EUCHITES. See Messalians.

EUCHOLOGION, yū"ce-lö'ji-en: A name which in Greek signifies any collection of prayers, but is most usually applied to the Great Euchologion or Prayer-Book of the Eastern Church, which contains the rites for all the principal ecclesiastical functions. It includes also a great number of benedictions for all the material objects which are commonly blessed in the traditional or catholic system, for the fruits of the earth, and for various callings in life which are supposed to need special blessing. The book is of the highest interest for the study of the Eastern Church, the life of which from the beginning it represents in one way or another. It has been preserved in a number of manuscripts. The first printed edition was that of 1526; the oldest known to be extant is the 1545 edition in the royal library at Munich. Later official editions have appeared in Venice, Bucharest, Athena, and Constantinople; these are the best for scientific study of the Greek Church and its liturgical usages.

(Philipp Meyer.)

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Bibliography: W. Cave, Script. eccl. historia literaria, Dissertation ii., Oxford, 1743; J. M. Neale, History of the Holy Eastern Church, London, 1850; E. Legrand, Bibliographie hedihniqice. Psri& 1885: Ktvmbaeher. Geschichte, pp. 658-659.