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Troparion
A troparion (Greek , plural: , ; Georgian: , ; Church Slavonic: , ) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas. The wider meaning of troparion The word probably derived from a diminutive of the Greek ('something repeated', 'manner', 'fashion'), since the earliest function of the troparion was a refrain during the recitation of the cantica (biblical odes) and the psalms, as such the term was used as a synonym of . The early meaning of ''troparion'' was related to the monastic hymn book '' Tropologion'' or Troparologion. Hence its forms were manifold, they could be simple stanzas like apolytikia, theotokia, but also more elaborated homiletic poems like ''stichera'' composed in psalmodic hexameters (probably from ''stichos'', “verse”), or in a more complex meter like the odes composed in cycles called canon. Since these Tropologia in their earliest ...
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Little Hours
In Christianity, the Little Hours or minor hours are the canonical hours other than the three major hours. In the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Indian Orthodox Church, two denominations in Oriental Orthodox Christianity, these fixed prayer times are known as 3rd hour prayer ( Tloth sho`in am, 6th hour prayer ( Sheth sho`in 2 pm, and 9th hour prayer ( Tsha' sho`in pm. In the Catholic Church, since the reform of the Liturgy of the Hours mandated by the Second Vatican Council, they are called the office of readings, morning prayer and evening prayer. The minor hours, so called because their structure is shorter and simpler than that of the major hours, are those celebrated between lauds and vespers (morning and evening prayer) together with compline (night prayer). The major hours are those whose traditional names are matins, lauds and vespers. History From the time of the early Church, the practice of seven fixed prayer times have been taught; in ''Apostolic Tradition'', ...
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Byzantine Music
Byzantine music ( Greek: Βυζαντινή μουσική) is the music of the Byzantine Empire. Originally it consisted of songs and hymns composed to Greek texts used for courtly ceremonials, during festivals, or as paraliturgical and liturgical music. The ecclesiastical forms of Byzantine music are the best known forms today, because different Orthodox traditions still identify with the heritage of Byzantine music, when their cantors sing monodic chant out of the traditional chant books such as the Sticherarion, which in fact consisted of five books, and the Irmologion. Byzantine music did not disappear after the fall of Constantinople. Its traditions continued under the Patriarch of Constantinople, who after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 was granted administrative responsibilities over all Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. During the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, burgeoning splinter nations in the Balkans declared autonomy or autocephal ...
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Great Lent
Great Lent, or the Great Fast, ( Greek: Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή or Μεγάλη Νηστεία, meaning "Great 40 Days," and "Great Fast," respectively) is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denominations of Eastern Christianity. It is intended to prepare Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha (Easter). Great Lent shares its origins with the Lent of Western Christianity and has many similarities with it. There are some differences in the timing of Lent (besides calculating the date of Easter) and how it is practiced, both liturgically in the public worship of the church and individually. One difference between Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity is the calculation of the date of Easter (see Computus). Most years, the Eastern Pascha falls after the Western Easter, and it may be as much as five weeks later; occasionally, the two dates coincide. Like Western Lent, Great Lent itself lasts for forty days ...
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Neobyzantine Octoechos
Oktōēchos (here transcribed "Octoechos"; Greek: ; from ὀκτώ "eight" and ἦχος "sound, mode" called echos; Slavonic: Осмогласие, ''Osmoglasie'' from о́смь "eight" and гласъ "voice, sound") is the name of the eight mode system used for the composition of religious chant in Byzantine, Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Latin and Slavic churches since the Middle Ages. In a modified form the octoechos is still regarded as the foundation of the tradition of monodic Orthodox chant today. From a Phanariot point of view, the re-formulation of the Octoechos and its melodic models according to the New Method was neither a simplification of the Byzantine tradition nor an adaption to Western tonality and its method of an heptaphonic solfeggio, just based on one tone system (σύστημα κατὰ ἑπταφωνίαν). Quite the opposite, as a universal approach to music traditions of the Mediterranean it was rather based on the integrative power of the psa ...
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Sticherarion
A sticheron (Greek: "set in verses"; plural: stichera; Greek: ) is a hymn of a particular genre sung during the daily evening (Hesperinos/Vespers) and morning (Orthros) offices, and some other services, of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. ''Stichera'' are usually sung in alternation with or immediately after psalm or other scriptural verses. These verses are known as ''stichoi'' (sing: ''stichos''), but ''sticheraric'' poetry usually follows the hexameter and is collected in a book called sticherarion (Greek: ). A sticherarion is a book containing the stichera for the morning and evening services throughout the year, but chant compositions in the ''sticheraric melos'' can also be found in other liturgical books like the Octoechos or the ''Anastasimatarion'', or in the Anthology for the Divine Liturgy. The sticheraric melos and the troparion In the current traditions of Orthodox Chant, the ''sticherarion'' as a hymn book was also used to call a chant genre ...
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Sticheron
A sticheron ( Greek: "set in verses"; plural: stichera; Greek: ) is a hymn of a particular genre sung during the daily evening (Hesperinos/Vespers) and morning ( Orthros) offices, and some other services, of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. ''Stichera'' are usually sung in alternation with or immediately after psalm or other scriptural verses. These verses are known as ''stichoi'' (sing: ''stichos''), but ''sticheraric'' poetry usually follows the hexameter and is collected in a book called sticherarion ( Greek: ). A sticherarion is a book containing the stichera for the morning and evening services throughout the year, but chant compositions in the ''sticheraric melos'' can also be found in other liturgical books like the Octoechos or the ''Anastasimatarion'', or in the Anthology for the Divine Liturgy. The sticheraric melos and the troparion In the current traditions of Orthodox Chant, the ''sticherarion'' as a hymn book was also used to call a chan ...
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Theotokion
A Theotokion (; pl. ) is a hymn to Mary the Theotokos (), which is read or chanted ( troparion or sticheron) during the canonical hours and Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, as well as in the praises of the Oriental Orthodox churches. After the condemnation of Nestorianism at the First Council of Ephesus in 431, the use of theotokia during the course of the Divine Services gradually increased. The inclusion of Theotokia in every service is sometimes accredited to Peter the Fuller, Patriarch of Antioch (471 - 488), a non-Chalcedonian and ardent opponent of Nestorianism. Theotokia are almost part of every service in the Orthodox Church, but there are more specific forms among them. Theotokia often occur at the end of a series of troparia or stichera, usually after the verse: "(Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,) Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen." A Stavrotheotokion is a hymn to the Theotokos that ref ...
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Tropologion
The Octoechos (from the Greek: ; from ὀκτώ 'eight' and ἦχος 'sound, mode' called echos; cu, Осмѡгласникъ, from о́смь 'eight' and гласъ 'voice, sound') is a liturgical book containing a repertoire of hymns ordered in eight parts according to eight echoi ( tones or modes). Originally created in the Monastery of Stoudios during the 9th century as a hymnal complete with musical notation, it is still used in many rites of Eastern Christianity. The book with similar function in the Western Church is the tonary, and both contain the melodic models of an octoechos system; however, while the tonary serves simply for a modal classification, the octoechos is organized as a cycle of eight weeks of services. The word itself can also refer to the repertoire of hymns sung during the celebrations of the Sunday Office. Role of meter in the Octoechos Many hymns in the Octoechos, such as Kathismata, Odes, and Kontakia are set in a strict meter—a ...
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Entrance (Liturgical)
In Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches, an entrance is a procession during which the clergy enter into the sanctuary through the Holy Doors. The origin of these entrances goes back to the early church, when the liturgical books and sacred vessels were kept in special storage rooms for safe keeping and the procession was necessary to bring these objects into the church when needed. Over the centuries, these processions have grown more elaborate, and nowadays are accompanied by incense, candles and liturgical fans. In the liturgical theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the angels are believed to enter with the clergy into the sanctuary, as evidenced by the prayers which accompany the various entrances. Divine Liturgy During the course of the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist), there are two entrances. Both of the Entrances, as well as the ritual of the Liturgy of Preparation, are viewed by liturgical scholars as later additions to the Liturgy, and may not have been used by ...
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Theos Kyrios
''Theos Kyrios'' (Greek: Θεὸς Κύριος, "God is the Lord", or "The Lord is God") is a psalm response chanted near the beginning of the Matins service in the Rite of Constantinople, observed by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches. It is based principally on Psalm 117 (Septuagint numbering), the refrain composed of verses v. 27a and 26a. ''Theos Kyrios'' comes after the Great Ektenia (litany) and precedes the apolytikion (troparion of the day), and is chanted in the tone of the week. While the Typicon (book of rubrics) prescribes that the verses should be chanted by the canonarch standing in the center of the nave, in the Byzantine practice the verses are intoned by the psalmist. In common Slavic practice they are chanted by the deacon standing before the icon of Christ on the iconostasis; if there is no deacon, the verses are commonly read by the priest. Text The order of ''Theos Kyrios'', as served at Matins is as follows: :''Canonarch:'' n the t ...
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Stavrotheotokion
A Theotokion (; pl. ) is a hymn to Mary the Theotokos (), which is read or chanted (troparion or sticheron) during the canonical hours and Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches, as well as in the praises of the Oriental Orthodox churches. After the condemnation of Nestorianism at the First Council of Ephesus in 431, the use of theotokia during the course of the Divine Services gradually increased. The inclusion of Theotokia in every service is sometimes accredited to Peter the Fuller, Patriarch of Antioch (471 - 488), a non-Chalcedonian and ardent opponent of Nestorianism. Theotokia are almost part of every service in the Orthodox Church, but there are more specific forms among them. Theotokia often occur at the end of a series of troparia or stichera, usually after the verse: "(Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,) Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen." A Stavrotheotokion is a hymn to the Theotokos that refe ...
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Heirmologion
Irmologion ( grc-gre, τὸ εἱρμολόγιον ) is a liturgical book of the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite. It contains ''irmoi'' () organised in sequences of odes (, sg. ) and such a sequence was called ''canon'' ( 'law'). These canons of nine, eight, four or three odes are supposed to be chanted during the morning service (Orthros). The book ''Irmologion'' derives from ''heirmos'' () which means 'link'. The is a melodic model which preceded the composition of the odes. According to the etymology, the book 'collects' ( ) the . The melodic irmos and the odes of the canon and its use during the morning service An important portion of Matins and other services in the Orthodox Church is the canon, a long liturgical poem divided into nine strophes with a sophisticated meter called ode. Each ode and its prosodic meter is made according to a certain irmos, and concerning its celebration during Orthros it is followe ...
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