Byzantine church ritual. A brief outline

Robert Francis Taft is the largest specialist in our time in the field of studying the Byzantine (Orthodox) worship. The work proposed to the reader is the fruit and a kind of result of its almost forty -year fruitful scientific, teaching and priestly activity. In a brief, talented form, it gives a vivid, integral idea of ​​an amazingly beautiful church rite, which gave a sophisticated Byzantine civilization a unique magical flavor. The author shows how the Orthodox worship was born, how it developed and transformed. In addition, the book traces as the Byzantines themselves interpreted the ritual of the church service and how they perceived the very church building, in which a liturgical action rare in beauty and deep meaning unfolded.

The book is addressed to both specialists and the widest circle of readers who are interested in the origins of our spiritual culture