PREFACE.
The following pages contain a translation with some omissions, of the Slavonic service book entitled,Trébnik, or,Book of Needs, so called, because it contains the provision for that which is spiritually needed by a Christian from the cradle to the grave.
To this is added, as an appendix, a translation of a portion of the service book entitled,Chinóvnik archieréiskaho svyashtshennosloujéniya, or,Office book of the bishop’s holy service, namely, that pertaining to the laying on of hands.[1]
The original used for the translation of the first named work is an edition published in Moscow in the year 1882, and that for the portion of the second, one published in the same city in the year 1890.
The omissions, made under competent advice, in the translation ofTrébnikare as follows,
I. The entire of the epistle and gospel lessons, these being indicated by their initial and concluding words only, with one exception, namely, in the office of the sanctification of water on the festival of the Epiphany, where the lessons from the prophecy being written at length those of the epistle and gospel are made to correspond.
II. Questions asked of penitents in the confessional, and instructions concerning the imposition of penance, as explained in foot-notes at pages49and51.
III. Some prayers for various occasions which are not of general interest (chapters xxii, xxiii, xxx, xxxi, xxxii, xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvi, xxxvii, xxxviii, xxxix, xl, and xli).
IV. Extracts from the Nomocanon (chap. xlii), many of which refer to obsolete heathen customs and habits, and all need the living voice of the pastors of the church for their proper present application.
V. The Kalendar and the Paschal Tables (chapters xliii and xliv), these having been given in the translator’s former work,Euchology, published in Kidderminster in the year 1891.[2]
It should be understood that the originals are books for the use of those who are conversant with the order of the church service, and that, for that reason, many abbreviations appear in them, well known prayers, verses, etc, being indicated by initial words only, or by ecclesiastical terms. As these abbreviations have been imitated in the translations, some notes are given, which, it is hoped, may remove most of the obscurities, which, to the general reader, might appear to pervade the work.
G. V. SHANN.
Oldswinford, Epiphany, 1894.