Prayer Books: Melkite Horologion vs. Byzantine Daily Worship

[Jeffgo]

My beloved copy of Byzantine Daily Worship has gone missing in action. In the process of putting the kids in the car after Divine Liturgy, I placed my copy of BDW, my Bible, and a stuffed Grover toy on top of the car, and then forgot that they were up there until we got home. When I drove back to the parish to find them, I found Grover laying in the street (intact), and later learned that the parish cantor found my Bible in the parking lot unharmed (thank God!). However, BDW is still missing, and after searching and holding out hope for a couple of weeks, I think it’s time to assume that it’s a goner. I wrote my name and number in the inside cover, so if it fell into the hands of an honest person, I would have gotten it back by now.

So, I’m going to bite the bullet and replace it. However, I’m wondering if I should get a new copy of Byzantine Daily Worship or if I should get a copy of the Melkite Horologion instead. The Melkite Horologion seems to be of better quality (leather cover, gilded page edges, etc.) and is even a bit cheaper. However, I want to make sure that the Melkite Horologion is comparable to BDW in terms of content. Also, my wife still has her copy of BDW, so I want to make sure that the translations of the prayers, psalms, propers, etc. match BDW. It would be more than a bit annoying to have one wording in my wife’s book and one in my book (we already have enough of those issues sorting through the differences between the translations used in the Ruthenian Church vs. those of BDW). So, my questions are:

1. Do the translations/wordings used in the Melkite Horologion match those used in BDW? I’ve heard that the psalms match, but what about the text of the hours, prokiemena, troparia, kontakia, etc.?
2. I know that the current edition of the Melkite Horologion contains stuff from the Octoechos. Is it as much as what’s in Byzantine Daily Worship? What about the Triodion, Pentecostarion, and Menaion?

Since the current edition of the Melkite Horologion has much more material than the previous printings, please only comment if you’re referring to the current edition of the Horologion.

Thanks, everyone!

 

[Phillip_Rolfes]

Although the translations are comparable (not identical), that’s about as far as the similarities go. The Horologion only contains the fixed parts of the Hours (and the kontakia and troparia from the Ochtoechos). For private use, the BDW is going to be your best bet. Even better in terms of textual options is the Divine Office from the Eparchy of St. Josaphat. The translation is solid and the selections from the Menaion, Octoechos, Pentecostarion, etc. are a little more “complete” than the BDW.

 

[Jeffgo]

Phillip,

Thank you for answering my question. Your advice was very helpful to me in making a decision. I decided to go with another copy of Byzantine Daily Worship, since it has a good amount of material from the Triodion and Pentecostarion (this time of year, I am reminded of how useful that stuff is). My mother-in-law very graciously offered to pay for it as a gift.