Diataxis

{{Short description|Guide for Orthodox religious services}}

In Eastern Orthodoxy, a diataxis (διάταξις, 'order'; plural diataxeis) is a guidebook for the service of the Divine Liturgy.Evening worship in the Orthodox Church by N. Uspenskii 1985 {{ISBN|0-88141-011-X}} page 242 The term is sometimes applied to similar books for Vespers, Orthros or ordinations. It corresponds to the Latin ordo and directorium.{{ODB|title=Diataxis|author=Robert F. Taft}}

Diataxeis consist of rubrics to accompany the Euchologion (prayer book) and guide the officiant. They originated in the tenth century, but the earliest surviving examples date to the twelfth. The diataxis for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts attributed to Theodore of Stoudios (died 826) is not authentic. The diataxis of Philotheos Kokkinos became the authoritative one during his patriarchate (1364–1376).

The term diataxis is sometimes applied to the typikon and also to wills and inventories. Diataxis is also the title of one of the works of Stephen of Thebes.{{citation |author=Alin Suciu |title=Revisiting the Literary Dossier of Stephen of Thebes: With Preliminary Editions of the Greek Redactions of the Ascetic Commandments |journal=Adamantius |year=2015 |volume=21 |pages=301–325 |url=https://www.academia.edu/13356364}}. The chapters of the Taktika of Leo the Wise, a military treatise, are called diataxeis.Shaun Tougher, The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Politics and People (Brill, 1997), p. 169.