A Belated Review of the "Old Orthodox Prayer Book"

Although I have owned the "Old Orthodox Prayer Book" for some time, I never got around to writing a review. Partly because I am lazy, and partly because I wanted to become more familiar with the book itself and the Old Rite in general. The "Old Orthodox Prayer Book" is the most famous and most widely used publication of the Old Rite Church of the Nativity, translated and edited by Fr.'s German Ciuba, John Berzins, Pimen Simon, and Theodore Jurewicz. It has the endorsement of many a blogger, and much more importantly of many clergy and monastics. Learning about it has been interesting, and using it has been a joy. Now on to the review.

I will begin with the beginning. It is well bound, though the paper feels like news print. One marker ribbon is included, and while it could use two, I am not complaining since most prayer books don't have any. The text is written in Old Church Slavonic on one side of the page, with traditional English on the other. I don't know how to read OCS so I have no review of this text, though I will say it is nice to have as a reference. The Morning and Evening Prayers included are a very usable (more usable in my opinion than the Jordanville) and very well rounded. Both the Morning and Evening Prayers are almost identical in their structure. They contain the full texts of the entrance and departure bows (God be merciful to me a sinner...etc.) which is a signature part of Old Rite piety, and very useful for calming the "mind and senses" before prayer. The usual and familiar Trisagion prayers are then read, followed by Psalm 50 and the Creed. Then after short prayers with bows for family, friends, benefactors, and the departed, the prayers take a unique turn by including short petitions with bows to numerous saints. It is very much like the litanies found in Western prayer books. This feature is an excellent way to remember those saints who we (or at least I) so often forget to pray to, and it includes space for commemorating one's patronal saints and the saints of the day. After this, the lenten prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian is included for use when appropriate, and then prayers from the "domestic rule" much like those found in the Jordanville book, though less in number. Apparently the inclusion of these prayers (or for that matter abbreviated morning and evening prayers at all) is much debated and extremely unusual in Old Rite piety. The traditional morning and evening prayers of the Old Rite are Midnight Office and Small Compline, and the rule included in the book is something of an innovation. I do not know enough to take part in this debate or offer my own thoughts, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Then at the end of the rules there is a dismissal, the forgiveness prayer, and the short commemoration of the living and dead.

After the Morning and Evening Prayers, an extensive selection of the texts of the Divine Services are included, mainly the complete "ordinary" parts of Vespers, Matins, the Hours and Typika, and the Divine Liturgy. The differences between the Old Rite and New Rite versions of these texts are barely noticeable to an uneducated person to me, and I found them fully usable at Church services, especially if the parish uses traditional language. While the texts for Matins and Vespers include rubrics for lenten changes, the texts for the Hours do not, so if you are using them for prayer at home you will have to get those changes from another source. The version of Typika included in the book is interesting in that it is included at the end of (and seems to be a part of) the Ninth Hour. After inspecting my Old Rite Horologion, I read that the normal practice of the Old Rite is to read all of the Hours including the Ninth before Liturgy (if anyone reading this has more information regarding this I would love to hear it.)

Also included are the troparia and kontakia of the Resurrection, of the days of the week, the Lenten Triodion, and the Paschal Triodion. The Canon and Hours of Pascha are also given. Then the troparia and kontakia of the 12 Great Feasts are given, and also numerous troparia and kontakia for various lesser and greater feast days throughout the year. This is an excellent feature, and using no other sources you could easily enrich private liturgical prayer.

The best part of the book (to me anyway) are the canons. Included is the Canon to Christ, to the Mother of God, two to the Guardian Angel, the Akathist with the Akathist Canon (where else can you find that?) to the Mother of God, a canon for the sick, two canons for the departed (one for individuals and one for groups), and complete rubrics on how to conduct a moleben as a reader service, which is something else you don't often see in prayer books. Indeed, laymen conducting a moleben without a priest is rather rare in the New Rite, and I would assume that its inclusion in this book is a hearkening back to the days when the congregation of the Church of the Nativity were priestless Old Believers.

The Canon for Holy Communion will be familiar to all Orthodox Christians, though the prayers and counsel for Holy Communion will shock even the most traditional of communicants. There are 18 prayers in all, some taking several pages. Many are confessional in nature, and can be fairly explicit about extreme sins and the worthlessness of the communicant, so if you are not into old fashioned penance this rule is not for you. Personally I find it helpful, but your spiritual father should have the final word. The Prayers after Communion are much shorter, and comparable in length to those read in New Rite churches.

Last but far from least is an extensive section of instructional material. Information regarding the two finger sign of the Cross and the strict rubrics for bows and prostrations and bows in church is interesting, but not practically useful unless you worship in the Old Rite. More useful to those following the New Rite are the sections with detailed information regarding the fasts of the Church, prayer for the departed, veneration of icons, and prosphora. A "Symbolical Explanation of the Lestova" which is the Old Rite prayer rope and constructed of leather is also interesting but unhelpful. A chart with rules for replacing the Divine Services when you can't make it to church is very useful, and includes the Jesus Prayer, bows and prostrations, and readings from the Psalter in gradually decreasing difficulty allowing for almost anyone to make use of them. A complete calendar with all of the fixed feasts is included at the end with a Paschalion (very useful) which goes all the way to 2099.

All in all a very useable prayer book. The differences between the Old and New Rites are truly negligible, and studying the Old Rite can help us New Rite folk to more exactitude and piety. This is a text that encourages sober and slow prayer. I personally recommend it even if you do not plan on using it every day just for the canons and instructional material. And of course if you plan on using please remember than your spiritual father gets the last word.