ABSTRACT
Liturgical commentaries emerged at the beginning of the Middle Ages in both East and West, though arguably they played a greater role in the theology and spirituality of the Eastern churches. Developing out of the late fourth-century mystagogies that provided instruction for neophytes on the rites of initiation, liturgical commentaries promised to reveal the significance of the liturgical rites for those who participated in them. This chapter looks at the five principal commentaries on the Byzantine Divine (Eucharistic) Liturgy from the sixth century in Justinian's church of Hagia Sophia until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. These are Maximus the Confessor's Mystagogy, Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople, Nicholas and Theodore of Andida, Nicholas Cabasilas, and Symeon of Thessaloniki. The chapter discusses some modern attempts to evaluate these commentaries, in order to find the proper background against which to view them. Specific attention is paid to the commentaries' treatment of the church building.
