which the Table of contents mentions that they are for the Liturgy of John; and 13. The Epilogue, which does not appear in the Table of contents.

There are only 12 copies of Macarie’s Leitourgikon preserved today: five in Romania and seven in international collections. The Library of the Romanian Academy holds three copies (two belonged to Bistrița Monastery of Oltenia and one to the Church of Alba Iulia), the Romanian National Library in Bucharest holds one, and the Library of the Archbishopric of Sibiu has one copy, too. In international libraries there are five copies preserved in Russian collections (two at the State Historical Museum and the State Library of Moscow), one in Budapest at Széchenyi Library, one in the Library of Hilandar Monastery of Mount Athos, and another at the Serbian National Library in Belgrade.

The original binding of the book is not preserved on any of the remaining copies of the Leitourgikon. One of the copies that originates from Bistrița (sixteenth century) and is now preserved at the Library of the Romanian Academy has a wooden binding covered in brown leather with remnants of iron locks. On the front, the cover bears a rectangle with two large frames, the first beginning with a repetitive ornamental pattern, and the second placed in the interior of the first, bearing a design of undulating lines and interrupted by dots. In the interior of the frames there are three double diagonal lines cut by a rhombus inscribed in the rectangle formed in the middle by the frames. At the junction points between the lines and the rhombus and also of the meeting point between the rhombus and the diagonals with the two frames there are small circles around which the binder placed flowers and small rhombuses with leaves inside. All the other copies of the Leitourgikon have either modern or local bindings dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Significance

The Slavonic Leitourgikon of Macarie is the first book ever printed in the Danubian principalities and the first printed edition of a Slavonic Leitourgikon. According to the medieval sources, Macarie never entitled his edition a Leitourgikon or a Sluzebnik, but he simply called it Liturgy. It has been argued that its publication in Wallachia is connected with the spiritual rebirth that took place in the beginning of the 16th century under the leadership of Radu the Great and Neagoe Basarab (r. 1512–21). Moreover, the Leitourgikon’s publication was intended to respond to the liturgical needs of the Church in Wallachia, and also to strengthen the political authority of the rulers. The Slavonic language was used in Wallachia at the court and in the Church, and this book become thus the basis of the liturgical service.

The publication of this book is linked with its typographer. Macarie was a native of Montenegro, and trained in printing in Venice. The Serbian Prince of the Principality of Zeta in Montenegro, George Crnojević (r. 1492–6), founded a printing house in Cetinje and appointed Macarie as its head typographer. There, Macarie printed the Octoechos in two parts (1493–4), the Psalterion (1495), and the Euchologion (1493–5). In 1496, the activity of this typography ended because of the Turkish invasions, and Macarie and other Serbian nobles were forced to flee to Venice. Radu the Great brought some of these nobles to Wallachia, among them being Maxim Branković (1461–1515), who became bishop of Râmnic-Noul Severin, and Macarie, who was appointed the head typographer of the printing press installed by the prince at Dealu Monastery in Târgoviște. Nevertheless, there are a few hypotheses concerning the identity of Macarie. Some scholars have argued that he was a different person than Macarios of Cetinje due to the differences in types used at the printing house of Cetinje and the one at Târgoviște, while others have proposed that he is the same person, known also as Macarios of Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos, which is considered the most plausible hypothesis.

According to the Epilogue, the Leitourgikon was financed first by prince Radu the Great and then was continued by Mihnea the Evil (r. 1508–9) after Radu’s death. Although there is a consensus now that the book was published at Dealu Monastery, the place of publication has also been a topic of debate. A Venetian milieu was considered, but also Bistrița Monastery in Oltenia, because of the multiple copies of Macarie’s editions discovered there. Whereas the printing of the Leitourgikon began under Radu the Great maybe in 1506 or 1507, the Epilogue is very clear about the book’s publication: “year 7016 [1508], the circle of the Sun 16, of the Moon 5, indictions 11, month November, day 10.” The Epilogue does not mention the metropolitan’s name, as it was the custom of the printed editions. The description mentioned in the Epilogue for the prince, “lord of the entire Ungrovlachia and Podunavia,” was not used anymore in the 16th century. It dates to the first half of the 15th century and it is connected with prince Mircea the Old’s (r. 1397–1418) dominion in Dobrogea and Kilia. This is indicative of the fact that Macarie researched old documents (hrisov) and used this title for all of his Wallachian editions. Macarie printed three editions at Târgoviște: the Leitourgikon, the Octoechos (August 26, 1510), and the Gospels (Tetraevanghelul, June 25, 1512), all these texts share common features in structure, paper, types, and ornaments. The multitude of watermarks (filigranes) discovered on copies of the Leitourgikon led scholars to believe that the paper used for its publication is of Venetian origin and was imported into Wallachia by the merchants of Sibiu (Transylvania), who, most probably, purchased different batches of paper.

Although it looks as a deluxe edition, the Leitourgikon presents many linguistic mistakes, misspellings, and errors of text transcription, with careless typing, which is indicative of the incipit phase of the printing press in the region. In fact, because of these mistakes, the leaders of the clergy ordered the reprinting of the fascicle 2 of the Leitourgikon. The main source of Macarie’s Leitourgikon is, most probably, a prototype similar to the Sluzebnik translated into Slavonic by Euthymius of Târnovo (1375–93), the Patriarch of Bulgaria, in the second half of the 14th century, which closely followed the Diataxis of Patriarch Philotheos I of Constantinople (c. 1300–79). It has been argued that the prototype was either authored by Maxim Branković (Serbian origin), Nicodim of Tismana (1320–1406) or, most probably, by Niphon II of Constantinople (d. 1508), which indicates a Wallachian origin. Due to the fact that the language used is Slavonic of a middle-Bulgarian recension, which is different from the Slavonic of Macarie’s milieu in Cetinje, scholars have argued that Macarie might have used a local manuscript for his Leitourgikon. The Teaching by Basil the Great towards the Priest, which opens the Leitourgikon, is unnumbered. This observation has led scholars to believe that the text did not exist in the original manuscript used by Macarie. Moreover, the mentioning of the two Serbian saints, Sava and Simion, in the prayers of the Liturgy is a remnant from Macarie’s cultural and religious milieu. The format of the liturgical texts of the Leitourgikon do not present major textual differences from their modern counterparts. There are only word omissions and, in some cases, entire prayers are absent (e.g., the prayer for the epigonation, a liturgical vestment for the priest, is absent from the Leitourgikon) but these do not affect in a major way the liturgical ritual.

Further Reading

Liturghier. Târgoviște [Mănăstirea Dealu], 1508. Facsimile reproduction in Liturghierul lui Macarie. [Macarie’s Leitourgikon]. Edited by P. P. Panaitescu. Bucharest: Ed. Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, 1961. Reprinted in Liturghierul lui Macarie, 1508/2008 [Macarie’s Leitourgikon, 1508/2008]. Vol.1. Târgoviște: Arhiepiscopia Târgoviștei – Biblioteca Academiei Române, 2008. With translation into Romanian by Al. I. Stan in Vol. 2, 16–164.

This is the original edition of the Leitourgikon, followed by facsimile reproductions.

Bianu, I. and N. Hodoș. Bibliografia românéscă veche, 1508–1830 [Old Romanian Bibliography, 1508–1830]. Vol. 1: 1508–1716. Bucharest: Socec, 1903, 1–8.

This is a fundamental work for studying the Old Romanian publications, offering a description of contents, translations into Romanian of titles, and plates of facsimiles.

Braniște, E. “Liturghierul slavon tipărit de Macarie la 1508 (Studiu liturgic)” [The Slavonic Leitourgikon Printed by Macarie in 1508 (Liturgical Study)]. Biserica Ortodoxă Română 76, no. 10–11 (1958): 1035–68.

This study discusses the Leitourgikon from a litrugist’s standpoint. It details the sources of the book, alongside the textual differences from the modern texts of the Liturgy.

Demény, L. and L. Demény. Carte, tipar și societate la români în secolul al XVI-lea [Book, Printing and Society among Romanians in the 16th Century]. Bucharest: Kriterion, 1986.

This is a fundamental work for studying the history of the book in the Danubian Principalities during the sixteenth century. It places the Leitourgikon in its cultural milieu and discusses the author and the publication of the book.

Mihăilă, Gh. “Epilogurile celor trei cărți tipărite de ieromonahul Macarie (1508–1512)” [The Epilogues of the Three Books Printed by the Hieromonach Macarie (1508–1512)]. In Liturghierul lui Macarie, 175–85.

This study discusses the epilogues of the books printed by Macarie in Târgoviște.

Panaitescu, P. P. “Liturghierul lui Macarie (1508) și începuturile tipografiei în Țările Române” [The Leitourgikon of Macarie (1508) and the Beginnings of Typography in the Romanian Principalities]. In Liturghierul lui Macarie, v–lxiii.

This is a fundamental study for studying Macarie’s Leitourgikon. It was conceived as an introduction to the facsimile edition of 1961. Panaitescu discusses in great detail all the aspects regarding this book, from the historical context to the author, types, texts, ornaments, filigranes and binding.

Pavel, E. “Liturghier.” [Leitourgikon]. In Enciclopedia Literaturii Române Vechi. [The Encyclopaedia of the Old Romanian Language]. Edited by E. Simion, 574–81. Bucharest: Fundația Națională pentru Știință și Artă and Muzeul Național al Literaturii Române, 2018.

This entry offers general information about the Leitourgikon and connects it with other Leitourgikons printed in the Danubian Principalities.

Pavel, E. “Macarie, ieromonahul.” [Macarie the Hieromonach]. In Enciclopedia Literaturii Române Vechi, 594–6.

This entry offers information about Macarie, the typographer of the Leitourgikon.

Vîlciu, M.. “Liturghierul lui Macarie – 1508, prima carte tipărită în Țările Române” [The Leitourgikon of Macarie – 1508: The First Book Printed in Wallachia]. In Liturghierul lui Macarie, 205–49.

This study discusses the Leitourgikon and its production in the context of its 500 years anniversary and the newly published facsimile edition.

This contribution was sponsored through the 2024 Research Fellowship.