Much has been written regarding the western liturgy; the same cannot be said of the Byzantine liturgy. Father Taft contributes to a remedy of that shortfall through this work. In it he traces the origins of the Byzantine Rite during its period of formation: from its earliest recorded beginnings until the end of Byzantium (1453 c.e.). While the rite has undergone some change in the period since then, its outlines remain essentially the same.

This work examines the Byzantine liturgy. It encompasses the liturgy of the Great Church; a 12th-century diataxis in codex; paradigms in the formation of the Byzantine liturgical synthesis between Constantinople and Jerusalem; and the interpolation of the Sanctus into the anaphora.