The Octoechos (Greek: Ὀκτώηχος; Slavonic: Октонхъ, Oktoikh, or Осмогласникъ, Osmoglasnik)—literally, the book "of the Eight Tones"—contains an eight-week cycle, providing texts to be chanted for every day at Vespers, Matins, the Divine Liturgy, Compline and (on Sundays) the Midnight Office. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Church Slavonic (also Church Slavic, Old Bulgarian) is the Liturgical language of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox Vespers is the evening Prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Eastern (Byzantine Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, liturgies of the Matins (also known as Orthros or Oútrenya in Eastern Churches) is the early morning or night Prayer service in the Roman Catholic The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. Compline (ˈkɒmplɪn also Complin, Night Prayer, Prayers at the End of the Day) is the final church service (or Office) of the day in the The Midnight Office ( Greek: Μεσονύκτικον, Mesonýtikon; Slavonic: Полуношница, Polúnoshnitsa; Each week begins a new mode (Greek: ἤχος, échos) or tone (Slavonic: глáсъ, glás' ), and within that mode texts are provided for each day of the week. Echos ( Greek:, 'ixos pl Echoi, 'içi is the name in Byzantine music theory for the Melody type used in the composition of music The new mode begins with Saturday night Vespers.

Sometimes the word "Octoechos" will be used to describe a briefer volume that contains only the texts for the Sunday services. To distinguish the full version from the briefer one, the term Paraklētikē (Greek: Παρακλητική) can be used to describe the complete volume. The word Paraklētikē comes from the Greek parakalein (παρακαλείν), meaning, "to supplicate" (the more penitential texts are found on weekdays).

In addition to the standard melodies provided by the eight modes, there are also several "special melodies" (Greek: Idiomelon, Slavonic: Samoglasen), and the "pattern melodies" (Greek: prosomoia, Slavonic: podobny) which are based upon them. Each of these belongs to one of the tones and will be indicated in the superscription introducing some of the hymns in the Octoechos and other liturgical books. Canonical hours are divisions of time developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between the prescribed Prayers of the daily round

Historical development

The origins of this book traditionally go back to the Monastery of Mar Sabba in Palestine, with compositions by St. John Damascene (c. Sabbas Sabbas the Sanctified (439-531/532 was a Cappadocean-Greek Monk, Priest and Saint, lived mainly in Palestine Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Chrysorrhoas redirects here For the river see Barada. Saint John of Damascus ( Arabic: يوحنا الدمشقي 676–749) and St. Cosmas of Maiuma († 773). Events By Place Europe Æthelred invades Kent. Asia In Japan Emperor Temmu Events By Place Europe June — Aistulf succeeds his brother Ratchis as king of the Lombards. Events By Place Europe Charlemagne crosses the Alps and invades the kingdom of the Lombards. Other prominent hymnographers include Saint Joseph the Hymnographer (810-886)[1]; Saint Theophanes the Branded, Bishop of Nicaea (c. Joseph the Hymnographer was a monk of the ninth century He is one of the greatest liturgical poets and hymnographers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. For the area code see Area code 810 Events By Place Byzantine Empire October 1 — A man with a Sword makes For the processors see 80886 - 8th generation x86 like Opteron and Core 2. Theophanes the Branded also called Theophanes Graptus or Theophanes of Nicea (775 - 845 was a Byzantine monk and hymnographer 775-845)[2]; Paul of Amorium; Metrophanes of Smyrna; as well as numerous anonymous authors. Events By Place Asia Estimation Baghdad, capital of the Abbasid Empire, becomes the largest city of the world taking the lead Events March 28 — Paris is sacked by Viking raiders probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collect a huge ransom in exchange Amorium was a city in Phrygia, Asia Minor which was founded in the Hellenistic period flourished under the Byzantine Empire, and declined after Metrophanes of Smyrna was a Christian bishop Metropolitan of Smyrna, in the ninth century

The Oktoechos was the very first book printed (incunabulum) in Cyrillic typeface. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by It was published in Cracow in 1491, by Schweipolt Fiol, a German native of Franconia. Kraków, in English also spelled Krakow or Cracow (ˈkrækaʊ M-W: krăk'ou krāk'ō is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland Schweipolt Fiol (also Sebald Vehl or Veyl from Neustadt an der Aisch in Franconia was a German 15th century pioneer of printing in Eastern Europe Franconia (Franken is a historic region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria and the area to its immediate west There are only seven known copies of this first publication remaining, the only complete one being in the collection of the Russian National Library. The National Library of Russia in St Petersburg, known as the State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library in 1932-1992 (i ^[1]

In the Russian Church a special singer's Octoechos developed in the second half of the fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries, containing not only the text but also musical notation. See also Eastern Orthodox Church Structure and organization The Slavic Orthodox Church is organized in a hierarchical structure The first printed edition, the Oktoikh notnago peniya, sirech' Osmoglasnik, using square notation, was published in 1772. Year 1772 ( MDCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a It contained the hymns in Znamenny Chant, as well as the "pattern melodies" mentioned above, that belong to each of the Eight Tones. Znamenny Chant (Знаменное пение знаменный распев is a singing tradition used in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Use

The cycle of the Octoechos is a part of the Paschal cycle (moveable cycle) of the church year; that is to say, it is dependent upon the date of Pascha (Easter). The Paschal cycle in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches is the cycle of the Moveable feasts built around Pascha (Easter Easter ( Greek: Πάσχα Pascha or Pasxa) is the most important religious feast in the Christian Liturgical year. During Bright Week (Easter Week), one of the eight tones is used each day of the week (excluding the Seventh or "Grave" Tone). Bright Week Lambri --> or Renewal Week is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Then, beginning on Thomas Sunday (the Sunday after Pascha), the First Tone is used for the entire week, and the cycle continues uninterrupted, one tone per week, until Palm Sunday of the following year. The Octave Day of Easter, sometimes known as Low Sunday (and also known historically as White Sunday Whitsunday St Palm Sunday is a Christian Moveable feast which always falls on the Sunday before Easter. It should be noted that Holy Week has no tone assigned to it (the natural order of things is interrupted), while Bright Week has all tones assigned to it (the Resurrection is the sum of all joy). Holy Week ( Latin: Hebdomada Sancta or Maior Hebdomada, "Greater Week" in Christianity is the last week before Easter.

The Octoechos is not used at all from Lazarus Saturday (the day before Palm Sunday) through Thomas Sunday. Lazarus Saturday, in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, is the day before Palm Sunday It is not used on major feast days when they fall on weekdays. It is always used on Sunday, unless a Great Feast of the Lord occurs on that day. The feast of the Resurrection of Jesus, called Pascha (Easter is the greatest of the feasts of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The hymns of the Octoechos (the moveable cycle) will be combined with hymns from the Menaion (the fixed cycle), which contains the texts for the saints whose commemorations are determined according to the day of the calendar year. The Menaion ( Greek: Μηναίον Slavonic: Минеѧ Minéya, "of the month" refers to the annual fixed cycle of services in When more of the service is chanted from the Menaion, less of the Octoechos will be used; when less material is found in the Menaion, more from the Octoechos will be used. Since the services from the Octoechos on weekdays tend to be penitential, days on which more of the Octoechos is used are more penitential in nature. For this reason, services to monastic saints in the Menaion tend to be simple services, so that more hymns from the Octoechos will be utilized.

Most liturgical texts are not printed with either staff notation or neumes; rather, only the tone is named, and the chanter is expected to know the appropriate melody and apply it extemporaneously to the text. In standard Western Musical notation, the staff ( AmE) or stave Neumes are the basic elements of Western and Eastern systems of Musical notation prior to the invention of five-line staff notation

Themes

In the Orthodox liturgical tradition, each day of the week has a distinct theme:

• Sunday—the Resurrection of Christ
• Monday—the Holy Angels
• Tuesday—St. Within the body of Christian beliefs the resurrection of Jesus is a core event on which much of Christian doctrine and theology depend An angel is a Spiritual Supernatural being found in many Religions Although the nature of angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition John the Baptist
• Wednesday—the Cross and the Theotokos
• Thursday—the Holy Apostles and St. Nicholas
• Friday—the Cross and the Theotokos
• Saturday—All Saints^[2] and the departed

These themes are developed primarily in the texts of the Octoechos. Saint John the Baptist ( heb. Jochanan ben Sacharja, arab. يحيى Yaḥyā or يوحنا Yūḥanna, aram. The Christian cross is the best-known Religious symbol of Christianity. Theotokos (Θεοτόκος translit Theotókos) is a title of Mary the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, The Twelve Apostles (Greek apostolos, "someone sent out" e Saint Nicholas (Άγιος Νικόλαος, Agios Nikolaos, "victory of the people" is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a Christian Saint For the British girl group see All Saints (band. All Saints' Day (also called All Hallows or Hallowmas) often Wherever there is a belief in the continued existence of Man 's personality through and after Death, Religion naturally concerns itself with the relations

Nomenclature

The names ascribed to the eight tones in the texts of the Octoechos (and other books) will differ between the Greek and the Slavic usage:

In the Greek usage, the first four tones are referred to as the "authentic" (authentes or kyrioi) modes, and the last four are "plagal" variations on them. A plagal mode (from Greek πλαγιος 'oblique sideways'  is a Musical mode, and one of four Gregorian modes whose tonic is the fourth note of the scale The latter term comes from the Medieval Greek plagios, "oblique" (from plagos, "side"). Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική is a linguistic term that describes the fourth period in the history of the Greek language. The plagal modes have a range from the fourth below to the fifth above their final tone. These modal structures do not carry over into the Slavic tones, which are melodic compositions. (See the article Octoechos for further information on the development of the Greek modes. Octoechos (also Octoichos; Greek:, meaning the "Eight Modes" is the fundamental structure for classifying and describing modes ( )

Syriac Usage

The Syriac Orthodox Church also makes use of a system of eight modes (makams). The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East with members spread throughout the world See also List of Makams, Maqam In Turkish classical music, Mevlevi music and some Mosque music a system of Melody types called makam Each hymn (Syriac: qolo, plural: qole) is composed in one of these eight modes. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language Some modes have variants (shuhlophe) similar to the "special melodies" mentioned above. Only skilled chanters can master these variants.

The modal cycle consists of eight weeks. Each Sunday or Feast day is assigned one of the eight modes. During the weekday offices, known in Syriac by the name Shhimo, the 1st and 5th modes are paired together, so are the 2nd and 6th, the 3rd and 7th, and the 4th and 8th. If a particular Sunday makes use of the 1st mode, the following Monday is sung with the 5th mode, Tuesday with the 1st mode, etc. , with the pair alternating every day of the week (see the table provided in Guide to the Eight Modes in the External Links below).

The ecclesiastical year starts with Qudosh `Idto (The Consecration of the Church), a feast observed on the eighth Sunday before Christmas (Yaldo). The 1st mode is sung on this day. The following Sunday makes use of the 2nd mode, and so on, repeating the cycle until it starts again the next year. The cycle is interrupted only by feasts which have their own tones assigned to them. Similar to the Byzantine usage, each day of Easter Week has its own mode, except the Syriacs do not skip the 7th mode. Thus, the Sunday after Easter, called New Sunday (Hadto) is in the 8th mode rather than the 1st.

In one type of hymn used by the Syriac Church, the Qole Shahroye (Vigils), each of the modes is dedicated to a theme: The 1st and 2nd modes are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the 3rd and 4th to the saints, the 5th and 6th to penitence, and the 7th and 8th to the departed. A saint (from the Latin sanctus) is a human being to whom has been attributed (and who has generally demonstrated a high level of Holiness and Sanctity Penance is repentance of Sins as well as the proper name of the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation/Confession Wherever there is a belief in the continued existence of Man 's personality through and after Death, Religion naturally concerns itself with the relations

The primary collection of hymns in the eight modes is the Beth Gazo d-ne`motho, or "Treasury of Chants. "

Armenian Usage

In the Armenian Apostolic Church, the system of eight modes is referred to as oot tzayn (eight voices). The Armenian Apostolic Church (Հայաստանեայց Առաքելական Եկեղեցի Hayasdaneaytz Arakelagan Although there is no structural relation between the Greek and Armenian modes, the division into "Authentic" and "Plagal" modes is parallel. In Armenian terminology, the "Authentic" modes are referred to as "Voice" (Tzayn) and the "Plagal" modes are called "Side" (Koghm), and are utilized in the following order:

This order is important, because it is the order in which the modes are used liturgically. Instead of using one tone per week, the Armenians use one tone per day. Easter Sunday is always the First Voice, the next day is First Side, and so on throughout the year. However, the cycle does not actually begin on Easter day, but counts backwards from Easter Sunday to the First Sunday in Lent, which is always Forth Side, regardless of what mode the previous day was. Each mode of the oot tzayn has one or more tartzwadzk‘ (auxiliary) modes.

The Sharagnots is the book which contains the Sharakan, or Sharagan (Canons), hymns which constitute the substance of the musical system of Armenian liturgical chant in the eight modes. A canon is a structured Hymn used in a number of Eastern Orthodox services Originally, these were Psalms and Biblical Canticles that were chanted during the services. Psalms ( Hebrew: Tehilim, תהילים, or "praises" is a book of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament) included A canticle (from the Latin canticulum, a diminutive of canticum, song is a Hymn (strictly excluding the Psalms taken from the Bible A Sharagan was composed of verses which were interspersed between the scriptural verses. Eventually, the Sharagan replaced the biblical text entirely. In addition, the eight modes are applied to the psalms of the Night office, called ganonaklookh (Canon head). the Armenian Church also makes use of other modes outside of the oot tzayn.

Notes

See also

• Assyrian music
• Armenian chant

External links

• Use of the Eight Tones by St. Assyrian music is divided into three main sections or periods Armenian chant is the Melismatic monophonic Chant used in the liturgy of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Kosmas of Maiouma
• Guide to the Eight Modes Syriac Orthodox Church
• The Armenian Octoechos Ensemble Akn