2

SUNDAY MATINS IN THE BYZANTINE CATHEDRAL RITE:
MUSIC AND LITURGY
by
ALEXANDER LEONIDAS LINGAS
B.A., Portland State University, 1986
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
School of Music
We accept this thesis as conforming

tojhjjEqipred standard
THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
June 1996
Alexander Leonidas Lingas, 1996

In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced
degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it
freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive
copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my
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publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written
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The University of British Columbia

Vancouver, Canada
DE-6 (2/88)
I
ABSTRACT
This is an interdisciplinary examination of the office of Sunday Matins as celebrated
in the Byzantine cathedral Rite of the Great Church from its origins in the popular
psalmodic assemblies of the fourth century to its comprehensive reform by Archbishop
Symeon of Thessalonica (fl429), Byzantium's last and most prolific liturgical
commentator. Specifically, it studies the influence of developments in liturgical music and
pietynotable among which were the advent of monastic hymnody and virtuosic styles of
chantingon the order of service at the Constantinopolitan andThessalonian cathedrals of
Hagia Sophia. This is accomplished through reconstructions of the service of Sunday
matins as celebrated in the two churches from musical manuscripts, books of rubrics
(Typika'), and liturgical commentaries. In general, these demonstrate that the interaction
of cathedral and monastic elements in Byzantium's secular churches was far more complex
than is generally acknowledged.
The final two chapters of this study examine Symeon's revised version of the
Sunday morning office, which provides the context for an examination of broader
questions concerning the nature of developments in the ethos of Byzantine worship. The
focal point for this discussion is an evaluation of the liturgical reforms initiated by Symeon
to save the cathedral rite from the indifference of his Thessalonian flock. Symeon himself
describes these reforms in his liturgical commentaries as a selective "sweetening" with
popular monastic hymnody. The reconstruction, however, shows that in addition to
adding hymnodyitself the product of a previous revolution in Byzantine liturgical piety
he updated the archaic service of cathedral matins by incorporating many of the central
works of the new repertory of florid chants. Taken together, these discoveries serve to
illuminate important differences in liturgical style between a rite originally conceived for the
great basilicas of Christian antiquity, and one formed by the fervent spirituality of
hesychast monks during Byzantium's twilight.
ii
T A B L E OF CONTENTS
Abstract ii
Table of Contents iii
List of Tables iv
List of Figures v
Principles of Musical Transcription vi
Acknowledgement viii
Dedication . ix
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 Sunday Morning Prayer in Late Antiquity:

Cathedral and Monastery 18
Chapter 3 Sunday Matins in the Rite of the Great Church I:

The Sources 40
Chapter 4 Sunday Matins i n the Rite of the Great Church II:

The Historical Structure of the Office 64
Chapter 5 Prelude to Reform: Musical Developments in

Byzantine Monastic Liturgy 129
Chapter 6 The Setting and Sources for the Cathedral Liturgy i n

Late Byzantine Thessalonica 170
Chapter 7 Reformed Asmatic Matins of Ordinary Sundays:
Structure, Music, and Interpretation 219
List of Abbreviati ons 279
Works Cited 280
iii
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Musical Manuscripts Consulted i n Chapter 4 65
2. Sunday Matins According to the Rite of the Great Church 68
3. Asmatic Refrains for Psalms 148-50 99
4. The Agrypnia of Abbot Nilus of Sinai 136
5. Sunday Matins in the Studite and Neo-Sabai'tic Rites 159-62
6. List of Festal Psalms in the Psalterion of M S Athens 2047 207
7. Asmatic Sunday Matins According to Symeon of Thessalonica 222-23
8. Musical Repertories of the Antiphonaria for Psalm 118 on Ordinary

Sundays: 'Stasis' 1 236


11. Plan of the Sunday Prokeimenon Coda "fierd dvafaoi'rifj.dTcov" by

Koukouzeles 266
iv
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Plan of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople 67
2. The Placement of the A m b o i n Hagia Sophia, Constantinople 90
3. The Acheiropoietos: Longitudinal Section and Floor Plan 173
4. The A m b o n of the Acheiropoietos 173
5. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: Ground Plan of the Present Church and

the Early Christian Basilica 176
6. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: Longitudinal Section Through the North
Gallery of the Present Church in Its Original Form 176
7. Thessalonica in the Fourteenth Century 204
8. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: Reconstruction of the North Facade as It

Appeared During the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 224
9. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: Reconstruction of the Floor Plan During

the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 225
v
PRINCIPLES OF MUSICAL TRANSCRIPTION
The system established by founders of the Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae ( M M B )
series for the transcription of medieval Byzantine neumes into Western staff notation has
been criticised from a variety of technical and ideological perspectives. 1

For a variety of
reasons, I have nevertheless chosen to produce the music examples for this present study
employing a modified version of the M M B ' s method. In addition to being familiar to

2
Western scholars, this system is well-suited to the task of rendering on a five-line staff the
intervals, the qualitative variety of ascending seconds, and the rhythmic lengthenings
indicated by the medieval Byzantine notation. The reader should, however, note the
following departures from the conventions of the M M B :
1) The petaste is represented by " u , " a sign that was first employed for this purpose
by Frank Desby in his transcriptions of Chrysanthine chant. It has since been adopted
3
for use by the editors of the forthcoming series Monuments ofNeo-Byzantine Chant?
2) The Byzantine signs for acceleration and slowing gorgon (r) and argon (n ) are
written above the staff i n their original form; and
3) Byzantine neumes of expression, articulation or ornamentation that have usually

been omitted from the transcriptions of the M M B e . g . the strepton, the piasma, and
the tromikonare placed around the staff in their original form.
I would like to stress that my transcriptions are not attempts to represent the sound
of fully realised chants according to the conventions of modern Western staff notation, but
1
E.g. J0rgen Raasted, "Thoughts on a Revision of the Transcription Rules of the Monumenta Musicae
Byzantinae," Universite de Copenhague Cahiers de Vlnstitut du Moyen-age grec et latin 54(1986): 13-38;
Gregorios Th. Stathis, " A n Analysis of the Sticheron Tdv f/Xtov Kpupavra by Germanos, Bishop of New
Patras (The Old 'Synoptic' and the New 'Analytical' Method of Byzantine Notation," in MiloS Velimirovic,
ed., Studies in Eastern Chant 4 (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminar Press, 1979), 177-227; idem," 'H
waAcutdt BvCairrLvfj or]iieioypa<f>ia ml TO TTpopXrjfia /leraypacfiffe rrfs els TO -newdypa^pov,"
BvCavTii/dl(1975): 193-220 [text], 427-60 [music examples and other illustrations];and the present
author's article "Byzantine Chant, Western Musicology, and the Performer," San Francisco Early Music
News (April 1991): 3-5.
2
The M M B ' s method of transcription is succintly outlined in H.J. W. Tillyard, Handbook of Middle
Byzantine Notation, M M B Subsidia 2 (Copenhagen: Levin and Munksgaard, 1935).
3
E.g. The Resurrection Service of the Orthodox Church: Offices of Matins and liturgy for Easter Sunday,
2d. ed. (Los Angeles: Greek Sacred and Secular Music Society, 1978).
4
Frank Desby, Alexander Lingas, and Jessica Suchy-Pilalis, A Guide to the Transcription ofNeo-
Byzantine (Chrysanthine) Chant, ed. Nicolas Maragos (Bloomington: National Forum of Greek Orthodox
Church Musicians, forthcoming).
vi
graphic tools to facilitate the comparison and structural analysis of Byzantine melodies as
(incompletely) notated in manuscript sources. In addition, I would like to note that I have
continued to employ the Western accent symbols chosen by the M M B to represent the
vareia (" ") and the oxeia ("-") because of their convenience as familiar markers for these
A
Byzantine neumes, rather than out of any belief i n their functional equivalence. In other
words, I do not wish to suggest that the vareia and the oxeia were realised by Byzantine
cantors in the same manner as late twentieth-century orchestral musicians interpreting their
symbolic counterparts.
A modern singer hoping to perform the musical works transcribed in this study
would, like any fourteenth-century cantor, need to make a series of decisions regarding
matters not fully notated in Byzantine musical manuscripts. Areas consigned by the
medieval Byzantine tradition to the realm of performance practice include the tunings
employed for the various modes, the proper realisations of signs of ornamentation,
rhythmic subdivisions of the basic beat, the style of vocal production, and the chromatic
alteration of individual pitches through the appropriate application of musica ficta. Yet, as
the Early M u s i c movement of the past few decades has shown for the pre-modern musical
repertories of Western Europe, such problems of realisation are neither unique to medieval
Byzantine chant, nor insuperable.
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This present study would have been impossible, but for the gracious assistance of
many institutions and individuals in North America and Europe. I gratefully acknowledge
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its award of a Doctoral
Fellowship (1990-93), and the University of British Columbia for a University Graduate
Fellowship (198890). Additional support was given by the United States Educational
Foundation in Greece i n the form of a Fulbright grant for the spring and summer of 1995.
A semester of study in 1990 at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary provided
crucial background knowledge for this interdisciplinary study, and I am most grateful to its
faculty, staff, and students for their continuing friendship and help. Special mention must
be made of Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Centre for Byzantine Studies, which not
only granted me a Summer Fellowship (1992) at the beginning of my work on this thesis,
but also a Junior Fellowship during the academic year (1995-96) of its completion.
M o v i n g on to individuals, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my three
diligent and insightful supervisors over the course of this project: Prof. MiloS Velimirovic,
Dr. Dimitri Conomos, and the long-suffering Professor J.E. Kreider. A t Dumbarton Oaks,
special thanks are due to D r . John Nesbitt, M a r k Zapatka of the library, Dr. Eric Ivison for
help with reconstructing the floor plan of Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica, and Miss Caren
Calendine for reading earlier drafts. In Greece, I would like to thank M r . Michael Adamis,
M r . Lycourgos Angelopoulos, and Prof. Ioannes Phountoules for their counsel; the staff of
the National Library of Athens for access to manuscripts; and especially Dr. and M r s .
Christos Lolas, who unfailingly provided me with gracious hospitality. In Vancouver, Dr.
and M r s . R . W . B o y d provided loving encouragement and assistance throughout my years
as a graduate student. Finally, I thank my wife A n n , whose love, forbearance* and diligent
proofreading were central to the realisation of this present work. A l l faults that remain, are,
of course, my own.
viii
Frank Desby
(1922-1992)
Aia/fLd lj /llSTJjUTJ.
ix
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The modern service of Byzantine Sunday matins is unquestionably the longest and
most complex segment of the contemporary Eastern Orthodox Liturgy of the Hours. 1
Historians of liturgy and chant investigating this office have revealed it to be the product of a
lengthy and intense process of development that has left its surface is littered with vestigial
forms. 2
The component parts of Byzantine Sunday matins have subsequently been traced to
diverse times and places of origin, testifying to the formative influence of various local usages
over the course of centuries. These initially ranged from the cathedrals of A n t i o c h and
3
Jerusalem to the deserts of Palestine and Egypt, followed later by Justinian's cathedral of
1
The contemporary Byzantine Office is contained in service books based on Greek editions published in Venice
during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At present, there are two major approaches to celebrating the offices
from these books, from which further minor divergences in practice may be observed. With several exceptions
(most notably Mt. Athos), the churches under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate celebrate according
to the Typikon of the Great Church (Tum/cov rfjs TOV Xpiarov MeydArjs-'E/ocArjaias)edited by George
Violakes (Constantinople: 1888; repr. Athens: Michael Saliveros, n.d.), a book of rubrics adapting the monastic
rite for modern urban use while also demonstrating certain vestiges of cathedral rite practice. The remaining
Orthodox churches still officially employ late medieval recensions of the monastic Typikon of St. Sabas as their
basis for worship, but moderate its assiduous demands in most parishes. On the Venetian editions of the
Orthodox service books, see N.B. Tomadakes," 'H iv 'haXiq ZKSOOIS iXXi)viKQ,v iKKXr\aiaoTLKu>v fiifiXL&v
(Kvplajs XetTovpyimv) yevo\iivri imêXetg 'EXArfvui' 6pBo86û)v KXrpLK&v Kara robs L%C aiuJva<s"
'Emrripis- TITS''EraipeiasBvaw-ii>aJi> ZnovStSy 37 (196970): 3-33. The critical role of these books in
the forced harmonisation of Russian and Greek practice under Patriarch Nikon is discussed by Paul Meyendorff
in Russia, Ritual, and Reform: The Liturgical Reforms of Nikon in the Seventeenth Century (C
Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991).
2
When celebrated in full according to the Typikon of St. Sabas, the major forms in modern Byzantine Sunday
matins which have been altered or moved in a way obscuring their original purpose are: the presbyteral prayers,
the hypacoe, the hymns of ascent {anavathmoi), the resurrectional troparia following the Great Doxology, the
redundant prokeimena scattered throughout the office (including "Let everything that hath breath, praise the
Lord" and "Holy is the Lord, our God"), and the kontakion. The omission in parochial usage of such crucial
structural elements as the monastic psalmody, the biblical canticles, the troparia of the canon other than the
katavasiai, and the full text of psalms 148-50 only increases the confusion. For concise surveys of these
issues, see Nicholas Egender, La priere des heures:'QpoAoyiov,La priere des eglises de rite byzantin 1
(Chevetogne: 1975), 121-41; Mateos, "Quelques problems de Porthros byzantin," Proche-orientchre'tien 11
(1961): 17-35, 201-20; and Phountoules, '"H dKoXovdia rod opdpov," chap, in Aeirovpyixd Oefiara H
(Thessalonica: 1987), 24-25.
3
On the modern service of Byzantine Sunday Matins, see Nicholas Egender, "Celebration du dimanche," in
Dimanche: Office selon les huit tons ( 'O/crajrjxosr), La Priere des eglises de rite byzantin 3 (Chev
Editions de Chevetogne, [1971]), 29-34; Robert F. Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West: The
Origins of the Divine Office and Its Meaning for Today (Collegeville: The Li turgical Press, 1986), 273-91.
1
2
Hagia Sophia, the Constantinopolitan monastery of Studios, and, during the reign of the
Paleologan dynasty (1261-1453), Mount A t h o s . 4

A s the relative prestige of each centre
waxed and waned, it would alternatively disseminate its own usages or adopt the practices of
others.
The present study of music and liturgy w i l l survey the impact of these processes of
change on a vanished predecessor of modern Orthodox Sunday morning prayer, namely the
office of Sunday matins as celebrated i n the now-defunct Byzantine cathedral rite of Hagia
Sophia. The development of this service w i l l be followed from its origins in Late Antiquity to
its final reform i n the early fifteenth-century. This introductory chapter w i l l further define the
parameters of the problem, briefly review previous scholarly studies, and outline our approach
to its solution.
The Byzantine Cathedral Rite as a Musical Problem
In the introduction to his pathbreaking article "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia,"
Oliver Strunk makes several remarkable assertions regarding the Liturgy of the Hours at
Justinian's Great Church, otherwise known as the "daixaTiKr) d.Ko\ovdia" ("Sung" or
"Chanted" Office). T w o concern the proper approach to its study, while a third assesses its
relevance to Byzantine musicology:
Thus it appears that the problem of the "chanted" office is fundamentally a musical
problem, and that it w i l l not be possible to solve it satisfactorily without taking music
4
These formative processes are outlined by Miguel Arranz in "Les grandes etapes de la Liturgie Byzantine:
Palestine Byzance-Russie. Essai d'apercu historique," in Liturgie de Vegliseparticuliere et liturgie de Veglise
universelle, BibliothecaEphemeridesLiturgicae, Subsidia! (Rome: Edizioni Liturgiche, 1976), 43-72; and
Robert Taft in "Mount Athos: A Late Chapter in the History of the Byzantine Rite," DOP 42 (1988): 179-94.
A more extensive treatment of this subject is Taft, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History. American Essays in
Liturgy (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1992). Although the study of Eastern Christian chant is as yet too
immature for similar surveys of the corresponding musical developments, Peter Jeffery has suggested the
potential fruitfulness of such a parallel methodology in Re-envisioning Past Musical Cultures:
Ethnomusicology in the Study of Gregorian Chant (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1992),
55-59- Jeffery has himself pursued the trails forged by liturgiologists in a series of preliminary studies for a
general history of Hagiopolite chant from the fourth to the twelfth century: "The Sunday Office of Seventh-
Century Jerusalem in the Georgian Chantbook (Iadgari): A Preliminary Report," Studia Liturgica 21 (1991):
52-75; "The Lost Chant Tradition of Early Christian Jerusalem: Some Possible Melodic Survivals in the
Byzantine and Latin Chant Repertories," Early Music History 11 (1992): 151-90; and "The Earliest Christian
Chant Repertory Recovered: The Georgian Witnesses to Jerusalem Chant," Journal of the American
Musicological Society 47(1994): 1-39.
3
into account. It likewise appears that the music of the "chanted" office constitutes a
central and crucial chapter i n the history of Byzantine music and that until this chapter is
written our conception of Byzantine music is bound to remain one-sided and
incomplete. 5
Despite the underlying logic of Strunk's clarion call to musicologists, this "central and
crucial chapter" remains largely unwritten some forty-odd years after the original publication of
his article. Major surveys of Byzantine chant to the present day continue to tell mainly the
6
monastic half of the story. Nevertheless, the fact remains that for much of its history
7
Byzantium celebrated the Liturgy of the Hours not according to one but two major distinct
liturgical usages: the Constantinopolitan "Sung" Office and a monastic rite of Palestinian
origin. This conclusion has been reinforced by recent liturgical scholarship, which has
thoroughly discredited the cherished notion that the relative conservatism of contemporary
Orthodox worship can be projected into the past to posit the existence of a monolithic tradition
changing at a glacial pace. The obvious but as yet unrealised consequence of this revolution
8
in liturgical scholarly consensus is that musicologists must now discard erroneous conclusions
based on a unitary model of liturgical development and proceed by carefully distinguishing the
9
various liturgical usages as they wend their way through Byzantine musical history.
Strunk's other two assertions are somewhat more problematic. W h i l e his claim that a
satisfactory solution of the problem of the cathedral rite must take music into account is to some
5
Oliver Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia," DOP 9-10 (1956); repr. as chap, in EMBW, 115.
6
Cf. the "Review of Literature" infra, pp. 9-15.
7
E.g. Egon Wellesz, A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography, 2nd. ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1961); and more recently Milos" Velimirovic , "Byzantine Chant," in The New Oxford History of Music, vol. 2,
-
The Early Middle Ages to 1300, eds. Richard Crocker and David Hiley (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990),
26-63.
8
Cf. the comments by Robert Taft, "A Tale of Two Cities: The Byzantine Holy Week Triduum as a Paradigm
of Liturgical History," in Time and Community, in Honor of Thomas Julian Talley, ed. J. Neil Alexander
(Washington: The Pastoral Press, 1990), 21; and Nicholas Egender, "Introduction," in Lapriere des heures
'OpoAdyiois, La priere des eglises de rite byzantin 1 (Chevetogne: Editions de Chevetogne, 1975), 88-89.
9
Wellesz, for example, states in his classic survey that the kontakion, a Constantinopolitan form of liturgical
poetry that began to flourish in the sixth century, was replaced in the morning office by the poetic canons of
such seventh-century Palestinian figures as John of Damascus and Andrew of Crete. In addition to chronological
problems posed by the late date of the surviving textual kontakaria, this hypothesis is undercut by the fact that
these two forms of hymnography were created for completely different rites: canons were designed to farce the
biblical canticles of Saba'itic matins, while kontakia were originally written for popular urban vigils. See
Wellesz, A History, 199-204; and the study of the present author, "The Liturgical Use of the Kontakion in
Constantinople," in ed. Constantin C. Akentiev, Liturgy, Architecture and Art of the Byzantine World: Paper
of the XVIII International Byzantine Congress (Moscow, &-15 August 1991) and Other Essays D
Memory ofFr. John Meyendorff, Byzantinorossica 1 (St. Petersburg: 1995), 50-57.
4
extent justified by his reliance on data found uniquely in musical manuscripts, Strunk never
demonstrates exactly how Hagia Sophia's Liturgy of the Hours presents a "fundamentally"
musical problem. The pretext for his assertions is nevertheless clear: the famous and relatively
late description of these offices by Saint Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica (1416/17-1429)
and Byzantium's most prolific liturgical commentator. In a passage referred to by Strunk, 10
Symeon takes the popular appellation for the Great Church's Liturgy of the Hours ("aofiariKr)
aKoXovdCa") as the point of departure for his subsequent description and allegorical
interpretation of the cathedral rite:
This melodic service was originally sung by all the catholic churches of the entire
world, which recited nothing without melody (except the priest's prayers and the
deacon's litanies) especially the Great Churches such as Constantinople, Antioch,
and Thessalonica, where alone today it is performed in the Church of the Holy
Wisdom. 11
This glowing praise contrasts radically with his cool evaluation of the contemporary monastic
Divine Office:
In the monasteries here, and in almost all of the churches, the order followed is that of
the Jerusalem Typikon of Saint Sabas. For this can be performed by one person,
having been compiled by monks, and is often celebrated without chants in the cenobitic
monasteries. Such a rite is necessary and patristic, since our holy Father Savas set this
down... 12
From this testimony, one might conclude, as have some scholars, that music was both
the Byzantine cathedral rite's defining characteristic and what set it apart from an often dry
monastic rite of St. Sabas. 13

It is extremely unlikely, however, that Symeon, whose
Thessalonian cathedral of Hagia Sophia was the last church in the shrunken Paleologan Empire
to maintain the complete cycle of asmatic offices, was writing merely as an impartial observer.
On the contrary, in open opposition to certain members of his flock who evidently preferred the
reformed or "Neo-Sabaitic" monastic rite celebrated everywhere else at that time, Symeon14
1 0
Strunk, "The Byzantine Office," 115.
1 1
Symeon of Thessalonica, flepi rffe &eias~ npoaevxfjsiDe sacraprecatione), PG 155, col. 624; poorly
trans, by H.L.N. Simmons as Treatise on Prayer: An Explanation of the Services Conducted in the Orthodox
Church (Brookline, Mass.: Hellenic College Press, 1984), 71.
Symeon, ITepl rfc feta? rrpoaevxris; col. 556;Treatise, 22.
1 2
1 3
E.g. Diane Touliatos-Banker, The Byzantine Amomos Chant of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries,
AnalectaVlatadon 46 (Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies, 1984), 50-51, 62-63.
On the Late Byzantine "Neo-Sabaitic" synthesis of monastic usages, see Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 78-83.
1 4
5
fervently advocated the maintenance of the "Sung" Office at his cathedral in perpetuity "as a
kind of divine spark." 15

It was therefore scarcely in his interest to provide a fully objective
comparison of the two rites.
Even a cursory glance at Neo-Sabai'tic worship is sufficient to confirm Symeon's bias
in favour of the cathedral rite. As Antoniades has pointed out, the Byzantine monastic offices
themselves had rapidly developed into what can only be described as "sung" services after the
rise of Sabai'tic hymnography in the seventh century. 16

More recently, their status as such had
taken on a whole new meaning in the wake of the fourteenth-century musical reforms of the
Athonite monk John Koukouzeles. 17

By the time Symeon was writing, the Neo-Sabai'tic
offices had fostered the creation of an enormous repertory of florid "kalophonic" chant that was
easily the most elaborate music Byzantium had ever produced. Even without a detailed
comparison of the two forms of worship, therefore, circumstances suggest a broader
interpretation of his effusive rhetoric.
If one then leaves aside dubious comparisons, Symeon's assertion of music's
fundamental importance to the asmatic rite rests on his testimony that cathedral worship was
accomplished primarily through musical means, hardly an isolated phenomenon in the history
of Byzantine liturgy. A s any visitor to a contemporary Eastern Orthodox church soon learns,
singingvarying in scale from intoned recitation to highly virtuosic melismatic chant and
complex polyphonyis the medium par excellence for corporate worship in the Christian East.
Eucharistic liturgies are by definition sung services, for the Orthodox Church has never had an
equivalent to the spoken or "low" Mass of the Latin West. Singing also dominates the portions
of the Neo-Sabai'tic Divine Office commonly celebrated today in most parishes. This is
1 5
Symeon, ITepl rfjs"feias"Trpoaevxns; col. 556; Treatise, 21-22.
1 6
Evangelos Antoniades, "ITepl TOV dafiariKOv fj fivCavrivoi) KOOUUCOV TVTTOV T&V 'AKoAovdi&i' Tr)g
T)\xepovvKTLOv -rrpooevxrjS,* OeoAoyia 20 (1949): 721.
1 7
The basic works on John Koukouzeles' contributions to Byzantine music are by Edward V. Williams: "A
Byzantine Ars Nova: The 14th-century Reforms of John Koukouzeles in the Chanting of Great Vespers," in
Aspects of the Balkans: Continuity and Change, ed. Henrik Birnbaum and Speros Vryonis, Jr. (The Hague:
1972), 211-229; and his frequently cited but never published study of "John Koukouzeles' Reform of Byzantine
Chanting for Great Vespers in the Fourteenth Century," (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1968).
6
especially true of the two principal offices of orthros and vespers 18

which, thanks to an
impressive melodic repertory for their psalmodic ordinary and an immense corpus of proper
hymnography filling out fifteen volumes of t e x t , 19

are veritably saturated with vocal music.
The traditional close integration of vocal music with Eastern Orthodox liturgy has a
number of implications not only for the reconstruction of the cathedral rite, but indeed for the
study of nearly all Byzantine liturgy. Simply by virtue of the fact that Byzantine cathedral
services were sung, music was important as the medium through which liturgical texts were
perceived in a specific time or place. W h i l e the relative importance of music to any particular
topic i n liturgical scholarship may, of course, vary widely, there can be no doubt that scholarly
consideration of its role within the "Sung" rite promotes a more thorough understanding of the
asmatic offices through the recovery of a vital qualitative dimension. In this way, the aural
environment provided by music may therefore be considered analogous to the physical setting
provided by Byzantine church architecture, for both shaped the celebration of the asmatike
akolouthia.
M u s i c , however, because of its privileged position as the medium by which the asmatic
offices were conducted and by virtue of certain innate properties, had the potential to affect the
reception of the cathedral rite's texts far more than any physical factor, with the possible
exception of the acoustics that rendered them audible or inaudible. Some of the most important
ways in which singing can affect the text it mediates stem from what we in the late twentieth
century might call the psycho-acoustic properties of music, but which the Byzantines would
probably have referred to as its ethos. In continuity with the philosophers of Greek Antiquity,
many Church Fathers maintained that music has great power to affect the human soul for good
1 8
Orthros is the principal morning office of the Orthodox Church. Its rough Latin equivalent would be a
composite of Roman matins and lauds (or, to use an alternative medieval terminology, nocturnes and matins).
1 9
For more information on the Neo-Sabaitic service books and their use in modern Orthodox liturgy, see the
helpful introductory sections and appendices to Mother Mary and Archimandrite [now Bishop] Kallistos Ware,
eds. and trans., The Festal Menaion (London: Faber and Faber, 1969), 38-97, 530-562. Many of the same
books are discussed alongside their musical counterparts in Kenneth Levy, 'Liturgy and liturgical books.
III. Greekrite,'The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1980), vol. 11
86-88.
7
or for i l l . 2 0
The descriptive poems that conclude each section of resurrectional hymnography
in The Great Oktoechos also indicate that the Byzantines believed their cycle of eight modes
was founded on such principles. 21

Unfortunately for the modem positivist scholar, such
aspects remain maddeningly difficult to quantify in absolute terms despite attempts from
Pythagoras to the present to create a metaphysics of music based i n the mathematics of sound
as a physical phenomenon. 22
A more promising avenue for investigating the role of music within the Byzantine
cathedral rite is to observe the way i n which texts were set. In the case of a single texted
melody, this means noting the relationship of the text to such basic musical components as
mode, range and its place on the continuum between syllabic and melismatic chant. Across an
entire repertory of chants, these musical elements reveal the technical means preferred for the
expression of certain texts in particular liturgical situations. The relevance of purely musical
concerns to a genre of hymnography may also be assessed at this level by measuring the
relative dominance of text or music, a significant consideration for Byzantine chant with its
elaborate systems of model melodies and contrafacta. 23

Through an overview of a whole
service or even an entire rite, one may discover the liturgical function of various styles of music
within a religious tradition. Furthermore, one may also begin to discern from the juxtaposition
2 0
On the development of patristic thought about music, see Wellesz, A History, 52-62; Johannes Quasten,
Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, trans. Boniface Ramsey, NPM Studies in Church Mu
and Liturgy (Washington, D.C.: National Association of Pastoral Musicians, 1983), 59-139; and James
McKinnon, "Christian Antiquity," in James McKinnon, ed., Music and Society: Antiquity and the Middle Ages
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991), 81-S5. See also the excellent annotated collection of patristic
references to music in James McKinnon, ed., Music in Early Christian Literature, Cambridge Readings in the
Literature of Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
2 1
See the discussion of the "Concept of Ethos" in Frank Desby, "The Modes and Tunings in Neo-Byzantine
Chant," (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Southern California, 1974), 22-51. The poems of the Oktoechos are given with
English translations on pp. 25-28.
2 2
Sufficiently elusive in contemporary music, the ethos of a repertory such as medieval Byzantine chant
presents further problems due to the conjectural nature of rhythmic subdivision, appropriate vocal production,
musicafictaand other chromaticism.
2 3
The importance of this principle may be seen from the way in which the monasticrite'sgreat number of
contrafacta (prosomoia) effectively dilute through repetition the purely musical impact of each Byzantine model
melody or automelon without in any way reducing the musical component of a given service. Exactly the
opposite effect is achieved, however, by the phenomenon of multiple settings of a given text, whereby the
relative importance of music increases. Taken to its Late Byzantine extreme of textless chant by named
composers cultivating a highly personal musical style, music may thus achieve an unprecedented autonomy as
an arbiter of liturgical ethos, cf. the present author's study of "Hesychasm and Psalmody," Mount Athos and
Byzantine Monasticism, ed. Anthony Bryer (London: Variorum, forthcoming).
8
of these styles an underlying set of aesthetic principles operating to create a distinct ethos of
worship.
Such investigations gain wider significance when the observed relationship between
music and liturgy is viewed through the prism of time to reveal development. A s John
Meyendorff pointed out, the continuities and discontinuities evident in liturgical development
are significant tools for the study of change in Byzantine culture and religious thought. 24
Chant, as Dimitri Conomos recently demonstrated in his study of the Byzantine communion
cycle, can be an excellent index of such development. 25

Moreover, its relative importance as
an indicator of continuity and discontinuity in Byzantine liturgy greatly increased by default
after the twelfth century, when the former torrent of textual additions was reduced to a trickle
upon the completion of the standard collections of hymnodic propers.
B y the time of Symeon's fifteenth-century episcopacy, as we have shown elsewhere,
the musical innovations of John Koukouzeles and his fellow composers had given cantors the
ability to alter drastically the surface of Byzantine liturgy without changing the 'official' texts of
the services. 26
These developments, whose impact on and relationship to the archaic "Sung"
rite has yet to be assessed, can essentially be reduced to two. The firston which most
scholarly attention has been fixedwas the cultivation of an embellished or "kalophonic"
musical style of unprecedented virtuosity that often featured extended vocal ranges, textual
troping, and even textless vocalisations on nonsense syllables. The second innovation was the
2 4
"Continuities and Discontinuities in Byzantine Religious Thought," DOP47 (1993): 78.
2 5
Robert Taft, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History, American Essays in Liturgy (Collegeville: The Litu
Press, 1992), 60; cf. Conomos, The Late Byzantine and Slavonic Communion Cycle: Liturgy and Music
Dumbarton Oaks Studies 21 (Washington, D . C : Dumbarton Oaks, 1985). Although it has long been common
for Byzantine musicologists to discuss either the development of a particular chant or repertory of chants over
the centuries, their conclusions have usually been strictly musical observations about changes in melody or
melodic style. Consequently, they have long been quietly reproached by non-specialists for the impenetrability
and perceived irrelevance of so many of their studies. Thoughtful discussions of current scholarly approaches to
Byzantine chant from scholars outside of the field are provided by R. Taft, review of The Late Byzantine and
Slavonic Communion Cycle, by D. Conomos, in Worship 62 (1988): 554-7; and Vladimir Morosan, review of
Studies in Eastern Chant, vol. V, ed. by D. Conomos, in Orthodox Church Music 1 (1983): 37. Cf. also the
hostile evaluation of Byzantine musicology by Joseph Kerman, Contemplating Music: Challenges to
Musicology (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985), 45.
2 6
Lingas, "Hesychasm and Psalmody."
9
composition of highly expressive multiple settings of the same text, a radical departure from the
tradition of anonymous music tied closely to a given text or group of texts. 27
In summary then, we would like to supplement Strunk's hypotheses by asserting:
1) that further investigation of the Byzantine cathedral rite is of vital musicological interest
because of its central but as yet poorly understood place in the Empire's musical history; 2) that
asmatic liturgy is indeed both by definition and by appellation a musical problem because music
is one of its fundamental constituent elements; and 3) that it is indeed impossible to gain a
proper understanding of the "Sung" offices without taking singing into account. Additionally,
it is our contention that the most promising means by which the cathedral rite can be assessed
as a musical problem is through a multi-layered investigation of the relationship between text
and music.
Review of Literature
The course of action we have been advocating above is in part an ideal, for a detailed
survey of music and liturgy in the Byzantine cathedral rite throughout its history (let alone one
of Byzantine liturgy in general) is still years away. From a strictly musical perspective, this
situation can be partially explained by a continuing lack of basic studies for many musical
repertories and periods, a fact that explains the still exploratory nature of most Byzantine
musicology. 28
Also, one must not forget that the very existence of a separate
Constantinopolitan rite for the Liturgy of the Hours was all but forgotten after the fall of the
2 7
A key outcome of this latter development was that the relationship between music and text within the
Byzantine rite was subsequently analogous to that operative in Latin liturgy since the widespread adoption of
polyphony. In other words, although the texts of a given service may remain the same in various
circumstances, its overall impact may now differ radically depending on the music chosen for the occasion by a
cantor or choirmaster. Taken to its modern Roman Catholic extreme, this means settings of the Eucharist's
ordinary spread over a spectrum that includes, among other things, Gregorian chant, Palestrina's acappella
polyphony, Mozart's orchestral masses, and modern 'pop'.
2 8
For a survey of Byzantine musicology prior to 1961, see Wellesz, A History, 1-21. Subsequent
developments are summarised in the following progress reports: O. Strunk, "Byzantine Music in the Light of
Recent Research and Publication," in Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Congress of Byzantine S
(London and New York: 1967), 245-54, repr. as chap, in EMBW, 240-54; M. Velimirovid, "Present Status of
Research in Byzantine Music," Acta Musicologica 43 (1971): 1-20; and D. Touliatos(-Banker), "State of the
Discipline of Byzantine Music," Acta Musicologica 50 (1978): 181-192; idem, "Research in Byzantine Music
Since 1975," Acta Musicologica 60 (1988): 205-26.
10
Byzantine Empire. Indeed, for several centuries Symeon of Thessalonica's AidAoyos"
Xpiarq} was essentially the only clear and accessible witness to the asmatic offices. 29
This situation began to change in the late nineteenth century as scholars uncovered and
published texts from both the cathedral rite's classic Constantinopolitan phase and its Late
Byzantine twilight. At about the same time, the first modern studies taking the Byzantine
30
cathedral rite into account were written by such scholars of liturgy as Mansvetov 3 1
Dmitrievskii 32
Skaballanovich, and Baumstark.
33 34
Based on this scholarship, Borgia made
an early attempt at the more ambitious goal of reconstructing the texts of the actual services in a
usable f o r m . 35
A second wave of scholarly interest in the Byzantine cathedral rite occurred in the mid-
1950s. Relying largely on Symeon and prior scholarship, Antoniades made some perceptive
observations about the role of music in the "Sung" Office. 36

His work was followed by the
more or less simultaneous appearance of detailed studies by Strunk and Trempelas

37 38
2 9
Published originally in Jassy, Moldavia in 1683, it later became widely available through its inclusion in
volume 155 of Migne's monumental PatrologiaGraeca. (cols. 33-696), where it is accompanied by a poor Latin
translation.
3 0
Most notably A. Dmitrievskii, Opisanie liturgicheskikh rukopisei khraniashchikhsia v bibliotekakh
Pravoslavnogo Vostoka, 3 vols. (Kiev: 1895, 1902; Petrograd: 1917; repr. ed., Hildesheim: Georg Olms,
1965); and idem, Drevneishie patriarshie tipikony Sviatogrobskii lerusalimskii i Velikoi Konstantin
Tserkvy (Kiev: 1907). Two interesting late Byzantine cathedralritetexts from musical manuscripts were also
published by Alexander Lavriotes: a text for festal vespers from the musical MS Lavra A 165 in "XvAAoyt) T&V
Suxpopcov KK\r\oiaoTiK&v aKoAov&mv," EKKArpiaariKr)'AArjOeLa15, no. 21 (1895): 164-66; and the
libretto of the liturgical drama of the three children from the same MS as ". 'AmAovdiatyaAAouevr)rfj
KvpiaKf) T<x>v 'Ayiwv TTaTdpaiv npo TT)S Xpiarov Tzwrfoeus TJTOL TT)S Kap.ivov" FiocAr)
'AArjdetaA'i (1895): 345-46.
1 . Mansvetov, "O pesnennom posledovaniy," Pribavleniye k tvoreniam Sv. Otsov (1880): 752-97; idem,
3 1
Tserkovny Ustav (tipik): Ego obrazovanie i sudba v Grecheskoi i Russkoi Tserkvi (Moscow: 1885
3 2
Dmitrievskii, review of Tserkovny Ustav, by Mansvetov, in Kkristianskoe Chtenie (1888), no. 2, 480-576;
and idem, "Chin Peschnago dieistva," Vizantiiskii Vremennik, I (1894), 585-88.
3 3
M. Skaballanovich, Tolkovy tipikon: obiasnitelnoe izlozhenie Tipikona s istoricheskim vvedeniem
(Kiev: 1910-15; repr. ed., n.p.: JUH, n.d.).
3
"Das Typikon der Patmos-Handschrift 266 und die altkonstantinopolitanische Gottesdienstordnung," Jahrbuch
4
fur Liturgiewissenschaft 6 (1926): 98-111; "Denkmaler der Enstehungsgeschichte des byzantinischen Ritus,"
Oriens Christianus 3, Serie 2 (1927): 1-32.
3 5
Nilo Borgia," XlpoXoyiov "Diurno" delle chiese diritobizantino," OrientaliaChristiana 56, 16/1 (1929):
152-254. More recent and reliable examples of reconstructed cathedral services are the minor offices published
by Phountoules in his practical series of liturgical sources: ITawvxiS', Kelpeva XeLrovpyiidys 2, 2nd ed.
(Thessalonica: 1977); and Tpi&e/crrj, Keipeva Xeirovpyiicris 1,2nd. ed. (Thessalonica: 1977).
3 6
Antoniades, 'ITepl rod dapaTiKou."'
3 7
Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia."
3 8
P.N. Trempelas, "Ac evxai rov opdpov ml TOV eoirepivov," SeoAoyia 24 (1953): 174-89,359-74,
520-35; 25 (1954): 71-86, 244-59, 337-52, 497-520.; repr. in idem, Mi/cpdi/ EvxoAoyiov, II (Athens: 1955).
11
employing valuable new data from late Byzantine musical manuscripts associated with
Symeon's Thessalonian cathedral of Hagia Sophia. From the Antiphonarion M S Athens 2061,
both scholars were able to reconstruct the cathedral rite's distribution of the Psalter into a two-
week cycle of psalmodic antiphons with extra-biblical refrains. Trempelas, whose study
largely consists of asmatic service texts, also includes an interesting assortment of ferial and
festal variants. Strunk, on the other hand, opened up the "Sung" Office as an object of
musicological inquiry by publishing musical transcriptions of its psalmodic ordinary.
Despite Strunk's vehement assertion of the cathedral rite's central importance to their
field, Byzantine musicologistshaving become preoccupied with such other problems as the
interpretation of early notations and the results of John Koukouzeles' fourteenth-century
reformshave paid comparatively little attention to the "Sung" Office. Without really
comprehending their significance, Wellesz refers to Strunk's discoveries in the second edition
of his general survey within a chapter on "The Structure of Byzantine Melodies." In more 39
recent years, Conomos has discussed the South Italian tradition of the kneeling vespers of
Pentecost (dKoXovdCa tfjs yovvKXnoLas), an unusual example of a cathedral rite office

-
celebrated in a monastic context. 40

Hannick touches upon issues relating to the cathedral rite's
twilight in two short studies of music in Late Byzantine Thessalonica 4 1

and addresses the
"Sung" Office directly in his brief "Etade sur YdKoXovdCa ao/LtaTLKfj," which investigates the
music from two late Byzantine musical manuscripts of Neo-Sabaitic provenance for asmatic
festal vespers. 42
Touliatos has also published a short study of the same musical tradition of
3 9
Wellesz, A History, 341-48.
4 0
Conomos, "Music for the Evening Office on Whitsunday," Actes de XVe Congres International d'Etudes
Byzantines, I (Athens: 1979), 453-469.
4 1
Christian Hannick, "Thessalonique dans l'histoire de la musique ecclesiastique byzantine," chap, in 'H
OeaaaAoviKT]: Merafv 'AmToAfjs- ml Avaeus (Thessalonica: 'Erepeia MaKeSovLKuJv ZnovSaiu, 1982),
111-20; and "The Performance of the Kanon in Fifteenth-Century Thessalonica," in D. Conomos, ed., Studies
in Eastern Chant 5 (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991), 137-52.
4 2
Hannick, "fitude sur VdicoAovdiatfauaTuaj,"JOB 19 (1970): 243-60. This article includes a short section
on the music for what he takes to be an unusual form of vespers, but which in reality is the Thessalonian
"Acclamations in the Trullo" for the feast of the Holy Cross. On this Thessalonian service of acclamations, see
Ioannes Phountoules," '18i.oppvdp.ies rfjs AetTovpyiKfis npdgews rfjs &eaoaXoviKqs Kara TLS dpxes
rod IE' ai&vos," chap, in Xpianaiî/cfj OeaaaAonKTj: ITaAaioAoyeios fm3^'(Thessalonica: 1989), 157-59.
12
cathedral vespers as Hannick using two different manuscripts, 43

and has a similar preliminary
investigation of asmatic matins forthcoming i n Studies in Eastern Chant. 44

In addition, she
devotes considerable space to the Thessalonian asmatic tradition of Psalm 118 in her
monograph The Byzantine Amomos Chant of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, thus
providing the first survey of an entire cathedral repertory. 45
In comparison with the musicologists, a number of liturgiologists have worked
arduously over the past few decades to increase our knowledge of the shape and history of the
Byzantine cathedral rite. It is significant that they have also begun to document i n detail its
complex interaction with the Palestinian monastic rite of St. Sabas. Their research has shown
that the latter's introduction i n Constantinople by St. Theodore the Studite (759-826) set in
motion a six hundred-year process of influence and competition between these two ultimately
irreducible rites that finally ended i n the formation of the modern Byzantine rite.
One of the first attempts to chronicle the development of Byzantine liturgy and evaluate
the cathedral rite's place within it is presented by Alexander Schmemann i n his Introduction to
Liturgical Theology. 46
Basing his scheme largely on Russian scholarship from the turn of the
century, Schmemann mistakenly eliminates the cathedral rite as an active player on the
Byzantine liturgical scene much too early by positing a total "Studite synthesis" of the
Palestinian Sabaitic offices with material from the Constantinopolitan rite of the Great Church
in the tenth century 4 7

N . D . Uspensky's early work on cathedral rite vespers, published only
rather recently in English translation, suffers from similar defects through reliance on outdated
Touliatos-Banker, "The "Chanted" Vespers Service," /TAqpot<v//ia8 (1976): 107-26.

4 3
Idem, "The Office of Matins in the Byzantine Cathedral Rite," in Studies in Eastern Chant 6, Dimitri
4 4
Conomos, ed. (forthcoming).

4 5
Idem, The Byzantine Amomos Chant, 50-94.
Alexander Schmemmann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology, 3rd ed., trans. Asheleigh Moorhouse
46
(Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1986), 201-12.

4 7
Miguel Arranz, "Les grandes etapes de la Liturgie Byzantine: Palestine-Byzance-Russie. Essai d'apercu
historique," in Liturgie de Veglise particuliere et liturgie de Veglise universelle, Bibliotheca Ephem
Liturgicae, Subsidia 7 (Rome: Edizioni Liturgiche, 1976), 45. In addition to its historical inaccuracies,
Schmemann's Introduction also suffers somewhat from the influence of Dom Gregory Dix's radical distinction
between "eschatological" worship in the pre-Constantinian Christian Church and post-Constantinian
"historicism." On this important issue for understanding the development of the Liturgy of the Hours, see Taft,
"Historicism Revisited," chap, in Beyond East and West: Problems in Liturgical Understanding (Washingt
D . C : The Pastoral Press, 1984), 15-30.
13
scholarship and mistaken theoretical presuppositions. 48

Evidently unaware of these failings,
W i l l i a m s synthesised the theoretical frameworks of Schmemann and Uspensky and transmitted
them into the realm of musicology i n the lengthy historical introduction to his dissertation on
John K o u k o u z e l e s . 49
W i l l i a m s ' own outline of Byzantine liturgical development i n turn
provided the foundation for the parallel section of Touliatos's survey of this p r o c e s s . 50
During the second half of this century, the most comprehensive research on the
problem of the Byzantine cathedral offices, and indeed on the liturgy of the entire Byzantine
rite, has undoubtedly been contributed by liturgical scholars associated with the Pontifical
Oriental Institute i n Rome. Juan Mateos was the pioneer, producing both noteworthy articles
and a critical edition of the so-called Typikon of the Great Church, a two-volume collection of
rubrics governing the liturgy of Constantinople's Hagia Sophia during its M i d d l e Byzantine
zenith. 51
Mateos's work on the offices of the Great Church has been continued and greatly
advanced by the prolific M i g u e l A r r a n z . 52

Although much of his own effort has been focused
on the history of the Divine Liturgy, Robert Taft has made significant contributions to the study
4 8
Nicholas Uspensky, Evening Worship in the Orthodox Church, trans, by Paul Lazor (Crestwood:
St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1985). Cf. also his updated approach and revised conclusions in chapters I-V of
the published version of his history of the all-night vigil, "Chin vsenoshchnogo bdeniia (r? dypvrrUa) na
pravoslavnom vostoke i v russko'i tserkvi," Bogoslovskie Trudy 18 (1977): 5-117.
4 9
Williams, "John Koukouzeles' Reform," 2-68.
5 0
Touliatos-Banker, The Byzantine Amomos Chant, 50-53.
5 1
Mateos, "La psalmodie variable dans le rite byzantin," 327-39; "Quelques problemes de l'orthros byzantin,"
Proche-orientChretien 11 (1961): 17-35, 201-20; and TGE III. Although the word "typikon" may now denote
a collection of liturgical rubrics for an urban churche.g. the modern Tvmtcdv rfjs TOV XptaroO MeydArjS"
'E/ocArp-ias-
by George Violakesstrictly speaking a "typikon" in this period was a document governing a
monastic foundation. The rubrics which comprise the "Typikon" of the Great Church are in fact contained in
the Synaxarion and the Kanonarion, two separate Constantinopolitan documents regulating the temporal and the
movable cycles of liturgical commemoration. Cf. Abraham-Andreas Thiermeyer's excellent discussion of "Die
Definition von TVTTLKOIP in "Das Typikon-Ktetorikon und sein literarhistorischer Kontext," OCP 58 (1992):
477-482.
5 2
Miguel Arranz, "La liturgie des heures selon l'ancien Euchologe byzantin,"in Eulogia: Miscellanea liturgica
in onore di P. Burkhard Neunheuser, Studia Anselmiana 68, Analecta liturgica 1 (Rome: Editrice An
1979), 1-19; idem, "Les grandes etapes," 4372; idem, "Les prices presbyterales de la Pannychis de l'ancien
Euchologe byzantin et la Pannikhida des deTunts," OCP 40 (1974): 314-43,41 (1975): 119-39; idem, "Les
prieres presbyterales de laTritoekti de l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," OCP 43 (1977): 70-93,335-54; idem,
"Les prieres presbyterales des marines byzantines,"OCP 37 (1971): 406-436; 38 (1972): 64-115; idem, "Les
prieres presbyterales des Petites Heures dans l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," OCP 39 (1973): 29-82; idem, "Les
prieres sacerdotales des vgpres byzantines," OCP 37 (1971): 85-124; idem, "L'office de YAsmatikos Hesperinos
(vepres chantees) de l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," OCP 44 (1978): 107-30,391-419; idem, "L'office de
YAsmatikos Orthros (matines chantees) de l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," OCP 47 (1981): 122-57.
14
of the Byzantine Divine O f f i c e . 53

Other valuable investigations into particular aspects of the
Byzantine cathedral rite have been contributed by John Baldovin (stational l i t u r g y ) , 54

Gabriel
Bertoniere (Easter V i g i l ) 5 5
and Kosmas Georgiou (Antiphonarion). 56
A third stream of scholarly inquiry into the late asmatic offices has been opened by the
discovery of a substantial number of previously unknown historical, theological, and liturgical
writings by Symeon of Thessalonica, thereby increasing his known literary output by "nearly
one h a l f . " 57
The historical and theological documents, which have been studied and edited by
the late D a v i d B a l f o u r , 58
contain a wealth of contextual information concerning both Symeon
and the city that was under his archiepiscopal jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Professor Ioannes
Phountoules has performed the bulk of the work on Symeon's liturgical writings. In addition
to a critical edition of his prayers and h y m n s , 59

Phountoules has extensively studied the
manuscript Athens 2 0 4 7 , 60
a compendium of rubrics and other liturgical texts directing
5 3
Taft's work on the Byzantine Liturgy of the Hours includes the specialised studies "The Byzantine Office in
the Prayerbook of New Skete: Evaluation of a Proposed Reform," OCP 48 (1982): 336-70; "Mount Athos,"
179-94; "A Tale of Two Cities," 21-41; and the important general surveys The Liturgy of the Hours in East
and Wesl: The Origins of the Divine Office and Its Meaning for Today (Collegeville: The Liturgical Pre
1986); and The Byzantine Rite: A Short History.
5 4
John F. Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship: The Origins, Development, and Me
Stational Liturgy, OCA 228 (Rome: 1987), 167-268. See also the same author's essays "The City as Church,
The Church as City," "Worship in Urban Life: The Example of Medieval Constantinople" and "All Saints in
the Byzantine Tradition," published as chaps. 1,2 and 5 of idem, Worship: City, Church and Renewal
(Washington, D . C : The Pastoral Press, 1991), 3-27, 49-57.
5 5
Gabriel Bertoniere, The Historical Development of the Easter Vigil and Related Services in the G
Church, OCA 193 (Rome: 1972).
5 6
Kosmas I. Georgiou," 'H ifiSopaStaia dvri<fioji>iKTi Karavopr] T6)V ipaAp&v icai T&V d>8Qv els T&S
'Aoparims AKoXovOLas iamptvoii Kal opdpov. EXXTJUOCOI MovciKoi Kc6Saces 2061-2062 EO
BipAioOfJKris 'AO-qvciv " (Ph.D. diss., Pontifical Oriental Institute, 1976).
1
5 7
David Balfour, ed., Politico-Historical Works of Symeon, Archbishop of T/iessalonica (1416117 to
Wiener byzantinische Studien 13 (Vienna: Verlag der bsterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1979), 21.
5 8
Balfour, Politico-Historical Works; idem, ed., Ayiou Zupeajv Apxiemcnconou GecraaAoi/iKTjs: "E
&eoAoyi/cd, AnalectaVlatadon 34 (Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies, 1981). See also
Balfour's studies "St. Symeon of Thessalonica: a polemical hesychast," Sobornost 4 (1982): 6-21; and "Saint
Symeon of Thessalonike as a Historical Personality," Greek Orthodox Theological Review 28 (1983): 55-72.
5 9
Ioannes Phountoules, ed., Svpeav Apxcema/cdrrov OeaaaAoi/i/ajs: Td AeiTovpyi/cd ZvyypdppctT
Evxal Kal v/uwi, Eraipeia Afa/ceSoî/ceJi/ ZrrovS&i; 10, (Thessalonica: 1968).
6 0
Phountoules's most comprehensive discussion of this MS is found passim in his general survey To
AeLTOvpyiKov ipyou v/j.ecbi> TOV OeaaaAoyi/crjs (Thessalonica: 1966), esp. pp. 37-47, 115-58.
Phountoules has since refined his assessment of Symeon's liturgical reforms in the following two articles:
" 'IScoppvdpies rfjs AetTovpyiicfjs Trpdeios," 151-63;" 'O ayios Svpeuu QeooaAoviKT)S owrdKrr]s
TVTTLKOV," chap, in ITpa/rn/cd AzLTovpyiKov aweSptov eis nprju teal p.uTJfirji> rou dytocs na
fipaju Zvpecdi/os 'Apxisiriaicdjrov BeaaaAoyc/ajs TOV Oavparovpyov, (Thessalonica: 1981), 107-20. S
also his topographical study "Maprvpiai TOV OeoaaAoviKrjs Svpecov irepi w va&v rfjs OeaaaAovLi
Emarrjp.oi'uoj Everr/pi's OeoAoyixrjs- xoAf}s 2\ (Thessalonica: 1976): 125-86.,
15
worship at the Thessalonian Hagia Sophia from which Laourdas and Darrouzes have also
61 62
published substantial extracts. Phountoules has gleaned numerous revelations from this
important manuscript, including the startling fact that the "sweetening and seasoning" of the
archaic asmatic offices with monastic hymnody to please his flock to which Symeon confesses
in the published AtdAoyos- ei/ Xptatq) 6 3

was, in reality, a sweeping and systematic reform
of the Liturgy of the Hours at his cathedral. 64
The Present Study
The scholarly advances of the past forty years today enable the contemporary
musicologist to form a considerably more comprehensive image of the Byzantine cathedral rite
and the role of music within it than was available to Strunk at the time of his pioneering
investigation. Comparative liturgiology has provided insights into the Late Antique
background of the "Sung" Office and its monastic competition, allowing their subsequent
development and interaction to be located within the larger developmental histories of
Byzantine and urban Christian liturgy. Studies and editions of unreformed asmatic sources
most notably including collections of rubrics ("Typika"), prayers ("Euchologies"), and
liturgical Psalters ("Antiphonaria")offer important witnesses to the shape of the
Constantinopolitan offices prior to the Latin conquest of 1204. Finally, Symeon of
Thessalonica's newly expanded corpus of writings contains a wealth of information about the
reformed system of cathedral worship he instituted at his cathedral, which was the final stage in
the development of the "Sung" Office and one of the more intriguing dead ends reached in its
interaction with the Palestinian monastic rite of St. Sabas.
6 1
Basil Laourdas, "Zvîewv QeaoaXoviKT)?, 'AicpifiriS' Sidraîg rf)s eoprffs rod aylov Arj^r/Tplom,"
rprjySptos 6 ITaAapds- 19 (1956): 326-41.
Jean Darrouzes,"Sainte-Sophie de Thessalonique d'apres un Rituel," Revue des Etudes Byzantines 34 (1976):
6 2
47-58.
6 3
Symeon, ITepl rfjs Betas npoaevxfjs, col. 556; Treatise, 22.
1 1
6 4
Phountoules, "'0 ayiog Svuediv OeaaaXovCicqs ovvrdKTris TimiKov," 109-110, 115-17.
16
As noted at the outset of the present chapter, this study of music and liturgy in the Rite
of the Great Church will focus on the asmatic office of Sunday matins as it was celebrated in
Byzantine Constantinople and Thessalonica. Our choice of a single service was governed both
by the need to keep the length of the present study within reasonable bounds, and by its
sufficiency to supply a representative sample of data for a detailed examination of music's place
within the Byzantine cathedral rite. Sunday matins was selected because, as the most complex
service in the weekly cycle of the asmatic Divine Office, its diverse musical repertories provide
the best cross-section of material for analysis.
We shall commence with a brief survey of the cathedral and monastic precedents for
Sunday morning prayer in Late Antiquity, which will supply the necessary historical context
for the reconstructions of the Constantinopolitan and reformed Thessalonian versions of
Sunday matins that will form the central portion of this study. A n assessment of the settings
and sources for asmatic liturgy in each city will prepare us for the task of combining material
from the available musical and non-musical documents to reveal the shape of the office in
question. This process will, in turn, provide the raw material for our evaluation of questions
ranging from the interrelationship of text and music in particular chants, to the effect of
liturgico-musical developments on the ethos of Byzantine worship.
The previously unsuspected magnitude of Symeon's liturgical reforms will necessarily
complicate our study of the Thessalonian version of Sunday matins. The massive quantities of
hymnography and music from the Neo-Sabai'tic rite superimposed on the Constantinopolitan
frame of the "Sung" Office will require us to distinguish carefully between native and foreign
elements manifested by our reconstruction. However, rather than approaching this task as
merely a tedious separation of cathedral wheat from monastic chaff, we welcome it as an
excellent opportunity to investigate music's role within, and possible contribution to, a
remarkable episode of liturgical development, the importance of which is underscored by two
considerations. First, since the formative Studite period of wholesale borrowing from the Rite
of the Great Church occurred before the advent of transcribable notation, the reverse process
17
evident in Late Byzantine Thessalonica is the only example of such intense interchange between
the two rites that can be documented through contemporary musical documents. Secondly, the
fact that Symeon's reforms appeared on the heels of a period during which Byzantium
witnessed both great spiritual revival and heightened musical creativityso much so that one
scholar has even labeled it "a Byzantine ars n o v a " o n l y heightens interest i n the
65
Thessalonian office of asmatic Sunday matins as an object of musicological study.
65
Williams, "A Byzantine Ars Nova," 229.
CHAPTER 2
S U N D A Y M O R N I N G P R A Y E R IN L A T E ANTIQUITY:
CATHEDRAL AND MONASTERY
Before we can commence our study of Sunday matins in the Byzantine Rite of the
Great Church, it is necessary to distinguish certain pre-existing liturgical principles and forms
that, after contributing to the initial shape of this service, continued to influence its subsequent
development. The present chapter w i l l therefore discuss seminal aspects of the Liturgy of the
Hours i n Late Antiquity, which, fortunately for our purposes, has recently been the subject of
two excellent general histories. 1

Since their interesting details need not be rehearsed here,
particular attention w i l l be devoted to defining the place of Sunday morning i n the nascent daily
and weekly cycles of prayer, as well as to identifying characteristics of the archetypal genres of
"cathedral" and "monastic" daily prayer. O f necessity, most of the examples w i l l be drawn
from locations outside of Constantinople, for worship i n the new capital became independent
of such older Christian centres as Antioch only gradually, and its liturgy is not documented
extensively until the late ninth century.
Early Christian Origins
Ever since Late Antiquity, Sunday matins has been the service celebrated by Christians
at the intersection of the climax of a weekly cycle of worship and the morning gathering of a
daily cycle of prayer beginning anew at each sunset. Although the service itself and the
temporal cycles it inhabits emerge clearly only after the Peace of Constantine i n 313, their roots
stretch back considerably further, in some cases to the first decades of the Christian Church or
1
Paul F. Bradshaw, Daily Prayer in the Early Church (London: SPCK, 1981; New York: Oxford University
Press, 1982); and Robert F. Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West: The Origins of the Divine Office
and Its Meaning for Today (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1986).
18
19
even to first-century Judaism. Despite considerable inquiry, the details of pre-Constantinian
worship have remained somewhat obscure, leading to a scholarly consensus that attempts to
trace systematically either the Daily Office or its music back to synagogue or temple worship
after the fashion of Dugmore and Werner are untenable.

2 3 4
The Daily Cycle
The Acts of the Apostles records that Christians prayed daily, and that they sometimes
5
gathered for corporate prayer in private homes. Beyond these basic points, there is
6
fundamental agreement among the sources only that the first Christians retained the
contemporary Jewish practice of praying at fixed times during the day. The Jewish precedents
for a daily cycle of worship were: 1) the daily morning and evening sacrifices carried out in the
Temple, 2) an uncertain pattern of synagogue prayer, and 3) a private rule of praying three
times a day at hours which differ from source to source. Modern attempts to perceive the
7
adoption of these models by the primitive Church have proved to be highly problematic, for
clear patterns of daily worship within the New Testament are elusive. Its books make only
brief references to prayer at various times which may or may not correspond to one or more of
the Jewish cycles. The gospels portray Jesus praying in the morning (Mark 1:35) and in the
8
evening (Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46; John 6:15), while the book of Acts depicts the apostles in
prayer at the third (2:1,15), sixth (10:9), and ninth hours (3:1; 10:3,30). There are also
numerous instances in the New Testament of either actual prayer at night or references to
2
Clifford W. Dugmore, The Influence of the Synagogue upon the Divine Office (Westminster The Faith
Press, 1964).
3
Eric Werner, The Sacred Bridge (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959).
4
Paul F. Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: Sources and Methods for the Stu
Early Liturgy (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 1-29; James McKinnon, "Christian
Antiquity," chap, in idem, ed., Music and Society: Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Basingstoke and London:
Macmillan, 1990; Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1991), 69; and Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 3, 10-
11.
5
Acts 2:46.
6
Acts 2:1, 46; 4:23-31; 12:5, 12.
7
Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 5-9.
8
Taft, 9.
20
nocturnal vigils, possibly betraying the influence of contemporary apocalyptic Judaism. O n 9
the basis of such scant evidence, Taft concludes that "the most we can say about the Jewish
and N e w Testament background of the Liturgy of the Hours is that Christians, like Jews,
adopted the custom of praying at fixed times, and that the most important times for public
liturgical prayer i n common in both traditions were the beginning and end of the day," which
"are natural prayer hours i n any t r a d i t i o n . " 10
The form of early Christian prayer outside of the Eucharist together with their
relationship to Jewish thanksgiving and praise remain similarly unclear. Scholars now concede
that there is no documentation for direct borrowing from synagogue worship, even with regard
to what was once thought to be the self-evident case of p s a l m o d y . 11

The debt of the medieval
Divine Office to Judaism is therefore now viewed i n terms of a common heritage of sacred
texts and religious s y m b o l i s m . 12

A similar consensus has emerged about the musical
traditions of the first Christians. The New Testament, which contains many references to
sacred song, certainly manifests an attitude of general approval toward singing in praise of
God. Nevertheless, as M c K i n n o n has noted, it is "extremely difficult to determine just what is
being sung and in what liturgical circumstances." 13

Elaborate models of musical development
tracing the origins of later genres of Christian chant directly to the New Testament Church have
therefore been abandoned. 14
9
Ibid.
1 0
Ibid., 11.
1 1
Despite abundant evidence for singing of biblical psalms in the Jerusalem Temple, there is no analogous
testimony for Jewish synagogues during the period in question, or even for the existence of regular synagogue
services. Neither did the placement of the fixed psalms within the later Christian Office have any concrete
synagogue precedents. See John A. Smith, "The Ancient Synagogue, the Early Church, and Singing," Music
andLetters 65 (1984): 1-16; James McKinnon, "On the Question of Psalmody in the Ancient Synagogue,"
Early Music History 6 (1986): 159-81; idem, "Christian Antiquity," 69-70; idem, "Desert Monasticism and the
Later Fourth-Century Psalmodic Movement," Music andLetters 75 (1994): 509; Stefan C. Reif, "The Early
History of Jewish Worship," in The Making of Jewish and Christian Worship, ed. Paul Bradshaw and Lawrence
Hoffman (Notre Dame, Indiana: 1991), 109-36; and Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 11.
McKinnon, "Christian Antiquity," 69-70; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 10-11.
1 2
McKinnon, Music in Early Christian Literature [henceforth MECL], Cambridge Readings in the Literatu
1 3
Music, paperback ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 12.

E.g. Wellesz's interpretation of the terms "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" ("ipaApols xai vpvois
1 4
ml aSalg irvevpaTiml?, Eph. 5:19) as liturgical prototypes for Byzantine psalmody, hymnography, and
9
melismatic chant in A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography, 2nd. ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1961), 35-45.
21
The number and specificity of documents relating to Christian daily prayer increase
over the course of the next two centuries, yet without presenting a coherent picture of such
worship. B y the third century, at least two cycles of prayer were i n common use. Egyptian
authors describe a system related to the three Jewish times of private prayer, but Taft believes
that these same references may merely have been shorthand for a commendation to unceasing
prayer. 15
North African authors and the Apostolic Tradition (ca. 215), a church order
ascribed to Hippolytus of Rome, prescribe six or seven times for prayer that correspond more
closely to the pattern of the later Daily Office, but disagree among themselves as to the relative
priority of the individual hours. Tertullian, probably basing his argument on the daily Temple
sacrifices, refers to the morning and evening times of prayer as statutory (legitimae), 16
while
Cyprian of Carthage mistakenly applies the Jewish cycle of private prayer to the Christian
third, sixth, and ninth h o u r s . 17

The Apostolic Tradition avoids singling out a subset of hours
as mandatory, but does make a distinction between common assemblies and prayer i n the
home. The former include a morning gathering for prayer and instruction, supplemented
occasionally by the evening celebration of the agape, or communal m e a l . 18
Witnesses to the content of Christian prayer during this period are similar i n character to
the evidence for the hours at which it occurred, i n that hints of later practices emerge without
appearing normative. Theological themes common to the later morning and evening offices
identifying the rising sun with Christ, the light of the world and sun of justiceappear i n the
writings of the Alexandrian biblical exegetes Clement and Origen, although their practical
realisation i n daily prayer was at this point probably m i n i m a l . 19

O n the other hand, Tertullian
describes an evening lamp-lighting ritual that may be a primitive antecedent of the lucernarium
1 5
Taft, Liturgy of the Hours, 17, 27.
1 6
Taft, 17-19
1 7
Ibid., 19-21.
1 8
Ibid., 21-27. Taft notes that this section of the text does not appear in the earliest sources of this document,
but only in a late Ethiopic translation (after 1295) of an Arabic version. Nevertheless, its content seems to
indicate an early origin. On the many problems associated with the text of the Apostolic Tradition and other
related ancient church orders, see Bradshaw, The Search for the Origins, 80-110.
1 9
Taft, 14-17.
22
of cathedral vespers, while both h e 2 0

and the Apostolic Tradition 21
testify to the existence of
responsorial psalmody, a form of religious song employing a refrain to assure popular
participation that became characteristic of later urban worship. Because the musical
terminology remains fluid, with "hymn" and "psalm" being at this time roughly equivalent
terms that often refer to non-biblical texts, it is still difficult to ascertain whether these were the
canonical Psalms of D a v i d or so-called psalmoi idiotikoi, which were newly-composed songs
of p r a i s e . 22
One also has to be cautious about extending the practice of communal singing
beyond the evening agape, the only gathering at which this activity seems to have been a
regular feature. The morning instruction mandated by the Apostolic Tradition seemingly
included no singing, and it is doubtful whether even the pre-Eucharistic gathering on Sunday
morning featured p s a l m o d y . 23
This is not surprising, for formal liturgical assemblies seem to
have remained the exception rather than the rule for daily prayer i n the third century. 24
The Weekly Cycle
If a distinctly Christian system of daily prayer was slow to evolve, the same cannot be
said of the primitive Church's weekly cycle. The Jewish precedent for a weekly observance is
the Sabbath, the day on which G o d rested after Creation. According to Christian tradition,
Jesus also rested on the Sabbath after his passion and death on the cross, rising from the tomb
on the first day of the week (77 p.ta T&V oafSfiaTOdv) ? 5

It would seem that since the primitive
community i n Jerusalem, Christians have observed Sunday as a weekly commemoration of
Christ's resurrection. 26
B y the end of the first century, this day had acquired a special name,
2 0
MECL no. 78, p. 44; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 18.
2 1
MECL no. 89, p. 47; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 26-27.
2 2
McKinnon, "Christian Antiquity," p. 71; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 28.
2 3
McKinnon, "Christian Antiquity," 72.
2 4
Paul F. Bradshaw, "Cathedral vs. Monastery: The Only Alternatives for the Liturgy of the Hours?," chap, in
Time and Community, ed. J. Neil Alexander (Washington, D . C : The Pastoral Press, 1990), 125.
2 5
Alkiviades Calyvopoulos [Calivas], Xpdws reAeaecos 7775" Betas1 AeiTovpytas, AnalectaViatadon 37
(Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1982), 169. Cf. 1 Cor. 16:2; Acts 20:7; Mark 16:2;
Luke 24:1; John 20:1.
2 6
Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year, 2nd. ed. (Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press,
1991), 14.
23
" r] KvpiaKT) r)pepathe Lord's D a y , " and further theological significance was attached to
27
its position within the week as the day after the Jewish Sabbath. In addition to its ancient
status as the first day of creation, the Lord's Day became the eighth day, an eschatological day
of Messianic fulfillment bursting forth from the confines of the old week. 28
The New Testament contains hints of a concurrent weekly rhythm of the Eucharist, the
celebration of which was to become the central feature of Christian Sunday observances. 29
The Eucharist was initially held most often on Saturday evening after the close of the Jewish
Sabbath within the context of a communal meal known as the agape. 2,0
By the latter half of the
second century it had been moved to early Sunday morning, a usage clearly described by Justin
Martyr (d. 165). 31

Calyvopoulos has suggested three probable reasons for this change: 1) the
influence of Gentile Christians following the Roman day, which began at midnight; 2) a desire
to separate the agape from the Eucharist because of the negative example of contemporary
pagan banquets; 3) the need to address such societal and practical concerns as the fact that
Sunday remained a workday. Yet whatever the proximate causes of this transfer, there is no
32
evidence that the psalmody which had been characteristic of the evening agape was transferred
to the Sunday morning, or even that singing was a significant component of the Eucharistic
synaxis prior to the fourth century. 33
Developments of the Fourth Century
The fourth century, which began with the legalisation of Christianity and ended with its
adoption as the state religion of the Roman Empire, was a period of explosive growth for the
2 7
Rev. .1:10.
2 8
Alexander Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology, 3rd. ed., trans, by Asheleigh Moorhouse
(Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1986), 76-79. See also N. Egender, "Calibration du dimanche,"
14-22.
2 9
Robert Taft, "The Frequency of the Eucharist Throughout History," chap, in Beyond East and West:
Problems in Liturgical Understanding, NPM Studies in Church Music and History (Washington, D
The Pastoral Press, 1984), 61-62.
3 0
Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year, 14-16.
3 1
MECL, 25.
3 2
Calyvopoulos, Xpo'vos reAecrecos" TJJS- Oetag Aeirovpyias; 178-85.
-
3 3
McKinnon, "Christian Antiquity," 72.
24
Christian Church. As its leaders were transformed from hunted dissidents into civic
dignitaries, its clandestine places of assembly were replaced by monumental basilicas
constructed with imperial patronage. Beyond their obvious symbolic value as tokens of
Christianity's new legal status, these churches were necessary to contain the multitudes of new
converts and catechumens. At the same time, in what may have been in part a rigoristic
counter-reaction to the flood of new and arguably less diligent Christians, the monastic
movement which had been gathering momentum in the Egyptian desert since the late third
century became a widespread phenomenon of considerable influence.
Liturgy was not exempted from the general trend toward the crystallisation of
fundamental forms and structures within the fourth-century Church. A rich assortment of
sources documenting this process survive, including actual service texts, conciliar decisions,
imperial legislation, ecclesiastical histories, homilies, and a variety of other patristic writings.
From these materials, it is clear that by the beginning of the fifth century fully-formed daily and
weekly cycles of services were being celebrated according to a host of liturgical usages or
"rites" which had arisen across the Empire.
Modern scholars have observed a number of significant geographical, functional, and
structural distinctions among this plethora of rites that provide the basic parameters for the
shape of future Christian worship. In particular, they have distinguished liturgical families that
are dependent on such early regional centres of liturgical influence as Jerusalem, Antioch, and
Rome. The diffusion of these usages according to the relative prestige of these centres is a
central theme of subsequent liturgical development. 34
Transcending regional differences in practice, however, is a clear divergence between
"cathedral" and monastic approaches to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours. 35
Despite
the early co-mingling of material in urban monastic services, this principle is particularly vital
3 4
A particularly lucid explanation of the formation of rites is Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 24-26.
3 5
Anton Baumstark demonstrated the importance of this distinction to liturgical scholarship in his pioneering
work Liturgie comparie: Principes etMethodespour Ve'tude historique des liturgies chre'tiennes
Bernard Botte, Collection Ire'nikon (Chevetogne: Editions de Chevetogne, 1953), 123ff.; translated into English
as Comparative Liturgy (Westminster, Maryland: 1958), 11 Iff. For a more recent assessment, see Bradshaw,
The Search for the Origins, 187-92.
25
for a proper understanding of the Byzantine liturgical history because, as Arranz has affirmed,
the two schemas remained ultimately irreducible until the end of the Empire. Without going
36
into unnecessary detail about the particularities of the various nascent rites, let us therefore
examine the characteristics distinguishing one approach from the other.
Characteristics ofMonastic Worship
Thanks to the pioneering efforts of St. Anthony in Lower Egypt and St. Pachomius in
Upper Egypt, Egyptian monasticism captured the imagination of fourth-century Christians
everywhere, prompting a steady stream of pilgrims in search of spiritual guidance. Of
particular significance were the visits of many important ecclesiastical personalities. As Taft
has noted, the list of distinguished pilgrims to the Egyptian desertwhich includes Basil,
Rufinus, John Cassian, Jerome, Palladius, and Evagrius of Pontus"reads like a Who's Who
of the Early Church." Upon their return home, these leaders of Christian opinion described
37
the practices of the desert fathers in their writings and counseled others to follow their heroic
example. The ascetic traditions of the Egyptian wilderness thus acquired an unparalleled
prestige that spurred serious believers elsewhere to imitation.
By the middle of the fourth century, Egyptian monks appear to have observed two daily
'synaxes' of prayer, one in the early morning and one in the evening. Despite the more
common and literal use of the word 'synaxis' in reference to a gathering or assembly 3 8
these
fixed hours of prayer may or may not have been celebrated in common depending on whether
the form of monasticism in question was lavriote or cenobitic. The loosely organised groups
of semi-anchorites of the lavras at Scetis in Lower Egypt would normally observe these times
alone in their cells, coming together for worship only on the weekends in gatherings
culminating in the Sunday Eucharist. 39

On the other hand, in the cenobitic Pachomian
3 6
Arranz, "Les grandes etapes," 45.
3 7
3 8
Cf. G.W.H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), s.v. "ovva&s,"
pp. 1302-03
3 9
McKinnon, "Desert Monasticism," 507; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 61, 65-66. A good description of
the lavriote compromise between cenobitic and eremitical monasticism is given in the ODB, s.v. "Lavra,"
26
monasteries of Tabennesi in Upper Egypt, where by definition life was lived in common,
assemblies for prayer were daily events. 40
Despite these different approaches to monastic koinonia, the content of lavriote and
cenobitic synaxes was quite similar, reflecting the underlying assumption of all Egyptian
monasticism that the ultimate goal of every monk was literally to pray "without ceasing." 41
The fixed times of prayer in both systems were but common points of reference in an unending
quest for ceaseless prayer and personal transformation. Not surprisingly then, Egyptian
monastic synaxes manifested the contemplative and continuous character of the private prayer
of which they were effectively an extension. Their building blocksall of which were
42
equally characteristic of an individual monk's rule of devotionswere psalms and other
scripture, followed by prayers and silent meditation. 43
Especially symptomatic of the desert fathers' general attitude toward prayer is their
unprecedented use of the biblical Psalter. 44

Along with their own compositions, Christians
had heretofore selectively employed individual biblical psalms, especially those with
Christological significance. Breaking with previous practice, the Egyptian monks, who seem
to have performed little or no non-scriptural hymnody, adopted all one hundred-and-fifty
Psalms of David for use in private and public prayer. Bradshaw has suggested that the
Psalter's assurance of divine authority during a time in which urban Christian churches were
beleaguered by heretical hymnography, its tradition of Christological interpretation with
positive implications for personal transformation, and the sheer variety of meditative material it
offered for lifelong contemplation may all have been factors encouraging its adoption 4 5
p. 1190. On the place of the Eucharist in early monasticism, see Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical
Theology, 14144.
4 0
McKinnon, "Desert Monasticism," 507; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 62-65.
4 1
1 Thess. 5:17.
4 2
On the spirit of early monastic synaxes, see Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology, 133-41;
along with Taft's more sympathetic account in The Liturgy of the Hours, 66-73.
4 3
It is at present uncertain whether the Pachomian weekday offices contained psalmody or only other scriptural
readings. For references, see the discussion in McKinnon, "Desert Monasticism," 507, n. 10.
4 4
Bradshaw, "Cathedral vs. Monastery," 130-31.
4 5
Bradshaw, 131.
27
If the causes f o r this s t r i k i n g d e v e l o p m e n t r e m a i n s o m e w h a t obscure, the result w a s
c l e a r the E g y p t i a n fathers elevated the Psalter to a unique p l a c e o f h o n o u r as the h y m n b o o k f o r
C h r i s t i a n ascetics. T h e y e n c o u r a g e d n o v i c e s to m e m o r i s e the entire Psalter, and expressed
p r o f o u n d a d m i r a t i o n f o r the feat o f its c o m p l e t e recitation o n a single o c c a s i o n . 4 6

Typical
m o n a s t i c synaxes, whether observed alone or i n c o m m o n , also reflected this h o l i s t i c a p p r o a c h
to the Psalter. I n a c c o r d b o t h w i t h the m o n k s ' i d e a l o f c o n t i n u o u s prayer a n d w i t h their
ruthless disregard o f the present w o r l d , the p s a l m s w e r e chanted i n sequence w i t h o u t regard
f o r their thematic relation to the appointed h o u r . 4 7

If p e r f o r m e d i n the context o f a c o m m o n
s y n a x i s , the p s a l m o d y m i g h t be entrusted to a soloist to w h o m the rest o f the brethren listened
in silence. 4 8
O t h e r than this v a r i a t i o n , there w a s once a g a i n n o c l e a r d i s t i n c t i o n a m o n g the
m o n k s between private a n d c o m m u n a l practice.
T h e m e t h o d o f c h a n t i n g i n d i v i d u a l psalms w a s s i m i l a r l y i n v a r i a b l e a c c o r d i n g to
c i r c u m s t a n c e s a n d a n a l o g o u s l y austere: they w e r e s i m p l y p e r f o r m e d verse by verse w i t h o u t
refrains. F u r t h e r m o r e , n o contemporary source indicates that the aesthetic properties o f
m o n a s t i c p s a l m o d y w e r e o f any particular importance. A l t h o u g h chanted, m o n a s t i c p s a l m o d y
therefore seems to have been c o n s i d e r e d a n a i d to m e d i t a t i o n rather than a m u s i c a l e v e n t 4 9
Characteristics ofCathedral Worship
D u r i n g the fourth century, the scattered precedents f o r urban d a i l y prayer appear to
have c o a l e s c e d f a i r l y q u i c k l y into what l i t u r g i c a l scholars have c a l l e d "cathedral o f f i c e s . " T h i s
term i s p o s s i b l y m i s l e a d i n g to m o d e r n readers, to w h o m the w o r d "cathedral" m a y suggest
o n l y the i m p e r i a l splendour o f a H a g i a S o p h i a . A c t u a l l y , "cathedral l i t u r g y " refers to the
p r a y e r i n c o m m o n o f ordinary u r b a n C h r i s t i a n s , w h o s e w o r s h i p w a s centred u p o n the l o c a l
bishop and his c h u r c h . 5 0

T h e centrality o f the b i s h o p to l i t u r g y i n a g i v e n c i t y w a s a
4 6
Ibid.
4 7
Ibid., 127-130.
4 8
Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 54.
4 9
McKinnon, "Desert Monasticism," 508.
5 0
28
continuing expression of an ecclesiology that Ignatius of Antioch had clearly stated at the dawn
of the second century:
You must all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ [followed] the Father, and
[follow] the presbyters as the apostles; respect the deacons as the commandment
of God. Let no one do anything apart from the bishop that has anything to do
with the church. Let that be regarded as a valid Eucharist which is held under the
bishop or to whomever he entrusts it. Wherever the bishop appears, there let the
congregation be; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the whole church. 51
The touchstone for this ecclesiology is the Eucharist, in which the fullness of the
Church as the Body of Christ is manifested sacramentally by the gathering of the Christian
community around the bishop and his ministers. Accordingly, episcopacy was derived from
the sacramental assembly because, as Meyendorff affirms, "the bishop was, first of all, the
image of Christ in the Eucharistic mystery." 52

Episcopal leadership rooted in the Eucharist
also had ramifications that extended beyond celebrations of the Divine Liturgy, for as Ignatius
makes clear, the bishop's presence in any ecclesial assembly was a visible symbol of Christ's
presence within his Church.
As bishops became the overseers of cities rather than of intimate communities
resembling a modem parish in size, presbyters began to represent Christ within the average
assembly. Nevertheless, the bishop's liturgy remained in a very real sense the liturgy of the
city. Parochial services, modeled after those celebrated by the bishop and presided over by his
designated representatives, were held to be extensions of episcopal liturgy. 53

Moreover, since
the bishop's presence retained its signal importance as a concrete manifestation of ecclesial
unity, "cathedral" worship was also extended beyond the bishop's home church to embrace the
entire populace through the phenomenon of "stational" liturgy. In such urban centres of Late
Antiquity as Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Milan, and Rome, 54

the bishop
5 1
Smyrnaeans 8:1-2, quoted in John Baldovin, "The Development of the Monarchical Bishop to 250 A.D.,"
chap, in Worship: City, Church, and Renewal (Washington, D . C : The Pastoral Press, 1991), 155.
5 2
John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes, 2nd ed. (New York:
Fordham University Press, 1979), 209.
5 3
In fourth-century Rome, this theoretical unity was given concrete expression through the distribution of
consecrated bread from the Papal Mass, known as the fermentum, to the presbyters celebrating the eucharist at
the city's titular churches. On this practice, see Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship, 121, 123,
145-46.
5 4
Baldovin, The Urban Character, 39; 248-49.
29
was the focal point for newly developed cycles of worship at sites throughout the city, thereby
offering a new means for the expression of ecclesial unity. 55
In addition to broadening the scale of episcopal liturgy, the new social and architectural
environment of the fourth century resulted in other important liturgical developments, thereby
establishing the basic patterns for subsequent urban offices. Presumably to accommodate
working faithful, the various early schemes of daily prayer were consolidated into a system of
morning and evening synaxes that Church fathers viewed as a fulfillment of the Jewish custom
of two temple sacrifices. 56

Unlike the two daily synaxes of the Egyptian monks, these were
not way-stations in a quest for spiritual formation, but services of praise and intercession. 57
The content of the urban morning and evening offices is described in some detail by the
Apostolic Constitutions, a late fourth-century church order from the vicinity of Antioch. In the
following passage, the document explicitly requires the entire community to manifest its unity
by gathering for prayer twice each day:
When you teach, bishop, command and exhort the people to frequent the church
regularly, morning and evening every day, and not to forsake it at all, but to
assemble continually and not diminish the Church by absenting themselves and
making the Body of Christ lack a member. For it is not only said for the benefit
of the priests, but let each of the laity hear what was said by the Lord: "He who
is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters"
(Matt. 12:30)... Assemble each day morning and evening, singing psalms and
praying in the Lord's houses, in the morning saying Ps. 62, and in the evening
Ps. 140 5 8
A noteworthy detail of this description is fixed psalmody selected for its
appropriateness to the hour, an element of cathedral praise that was first hinted at by the church
historian Eusebius (ca. 263-339). 59

Psalm 62 speaks repeatedly of contemplating God in the
morning watches, while Psalm 140 is suitable for evening use because of its second verse
("Let my prayer arise as incense before Thy sight, the lifting up of my hands as the evening
sacrifice"). The significance of this relationship within the offices of the Apostolic
5 5
Ibid., 230.
5 6
Bradshaw, "Cathedral vs. Monastery," 126-27.
5 7
Bradshaw, 127; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours. 32.
5 8
Quoted in Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 44-45.
5 9
Ibid., 33-34.
30
Constitutions is heightened by evidence that the fixed psalms were supplemented in the
morning by the Gloria in excelsis and in the evening by the Nunc dimittis. 60
Other portions of the Apostolic Constitutions indicate that this principle of temporal
suitability extended to the litanies and prayers that followed the psalmody of each office. The
litanies were groups of diaconal intercessory petitions chanted with the congregational response
"Lord, have mercy." At the conclusion of each set of supplications, the bishop would
pronounce a prayer. Additional prayers were offered prior to the dismissal of either service,
when a diaconal command for the faithful to bow their heads introduced the bishop's closing
blessing or "prayer of inclination." 61

When these texts are placed in context with the preceding
psalmody, the two services yield the following common outline:
Psalmody (Psalm 62 or 140)

[Gloria in excelsis or Nunc dimittis?]
Litanies and Prayers
Prayer of Inclination
Dismissal 62
Modern comparative liturgy has shown that such complexes of prayers, litanies, and
select fixed psalmody were characteristic of early cathedral liturgy right across the traditions. 63
They also indicate divergences of both spirit and practice between urban and monastic usage.
The Egyptian monks offered prayers and recited psalms in course as a contemplative exercise
without regard to the hour, whereas cathedral psalmody and prayer were fixed acts of praise
and supplication appropriate to the time of day. In addition, the psalmody and diaconal litanies
of the urban offices were not occasions for passivity, but opportunities for popular
participation through the medium of congregational refrains. 64

The texts of these responses
could be drawn from the psalm itself, or they could be non-psalmodic compositions varying in
length from a few words to several complete sentences.
6 0
Although unclear regarding their exact use, the Apostolic Constitutions cites both the Gloria in excelsis
and the Nunc dimittis, the latter of which constitutes part of an "evening hymn." It seems probable that the
former was sung as a morning canticle. See McKinnon, MECL, note to no. 238, p. 110; and Taft, The Liturgy
of the Hours, 45
6 1
6 2
Cf. the charts in ibid., 47, 55-56.
6 3
Ibid., 211-12.
6 4
Ibid., 54-55.
31
The division of labour between congregation and different ranks of clergy evident in
such documents as the Apostolic Constitutions is indicative of another distinguishing feature
of cathedral worship, namely the regulated cooperation of diverse ministries within the urban
liturgical assembly. 65
The functional differentiation of individuals according to their
charismata is discussed at several points in the New Testament, By the late fourth century
66
these distinctions had evolved into a hierarchical structure of clearly defined liturgical ministries
ranging from bishop down to doorkeeper. For example, bishops presided over the assembly,
presbyters assisted the bishop or presided in his absence, deacons led the people in litanies,
readers recited the scriptural lessons, and cantors were entrusted with sacred song.
The creation of a minor order of clergy responsible for liturgical singing was
accompanied in the fourth century by a narrowing of the repertory of chants to certain approved
texts. Since Arians and other heretical sects of the period were notorious for employing
hymnography as propaganda, it seems likely that both developments were motivated as much
by the desire to guard against pernicious ideas as by the need for maintaining order in large
congregations. The result was that the freely composed psalms or psalmoi idiotikoi previously
offered by individual believers at Christians synaxes werewith such notable exceptions as
the vesperal Phos hilaron or the matutinal Gloria in excelsisabandoned in favour of scripture
from the newly designated canon of the Old and New Testaments. 67
As in earlier monastic worship, from out of the many canonical books of scripture, the
Davidic Psalter came to occupy a unique place of honour in cathedral liturgy. Initially the
Psalter supplied the cathedral offices with fixed morning and evening psalms. Later in the
fourth century additional psalms flooded urban worship as what McKinnon has called a
6 5
Bradshaw, "Cathedral vs. Monastery," 127; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 32.
6 6
1 Corinthians 12:4-30; Ephesians 4:11-12; Romans 12:4-8.
6 7
The Canons of the Council ofLaodicea, a late fourth-century source of uncertain origin, prescribes a drastic
approach to the problem of liturgical order. Canon 59 explicitly bans all non-scriptural hymnody (MECL no.
261, p. 119), while Canon 15 limits liturgical song to the chanting of designated cantors from the ambon
(MECL no. 255, 118). As noted above, however, the continued use of the Phos hilaron and other texts indicate
that non-scriptural hymns were never completely eradicated. Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306-73) offers a notable
example of another approach to the problem of heretical hymnography. Choosing to fight fire with fire,
Ephrem's response to the heretical hymnographer Bardesanes was to write Orthodox poetry of great beauty, the
exact liturgical use of which remains unclear (MECL, pp. 92-93).
32
"psalmodic movement" swept the Church from East to West, 68

a development he attributes
largely to monastic influence. He proposes that the rise of urban psalmody may be linked
generally to the imitation of ascetic practices engendered by widespread admiration for the
desert fathers. 69
McKinnon also suggests a more direct means of transmission through
newly-founded communities of urban monks who maintained a public regimen of continuous
psalmody while also participating in the major cathedral services.
Thanks to the astute observations of the Spanish pilgrim Egeria, Jerusalem is the best
documented example from this period for such monastic coexistence with a cathedral rite. In
her description of weekday morning worship in the church of the Anastasis, a monastic
synaxis precedes a cathedral matins similar to the one in the Apostolic Constitutions:
Each day before cockcrow, all the doors of the Anastasis are opened, and all the
monazontes and parthenae, as they are called here, come down, and not only
they, but also those lay people, men and women, who wish to keep vigil at so
early an hour. From that hour until it is light, hymns are sung (dicuntur) and
psalms are responded to, and likewise antiphons; and with every hymn there is
a prayer. For two or three priests, and likewise deacons, who say these prayers
with every hymn and antiphon, take turns to be there each day with the
monazontes. 70
Although the early morning monastic gathering remains distinct from the subsequent
cathedral office of praise, a fact underlined by the absence of the bishop and the optional nature
of the service for the laity, its elements evidently had been adapted to the norms of cathedral
worship. The continuous psalmody is no longer recited verse-by-verse, but is supplemented
by congregational refrains. Similarly, while silent meditation has apparently disappeared, the
spoken prayers are said by deacons and priests assigned on a rotating basis from the secular
clergy, thereby also conforming to typical cathedral patterns.
Later in her travelogue, Egeria reports that the usual routine of successive monastic and
cathedral prayer in Jerusalem was replaced on Sunday morning by a vigil of the Resurrection.
This weekly observance is also prescribed by the Apostolic Constitutions which, while saying

6 8
McKinnon, idem, 509.

6 9
MECL No. 242, p. 112. The "monazontes" appear to have been male monks attached to the rotunda of the
7 0
Anastasis, while the "parthenae'' in question seem to have been their female counterparts.
33
little about the vigil's specific contents, makes some noteworthy remarks regarding its
significance to the Christian community:
But especially on the Sabbath, and on the Lord's day of the resurrection of the
Lord, meet even more diligently, sending up praise to God who made all
through Jesus and sent him to us and allowed him to suffer and raised him from
the dead. Otherwise how will one defend oneself before God, who does not
assemble on that day to hear the saving word concerning the resurrection, the
day on which we accomplish three prayers standing, in memory of him who
rose in three days, on which day is accomplished the reading of the prophets
and the proclamation of the gospel and the offering of the sacrifice and the gift
of the holy food? 71
The weekly commemoration of Christ's resurrectionwhich included a gospel reading,
prayers, and probably psalms as w e l l i s presented here as an indispensable part of the

72
entire Christian community's observance of the Lord's Day. Moreover, the text implies that
attendance at the vigil was a prerequisite to participation in the Sunday Eucharist. Although
Egeria does link the two Sunday services in this manner, her description of Sunday in
Jerusalem indicates that the Hagiopolite vigil service was so well attended that any such
regulation would have been superfluous:
On the seventh day, however, that is the Lord's Day, all the people gather
before cockcrow, as at Easter, as many as is possible in that place, the basilica,
which is located next to the Anastasis, yet out of doors, where lamps are hung
for the occasion. Since they fear they might not arrive before cockcrow, they
come early and sit there. Hymns are sung and also antiphons, and there are
prayers with each hymn and antiphon. For priests and deacons are always
prepared for vigils in that place because of the crowd which gathers, and
because it is customary that the holy places not be opened before cockcrow.
A s soon as the first cock crows, straightway the bishop comes down and enters
the cave in the Anastasis. A l l the gates are opened, and the entire throng enters
the Anastasis, where countless lamps are burning, and when the people are
within, one of the priests sings a psalm and all respond, after which there is a
prayer. Then one of the deacons sings a psalm, similarly followed by a prayer,
and a third psalm is sung by some cleric, followed by a third prayer and the
commemoration of all. When these three prayers have been sung and the three
prayers said, behold censers (thiamataria) are brought into the cave of the
Anastasis, so that the entire Anastasis basilica is filled with the smell. And then
as the bishop stands behind the railings, he takes the Gospel book and goes to
the gate and the bishop himself reads the Resurrection of the Lord. When the
reading of it has begun, there is moaning and groaning among everybody and
such crying, that even the hardest of hearts could be moved to tears because the
Quoted in Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 45.

7 1
Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 53. Cf. Juan Mateos, "La vigile cathe"drale chez Egene," OCP 27 (1961):
7 2
299-301.
34
Lord has suffered so much for us. When the Gospel has been read, the bishop
leaves and is led with hymns to the Cross, accompanied by all the people.
There, again, one psalm is sung and a prayer said. Then he blesses the people,
and the dismissal takes place. 73
The presence of the bishop among his entire flock from the outset of the service clearly marks
this Sunday vigil as a cathedral office. Another cathedral trait is the ceremonial censing of the
Sepulchre, which, according to Taft, was probably an evocation of the Myrrhbearers who first
witnessed to the resurrection. The vigil climaxes with the proclamation of Jesus' death and
74
resurrection not by a deacon, as was the usual practice for gospel pericopes, but by the bishop
himself, thereby heightening the sense of occasion.
Significant innovations in liturgical practice may be observed from Egeria's description
of this impressive gathering. Formerly the Eucharist and its anaphora had presumably been the
primary means by which the Church observed the Paschal Mystery on the Lord's Day. The
creation of a complementary service within the framework of the cathedral Liturgy of the Hours
effectively resulted in a double Sunday commemoration of the same event. In addition to
establishing a precedent for subsequent weekly cycles of worship, the new non-sacramental
vigil vividly enhanced the historical component of the weekly observance of the
Resurrection. 75
McKinnon identifies a second innovation in the psalmody which preceded the vigil. He
astutely classifies it as "a striking instance of the influence of monastic psalmody upon the laity:
early on Sunday morning, the people did precisely what they had observed the monks and
nuns doing on the other days of the week, while the clergy performed the same function of
providing the interspersed prayers." 76

One might also add that the psalmody in the courtyard
effectively duplicated the pattern of responsorial psalmody interspersed by presbyteral prayers
7 3
MECL, Nos. 247-48, pp. 114-15.
7 4
7 5
Whether or not this development reflects a historicisation (and hence a debasement) of "eschatological" early
Christian liturgy is at present beside the point Of interest to us here is the fact that the Sunday Eucharist,
formerly sufficient for the weekly commemoration of the Lord's death and resurrection, was supplemented in the
fourth century by a new service that was incorporated into later Byzantine offices. For a current appraisal of the
problem of historicism in Late Antique liturgy, see Taft, "Historicism Revisited," chap, in Beyond East and
West, 15-30.
7 6
35
contained in the following vigil. Indeed, the only difference Egeria notes between the two is
quantitative, namely that the main service featured a fixed threefold unit of psalms and prayers,
whereas the pre-vigil portion was of indeterminate length.
As the psalmodic movement progressed and psalmody became a fixture of urban
liturgical life from Basil's Cappadocia to Ambrose's M i l a n , 77

groups of responsorial psalms
and prayers began to appear in contexts without direct monastic precedents. A n example of
this phenomenon with seminal importance for Byzantine liturgy is the appearance of psalmody
in the stational processions of Constantinople during the turbulent episcopacy of John
Chrysostom (398-404). 78
In a homily discussing a nocturnal translation of relics,
Chrysostom speaks enthusiastically of multi-lingual psalmody in a procession led by the
Empress Eudoxia, comparing her to Miriam (Ex. 15:20-21):
Indeed you have led out many choirs from among us, those of the Roman
tongue, of the Syrian, of the barbarians, and of the Greek, striking up the songs
of D a v i d .
79
In addition to the occasional festal processions described by Chrysostom himself, the
fifth-century Greek church historians Socrates and Sozomen record another context for
stational psalmody during the famous orator's tenure as archbishop. A t the time he was called
to the capital from Antioch, the Arians, who had been forbidden the use of the city's churches
by the Emperor Theodosius in 380, continued to rally people to their cause with nocturnal
processions. Socrates (c. 380-450) describes the situation and Chrysostom's response in the
following manner:
The Arians, as I have said, conducted their assemblies outside the city. Each
week when the festivals took placeI refer to the Sabbath and the Lord's Day
on which the synaxes were accustomed to be held in the churchesthey
gathered within the gates of the city about the porticoes and sang antiphonal
songs ((pSd? dvri<pu)vovs) composed in accordance with Arian doctrine. This
they did for the greater part of the night. A t dawn, after reciting the same sort
of antiphona (dvriqxovd), they passed through the middle of the city and went
out through the gates to where they are wont to assemble. Now since they did
not cease to speak in provocation of those who held the homoousian position
7 7
Ibid., 513-16.
7 8
Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship, 182.
7 9
MECL No. 194, pp. 89-90.
36
often they even sang some song such as this: 'Where are they who tell of the
three as one power?'John, concerned lest any of the more simple be drawn
away from the church by such songs, set in opposition to them some of his
own people, so that they too, by devoting themselves to nocturnal hymnody,
would obscure the efforts of others in this regard, and render their own people
steadfast in their faith.
80
A slightly later account of these same events by Sozomen in his Ecclesiastical History (written
c. 439-50) clarifies the somewhat loose psalmodic terminology of Socrates. According to
Sozomen, the Arians "gathered at night in the public porticoes, and dividing themselves into
two groups, they sang {iipaXXou) according to the manner of antiphons ( w dvTiaSwvusf
Tpotrov), devising refrains (aKporeAevTia) composed in conformity with their doctrine." 81
Both the Arian activity and the Orthodox response are therefore examples of popular psalmody
as propaganda: competing nocturnal psalmodic assemblies traversing the streets of the capital
employing refrains designed to reflect a particular doctrinal position. Incidentally, Chrysostom
also added a visual component to this conflict by securing imperial support for the manufacture
of magnificent candle-bearing silver processional crosses of his own design. The Orthodox
countermeasures were ultimately highly successful, attracting many people through the
splendour of their processions and the beauty of their singing. Indeed, they were so popular
that the Orthodox psalmodic stations continued even after the Emperor later banned the Arian
processions. 82
The rapid spread of cathedral psalmody and its apparent effectiveness as a rallying point
for doctrinal disputes testify to its tremendous appeal, much of which may be explained by two
characteristics that separate it from its monastic progenitor. The addition of refrains, while also
providing the Arians and the Orthodox of Constantinople with a vehicle for expressing their
doctrines, greatly facilitated popular participation in sung worship. Perhaps even more
important, however, was the contemporary endowment of austere monastic psalmody with
8 0
MECL No. 218. pp. 101-102.
8 1
MECL No. 223, p. 104. An akroteleution is the final clause of a refrain that is too long to be repeated in its
entirety after each verse of the psalm. On the nomenclature and structure of antiphonal cathedral psalmody,
which is a more complex form of responsorial psalmody, see Robert Taft, "The Structural Analysis of
Liturgical Units: An Essay in Methodology," chap, in Beyond East and West, 157-59.
8 2
Taft, Liturgy of the Hours, 172.
37
attractive music. Eminent church fathers Ambrose, Augustine, Basil, Chrysostom, and
Nicetas of Remesianaall of whom were enthusiastic supporters of psalm singing in liturgical
and domestic contextsattest to the aural beauty of cathedral psalmody. 83

Moreover, they
believed that the aesthetic pleasure rendered by contemporary urban psalmody was essential to
its effectiveness. 84
Chrysostom even goes so far as to attribute the marriage of beautiful
music and edifying text directly to Divine condescension:
When God saw that the majority of men were slothful, and that they approached
spiritual reading with reluctance and submitted to the effort involved without
pleasurewishing to make the task more agreeable and to relieve the sense of
laboriousnesshe mixed melody with prophecy, so that enticed by rhythm and
melody, all might raise sacred hymns to him with great eagerness. For nothing
so arouses the soul, gives it wing, sets it free from the earth, releases it from the
prison of the body, teaches it to love wisdom, and to condemn all the things of
this life, as concordant melody and sacred song composed in rhythm. 85
Ideally, of course, beautifully sung psalmody was never something to be pursued for
its own sake in isolation from the rest of Christian worship. Cathedral psalmody accordingly
was bound closely with prayers, readings, and litanies into multi-layered forms of urban
liturgy. Nicetas of Remesiana (d. ca. 414) places the pleasures of cathedral psalmody in their
proper context by comparing the fine balance achieved between different forms within a single
service to the multiple courses of a banquet:
What more appropriate than this sort of benefit? What more congenial than this
form of pleasure? For we are delighted by the psalms, bedewed by the prayers
and fed by the interspersed readings. And indeed, as the cheerful guests at a
banquet take pleasure in a variety of courses, so our souls feast on the
multiplicity of readings and the display of hymns 8 6
Conclusion
Out of inchoate pre-Constantinian usagesthe most stable features of which were fixed
times for prayer and a Sunday Eucharistdistinct forms, patterns, and structures for Christian
8 3
McKinnon, "Desert Monasticism, " 516-17, 519.
8 4
Athanasius and Jerome also acknowledge the existence of melodious psalmody, but reject the notion that its
effectiveness is attributable to its aesthetic component. This, however, seems to have been a minority
viewpoint. McKinnon, "Desert Monasticism," 517-18. Cf. the relevant selections from the writings of
Athanasius and Jerome in MECL, Nos. 98-100 (Athanasius); 328 and 333 (Jerome).
8 5
MECL No. 164, pp. 79-80.
8 6
MECL No. 311.
38
prayer rapidly evolved over the course of the fourth century into what may be properly called a
Liturgy of the Hours. Despite variations in practice from place to place according to local
custom and language, the sources of late fourth-century liturgy testify to monastic and cathedral
approaches to communal prayer. Sharing the traditional Sunday Eucharist as a point of
reference, fourth-century ascetic and urban prayer reflect a markedly different spirit in the
divergent content of their primitive offices.
The daily cycle of prayer observed by desert monks was anchored by morning and
evening synaxes. The fact that these synaxes could be observed in common or in solitude is
symptomatic of the absence of a firm distinction between private and liturgical prayer. Since
the goal of each ascetic was to live life as a single ceaseless prayer, common synaxes were but
an extension of the work of private prayer. A hallmark of all monastic prayer was continuous
recitation of biblical psalms as an aid to contemplation. These were performed verse-by-verse
without regard for thematic relationships to the hour of prayer.
Cathedral worship, on the other hand, was underpinned by a consciousness of the
Church as a unified community. Centred on the person of the bishop, its liturgical structures
reflected a practical attempt to manifest ecclesial unity in an urban environment. This goal was
accomplished in part through a hierarchical structure of distinct liturgical ministriesincluding
that of the laity, which participated through sung responses and refrainswhich were
employed in daily morning and evening offices. In certain locations, the weekly observance of .
the Lord's Day was supplemented with another cathedral service, the Sunday resurrectional
vigil. Unlike their monastic counterparts, these cathedral offices were constructed around fixed
texts suitable to the time of prayer. The solemnisation of particular occasions was also
reflected through the offering of incense and other ceremonial.
Presumably in response to the indirect influence of Egyptian monasticism and the more
immediate example of urban monks, the cathedral rite was inundated with biblical psalmody in
the later fourth century. As this material was absorbed into urban worship, it was adapted to
the responsorial forms of psalmody already typical of cathedral liturgy. Simultaneously, urban
39
Christians cultivated the previously unimportant musical component of psalmody, thereby
transforming it into a medium of worship with tremendous aesthetic appeal.
If the presence of urban monks seemingly affected the shape of cathedral worship, it is
important to note in conclusion a reverse stream of influence. Urban monks in the process of
developing their own cycle of offices to varying degrees absorbed cathedral fixed psalmody,
ceremonial, and a taste for melodious chanting. 87

As we shall see in subsequent chapters, it
was just such an urban monastic synthesis that became the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite's
chief competitor for liturgical supremacy in Byzantium.
On the development of the Eastern urban monastic office, see Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 75-91.
CHAPTER 3
S U N D A Y MATINS IN T H E RITE OF T H E G R E A T C H U R C H I:
T H E SOURCES
In accordance with the city's status as the new imperial capital, the power and influence
of the church of Constantinople grew rapidly after the fourth century. The rank of its bishop
was raised at the First Council of Constantinople (381) to a position of honour within the
Christian Church second only to that of Old Rome, thereby superseding the venerable sees of
Alexandria and Antioch. The bishop of Constantinople's new rank within the ecclesiastical
hierarchy was confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon (451), which also placed the civil
dioceses of Asia, Thrace and Pontus under its immediate jurisdiction. In the mid-eighth
1
century it assumed ecclesiastical control of large Greek-speaking territories formerly under the
jurisdiction of Rome, including the papal vicariate of the Eastern Illyricum, which had been led
by the metropolitan of Thessalonica. 2
A parallel rise to maturity may be observed in Constantinopolitan liturgy, which
outgrew its apparent initial dependence on the liturgy of Antioch after the early fifth century.
While remaining open to outside influences, subsequent Byzantine liturgy assumed an
independent course of development that fostered the creation of its own distinct liturgical
families. These Constantinopolitan usages became increasingly influential and supplanted all
other Orthodox rites within the shrunken Roman Empire, including those of mainland Greece, 3
by the beginning of the second millennium. 4
1
John Meyendorff, "The Byzantine Church," in The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church (Crestwood: St.
Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1982), 17.
2
J.M. Hussey, The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire, Oxford History of the Christian Ch
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), 46.
3
From the layout of their respective churches, it is clear that Constantinople and the Eastern Illyricum
(=modern Greece) possessed different liturgies in Late Antiquity. Unfortunately, because no descriptions or texts
of mainland Greek liturgy survive, only very broad conclusions about its possible content may be drawn from
exclusively archeological evidence. See Thomas F. Mathews, The Early Churches of Constantinople:
40
41
Modern scholars have identified three distinct Constantinopolitan forms for the Liturgy
of the Hours prior to the Latin Conquest of 1204. The asmatikeakolouthia or "Sung" Office
of the Rite of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia was the inheritor of the city's ancient traditions
of public worship and a cathedral rite in the classic sense. The akolouthia tonakoimeton or
"Office of the Sleepless" was a native Constantinopolitan monastic rite featuring a perpetual
office sustained by monks praying i n relays. The worship of these indigenous ascetics,
5
which need not concern us here, was eclipsed and ultimately superseded by the rite of the
Palestinian monastery of St. Sabas, which was transplanted at the turn of the ninth century to
the Constantinopolitan monastery of St. John of Studios by Theodore, its charismatic abbot.
The refounding of Studios by St. Theodore inaugurated a period of coexistence
between Palestinian-style worship and the Rite of the Great Church that proved to be decisive
for the shape of the Byzantine liturgy. During an initial burst of creativity, Studite monks
transformed the Sabaitic offices of the Palestinian HorolOgion or "Book of the Hours" with
massive borrowings from the Byzantine cathedral rite and vast quantities of new hymnography
from their own pens. The resulting mixed 'Studite' rite proved to be both popular and
6
resilient. Studite patterns of worship were soon adopted by monasteries from Mount Athos to
Southern Italy, while the liturgy of secular churches also began to betray their influence. In 7
the thirteenth century, this Studite synthesis was the only Constantinopolitan liturgical usage to
weather the city's Latin occupation (1204-61), thereafter forming the basis for daily prayer i n
Architecture and Liturgy (University Park and London: Penn. State University Press, 1971), 120-21; and
Dimtrios Pallas, "L'edifice cultuel chr&ien et la liturgie dans rillyricum oriental," Actes du Xe congres
international d'archeologiechretienne, I (Vatican City and Thessalonica: Pontifical Institute of Christian
Archeology and the 'Eratpeca MaKeSoutKaJv ZnovSuu, 1984), 85-158.
4
Robert F. Taft, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History, American Essays in Liturgy (Collegeville: The
Liturgical Press, 1992), 26.
5
On their office, see Ioannes Phountoules, 'H eiKvairerpdcopos- dKoiprfTos' SofoAoyia(Athens: 1963).
6
On the Palestinian Horologion and its incorporation into the Studite synthesis, see Miguel Arranz, "Les
grandes itapes de la Liturgie Byzantine: Palestine-Byzance-Russie. Essai d'apercu historique," in Liturgie de
Veglise particuliere et liturgie de Veglise universelle, Bibliotheca Ephemerides Liturgicae, Subsi
Edizioni Liturgiche, 1976), 45-67.
7
Arranz, "L'office de YAsmatikos Hesperinos (vepres chantees) de l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," OCP 44
(1978): 407-08; Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia," in EMBW, 137-38.
42
all Byzantine churches except the cathedral of Thessalonica, where the "Sung" Office remained
in regular use after the Empire's restoration.
A s we shall later see in some detail, Archbishop Symeon of Thessalonica's wholesale
adoption of material from the ascendant Neo-Sabaitic offices for use i n an exhausted asmatike
akolouthia i n the early fifteenth century essentially inverted the ninth-century patterns of
cathedral influence on Studite monastic worship. Similarly, just as the offices of Studios had
retained the Palestinian Horologion as the foundation for layers of new and borrowed texts,
Symeon's reformed offices remained at their core Constantinopolitan cathedral services. In
order, therefore, to examine music and liturgy within fifteenth-century Thessalonian Sunday
matins, it is clear that one must possess an understanding of their relationship within the
"Sung" Office.
A t present, despite the advances made over the past thirty years, a general survey of the
development of the Byzantine cathedral offices has yet to be written from a musicological
perspective. While a detailed history of this subject is far beyond the scope of the present
study, of necessity we shall continue with a brief introduction to the characteristics and sources
of the Constantinopolitan "Sung" Office. This information w i l l act as the foundation for a
preliminary reconstruction of Sunday matins in the Byzantine cathedral rite i n the following
chapter, thereby providing sufficient basis to proceed with our analysis of Symeon's reformed
version of the service in the second half of this study.
The Rite of the Great Church
The Rite of the Great Church was the system of cathedral liturgy that had evolved from
the Antiochene influenced usages of the fourth century, coalescing into a distinctly
Constantinopolitan rite somewhere towards the end of the seventh century. Its major
8
constituent parts were three eucharistic liturgies, a stational system of mobile liturgy tied to the
8
Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 26.
43
the cathedral's calendar, and a liturgy of the hours known as the da/iaTifcrj aKoXovQCa or
"Sung" Office. As in any classic cathedral rite, liturgical activity revolved around the city's
9
bishop and his church, in this case the patriarch of Constantinople and the Great Church of
Hagia Sophia. The presence within the city of the imperial government, however, meant that
Constantinopolitan liturgy was called upon to fulfill civil functions without precedent in
provincial centres. While Constantinople rose to geo-political significance as the capital of an
increasingly Christian Roman Empire, its liturgy became a visible symbol of imperial and
divine majesty, two concepts which became closely identified with each other in Byzantine
thought. 10
Beyond such obvious manifestations as occasional religious ceremonies featuring
the personal participation of the Emperor and his court, the impact of these trends may be seen
in the way the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite as a whole soon assumed imperial dimensions.
According to Robert Taft, this "imperial phase" of Byzantine liturgy reached its height
during the reign of Justinian I (527-65) and his immediate successors, a time when the
Empire's financial resources were lavished on ecclesiastical architecture and religious ceremony
in an unprecedented fashion. 11
While the impressive scale of Justinianic liturgy is reflected
most clearly by the great emperor's construction of the extant Constantinopolitan cathedral of
Hagia Sophia, it may also be glimpsed in contemporary legislation regulating the ecclesiastical
personnel of the capital's major churches. A n imperial decree of the year 535 fixes the number
of clergy attached to Hagia Sophia and its three dependent churches at 425, namely 60 priests,
100 deacons, 40 deaconesses, 90 subdeacons, 110 readers, and 25 cantors ("UfdArai"). This 12
already impressive complement of liturgical personnel was increased in the year 612 by the
9
Ibid., 4 5 .
1 0
Fordham University Press, 1979), 213-16.
1
iTaft, The Byzantine Rite, 43.
1 2
Nov. 3:1, "TTepi TOV copiaue'vov elvat TOV dpiOpov TQV KXTJPIKQV TT)S dyicordTr/s MeydAris
TEKKArioLas ical T&V Xom&v dyuoTdrajv iKKXr/aicov TTJS navevSaipovos Tavrr)S rroXeas," in Rudolph
Schoell, ed., Corpus Iuris Civilis, vol. 3, Novellae (Berlin: Weidmann, 1928), 20-21; cf. Egon Wellesz, A
History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), 165.
44
Emperor Heraclius (610-41) to a total of 525, including 80 priests, 150 deacons, 40
deaconesses, 70 subdeacons, 160 readers, and 25 cantors. 13
The stable and relatively small number of cantors mandated by these two imperial
decrees is somewhat deceptive, for it would seemingly suggest a musical establishment out of
proportion with the rest of the clergy. From such later documents as the tenth-century Typikon
of the Great Church, however, we learn that the musical establishment of Hagia Sophia
included the readers as well as the cantors, bringing the number of singers to 135 under
14
Justinian, and 185 during the reign of Heraclius, impressive totals even by modem
standards. The cantors were highly skilled musicians charged with the solo chants of the
15
liturgy, while the readers seem to have participated in choral renditions of antiphonal
16
psalmody. 17
Both corps of singers were divided into two groups that would normally assist at
services on alternate weeks. 18
As in the days of John Chrysostom, the imperial pomp of Constantinopolitan liturgy in
the tenth century was not confined within the walls of the city's cathedral, but spilled out into
the streets with great regularity, effectively turning the entire city into a church. 19
The Typikon
1 3
Nov. I, "ITepl TOV wpiap.evov elvat TOV dptOpov TWV KXrjpaccSv rffe dyiwrdTT]? MeydXrjg
'EKKXr)aias KajvaTavTLVovnoXeug icai rife dylas Geordicov TTJS ev BXaxepvaig TL/j.aj/uevrj$, en pr\v
ml TU>V ev rols ScpcpiKiois' e^vnrjpeTovp.evu)v rfj re eipr]fj.evr) MeyaXq E/acArjoip ml rqi dyicoT
narptdpxr)." Text and commentary in Johannes Konidaris, "Die Novellen des Kaisers Herakleios," chap, in
Dieter Simon, ed., Fontes Minores V, Forschungen zur byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte 8 (Frankfurt a
Lowenklau Gesellschaft, 1982), 62-72 [text], 94-100 [commentary].
1 4
TGEII, 328-29. On the use of the term anagnostes in reference to singers in Byzantine documents, see
Reinhold Schlotterer, "Die kirchenmusikalische Terminologie der griechischen Kirchenvater," (Ph.D. diss.,
University of Munich, 1968), 4-13.
1 5
There is some evidence suggesting that a monastic community attached to Hagia Sophiaequivalent to the
early fifth-century Hagiopolite monazontes and parthenae observed by Egeria, called spoudaioi in later
documentsmay have either participated in the "Sung" Office or celebrated their own services during the
intervals between cathedralriteoffices. If their uncertain numbers are taken into account, the musical
establishment of Hagia Sophia would have been even larger than the imperial decrees indicate. On this question,
see Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 408-10.
1 6
TGE, II, 328-9. For a general introduction to Hagia Sophia's choir of 25 psaltai, see Neil K. Moran,
Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting, ByzantinaNeerlandica 9 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1986), 14
1 7
The Typikon of the Great Church assigns the antiphons of trithekte and the Divine Liturgy to the readers on
several occasions. On the Saturday of the Akathistos in Lent, the ninth-century Patmos manuscript of the
Typikon requires the presence of all Hagia Sophia's readers at the church of Blachernae to chant entire services.
The readers of the first week performed vespers ("rd earrepivd") and the kontakion, while the readers of the
second week were charged with matins. See TGE, II, 52,283.
1 8
TGE, II, 289; Moran, Singers, 15.
John F. Baldovin, "Worship in Urban Life: The Example of Medieval Constantinople," in Worship: City,
1 9
Church and Renewal (Washington, D.C.: The Pastoral Press, 1991), 25. The setting and sources for
45
of the Great Church shows that over the course of the liturgical year the entire city was
encompassed by sixty-eight processions, a considerable number that nevertheless appears to be
the remnant of an even more pervasive stational system. 20

In particular, the magnificence of
processions featuring the participation of the Emperoraccording to the Book of Ceremonies
compiled by the Emperor Oonstantine VII Porphyrogenetos (913-59), about one third of the
21
annual total was legendary and continued to impress travelers to Constantinople until the
22
Empire's final century. 23
Since the starting and ending points for Constantinopolitan processions were usually
churches with their own continuing cycle of services, stational worship was often joined
seamlessly to the liturgy of the church of arrival or departure. Ultimately, as Taft has noted,
the coming and going of stational processions influenced the development of
Constantinopolitan worship to such a degree that ceremonial "entrances, processions, and
accessions came to characterise all Byzantine liturgy." 24

Evidence for this may be seen clearly
in the ferial introit processions of the Great Church, which assumed a stational character even
on days when there was no procession through the city's streets. Unlike in the Latin West,
where the congregation waited in the nave for the arrival of the clergy, in Constantinople the
people gathered outside the church in order to proceed into the nave together with the clergy in
a grand ceremonial "entrance." 25
Constantinopolitan cathedral liturgy's acquisition of stational features necessitated the
development of an ecclesiastical architecture adapted to their particular physical requirements.
The early churches of the city were therefore equipped with a large atrium and a narthex to
The Urban
Constantinopolitan stational liturgy through the eleventh century are thorougly discussed in idem,
Character of Christian Worship: The Origins, Development, and Meaning of Stational Liturgy,
(Rome: 1987), 167-204.
2 0
Baldovin, The Urban Character, 211-14.
2 1
Ed. Albert Vogt, Le livre des cdrdmonies de Constantin Porphyroginete, texte III (Paris: 1935, 1939
ed. Paris: 1967).
2 2
Baldovin, "Worship in Urban Life," 18-19.
2 3
Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 33-35.
2 4
Ibid., 32.
2 5
Ibid., 33.
46
provide gathering places for the congregation, together with multiple entrances to facilitate their
rapid entry after the ceremonial opening of the nave. 26
The development of buildings suited to local needs during the "imperial phase" of
Byzantine liturgy worked in parallel with a government-sponsored quest to adorn the capital
with impressive religious monuments. These two streams of architectural thought converged
with the construction of Justinian's Great Church of Hagia Sophia. On the one hand, Hagia
Sophia was the ultimate exercise in Constantinopolitan liturgical planning, accommodating
every facet of the local rite through the inclusion of such details as coloured marble bands on
the floor to guide the movement of processions. On the other hand, it was the supreme
27
architectural achievement of its age, containing what would remain for a thousand years the
largest enclosed space in the world. From the perspective of the individual believer, the
combination of Hagia Sophia's stunning interior with the "imperial" liturgy that unfolded
within it gave unprecedented reality to the old anagogical explanations of Christian worship as
a reflection of the perpetual angelic liturgy at the throne of G o d . 28

By the beginning of the
seventh century, this cosmic vision was made explicit in new liturgical texts such as the
Cheroubikon and the liturgical commentary of St. Maximus the Confessor. 29

A t the same
time, the Great Church of Constantinople and its Rite became influential models for imitation in
cities throughout the Empire, notably including Thessalonica and its own cathedral church of
Hagia Sophia.
External circumstances soon conspired to make further liturgical development along
Justinianic lines impossible. Beginning in the middle of the sixth century, natural disasters,
2 6
Ibid., 33-34. The basic study of the interdependence of architecture and liturgy in the early Byzantine period
is Mathews, The Early Churches of Constantinople. Another excellent study, focusing more narrowly on the
function of the western portions of Justinianic churches, is Christine Strube, Die westliche Eingangsseite der
Kirchen von Konstantinopel in justinianischer Zeit: Architektonische und quellenkritische Unte
Schriften zur Geistgeschichte des ostlichen Europa, Bd. 6 (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1973), certain
liturgical details of which are clarified in Robert Taft, review of Strube, Die westliche Eingangsseite, OCP 42
(1976): 296-303.
2 7
George P. Majeska, "Notes on the Archeology of St. Sophia: The Green Marble Bands on the Floor,"
DOP32 (1978): 299-308.
2 8
Robert Taft, "The Liturgy of the Great Church: An Initial Synthesis of Structure and Interpretation on the
Eve of Iconoclasm," DOP 34/35 (1980-81): 47-48
2 9
47
imperial profligacy, and foreign invasions brought about the collapse of the Roman Empire's
frontiers and the permanent loss of many provinces, ushering in two hundred years of near
constant crisis that Cyril Mango has labeled Byzantium's "dark centuries." 30
With the
exception of Southern Italy, the Western lands reconquered by Justinian were all lost for good
by the middle of the seventh century. Decades of intense warfare leading up to the final defeat
of Persia in 627 devastated the Empire's Middle Eastern possessions, leaving Syria, Palestine
and Egypt open to permanent conquest by the Arabs within a generation. In the Balkans,
previously ravaged by invasions of Huns and Ostrogoths in the fifth century, Byzantium
remained in possession only of Thessalonica and a few coastal fortresses as migrating tribes of
Slavs overran the countryside. Even in Asia Minor, which remained under nominal Byzantine
control, cities either disappeared completely oras was the case with such centres as Ephesus,
Amorium, Nicea, and Ancyraretreated to their fortified citadels. The second century of
external crises was accompanied at home by a protracted theological dispute with severe
political repercussions over the imperially sponsored policy of Iconoclasm (726-843).
Recovery began with the final victory of the iconodule Orthodox and continued until it was cut
short by the Latin Conquest of Constantinople in 1204.
It is amazing that, in the face of pressure exerted by secular forces and new currents of
religious thought, the Rite of the Great Church continued to be performed in Constantinople,
apparently with few alterations, through both the Empire's "dark centuries" and the recovery
that followed the end of Iconoclasm 3 1

Given the state of the Byzantine Empire after the reign
of Heraclius, its maintenance must be viewed, as Taft suggests, within the context of imperial
attempts to project or at least preserve the memory of past greatness. Nevertheless, it is also
32
clear from eyewitness reports that the combination of early Christian liturgical forms with
whatever could be mustered of Justinianic pageantry was still quite potent when performed in
3 0
Cyril Mango, Byzantine Architecture, paperbacked. (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1985),
89. The collapse of urban life in the Empire in the late sixth and early seventh centuries is surveyed in idem,
Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980), 60-81.
3 1
The relatively minor changes made to the Rite of the Great Church after the defeat of Iconoclasm are sketched
in Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 52-56.
3 2
Ibid., 43-45.
48
its original setting. Even the topos likening the liturgy of the Great Church to that of Heaven
seems to have retained its validity, finding its most famous expression in the report of the
emissaries of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, whose attendance at services in Hagia Sophia in the
year 987 led them to exclaim that they knew not whether they were in heaven or on earth. 33
Sources of the Byzantine Cathedral Offices 34
Despite abundant archeological evidence for the "imperial phase" of Byzantine liturgy,
only the Eucharist and stational liturgy of Constantinople are documented to any substantial
degree before the onset of Iconoclasm. 35

Nearly all of the sources for the Rite of the Great
Church and its "Sung" Office postdate a liturgical consolidation that accompanied
Byzantinum's recovery from its "dark centuries." Although occasionally displaying the
36
infiltration of elements from the Palestinian monastic rite or otherwise betraying signs of
atrophy in some of their liturgical patterns, these manuscripts seem on the whole remarkably
faithful to Late Antique traditions of urban worship. For our present purposes, they may be
divided into the following categories: 1) books regulating the liturgy of the Great Church;
2) service books of the Great Church, some copies of which contain musical notation;
3) special musical collections for the choirs and soloists of Hagia Sophia; and 4) contemporary
descriptions in non-liturgical texts.
1. Collections ofLiturgical Regulations
The extensive rubrics included among the contents of the Kanonarion and the
Synaxarion provide a comprehensive overview of the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite and its
cycles of worship comparable to that given for the urban liturgy of Jerusalem in such
3 3
The Primary Chronicle, in Serge A. Zenkovsky, ed. and trans., Medieval Russia's Epics, Chronicles, and
Tales, (New York: 1974), 67.
3 4
Cf. Robert F. Taft,"Mount Athos: A Late Chapter in the History of the Byzantine Rite," DOP 42 (1988):
179-80. The following descriptions of non-musical sources for Byzantine liturgy are largely dependent on the
taxonomy of liturgical books developed by scholars associated with the Pontifical Oriental Institute.
3 5
3 6
Ibid., 42-45; 52-56.
49
documents as the so-called 'Armenian Lectionary' of the fifth century. 37

The Kanonarion is an
index of biblical readings covering the annual movable cycle from Easter Sunday to Holy
Saturday, while the Synaxarion is the fixed festal calendar of Constantinople. Both books are
dependent on the lectionaries of the Great Church, to which they were occasionally attached as
an appendix. Their rubrics provide a detailed picture of the Constantinopolitan cycles of

38
sacraments and offices, recording exactly which services were being celebrated, where they
were taking place, and when the patriarch participated. Also included with the Kanonarion-
Synaxarion were lists of the proper texts for the variable portions of each service, usually
identified by their incipit and modal designation, but occasionally consisting of complete psalm
verses or short hymns. In contrast to the contemporary monastic office, these proper texts
included relatively small quantities of extra-biblical hymnography, thus attesting to the archaic
nature of the "Sung" Office.
The earliest copies of the Kanonarion-Synaxarion to have survived are the post-
Iconoclast manuscripts Patmos gr. 266 and Hagios Stavros gr. 40. Patmos 266, which was
published at the turn of the present century by Dmitrievskii, has been dated to the mid-ninth
39
century, but features curious omissions and incursions from the Palestinian monastic rite. 40
The slightly later Hagios Stavros 40, which Baldovin believes to be a late tenth-century copy of
a mid tenth-century source, appears to be a more reliable witness of Constantinopolitan
practices. 41
Edited by Mateos, Hagios Stavros 40 has been published with a critical apparatus
derived from Patmos 266 and several other manuscripts under the anachronistic collective title
of the "Typikon of the Great Church." 42
A number of more specialised Byzantine documents regulated narrower aspects of the
liturgy of the Great Church. A Diataxis, for example, is a relatively brief treatise regulating the
The sources for the cathedral rite of Jerusalem are described in Gabriel Bertoniere, The Historical
3 7
Development of the Easter Vigil and Related Services in the Greek Church, OCA 193 (Rome: 1972), 8
3 8
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 401-02.
3 9
Opisanie I, 1-152.
4 0
T G E I, x-xviii.
4 1
Baldovin, The Urban Character, 191.
4 2
TGE, III. On the question of the proper definition of a Typikon, see supra, p. 13, n. 51.
50
movement and actions of ecclesiastical personnel during a particular service. 43

Imperial
participation in the public liturgy of Constantinople prior to the Latin conquest was governed
by the tenth-century Book of Ceremonies, a work initially edited by the Emperor Constantine
Porphyrogenetos VII (913-59). 44

Though not strictly a liturgical book, this manual of
Byzantine court ceremonial not only includes detailed accounts of worship in the chapels of the
Great Palace, but also describes the Emperor's role in the stational liturgy of Hagia Sophia. 45
Information on the liturgical aspects of imperial ceremonial after the Empire's restoration in
1261 is found in the Treatise on the Offices of Pseudo-Codinus, a fourteenth-century
descendent of the Book of the Ceremonies. 46
2. Service Books
Like their medieval Latin counterparts, Byzantine services were not celebrated from a
single volume, but were assembled from a series of specialised liturgical books that varied in
their contents according to their intended users. Celebrants, deacons, readers, and cantors
recited or sang their appointed texts from separate collections of prayers, lections, psalms, and
hymns according to the stipulations of the Typikon of the Great Church. With the rise of
Byzantine musical notation in the ninth century, certain of these books also began to appear in
notated versions.
The invariable skeleton for the asmatikeakolouthia of the Great Church was provided
by the office prayers of the celebrant's Euchology (evxoXoytov) or "Prayerbook," a collection
of orations that also includes the texts of Byzantine sacraments and is therefore roughly
4 3
While no ceremonial order for the pure asmatic offices has survived, the careful orchestration of different
ranks of clergy in the Rite of the Great Church may be seen in the Diataxis for the Divine Liturgy edited with
commentary by Taft as "The Pontifical Liturgy of the Great Church according to a Twelth-Century Diataxis in
Codex British Museum Add. 34060," OCP45 (1979): 279-307; 46 (1980) 89-124.
4 4
Ed. Vogt, Le livre des cirimonies.
4 5
Although Cyril Mango has recently suggested that this manual should be viewed more as a record of ancient
precedents than as an indicator of actual Middle Byzantine court life, the relatively circumscribed information it
provides with regard to the Rite of the Great Church has been profitably exploited by Baldovin to supplement
and corroborate the provisions of the Typikon. See Baldovin, The Urban Character, 197-202; and Taft,The
Byzantine Rite, 44.
Ed. Jean Verpeaux, Pseudo-Kodinos: Traitedes offices (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique,
4 6
1966).
51
equivalent to the medieval Western Sacramentary. Like the corresponding texts of such
sources of ancient urban liturgy as the Apostolic Constitutions, the Euchology's office prayers
are texts of praise and supplication which are in general thematically appropriate to the hour. 47
The earliest Euchologies reflecting pure Constantinopolitan usages include a series of prayers
for a daily 'cursus' or cycle of six services: two complex major offices of orthros (matins) and
lychnikon (vespers), and four minor offices (terce, sext, none, and a midnight service known
as "mesonyktikon") that share an identical structure of three psalmodic antiphons and five
prayers. 48
These daily services are supplemented by two seasonal offices similar in outline to
the minor offices: the Lenten morning service of trithekte (literally "terce-sext") and the
nocturnal pannychis. Contrary to the meaning of its name ("all-night"), pannychis was a
cathedral vigil celebrated after vespers on the eves of major feasts and during Lent. 49
The earliest Constantinopolitan Euchology is the eighth-century codex Barberini gr.
336, which reflects the pre-Iconoclastic form of the collection. The Barberini manuscript and
50
other early exemplars are extremely terse, presenting the individual prayers for the cathedral
offices under brief tides with little additional rubrication. Later copiessome of which bear
signs of adaptation to Palestinian monastic usagesinclude two prayers for a new service of
prime alongside ever-increasing quantities of rubrics and diaconal texts. 51
Most of the fixed and variable texts which accompanied the office prayers of the
Euchology were drawn from the Antiphonarion, the Byzantine cathedral rite's liturgical Psalter.
4 1
General introductions to the prayers of the "Sung" Office are Miguel Arranz, "La liturgie des heures selon
l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," in Eulogia:Miscellanea liturgica inonore diP. BurkhardNeunheuser, Studia
Anselmiana 68=AnalectaLiturgica 1 (Rome: Editrice Anselmiana, 1979) 9-19; and Stefano Parenti, Praying
with the Orthodox Tradition, trans. Paula Clifford (London: Triangle, 1989), 99-101. The latter work by Parenti
includes English translations of all the Euchology's prayers for the asmatike akolouthia together with an
excellent appendix of commentary. For examinations of these prayers and their relationship to predecessors in
Christian Antiquity, see Arranz's articles on the individual offices cited supra, p. 10, n. 47.
4 8
Arranz, "La liturgie des heures," 9.
4 9
Parenti, Praying with the Orthodox Tradition, 98.
5 0
Parenti, 93-94. See also the detailed description by Anselm Strittmatter, "The 'Barberini S. Marci' of Jacques
Goar," EphemeridesLiturgicae 47 (1933): 329-67.
5 1
On various strata of Euchologies and the office prayers that they contained, see Arranz, "La liturgie des
heures," 5-9; idem, "L'office de 1'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 112-117 ; and idem, "L'office de l'Asmatikos
Orthros," 123-25. For more recent studies which further refine the taxonomy of these sources, see the
references cited by Taft in The Byzantine Rite, 53-55.
52
Manuscripts of this book divide the biblical Psalter into either seventy-four or seventy-six
"antiphons" of psalms, consisting of a total of 2,542 individual verses according to a system
attributed to the Patriarch Anthimos (535-36). 52

The one hundred-and-fifty Psalms of David
are supplemented by an additional fifteen poetic "odes," all but two of whichthe "Prayer of
Manasses" and the Great Doxology (Gloria in excelsis)are canticles taken directly from the
Old and New Testaments. Fourteen of the odes and sixty-eight of the antiphons, labeled the
53
"Distributed Psalter" by Oliver Strunk, were prefixed to the two major cathedral offices of
54
matins and vespers in a cycle of continuous psalmody. The remaining antiphons were
55
assigned permanent positions within the Great Church's Liturgy of the Hours according to
their thematic content in a manner reminiscent of the fixed morning and evening psalms of the
fourth century cathedral offices. In further accord with the patterns of popular psalmody
established in Late Antiquity, each of the Antiphonarion's psalmodic antiphons and odes
featured a refrain after each of its verses. A l l the odd-numbered psalmodic antiphons were
followed by an "Alleluia" refrain, whereas the even-numbered antiphons and all of the odes
were accompanied by such short phrases as "OiKTeipr\o6v pe, Kvpie" ("Have compassion
on me, O Lord") or Md&z ooi 6 OeoY ("Glory be to Thee, O G o d " ) . 56
The earliest Antiphonaria are ninth-century Psalters with marginal illustrations, several
of which already include Palestinian rubrics for alternative use in what was at that time the new
Studite urban monastic rite. 57

The only exemplars to present the psalmodic antiphons within
5 2
Taft, "Mount Athos," 181. Cf. Arranz, "Les grandes etapes," 50-51; and idem, "L'office de l'Asmatikos
Hesperinos," 391-401.
5 3
The odes are listed along with their asmatic refrains in Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 140-41.
Their texts are provided in an arbitrary order based on a division between the odes of the Palestinian Psalter and
five "Odae aliae" in Alfred Rahlfs, ed., Septuaginta, 2 (Athens and Stuttgart: 'EXXriuLKqfiiftAiKr)eraipiaand
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1979), 164-83. On the origins of the Constantinopolitan set of fifteen odes, see
Heinrich Schneider, "Die biblischen Oden seitdem sechsten Jahrhundert," Biblica 30 (1949): 245-52.
5 4
Strunk, "The Byzantine Office," 122.
5 5
The basic study of psalmodic distribution in the Antiphonarion is Kosmas I. Georgiou," 'H efiSopaSiaia
din-Lcpo^vLid) Karavopf] raJvtyaAputvKal TUJV aSwu els rds AapariKds AKoAovdias eaTreptvov Kal
opdpov. 'EAAT)VIKOI MovaiKol KdSiKes 2061-2062 'E6vLKf)s BifiAiodfJKrjs A6r)v&v* (Ph.D. diss.,
Pontifical Oriental Institute, 1976). See also Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 391-401.
The refrains are listed in Strunk, 140-41; and Georgiou," 'H ifiSouaSiaia dvriificovLiaj Karavopij,"
5 6
190-96.
5 7
The textual contents, origin, and liturgical use of these manuscripts are thoroughly discussed in Kathleen
Corrigan, Visual Polemics in Ninth-Century Byzantine Psalters (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1992), 124-47. The earliest antiphonarion is the famous Khludov Psalter, (Moscow State Historical Museum,
53
the context of their weekly cycles of distribution are two Late Byzantine musical manuscripts of
Thessalonian provenance, both of which are presently located in the National Library of
Greece. Athens 2061 is dated by Georgiou to c. 1410-25, a period overlapping two thirds of
Symeon of Thessalonica's episcopate. 58

The manuscript begins with a two-week cycle of
psalmody for cathedral vespers and matins that presumably corresponds to the weekly
alternation of two choruses in the Rite of the Great Church, attached to which are seventy-five
folios mostly containing asmatic propers for the liturgical year. Written between 1355 and
1385, Athens 2062 contains only the first week of offices from Athens 2061, but includes
some music and rubrics left out of the later manuscript. The one-week ordinary of Athens
2062 is followed by a few asmatic propers, music in honour of Thessalonica's patron St.
Demetrios, and kalophonic compositions by various fourteenth-century composers.
Despite their late date, the asmatic ordinaries of Athens 2061 and 2062 are remarkably
faithful to the Byzantine cathedral tradition, being entirely free of the sort of extensive
borrowings from the monastic rite described by Symeon of Thessalonica. The only notable
concessions made to the musical culture of the Paleologan period within the two cycles of daily
offices are a few through-composed verses of Psalm 118 by Late Byzantine composers that
appear among the ordinary of Sunday matins. The archaism of these documents has been
confirmed by liturgiologists, who have found that the distribution of cathedral psalmody in
Athens 2061 and 2062 generally fulfills the prescriptions of earlier Constantinopolitan
Euchologies and Typika. 59

Furthermore, Strunk has noted that the antiphonal psalms of the
two Thessalonian musical manuscripts follow the format of a Middle Byzantine musical source
for the "Kneeling Vespers" of Pentecost, an unusual example of a complete "Sung" office
celebrated in a Studite monastic environment. 60

A l l of this would therefore seem to argue for
Codex 129), which has been published in facsimilewith the unfortunate omission of folios devoid of
illustrationsas M. V. Shchepkina, Miniatyury Khludovskoy Psaltyri: Grecheskiy illyustrirovannyy kode
veka (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1970).
5 8
Georgiou," 'H efiSouaSLaia dvncpcouLid) tcaTavofirj," xix. The dating and contents of the manuscripts
Athens 2061 and 2062 are discussed more thoroughly in Chapter 6 of the present study, infra, pp. 211-16.
5 9
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 399,404-5.
6 0
Strunk, "The Byzantine Office," 137, 149. The source in question is Grottaferrata T. /?. 35, fol. 52v.-72v.
On this unusual service and its music, see also Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 412-15; Dimitri
54
the existence of lost Constantinopolitan archetypes for the notated Thessalonian Antiphonaria,
unless one is willing to entertain the (not entirely unreasonable) possibility that transmission of
the ordinary psalmodic chants of the asmatikeakolouthia was entrusted solely to oral tradition
until the eve of the Byzantine cathedral rite's disappearance. 61
The cycles of Biblical readings for the Constantinopolitan liturgical year are contained
in three lectionaries: the Evangelion, the Apostolos, and the Prophetologion. The Evangelion
62
contains gospel pericopes chanted primarily by the deacon, whereas the Apostolos features the
lections from the epistles and other apostolic writings cantillated by readers. Both of these
New Testament lectionaries were used primarily for the eucharistic liturgies of St. Basil and St.
John Chrysostom. The Prophetologion, on the other hand, is a collection of Old Testament
63
pericopes that was employed by readers or cantors almost exclusively within the asmatike
akolouthia, especially the "Sung" offices of vespers and trithekte. 64

In addition to the readings
themselves, the surviving Prophetologia contain incipits, modal indications, and occasionally
entire proper texts for the musical cycles of prokeimena, alleluiaria, and troparia which
accompanied the Old Testament and apostolic lections.
The earliest manuscripts of the Prophetologion, like those of so many other liturgical
books, appeared after the victory over Iconoclasm, with production peaking in the twelfth
century. 65
This period coincides with the rise of Byzantine "ecphonetic" or "lectionary"
E. Conomos, "Music for the Evening Office on Whitsunday," ActesdeXVe CongresInternationald'Etudes

Byzantines, I (Athens: 1979), 457-65.
6 1
The vexing question of the method by which the musical repertories of the Rite of the Great Church were
transmitted has received little attention since Oliver Strunk evaluated the problems associated with the Psaltikon
and Asmatikon in "Byzantine Music in the Light of Recent Research and Publication," Proceedings ofthe
Thirteenth International Congress of Byzantine Studies (London and New York: 1967); repr. as chap, in EM
241-45. Of considerable interest for Byzantine musicologists, however, is the current scholarly debate over oral
versus written mechanisms for the transmission of Gregorian chant in the medieval West, aspects of which are
summarised and further examined in Peter Jeffery, Re-envisioning Past Musical Cultures: Ethnomusicology in
the Study of Gregorian Chant (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1992).
6 2
Kenneth Levy, "Liturgy and liturgical books, III. Greek rite," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, vol. 11, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: 1980), 86-87.
6 3
The exceptional gospel or apostolic readings outside of the Eucharist required by the Typikon of the Great
Church are noted by Mateos in TGE, II 286, 295.
6 4
Sysse Gudrun Engberg, "The Greek Old Testament Lectionary as a Liturgical Book," Universitede
Copenhague Cahiers de I'Institut du Moyen-dge grec et latin 54 (1986), 44-45. Cf. the critical edition pr
under the auspices of the MMB: Prophetologium, MMB, Lectionaria 1.1:1-6, Carsten H0eg and Giinther Zuntz,
eds. (Copenhagen: 1939-70), II.1-2, Gudrun Engberg, ed. (Copenhagen: 1980-81).
6 5
Engberg, "The Greek Old Testament Lectionary," 41.
55
musical notation, an untranscribable system of staffless neumes whose sole purpose was to
direct the cantillation of readings. A substantial minority of the three types of Byzantine
66
lectionaries produced from the ninth to the thirteenth century provide each of their readings
with this notation. In the case of the Prophetologion, forty-two out of one hundred and
67
seventy-four sources contain ecphonetic notation, which, however, is applied only to the
readings and never to the other hymns and responsories. 68
Since the offices of the Great Church appear to have featured only a small number of
non-Biblical hymns, most of their texts were scattered about the Synaxaria, Kanonaria, and
lectionaries. The only hymnography employed in the "Sung" Office apparently worthy of a
separate liturgical book was the kontakion, Constantinople's single major native form of
ecclesiastical poetry. Sometimes transmitted in specialised collections known as "Kontakaria,"
kontakia are lengthy hymns that are headed by a prologue or "prooimion" announcing the
subject of the text, followed by as many as thirty metrically identical stanzas called "oikoi."
The oikoi are bound by an acrostic, while the oikoi and prooimion share a common (and
presumably at onetimecongregational) refrain. Having arisen as a distinct form during the
cathedral rite's "imperial" phase, possibly from Syrian models, complete kontakia continued to
be composed in Constantinople through the ninth century. The greatest author of kontakia was
the sixth-century poet St. Romanos the Melodist, who wrote poems for most of the major
feasts of the liturgical year. The most complete sources for the Constantinopolitan cycle of
kontakia are the eleventh-century manuscripts Patmos 212 and 213. 69
Proceeding primarily from a careful examination of the style and content of the poems
themselves, Grosdidier de Matons has argued that the kontakia of Romanos and his fellow
6 6
The classic study of this notation is Carsten H0eg, La notation ekphonetique, MMB Subsidia, i, 2
(Copenhagen: 1935). See also the useful summary in Wellesz, A History, 246-60.
6 7
Wellesz, A History, 256.
6 8
Engberg, "The Greek Old Testament Lectionary," 41,45. Engberg notes that the notation is transmitted with
particular stability in sources directly traceable to the Great Church. While being careful to point out variants in
the internal organisation of prophetologia, she suggests that the diffusion of lectionaries with ecphonetic
notation that began in the ninth century was part of a conscious attempt to standardise the performance of
readings.
6 9
The major extant sources of the kontakion are listed in Jose' Grosdidier de Matons, Romanos le Melode et les
origines de la poesie religieuse a Byzance (Paris: Editions Beauchesnes, 1977), 67-74.
56
early melodes were composed for the instruction of the laity at popular cathedral vigils. 70
This
tradition was apparently continued through the Iconoclastic period and into the tenth century,
for the Typikon of the Great Church mentions the performance of a festal kontakion after the
asmatic office of pannychis. 71

From the twelfth century onwards, the number of oikoi
transmitted by Kontakaria and other liturgical manuscripts dropped precipitously until, as in
modern practice, only the prooimion and a single oikos remained 7 2
3. Special Musical Collections
The post-Iconoclastic consolidation of the Rite of the Great Church coincided with two
significant innovations in Byzantine ecclesiastical music. Undoubtedly the most important of
these was the development of Byzantine melodic notation, a lengthy process that may be
divided into two stages. During the initial period, ranging from the appearance of the earliest
surviving notated sources in the tenth century until approximately the year 1175, musical
73
notation functioned only as a reminder of the overall shape of melody for singers who
continued to learn the exact pitches from oral tradition, an approach made possible by a
standardised and anonymous repertory of musical formulas and gestures that could be reflected
stenographically. These formulas were depicted by the so-called 'Chartres' and 'Coislin'
families of neumes, independent systems of stenographic notation with modem appellations
derived from the library holding the manuscript in which each type of notation was first
identified. Having examined the provenance of manuscripts bearing these two types of
neumes, Strunk has traced the roots of 'Chartres' notation to Constantinople, and the 'Coislin'
notation to Palestine. 74
/ u
Grosdidier de Matons, Romanos le Melode, 104.
Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes," 51; and the present author's study, "The Liturgical Use of the Kontakion in
7 1
Constantinople," in Liturgy, Architecture and Art of the Byzantine World: Papers of the XVIII Interna
Byzantine Congress (Moscow, 8-15 August 1991) and Other Essays Dedicated to the Memory
Meyendorff, Byzantinorossica 1, ed. Constantin C. Akentiev (St. Petersburg: 1995), 50-57.
Grosdidier de Matons, Romanos le Melode, 101-2.
7 2
7 3
Conomos, "Music for the Evening Office on Whitsunday," 453.
7 4
Strunk, "The Notation of the Chartres Fragment," in EMBW, 108-10.
57
The second stage of notational development began in the late twelfth century with the
widespread adoption of a fully diastematic notation derived from the 'Coislin' neumes,
generally referred to by modern scholars as "Round" or "Middle Byzantine" notation. While
still imprecise with regard to the matters of rhythmic subdivision and chromaticism, Round
notation provided Byzantine composers and scribes with the means to record melodic subtleties
in unprecedented detail. Its advent, as Levy has pointed out, simultaneously facilitated the
preservation of the traditional anonymous repertory while providing the necessary
preconditions for the cultivation of highly individual compositional styles by Paleologan
composers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 75

The success of this new system may be
gauged not only by the rapidity with which manuscripts employing the older stenographic
neumes were replaced by new editions in Middle Byzantine notation, but also by the fact that it
remained in use with only minor alterations until the Chrysanthine reforms of the nineteenth
century.
Working in tandem with the rise of Byzantine neumatic notation was a progressive
melodic elaboration of certain repertories of chant that Strunk believes may have begun in the
mid ninth or early tenth century. 76

The initial result of this process was the creation of a
'classic' repertory of florid but otherwise conventionally formulaic chants which, according to
Levy, must have existed by the eleventh century when it was transmitted to the Slavs. 77
Especially prominent among these collections of elaborated chants were melismatic versions of
the Great Church's cycle of kontakia pared down to their prooimion and first oikos.
The 'classic' Byzantine repertory of extended formulaic chant is contained in the
Asmatikon and the Psaltikon, two specialised collections for the professional singers of Hagia
Sophia that combined under a single cover hymns and responsories previously scattered
/ 3
Kenneth Levy, "Le Tournant depisif dans Miistoire de la musique Byzantine: 1071-1261," Actes de XVe
Congres International d'Etudes Byzantines, I (Athens: 1979), 475-79.
7 6
Oliver Strunk, "Some Observations on the Music of the Kontakion," EMBW, 160.
7 7
Kenneth Levy, "Byzantine rite, music of the," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,
vol. 3, 559.
58
through other unnotated liturgical books. Probably the first to appear was the Asmatikon, a 78
book that modern scholars have identified with the small choir of the Great Church. 79
Only a
small number of Asmatika in Middle Byzantine notation have been preserved from the
thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, all but two of which were copied for monastic use on the
Empire's periphery in Southern Italy. 80

To these "pure" Asmatika may also be added a few
thirteenth-century Sicilian manuscripts associated with the monastery San Salvatore in Messina
that combine its contents with those of the Psaltikon. 81
The Asmatikon contains choral chants for the ordinary of the Constantinopolitan
eucharistic liturgies, a number of propers for the asmatike akolouthia, and, in certain
manuscripts, a few items for the monastic offices. 82

A l l of these chants are characterised by
the intercalation of consonants within the course of melismas, perhaps as an aid to vocal
phrasing. The music for the "Sung" Office includes: the hypakoai ('responds'), a series of
7 8
Simon Harris ("The Byzantine Responds for the Two Sundays Before Christmas,'' Music and Letters 74
(1993): 2-4, 9) very tentatively suggests the priority of the Asmatikon's repertory of hypakoai or 'responds' over
the parallel collection in Psaltikon, citing as possible evidence the relative completeness of the Asmatikon's
cycle of hypakoai. However, implicit in his discussionwhich touches upon the elaboration of music in the
ninth and the tenth centuries while raising the possibility that some parallel repertories may have been
suppressed, presumably with the aim of assuring a neater complementarity between the asmatikon and
psaltikonare the building blocks for a circumstantial case giving precedence to the entire Asmatikon, or at
least to those portions which were duplicated in the Psaltikon. Harris himself hints that this may be the case,
mentioning that a forthcoming article will propose the theory that the two traditions of hypakoai developed from
common origins.
Proceeding from the clues left by Harris, we offer the following additional points in support of the pre-
existence of the Asmatikon: 1) only the repertories of the Asmatikon were adapted to the Slavonic language in
copies employing a Slavic variant of the Chartres notation; 2) no copy of the Psaltikon bearing early Byzantine
neumatic notations has ever been discovered; 3) chants transmitted by both collections feature a more developed
melismatic idiom in their Psaltikon versions, probably reflecting a later stage in the process of musical
elaboration already at work; and 4) the hymns contained in the Asmatikon's cycle of hypakoai generally conform
to the usages of the Great Church, whereas the Psaltikon's cycle is in closer agreement with the requirements of
monastic service books (on p. 6, Harris himself observes the concordance of the monastic Menaia with the
Psaltika, but does not take into account the existence of a separate cathedral rite). According to this model of
development, the presumed Asmatic versions of the kontakia contained in the Slavic Kondakars were supressed
in later Greek Asmatika in response to the emergence of a soloistic variant repertory in the Psaltikon.
7 9
Levy, "Liturgy and liturgical books, III. The Greek Rite," 87.
8 0
The South Italian Asmatika and their contents are described in Bartolomeo di Salvo, "Asmatikon," Bolletino
dellaBadiaGrecadiGrottaferrata 16 (1962): 139-53. The MSS from mainland Greece are Lavra T.3 and
Kastoria 8, the latter of which is described in Linos Polites, "Avo xLPyPa4>a diro TT\V Kaaropid,"
'EAXrji/iicd 20 (1967): 29-41. The musical style of the Asmatikon and its relationship to that of the Psaltikon
is discussed in Harris, "The Byzantine Responds," 1-9; and Kenneth Levy, "A Hymn for Thursday in Holy
Week," Journal of the American Musicological Society 16 (1963): 129-54.
8 1
On these MSS, see Oliver Strunk, "S. Salvatore di Messina and the Musical Tradition of Magna Graecia,"
EMBW, 45-54; and Christian Thodberg, Der byzantinische Alleluiarionzyklus: Studien im kurzen Psaltilco
MMB, Subsidia 8 (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1966), 23-24.
8 2
E.g. the eight-mode cycle of pasapnoaria in Lavra T.3, f. 8v.-9r.
59
non-scriptural hymns for matins ; the Great Troparia for the vigils of Christmas and
83
Theophany; the Sunday order for the Great Doxology and its related troparia; and the dochai or
choral refrains of the daily prokeimena. 84
The Greek-language Asmatika are supplemented byfiveSlavonic manuscriptsknown
as "Kondakars" because of their cycles of notated kontakia that date from the eleventh to the
thirteenth century 8 5
The melodies of these Slavonic Asmatika are conveyed in so-called
'kondakarion' notation, a Slavic variant of the 'Chartres' notation that, like its Greek parent, is
not fully transcribable 8 6

Their kontakia appear to be derived from a lost asmatic repertory that
was dropped from the extant Greek copies, perhaps because of their contemporary duplication
in the Psaltikon. Another cathedral repertory without a counterpart in a surviving Greek
Asmatikon is the Blagoveschchensky Kondakar's eight-mode series of "asmatikoi. " 87
Evidently model melodies for the psalmodic ordinary of the "Sung" Office, they consist of
sample psalm verses, refrains, and transliterated versions of" Tr)u OIKOV\IVT)V. 'AMnXovia,"
8 3
The hypakoe as a genre of hymnography is discussed by Panagiotes Trempelas, EicAoyi) FAAqw/cqs'
'Op6o8dov vpuoypa<pta$(Athens: Soter Brotherhood, 1978), 19-20, 266-67.
8
Simon Harris proposes that the dochai were composed and added to Asmatika only in the twelfth century,
4
prior to which he believes a congregrational refrain was still in use. In support of this theory, he cites the
absence of dochai in Slavonic copies of earlier Byzantine Asmatika and the fact that many prokeimena lack a
doche. See "The Byzantine prokeimena," Plainsong and Medieval Music 3(1994): 145.
8 5
The derivation of the Slavonic Kondakars from lost Greek Asmatika was first propoposed by Kenneth Levy,
"The Byzantine Communion-Cycle and its Slavic Counterpart," Actes du Xlle congres international des itudes
byzantines: Ochride 1961, II (Belgrade: 1964), 571-4. The manuscripts in question are the Typografsky Ustav
(Moscow, Tretiakov Gallery, MS 142, 11th a), the Uspensky Kondakar (Moscow, State Historical Museum,
MS 1099, dated "1207"; published in facsimile as Contacarium Palaeoslavicum Mosquense, ed. ArneBugge,
MMB, Principal Series 6 (Copenhagen: 1960), with a description of all the manuscripts in the editor's
introduction), the Lavrsky Kondakar (Moscow, Lenin Library, MS 23, 12th c), published as Gregory Meyers,
ed., Lavrsky Troitsky Kondakar, Monumenta Slavico-Byzantina etMedtevalia Europensia 4 (Sofia
Ivan Dujcev Centre, 1994); the Blagoveshchensky Kondakar (St. Petersburg, Public Library MS Q.1.32,
12th c ; published in facsimile as Antonin Dostal, Hans Rothe, and Erich Trapp, eds, DeraltrussischeKondakar:
aufder Grundlage des Blagovescenskij Nizesgorodskij Kondakar, Bausteine zur Geschichte de
Slawen, vol. 1 (Giessen: W. Schulz, 1976); and the Synodalny Kondakar (Moscow, State Historical Museum
MS 777, 13th c).
8
Over the past thirty years there have been a number of attempts to decipher this enigmatic notation.
6
See Constantin Floros, "Die Entzifferung der Kondakarien-Notation," Musik des Ostens 3 (1965): 7-71,4
(1967): 12-44; Kenneth Levy, "The Slavic Kontakia and their Byzantine Originals," Twenty-fifth Anniversary
Festschrift (1937-62) Department of Music, Queens College (Flushing, New York: 1964), 79-87; idem,
"The Earliest Slavic Melismatic Chants," in Christian Hannick, ed., Fundamental Problems of Early Slavic
Music and Poetry, MMB Subsidia 6 (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1978), 197-210; and Gregory Myers
"Kondakarion Chant: Counterpart Transcription," in Vladimir Morosan, ed., One Thousand Years of Russian
Church Music: 988-1988, Monuments of Russian Sacred Music, 1/1 (Washington, D.C.: Musica Russica,
1991), 2-9, 673-74.
8 7
Dostal, Rothe, and Trapp, eds, Der altrussische Kondakar, 319-26 (f. 114r-121v).
60
the Byzantine cathedral rite's soloistic prologue to variable antiphons featuring an "alleluia"
refrain. 88
The extended choral music of the Asmatikon is supplemented by the solo chants of the
Psaltikon. Two distinct variants of this volume of melismatic chant have been identified: a
"short tradition" found in twelve copies of diverse origins dating from the late-twelfth to the
fourteenth century; and an even more ornate "long tradition" found only in South Italian
manuscripts associated with the monastery of San Salvatore di Messina. The music for the
89
"Sung" Office in these sources exhibits either a complementary or a parallel relationship to the
chants of the Asmatikon. In the first category are solo verses for the weekly cycle of office
prokeimena and the Great Troparia for Christmas and Theophany intended for insertion
between repetitions of the Asmatikon's choral refrain. The parallel chants of the Psaltikon
include highly florid cycles of hypakoai andassuming that the Slavonic Kondakars transmit a
repertory of asmatic compositions based on lost Greek originalskontakia. One should 90
note, however, that the relationship of these Psaltikon repertories with their counterparts in the
Asmatika is not always symmetrical, for the former's cycle of hypakoai lacks the latter's
hymns for the great feasts of the liturgical year. In addition, the fact that it is only in the
91
Psaltikon that the festal hypakoai are accompanied by psalm verses leaves open the possibility
that the complementary relationship with the Asmatikon prevailing in the prokeimena and Great
Troparia may have extended at some level to the hypakoai. 92
Even after the appearance of the 'classic' florid repertory of the Asmatikon and the
Psaltikon, the production of increasingly elaborate melodies and the further refinement of
Byzantine musical notation continued apace until this movement culminated in the highly
8 8
Cf. Strunk, "The Byzantine Office," 125.
8 9
Strunk, "San Salvatore di Messina," 52. See also the annotated list of Psaltikon manuscripts in Thodberg,
Der byzanlinisches Alleluiarionzyklus, 20-27.
9 0
On the basis of these common repertories, Harris ("The Byzantine Responds," 2-3,9) has suggested that the
hypakoai and kontakia of the Psaltikon may have developed in parallel to their more restrained counterparts in
the Greek Asmatika and Slavonic Kontakaria during the general elaboration of liturgical music in the ninth and
tenth centuries. In support of this hypothesis, he includes transcriptions displaying melodic concordances
between the two types of hypakoai. Cf. Levy, "A Hymn for Thursday in Holy Week," 150-52.
9 1
Harris, "The Byzantine Responds," 3.
9 2
It should be noted, however, that the asmatic Sunday hypakoai of the Oktoechos also feature psalm verses.
61
individualised "kale-phonic" or "beautified" works of John Koukouzeles and his colleagues in
the fourteenth century. 93

A n intermediate stage in this process is found in a repertory of early
kalophonic chants transmitted in a few thirteenth-century manuscripts under the collective title
of the A s m a . 94
While most of the collection's office music is for the monastic rite, D i Salvo
has discovered that three manuscripts of the Asma contain ornate versions of the three Psalms
(3,62, and 133) that were sung at the beginning of every Byzantine cathedral rite matins 9 5
A
similar but slightiy simpler setting of the fixed first antiphon of "Sung" matins is appended to
the manuscript Kastoria 8 , 96

a mainland Greek Asmatikon of the thirteenth or early fourteenth-
century.
4. Other Texts
In recent years, liturgiologists have found the three Byzantine commentaries on the
Divine Liturgy written prior to the Latin conquest of Constantinople to be invaluable resources
for investigating the development of the Byzantine eucharistic liturgies 9 7

Unfortunately for
our present purposes, there are no corresponding mystagogical treatises discussing the
Byzantine offices of either rite predating the fifteenth-century writings of Symeon of
Thessalonica. The non-liturgical literary documentation of the Rite of the Great Church before
its thirteenth-century decline is therefore essentially limited to sources describing the physical
9 3
Levy, "Byzantine rite, music of the," 559.
9 4
Bartolomeo di Salvo, "Gli Asmata nella music bizantina," BoltetinodeltaBadia Greco.diGrottaferrata 13
(1959): 45-50, 127-45; 14 (1960): 145-78. This article includes a descriptive list of four manuscripts
containing the Asma, followed by a discussion of their contents.
9 5
The sources listed by Di Salvo are Messina Gr. 161, f. 22r-35r, Grottaferrata T.y. VI, f. 85v-88v; and
Grottaferrata T. y. VII, f. 73r-85v. Not recognising their cathedral provenance, he mistakenly identifies them as
excerpts from the introductory Hexapsalmos ("Six Psalms") of monastic matins (Psalms 3,37, 62, 87, 102, and
142) with the "interpolation" of two verses from Psalm 133. See "Gli asmata," Bolletino 13 (1959): 140-45.
9 6
Mutilated and incomplete, this setting appears under the heading " To rrp&Tov [dvri4>cjvovY on folios 80v-
83v.
9 7
The three mystagogical treatises in question are the early seventh-century Mystagogy of Maximus the
Confessor, the eighth-century Ecclesiastical Hierarchy by Patriarch Germanos I, and the eleventh-century
Protheoria by Nicholas and Theodore of Andida. The basic study of patristic commentaries on the Byzantine
Eucharist is Rend Bornert, Les Commentaires Byzantines de la Divine Liturgie du Vile au XVe Siecle
de VOrient Chretien 9 (Paris: Institut Francais d'fitudes Byzantines, 1966). Two scholarly works that
successfully exploit the potential of the commentaries to recover not only the structure of the services, but also
the intellectual and symbolic contexts in which they were understood, are Hans-Joachim Schulz, The Byzantine
Liturgy: Symbolic Structure and Faith Expression, trans, by Matthew J. O'Connell (New York: Pueblo
Publishing Company, 1986); and Taft, "The Liturgy of the Great Church," 45-75.
62
plan of Hagia Sophia, documents regulating the ecclesiastical personnel of the Great
98
Church 9 9
and the written testimony of visitors to the Imperial capital.
Within the last of these categories, the witness of the Russian pilgrim Antony of
Novgorod from the year 1200 is of particular interest. In the course of an extended description
of the interior of St. Sophia and its relics, he records many details regarding the conduct of
liturgy at the Great Church. In one passage, for example, he notes that the singing during a
particular ritual was distributed between a monk soloist and a group of eunuchs. 100
The
employment of castrati at Hagia Sophia is confirmed elsewhere by the twelfth-century canonist
Theodore Balsamon, who claims that all the psaltai of the Great Church were eunuchs. 101
Of greater significance is Antony's general summary of the "Sung" offices of matins, in
which he describes a service with stational characteristics. Because of its unique witness to the
asmatike akolouthia before the Latin conquest, this passageis worth quoting in full from
de Khitrowo's translation:
Et quand on veut chanter matines a Sainte-Sophie, on chant d'abord devant les

grandes portes de l'6glise, dans le narthex, puis on entre, et Ton chante au
milieu de l'eglise; et 1'on ouvre les portes du Paradis, et Ton chante la troisieme
fois devant l'autel. Les dimanches et jours de fete, le patriarche assiste aux
matines et a la messe, et alors il benit les chantres du haut des tribunes; cessant
de chanter, ils prononcent alors le polykronid; puis ils recommencent a chanter
aussi harmonieusement et aussi doucement que les anges, et ils chantent ainsi
jusqu'a la messe. Les matines finies et ayant quitte leurs surplis, ils sortent et
demandent la benediction du patriarche pour la liturgie. Apres les matines, on
lit le prologue sur J'ambon jusqu'a la messe; quand le prologue est fini, on
commence la liturgie, et, le service termine, l'archipretre prononce dans l'autel
la priere dite de l'ambon, tandis que le second pretre la prononce dans l'eglise,
au dela de l'ambon; tous les deux, ayant acheve leur priere, benissent le peuple.
C'est ainsi que, de bonne heure, ils chantent aussi les vepres. On n'a pas de
cloches a Sainte-Sophie, mais, un petit battoir hagiosidere a la main, [avec
lequel] on frappe pour les matines, et on ne frappe ni pour la messe ni pour les
vepres, tandis que, dans d'autres eglises, on frappe et pour la messe et pour les
9 8
Most importantly the sixth-century description of Paul Silentiarius, Descriptio s. Sophiae et ambonis, in
Paul Friedlander, Johannes von Gaza und Paulus Silentiarius: Kunstbeschreibungen justinianischer
(Leipzig: 1912), 225-65. This and the other known literary sources relating to liturgical planning in Hagia
Sophia are analysed in Mathews, The Early Churches of Constantinople, 88-180; and Majeska, "Notes on the
Archeology of St. Sophia at Constantinople," 299-308.
9 9
Summarised in Moran's discussion of "The Byzantine Choir," in Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic
Painting, 14-38
Ed. B. de Khitrowo, Itineraires Russes en
1 0 0
Orient, 1,1 (Geneva: Society de 1'Orient Latin, 1889; repr. ed.,
Osnabrtick: Otto Zeller, 1966), 93.
1 0 1
Moran, Singers, 15.
63
vepres; c'est d'apres les preceptes de l'Ange qu'ils ont ce battoir; quant aux
Latins, ils sonnent les cloches. 102
Conclusion
The paucity of sources antedating the Middle Byzantine recovery leaves many details of
the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite's formative "imperial phase" uncertain. Nevertheless, the
documents emerging from the ninth century onwards, while not without signs of decay or
development, display a remarkable sense of continuity both with the past and with each other.
The conservatism of the sources is most evident in the fact that the material from manuscripts
ranging in chronology from the eighth or ninth-century Barberini Euchology to the late
fourteenth and early fifteenth-century Thessalonian Antiphonaria is complementary. This state
of affairs has previously allowed liturgiologists to employ documents scattered over six
centuries in the service of their investigations of the shape of the "Sung" Office. In the
following chapter, we shall follow a similar procedure to outline the form of Sunday matins
according to the Rite of the Great Church, with the addition, however, of notated chants from
the scattered remains of Hagia Sophia's musical establishment.
De Khitrowo, Itineraires, 97.

CHAPTER4
S U N D A Y M A T I N S I N T H E R I T E O F T H E G R E A T C H U R C H II:
T H E HISTORICAL STRUCTURE OF T H E OFFICE
T o the present, musicologists have barely begun collating the recent advances in
liturgical scholarship on the Constantinopolitan cathedral offices with the raw data in the
musical manuscripts. This situation may be attributed to a number of factors, not the least
among which is the fact that Byzantine musicologya discipline that has been dominated over
the past thirty years by initial surveys of various repertories previously known only in outline,
if at a l l is still in an embryonic state. Moreover, musicologists have, by and large, made the
1
chants of the Divine Liturgywhich was celebrated by Byzantine monks and secular clergy
alike from the same texts of the Constantinopolitan Euchology their first priority in
2
examining the Psaltikon and Asmatikon. W h i l e the prominence of Eucharistic music i n these
3
collections may be fairly invoked to justify this preference, it has nevertheless deferred
scholarly consideration of the thorny questions of provenance raised for their office chants by
the existence of parallel cathedral and monastic rites for the Liturgy of the Hours.
1
This conclusion may be reached by quickly surveying the titles of a few well-known monographs: Christian
Thodberg, Der byzantinische Alleluiarionzyklus: Studien im kurzen Psaltikonstil, MMB Subsidia 8
(Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1966); Dimitri Conomos, Byzantine Trisagiaand Cheroubika of the Fourteenth an
Fifteenth Centuries (Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1974); Gisa Hintze, Das
byzantinische Prokeimena-Repertoire: Untersuchungen and kritische Edition, Hamburger Beitra
Musikwissenschaft 9 (Hamburg: Verlag der Musikalienhandlung Karl Dieter Wagner, 1973); Diane Touliatos-
Banker, The Byzantine Amomos Chant of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, Analecta Vlatadon
(Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies, 1984); etc.
2
The monks of Studios, who had imported the Palestinian Divine Office, did not replace the
Constantinopolitan Eucharistic liturgies with the Hagiopolite Liturgy of St. James.
3
E.g. Simon Harris, "The Communion Chants in Thirteenth-Century Byzantine Musical Manuscripts," in
Studies in Eastern Chant 2, ed. M. Velimirovi<5 (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), 51-67; Kenneth
Levy, "A Hymn for Thursday in Holy Week," Journal of the American Musicological Society 16 (1963):
127-75; and Neil K. Moran, The Ordinary Chants of the Byzantine Mass, 2 vols., Hamburger Beitrage zur
Musikwissenschaft 12 (Hamburg: Verlag der Musikalienhandlung Karl Dieter Wagner, 1975).
64
65
TABLE 1
LIST O F M U S I C A L M A N U S C R I P T S C O N S U L T E D IN C H A P T E R 4
Asmatika a
Grottaferrata, Badia greca, M S Crypt., r.y. V I I : 13th c.

Kastoria, Cathedral Library, M S 8: 13th/14th c.
Mount Athos, Great Lavra, M S f . 3: 13th (?) c .
1 b
Messina, Biblioteca universitaria, M S San Salvatore, gr. 161: 13th c. c
Cathedral Antiphonaria d
Athens, National Library, M S 2061: ca. 1410-25

Athens, National Library, M S 2062: ca. 1355-85
Akolouthiai e
Athens, National Library, M S 2622: 1341-ca. 1360

Mount Athos, Iviron, M S 1120: "1458"
Mount Athos, Koutloumousi, M S 457: ca. 1360-85
Vienna, National Bibliothek, M S Theol. gr. 185: ca. 1385-91
a
Except where noted, the dates cited for the Asmatika follow the list provided in Dimitri E. Conomos, The
Late Byzantine and Slavonic Communion Cycle: Liturgy and Music, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 21
(Washington, D . C : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1985), 55. Cf. the discussion of the
Asmatikon supra, pp. 57-61.
b
As Harris has observed, modern scholars are in disagreement regarding the date of this manuscript, variously
ascribing it to anywhere from the 13th to the 15th century. See Simon Harris, "The Byzantine Prokeimena,"
Plainsong and Medieval Music 3 (1994): 146, n. 52.
c
Description in Bartolomeo di Salvo, "Gli asmata nella musica bizantina," Bolletino delta Badia Greca di
Grottaferrata 13 (1959): 50.
d
On these MSS, see the discussion infra, pp. 211-16.
e
Dates for Akolouthiai are taken from Conomos, The Late Byzantine and Slavonic Communion Cycle, 73.
66
Despite gaps i n the documentary record of the Rite of the Great Church, the textual and
musical sources discussed in the previous chapter are sufficient to undertake a preliminary
reconstruction of the unreformed "Sung" office of Sunday matins. Musical examples w i l l
generally be chosen from the oldest known settings for each text (Table 1). In some cases
these are found in Late Byzantine Akolouthiai containing a few cathedral chants alongside their
music for the Neo-Sabai'tic monastic rite. The Thessalonian Antiphonaria Athens 2061 and
Athens 2062, which contain eponymous compositions by fourteenth-century composers, w i l l
be consulted only for their anonymous asmatic chants. A full description of their Sunday
repertories w i l l be presented i n the following chapters on the reformed offices of Late
Byzantine Thessalonica.
The Structure of Sunday Matins
The sources for the Byzantine cathedral rite confirm the testimony from the year 1200
of the pilgrim Antony of Novgorod quoted in the preceding chapter regarding the tripartite
structure of asmatic matins. A s shown in Table 2, the office of Sunday matins was divided
into three distinct sections marking the gradual progression of the clergy from the narthex to the
apse of Hagia Sophia (Figure 1). Each of these segments was characterised not only by the
location of its celebration within the church, but also by its selection of texts and musical
forms. O n ordinary Sundays, the morning office began outside the closed central doors of the
navegenerally known i n the liturgical terminology of the Great Church as the "fiaoiXiKai
nvXat" ("Royal" or "Imperial Doors"), but occasionally referred to as the "copalai trvXaC
("Beautiful D o o r s " ) w i t h a vigil of pre-matutinal psalmody i n the vast narthex of Hagia

4
Sophia (Table 2.1). Should the congregation have been unusually large and unable to fit in this
area, ample room was provided for additional faithful in the exo-narthex and atrium. After the
clergy ceremonially opened the main body of the church by processing through the central
doors, the congregation entered the nave and galleries. A n office of morning praise (Table 2.2)
4
John F. Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship: The Origins, Development, and Meaning
Stational Liturgy, OCA 228 (Rome: 1987), 176.
68
TABLE2
SUNDAY MATINS ACCORDING TO THE RITE OF THE GREAT CHURCH 3
1. PSALMODIC VIGIL IN THE NARTHEX

Opening Blessing
(Hypakoe) b
Synapte of Peace
First Morning Prayer
First Antiphon (Ps. 3, 62, 133)
Small Synapte
Morning Prayer (2-7?)
Amomos, Antiphon 1 (Ps. 118: 1-72)
Small Synapte
Morning Prayer (2-7?)
Small synapte
Eighth (?) Morning Prayer
Entry into the nave.
2. MORNING PSALMODY AT THE AMBO

Benedicite: D a n . 3:57-88
Small Synapte
Prayer of the 50th Psalm
Psalm 50 and Pentekostaria
Small Synapte
Prayer of Lauds
Lauds (Ps. 148, 149, 150)
Great Doxology (Gloria in excelsis)
Trisagion
Entry into the sanctuary. 0
3. PRAYERS AND SUPPLICATIONS IN THE SANCTUARY

[Resurrectional Hymn]
Fixed Sunday Prokeimenon (Ps. 9:33)
[Prayer of the Gospel]
[Resurrectional Gospel]
Litany and Prayer of the Catechumens
Litanies of the Faithful and two prayers
Synapte of Supplication
Prayer of Dismissal
Prayer of Inclination and Final Blessing
Chanting and reading until the beginning of the Divine Liturgy
a
After Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros (matines chantees) de l'ancien Euchologe byzantine," OCP 44
(1978): 126-32; idem, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," OCP 37 (1971): 409-10; and TGE, I,
xxiii-xxiv. Texts sung by the cantors and readers are given in bold print. Brackets indicate items that belong to the
Order of the Resurrectional Gospel, which appears to have been a post-Iconoclast addition to the office (see the
discussion of this order infra, pp. 100-23).
k Since the TGE records only the use of festal hypakoai at this point in the service, it is possible that these hymns
may not have been performed on ordinary Sundays in the Byzantine cathedral rite.
c
Moved to the conclusion of Lauds in the fourteenth-century sources.
69
featuring such elements of primitive urban Christian worship as Psalms 148-50 and the Great
Doxology (the Eastern Orthodox redaction of the Gloria in excelsis) was then celebrated at the
ambo, a monumental platform slightly off-set toward the East from the centre of the church.
L i k e their counterparts in the preceding psalmodic v i g i l , Psalm 50 and the three psalms of
Lauds were chanted antiphonally. The accession of the higher clergy into the sanctuary
5
marked the start of the third and final portion of the service (Table 2.3), which concluded with
presidential prayers and benedictions delivered by the celebrant from the benches of the
synthronon set i n the semi-circle of the apse (Figure 1, B ) . The dismissal of matins was
regularly followed by an interval of reading and chanting before the start of the Sunday
Eucharist. 6
Even in so schematic an outline, the similarities between asmatic Sunday matins and the
corresponding cathedral offices of Late Antiquity are immediately apparent. L i k e its ancient
urban predecessors, the bulk of this "Sung" office consisted of prayers and antiphonal
psalmody proper to the hour and occasion of celebration. In great contrast to the modern
Byzantine service of Sunday matins, which is full of ecclesiastical poetry commemorating the
Resurrection, extra-scriptural hymnody was sparingly employed and mostly limited to a few
7
psalmodic refrains. Moreover, allowing for the omission of details particular to the topography
of Jerusalem, the Byzantine cathedral service exhibits the same basic threefold stational
structure as the fourth-century Sunday morning office described by E g e r i a . Both the early
8
fifth-century Hagiopolite vigil and Constantinopolitan Sunday matins commenced with a vigil
of psalms and prayers outside the closed doors of the church, followed in each case by a
ceremonial opening of their respective basilicas leading to additional psalmody inside. Finally,
5
I.e. by two choirs with refrains. On the technical use of the term "antiphonal" in reference to Byzantine
psalmody, see the article by Taft cited supra, p. 36, n. 81.
6
Cf. TGEII.315; and the description of Antony of Novgorod, ed. B. deKhitrowo, Itindraires Russes en Orient,
1,1 (Geneva: Soci&6 de l'Orient Latin, 1889; repr. ed., Osnabrtick: Otto Zeller, 1966), 97.
7
Eight lengthy sets of Resurrectional poetic propers for Sunday matins corresponding to the eight musical
modes of Byzantine chant are presently added to the ordinary of the morning office according to an eight-week
cycle of rotation. The texts of these Sunday propers are contained in the service-book known as the Great
Oktoechos or ITapaKAriTiiaj. Notated post-Byzantine musical settings are collected in the Anastasimatarion.
8
On this office, see supra, pp. 32-35.
70
the third section of the two offices featured an entry of the clergy into the sanctuary prior to the
reading of a Resurrectional gospel.
According to the Typikon of the Great Church, the structure of asmatic matins was
remarkably stable and varied relatively little throughout the course of the liturgical year. For
three solemnities of the Mother of G o d and four annual commemorations of civic calamities,
the Trisagion after the Great Doxology marked the beginning of a stational procession
eventually leading to another church for celebration of the Divine Liturgy, after which matins at
Hagia Sophia may or may not have resumed as usual with the remaining personnel. O n 9
another seventeen occasionsnamely Ascension Thursday and three movable Sundays from
the Kanonarion, together with thirteen fixed feasts from the Synaxarionthe structure of the
service was altered by having matins begin at the ambo, although it is unclear whether this
meant the total suppression of the portion in the narthex or merely its transposition to the centre
of the c h u r c h . 10
Arranz has suggested that the transfer of matins to the ambo might have been
a practical measure to accommodate the large crowds on feasts, but it seems equally plausible
the faithful may have already been i n place from a prior office as Hagia Sophia remained open
throughout the night on the vigils of solemnities. 11

O f considerable interest, however, is the
fact that on Easter Day, the greatest (and presumably most crowded) of all Christian feasts,
Sunday matins retained its usual tripartite f o r m . 12

Moreover, i n striking contrast to the
9
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 150-51. Since the Typikon provides no rubrics regarding conflicts
of the annual cycle with the normal Sunday Resurrectional order of matins, it is uncertain whether all the
propers of these special commemorations would have replaced the Sunday ordinary.
1 0
Ibid., 149-156. As stated in the preceding note, it cannot be determined from the text of the Typikon if
commemorations from the fixed temporal cycle of the liturgical year automatically replaced the usual Sunday
order for cathedral matins. In present usage, the Resurrectional ordinary of Sunday matins takes precedence over
all commemorations other than such major feasts of the Lord as Christmas and Theophany. See The Festal
Menaion, trans. Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware [now Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia] (London:
Faber and Faber, 1969), 41-^2.
1 1
For a brief discussion of popular vigils in pre-Iconoclastic Constantinople, see Robert Taft, The Liturgy of
the Hours in East and West: The Origins of the Divine Office and Its Meaning for Today (College
Liturgical Press, 1986), 171-74. It is also possible that, as in early fifth-century Jerusalem, the more diligent
believers may have participated in a separate cycle of services maintained by the cathedral's resident monks. The
evidence for a parallel monastic cursus of offices at St. Sophia is summarised by Arranz in "Les prieres
presbyterales des matines byzantines," 110-12.
1 2
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 155; Gabriel Bertoniere, The Historical Development of the Easter
Vigil and Related Services in the Greek Church, OCA 193 (Rome: 1972), 140-41.
71
medieval Hagiopolite Paschal offices and their modem Orthodox descendants, 13

only a few
proper psalmodic refrains distinguished Paschal asmatic matins from the weekly matutinal
commemoration of the Resurrection. These characteristics not only underline the simplicity
and textual conservatism of the "Sung" Office, but also provide an illustration of Anton
Baumstark's "law" that the highest seasons retain the oldest liturgical f o r m s . 14
Having briefly scanned the structure of Sunday matins in the Byzantine cathedral rite,
we shall now return to the start of the service for a somewhat more specific examination of its
constituent elements. In order to provide the reader with a working knowledge of this extinct
service, priority w i l l be given to surveying the variety of chants employed i n the office and
determining their place within the broader liturgical context, thereby allowing some preliminary
conclusions to be drawn about the determinative qualities of Sunday matins i n the unreformed
Byzantine cathedral rite.
1. Vigil in the Narthex
The Hypakoe
L i k e all Constantinopolitan services, Sunday matins began with the celebrant's
exclamation "Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the H o l y Spirit,
both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages," 15

answered by a congregational " A m e n . "
According to several Middle Byzantine collections of rubrics, this opening blessing was at
times followed by the chanting of an hypakoe, a practice not corresponding to any prayer of the
Euchologies. The literal meaning of "urraKorj" is "respond," and sources of Jerusalem's
cathedral rite use the word genetically in reference to psalmodic refrains, leading Mateos to
1 3
On these offices, see Bertoniere, The Historical Development of the Easter Vigil, 72-105; 15960
1 4
Anton Baumstark, "Das Gesetz der Erhaltung des Alten in liturgisch hochwertiger Zeit," Jahrbuchfur
Liturgiewissenchaftl (1927): 1-23.
1 5
Symeon, Treatise on Prayer, 79; PG 155, col. 636. Cf. Oliver Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia
Sophia," in EMBW, 137; Symeon, 72; PG 155, cols. 624-25. Note also that Simmons {Treatise, 72),
probably influenced by the modem Orthodox offices which employ the Palestinian enarxis "Blessed be our
God..," has mistranslated the passage referring to the opening blessing at asmatic vespers. The passage in
question should read "...blesses God in Trinity not saying [ov Aeyajv]: 'Blessed be our God...."
72
suggest a possible Palestinian origin for the term. 16

When used in reference to the eponymous
form of Byzantine hymnography, the term "hypakoe" denotes a class of compact monostrophic
hymn texts of uncertain date that fall into two groups: 1) a cycle of eight Sunday Resurrectional
hymns that successively progress through the Byzantine system of eight musical modes; and 2)
a collection of up to sixteen hymns for major feasts distributed in a curiously spotty manner
throughout the liturgical year. 17

Evidently aware only of its marginal role in post-Studite
Sabai'tic monastic worship, Wellesz has classified the hypakoe as a "minor" form of
18
hymnography allied to the kathismata of monastic matins. 19

Cali, however, has rightly pointed
out that Wellesz's classification is contradicted by the prominence accorded to cycles of
hypakoai within the Asmatikon and the Psaltikon, where they appear alongside the venerable
20
Constantinopolitan repertory of kontakia. Indeed, the presence of the hymns in the two
collections of florid chant for Hagia Sophia, together with the fact that the festal cycle of the
Asmatikon contains poems that were not later absorbed by the monastic rite, 21
raises the
possibility that the hypakoai for the liturgical year may originally have been composed for use
within the Rite of the Great Church. 22
Part of the confusion surrounding the hypakoe may be explained by the fact that it is
presented in modern service books of the monastic tradition in a vestigial single-stanza form
1 6
Mateos proposes that "hypakoe" was originally the Palestinian equivalent of the Constantinopolitan term
"troparion," which denoted a single-stanza hymn. By the tenth century, "troparion" and "hypakoe" are
occasionally used synonymously in Byzantine and Hagiopolite documents. See Mateos, "Quelque problemes de
l'orthros byzantin," Proche-orientchrenen 11 (1961): 205-6.
1 7
As Harris has noted, there are no notated hypakoai for such important occasions as the Annunciation, Good
Friday, Ascension Day and Pentecost. The latter two solemnities, however, do possess unnotated hypakoai that
have been published by Trempelas. In any case, the kontakia of the Great Church cover the feasts of the
liturgical year in a more even manner. See Simon Harris, "The Byzantine Responds for the Two Sundays
Before Christmas," Music and Letters 74(1993): 3; and Panagiotes Trempelas, EicXoyrj EAArjuc/cfjs
'OpdoSdfov Tnvoypa<f>iasXAthens: Soter Brotherhood, 1978), 266.
1 8
In modern Byzantine practice, the Sunday hypakoai are read without melodic inflection as a spoken prologue
to the antiphons of the Oktoechos (anavathmoi). The festal hypakoai are generally read after the Third Ode of
the Kanon, a long poem normally consisting of eight or nine sets of poetic tropes to the nine Biblical canticles
of Neo-Sabai'tic matins.
1 9
Egon Wellesz, A History of Byzantine Music and Hymnography, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961),
239-40.
2 0
Leonardo Cali, "Le ipacoe dell'octoichos bizantino," BolletinodeltaBadiaGrecadiGrottaferrata 19 (1965):
161.
2 1
Harris, "The Byzantine Responds," 2>~4.
2 2
The Sunday hypakoai, which are dependent on the eight-week Resurrectional of the Palestinian Oktoechos
present a special case that must be considered separately from the festal hymns. Cf. infra, pp. 76-77.
73
without psalm verses. A s Cardinal Pitra first noted in his late nineteenth-century description of
the texts and rubrics of the Corsinium T r o p o l o g i o n , the initial performance of an hypakoe
23
was once followed by a "orLxoAoyia" ("recitation by verse") of psalm verses, between which
the final phrase or "akroteleution" of the hymn was repeated. 24

In keeping, therefore, with its
literal meaning as a "respond," the hypakoe was once a form of antiphonal psalmody similar to
the Great Troparia still sung at the modern vigils of Christmas and Theophany 2 5
These vigil
responsorieswhich are transmitted with musical notation i n their full form by the Asmatikon
and P s a l t i k o n are typical Constantinopolitan compositions combining a psalm with a non-

26
scriptural troparion possessing an akroteleution. 2,7

The entire troparion is sung at the outset,
followed by the chanting of a psalm with the intercalation of the akroteleution after each verse.
The stichologia of the psalm concludes with a Gloria Patri, after which the full troparion is
once again sung as a perisse or "appendix." 28

Such fully realised antiphonal psalmody
appears to have been a pervasive element in earlier Constantinopolitan liturgy, but by the
second millennium some of these forms had fallen victim to the tendency i n Byzantium's
liturgical tradition to maintain non-scriptural refrains while suppressing Biblical stichologiai. 29
While the most famous example of this phenomenon is the Trisagion of the Byzantine Divine
Liturgy, the Great Church's cycle of hypakoai seems to have suffered a similar process of
2 3
A Tropologion is a collection of various types of troparia (short hymns) for the liturgical year.
2 4
Jean-Baptiste Pitra, Analecta Sacra Spicilegio Solesmensi, 1 (Paris: A. Jouby et Roger, 1876), 671-72.
2 5
Trempelas, EtcAoyrf EAATJI/LKTJS- 'Op8o86ov TpvoypcKpias; 1920. On the forms and terminology of
Byzantine psalmody, see the introductory chapter on "La psalmodie: ses genres" in Juan Mateos, La Celebration
de la parole dans la liturgie byzantine: Etude historique, OCA 191 (Rome: 1971), 7-26.
2 6
Cf. supra, p. 60.
2 7
Mateos discusses the vigil responsories in La celebration de la parole, 16-19.
2 8
Mateos ("Quelques problemes," 208) has suggested that in its antiphonal r-form, the hypakoe may have
been yet another Byzantine processional chant. Two possible contexts for the antiphonal performance of
hypakoai are: 1) at the end of an arriving stational procession originating outside the church grounds; or 2) as an
introit chant, in which case it would have been reduced to its refrain after being displaced by the variable
psalmody preceding the service in the nave. If one is to accept Mateos's hypothesis regarding the original form
of the hypakoe, the frequency of liturgical processions through the streets of Constantinople during Late
Antiquity (cf. Baldovin, The Urban Character, 211-13) makes the former somewhat more likely. The question
in either case, however, is to locate the missing prayers which must have accompanied processional
performances of hypakoai.
2 9
The offices of the Roman Rite, on the other hand, suppressed the repetition of the refrain between the verses
of & stichologia. See Robert Taft, "The Structural Analysis of Liturgical Units: An Essay in Methodology," in
Beyond East and West: Problems in Liturgical Understanding, NPM Studies in Church Music and H
(Washington, D . C : The Pastoral Press, 1984), 157-59.
74
decomposition, one that was apparently still i n progress during the M i d d l e Byzantine period,
for these hymns are regularly provided with two verses in copies of the P s a l t i k o n . 30
Another factor possibly contributing to the curtailment of the hypakoe were the forces
of melodic elaboration that began to transform certain ancient elements of the Byzantine musical
repertory i n the ninth and tenth century. 31

A s is the case with the kontakion, which also
underwent a drastic reduction during this period, it is presently unclear whether the processes
of melodic expansion actually caused the abridgement of the hypakoe, for it is also possible
that the advent of melismatic settings was merely facilitated by atrophy of the stichologia
attributable to other causes. Moreover, one cannot even be certain that syllabic performances
of hypakoaiwith or without their full complement of versesdid not continue to take place
after the composition of the florid repertories. 32
Determining the circumstances under which hypakoai were employed within the
"Sung" office of matins is almost as problematic as ascertaining their origins. In response to a
rubric of the Typikon of the Great Church for the fourth Tuesday i n L e n t 3 3
Mateos has
suggested that prefatory hypakoai were a regular fixture of ferial cathedral rite m a t i n s , 34
thus
presupposing a lost repertory of hymns for ordinary use. The musical manuscripts, which
contain only Sunday and festal hypakoai set i n a florid music style, suggest just the opposite
conclusion, namely that the hypakoe was a characteristic of festal liturgy. Only the fourteenth-
3 0
Some copies of the Asmatikon also include two verses for each Resurrectional Sunday hypakoe. See Di
Salvo, "Asmatikon," 144-45.
3 1
Oliver Strunk, "Some Observations on the Music of the Kontakion," in EMBW, 161.
3 2
The question of continued use of syllabic hypakoai after the appearance of the melismatic collections in the
Asmatikon and Psaltikon is analogous to that affecting the kontakia. With the exception of a single manuscript
(St. Petersburg gr. 674), notated kontakia are only transmitted in florid versions, even though the Typikon of
the Great Church calls for what surely must have been syllabic performances, e.g. the use of the prooimion to
the Christmas kontakion as a refrain for psalm 50 at the matins of 25 December (TGE I, 156).
3 3
TGE II, 40. According to Hagios Stavros 40, "eis TOV dpdpov ami rf/s- imaKor)s Xeyerai TTO&TOV
TpondpLov, rjx5 TTA. (}." Z'ljpepou TO Trpcxfirjrt/cdv rrerrArfpcorai A6yioi>y ("at matins, instead of the
hypakoe, the troparion Today the prophetic word is fulfilled is first sung in Mode Plagal II"), to which the
Patmos manuscripts adds "rai OVTQJS TI)V ivopStvov inraicorjv'' ("and thus the regular hypakoe"). On the
basis of this rubric, Mateos has stated that ferial matins began with an hypakoe or a troparion. In reality,
however, this is an instance of one hypakoe replacing another. Although classified as a kathisma in modern
service books, "Today the prophetic word" is listed as an hypakoe in Middle Byzantine Asmatika. Cf.
Bartolomeodi Salvo, "Asmatikon," Bollettino deltaBadiGrecadiGrottaferrata 16(1962): 147-48.
3 4
TGE I, xxiii-xiv.
75
century Oxford manuscript cited in the Typikon's critical apparatus includes directions for
35
such a festal performance. These state that an hypakoe was sung at Hagia Sophia on each of
the two Sundays before Christmas (the "Sunday of the H o l y Forefathers" and the "Sunday of
the Fathers") in the following m a n n e r : 36
loTeov on Kpovaavros TOV VXOV Karepxerai 6 Trarpidpxr\ VVKTOS
KOX elaepxerm 8td rfjs nXayiag eig TO Bvoiaorr\piov mi dvpiq. TT)V

dyCav TpdneCav.... ElQ ovrcog KaTepxeTat Std TTJS ocoXeias eig rag
irvXas K. TLdeig Tdrnqra orav ov<pddor\ 6 Sidrnvos, l a r a r a i .
Aiyovros TOV iiiXXovrog ipdXXeiv rf)v unaKoijv FvAdyrjcroi;, Secnrora,
eKiftcovei iacodev rfjs- nuXng- EvXoyqpei'ri rjflao-iAeia"Kai fierd TT)V
crvfiTrXrjpioaLi' TT)S vTraKofjg eloepxerai Kai npooKwet TOP rraTpidpxw
6 ipdXXaju Kai XayL$dvei voiuopa iv K TTJS aaKeXXr/s: Aiddaoi Si
TOVTOJ Kai rrpooqSopds di npecrftvTepoL, Kai Xapfidvovoi Ta KOTO TT)V
or\vTf)Qeiav voiiionaTog iv (sic) napd TOV naTpidpxov. Kai

TrXrjpojpevijs' rfjs' TTepioor)s VTraKof\g, eepxeTai 6 TraTpidpxrjS' Kai
laraTai npb TGJV dyitov TTVXUJV Kai ircnel TT)V evxw TOV npcoTov
<dvTt(pc6vov> Kai TJJV eKcpcovr/aiv, Kai nXripojaet, ocppayCCei perd
KTjpcov, dvfiia Kai dvipx^Tat. TOVTO yiveTai Kai T(J KvpiaKfj rfj
inepxofiivrj dnapaXXaKTcog TCOV rraTepajv. 37
One must know that as the wood [simantron] is being struck at night, the
patriarch descends and enters the sanctuary by the side door and censes the
altar.... H e passes through the solea to the doors where he meets the deacon,
who puts down a carpet on which the patriarch stands. After the cantor who
w i l l sing the hypakoe says "Master, Bless," the patriarch proclaims "Blessed be
the K i n g d o m " from inside the door. After the conclusion of the hypakoe, the
cantor enters, bows before the patriarch, and receives a coin from the treasury.
The presbyters also give the cantor gifts, and then receive their customary coin
from the patriarch. A n d after the completion of the hypakoe's perisse, the
patriarch departs and stands before the Holy Doors [of the chancel screen]. H e
recites the prayer of the first [antiphon] with its exclamation, after which he
blesses with the candles, censes, and ascends. This order is followed without
change on the following Sunday.
These rubrics exhibit several unusual features that are worthy of comment. In the first place,
the service does not begin as usual i n the narthex before the closed Royal Doors, but is
preceded by the descent of the patriarch from the sanctuary to the doors of the chancel screen,
3 5
Mateos describes MS Bodleian Auct. E. 5 10, dated " 1329," as a Cypriot adaptation of a Constantinopolitan
original (TGE I, v-vii)
3 6
Thus in the Oxford MS, which employs the Late Byzantine appellations for these Sundays that remain in use
today. MS Hagios Stavros 40 refers to them as the "Sunday before the Holy Fathers" and "The Sunday before
Christmas," while MS Patmos 266 calls them the "Sunday of the Holy Fathers" and "The Sunday Before
Christmas" (TGE I, 134).
3 7
TGE I, 134. In his otherwise excellent article on the hypakoai for the two Sundays before Christmas, Harris
("The Byzantine Responds," 4) seems to have missed this passage in the TGE entirely, and therefore assumes
that liturgical performances of hypakoai occurred only at monastic matins.
76
indicating that Hagia Sophia was already o p e n . 38

Secondly, the hypakoe is first sung by a
designated soloist who then ceremoniously receives a recompense from the patriarch and his
clergy, after which the priests i n turn each receive a monetary gift from the patriarch. The
distribution of these Christmas bonuses appears to have taken some time, for its conclusion is
synchronised with the perisse of the hypakoe, a variant final refrain which presupposes a
performance with verses. The musical requirements of these rubrics could easily have been
satisfied by a solo performance of the Psaltikon setting, followed either by a single choral
performance of the Asmatikon version or, more likely, by repeats of an akroteleution between
psalm verses that were capped by a choral c o d a . 39
A l l o w i n g for such peculiarities of the Advent ritual as the distribution of money, the
common element between its rubrics and those for the mid-Lenten hymn of the Cross is that the
Typikon of the Great Church places the hypakoe at the beginning of cathedral matins. It
therefore seems reasonable to suppose that the rest of the festal settings contained i n the
Psaltikon and the Asmatikon were sung at the same point i n the service. Somewhat harder to
locate within the Rite of the Great Church are the Sunday settings i n the eight modes, the
chanting of which presupposes some sort of observance of the Palestinian monastic rite's
eight-week cycle of Resurrectional hymnography. Given that Hagia Sophia already had its
own two-week cycle of p s a l m o d y , and that the monastic Oktoechos is completely ignored by
40
the classic documents of the Byzantine cathedral rite, it is difficult to reconcile their use i n the
"Sung" Office. It therefore remains to be seen if and when the choirs of the Great Church
3 8
This is especially curious because the two Sundays before Christmas are not designated by the Typikon as
occasions on which matins begins at the ambo, in which case the church would have been open.
3 9
This latter option would be in accordance with rubrics for the hypakoe on the same two Sundays before
Christmas from the twelfth-century Studite Typikon of the monastery of Evergetis in Constantinople. The
Evergetis Typikon calls for an initial solo performance of the entire hymn, followed by a conducted choral
performance by the monastic assembly ("ineLra 6 Xaos perd x^^poôfxias"), leading into two solo verses
intercalated by choral akroteleutia (Dmitrievskii, Opisanie I, 33940). Di Salvo also notes that the Evergetis
and Messina Studite Typika also require conducted performances of the Great Troparia of Christmas and
Epiphany, a method of choral presentation associated with the florid repertories of the Psaltikon and Asmatikon.
On the question of conducted performances of Byzantine chant, see Bartolomeo di Salvo, "Qualche appunto sulla
chironomia nella music bizantina," OCP 22 (1957): 194-98; and Moran, Singers, 38-47. The melodies of the
Asmatikon and Psaltikon for the hypakoai on the two Sundays before Christmas are analysed and partially
transcribed in Harris, "The Byzantine Responds," 4-15.
4 0
Cf. Mateos, "Quelques problemes," 19.
77
superimposed the weekly change of mode according to the Sabai'ticriteon their shorter asmatic
cycle. 41
The Prayers and Psalms
The order for matins in the Constantinopolitan Euchologies begins with a series of eight
"morning prayers" ("evxcd eujOnvaC) meant to accompany the eight introductory psalmodic
antiphons of the weekday office 4 2

The first antiphon was fixed, always consisting of Psalms
3,62, and 133 accompanied by the refrain "Glory to Thee, O Lord." The other seven
antiphons of weekday matins were variable texts drawn from the two-week-cycle of the
"Distributed Psalter." 43
On Sundays, the variable pensum of psalmody from the
Antiphonarion was replaced by a triple antiphon formed from Psalm 118, which is known in
Byzantine liturgical terminology as "Amomos" after the intonation of its first antiphon ("01
dficofioL ev 6S1S"). This long acrostic psalm is mentioned by Basil as a component of the
fourth-century Cappadocian Sunday vigil. 44

In the "Sung"riteof Hagia Sophia, the Amomos
was sung in three antiphons. The Antiphonaria record that the first antiphon (Ps. 118:1-72)
4 1
If the hypakoe is in fact a Constantinopolitan form of hymnography native to the cathedral rite, it is possible
that in the process of grafting asmatic material onto the Palestinian monastic office, the monks of Studios
created a new cycle of resurrectional hypakoai to add to the Oktoechos. This hypothesis, however, is undercut
by Mateos's (unfootnoted) assertion that the first, fourth, and seventh resurrectional hypakoai are possibly the
oldest hymns in the cycle of Sunday propers ("Quelques problemes, 207). Alternately, the Palestinian
provenance of the term "hypakoe" suggests that the hymns could be of Hagiopolite origin, perhaps being derived
from some responsorial form cultivated in the cathedral rite of the Holy City. If this latter hypothesis is correct,
the eight-week resurrectional cycle could have been imported into Constantinople during the period of mutual
borrowing between the cathedralritesof the two cities. This would also explain the lack of accompanying
prayers in the Constantinopolitan Euchologies.
4 2
The eight morning prayers are translated into French and extensively discussed in Arranz, "Les prieres
presbyterales des matines byzantines," 411436.
4 3
Based on certain rubrics in the TGE requiring up to twenty-five daily "antiphons," Strunk raised the
possibility that the cycle of psalmodic distribution in Athens 2061 represented a late Byzantine curtailment of an
earlier system ("The Byzantine Office," 128-30). Arranz has rejected this hypothesis as incompatible with the
evidence of the earliest Euchologies, the prayers of which match the distribution of the Thessalonian
Antiphonaria. With regard to the twenty-five antiphons, Arranz offers instead the suggestion that these clearly
peripheral rubrics may refer to the parallel offices of the monks attached to Hagia Sophia. See "L'office de
l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 405-10.
4
Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 41, 86-87, 177. The basic musical study of the Amomos and its place in
4
the Byzantine Rite is Diane Touliatos-Banker, The Byzantine Amomos Chant of the Fourteenth and Fifteen
Centuries, Analecta Vlatadon 46 (Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1984).
78
employed an "Alleluia" refrain and was accompanied by the offering of incense. 45

The
response " G i v e me understanding, O L o r d " ("ZvveTieov /j.e, Kvpte") was appended to the
verses of the middle antiphon (Ps. 118:73-131). A t the conclusion of the third and final
antiphon (Ps. 118:132-76), which, like the first portion of the A m o m o s , was accompanied by
the refrain "Alleluia," the clergy and congregation made their entry into the nave 4 6
A variation
on this practice is recorded by the Typikon of the Great Church, which requires the
intercalation of a lengthier troparion between the two verses sung immediately before the
entrance on three Sundays of the movable season. 47

W h i l e there is no reason to doubt that on
Sundays the first prayer remained tied to the first antiphon, it is presently unknown how the
seven remaining prayers were matched with the three Sunday antiphons.
The eight morning prayers of the Euchology constitute a rather curious collection of
texts. Despite their appellation, Arranz has observed that the prayers rarely speak of the
morning per se, but refer to arising from sleep in a manner equally suitable to a nocturnal
vigil. 4 8
Beyond this common temporal presupposition, several other themes appear repeatedly
among the prayers: 1) requests for divine aid to accomplish the act of prayer accompanied by
supplication for its acceptance [Prayers 1-8]; 2) consciousness of being i n the presence of G o d
[1,2, and 4-6]; and 3) requests for spiritual instruction or illumination [2-4, and 7] 4 9
What
is entirely missing from these prayers are the expected direct references to the particular
circumstances of their recitation and quotations from the Psalter. 50

W h i l e a somewhat generic
approach to thematic content might be understandable for the prayers paired with variable
4 5
Athens 2061 (f. 23v) entitles the setting for Ps. 118:12 "OvfiLaTos," while Athens 2062 (f. 40r) provides the
same verse with the heading "TOVTO Aiyerai eig TOV OvfiiaTov* ("this [verse] is sung at the censing").
1
4 6
T G E II, 181. Cf. Athens 2061, f. 25r; Athens 2062, f. 43v.
4 7
The days in question are the first Sunday of Lent, Easter Sunday, and the Sunday of Antipascha ("Low
Sunday" or the Sunday after Easter in English terminology). Cf. T G E II, 21, 92, 108.
4 8
Arranz, "Les prieres presbytrales des matines byzantines," 435-36.
4 9
Ibid., 435.
5 0
Arranz has identified possible direct references to the order of "Sung" matins only in prayers 1 and 8 of the
series, both of which are extremely tenuous and could easily receive alternative interpretations. He suggests that
the idea of standing in the presence of the glory of God encountered in the First Morning Prayer could be an
oblique reference to Psalm 133 (ibid., 413), while the Eighth Prayer's request for a blessing upon "our entries
and departures" (cf. I Kings 29:6, Ps. 120:8) might be in preparation for the coming procession into the nave
(ibid., 424).
79
antiphons, even the prayer of the first fixed antiphon, although thematically not uncharacteristic
for a prayer of introduction to an office, fails to quote a single verse from any of the three
accompanying p s a l m s . 51
Taken together, these characteristics have led Arranz to suspect that
the eight morning prayers of the Euchologies were pre-existent orations for nocturnal vigils of
heterogeneous (i.e. urban monastic/cathedral) origin that were later collected within the
Constantinopolitan cathedral euchology. 52
Further monastic traits may be discerned i n the antiphonal psalmody that accompanied
the morning prayers. A s we have already seen, continuous psalmody was originally a monastic
practice that was adapted for cathedral use beginning in the late fourth century. 53
The variable
antiphons of the "Distributed Psalter" chanted at weekday matins were presumably nothing
other than Byzantine equivalents to the 'cathedralised' continuous psalmody prefixed to the
Hagiopolite cathedral vigil witnessed by Egeria. In addition, Arranz has suggested that the
invariable unit of three psalms that begin the service may itself be the product of a monastic
environment 54
Fixed psalmody appropriate to the hour is, of course, normally a characteristic
of cathedral liturgy, and it may also be recalled that Psalm 62 is the invariable morning psalm
of matins i n the Apostolic Constitutions. Nevertheless, Arranz points out that Psalms 3 and
133 are classic nocturnal psalms i n other ancient traditions, and that Psalm 62 may alternatively
be interpreted as referring to the period before d a w n . 55

This leads h i m to propose that the three
fixed psalms of asmatic matins may be a descendent of a pre-matutinal vigil of psalms and
prayers, a view that is indeed consistent with the content of the eight morning prayers. H e
further suggests the Egyptian monastic synaxis of twelve psalms described by C a s s i a n and 56
5 1
Ibid., 411-14.
5 2
Ibid., 425.
5 3
Cf. supra, pp. 34-37.
5 4
Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," 411-12.
5 5
Ibid., 412. Cf. Ps. 62: 7, "ei ep.vT)u6vev6v aov em TT\S OTpcoiivfjs uoif ("I remembered Thee upon my
bed").
5 6
Whether an "Office of the Twelve Psalms" ever existed in the form given by this church father has been
questioned by Taft, who has suggested that Cassian may have conflated various practices that he observed during
his stay in Egypt. See The Liturgy of the Hours, 58-62.
80
the weekday psalmody of Egeria's monazontes and parthenae as possible ancestors to the
Byzantine cathedral rite's office i n the narthex. 57
O n reflection, the present author believes that the correct analogy to Byzantine practice
is not to be found in purely monastic models, but in the 'cathedralised' prefatory psalmody of
the Resurrectional vigil observed by Egeria. A s i n the Jerusalem Sunday vigil, the celebrants
involved in the daily Constantinopolitan office were not monks, but the cathedral's clergy and
singers. In addition, the variable antiphons sung at Hagia Sophia were furnished with refrains
after the fashion of traditional cathedral psalmody. Moreover, the replacement of the weekday
Constantinopolitan office's variable psalmody with a fixed triple antiphon gave the opening
portion of asmatic Sunday matins an even stronger cathedral flavour than the corresponding
section of the early Hagiopolite vigil, which featured psalmody of indeterminate length. A
structure of three prayers and psalms analogous to the asmatic series was employed i n
Jerusalem only for the episcopal service celebrated inside the Anastasis. 58
The dominance of a cathedral spirit in the introductory portion of asmatic matins
becomes even more evident when its psalmody is subjected to closer scrutiny. According to
the notated Antiphonaria, the fixed and variable psalms for the introductory sections of asmatic
matins and vespers employed a common f o r m a t . 59

After the penultimate petition of the
preceding diaconal litany, a soloist interjects a florid exclamation that establishes the mode,
cadential formulas, and refrain of the following psalmodic antiphon. The deacon subsequently
concludes the litany, after which the celebrant pronounces the appropriate prayer with its
ecphonesis. 60
The antiphon proper begins with a florid solo rendition of the first verse and
5 7
Arranz, "Les prieres presbyt&ales des marines byzantines," 412.
5 8
Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 55. It should also be noted that three-antiphon units of psalms and prayers
were pervasively employed in Byzantine cathedral liturgy. Every "Sung" office except matins featured such a
construction, while stational processions were little more than repetitions of such units. See Miguel Arranz,
"La liturgie des heures selon l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," in Eulogia: Miscellanea liturgica in onore di P.
BurkhardNeunheuser, Studia Anselmiana 68=Analecta Liturgica 1 (Rome: Editrice Anselmiana, 1979),
and Baldovin, The Urban Character, 214-18.
5 9
The Middle Byzantine settings of the Vespers of Pentecost also conform to this order. The texts and rubrics
from several sources are printed in Conomos, "Music for the Evening Office on Whitsunday," 460-64.
6 0
It is uncertain from the Middle Byzantine sources whether celebrants still read aloud the entire text of each
office prayer, or only sang the final exclamations. As early as the sixth century there is evidence that the
prayers of the Byzantine sacraments were being recited silently. See John Meyendorff, "Continuities and
81
refrain, followed immediately by a repetition of the same text by the first choir in a simpler
style. The entry of the first choir signals the start of the stichologia, during which the choruses
alternate the remaining verses of the psalm, adding the refrain after every verse. A t the
conclusion of the stichologia, the soloist chants a final florid refrain. Based on the music of the
introduction, this coda is referred to as either aperisse or a diegermos ("Sieyepfios?"). 61
The apparent complexity of asmatic psalmody conceals an antiphonal structure
incorporating the ancient urban multiplicity of liturgical roles with prescribed parts for clergy,
soloists, choirs, and presumably the laity as well. Although neither of the notated Antiphonaria
explicitly call for lay participation i n their antiphonal psalms, a Middle Byzantine musical
source for the Vespers of Pentecost assigns not only the refrains, but also the psalm verses to
the assembly ("Xaos"). 62

In any case, the brevity and constant repetition of the
Antiphonarion's refrains would appear to make them well suited to the capabilities of laity.
The inner workings of this form and the contribution made by each participant in the
ordinary psalmody of the Great Church may be discerned by comparing the following textual
outline of the first antiphon of asmatic matins with the corresponding musical setting for
Sunday i n the first week from Athens 2061 (Example 1):
[Deacon: Litany of Peace through the petition 'AvriAa8ov...Tfj of} x<zp -\ LTL
Domestikos: Kal viwuyoa. A6a ooi, 6 Oeog.

Deacon: Conclusion of the Litany
Priest: Ecphonesis of the First Morning Prayer
Domestikos: 'Aprjv. 'Eyco eKoiprjOnv rat vnvcooa. A6a ooi, 6 Qeos.
Choir 1: V . 'Eyco iKOipijdnv mi vnvoooa.
R. A6a ooi, 6 Qeos.
The choirs chant all three psalms in alternation to the same melody,
concluding with a Gloria Patri.
Domestikos: A6a ooi, 6 Oeos' A6a ooi, 6 Oe6$-
A6a ooi 6 Qeog.
Discontinuities in Byzantine Religious Thought," DOP 47 (1993): 76. Cf. Panagiotes Trempelas, "L'audition
de l'anaphore eucharistique par le peuple," in L'glise et les eglises: Etudes et travaux offerts a Dom Lambert
Beauduin , vol. 2 (Chevetogne: 1955), 207-20.
Derived from the verb "Sieyeipco" ("I arouse"), the term might be loosely translated as a "cue" or "signal" to
6 1
the deacon that his next litany is about to commence.

6 2
MS Grottaferrata F. ft. 35. See Conomos, "Music for the Evening Office," 462.
82
a. Solo Intonation.
b. After the Ecphonesis.
c. Perisse.
Example 1: The First Antiphon of Sunday Matins ( M S Athens 2061, Week 1).
83
The domestikos, a soloist and one the leaders of the small professional c h o i r , announces the
63
coming antiphon with a fragment of Psalm 3:6a ("And I slept") and the refrain "Glory to Thee,
O G o d " (Example la.). This moderately florid interjection concludes with a cadential figure
signaling the deacon to resume the litany. After the celebrant's ecphonesis, the soloist
responds " A m e n " and chants the entire text of Psalm 3:6a (Example l b ) , adding a short new
musical passage for the portion of the verse previously omitted ("1 fell asleep"). A t the
conclusion of the soloist's refrain, the cadential figure of Example l a (last syllable) is replaced
by a transition into a model choral setting of the same text, the formulaic music of which is then
employed by the chorus for the remaining verses of the antiphon. In addition to providing an
efficient vehicle for the stichologia, the relative simplicity of the second setting's reciting tone is
indicative of a hierarchy of musical idioms reflecting the different capabilities of soloists and
choirs. The antiphon concludes with a solo perisse (Example l c ) that presents a modified
recapitulation of the domestikos's initial melody, including its final cadence.
Unfortunately, none of the settings for the first antiphon of Sunday matins in the two
Late Byzantine Antiphonaria provides the complete music for the congregational refrain "Glory
to Thee, O G o d . " The setting of the same text for the matins of Monday i n Athens 2062,
however, offers two stylistic approaches (Example 2). The first and more elaborate option, for
which a suitable psalm-tone is provided (Example 2b), is to repeat the soloist's refrain after
each choral verse (Example 2a). A second choral psalm-tone, labeled "irepov KOLudrepov"
("a more common alternative"), 64

leads into a much simpler refrain (Example 2 c ) . 65
While
neither refrain is particularly difficult to sing or beyond the capability of a congregation to
6 3
The leadership of Hagia Sophia's choir of twenty-five professional singers during the Middle Byzantine period
included two domestikoione for each 'week' of choristerswho served under the overall command of a musical
director known variably as the "primikerios," "archon of the kontakia," or the "domestikos of the ambo." See
Moran, Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting, 15-19.
6 4
A rubric attached to the corresponding Monday morning setting in Athens 2061's cycle for the first week
(f. 2v) impartially offers the same stylistic choice " 'And xP > tydAAe olov ftovAei elre rd Sua) elre TO
0V
KOTO? ("For the choir, sing whichever you wish, either the setting above or the one below").
6 5
The scribe's observation regarding the customary asmatic practice is substantiated by the psalmodic ordinaries
of Antiphonaria, in which the vast majority of antiphons employ similar unadorned psalm-tones and refrains.
See, for example, the psalm-tones and refrains transcribed in Strunk, "The Byzantine Office," 119, 122,124,
126, 133.
a. Sololntonation. i
EE
3tz
0 Ao' - fcct. croc o 0U* -tu -1 - of
b. Choral Psalm-Tone.
A u
c. Alternate Choral Psalm-Tone.
Example 2: The First Antiphon of Monday Matins ( M S Athens 2062).

85
repeat after several hearings, the second would appear to be a more fitting congregational
response for normal occasions, raising the possibility that the first is a festal variant. These
considerations, together with the fact that the cadence of the choral psalm-tone i n Example 1
does not prepare the entry of the soloist's refrain, lead one to suspect that the missing Sunday
refrain for the first antiphon was relatively short and perhaps considered too familiar to be
notated. 66
A n alternate repertory of highly elaborate chants for the first antiphon of cathedral
matins, previously misidentified as music for the Hexapsalmos of Sabai'tic matins, are
transmitted i n three copies of the A s m a , a thirteenth-century collection of kalophonic chants
contained in South-Italian manuscripts. A similar but unfortunately incomplete version of the
same antiphon is also appended to the Asmatikon Kastoria 8 from mainland Greece. In each
case, the antiphon is presented as a collection of individual psalm verses accompanied by the
usual asmatic refrain "Glory to Thee, O G o d . " 6 7

The verses occasionally quote syllabic psalm-
tones at their openings, but are otherwise through-composed virtuoso pieces employing typical
kalophonic techniques of embellishment i n various combinations, including textual repetition,
highly melismatic passages, and interludes featuring nonsense syllables. 68

Although their
exact origins and the rules for their liturgical use are presently unknown, one might conclude
on stylistic grounds that these settings of the first antiphon of asmatic matins are cathedral rite
precursors to the florid psalmody that flooded the fourteenth-century monastic rite after the
musical reforms of John Koukouzeles and his colleagues. 69
6 6
Frequently sung chants rarely appear in Byzantine manuscripts. An extreme example of this phenomenon is
the early Christian vesper hymn Phos hilaron. Even though Basil referred to this hymn as ancient in the fourth
century, the earliest known notated setting is from the seventeenth century. Cf. Kenneth Levy, "Byzantine rite,
music of the," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 3, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: 1980),
555, 557; Edward V. Williams, "John Koukouzeles' Reform of Byzantine Chanting for Great Vespers in the
Fourteenth Century," (Ph.D. diss., Yale University), 403-07.
6 7
Di Salvo's comparative index to the repertory of the Asma ("Gli asmata," 128-31) lists the individual verses
contained in three manuscripts, together with their modes.
6 8
Levy provides a short summary of theriseof the kalophonic style in "Byzantine rite, music of the," 559-60.
On the interpolation of meaningless syllables, see Dimitri Conomos, Byzantine Trisagia and Cheroubika of the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1974), 262-86.
6 9
See, for example, the settings quoted in Edward V. Williams, "The Kalophonic Tradition and Chants for the
Polyeleos Psalm 134," Studies in Eastern Chant 4, ed. MiloS Velimirovid (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir's
Seminary Press, 1979), 235-41.
86
The first antiphon appears in the Asma at the head of the entire kalophonic collection
and is divided into two major sections. After a heading announcing the beginning of the
Asma, 70
the first group of verses in each manuscript commences with an elaborate version of
the soloist's introductory interjection "Kai imvo)oa. A6a ooi, 6 Oeos " (Example 3). This
1
is followed in the manuscripts by six additional verses, beginning with Psalm 3: 2 ( L X X ) . A
preliminary comparison of the repertories of Messina gr. 161 and Grottaferrata r. y. VII made
for the present study revealed that not only are each of the verses highly individual in their
melodic content, but also that the two manuscripts often transmit different musical settings of
the same text, of which the Messina versions are generally the more elaborate.
71
The second group of verses in the Asma are taken from the remaining two psalms of
the morning antiphon. Generally less elaborate than their predecessors, they are all set in mode
II, traits which are reflected in the headings of Messina gr. 161 ("Beginning of the Little
Verses") and Grottaf errata r. y. VII ("Beginning of Mode I I ) 72

The first composition in the
series is Ps. 62:2 ( L X X ) , followed by differing numbers of additional verses in each source.
Messina gr. 161, however, is the only manuscript to include texts from Psalm 133, inserting
two settings before the final two half-verses of Psalm 6 2 . 73

Both of these latter compositions
begin in the middle of their respective half-verse (Ps. 133: l a and lb) with the same transition
from a syllabic psalm tone that was probably employed for the missing opening portions of
their texts. After this point, they diverge rapidly, with the setting of verse l a continuing in a
mildly florid manner not unlike the solo intonations of the Antiphonarion (Example 4), while
verse lb commences with a short teretism that prefaces a series of repetitions of the psalm text
(Example 5). Following the last of the psalm verses, the musical settings of the Asma
7 0
The title is " 'Apxfj TOV gofiaTog" ("Beginning of the Asma") in Mess. gr. 161 and Grott. r. y. VII, and
Sw 6ec2 TO gaua* ("With God, the Asma") in Grott. r.y. VI (Di Salvo, "Gli asmata," 128-29).
v
7 1
This is also evident from the variations in modal designations in Di Salvo's index (ibid.).
7 2
Ibid.
7 3
The curious placement of Ps. 133 out of sequence in Mess. gr. 161 and its absence in the other two settings
of the Asma may be explained by the fact that the South Italian manuscripts were copied for use in a monastic
context. Since Ps. 133 has no place at matins in the Palestinian monasticrite,its suppression may be evidence
of adaptation for use during the Sabai'tic Hexapsalmos.
Example 3: Ps. 3:6a (MS Grottaferrata f. y. VII).
88
c o n c l u d e i n a l l o f the manuscripts w i t h e x t r e m e l y m e l i s m a t i c v e r s i o n s o f the first antiphon's
solo coda "A6a aoi, 6 &e6s"."
T h e m u s i c f o r the first antiphon o f B y z a n t i n e cathedral matins i n K a s t o r i a 8 i n c l u d e s
five verses f r o m P s a l m 3 and eight verses f r o m P s a l m 6 2 . 7 4

T h e s e are set i n M o d e II a n d
e m p l o y a r e l a t i v e l y modest m e l o d i c i d i o m a k i n t o that o f the " L i t t l e V e r s e s " o f the S o u t h Italian
manuscripts. T h e character o f these m e l o d i e s m a y b e seen f r o m the first verse o f K a s t o r i a 8
( E x a m p l e 6 ) , w h i c h proves to be a s i m p l i f i e d v e r s i o n o f the c o r r e s p o n d i n g setting i n
Grottaferrata T. y. V I I . A f t e r the b e g i n n i n g o f P s a l m 6 2 , the chants b e c o m e e v e n m o r e c o m p a c t
( E x a m p l e 7 ) . D u e to the absence o f the manuscript's final f o l i o s , the first a n t i p h o n abruptly
c o n c l u d e s i n K a s t o r i a 8 i n the m i d d l e o f P s . 6 2 : 8 . A s a result, i t cannot be d e t e r m i n e d i f verses
f r o m P s a l m 133 w e r e o r i g i n a l l y i n c l u d e d i n the manuscript.
2. M o r n i n g Psalmody at the Ambo
A s noted above, the Typikon of the Great Church records that the c e r e m o n i a l entrance
o f the l i t u r g i c a l assembly into the nave w a s a c c o m p l i s h e d o n S u n d a y s d u r i n g the final verses o f
Psalm 118. 7 5
I n the course o f this p r o c e s s i o n , the singers w o u l d cross a l l f o u r o f the m a r b l e
green bands o n the f l o o r o f H a g i a S o p h i a i n order to assume their proper p o s i t i o n s at the a m b o
l o c a t e d i n the eastern h a l f o f the n a v e . A t the same t i m e , the various classes o f b e l i e v e r s w o u l d
assume their usual p l a c e s i n the nave, aisles, and galleries o f the G r e a t C h u r c h 7 6
A c c o r d i n g to M a j e s k a , the a m b o o f H a g i a S o p h i a w a s c o m p l e t e l y e n c l o s e d b y the
f o u r t h m a r b l e b a n d ( F i g u r e 2), w h i c h appears to have m a r k e d o f f the area restricted to the
clergy. 7 7
F r o m the detailed s i x t h - c e n t u r y d e s c r i p t i o n b y P a u l S i l e n t i a r i u s , i t is apparent that the
7 4
On folios 80v-83v, Kastoria 8 contains the following verses: Ps. 3:6a, 4-7; and Ps. 62: 2, 3a, 4b, 5b, 6b,
7b, 8b.
7 5
T G E II, 181. Cf. supra, p. 78, n. 46.
7 6
The literary sources are not completely consistent regarding the placement of the different classes of laity
within Hagia Sophia. A good summary of the arguments advanced by various scholars is given by Rowland J.
Mainstone, Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Sturcture and Liturgy of Justinian's Great Church (New York:
and Hudson, 1988), 229-30. Cf. Taft, review of Strube, Die westliche Eingangsseite, O C P 42 (1976):
296-303.
7 7
George P. Majeska, "Notes on the Archeology of St. Sophia: The Green Marble Bands on the Floor,"
DOP 32 (1978): 301, 303. Arguing against the laity's permanent exclusion from this portion of the nave is
89
^0 *V au - Wf 01 - W ft " 1*. U U to. HI
M ^ ta at w. at -t* a. ict utf xt VL -ct -ce. re. Qt - M hf**

Example 5: Ps. 133:1b (MS Messina gr. 161).
4^
4*
A irvw - e r a - _
, Q
ho - J*- -01
1'JP 17 n ' a J r - r - r*in

-
^
J 1
* 1
*
Example 6: Ps. 3:6a (MS Kastoria 8).
Example 7: Ps. 62:4b (MS Kastoria 8).
Paul Silentiarius's testimony that the faithful pressed around the solea as a priest passed through it on his way
to the sanctuary from the ambo (quoted in Mainstone, Hagia Sophia, 229). On the other hand, when the large
number of readers and other lower clergy who remained outside of the sanctuary is taken into consideration, it
would appear that excluding the congregation from the area behind the fourth band on most occasions would
have been eminently practical.
90
* * *M
Green Line Preserved

Line of Strip Preserved in Pavement
Conjectural Continuation of Strip
Figure 2. The placement of the ambo i n Hagia Sophia, Constantinople. From George P.
Majeska, "Notes on the Archeology of St. Sophia: The Green Marble Bands on the Floor,"
D O P 3 2 ( 1 9 7 8 ) : 301.
91
ambo of Hagia Sophia represented an amplification and elaboration of the two-stair platforms
that adorned numerous early churches in Asia M i n o r . 78

It is described as a raised oval
platform resting on eight columns that was flanked by matching staircases to the east and west.
This structure rested in turn on a wider raised plinth that was bordered by two crescent-shaped
barriers, each of which was constructed of four columns connected below by marble parapets
and above by an architrave. Two lateral entryways to the ambo are mentioned, one to the
southeast and another to the northwest, although there is disagreement among scholars as to
whether these doors were in the outer barrier or between the columns supporting the central
79
platform. 80
Another matter presently in dispute is whether or not the ambo possessed gates to
the West. 81
In any case, it is generally agreed that at its eastern end the ambo opened onto the
solea, a walled passageway leading to the gates of the sanctuary's chancel barrier. 82
According to the description of Paul Silentiarius, Hagia Sophia's small professional
choir sang from the "cavern" underneath the ambo's central platform. 83
From rubrics in the
Typikon of the Great Church requiring soloists to ascend the ambo, 84

Moran has concluded
that singers left their ordinary place in the cavern and mounted the ambo's steps at moments of
heightened solemnity. The placement of the larger but less musically accomplished corps of
85
readers, numbering 160 in the novel promulgated by the Emperor Heraclius in the year 612, 86
is more difficult to ascertain. The area enclosed by the outer walls of the ambo can be
Stephen G. Xydis, "The Chancel Barrier, Solea, and Ambo of Hagia Sophia," Art Bulletin 29 (1947):
7 8
14-15.
Xydis, "The Chancel Barrier," 14, 23.
7 9
Neil K. Moran, "The Musical 'Gestaltung' of the Great Entrance Ceremony in the 12th Century in
8 0
Accordance with the Rite of Hagia Sophia," JOB 28 (1979): 182-84; and idem, Singers in Late Byzantine and
Slavonic Painting, 27-28.
8 1
Mainstone, Hagia Sophia, 245. Cf. the works of Moran and Xydis cited in the two preceding notes.
Majeska, "The Green Marble Bands," 308.
8 2
8 3
Moran, Singers, 27-28.
8 4
TGE II, 281.
8 5
Moran, Singers, 28.
8 6
Nov. I, "TTepi TOV coptopivov elvat TOV dpiOpov TWV KXrjpiKwv rffS dyuoTaTrjg MeydXrjs
'EKKXrptas KajvoTavTLvovrrdXeas Kal rife dyCas OCOTOKOV rffe iv BXaxipvatg Tipapivqs, in pfjv
Kal TCOV iv rolg ScfxpiKioig igwqpeTovpivav rfj re etprjpivr} MeydXr) EKKXrpia Kal TU dyiaiTdTqi
TTaTpidpxr}." Text and commentary in Johannes Konidaris, "Die Novellen des Kaisers Herakleios," chap, in
Dieter Simon, ed., Pontes Minores V, Forschungen zur byzantinischen Rechtsgeschichte 8 (Frankfurt
Lowenklau Gesellschaft, 1982), 62-72 [text], 94-100 [commentary].
92
immediately eliminated, for it would have been much too small to contain so many singers.
One possible location may be inferred from the account by the Silentiarius, which mentions an
occasion when groups of singers occupied the cathedral's two eastern exedrae. 87
Readers
placed in the exedrae, however, would have had problems of coordination with the musical
director and singers some fifteen-odd meters away in the ambo. It would therefore seem more
logical to suppose that the readers were stationed behind the cathedral's fourth green band and
somewhere around the ambo's outer parapets.
The Benedicite
Without further orational introduction, on Sundays and feast days the singers began
88
the office in the nave with the second canticle from the Septuagint book of Daniel (3:57-88),
referred to in Western liturgical parlance as the Benedicite? 9

This song of thanksgiving
signaled a general change of mood and substance as the sense of preparation pervading the
psalmody sung in the narthex gave way to a traditional cathedral office of morning praise
chanted under the magnificent central dome. From the notated Antiphonaria, it would appear
that the Hymn of the Three Children was not sung with a refrain other than the one already
included in the Biblical text The two Sunday ordinaries of Athens 2061 and the single musical
setting of Athens 2062 transmit the same model verse for this canticle:
8 7
Moran (Singers, 28) suggests that this may have been a special formation for the two choirs on occasions
when the centre of the church would have been the focus of a coronation or some other extraordinary event.
Mainstone (Hagia Sophia, 229), however, maintains that the professional chorus was not included in this
formation.
8 8
The Late Byzantine Antiphonaria require the chanting of the Benedicite at every asmatic matins. Outside of
the Paschal season, when it also requires this canticle to be sung daily, the Middle Byzantine T G E specifically
mentions its use only on certain solemn or festal occasions, leading Mateos to conclude that it was otherwise
omitted (TGE I, xxiii-xxiv; II, 296, 309). Although Mateos never explicitly classifies ordinary Sunday matins
as ferial or festal, its inclusion of the Great Doxology places it in the latter category. Furthermore, as Taft
("Mount Athos," 189) has pointed out, the Benedicite is a typical Sunday canticle "right across the traditions"
of Christian liturgy.
8 9
Arranz ("Les prieres presbytdrales des matines byzantines," 409; and "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 126)
groups this canticle with the service sung in the narthex, presumably because it lacks a new prayer separating it
from the preceding portion of the matins. The Antiphonaria and the T G E are quite specific, however, that the
entrance was made on Sundays during the concluding verses of the Amomos. For this reason, and because of the
Benedicite's thematic incompatibility with the prayers recited in the narthex, the present author agrees with
Mateos in assigning this canticle to the morning office in the nave (TGE I, xxiii).
93
(| jj ^ J t; 6 f/f/ i' f. J
r CJ-T t; f/ ci 1
| [ 0 ' l J J ; N ' J V . f # j ! ? j Ki .MHIIJ II

f
Example 8: Daniel 3:57 ( M S Athens 2061).
The first portion of this melody is a choral psalm-tone which would have been applied to the
remaining verses as they were performed antiphonally by the choirs, while the second is a
refrain suited for congregational use. In a practice not mentioned by the Typikon of the Great
Church, the Antiphonaria mandate the chanting of Marian troparion "He TO dTropdrjTou
Telxog," cited only by its incipit, at the conclusion of the Benedicite. 9,9
The next segment of asmatic Sunday matins consisted of Psalm 50 and its
accompanying "Ninth Prayer of the Fiftieth P s a l m " from the Euchology. U n l i k e the first
90
eight preceding orations, the Ninth Prayer is, as Arranz has shown, a true "psalmic prayer." 91
The Constantinopolitan prayer not only includes many clear references to the biblical text, but
also parallels the psalm in its thematic development, progressing from penitence to spiritual
renewal. These explicit links to the circumstances of its recitation allow the prayer to be further
identified as a traditional cathedral rite text.
Although not part of the fourthbcentury Hagiopolite office observed by Egeria, Psalm
50 was a common element of cathedral matins in other Christian rites of East and West,
including the early Cappadocian vigil described by B a s i l 9 2

L i k e all the preceding psalms of
matins in the Rite of the Great Church, it was chanted i n an antiphonal manner with a refrain.
Instead of a brief phrase like those encountered previously, a short troparion known as a
8 9
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 141, 145.
90 xf} TOV N' 9m in the earliest manuscripts. See ibid., 128.
m
9 1
Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," 426-28.
9 2
Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 41, 212.
94
"pentekostarion" 94
was intercalated between its verses. T h e Typikon of the Great Church
includes a total of one hundred and thirty-eight proper pentekostaria for the liturgical year to
replace an ordinary cycle of these hymns that it assumes but does not p r o v i d e . 95
A s Arranz
has observed, this relatively modest number of proper pentekostaria offered the faithful the
opportunity of memorising the entire festal repertory without great d i f f i c u l t y . 96

Having done
so, on many occasions they would thus have known the entire festal proper for matins, for the
special refrain for Psalm 50 was frequently the only hymn calling attention to the
commemoration of the d a y . 97
Cycles of ordinary pentekostaria are transmitted i n the Late Byzantine Antiphonaria.
The two asmatic ordinaries of Athens 2061 include musical settings of pentekostaria for every
day of the week except Sunday, for which there are rubrics stating that Psalm 50 was to be
sung with the "pentekostarion of the mode [of the w e e k ] . " 98

Eight Sunday Resurrectional
refrains appear without musical notation in an appendix on the last folio of Athens 2061 that
appears to have all but escaped the attention of scholars. 99

Resembling the weekday texts in
their c o n c i s i o n , 100
they are brief monostrophic statements combining a reference to the
Resurrection with personal supplication. These qualities may be seen i n the pentekostarion of
the fourth plagal mode:
9 4
" TTevrqKOOTdptov," derived from the adjective "fiftieth" {"nevTrfKoaTog").
9 5
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 148-53, 155. On the Sunday before Lent (Cheesefare Sunday),
the T G E (II, 8) gives the text of two proper pentekostaria after a rubric stating that they are to follow an
unspecified resurrectional refrain.
9 6
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 155.
9 7
Ibid., 147; cf. TGE II, 324.
9 8
E.g. "Els 8e TOV N TO TIevrr}KO<rrdpLOv TOV rfcoy," MS Athens 2061, f. 25 r.
v
9 9
MS Athens 2061, f. 23 v. Basing his observations on the critical edition of the asmatic ordinaries of Athens
2061 and 2062 by Georgiou, which mentions the appendix in passing but fails to address its contents, Arranz
proposes that during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Resurrectional apolytikion from the Oktoechos in
the mode of the week may have been sung as the ordinary Sunday pentekostarion. For the Middle Byzantine
period governed by the TGE, he suggests that the two Sunday troparia "Sijpepov ucoT^pta" and" 'AvaOTag K
rod pvijparog," currently sung after the Great Doxology on alternate weeks, may have fulfilled this role. This
latter hypothesis is not without merit, because, as we have already noted (supra, 76-77), the eight-week
Resurrectional cycle is a Palestinian element originally foreign to the Rite of the Great Church. Perhaps the
cycles of Resurrectional pentekostaria and hypakoai are both products of the modus Vivendi achieved by the two
rites in Constantinople before the Latin conquest of 1204. See Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 146-
47; Kosmas I. Georgiou," 'H ifiSofiaSiala dyrKpcovucrj mTavopf] TQV (fraXfiaiv ml TCJV aiSatv eig Tag
'AopaTLKag 'AicoXovQiag iarrepivov ml opdpov. 'EXXTJVLKOL MOVOIKOI KioSiKeg 2061-2062 'EdvLKr)g
BifiXioeTJKTjg 'AOrjvuv" (Ph.D. diss., Pontifical Oriental Institute, 1976), xxvi.
1 0 0
Published in Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 138-44.
95
'H {COT) TCOP OJPTCOP- Kai TOP dapoprcop dvdoTaais' cog eK rd<pov rfjs
diiaprias dpdornoop Seoflat 6 Oeog, Kal eXerjaop fie.
O Life of the living and Resurrection of the dead, I beseech Thee, raise me up
out of sin as if from the tomb, and have mercy on me.
Given the textual similarities between the Sunday and weekday pentekostaria, it seems
likely that they were set to music in approximately the same way. The matins of Saturday in
Athens 2062 transmits a troparion in the same mode as the Sunday refrain quoted above,
together with the first verse of its stichologia (Example 9). Like the model melody for the
Sunday Benedicite, the music of the pentekostarion is straightforward and well within the
capabilities of a congregation, while the verse is set once again to a simple reciting tone.
The Late Byzantine Antiphonaria include certain other details regarding the order for
Psalm 50 that are not mentioned in the Typikon of the Great Church. 101
In the same Saturday
setting of Athens 2062, verses 17-19 shift to the second plagal mode, thus announcing the
replacement of the pentekostarion with the prooimion of the Marian kontakion "TIpoaraaia
TCJP XpLOTLap&p" (Example 10). Rubrics after an incipit for verse 20 instruct the singers to
chant the "kontakion of the day." On the other hand, if a feast was being observed, the ferial
pentekostarion and kontakion were replaced by the festal apolytikion and kontakion. 102
In
either case, the final verse of Psalm 50 segued into a GloriaPatri introducing the famous hymn
" V Mopoyepr)? Tios" ("Only-begotten Son"), followed by "Both now..." and the Marian
troparion"Tr)p imepepSogop oov MrjTepa." 103
Immediately after the conclusion of the Fiftieth Psalm, another prayer from the
Euchology introduced the psalms of Lauds (Ps. 148-50), three biblical songs of praise typical
of urban morning prayer since Late Antiquity. Like the preceding oration for Psalm 50, this
was a true 'psalmic prayer,' specifically tailored to the thematic content of the following
1 0 1
MS Athens 2062, f. 35r. Cf. Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 138, 141, 145.
1 0 2
The rubrics of the TGE for Christmas Day follow this pattern (I, 156).
1 0 3
This latter hymn occurs in one 11th-century manuscript of the TGE after a GloriaPatri for the proper
antiphons of Christmas (TGE I, 152). Both hymns were also sung at the conclusion of the second "little
antiphon" of asmatic vespers. See Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 398; and the present author's
study "Festal Cathedral Vespers in Late Byzantium," OCP (forthcoming).
96
PFTFTT
J ' * ' *
\ : i I.U,I. i . j ^ j ' i . |, M ' t j . i L t / - i ^
Krv Pvv v ,v /
-ca to
x
t f i / ? - rtyyi6V <w e - a-Aei - f w
0 w a - v yuj 71* /t>
To <ÛJJ_ : +
L...
Example 9: Pentekostarion for Saturday ( M S Athens 2062).
Ko-ytx- ej' Ttt êi-X*l /icv a-vet- ^ K a l t o <rce' -yu*. y-<w 'a- vay-r-Aft ElV
j J ' j )
1
1 J) ,h ri j> j . J> j J p j . J ' j> j J . J > J .
? j J> j J J> j I p .P MffwJ* 1
" Vim 1 v cvj* - i. ^ t ' ^ ~ I
(J P l^P j * PP^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ J> ^P J 1

^
|(<h J J & ' J J J / * * * J * * * * * *
trov-tt-yyi-yut-^v A ct-ctt-lfel-vw-/*/-v>i v
o 69e- et; t^n c - ôu-Si-vw-cTti.
Example 10: Ps. 50:17-19 ( M S Athens 2062).

97
antiphonal psalmody. 104

For the three psalms themselves, the Antiphonaria provide just a few
model melodies for the opening verse of Psalm 148 and its refrain "Sol irperreL uptuog 6
edg" ("To Thee, O God, is due a hymn") scattered about their weekday ordinaries,
suggesting that their settings may have been considered too well-known to warrant notated
transmission with every office. Although the Sunday settings include only unnotated rubrics
for Lauds, it is possible that the three psalms were sung according to one or more of the
melodies chanted on other days of the week. The style of these settings may be seen from
Example 11, which presents the model chant for the asmatic matins of Saturday from Athens
2062. After an introductory formula, the remainder of Psalm 148: lb and the refrain are set in a
syllabic style similar to that already encountered in the opening antiphons of matins. 105
A second cathedral tradition of music for Lauds is found in such Late Byzantine
Akolouthiai as Vienna Theol. gr. 185. These musical manuscripts include two series of model
melodies for Psalms 148-50 in all eight modes, one of which contains chants labeled "TOVTO
Se ipdXAerai eig ra pouacmjpia" ("of the monks") and the other" KadoXiKov"
("cathedral"). 106
Both sets feature the same neumatic musical idiom and even, in some cases
when their texts coincide, identical passages. Each series, however, employs a different text
for its intonation. The chants of the monastic group are prefixed with Ps. 150:6, a usage
which is familiar from the modem Byzantine Divine Office. The cathedral chants, on the other
hand, are prefaced by Ps. 148: lb and the asmatic refrain "Sol npeirei upvog, 6 Beog," a
combination of texts encountered above in the model melody for asmatic Saturday matins. 107
As can be seen from the setting in the fourth authentic mode (Example 12), this prefatory
section is set in a more expansive manner than the second portion of the chant, which includes
Arranz, "Les prieres presbytdrales des matines byzantines," 428-30.

1 0 4
Arranz ("L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 13941) substitutes the refrain given by the PG edition of
1 0 5
Symeon's liturgical commentary ("Zoi npenei vpvos, rtp &eq?) for the version in the musical manuscripts.
A similar double series is contained in Athens 2622 (f. 138v-140r), which gives precedence to the monastic
1 0 6
chants by writing out only the monks' music in full in cases where the two traditions feature the same passage.
Another group of Akolouthiai contain the two groups of Lauds chants, but downgrades the cathedral melodies to
performance on ferial weekdays. Manuscripts featuring this second system of classification include
Koutloumousi 457 (c. 1360-85) on folios 100r-102v, and Iviron 1120 ("1458") on folios 411r-413v.
Athens 2622 gives the refrain in its alternate form "Uol Trperret vpvog, r < 0eij5."
1 0 7
Example 11: Incipit for Saturday Lauds ( M S Athens 2062).
Example 12: "Cathedral" Incipit for Lauds in Mode I V ( M S Vienna Theol. gr. 185).
99
TABLE 3
A S M A T I C R E F R A I N S F O R P S A L M S 148-50
Typikon of Symeon of Thessalonica

San Salvatore di Messina (1131) On Divine Prayer (Early 15th c.)
Ps. 148:1-6 Sol npinet vpvog, 6 Oeog. At Ps. 148:1 Sol npenei vpvog, rcj) OeQ.
Ps. 148:7-11 Aore Sogav T(2 Oe$. Ps. 148:7-13a Aore 8dav T<2 6ea>.
Ps. 148:12-14 AVT& Trpenei aiveoig. At Ps. 148:13b AVT<P Trpenei aiveaig.
Ps. 149:1-5 Ada aoL, dyte ITdrep. At Ps. 149:3 A6a aoi, dyie IJarep.
Ps. 149:6-9 <Peioai fjpajv, Kvpie. At Ps. 149:6 Tie Oeov, eXer)oov r)pdg.
At Ps. 149:8 <Pelaai r)paJv, Kvpie,

Sid TO fivevpa TO ayiov.
Ps. 150:1-2 Tie Oeov, eXerpov ijpdg. At Ps. 150:1 Tie Oeov, eXerjaov rjpdg.
Ps. 150:3 Aoâ T(fj 8eiavn TO cpQg. At Ps. 150:5 A6a UOL T(2 SeigavTi
TO <pu}g.
Ps. 150:4-5 Sol 8da TTperret Kvpie.
the complete text of Ps. 148:1. Although one cannot be certain without musical settings for
additional verses of Lauds, it would be within the bounds of established asmatic procedure to
classify the two halves of this chant as an intonation followed by the beginning of a choral
stichologia.
Although the Typikon of the Great Church and the musical manuscripts fail to provide
any information about the subsequent verses of Lauds, other sources report that the refrain
changed at several points i n the sequence of psalms. In his early fifteenth-century theological
100
commentary on asmatic matins, Symeon of Thessalonica notes that this practice was observed
at his cathedral, quoting its series of additional refrains i n a somewhat haphazard m a n n e r . 108
A nearly identical set of refrains has been published by Arranz in the appendices to his edition
of the twelfth-century Typikon of the Monastery of San Salvatore di M e s s i n a , 109

a document
of the mixed Studite liturgical tradition featuring a more logical distribution of the verses than
that reported by Symeon (Table 3). In addition, the anomalies i n the order and form of the
refrains present i n the liturgical commentarynamely the strange repetition o f " Tie Oeov,
eXenoov rjpag" and the unusually long response "<PeiaaL r)p.6iv, Kvpie, did TO Tfvevfia
TO aytov" are
110
corrected i n the South Italian manuscript. 111
The Great Doxology
The Great Doxology was the second component of a long sequence of continuous
chanting spanning the gap in the earliest Euchologies between the two prayers for the psalmody
at the ambo and the presidential orations recited i n the sanctuary. This ancient morning canticle
was paired with the Trisagion H y m n ("Holy G o d , H o l y Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy
on us"), the most quintessentially Constantinopolitan of all the Great Church's processional
refrains. 112
O n occasions when matins continued as usual with the celebration of its third
1 0 8
Symeon, PG 155, col. 648; Treatise on Prayer, 87.
1 0 9
Le Typicon du monastere du Saint-Sauveur a Messine: Codex Messinensis gr. 115, OCA 185 (Rom
1969), 296.
1 1 0
A closer look at Symeon's text suggests that the additional phrase "Sid TO Tlvevpa TO ayiov" may not
have been an actual part of the refrain, as suggested by the placement of quotation marks in the PG, but an
interpolation to complete the invocation of all three Persons of the Trinity in the running theological
commentary. The curious repetition of the refrain addressed to Christ (" Tie Oeov, e\er)oov rjpds") is perhaps
a similar case. The first occurrence of the text is used to support Symeon's comment about the glorification of
the Trinity, while the second and contextually correct appearance of the refrain is tied to a statement about the
Incarnation.
1 1 1
The Messina Typikon is not without curiosities of its own, assigning "Ada T$ Seiâvri TO <pwg" only
to Ps. 150:3, and leaving Ps. 150:6 without a refrain.
1 1 2
A general introduction to this hymn and to the history of its use in Byzantine liturgy is Dimitri Conomos,
"The Trisagion Hymn," Orthodox Church Music 1 (1983): 9-11. On its use in the Rite of the Great Church,
see Baldovin, The Urban Character of Christian Worship, 218-20, 226; and especially Mateos, La celebration d
la parole, 91-126. The extant Byzantine musical settings are discussed in D. Conomos, Byzantine Trisagiaand
Cheroubika of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries: A Study of Late Byzantine Liturgical Chan
(Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1974); Neil K. Moran, The Ordinary Chants of the
Byzantine Mass, vol. 1, Investigations,, Hamburger Beitrdge zur Musikwissenschaft 12 (Hamburg:
Musikalienhandlung Karl Dieter Wagner, 1975), 57-83; idem., vol. 2, Critical Edition, 31-57.
101
segment in the sanctuary, the Typikon of the Great Church records that the Trisagion covered
the accession of the clergy to the altar area, a function it also exercised at the Divine L i t u r g y . 113
The Typikon's rubrics for Holy Saturday, which are among its most complete for this portion
of matins, also state that the clergy did not assume their places on the synthronon in the apse
immediately after the Trisagion, but waited at the altar until the completion of an additional
troparion for the d a y . 114
The rite of the Great Doxology for ordinary Sundays appears to have developed
substantially over the years dividing the tenth-century Typikon of the Great Church from the
Late Byzantine Antiphonaria. The latter include music for the Great Doxology within an
elaborate complex of stylistically similar chants stretching from the conclusion of Lauds to the
prokeimenon preceding the Resurrectional G o s p e l , 115

rubrics for which have been previously
published by Dmitrievskii from a fifteenth-century Taxis preserved at the Skete of St. Andrew
on Mount A t h o s . 116
Essentially the same musical material as that transmitted by the
Antiphonaria is found in a number of Akolouthiai, copies of a Late Byzantine collection
primarily containing chants for the Neo-Sabaitic monastic r i t e . 117

Trempelas has already
published the orders from two of these manuscripts, 118

and we shall make occasional reference
to a third, Vienna gr. Theol. 185, a Thessalonian Akolouthia containing a number of asmatic
services. 119
1 1 3
T G E I, 28; idem., II, 142; Mateos, La celebration, 112-22. By the tenth century, the processional
Trisagion after the Great Doxology appears to have no longer featured a stichologia, as was also the case in the
contemporary Byzantine Eucharist. The Trisagion of asmatic vespers, however, retained its verses until the
service's disappearance in the post-Byzantine period.
On certain occasions, matutinal Trisagia appear to have accompanied processions going in the opposite
direction, to the city's Forum. The Synaxarion's fixed cycle of commemorations mandates processions preceded
by a "Prayer of the Trisagion" on three Marian solemnities and four anniversaries of civic calamities. These
stational rites concluded with the singing of the Trisagion at another church as the introit for its Divine
Liturgy. See Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 150-51; and Baldovin, The Urban Character, 218-19.
1 1 4
TGE 11,82.
1 1 5
The full order is found in Athens 2062. Athens 2061 omits the concluding music for Lauds and begins its
setting with the Great Doxology.
1 1 6
Opisanie, I, 165-67.
1 1 7
On these MSS, see our discussion infra, pp. 165-67.
1 1 8
MSS Athens 2622 and 2406. See Pangiotes Trempelas, Mi/cpdu EvxoAoyiov, II (Athens: 1955),
200-202.
These are the Vespers for the Feast of the Holy Cross (rubrics only, f. 286r), the nocturnal rite of the
1 1 9
"Acclamations in the Trullo" for the same feast (f. 286r-289r), and the Vespers of Easter (f. 289v-291r). See
the description of this MS in Christian Hannick, "fitude sur VaxoXovQla dopanicrj," JOB 19 (1970): 244-46.
102
The Great Doxology sequence in Athens 2062, which is presented under the heading
"When you sing asmatic matins," commences with the Marian troparion" 'TnepevXo-
120
yr)iivr) xmdpx^Lg, Qeoroice TTapdeve" ("Most blessed art thou, O Virgin Theotokos").
Familiar to modem Orthodox Christians as thefinalfixedsticheron of Sunday Lauds, this
hymn is cited in the Typikon of the Great Church only as a refrain for antiphonal psalms on a
handful of solemnities dedicated to the Mother of God. 121

After a notated GloriaPatri incipit
written by a second hand, 122

Athens 2062 transmits a prefatory "Both now and ever..." for the
troparion. Labeled with the adjective "asmatikos," this musical introduction features the
addition of the missing word "ITfevpaTL" from the previous incipit in the second hand under
the appropriate cadentialfigure(Example 13). 123
In Athens 2062, the troparion proper begins with a florid intonation of itsfirsttwo
words by the domestikos (Example 14). After the mode and pitch have thus been established,
the priests continue the hymn in syllabic chant, transcribed in Example 15 from the Akolouthiai
Vienna Theol. gr. 185. 124

At the point when they begin to sing, Athens 2062 refers to the
As mentioned above (p. 11, n. 42), Hannick mistakes the rite of the Trullo for an unusual form of asmatic
vespers.
12O
" " 0 r a ^ ipaXXecg dopanKog opdpog," f. 50v.
1 2 1
On two occasions," 'TrrepevXoyT\\x4vT\ vndpxeis'''was employed as refrain for Psalm 50 (TGE II, 100,
110). For the Synaxis of the Theotokos on 26 December, it was sung after the Gloria Patri of the introit to the
Divine Liturgy (TGE 1,158). It is also listed among a group of troparia that were sung as antiphonal refrains
for the Eucharist on the fifth Saturday of Lent (TGE II, 54). Cf. infra, p. 255.
1 2 2
Athens 2062 does not explicitly state the preceding chant upon which the GloriaPatri must have been
dependent, but it seems safe to assume that it was the stichologia of Lauds, as Symeon of Thessalonica states
in his treatise On Divine Prayer (PG 155, col. 649; Treatise, 88). A more difficult question is whether or not a
troparion was inserted between the two halves of the Trinitarian doxology. Athens 2062 mentions nothing
regarding a troparion after "Glory be to the Father," but both Symeon and the rubrics contained in Vienna Theol.
gr. 185 (f. 108r-109r) state that the appropriate Morning Hymn from the cycle of Resurrectional Gospel stichera
attributed to Leo VI the Wise (886-911) was sung at this point. The mixed nature of the latter two sources
may explain their inclusion of these hymns, but it does not seem entirely unreasonable to suppose that the
Gospel stichera were sung at asmatic Sunday matins in the late fourteenth century in close proximity to the
cycle ofreadingswhich inspired them. On the Morning Hymns of Leo, see H.J.W. Tillyard," EuBivd
dvaordmpcr. The Morning Hymns of the Emperor Leo," The Annual of the British School at Athens 30 (19
30): 86-108, 31 (1930-31): 115-47; Solomon (Solon) J. Hadjisolomos, The Modal Structure of the 11 Eothina
Anastasima Ascribed to the Emperor Leo (f912) (Nicosia: Kykko Monastery, 1986).
1 2 3
In Vienna Theol. gr. 185 (f. 109r), "Both now and ever..." is preceded by the following rubric: "Merd TT\V
rrXripoxnv roil iotvov, apxerat 6 SoîoTLKog ijavxoTepa rfj cpcoisf] dafiariKog Aiyeiv" ("After the
conclusion of the Morning Hymn, the domestikos begins to sing [the following chant] in a quieter voice.")
Athens 2062 includes only an incipit for the syllabic chant. One should note that the syllabic chant of
1 2 4
Vienna Theol. gr. 185 omits two phrases present in the modern recension of this text: "r; Eva riXevdipwrai, 6
ddvaros TedavdrajTai." These words are, however, included in the original setting of this hymn by Xenos
Korones that follows the traditional setting in Vienna Theol. gr. 185 (f. 109r-109v).
103
/7* A
rvr\ N
" f> E 1' P E T 7
fF D
A
r A r K
vwv 'A -
Example 13: "Glory be to the Father..." and "Both now and ever..." ( M S Athens 2062).
fSOv
A ^
6 - iny
Xf<C-
Example 14: Solo Intonation o f " TTrepevAoyrj/ieur} unapxeis" ( M S Athens 2062).
i(Mr ilcoStiSorca.i ot \.ipe\] Agreed u7f
itf'V '/r m i n i n
la o ^
f 11
u '" ' r v
^ ^
p s> p >
ft
^
J
c arI K K
1
T!C :
j>
z ^ Is .
,f j ' ;
_
> j
*n>
1
.p j
ft
^ ,h j * 1
^ 0 Aw-n-error o yt-8yi a-Va-Kt^-rat- Jj ^-xl-pa K-Vt-
r ^ O * ^ - -
Example 15: Entrance Chant of the Clergy ( M S Vienna Theol. gr. 185).
0 ril .:+
7
.Example 16: Solo Coda o f " TTrepeuAoyqfievi] vnapx^tg-" ( M S Athens 2062).
104
priests as being in the sanctuary, 125

implying that their introit procession had already taken
place. The Vienna manuscript, on the other hand, records that the priests accomplished their
entrance while singing the troparion. 126

In either case, the clergy leave the hymn uncompleted,
allowing the domestikos of the choir to end the hymn in the style with which it began (Example
16).
The division of labour between cantors and clergy observed in the " 'TTrepeuXoynp-evn
virdpxeiS'" is maintained in the succeeding Great Doxology. A reader bearing a processional
cross ascends the ambo to proclaim Gloria in excelsis (Example 17). 127
The domestikos then
responds from the choir with a more florid setting of the same text that concludes with what
appears to be a solo coda (Example 18). 128

In a manner reminiscent of the preceding
troparion, the solo of the domestikos cues a syllabic continuation of the Great Doxology by the
priests, who subsequently chant the remainder of the canticle (Example 19). 129
Elements of the Antiphonarion's order for the Great Doxology are transmitted in the
two surviving Asmatika from mainland Greece. Both of these manuscripts lack the syllabic
psalm-tones or extensive fabrication of the Late Byzantine manuscripts, and Kastoria 8
provides only a less melismatic version of the domestikos's intonation "A6a iv udiLoroLs-
eqj." Lavra T.3 is somewhat more complete, including three items from the later order under
the heading" Tfj KuptaKfj npwi, and xPv" ("On Sunday Morning, by the choir"). The
first chant is a more restrained variant of the solo introduction to" 'TTrepevXoynpevn
virdpxets'" (Example 20), and is followed by an earlier recension of the double intonation to
1 2 5
"Oi iepelg evrbs TOVflTJpaTog"f. 50v.
1 2 6
"EiooSevovTai oi iepelg Xeyovres ovTLog- OeoroKe napdeve..." ("The priests enter singing: O Vi
Theotokos..."), f. 50v.
E.g. Athens 2062, f. 50v:
1 2 7
"Kai dvepxerat 6 dvayvajorr^ els TOV dp/3cov perd TO aravpdv, Kai
iictptovei OVTOJS' A6a ev uptoToig- 6ec3."
1 2 8
The rubric governing the coda employs an abbreviation in all three manuscripts consulted, making it
difficult to determine whether the intended text is "6 Sopeanicos' SirrXaoLdCei" ("the domestikos doubles") or
"o Sextos \SopeoTLKos1 xoposl\ SmXaoidCei" ("the second (domestikos? choir?) doubles"). It is also
uncertain whether the "doubling" singer(s) is(are) to take over the melody, or merely to join in with those
already chanting.
1 2 9
The incipit in Example 19 is taken from Athens 2061. The same music occurs in Athens 2062 and Vienna
Theol. gr. 185, but with the omission of the words "' So&XoyoOuev oe," which are replaced by the next phrase
of the Gloria ("evxapcoToDpev OOL"). In the latter manuscript, a second hand has added the correct words
below "evxapLOTovpiv OOL."
I
105
^Kai dvepxerai 6 dvayvu>o~TT}s els TOV djifiov jiera TOV aravpov mi eKcpwvel OVTCOS'
Ar y
d
/Ao - a W 6 -"V- Gt - co a, y u w
Example 17: Intonation of the Reader ( M S Athens 2062).
E
+
d a. a i d as a ae
Z2 r_sL )Ln
^ (1) oo n
M l -*r *- n* y p, i
, * J-

1
to
Example 18: Intonation of the Domestikos ( M S Athens 2062).

12
> b ' ' F [/ [/ v v l> f X / T

' . r\ . . -
Example 19: Chant of the Priests ( M S Athens 2061).
f.^y n * A o A
; | | , ^ P i i j , l j^,J>;
L L J^J PJ'J' / f l f ;JJf i
0
.yyj_ ; v-tcp
' Example 2 0 : " TnepeuAoynfiei'n UTrdpxets-" i n the Asmatikon M S Lavra r. 3.
i . Intonation of the Monophonarios>

SHIv - r A
<y yr-
~ . : f * 5
- * - * ^
t, ^ ou <u Y.^ . 'ire :

/ft r \j A M r y 0
"^ r
: i g ; N i j i H - j , f j p j - ) j j i } i j i i T j , h f ^
VI .CM I) * l . .
Example 21: The Great D o x o l o g y j n t h e A s m a t i k o n M S Lavra f. 3.

107
the Gloria in excelsis (Example 21). With the exception of a couple of ornamental figures, the
chant of the monophonariosa soloist of undefined clerical rankis nearly identical to the
Late Byzantine intonation sung by the reader. The second segment of the Asmatikon's
introduction to the Gloria, however, is considerably less ornate than its later counterpart.
The Trisagion
The orders for the Great Doxology contained in the two Antiphonaria and the Vienna
Akolouthiai do not include any information regarding the Trisagion chanted at its conclusion,
leaving the manner of its performance and the identity of its melody open to question. The
present author knows of only five Trisagion settings earlier than the sixteenth century that are
explicitly designated for performance after the Great Doxology. The mid-fifteenth-century
Akolouthia MS Iviron 1120, a bulky autograph of the Late Byzantine composer and theorist
Manuel Chrysaphes, contains three ordinary settings previously examined by Conomos.

130 131
Unpretentiously listed in the manuscript as the Trisagion sung after the Great Doxology , 1 3 2
the first is an anonymous chant of modest proportions that may well be the missing traditional
melody (Example 22), while the second is a new composition by Chrysaphes embellishing this
melody. 133
The third chant in the series of Great Doxology Trisagia, a mildly florid traditional
setting labeled "erepov dapiaTiKov" ("an asmatic alternative"), is transcribed in Example
23,134 7 / ^ tyis ea n ^ relative length of this setting, which features the frequent intercalation of
meaningless syllables typical of the centonate choral chants of the Asmatikon, suggest that it
On Chrysaphes, see Dimitri Conomos, ed., The Treatise of Manuel Chrysaphes, The Lampadarios, MMB
1 3 0
Corpus scriptorum de re musica 2 (Vienna: Verlag der osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1985),
11-15.
Dimitri Conomos, Byzantine Trisagia and Cheroubika, 12-14.
1 3 1
132 "PcveraL peydAr) So&Aoyia mi TO aytos 6 Beds* The setting is designated "Trisagion X" in
Conomos, Byzantine Trisagia, 72.
133 "Trisagion XI," in ibid., 73-74.
1 3 4
Even though its placement in Iviron 1120 clearly shows that it belongs to the same series as the other two
Trisagia, Conomos does not mention this setting in his discussion of Great Doxology chants, evidently because
this "asmatic" Trisagion occurs elsewhere as a "dynamis" composition for the Divine Liturgy. Presumably for
the same reason he interpets the term "asmatikon" here in its more generic sense as a reference to the ornate
character of the melody, rather than to the "Sung" Office. See the discussion of "Trisagion XVII (asmatikon
ii)" in ibid., 81-82.
108
Example 22: Trisagion of the Great Doxology ( M S Iviron 1120). '
fc
W T>
- o to
*M? N K <AL rr vv .^. A
r
C 7 R
,
9*
Y J L L
-
D
K
oT -
trr
+titv r n i /> * r A * A_6 y -u fa h N
i " t-C
& >4 r /TV
i> p-^ n
y 6 & Cr r r p
- rj - ere/ r\ - <ju -
Example 23: Alternate Asmatic Trisagion of the Great Doxology ( M S Iviron 1120).
109
could conceivably have served as a perisse for the first Trisagion, thereby offering a parallel to
the florid choral refrain or "doche" of the matutinal prokeimenon that we shall examine
below. 1 3 5
The remaining two Trisagia are processional chants for the ceremonies following the
Great Doxology on Holy Saturday and the two major annual commemorations of the H o l y
Cross. The Holy Saturday Trisagion is an elegant but otherwise unremarkable setting t.hat may
also have been sung at other times of the y e a r . 136

The chant for solemnities of the Cross, on
the other hand, is one of the few pieces i n the repertory of Byzantine Trisagia to employ the
first authentic m o d e . 137

T w o versions of this latter melody have been transcribed and
subjected to analysis by modem scholars. Moran has examined a setting from the Asmatikon
Lavra T.3 found among its propers for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September. 138
Conomos has studied a later variant from Vienna Theol. gr. 185 that is designated for use at the
Adoration of the H o l y Cross on the Third Sunday of L e n t . 1 3 9

Both H o l y Cross chants include
a notated GloriaPatri, which is accompanied in the Vienna Akolouthia by a rubric directing the
clergy to make their entrance. 140
In addition to the four settings considered above, the Antiphonarion Athens 2061
contains three melodies for the Trisagion that are not assigned to any particular service. A l l are
written in a second hand after the usual sequence of chants for the Sunday Great Doxology,
1 3 5
Cf. infra, p. 115.
1 3 6
Conomos (Byzantine Trisagia and Cheroubika, 62-63) reports that in some MSS this chant ("Trisagion
IV") is labeled "TOV imTacpiov" referring to the embroidered image of the dead Christ (the epitaphion) that is
taken in procession on Holy Saturday. The mixed-rite Thessalonian Akolouthia Vienna Theol. gr. 185 includes
this chant as part of along series of Trisagia for various occasions under the heading "Tovro ipdAAerai Kal rq)
peydXu oa^drcf)" ("This is also sung on Holy Saturday"), following it with a chant entitled "erepou
KaQoAiKorepov* (literally, "a more 'cathedralish' alternative") that turns out to be Conomos's "Trisagion I" for
the Divine Liturgy (idem, 56-59). Two conclusions may be drawn from these rubrics: 1) the Holy Saturday
Trisagion may have been sung on other occasions; and 2) in Thessalonica, at least, "Trisagion I" may have been
performed after the Great Doxology as an alternative to "Trisagion IV." Taken together with the evidence that
"Trisagion XVII" (cf. the preceding note) was sung both at matins and at the Eucharist, it would appear that
during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries certain melodies of the Trisagion were considered suitable for use in
a variety of liturgical contexts.
1 3 7
Ibid., 67.
138 Moran, The Ordinary Chants of the Byzantine Mass, I, 73; idem., II, 53-55.
Conomos, Byzantine Trisagia and Cheroubika, 67-69. Despite the difference in attribution, it is
1 3 9
conceivable that Byzantine singerslike their modern descendantswould have employed the same special
melody on both occasions.
Ibid., 68. This is in accord with the Middle Byzantine rubrics for 14 September (TGE 1,28).
1 4 0
110
suggesting that they might have been added for use with the preceding material. Thefirstand
most elaborate of the three is a Thessalonian setting for the Paschal period lasting from Easter
to Ascension that is enigmatically described as a melos anavastakton, 141

perhaps meaning that
the chant acted as a cue for some other liturgical action. The alternate second Trisagion,
although in a different mode and somewhat more concise than the first chant, is also designated
as an anavastakton, while the third chant is an incomplete excerpt from an even simpler chant.
A comparison with other musical sources of the Byzantine cathedral rite reveals that the first
two chants are employed elsewhere as perissai to the Trisagion of asmatic v e s p e r s . 142
Given
the precedents of the vesperal Trisagia, is not unreasonable to suppose that they could have
exercised a similar function at asmatic matins. Moreover, a recapitulation of the melismatic
musical idiom of the intonations would give the Great Doxology the sort of rounded form
previously employed for the opening antiphons of matins and for the troparion
" 'TnepevXoyripevr) vndpxîS'-"
The Resurrectional Troparia
According to the musical manuscripts, the Great Doxology was followed without
interruption by "Srjpepov acoTrjpLa" ("Today Salvation") or " 'Avaordg etc TOV pvr\paros v
("Rising from the tomb"), two Resurrectional troparia that were sung on alternate weeks i n a
cycle coinciding with the asmatike akolouthia's rotation of choristers. The Typikon of the
Great Church, however, while containing rare instances of troparia after the Great Doxology,
mentions "Today Salvation" and "Rising from the Tomb" only as refrains for Psalm 50 on
Easter S u n d a y 143
and the Monday of Bright W e e k , 1 4 4
respectively. Since neither the Typikon
1 4 1
From "<h>a(kzoTd(i)" translated in the Liddel and Scott Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon as "to raise,
lift up or carry."
1 4 2
E.g. the Vespers of the Holy Cross in Athens 2062, f. 55r and the Vespers of Easter in Vienna Theol.
gr. 185, f. 290v. On the music of asmatic vespers, see the present author's study "Festal Cathedral Vespers in
Late Byzantium." Conomos (Byzantine Trisagia and Cheroubika, 66-67,69-72) has also transcribed variants of
the same two chants from the heterogeneous collection of Trisagia in the Vienna MS, in which the first is
labeled the "asmatikon of Easter Sunday," and the second simply "asmatikon."
143 T n, 93-94
G E
1 4 4
TGE 11,96.
Ill
nor the early Euchologies make any provision for an ordinary Sunday cycle of post-Doxology
hymns, it would seem likely that the two Resurrectional hymns were appended to the Great
Doxology some time after the tenth century.
The case for viewing the Resurrectional Troparia as later additions to asmatic Sunday
matins is strengthened by differences between the Middle and Late Byzantine versions of these
chants. Lavra r3 and Kastoria 8, the two Asmatika from mainland Greece, contain related
settings of "Today Salvation" and "Rising from the Tomb." 145

Each includes music for the
complete text of the hymn and an accompanying GloriaPatri in the characteristic semi-florid
style of the Asmatikon (Example 24). The Late Byzantine Antiphonaria and Akolouthiai, on
the other hand, transmit an order for the Resurrectional Troparia that continues the pattern of
alternation between choir and clergy established in the Great Doxology and its preceding
Marian troparion. The domestikos at the ambo begins the troparion with a polysyllabic modal
intonation, after which the choir

146 147
enters to intone thefirstverse of the hymn (Example
25). These choral introductionswhich are in the same modes as the corresponding settings
in the Asmatika, upon which they appear to have been basedonce again act as a prelude to a
syllabic rendition by the priests from within the sanctuary (Example 26). 148
After the
completion of the hymn, the domestikos intones a GloriaPatri in the melodic style of the
choral intonation, followed by a repetition of the troparion by the priests. The domestikos
149
1 4 5
None of the South-Italian manuscripts inventoried by Di Salvo ("Asmatikon," 144-53) include the two
Sunday troparia.
1 4 6
All three manuscripts consulted lack a notated polysyllabic intonation before the first choral verse of "Today
Salvation." Such omissions are not uncommon in Byzantine musical manuscripts, because the modal signature
at the outset of a piece is itself a form of shorthand for the intonation. The relationship between intonations and
signatures wasfirstclearly demonstrated in Oliver Strunk, "Intonations and Signatures of the Byzantine Modes,"
The Musical Quarterly 31 (1945): 339-55; repr. as chap, in EMB W, 19-36.
1 4 7
Athens 2062 (f. 51v) contains the instruction "oAoi" ("everybody") at this point.
1 4 8
One peculiarity of the order is that the syllabic rendition begins at different points in the texts of the two
troparia. Athens 2061 (f. 118r) and Vienna Theol gr. 185 (f. 1 lOv) direct the higher clergy to continue the text
of "Rising from the Tomb" after the intonation as in the previous chants, but have them repeat the opening line
of text in "Today Salvation," the shorter of the two texts (Athens 2061, f. 118v; Vienna Theol. gr. 185,
f. 112r).
1 4 9
The three musical sources examined for the present study and the two studied by Trempelas (Mixpoi/
EvxoAoyiov, II, 200-02) contain neither music nor rubrics for the second half of the Trinitarian doxology.
Since it is highly unlikely that the text "Both now and ever..." would have been omitted, the preceding cadential
figure may have cued either the choirwhich could have subsequently chanted the entire troparion in the manner
of the Asmatikaor the second domestikos to conclude the text before the next musical entry of the higher
clergy.
b. Zrjfiepoy aoornpia TOJ Koapup.
i
^
1
v-/ )
7 ; f>" ~ oo - ov tT0
aio - CiJ
o>] - -
yUf - X u ; . ÂJ - fXi - XE-V-
^{ t-u>
tov k --
it va
va -- <rtav
oxav -- xni fc*'K r.
xra
l |
(I
o f
f oo -
l)u
y
y
f J ' - f l
r J'J-J. J ' , ? 1
- r ; J > r
f Ktii^ r 1 1
Example 24: Resurrectional Troparia of the Asmatikon M S Lavra T. 3 (Incipits Only).

113
a. 'Awards K TOV pvrjpaTos ( M S Vienna Theol. gr. 185).

/fllOr A
lit
Sou-
^b. Zrjpepov acoTiipia rod Koopcp ( M S Athens 2062).
-/2~Q n
T
n fc.
fa a- v
v te >k T " rr*f *4 " r
y * a, ^ * r
*
^ - pit p6 A^. ^ yJt 0 CM OV.
\ lj>f r i v f i r ' i f K ^ ' , f j ^ ^ g . f L f f I ' M / i II

f <=j r__2_
{Example 25: Resurrectional Troparia of the Akolouthiai.
If'-
Kai oi iepeig TO avro, Kai TO 'AvaoT&s.
\t
" V - ="*
J > J>
* C
j ' | J
T
. J> J> J g
Sf-yw fo'/ow -r]-/X - a. TU) K^-/"}*--
Example 26: Incipit of the Priests' Melody for Zrjpepov acoTr/pta ( M S Athens 2062).
114
then sings a modified recapitulation of the initial intonation i n "a louder voice," followed by a
recapitulation of the choral introduction. During the singing of the chant, the clergy within the
sanctuary kiss the Gospel lectionary and ascend the synthronon. Blessing the congregation
below, the priests conclude the form in a louder voice with a final and presumably syllabic
rendition of the t r o p a r i o n . 150
3 . The Service in the Sanctuary
The Prokeimenon and Resurrectional Gospel
The final component of the long sequence of chants that began with Lauds, and the last
major musical form of the "Sung" office of Sunday matins, was the prokeimenon, a
responsorial psalm that frequently has been compared (somewhat inaccurately) to the Latin
Gradual. 151
M S Barberini 336, the earliest Constantinopolitan Euchology, is the first source
to attest to the chanting of a prokeimenon after the matutinal Trisagion and accession of the
clergy to the s a n c t u a r y . 152

The M i d d l e Byzantine chant books of Hagia Sophia transmit a
weekly cycle of fixed prokeimena for the daily office and are unanimous i n designating
Ps. 9:33 as the invariable psalm response of Sunday m a t i n s . 153

The Psaltikon contains the
solo portions of this chant, which consist of an initial rendition of the first two-thirds of the
isu Vienna Theol. gr. 185 and Athens 2622, the latter of which is one of the manuscripts examined by
Trempelas in the study cited in the preceding note, follow the asmatic order for the Great Doxology with a
double series of four syllabic incipits for each of the two troparia. These incipits are arranged by mode into an
Octoechos. The rubrics prior to these settings state that the appropriate version should be chosen in accordance
with the mode of the week. The musical identity of the Mode Plagal I incipit in the Vienna manuscript with
the priests' incipit in Athens 2062 may be interpreted as evidence that the syllabic rendition by the clergy was
chanted in the fourteenth century according to the Palestinian Oktoechos. Alternatively, these incipits could be
simpler monastic substitutes for the fixed asmatic order of the Resurrectional Troparia analogous to the syllabic
Sunday prokeimena (see below, p. 120).
1 5 1
E.g. Levy, "Byzantine Rite, music of the," 556. This analogy is more or less accurate for the prokeimena
of the Divine Liturgy, which, like their Latin counterparts, are melismatic responsorial chants for the Liturgy of
the Word. As Harris ("The Byzantine prokeimena," 133) hasrightlypointed out, this analogy breaks down with
the office prokeimena, many of which are chanted independently of scriptural readings. He therefore suggests
that the etymology of the word "prokeimenon," which indicates something that precedes, might be explained by
the initial performance of the respond prior to its repetition during the stichologia, rather than by the position of
the entire prokeimenon before a reading. In any case, Mateos (Lacelebration, 11-13,133-34) has noted a
structural affinity with the Roman responsorium.
1 5 2
Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," 67; and idem, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros,"
129.
1 5 3
On the contents of Middle Byzantine repertory of prokeimena, see Harris, "The Byzantine prokeimena,"
134-41; and the major study by Hintze, Das byzantinische Prokeimena-Repertoire.
115
response (Example 27), followed by two verses (Ps. 9:2 and 9:3) intended for performance
before recapitulations of the r e f r a i n . 154

This music is complemented in the Asmatikon by a
doche (Sox if), 155

an elaborate choral setting of the full text of the psalm response. 156
As
Harris has proposed, the dochai of the Asmatikon were probably not intended for performance
after each verse, but seem to have been a final variant refrain (perisse) that substituted for an
unwritten congregational respond on its final recapitulation. 157
In Late Byzantine musical manuscripts, the material formerly divided between the
Psaltikon and the Asmatikon is combined into a single sequence. According to the
Thessalonian Akolouthiai Vienna gr. Theol. 185 and Athens 2622, the reader intoned the
prokeimenon from the ambo by chanting a plainer version of the first half of the Psaltikon's
initial solo chant, followed by similarly abridged settings of the two psalm verses (Example
28). These solo chants are followed in the manuscripts by two refrains: a relatively unadorned
choral response (Example 2 9 ) , 158

and a moderately more elaborate version designated as the
doche (Example 30), thus offering support for Harris's hypothesis that the doche was the
perisse for a simpler r e f r a i n . 159
Transcription with critical apparatus in Hintze, Das byzantinische Prokeimena-Repertoire, 146-7; 231-32.
1 5 4
Harris ("The Byzantine prokeimena," 135) suggests that this technical term was derived from the verb
1 5 5
SexopoL ("to receive") and probably meant "respond."

Hintze (Das byzantinische Prokeimena-Repertoire, 147-49; 232-33) transcribes asmatic dochai from Lavra
1 5 6
T.3, Kastoria 8, and Grottaf errata r.y.l.

157 "jhg Byzantine prokeimena," 145-46.
158 T cadence of this refrain on "F" in Vienna Theol. gr. 185 raises the question of the prokeimenon's
n e
modality. Since Athens 2622 (f. 145v) gives a variant version of this simple refrain set a third higher, this
particular case of ambiguity might be explained purely as a scribal errror caused by an incorrect initial signature.
Nevertheless, there seems to be a broader conflict between "F" and "E" modes for this prokeimenon. In the
Psaltikon and Asmatikon, Psalm 9:33 is set in the Second Plagal Mode, while the cycle of the Oktoechos
assigns the same text to Mode Barys (the Third Plagal). The versions contained in the Akolouthiai for the
asmatic order of the Great Doxology are less consistent. The initial signature of Barys prefaces the reader's
intonation of the prokeimenon (Example 28), but the verses and refrains bear the signature of the Second Plagal.
1 5 9
The Late Byzantine dochai are much simpler than the settings from the Asmatika transcribed by Hintze,
which include kalophonic passages on nonsense syllables. The true successors to the longer Middle Byzantine
dochai for the Sunday prokeimenon are the even more extravagant compositions by John Koukouzeles and his
colleagues that follow the doche in Akolouthia manuscripts. On these Late Byzantine kalophonic works, see
infra, pp. 263-65.
116
Example 27: Ps. 9:33 in the Tradition of the Psaltikon (Vaticanus gr. 345 (13th c.),
f. H O v ; after Gisa Hintze, Das byzantinische Prokeimena-Repertoire: Untersuchungen
, und kritische Edition, Hamburger Beitrage zur Musikwissenschaft 9 (Hamburg: Verlag der
Musikalienhandlung K a r l Dieter Wagner, 1973), p. 146).
r ^
if imi'M-Mntif riuufnnjip
/TV /C\
ft
's /,.
sa s
J CZJ *
Example 28: Solo Intonation for Ps. 9:33 in the Tradition of the Akolouthiai ( M S Vienna
Theol. gr. 185).
am xopov OVVOTTTIKOV deooa\oviKa(ov~;
<rvi ~ I7t Ko-î- e-

r** r- r y ?t_
It H J T l J P H J H K l l l D f ) n f T
9 * *
= = = =
Example 29: Thessalonian Choral Melody for Ps. 9:33 ( M S Vienna Theol. gr. 185).
117
r v A r A r
'A -
At-fit o
A r
u ^ - i r
ft Jig _ g 7- L L _ _OL-,-,
0 lTfc-W| - r w v <r,/ elf c< - Xoj ,
'a' in the Vienna MS, corrected from MS Athens 2622.
Example 30: Choral Doche of the Sunday Prokeimenon (Ps.9:33)

from the Akolouthia MS Vienna Theol. gr. 185.
After the prokeimenon, there is considerable variation in the early sources of Byzantine
cathedral liturgy regarding the presence of a gospel lection and accompanying prayer, leading
to disagreement among scholars regarding the original form for this portion of Sunday
cathedral matins. Arranz, basing his observations on the contents of the Euchologies, has
suggested that the matutinal Gospel may have been an innovation of the Middle Byzantine
period. 160
The eighth-/ninth-century Barberini Euchology does not include a prayer for a
gospel, nor do its rubrics mention a matutinal lection, 161

while the next stratum of
Constantinopolitan Euchologies insert a gospel prayer borrowed from the Divine Liturgy
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 153-54.

Idem, "Les prieres presbyterales des marines byzantines," (I) 425, (II) 67.
118
between the Eighth Morning Prayer and the Prayer of the Fiftieth Psalm. 162
As if the
placement and provenance of this prayer were not sufficient to identify it as a foreign element,
this group of manuscripts attaches to it the following notice:
Ei>xr) TOV evayyeXCov TOV dpQpov. Aet 8i ytvdoKeiv on avrr) r\

evxr) iv TT} peydXn i/ocXr/aia ov yiveTar dXX iv Tats XoinaLS" iv
ails iierd rr)v c ' OJ8T)V XiyeTat TO ayiov evayyiXiov Kara Tag
imafjpovs TCOV iopTojv. 163
A prayer for the gospel of matins. One should note that this prayer is not
recited in the Great Church, but in the remaining [churches], in which the Holy
Gospel is said after the sixth ode on feast days.
The "sixth ode" in question is a segment of the kanon, a complex of biblical canticles and
poetic troparia sung at Palestinian matins, indicating that this prayer was proper only to the
164
mixed Studite monastic rite.
A third stage of development is apparent in the manuscript Grottaferrata T.fi. II, a
cathedral rite Euchology of the eleventh or twelfth century containing an order matching that of
the musical manuscripts. 165

In this Euchology, the gospel prayer appears without the earlier
disclaimer after the Prayer of Lauds under the heading "Evxu Xeyopivov TOV evayyeXtov
TOV opdpov" ("A prayer said for the Gospel of matins"). 166
The complete integration of the
morning gospel into asmatic matins is further indicated by the presence of two new orations for
the celebrant's accession to the synthronon that embellish the newly stabilised rite with
additional cathedral ceremonial in a manner that Arranzfindsconsistent with the logic of the
office. 167
Idem, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 128,134; and idem, "Les prieres presbytdrales des marines
1 6 2
byzantines," (I) 425-26, (II) 6970. Cf. the eucharistic text in Panagiotes Trempelas, Al rpeis- Aeirovpyiai
/card rote if'AGrji/ais/aJSi/cag(Athens: 1935; repr. ed., Athens: Soter Brotherhood of Theologians, 1982)
53-54.
1 6 3
On the history and structure of the kanon, see Levy, "Byzantine rite, music of the," 558; and Wellesz, A
1 6 4
History, 198-239.
Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des marines byzantines," (I) 425, (II) 68.
1 6 5
1 6 6
Idem, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 128. Arranz also cites two other manuscripts employing this order
within the full asmatic cursus: Athens 662 (12th c.) and Oxford Bodleian Auct. E 513 (12th c, from the
monastery of San Salvatore di Messina). See "Asmatikos Orthros," 124, 128, 134; and "Les prieres
presbyteYales des marines byzantines," 68-69.
Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 136. Unique to Grottaferrata r.p. II, the texts of these prayers
1 6 7
are published with French translations in ibid., 129.

119
The evidence from the Euchologies indicating the introduction of a gospel lection to
"Sung" matins sometime in the tenth or eleventh century is supported by the witness of the
tenth-century Typikon of the Great Church. According the main text of the Typikon, the only
Gospel appointed for recitation after the Great Doxology occurred on H o l y Saturday, when it
was preceded by a troparion, two other scriptural readings with accompanying prokeimena
(one of which is the fixed Sunday text Ps. 9:33 with three, rather than the usual two verses)
and, as at the Divine Liturgy, an A l l e l u i a . 168

Cycles of gospel readings for Sunday and festal
matins, completely absent i n Patmos 266, are relegated to a series of appendices i n Hagios
Stavros 40. The Sunday gospels are the eleven Resurrectional readings familiar from modem
Byzantine m a t i n s , 169
but their accompanying responsories clearly reflect the influence of
monastic usages. This is most evident from the inclusion of the invariable pre-Gospel respond
"TTdoa TTvofj, aiveodro) rbv Kvpiov" ("Let everything that has breath praise the L o r d , "
Ps. 150:6) from Palestinian matins before each p e r i c o p e , 170

but may also be observed i n the
replacement of the fixed Sunday response of the musical manuscripts with an oktoechal cycle
of ten prokeimena that are somewhat awkwardly attached to the first eight gospels. These latter
responsories are the eight Resurrectional texts of the Sabai'tic Oktoechos, with the addition of
alternate prokeimena for the seventh and eighth of the readings of the s e r i e s . 171
Except for the
first prokeimenon for Mode Barys, which shares its text with the fixed Sunday prokeimenon of
the Asmatikon and Psaltikon, these ten Sunday prokeimena have no precedent i n the Middle
Byzantine musical sources. 172
1 6 8
T G E II, 82.
1 6 9
According to the T G E (II, 170-74), the eleven readings are: Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:1-8; Mark 16:9-
20; Luke 24:1-12; Luke 24:21-35; Luke 24:36-53; John 20:1-10; John 20:11-18; John 20:19-31; John 21:1-
14; John 21:14-25. Cf. N. Michael Vaporis, ed. and trans., The Service of Sunday Orthros (Brookline, Mass.:
Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1991), 61-73.
1 7 0
T G E II, 171.
1 7 1
T G E II, 170-72. The additional texts are Ps. 147:1, 2+lb for Mode Barys, and Ps. 131:8, l-2+8bfor
Mode Plagal IV. Another unusual feature is the occurrence of an akroteleution of the respond after the verse in
prokeimena 5-8 of the series. This may be yet another indication of an attempt to adapt Palestinian material to
asmatic liturgical patterns.
1 7 2
Harris, "The Byzantine prokeimena," 140-42.
120
As late as the fourteenth century, the Sunday prokeimena of the Oktoechos are
presented as alien to the asmatic order for the Great Doxology, for Akolouthiai containing this
ceremony follow the Asmatikon and Psaltikon in designating Ps. 9:33 as the invariable Sunday
responsory. 173
In a manner recalling the Middle Byzantine Typikon Hagios Stavros 40, the
order of the Great Doxology in Vienna gr. Theol. 185 and Athens 2622 is followed by an
appendix containing notated incipits for the matutinal prokeimena of the Oktoechos, together
with ei ght matching musical settings of the invariable Sabaitic respond" TJaoa rrvorj. " The
prokeimena are syllabic, matching neither the style nor the melodies of the Asmatikon and
Psaltikon, and a heading in the Vienna manuscript makes their non-asmatic provenance explicit:
LJpoKeiiieva. dvaordoipa- driva Xeyovrai Kara Kvpia/cr)v ore Xeyerai

TO ayiov EvayyeXtov fierd rous dva.8adp.ovs tear' r)xov.
1 114
Resurrectional prokeimena which are sung on Sundays when the Holy Gospel
is recited after the Resurrectional antiphons of the Oktoechos (anavathmoi)
according to the [musical] mode [of the day].
This is the order for the Sunday gospel in the Neo-Sabai'tic monastic rite, in which the reading
immediately follows the anavathmoi or morning antiphons of the Oktoechos. 175

Since these
chants were still being presented as foreign elements as late as the fourteenth century, it is
therefore highly unlikely that Psalm 150:6 or the Sunday prokeimena contained in the appendix
of Hagios Stavros 40 were ever employed in a cathedral context.
Litanies and Prayers
After the completion of the Gospel of the Resurrection, the asmatic service of Sunday
matins concluded without further psalmody. Thefinalportion of the office was instead
constructed around a series of presidential prayers that were punctuated by diaconal litanies and
1 7 3
Mateos ("Quelques problemes, 214-215), evidently unaware of the contents of the Middle Byzantine
repertory of prokeimena, dismisses Ps. 9:33 as a Palestinian import and suggests that the troparia "Today
Salvation" and "Rising from the Tomb" were the original Constantinopolitan gospel responds. While the
matins of Holy Saturday (TGE II, 82) provide a precedent for troparia after the Great Doxology, the Barberini
Euchology is a clear witness to the singing of a prokeimenon after the Trisagion in the period prior to the
introduction of the resurrectional gospel.
1 7 4
Vienna gr. Theol. 185, f. 117v. Athens 2622 gives similar instructions on f. 152r.
1 7 5
On the anavathmoi, see infra, p. 146. The order of Neo-Sabai'tic matins is discussed infra, pp. 157-67.
121
commands. The first prayer recited was for the catechumens, candidates for Christian initiation
who had formed a separate group within the liturgical assembly during Late Antiquity, but who
had ceased to exist as a class sometime in the seventh century. 176

Probably due both to the
dearth of catechumens, and to the fact that supplications were also made on their behalf at the
Divine Liturgy on eucharistic days, 177

several of the early Euchologies contain instructions
limiting the recitation of the Prayer of the Catechumens and the following two Prayers of the
Faithful to eight days each year. 178
The prayers for the catechumens and the faithful are followed in the Euchologies by
two prayers that offer parallels in their function and general approach to the First and Second
Morning Prayers of the Apostolic Constitutions. 179

Entitled in the Barberini Euchology "A
Prayer of Dismissal," the first of the Constantinopolitan prayers occurs after the litany of
180
dismissal "Let us complete our morning supplication," to which it is textually unrelated. 181
Distilling the entire thrust of the daily morning cathedral office and permeated by the theme of
light, it combines thanksgiving to God for safe passage through the night with supplications
for grace and spiritual illumination during the coming day. Thefinaloration of asmatic matins
is a 'prayer of inclination' recited by the celebrant over the bowed heads of the congregation as
a benediction before the people's departure. Similar texts occur at the end of every Byzantine
office, and correspond to the prayers with imposition of hands in such Late Antique sources as
Egeria and the Apostolic Constitutions. 182
Taft, review of Strube, Die westliche Eingangsseite, OCP 42 (1976): 301.

1 7 6

1 7 7
Ibid., 12930. The rubric in question reports that during the four weeks immediately prior to the beginning
1 7 8
of Lent, these prayers were said only on two (Tuesday and Thursday) of the three days of the week (Tuesday,
Thursday, and Saturday) when the" 12 prokeimena" were chanted. Arranz does not identity these " 12
prokeimena," and the present author has not been able to determine their provenance or their texts.
Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des marines byzantines," 435.
1 7 9
180 *Evxr) fjyow diroXvaig." Other manuscripts surveyed by Arranz employ variant forms of this heading.
See "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 132.
Idem, "Les prieres presbyte"rales des marines byzantines," 430-33.
1 8 1
Ibid., 433-35. Cf. supra, p. 31.

1 8 2
122
Conclusion
With the information gained from the preceding survey of the musical and textual
surface of asmatic Sunday matins, it is now possible to refine some of the general observations
made about this Byzantine cathedral office at the outset of the present chapter. With regard to
the structural framework of the service, the musical manuscripts have revealed that the asmatic
order of the Resurrectional Gospel gradually came to obscure the tripartite division of asmatic
matins by overlapping the portions of the service celebrated in the nave and in the sanctuary
with increasing amounts of chant and ceremonial. From its absence in the Barberini Euchology
and its peripheral status in the next stratum of Byzantine cathedral rite documents, it may be
concluded that the Gospel lection itself was introduced sometime after the eight century under
Palestinian influence. 183

Prior to this, as indicated by Barberini 336 and the main text of the
Typikon of the Great Church, the dividing line between the services in the nave and the
sanctuary was clearly marked by the accession of the clergy during the Trisagion of the Great
Doxology. As was also the case with asmatic vespers, the prokeimenon was the only
psalmody in thefinalsegment of the office, which was otherwise devoted to prayers and
litanies.
The insertion of a Sunday morning gospel into the "Sung" Office seems to have
initiated the accretion of auxiliary forms that would endow the weekly proclamation of the
Resurrection with the proper degree of solemnity. This process of adaptation and
embellishment apparently began with the importation of the resurrectional gospel reading and
the Prayer of the Gospel from the Divine Liturgy, followed later by the creation of other
prayers and chants in accordance with cathedral rite norms, examples of which have been seen
in the Euchology Grottaferrata T.8. II and the two Asmatika from mainland Greece. In the
latter musical sources, "Today Salvation" and "Rising from the tomb," two texts listed as
pentekostaria by the tenth-century Typikon of the Great Church, are found transformed from
The origins of the Byzantine cycle of eleven Resurrectional gospel lections in the urban liturgy of
1 8 3
Jerusalem are shown in Sebastia Janeras, "I vangeli domenicali della resurrezione nelle tradizioni liturgiche
agiopolita e bizantina," in G. Farnedi, ed., Paschale Mysterium: Studi in memoria delVAbate Prof. Salvato
Marsili (1910-1983), Analecta liturgica 12=Studiaanselmiana 99 (Rome: 1988), 55-69.
123
psalmodic refrains into independent works set i n the melismatic idiom reserved for Hagia
Sophia's most solemn choral chants.
B y the fourteenth century, the asmatic order of the Sunday Gospel had evolved into a
sprawling complex of chants and ceremonial featuring frequent musical interchange among
soloists, choir, and clergy. Although still evident i n the orational skeleton of the Euchologies,
the tripartite division of Sunday matins was effectively obliterated at the office's textual and
musical surface by this new structure. Moreover, once its had acquired such dimensions, one
must concede that this asmatic order of the Resurrectional Gospel had achieved the necessary
critical mass to be considered a major liturgical unit i n its own right, a state of affairs
underlined by the independent transmission of the cathedral rite's sequence of Late Byzantine
Great Doxology and gospel chants with extensive rubrication i n both cathedral Antiphonaria
and mixed-rite A k o l o u t h i a i . 184

Consequently, from at least the thirteenth century onward, it
would be proper to speak of four major sections within asmatic Sunday matins:
1) V i g i l in the Narthex, a descendent of the pre-matutinal psalmodic vigils of Late

Antiquity;
2) Morning Psalmody i n the Nave, an office of urban praise and thanksgiving to G o d

featuring the most venerable cathedral matutinal psalms and canticles;
3) The Order of the Resurrectional Gospel, a majestic sequence of psalmody and

cathedral ceremonial climaxing with the proclamation of Christ's Resurrection; and
4) Prayers within the Sanctuary, a service of supplication and benediction focused on

the needs of the local liturgical assembly.
184 The presence in certain fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Akolouthiai of the asmatic order for the
Resurrectional Gospel and the concomitant relegation of the Sunday prokeimena from the Oktoechos to an
appendix, together with the inclusion of a dual series of cathedral and monastic model verses for Lauds in these
same manuscripts, indicates that differing approaches to the celebration of the Palestinian offices persisted in
Byzantium after the Paleologan restoration of 1261. Ignoring the Neo-Sabai'tic placement of all matutinal
gospel lections before Psalm 50, a number of secular churches evidently continued to recite the gospel at the end
of matins, as in the Byzantine cathedral rite. As shown by the musical manuscripts, this was accomplished by
simply adopting the entire asmatic order for the Resurrectional Gospel, including its ceremonial and long
sequence of chants, which may have begun as far back in the service as the incipit for Lauds. Arranz ("Les
prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," 85-90), who has demonstrated that such juxtapositions of
cathedral and monastic elements within a Palestinian framework are characteristic of the mixed Studite liturgical
tradition, has published an order for monastic matins from the thirteenth-century Euchology MS Athens 570
that corresponds exactly to the rubrics of such Akolouthiai as Vienna Theol. gr. 185. See also our discussion of
the Studite tradition in the following chapter infra, p. 145ff.
124
In addition to highlighting the differences between the individual sections of asmatic
Sunday matins, the sources have shown that the service as a wholedespite the passage of
nearly nine hundred years since the formative "imperial phase" of the Rite of the Great Church
and the Thessalonian Antiphonariaremained generally faithful to patterns of urban worship
developed in Christian Antiquity. If we move beyond the distinct structural affinities of
"Sung" matins with the morning offices recorded in Egeria and the Apostolic Constitutions, the
persistence of ancient models may also be perceived immediately in the office's psalmodic
forms. A s i n the cathedral offices of the late fourth century, singing in asmatic Sunday matins
continued to be dominated by antiphonal and responsorial settings of biblical texts, usually
prefaced by a presidential prayer. O n the other hand, non-scriptural hymnography, limited in
matins to psalmodic refrains varying i n length from a single word to a monostrophic troparion,
was allotted a relatively marginal role. In either case, other than a few items that had been
subjected to melodic embellishment at various times after the ninth century, the musical settings
were characterised by their straightforward presentation of the biblical text, a trait reflected i n
the fact that the bulk of the office's psalmody was rendered i n syllabic reciting-tones.
A particularly vivid example of the survival of late fourth-century patterns was seen i n
the format employed for the antiphonal psalmody i n the narthex, in which the diversity of
ministerial roles typical of early cathedral worship was manifested through the careful
coordination of the various co-workers i n the common labour of the people of G o d
(leitourgia)clergy, soloists, choirs and congregationaccording to their particular g i f t s . 185
Prior to the onset of a psalmodic antiphon, the deacon led the congregation i n supplications,
after which the celebrant recited a collect. For the psalm itself, the multiplicity of charisms
within the ancient liturgical assembly was reflected i n the Late Byzantine Antiphonaria by a
skillfully designed hierarchy of musical idioms tailored to the abilities of the intended singers:
florid passages for the domestikos; psalm-tones for the variable texts of the chorus; and
refrains for the congregation that encouraged participation through their simplicity, brevity, and
1 8 5
Cf. 1 Corinthians 12:4-30.
125
repetition. Variations on this pattern of intonation/reciting-tone/refrain have also been seen in
the antiphonal psalmody sung at the ambo.
Significantly, with the single exception of the kalophonic verses for the invariable first
antiphon of matins from the Asma, all of the fully melismatic chants for asmatic Sunday matins
in the musical manuscripts also manifest cathedral traits. Perhaps the remnants of lost syllabic
prototypes, 186
the prokeimenon and the hypakoe were both cast as responsorial forms that may
still have featured congregational participation, facilitated in the latter instance by choral
conducting (cheironomia). 187

The Resurrectional Troparia after the Great Doxology present a
somewhat special case. Having initially been clothed in the melismatic idiom of the hypakoai
for inclusion in the Asmatikon, these hymns appear in the Late Byzantine Antiphonaria and
Akolouthia as full-fledged cathedral rite forms with solo intonations, choral passages, and
syllabic refrains.
The apparent persistence of ancient Christian forms of popular psalmody into the early
fifteenth century, the profound structural affinities of asmatic matins with the offices observed
by Egeria, and the amazing continuity of cathedral rite documents that enables sources
separated by overfivehundred years to complement each other with few conflicts, are all signs
of a profound liturgical conservatism. This fundamental characteristic of cathedral liturgy
during the Middle and Late Byzantine eras comes into even sharper focus when asmatic
Sunday matins is compared with its Studite and Neo-Sabaitic counterparts. After the explosion
of poetic activity at Studios in the ninth century, the Palestinian offices for any given
observance were inundated with poetic compositions explaining and re-explaining the
Referencestoa stichologia for the hypakoe in certain sources would seem to indicate descent from a form
1 8 6
employing multiple verses. It cannot, however, be automatically assumedafter the fashion of some scholars
who perceive behind every melismatic repertory a simple congregational prototype transformed (for the worse)
by professional cantorsthat the hypakoe was originally a syllabic response to the verses of an entire psalm.
Viewed in proportion to the rest of the asmatic matins, the presence of a few florid choral and solo pieces would
not have appreciably altered the prevailing ethos of the service, but, in a very practical way, would probably
have helped to relieve the monotony of constant antiphonal psalmody. On the important case of the Gregorian
graduals, which now appear to have been created in more or less their notated form, see James McKinnon, "The
Emergence of Gregorian Chant in the Carolingian Era," in idem, ed., Antiquity and the Middle Ages: From
Ancient Greece to the 15th century, Music and Society Series (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice H
1991), 101-02.
1 8 7
Cf. supra, p. 76, n. 39.
126
Orthodox interpretation of every important theological and historical facet of the
commemoration in question. On Sundays, this meant that the ordinary psalms and canticles of
monastic matins were festooned with a myriad of beautiful hymns from the Oktoechos
triumphantly proclaiming Christ's Resurrection from the dead in the most explicit terms
possible. 188
Prior to the introduction of the Resurrectional Gospel, however, the only proper
texts at ordinary Sunday matins in the Byzantine cathedral rite with unambiguous Paschal
significance were the pentekostarion and the fixed prokeimenon "Arise, O Lord." 189
Instead
of explicitly mimetic features or a multitude of anamnetic texts, the asmatic office modestly
possessed, as Arranz has previously noted, an implicitly Paschal character, evoking the
historical setting of the Resurrection by means of its vigil in the narthex and subsequent
triumphal entrance into the nave. 190
Throughout this chapter, we have defined the relative archaism of the unreformed
Byzantine cathedral office mostly in reference to general norms of urban worship that were
found throughout the Eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity. The profound difference of
approach to the commemoration of the Resurrection between the Studite and "Sung" rites,
however, points to important ways in which the asmatikeakolouthia continued to reflect the
"imperial" Byzantine approach to liturgy developed long after Justinianic liturgical piety had
been superseded by later developments. If we transcend the individual constituent elements to
consider the ethos evoked by the office as a whole, it can be seen that the aesthetic impact of
Sunday asmatic matins was largely achieved through the broad sweep of its scale and the
1 8 8
On the contents and development of the Sunday Oktoechos, see Nicolas Egender, "Celebration du
Dimanche," in Dimanche: Office selon les huit tons ( V/CTOJJJXOS), La Priere des eglises de rite byzan
(Chevetogne: [1971]), 24-36; and Christian Hannick, "Le texte de rOctoechos," in Dimanche, 37-60.
1 8 9
Ps. 9:33.
190 L' ffi e de l'Asmatikos Orthros," 155. Constantinopolitan cathedral liturgy's original eschewal of
0 C
historicism and mimesis, approaches that were fairly typical of the rival offices of Jerusalem, is most apparent
in the primitively austere way in which it observed Holy Week. See Bertoniere, The Historical Development of
the Easter Vigil, 7-153; Taft, "A Tale of Two Cities: The Byzantine Holy Week Triduum as a Paradigm of
Liturgical History," in J. Neil Alexander, ed., Time and Community, NPM Studies in Church Music and
Liturgy (Washington, D.C.: The Pastoral Press, 1990), 21-41; idem, "In the Bridegroom's Absence: The
Paschal Triduum in the Byzantine Church," in La celebrazione del Triduo pasquale: anamnesis e mimesis,
del UJ Congresso Internazionale di Liturgia, Roma, Pontificio Istituto Liturgico, Studia Anselm
lOZ=Analecta Liturgica 14 (Rome: 1990), 71-97.
127
majesty of its ceremony, features that have been previously cited by Mathews as integral to the
planning of the Early Byzantine Eucharist. 191

Something similar can be said of the
effectiveness of the musical component of the morning office at Hagia Sophia, which did not
rely on vocal virtuosity or vivid hymnography, but on the harmonious coordination of vast
vocal forces in multi-layered performances of sober but elegant antiphonal psalmody.
Not surprisingly, the most satisfying aesthetic parallels to asmatic Sunday matins and
its music are to be found in the monumental Justinianic edifice they were designed to occupy.
Hagia Sophia, as Taft has succinctly noted, like the Byzantine cathedral offices, successfully
evoked heaven on earth solely through the grandeur of its design:
As with all great buildings, the structure itselfnot its decorationcreated this
impression. The original decoration of Hagia Sophia was minimal. Only later
would much smaller structures require the explication of this symbolism
representatively, in mosaic and fresco, in accord with the more literal spirit of
the post-Iconoclastic age. 192
This artistic analogy can also be extended to the post-Iconoclastic musical contributions of
Studite monks, whose embellishment of the Palestinian offices with hymnography
corresponds, both in its comprehensiveness and in its vital concern for explicit anamnesis, to
the elaborate schemes of iconographic decoration that began to adorn Middle Byzantine
churches. It should be noted, however, that these particular innovations were merely
individual manifestations of a far-reaching movement toward realism in Byzantine theology,
art, mystagogy, and liturgy that, inTaft's view, represent "the victory of monastic popular
devotion over a more spiritualist approach." 193
As we have seen, this sea-change in Byzantine liturgical piety had little immediate
impact on the celebration of the "Sung" Office at Hagia Sophia. There are relatively few
incursions of Palestinian materials in the ninth- and tenth-century manuscripts of the Typikon
Thomas F. Mathews, The Early Churches of Constantinople: Architecture and Liturgy (University Par
1 9 1
and London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977), 178-79.

1 9 2
Robert Taft, "The Liturgy of the Great Church on the Eve of Iconoclasm: An Initial Synthesis of Structure
1 9 3
and Interpretation on the Eve of Iconoclasm," DOP 34-35 (1980-81): 72. For a summary of these
developments and their impact on Byzantine liturgy, see idem, The Byzantine Rite, 45-75.
128
of the Great Church, Patmos 266 and Hagios Stavros 40. 194
For four centuries after the
refounding of Studios, during which the Studite rite spread as far as Russia and Southern Italy,
the asmatike akolouthia, although a Justinianic anachronism out of step with popular piety, was
maintained at the Great Church until it was violently interrupted by the Latin Conquest of
Constantinople in 1204. After the Byzantine restoration of 1261, the long-dominant monastic
rite was adopted as the ordinary Liturgy of the Hours for Hagia Sophia, while the "Sung"
Office was relegated to occasional revivals on major feasts. 195
By some miracle, the asmatike akolouthia managed to survive the Latin conquest of
Byzantium for an additional two hundred years at the provincial cathedral of Hagia Sophia in
Thessalonica. Even more astonishing, the Thessalonian Antiphonaria Athens 2062 and 2061
were copied, respectively, in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries with pure asmatic
cycles of weekly psalmody. Whether, in the face of centuries of Byzantine liturgical
development, the pristine nature of these cathedral rite ordinaries was an accurate reflection of
liturgical reality is questionable, especially given the heterogeneous nature of other asmatic
items in these same manuscripts. 196

In any case, the acute disjunction between these archaic
documents and the prevailing liturgical climate sets the stage for Archbishop Symeon of
Thessalonica and his heroic efforts to save the Byzantine cathedral rite for posterity through
single-handed systematic reform, which we shall examine in subsequent chapters.
These Palestinian elements are summarised in Arranz, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Hesperinos," 407-08.
1 9 4
On these festal asmatic offices, see the present author's study of "Festal Cathedral Vespers in Late
1 9 5
Byzantium."
E g . the rubrics calling for the insertion of monastic stichera at festal vespers in Athens 2062. See "Festal
1 9 6
Cathedral Vespers."
CHAPTER 5
PRELUDE TO REFORM: MUSICAL DEVELOPMENTS
IN B Y Z A N T I N E MONASTIC L I T U R G Y
In his mystagogical treatise On Divine Prayer (ITepl rfjs- deia? rrpoaevxfjs),
Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica (1416/17-29) reports that the predominant form of daily
prayer employed in contemporary Orthodox churches was the monastic Divine Office
celebrated according to the Palestinian Typikon of St. Sabas:
In the monasteries here, and in almost all of the churches, the order followed is that
of the Jerusalem T y p i k o n of Saint Sabas. For this can be performed by one
person, having been compiled by monks, and is often celebrated without chants i n
the cenobitic monasteries. Such a rite is necessary and patristic, since our holy
Father Sabas set this down, having received it from our Fathers among the saints
Euthymios and Theoktistos, and they received it from their predecessors, including
the confessor Chariton. This order of Saint Sabas was lost, as we know, when the
place was destroyed by barbarians, but was formulated by our father among the
saints Sophronios, Patriarch of the Holy City, and after h i m our holy and
theological father John Damascene renewed it and handed it down i n writing.
A l l the holy monasteries and churches follow this order, except certain ones
specially authorised from time to time by the Great Church of Constantinople
according to ancient custom... 1
Symeon also notes with pride that his provincial cathedral of Hagia Sophia was an exception to
this trend, for it was the last church on earth that regularly celebrated the Liturgy of the Hours
according to the ancient Constantinopolitan cathedral Typikon of the Great Church, aritehe
glowingly describes as abounding in music:
Formerly all of the cathedral churches (KadoXiKai eKKXnoiaCp- in the inhabited

world celebrated [the Office] melodically (peXcpStK&s) i n order thatwith the
exception of the prayers belonging solely to the priest and the diaconal litanies
nothing might be said without melody ixcoplg pteXovs). This was once especially
1
Symeon, ITepl rffs 8eia$- Trpoaeuxf}S,(T)esacraprecaUone, PG 155, col. 556); trans, by H.L.N. Simmon
as St. Symeon of Thessalonike, Treatise on Prayer: An Explanation of the Services Conducted in the O
Church (Brookline, Mass.: Hellenic College Press, 1984), 22.
2
In Byzantine times, a "catholic church" was one of the few large churches within a city where the bishop
would celebrate baptisms. See ODB, vol. 2, 1116.
129
130
true of the greatest churches of Constantinople, Antioch, and Thessalonica. At

present, [the cathedral rite] has remained in use only in the last city's divine temple
of the Holy Wisdom of God. 3
Even in Constantinople itself, according to Symeon, the performance of cathedral rite services
was limited to occasional revivals on three major feasts: the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14
September), St. John Chrysostom (13 November), and the Dormition of the Mother of God
(15 August). He attributes the abandonment of the Great Church's offices by the
Constantinopolitans directly to the Latin conquest of 1204 which, he says, destroyed "the
tradition of its good and ancient customs," and indirectly to the "many priests and cantors"
required by the "Sung" Office. 4
Symeon, as Oliver Strunk notes, was describing the final stages of a lengthy process of
competition and mutual influence between the liturgical families of Constantinople and
Jerusalem, each of which fostered cathedral and monastic traditions. Originating in Late
5
Antiquity, this process of interchange became particularly intense after the Constantinopolitan
monks of Studios adopted the Sabai'tic Liturgy of the Hours in 799, a momentous event that
inaugurated four hundred years of coexistence between the asmatic and Sabai'ticritesin the
imperial capital. During this period the Studites enjoyed the clear lead in liturgical creativity,
creating a new synthesis by fusing the Palestinian Divine Office with material borrowed from
the "Sung" Office that they subsequently expanded by their prolific production of ecclesiastical
poetry. In contrast to this, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, the cathedralritemostly
continued to recapitulate Late Antique patterns of urban worship with minor adjustments, 6
although a reverse process of influence may be detected as a few Hagiopolite elements were
3
Symeon, TTepl rffs" decas npoaevxfjs; PG 155, col. 624 (my translation).
4
Idem, Treatise, 21; ITepl rtf? Beta? TTpooevxfjs; PG 155, col. 556;
5
Oliver Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia," in idem, EMBW, 113-14, 137-38. Concise surveys
reflecting the current scholarly understanding of this process are Robert Taft, The Byzantine Rite: A Short
History, American Essays in Liturgy (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 56-60; and idem, "A Tale of
Two Cities: The Byzantine Holy Week Triduum as a Paradigm of Liturgical History," in J. Neil Alexander, ed.,
Time and Community, NPM Studies in Church Music and Liturgy (Washington, D . C : The Pastoral Pre
1990), 22-23.
6
131
absorbed into the liturgy of the Great C h u r c h . This state of affairs was disrupted by the Latin
7
occupation of Constantinople (1204-61), after which the monastic rite was adopted as the
ordinary Liturgy of the Hours at Hagia Sophia.
While Symeon's outline of Byzantine liturgical development has been more or less
substantiated by modern scholarship, his strong qualitative contrastlargely on musical
groundsbetween monastic and cathedral worship is, as we noted in Chapter One of the
present study, somewhat more problematic. In particular, the passages quoted above from the
treatise On Divine Prayer would seem to indicate that lavish music and ceremonial served to
distinguish a magnificent cathedral rite "well constructed of psalms and refrains," from an
8
austere monastic rite that can be celebrated alone and without singing. This would have been,
as our survey of nascent cathedral and monastic patterns of corporate prayer in Chapter T w o
has shown, an accurate portrayal of the differences between the daily prayer of Egyptian
monks and urban Christians in the m i d fourth century, at which time cathedral psalmody was
distinguished from the monastic variety by its use of attractive music and refrains. Symeon's
assessment, however, was certainly not representative of the Sabai'tic rite following the
massive introduction of hymnography i n the seventh and eighth centuries, after which,
Antoniades has noted, the major offices of the Palestinian monastic tradition were
unquestionably 'sung' services. 9
Remarks in the treatise On Divine Prayer contradicting the assertion that "Sung" offices
were inherently more appealing than their monastic counterparts further show the inadequacy
of Symeon's qualitative comparison of the two rites. Indeed, the archbishop repeatedly
complains of the ignorance and indifference, bordering on hostility, of certain members of his
flock who, evidently viewing the asmatic rite with incomprehension or distaste as an
anachronism, probably would have been much happier i f their cathedral adopted the
7
Specific examples of such borrowing are discussed in Miguel Arranz, "L'office de YAsmatikos Hesperinos
(vpres chantees) de l'ancien Euchologe byzantin," OCP 44 (1978): 407-08 ; Strunk, "The Byzantine Office,"
137-38; and Taft, "A Tale of Two Cities," 27-31.
8
Treatise, 21; ITepl rfjs Betas' jrpoaevxfjs, PG 155, col. 556.
9
Evangelos Antoniades, "TTepi TOV dopanKov rj fivCavrivov KoopiKOv TVTTOV TLOV 'AKOAOVQL&V rfjs
r)ixepovvKTiov. npooevxfjs," OeoAoyia 20(1929): 721.
132
contemporary monastic rite. In one instance, he reports that some people could no longer
differentiate between the antiphons of the Divine Liturgy and Asmatic V e s p e r s , while i n
10
another he speaks resentfully about cuts that have been made to the ancient asmatic order to
satisfy the grumbling of "slothful and careless persons." 11
The irony of the situation may be perceived most fully i n Symeon's plea for the
perpetual maintenance of the asmatike akolouthia, i n which he cites his addition of music from
the monastic rite as an improvement to the old cathedral order:
I beseech you i n Christ that this [asmatic] order be maintained forever, and that the
tradition of the Fathers remain among you as a kind of divine spark. W e wish this
to be observed and maintained always, because as sweetening and seasoning we
have added kanons to it, lest some person make claims without knowledge of the
order, being lukewarm and slothful and finding excuses for moving to abolish it,
on the pretext that we do not hear the usual kanons which everyone sings. So these
have now been added, and for the careful and zealous it has become better-ordered
and more pleasant than the services celebrated i n the monasteries. 12
Later passages of the same liturgical commentary that describe the asmatic offices i n detail
reveal other cases of pastoral accomodationboth abbreviations of asmatic antiphonal
psalmody and further additions from the monastic ritesimilarly altering the shape of the
"Sung" Office at his cathedral. 13
It is evident from the contradictions inherent i n Symeon's account that a more nuanced
understanding of the structural and stylistic distinctions between the Byzantine monastic and
cathedral traditions is a necessary prerequisite for study of the archbishop's liturgical reforms.
Since we have already discussed the characteristics of the unreformed "Sung" Office at some
length in our preceding analysis of asmatic Sunday matins, the remainder of the present chapter
w i l l examine the monastic portion of the dichotomy. In particular, we shall focus on two
musico-liturgical innovations which caused the Rite of St. Sabas in its various recensions to
diverge considerably from both the cathedral and the monastic precedents of Late Antiquity.
The first is the rapid development of Sabai'tic hymnography after the seventh century, which
1 0
Symeon, ITepi Tfjs deias npoaevxfjs; PG 155, col. 625; Treatise, 72.
1 1
ITepi Tfjs Betas npoo~evxfjS, PG 155, col. 628; Treatise, 74.
1 2
Adapted from Treatise, 21-22; cf. PG 155, col. 556.
1 3
See PG 155, cols. 624, 628, 645-49, 653, 668; Treatise, 71, 74, 86-8, 91, 100.
133
radically altered the percentage of non-scriptural texts sung or recited i n the Liturgy of the
Hours. The second is the emergence of melody as a semi-autonomous shaping force i n
Byzantine worship after the fourteenth-century musical reforms associated with John
Koukouzeles.
I. Byzantine Monastic Hymnography

Origins
Sabai'tic monastic worship underwent significant changes during the three centuries or
so that passed between 478, the year St. Sabas (439-532) founded his Lavra i n the Judean
desert near Bethlehem, and its adoption by the newly revitalised Constantinopolitan monastery
of Studios at the close of the eighth century. A t its inception, the monastery of St. Sabas was a
multi-national ascetic community operating on the lavriote model developed in fourth-century
Lower Egypt. L i k e their illustrious predecessors the Desert Fathers, the Palestinian monks
observed a personal rule of prayer in solitude on weekdays, gathering for common worship
only on weekends and the eves of major feasts. 14

The liturgical centrepiece of their life and the
primary vehicle for monastic koinonia was the weekly all-night vigil or agrypnia which
preceded the Sunday Eucharist. 15
So conservative was the form of monasticism St. Sabas promoted at his Lavra that he
initially rejected the presence of priests i n his c o m m u n i t y . 16

Nevertheless, it was a sign of the
1 4
Nicholas Egender, "Introduction," in La priere des hemes:'QpoAdycov,La priere des eglises de rite
byzantin 1 (Chevetogne: Editions de Chevetogne, 1975), 34-35. Cf. supra, Ch. 2, pp. 26-27.
1 5
Taft, "Mount Athos: A Late Chapter in the History of the Byzantine Rite," DOP 42 (1988): 187. No
contemporary accounts of this vigil or any other early Sabaitic services have survived. Arranz notes references
in Cyril of Scythopolis' vita of St. Sabas to an early morning office ("Kauuv Tf)g ipdApajSias"), vespers
("Av^w/coV"), terce, sext, and none. In addition, a document of the twelfth or thriteenth century considered by
Dmitrievsky to be the "Testament of St. Sabas" stresses the importance of the vigil to the community. See
Miguel Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes de la Liturgie Byzantine: Palestine-Byzance-Russie. Essai d'apercu
historique," in Liturgie de Veglise particuliere et liturgie de Veglise universelle, Bibliotheca Ephem
Liturgicae, Subsidia 7 (Rome: Edizioni Liturgiche, 1976), 47-48; idem, "N.D. Uspensky: The Office of the
AH-Night Vigil in the Greek Church and in the Russian Church," St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 24
(1980): 105-06; cf. Dmitrievsky, Opisanie I, 222-24; and Kyrillos von Skythopolis, Leben des Sabas, ed. E.
Schwartz, Texte und Unstersuchungen 49.2 (Leipzig: 1939), 118, cited in Taft, "Mount Athos," idem.
1 6
Arranz, "N.D. Uspensky," 101.
134
times that some of his monks appear to have become attached to the spoudaioi, a group of
urban ascetics who, like the monazontes witnessed by the early fifth-century pilgrim Egeria,
participated in the Divine Office of Jerusalem's church of the Anastasis. 17

As we have seen
earlier, Jerusalem in Egeria's time was already a venue for the interaction of monastic and
cathedral liturgy. This process of mutual influence appears to have continued unabated oyer
the next two centuries in Palestine, provoking a negative reaction to urban styles of chant and
hymnody in certain circles of ascetics. Although a detailed history of these developments is

18
beyond the scope of the present study, it is worth noting that a diverse spectrum of monastic
19
opinion with regard to cathedral responsories and non-scriptural hymnody resulted in the
emergence of divergent approaches to the celebration of offices from the ordinaries of the
Palestinian Horologion ("Book of the Hours") at the turn of the seventh century.
The oudines of this conflict are evident in the famous narration of the visit of
Palestinian abbots John and Sophronioswho appear to have been John Moschos (f 619 or
634) and the Sophronios (|638), both future Patriarchs of Jerusalem to the abbot Nilus
20 21
of Sinai, which is an early seventh-century source transmitted in a collection of writings edited
by Nikon of the Black Mountain (11th c.) 2 2

This account begins with a description of the
vespers and "canon of psalmody" ("Kavobv rr/s* i/jaXp.ojStas'") that Nilus conducted in the
1 7
Ibid., 103-05.
1 8
On monastic opposition to urban chant and hymnography, see Johannes Quasten, Music and Worship in
Pagan and Christian Antiquity, Boniface Ramsey, trans., NPM Studies in Church Music and Liturgy
(Washington, D.C.: National Association of Pastoral Musicians, 1983), 94-97. Quasten's chronology,
however, needs to be revised in the light of more recent work by James McKinnon, who has noted that there is
no trace of this polemic in the writings of the earliest Desert Fathers. The text cited by Quasten regarding the ,
alleged anti-musical views of the Egyptian Abbot Pambo is, according to McKinnon, not authentic and
probably dates from the sixth century. See McKinnon, "Desert Monasticism and the Later Fourth-Century
Psalmodic Movement," Music and Letters 75 (1994): 508; and, on the authenticity of the Pambo anecdote, Otto
Wesseley, "Die Musikanschauung des Abtes Pambo," Anzeiger der osterreichischen Akademie der
Wissenschafien: philosophischi-historische Klasse 89 (1952): 45-62, cited in McKinnon, idem.
1 9
On the development of monastic worship in Palestine, see Arranz, "N.D. Uspensky," 101-113; and Nikolai
D. Uspensky, "Chin vsenoshchnogo bdeniia (r) aypxmvid) na pravoslavnom vostoke i v russkoi tserkvi,"
Bogoslovskie Trudy 18 (1978): 37-61.
2 0
ODB, s.v. "Moschos, John.," p. 1415.
2 1
Arranz, "Les grandes etapes," 48.
2 2
Edited with commentary by Augusta Longo, "II testo integrale della Narrazione degli Abati Giovanni e
Sofronio attraverso le 'Eppevlai* di Nicone," Rivista degli Studi Byzantini e Neoellenici N.S. 2-3 (XII-
XIII) (1965-66): 223-67. On Nikon, see Irenee Doens, "Nicon de la Montagne Noire," Byzantion 24 (1954):
131-40.
135
presence of his visitors on Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Vespers was a
23
primitive monastic version of the Horologion's evening service, while the "canon" (Table 4)
was an agrypnia derived from Palestinian matins at a similar stage of development. The 24
vigil featured the recitation of the entire Psalter in three stations or "staseis," but omitted the
litanies, troparia, cathedral responsories and prayers familiar from later recensions of Sabai'tic
matins.
The austerity of these otherwise familiar services puzzled the two Palestinian abbots,
who, noting the absence of certain chants, asked Nilus why he failed to follow the "order of
the catholic and apostolic Church." In particular, they inquired after the following items they
perceived as missing from the "canon": 1) the matutinal responsory "The Lord is God" {"Qeds
Kupiog"); 2) sessional hymns ("kathismata") of the Resurrection chanted between the staseis
of the Psalter; 3) troparia to accompany the two biblical canticles of the Three Children; 4) the
gospel responsory "Let everything that hath breath" CTIdaa nvorf); and 5) a Resurrectional
troparion sung after the Great Doxologyf Gloria in excelsis). 25

These chants must have
become customary at the turn of the seventh century not only for monks like the spoudaioi of
the Anastasis who were attached to cathedrals, but also for Palestinian abbots like John and
Sophronios.
After vigorously asserting that anyone who does not uphold the traditions of the
catholic and apostolic Church should be anathematised, Nilus responded at length to his
interlocutors. This response, while reflecting what had become the customary ascetic distrust
of melodic psalmody, displays a subtlety of argument absent from some of the vitriolic
monastic denunciations of the previous two centuries. 26

Nilus is extremely careful not to
attack the singing of antiphonal psalmody, melodious responsories, and troparia in cathedrals,
2 3
Longo, "II testo integrale," 251-52.
2 4
Egender, 37. Cf. the two earliest manuscripts and modern printed editions of the Greek Horologion. For
editions of the former, see Juan Mateos, "Un horologion inedit de S. Sabas: Le Codex sinai'tique grec 863 (IXe
siecle)," in Melanges E. Tisserant, vol. Ill, Studi e testi 233 (Vatican City: 1964), 47-86; and Maxime (Leila)
Ajjout, "Le Codex Sinaiticus Gr. 864 (IXe s.): Horologion," 2 vols. (Ph.D. diss., Pontifical Oriental Institute,
Rome, 1986); cited as forthcoming in the Sources Chretiennes by Taft, "Mount Athos," 180.
2 5
Longo, 253.
2 6
On these, see supra, n. 18.
136
TABLE 4
T H E C A N O N OF P S A L M O D Y C E L E B R A T E D B Y A B B O T NILUS OF SINAI 3
Hexapsalmos (Psalms 3 , 37, 62, 87, 102, 142) b
Psalmody Stasis I Psalms 1-50

Our Father
Kyrie eleison 50 times
Lesson from the Epistle of James
Stasis II Psalms 51-100

Our Father
Lesson from 1 or 2 Peter
Stasis III Psalms 101-50

Our Father
Lesson from 1, 2, or 3 John
Nine Odes of Biblical Canticles, with Our Father and Kyrie eleison after the 3rd and 6th
Lauds Psalms 148-50
Great Doxol ogy (Gloria in excelsis)
Creed
Our Father
Concluding Prayer
a
After Taft, Liturgy of the Hours, 199, and idem, "Mount Athos," 188.
b
Taft (ibid.) assumes that the hexapsalmos ("six psalms") in question, although not specified in the original
text, is that of later Sabai'tic matins.
where such chants are not only "the glory and raiment of the catholic Church," but also an
inducement for increased attendance at services by the l a i t y . 27

O n the contrary, he cleverly
begins his argument against melodious chanting in monastic environments by invoking the
2 7
Longo, 265.
137
diversity of ordained ministries within the urban assemblies, which are absent in monasteries.
Unordained monks should therefore not be so presumptuous as to employ without divine
sanction the forms of worship linked to the offices of priest, deacon, subdeacon, cantor, or
reader. Only after this introduction does Nilus commence his expected discourse on the
28
"higher road" taken by monks, which includes statements regarding the incompatibility of
29
melodious chanting and troparia with monastic spirituality. 30
Sabai'tic Hymnography
Christian liturgy in Palestine was disrupted by the widespread devastation that
accompanied the Persian capture of Jerusalem in 614, when forty-four monks of St. Sabas
were massacred by the invaders 3 1

Monastic life and worship at the Lavra of St. Sabas were
soon restored by the aforementioned Sophronios, who was also a teacher of rhetoric turned
32
monk and Patriarch of Jerusalem (634-38). For reasons that are not entirely clear, this
recovery was accompanied by a burst of liturgical creativity that gave rise to an entire school of
hymnographers associated with the monastery. 33

Among thefirstwas Sophronios himself,
whose ecclesiastical compositions include a set of twelve hymns for the canonical Hours of
Christmas, and the troparia for the Great Blessing of the Waters at Theophany. The 34
movement was in full flower by the last quarter of the seventh century, ushering in a "Golden
Age" of Byzantine monastic hymnography. During this period, such outstanding melodes as
Andrew of Crete (f720), John of Damascus (|749) and Kosmas of Maiouma (f787) created an
2 8
Longo, 253-56, 262-63.
2 9
Ibid., 265.
3 0
Ibid., 257-67.
3 1
Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes," 52.
3 2
Cf. Symeon, Treatise, 22; PG 155, col. 556.
3 3
Arranz ("Les grandes Stapes, 53), noting that a similar phenomenon may be observed among the Jews of that
era, raises the possibility that the hymns of the Palestinian monks may be related to the general flowering of
Arab poetry that took place during the seventh and eighth centuries.
3 4
Panagiotes N. Trempelas,'EicAoyrj'EAArjwcfjs-'Opdo86ov Tpvoypa<pias (Athens: Soter Brotherhood,
1978), 256-60.
138
impressive repertory of Sunday and festal office hymns to ornament the ordinary biblical
psalms and canticles of the H o r o l o g i o n . 35
The new hymns of the Sabaites departed significantly from previously established
urban patterns of psalmody and ecclesiastical poetry, both with regard to their form and their
content. From its origins in the popular psalmodic assemblies of the fourth century, probably
the most characteristic feature of cathedral psalmody was the insertion of a refrainvarying in
length from a single word to a few sentencesbetween the verses of a scriptural text sung
mainly by choirs or soloists. The brevity and repetition of the refrain was ideal for the
promotion of congregational participation in large urban liturgical assemblies, while the
allotment of a service's variable texts and more challenging musical passages to designated
singers fostered both variety and order. This pattern of organisation was not limited to psalms,
for it underlies the kontakion, the one major form of hymnography produced by the Rite of the
Great C h u r c h . 36
Furthermore, as we have seen above i n Chapter 4, nearly all of the
sophisticated multi-layered psalmodic structures of the mature Constantinopolitan "Sung"
Office also operated along these lines. Even i n instances such as the thirteenth-century
hypakoai, where the adoption of a complex musical idiom would appear to preclude
congregational participation, the underlying cathedral pattern of verse and refrain remains.
Early monastic psalmody, which arose i n circles of Christian ascetics who prized the
Psalter as an object of contemplation i n their pursuit of the ideal of ceaseless prayer, had
exhibited structural differences with its cathedral counterpart from Late Antiquity, including a
notable preference for verse-by-verse forms of recitation without refrains. 37

W h i l e such
elements of cathedral liturgy as melodious chanting, fixed psalmody thematically appropriate to
the hour, and ceremonial had been adopted by urban communities of monks i n Palestine,
Cappadocia, and Antioch as early as the late fourth century 3 8

monastic common prayer
3 5
Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes," 53.
3 6
Jos6 Grosdidier de Matons, "Liturgie et Hymnographie: Kontakion et Canon," DOP 34/35 (1980-81):
40-41.
3 7
Robert Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West: The Origins of the Divine Office and It
for Today (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1986), 54.
3 8
On the early urban monastic office, see Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 75-91.
139
remained the preserve of a cloistered elite with large portions of scripture committed to
memory, Unconstrained by the need to accommodate the limited musical capabilities and
39
attention span of a large urban congregation, the monastic hymnographers of the seventh and
eighth centuries produced vast numbers of troparia intended for sequential performance rather
than repetition as refrains.
The various forms of Sabaitic hymnography can be distinguished from one another
according to their relationship to the ordinary texts of the Horologion and their musico-poetic
scheme. Kathismata ("sessional [hymns]"), for example, were employed during the monastic
"canon of psalmody" as interludes, either to separate the three triads of biblical canticles, or
between major sections of the daily pensum of psalms. Another much larger group of
40
Palestinian hymns were composed for interpolation between the verses of psalms and canticles.
Stichera are a large class of proper hymns intended for intercalation between the verses of the
fixed evening Psalms of Light (Psalms 140, 141,129, and 116) of Hagiopolite vespers, and of
Lauds (Psalms 148-50) at matins. The crowning achievement of Sabaitic hymnographers,
however, was the kanon, a long and complex form of hymnography farcing the verses of
anywhere from two to all nine biblical canticles of the matutinal "canon of psalmody." 41
Depending on the number of canticles being subjected to interpolation, a kanon may feature up
to nine poetic "odes," each of which contains a number of metrically identical stanzas laced
with thematic references to the text of the host canticle. For example, since the ninth biblical
ode of the Palestinian morning service couples the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) and the
3 9
Ioannes Phountoules, "O ayios Zvpecou GeooaAoviicqs awrdicrris TVTTLKOV," chap, in flpa/cri/cd
Aeirovpyi/cov avi/eSpiov ei's" Tipr/f Kai pvtjprjv TOV dyLots Trarpds Tjpcoy Zvpecovos
'Apxt-emctKOTrov OeaaaAouLKr)s^ TOV Gavparovpyov, (Thessalonica: 1981), 112.
4 0
The Palestinian liturgical psalter or Psalterion contains 4,882 verses, approximately twice the number in the
Constantinopolitan Antiphonarion. The Psalterion divides the one hundred-and-fifty Psalms of David into
twenty major sections that are further subdivided into groups of three "staseis" or "doxai," each of which ideally
consists of three psalms. The twenty large sections themselves eventually came to be known as "kathismata,"
after the hymns that were sung between them. See Taft, "Mount Athos," 181-82.
4 1
The nine scriptural odes of Sabaitic matins are: 1) Exodus 15:1-19; 2) Deuteronomy 32:1-43; 3) 1 Kings
(=1 Samuel) 2:1-10; 4) Habbakuk 3:1-19; 5) Isaiah 26:9-20; 6) Jonah 2:3-10; 7) Daniel 3:26-56; 8) Daniel
3:57-88; and 9) Luke 1:46-55, 68-79. See Taft, "Mount Athos," 181.
140
Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79), the ninth poetic ode of a kanon is usually in honour of the Virgin
Mary. 42
The musical performance of these vast textual repertories is facilitated by the fact that
most Sabai'tic hymns are associated with comprehensive systems of model melodies and
dependent contrafacta. In the case of stichera and kathismata, the vast majority of hymns are
43
contrafacta known as "prosomoia" that follow the metrical and melodic scheme of a pre-
existing hymn called an "automelon." A similar relationship may be observed in the individual
poetic odes of the kanons, each of which commences with an heirmos, followed by a series of
metrically identical strophes known by the generic term "troparia." Since each ode of a kanon
invariably employs a different heirmos, the succession of model melodies cumulatively
bestows a greater musical variety than was present in Constantinopolitan kontakia, in which the
same melody is applied to every oikos.
A New Approach to Liturgical Anamnesis
The formal innovations of Sabai'tic hymnography in the areas of music and text were
also accompanied by a significant departure from earlier monastic and cathedral approaches to
the anamnesis of the Christian 'History of Salvation'i.e. the chronicle of God s salvific
1
actions on behalf of mankind, especially those associated with the Incarnation, Death, and
Resurrection of His Sonin daily prayer. Recollection of this historical aspect of Christian
faith was, as we have seen, not a significant component in the worship of the Egyptian Desert
Fathers. These pioneers instead manifested a ruthless fixation on the world to come through
rules of prayer featuring continuous recitation of scripture without regard for its thematic
relationship to the time of day or liturgical season. Urban monasticism of the late fourth
century, on the other hand, followed the example of cathedral liturgy by adopting ceremonial,
4 2
A good summary of the relationship between the biblical and poetic odes is Wellesz, A History, 206-28.
4 3
These systems are summarised in MiloS Velimirovi6, "Byzantine Chant," in Richard Crocker and David
Hiley, eds., The Early Middle Ages to 1300, The New Oxford History of Music 2 (Oxford and New York:
Oxford University Press, 1990), 38-40. Despite their prominence in the offices of major feasts, through-
composed troparia featuring unique metrical schemes and melodic settingsknown as "idiomela"form only a
relatively small portion of the repertory.
141
prayers, and antiphonal psalmody that reflected the ancient daily and weekly cycles observed
by urban Christians. Yet, with the exception of such venerable set pieces as the Phos hilaron
or the Gloria in excelsis, canonical strictures against so-called idiotikoipsalmoi during the
fourth andfifthcenturies worked to limit the sung portions of cathedral and urban monastic
offices to approved scripture. Since the Old Testament formed the bulk of canonical scripture,
the limited repertory of psalmodic texts explicitly concerned with post-Incarnational events and
personages in salvation history of necessity encouraged an oblique or typological approach to
their anamnesis.
We have seen in the preceding survey of the asmatike akolouthia that the
Constantinopolitan cathedral rite had retained this archaic reliance on Old Testament texts at
least into the tenth century. Even after the development offixedand movable yearly cycles
commemorating individual events in the 'History of Salvation,' the mature Rite of the Great
Church stubbornly maintained a coolly conservative approach to anamnesis. Asmatic
psalmody remained almost entirely biblical, with only a few proper non-scriptural troparia
serving to convey explicitly in song the orthodox Christian interpretation of a particular
commemoration. Furthermore, as we have previously noted, the Typikon of the Great Church
requires only relatively minor changes to the ordinary of the "Sung" Office on solemn feasts,
while lesser observances were often marked by only a single proper refrain. The vivid essays
of St. Romanos the Melode in the poetic exegesis of scripture for the crowds of faithful
gathered at popular psalmodic vigils, despite their significance in the history of Byzantine
hymnography, did not constitute an exception to this rule, for kontakia were paraliturgical
compositions chanted between the individual offices of a cathedral vigil. 44

Much of the
theological weight of the "Sung" Office was therefore concentrated in the office prayers of the
Euchology, which, with the exception of such extraordinary texts as the "Kneeling Prayers" of
Pentecost, primarily reflected the rhythm of the daily cycle.
Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes," 51; and the present author's study "The Liturgical Use of the Kontakion in
4 4
Constantinople," in ed. Constantin C. Akentiev, Liturgy, Architecture and Art of the Byzantine
World: Paper
of the XV11I International Byzantine Congress (Moscow, 8-15 August 1991) and Other Essay
Memory ofFr. John Meyendorff, Byzantinorossica 1 (St. Petersburg: 1995), 50-57.
142
The ecclesiastical poets of St. Sabas moved into areas that were previously the preserve
of presidential prayers and homilieswhether spoken or, as was the case with the hymns of
St. Romanos or St. Ephrem the Syrian, sungby producing vast amounts of hymnography
elucidating the theological significance of particular events in salvation history to the liturgical
assembly. 45
Although certain of their creations display dramatic and narrative elements, the
Sabai'tes generally eschewed the v i v i d naturalism found i n the kontakia of Romanos, preferring
instead a relatively formal linguistic idiom laced with the Christological terminology established
by the Ecumenical Councils 4 6

Consequently, the offices of the Horologion, once provided
with Sabaitic hymnography, articulated and re-articulated basic points of orthodox Christian
belief with a specificity that had been unattainable i n services with audible texts comprised
almost exclusively of O l d Testament psalms and canticles.
In some cases, Sabaitic poets created hymns explaining the typological relationship of
their host texts from the scriptural ordinary to the Christian commemoration at hand, thus
making explicit in sung worship what had often been only implied. This may be seen i n the
following example of two heirmoi written for performance with the biblical Song of Jonah,
which is the sixth canticle of Palestinian matins. The first is the heirmos for the sixth ode of
the Paschal kanon of St. John of Damascus, and the other is the heirmos for the corresponding
ode of the Christmas kanon of Kosmas of Maiouma. The Paschal hymn is the simpler of the
two, linking the captivity of Jonah in the whale to Christ's harrowing of H e l l and Resurrection:
Thou didst descend into the lowest parts of the earth, O Christ; and having broken
the eternal bars which held the prisoners, Thou didst on the third day, as Jonah
from the whale, rise again from the t o m b . 47
Kosmas reinterprets the story of Jonah as a prefigurement of the Nativity, while also providing
a more intricate set of theological references:
4 5
Cf. the remarks by Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware, "Orthodox Services and Their Structure,"
in idem, eds., The Festal Menaion (London: Faber and Faber, 1969), 66-67; and, in much greater detail,
Elizabeth A. Briere, "Scripture in Hymnography: A study in some feasts of the Orthodox Church" (Ph.D. diss.,
Oxford University, 1982).
4 6
Fordham University Press, 1979), 122-23; Grosdidier de Matons, "Liturgie et Hymnographie," 36-37, 41-43.
4 7
Trans. J.M. Neale, quoted in Wellesz, A History, 211.
143
The sea monster spat forth Jonah as it had received h i m , like a babe from the
womb: while the W o r d , having dwelt in the V i r g i n taken flesh, came forth from her
yet kept her uncorrupt. For being himself not subject to decay, H e preserved H i s
Mother free from h a r m .48
Such exercises i n running biblical commentary, where a hymn explains the typology of the text
it is farcing, form a special category of theological explanation primarily found i n kanons. Y e t
the overall preoccupation with biblical typology is far from unique, for the corpus of Sabaitic
hymnography is a veritable encyclopedia of patristic thought and scriptural exegesis, as a
glance at the hymns for any major feast w i l l r e v e a l . 49
In Byzantine monastic hymnography, however, didactic and exegetical considerations
are ultimately of secondary importance to continuous recollection and proclamation of Christ by
his worshipping Church. The central mystery of the Christian faith is the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, the anamnesis of which formed the basis for the celebration of a
weekly eucharistic cycle centred on the Lord's Day long before yearly cycles appeared to
commemorate individual historical events. 50

Characteristically, the Sabaitic response to the
weekly recollection of the Paschal mystery was to create cycles of Resurrectional poetry for
Saturday vespers and Sunday matins that clearly and emphatically underscored its centrality.
These hymns were distributed according to musical mode among eight sets of Resurrectional
propers for performance on successive Sundays. The compilation of this collection, later
known as the Oktoechos, has been attributed to John of Damascus, 51

who is also traditionally
credited with inventing the Byzantine musical system of eight m o d e s . 52
The Oktoechos proclaims the joyous news of the Resurrection i n hymns that generally
adopt such traditional postures of Christian worship as praise, thanksgiving, and supplication.
4 8
The Festal Menaion, trans. Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware (London: Faber and Faber,
1969), 276.
4 9
Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, 123.
5 0
On the early theology of liturgical commemoration, see the essays "Toward a Theology of the Christian
Feast" and "Historicism Revisited" in Taft, Beyond East and West, 1-13, 15-30.
5
Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes," 54; Christian Hannick, "Le texte de l'Oktoechos," 55-57.
5 2
AntoniosE. Alygizakes, 7/ OicTarjxia arrji' eAAr/i/ifoj AeiTovpyaaj vpmypa<pta(Thessalonica:
Pournaras, 1985), 105-13. John of Damascus is vividly painted in some sources as the father of the entire
Byzantine musical system, including its neumatic notation: e.g. Georgios I. Papadopoulos, ZvpfioAai ei? rr/y
laropiai/ rfjs nap' rjpLf etc/cArKnaan/cffe poLcnKf}s^(Athens: 1890; repr. ed, Athens: Koultoura, 1977),
154-230.
144
A t the same time, there is considerable variation i n the length and content of individual troparia.
Some hymns are as short and direct as the pentekostaria of the cathedral rite:
W e praise T h y saving Passion, O Christ, and glorify Thy Resurrection.
G i v e peace i n our lives, O L o r d , who endured the Cross and destroyed death and
rose from the dead as A l m i g h t y .
53
Others recall the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection i n detail, occasionally even to the point of
employing extended narration:
O n the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb i n search of Thee. B u t
when she did not find Thee, she wept and cried out, "Woe is me, my Saviour! H o w have
they stolen the K i n g of A l l ? " A pair of life-bearing angels responded from within the tomb,
saying "Woman, why do you weep?" "I weep," she said, "because they have taken my
L o r d from the tomb and I do not know where they have laid H i m . " Turning around, she
saw Thee and then cried, " M y L o r d and my G o d , glory to T h e e . "
54
Some hymns also elaborate on the basic message of redemption by placing the Resurrection
within the context of the entire Divine Economy. Moreover, they often do so i n highly
technical theological language derived from conciliar pronouncements. The most prominent
representatives of this phenomenon are the dogmatika, a repertory of stichera for Saturday
vespers explaining the Incarnation i n Chalcedonian terms. It should be noted, however, that
further examples of this approach are scattered liberally throughout the Oktoechos:
Without parting from the bosom of the Father, O only-begotten Son of G o d , i n Thy
love for mankind Thou didst descend to earth, becoming man without change.
Impassible i n T h y divinity, Thou didst suffer the cross and death i n the flesh. B u t
rising from the dead as the only Almighty One, Thou hast granted immortality to
mankind. 55
Despite the differences among them, the many hymns of the Oktoechos proclaim over and over
again the same message of Christ's death and resurrection for the salvation of m e n . 56
This
combination of a unity of purpose with a diversity of literary approaches therefore serves to
- Stichera of the first mode for Lauds (Ps. 148-50), slightly modified from The Service of the Sunday Orthros,
>3
ed. and trans, by N. Michael Vaporis (Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1991), 88.
5 4
Sticheron Anatolikon of the third mode for Lauds, translation modified from ibid., 95; cf. John 20:11-16.
The "Anatolika" are a repertory of stichera for matins and vespers of uncertain authorship that are placed in the
Oktoechos after presumably earlier groups of anonymous hymns. For a summary of the current theories
regarding the meaning of the term "anatolikon," see Hannick, "Le texte de l'Oktoechos," 44-47.
5 5
Sticheron of the fourth mode for Lauds, translation modified from The Service of Sunday Orthros, 97.
5 6
Robert Taft, "Thanksgiving for the Light:' Toward a Theology of Vespers," in Beyond East and West:
Problems in Liturgical Understanding, NPM Studies in Church Music and Liturgy (Washington, D . C
Pastoral Press, 1984), 142-43.
145
provide a variety of perspectives on events of a cosmic significance that wereas the Greek
Patristic tradition insisted with regard to questions concerning the nature of Godultimately
beyond positive definitions in human language. 57
Viewed within the context of Byzantine liturgical history, the creation of the Oktoechos
was an important step in the development of the modernrite'scharacteristic practice of
complementing the Sunday Divine Liturgy with a vibrant commemoration of the Resurrection
within the Divine Office. Prior to the Peace of Constantine, the liturgical anamnesis of the
58
Paschal mystery on the Lord's Day presumably had been concentrated in the anaphora of the
weekly Eucharist. 59
In the early fifth century, Egeria records the emergence in Jerusalem of a
popular psalmodic vigil of the Resurrection that provided a second focal point for this
observance. Other than the climactic gospel reading, however, the psalmodic framework of
such a traditional cathedralriteservice placed limits on the extent to which any historical
Christian event could be explicitly invoked in song within a given office. By ignoring on a
grand scale earlier canonical limits placed on the singing of non-scriptural hymns, the
hymnographers of Saint Sabas, in part through the sheer number of their compositions,
transformed the Sunday offices of the Palestinian Horologion into unprecedentedly direct
proclamations of the Paschal message of Christ's triumph over death.
The Studite Contribution
The fact that Patriarch Germanos I (715-730) left a poetic legacy including hymns
composed in Sabaitic genres indicates that Palestinian hymnography could not have been totally
5 7
The ultimate indescribability of God is central to the important Byzantine tradition of apophatic or "negative"
theology, which is briefly described in Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, 11-14.
5 8
The Byzantinerite'sapproach to the liturgical commemoration of the Resurrection is discussed in Nicholas
Egender, "Celebration du Dimanche," in Dimanche: Office selon les huit tons ( Vicrcorixos), La Priere des
eglises de rite byzantin 3 (Chevetogne: [1971]),11-36; and Robert Taft, "Sunday in the Byzantine Tradition," in
Beyond East and West: Problems in Liturgical Understanding, NPM Studies in Church Music (
D.C.: The Pastoral Press, 1984), 1-48.
5 9
Cf. supra, p. 34.
146
unknown in the imperial capital during the eighth century. 60

Nevertheless, St. Theodore's
(759-826) adoption of the monasticriteof St. Sabas for his community at the newly revitalised
Constantinopolitan monastery of Studios in 799 marked the beginning of a new period in
Byzantine liturgical history. This momentous event occurred during a lull in the long batde
over Iconoclasm (726-843), and it is interesting that Theodore's espousal of the Sabaitic rite
was partially motivated by what he perceived to be the staunch orthodoxy of its poetic
chants. 61
This view may be explained not only by the manifest theological preoccupations of
Sabaitic hymnographers, but perhaps also by the prestige which accrued to the Lavra of Saint
Sabas as a result of John of Damascus' crucial role in formulating the Orthodox theology of
images during the first round of the Iconoclastic controversy (726-87). 62
With Theodore at their head, the monks of Studios continued the work of their Sabaite
forbears as defenders of orthodoxy both by taking a heroic stand against Iconoclasm during the
second phase of the controversy, and by enthusiastically carrying on the Palestinian tradition of
monastic hymnography. Although in a few cases the Studites created such new forms as the
matutinal antiphons of Oktoechosnamed anavathmoi after the biblical "Psalms of Ascent"
(Ps. 119-33) that they troped for the most part they simply filled out gaps in the propers of
63
the Sabaitic collections with new hymns. This material was at first contained in two volumes
transmitting specific forms of hymnography: the Sticherokathismatarion, which featured
stichera and kathismata; and the Tropologion, which was comprised of kanons and troparia for
the Beatitudes called "makarismoi. " 6 4

Organised in this fashion, these collections, as Hannick
6 0
A number of hymns, including stichera and sets of heirmoi, are attributed to Germanos. For a brief
discussion of his liturgical works, see Trempelas, 'EicAoyfi, 362-65. On the uncertainty surrounding his exact
birth and death dates, see ODB, s.v. "Germanos I," 846.
6
^gender, "Introduction," 39-40; Taft, "Mount Athos," 182; cf. Theodore the Studite's correspondence with
Patriarch Thomas of Jerusalem and the monks of Saint Sabas published as Letters, II. 15-16, PG 99, cols.
1160-68.
6 2
For a summary of the great hymnographer's seminal theological contribution to the debate over Iconoclasm,
see Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, 44-46; cf. John of Damascus, On the Divine Images: Three Apologie
Against Those Who Attack the Divine Images, trans, by David Anderson (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary
Press, 1980).
6 3
Hannick, "Le texte," 51; Oliver Strunk, "The Antiphons of the Oktoechos," in EMBW, 165-70.
6 4
Hannick, "Le texte," 42-43.
147
points out, offered cantors a range of possible choices within a given hymnodic genre, rather
than a particular set of proper hymns that they were required to sing. 65
Eventually the Studites' expansion of the Palestinian hymnodic repertory led to the
creation of separate collections containing complete and obligatory propers for each day in each
of the major liturgical cycles. A listing of these collections follows, together with the dates of
their emergence as autonomous volumes:
The Great Oktoechos or Parakletike ("Book of Supplication"), an expanded version of the

Palestinian Sunday Oktoechos containing newly composed weekday offices for each of the
eight weeks of the oktoechal cycle of the Resurrection. The addition of the weekday
propers began in the ninth century but the name "Oktoechos" first appears in the
6 6
eleventh century ; 67
The Triodion (10th c), a book of propers for the movable season centred on Easter
Sunday. The name reflects the fact that many of its kanons for the Lenten weekday
68
offices consist of only three odes. This collection was later divided into two volumes: the
Lenten Triodion, which begins four weeks before the fast itself and concludes on Holy
Saturday ; and the Pentekostarion or "Joyful Triodion" ("TptajSiov âp/zcaôt'"),
69 a
continuation of the Lenten Triodion for the period from Easter Sunday to the Sunday after
Pentecost, which closes the movable season with a commemoration of All Saints; and
The Menaion or "Book of Months" (10th c), which contained hymns for the fixed annual
cycle of the Constantinopolitan sanctorale or Synaxarion. This collection eventually came
to include complete propers for each day of the calendar year. 70
These collections continued to grow rapidly until the twelfth century, when the process of
filling out each cycle with new hymns was mostly complete. Hymnodic production then
dropped off markedly, after which the contents of the hymn books were gradually abridged
and standardised until they assumed essentially their modern form.
The advent of Byzantine melodic notation during the tenth century was marked by the
creation of two neumed books of monastic hymnodic propers supplementing the unnotated
Studite collections listed above. Combiningfixedand movable cycles of particular genres of
6 5
Ibid., 41-42.
6 6
Ibid., 38-39.
6 7
Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 64, n. 35.
6 8
Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes," 55-56; Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 58.
6 9
For a description of the contents and formation of the Lenten Triodion, see Kallistos Ware, "The Meaning of
the Great Fast," in The Lenten Triodion, K. Ware and Mother Mary, ed. and trans. (London: Faber and Faber,
1978), 38-43.
7 0
Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes," 62-63; Taft, 77K? Byzantine Rite, 58.
148
hymnography into a single volume after the fashion of the older Tropologion and
Sticherokathismatarion, they are:
The Heirmologion, a book of model strophes for kanons from all three cycles
(Resurrectional, fixed and movable annual) arranged according to musical mode that may
also contain makarismoi? and
1
The Sticherarion, a volume containing separate cycles of stichera for the resurrectional
(=oktoechal), fixed, and movable (=Lenten and Pentecost) cycles. 72
As is the case with the text-only collections of monastic hymnody, the music manuscript
traditions of the Heirmologion and the Sticherarion reflect the completion of Studite liturgy
with the appearance of significantly abridged versions of both books in the twelfth century. 73
The two notated monastic hymnbooks, which have been the object of considerable
study by modem scholars of Byzantine c h a n t have their respective texts set in a relatively
74
straightforward manner. Due, no doubt, to the enormous number of troparia sung to each
Kenneth Levy, "Liturgy and Liturgical Books. Ill Greek Rite," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
1 1
Musicians, vol. 11, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: 1980), 87. The history and contents of the Heirmologion are
discussed in Milo3 Velimirovi6, "The Byzantine Heirmos and Heirmologion," in ed. W. Arlt, E. Lichtenhahn,
and H. Oesch, Gattungen der Musik in Eizeldarstellungen: Gedenkschrift Leo Schrade, I (Berne and Mu
Francke Verlag, 1973), 192-244; while the makarismoi are the subject of a recent study by Maura R.
Miglietta, "I Makarismi nella tradizione liturgico-musicale del rito bizantino," Rivista Internazionale di Musica
Sacra 8 (1987): 303-66. Facsimiles of three Middle Byzantine Heirmologia have been published in the Sine
principale series of the MMB: C. H0eg, ed., Hirmologium Athoum [MS Iviron 470], MMB Serie principale 2
(Copenhagen: 1938); L. Tardo, ed., Hirmologium Cryptense [MS Grottaferrata E.y. II], MMB Sirie principale
3 (Rome: 1951); and J. Raasted, ed., Hirmologium Sabbaiticum [MS Saba 83], 3 vols., MMB Serie principale
8 (Copenhagen: 1968-70). Extended collections of transcriptions from Byzantine Heirmologia appear in J. van
Biezen, The Middle Byzantine Kanon-notation of Manuscript H (Bilthoven: 1968); C. Hoeg, ed., The Hym
of the Hirmologium, I, MMB Transcripta 6 (Copenhagen: 1952); H.J.W. Tillyard, ed., The Hymns of the
Hirmologium, III, 2, MMB Transcripta 8 (Copenhagen: 1956); idem, ed., Twenty Canonsfromthe Trinity
Hirmologium, MMB Transcripta 4=American Series 2 (Boston, Paris, London, and Copenhagen: 1952).
7 2
Levy, "Liturgy and Liturgical Books," 87. The Sticherarion is also well represented among the facsimile
editions and transcriptions of the MMB: C. H0eg, H.J.W. Tillyard, and Egon Wellesz, eds., Sticherarium
[MS Vienna Theol. Gr. 181], MMB Serie principale 1 (Copenhagen: 1935); L. Perria and J. Raasted, eds.,
Sticherarium Ambrosianum [MS Bib. Ambriosiana A 139 sup.], 2 vols., MMB Serie principale 11
(Copenhagen: 1992); H.J.W. Tillyard, ed., The Hymns of the Octoechus, 2 vols., MMB Transcripta 3 and 6
(Copenhagen: 1940-49); idem., ed., The Hymns of the Pentecostarium, MMB Transcripta 7 (Copenhagen:
1960); idem, ed., The Hymns of the Sticherarium for November, MMB Transcripta 2 (Copenhagen: 1938);
Wellesz, ed., Die Hymnen des Sticherarium fur September, MMB Transcripta 1 (Copenhagen: 1936); and G
Wolfram, ed., Sticherarium Antiquum Vindobonense [MS Vienna Theol. Gr. 136], 2 vols., MMB Serie
principale 10 (Vienna: 1987). Another edition of the Sticharion's chants for the Oktoechos was prepared by L.
Tardo from manuscripts preserved in Italian libraries: L'Ottoeco nei mss. melurgici: Testo semiografico
bizantine con traduzione sulpentagramma (Grottaferrata: 1955). For references to specialised studies of the
Sticherarion's constituent elements, see the bibliography in Levy, "Byzantine Rite, music of the," vol. 3, The
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 563-65.
Oliver Strunk, "Melody Construction in Byzantine Chant," in Essays on Music in the Byzantine World,
7 3
194-201; idem, "The Notation of the Chartres Fragment," idem., 98-99; and Velimirovtf, "The Byzantine
Heirmos and Heirmologion," 207-10.
See the references supra, nn. 71-72.
7 4
149
heirmos, the music of the Heirmologion is almost entirely syllabic, with individual melodies
carefully constructed out of a limited repertory of formulae for each mode. The chants of the
Sticherarion demonstrate the same principles of centonate construction as those of the
Heirmologion, but employ a slightly more developed melodic idiom featuring occasional
cadential melismas. Possible explanations for the presence of such flourishes range from the
75
liturgical context for certain hymns to the fact that most notated stichera are through-composed
"idiomela" rather than model melodies. In any case, the differences in melodic style between
the monastic hymnbooks represent relatively minor variations on a common utilitarian approach
to the setting of text which contrasts greatly with the florid idioms of the two notated
collections for the professional singers of the Great Church. While their melismatic choral and
solo chants are also constructed according to the principle of formulaic composition, the
repertories of the Asmatikon and Psaltikon contain melodies of far greater prolixity than either
volume of Sabaitic hymns.
The Composition ofTypika and the Diffusion of the Studite Rite
One result of the Studites' astonishing expansion of the Sabai'tic repertories of
hymnography was that each day of the year outside of the movable season subsequently
possessed two sets of proper hymns (Oktoechos and Menaion), while those within it had three
(Oktoechos, Menaion, and Triodion or Pentekostarion). Moreover, these vast repertories were
accommodated within offices that were themselves a complex synthesis of the Palestinian
Horologion with prayers and other material from the offices of the Great Church. Conflicts
between temporal cycles, combined with the variety of books needed to construct a single
Studite office, necessitated the composition of increasingly complex collections of liturgical
regulations for the monastic rite. Initially appearing as short sets of instructions within the
context of such monastic rules as the Hypotyposis of Studios, 16

these were transformed by the
rapid progress of the Studite synthesis into fully-formed Typika by thefirsthalf of the eleventh
7 5
Levy, "Byzantine rite, music of the," 558-559.
7 6
'TTTorvrrcoaLS fcaraardaeMS" rffe Movrfe rcSf STOVSLOV, PG 99, cols. 1704-20; and Opisanie I, 224-38.
150
century. 77
Considerable variation may be observed in these and other documents of the
Studite rite, each of which reflected a particular local compromise between Palestinian, asmatic,
and newly-composed elements. 78
The diffusion of Studite Typika from Russia to Southern Italy and the monasteries of
Magna Graecia is a measure of the tremendous success both of St. Theodore's experiment in
79
highly centralised cenobitism, and of the liturgical synthesis effected by several generations
80
of Studite monks. The widespread acceptance gained by the latter was also evident in the
popularity achieved by Sabaitic forms of hymnography in Byzantine society-at-large. Even as
they continued to attend the cathedral liturgy of the Great Church on those days appointed by
the Book of Ceremonies* the Emperors Leo VI (886-913) and Constantine Porphyrogenetos
1
(913-59) contributed hymns to the monastic office. Perhaps even more tellingly,
82
parahymnography based on Sabai'tic melodic and metrical models flourished in post-
Iconoclastic Byzantium. The subjects covered by these secular contrafacta include rules of
grammar, medical diagnostics, geography, and even satire. Examples of the latter range from
the witty jibes of a kanon by Byzantine statesman Michael Psellosridiculinga certain monk for
his gluttony, to the coarse obscenity of the infamous Office of the Hairless Monk* 3
A number of factors contributed to the rapid development and subsequent widespread
adoption of Studite worship. The vigorous resistance mounted by St. Theodore and his
7 7
The first developed Studite Typikon, now extant only in Slavonic copies, was composed in 1034 by
Alexios, abbot of Studios and later Ecumenical Patriarch (1025-43), for the monastery of the Dormition he
founded near Constantinople. See Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes," 62-65; Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 58-59; idem.,
"Mount Athos," 182-84.
7 8
Miguel Arranz has studied the variations indicated in Studite copies of the Euchology. The divergent usages
for matins are treated in "Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," OCP 38 (1972): 66,85-100, and
113-15.
7 9
Taft, "Mount Athos," 182-87.
8 0
Theodore the Studite's monastic reforms are discussed in Charles Frazee, "St. Theodore of Studios and Ninth-
Century Monasticism in Constantinople," StudiaMonastica 23 (1981): 27-58; Julien LeRoy, "Le cursus
canonique chez Saint Theodore Studite," Ephemerides Liturgica> 68 (1954): 5-19; idem, "La reTorme Studite," in
// monachesimo orientate, OCA 153 (Rome: 1958), 181-214; idem, "La vie quoudienne du Moine studite,"
Irenikon 27 (1954): 21-50.
8 1
These are listed in Baldovin, The Urban Character, 198.
8 2
Trempelas," 'EKXoyrj," 376-78.
8 3
Kariofilis Mitsakis has comprehensively addressed this topic in his excellent and often amusing account of
"Byzantine and Modern Greek Parahymnography," in Dimitri Conomos, ed., Studies in Eastern Chant 5
(Crestwood: St.Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1990), 9-76.
151
community to Iconoclasma movement that had been instigated by the imperial court and
supported mostly by the secular clergyleft the monks of Studios with tremendous prestige
after the Triumph of Orthodoxy in 843. The Studites were fully aware of their newly found
influence, which they did not hesitate to use against secular clerics suspected of laxity. The84
ascendancy of monasticism in post-Iconoclast Byzantium was also evident in the field of
ecclesiastical architecture. Where they had survived Byzantium's "Dark Centuries," the
remaining large monuments of Christian Antiquity were repaired, but the vast majority of new
churches built during the Byzantine cultural and financial recovery that began in the ninth
century were monastic foundations. No edifices suitable for the celebration of the cathedral
85
rite were created, and any new secular churches tended to be minuscule neighbourhood
buildings. Political and material considerations alone, however, ultimately fail to account for
86
the creative edge enjoyed by the Palestinian monastic rite over the "Sung" Office of the Great
Church during the four centuries of their coexistence in Constantinople. As we shall now see,
there are reasons for believing that the forthright approach of the Studite offices and their
hymnography to proclaiming the tenets of Orthodox Christianity was simply more
representative of contemporary Byzantine spirituality than the majestic but comparatively aloof
asmatike akolouthia.
Monastic Hymnography and the Middle Byzantine Synthesis
Robert Taft has written of a post-iconoclast "Middle Byzantine synthesis" of liturgical
piety encompassing the iconodule theology of images, a "more representational mystagogy of
the liturgical anamnesis," and the extensive programmes of figural decoration that were typical
of Byzantine churches after 843, which, when taken together, represent "the victory of
8 4
8 5
Cyril Mango, Byzantine Architecture, paperbacked. (New York: Rizzoli International, 1985), 108-110,
130-40.
Mango, Byzantine Architecture, 137-40. The changes made to liturgical planning that rendered Middle
8 6
Byzantine Churches generally unsuitable for the cathedral rite are summarised in Thomas F. Mathews, The Early
Churches of Constantinople: Architecture and Liturgy (University Park and London: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1971), 178-79; and Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 61.
152
monastic popular devotion over a more spiritualist and symbolic approach to liturgy. " 8 7
It is
well known that signs of a shift toward literalism may already be found i n the decades
immediately preceding the onset of Iconoclasm. One of the earliest indications of this change is
the famous canon 82 of the Quinisext Council i n Trullo (690), which declares that Christ was
henceforth to be portrayed exclusively i n human f o r m . 8 8

The text of this canon is worth
quoting in extenso:
In certain reproductions of venerable images, the precursor is pictured indicating the

lamb with his finger. This representation was adopted as a symbol of grace. It was
a hidden figure of that true lamb who is Christ our G o d , shown to us according to
the L a w . Having thus welcomed these ancient figures and shadows as symbols of
the truth transmitted to the Church, we prefer today grace and truth themselves as a
fulfillment of this law. Therefore, i n order to expose to the sight of all, at least with
the help of painting, that which is perfect, we decree that henceforth Christ our G o d
must be represented in His human form, and not i n the form of the ancient l a m b . 89
Taft has identified the same processes at work in the Ecclesiastical History of Patriarch
Germanos I (715-730), a commentary on the Byzantine Divine Liturgy by an early opponent
of Iconoclasm who, as we have previously mentioned, was also an author of hymns for the
Sabai'tic rite. 90
According to Taft, Germanos' essay i n mystagogical exegesis superimposes an
"Antiochene" interpretation of the Divine Liturgy "as actual figure of salvation history i n
Jesus"which he traces to the liturgical tradition of Jerusalem and the Catechetical Homilies
of Theodore of Mopsuestia(t428)over the "cosmic" view of Byzantine worship inherited
from Maximos the Confessor (f630) in which the earthly Eucharist is seen as a reflection of the
Heavenly L i t u r g y . 91
Germanos' hermeneutical method is to describe how individual actions of
liturgical ceremonial visually manifest particular events i n the Divine Economy: the Introit
portrays the Incarnation, the Great Entrance with the unconsecrated gifts of bread and wine
8 1
The Byzantine Rite, 67-68; cf. idem, "The Liturgy of the Great Church: An Initial Synthesis of Structure
and Interpretation on the Eve of Iconoclasm," DOP 34/35 (1980-81): 72.
8 8
Taft, "The Liturgy of the Great Church," idem.
8 9
J.D. Mansi, ed., Sacrorum concilium nova et amplissima collectio, 11 (Florence: 1759-98), 977-980;
quoted in translation in Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, 45 [italics by the translator].
9 0
This key text has been published with commentary and English translation by Paul Meyendorff as Germanos
of Constantinople: On the Divine Liturgy (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984).
9 1
Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 45-47; and in greater detail in idem, "The Liturgy of the Great Church," 58-74.
Central to Taft's assessment of these liturgical commentaries is his extension of the common scholarly
distinction between the Antiochene and Alexandrian schools of scriptural exegesis to the interpretation of the
Eucharist.
153
shows Christ proceeding to his Crucifixion, the deposition of the gifts on the altar represents
the burial in the sepulchre, etc. While the interpretative synthesis of Germanos has been
92
severely criticised by some modem theologians, it proved to be immensely successful in its

93
time. The Ecclesiastical History became the preeminent Byzantine liturgical commentary for
over six hundred years, enjoying such prestige that it even came to be incorporated into the text
of some liturgical books. 94
Taft, aware that the medieval literary productions of a Germanos reached only a select
audience, has devoted most of the chapter on the "Middle Byzantine Synthesis" in his excellent
short history of The Byzantine Rite to a thoughtful exploration of the relationship between
iconography, church architecture,ritualand post-Iconoclast liturgical piety. 95

Since the
audible texts of the eucharistic liturgies changed little after 843, this contextual approach
96
provides an excellent means for examining the impact of changes in Byzantine spirituality on
ordinary worshippers at a Divine Liturgy. Yet, then as now, Byzantine liturgical life consisted
of much more than the celebration of the Eucharist, and it is the present author's contention
97
that the voluminous hymnography of the Studite offices was the vocal counterpart to the
extensive new schemes of church decoration cited by Taft as visual manifestations of the new
piety. 98
9 2
Germanos' exegesis of the Byzantine Eucharist is analysed in Taft, "The Liturgy of the Great Church," 49-
58; cf. the convenient comparative chart of symbolism according to six Byzantine mystagogues in Hugh
Wybrew, The Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Byzantine Ri
ed. (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1990),
9 3
E.g. Alexander Schmemann, "Symbols and Symbolism in the Byzantine Liturgy: Liturgical Symbols and
Their Theological Interpretation," in Demetrios Constantelos, ed., Orthodox Theology andDiakonia (Brookline,
Mass.: Hellenic College Press, 1981), 91-102; repr. in Thomas Fisch, ed., Liturgy and Tradition: Theological
Reflections of Alexander Schmemann (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1990), 115-28. Cf. Paul
Meyendorff, "Introduction," in idem, ed., St. Germanus of Constantinople: On the Divine Liturgy (Crestwood
St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984), 39-40.
9 4
Taft, "The Liturgy of the Great Church," 46,74-75.
9 5
Ibid., 67-74.
9 6
Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 55-56. This is not violated by the gradual substitution of the Liturgy of St. John
Chrysostom for the Liturgy of St. Basil as the ordinary form of the Byzantine Eucharist during the 10th century,
for the two Divine Liturgies differ primarily in their anaphoras, which had long been read silently. See idem.,
The Great Entrance: A History of the Transfer of the Gifts and other Preanaphoral Rites of the
John Chrysostom, 2nd ed., OCA 200 (Rome: 1978), xxxii.
Cf. Robert Taft, "Sunday in the Byzantine Tradition," in Beyond East and West, 42-46.
9 7
The Byzantine Rite, 67-75. The relationship between developments in Byzantine iconography and the
9 8
mystagogy of Germanos is explored at much greater length in Hans-Joachim Schulz, The Byzantine Liturgy:
154
Just as post-Iconoclast worshippers were soon surrounded by an explicit visual
synthesis of the heavenly hierarchy with the events and personages of "salvation history," so
they were perpetually confronted with chants repeatedly proclaiming the mysteries of the
orthodox Christian faith with a degree of fervour and precision that no Old Testament psalm or
canticle from the asmatike akolouthia could match. In this regard, the Quinisext Council's
stated preference for "grace and truth themselves" in visual art finds clear parallels in the
changes brought about by Sabaitic hymnography in the way Byzantine Christians remembered
the "History of Salvation" in their daily common prayer. The classic example of this, of
course, is the dramatic contrast between the primitive austerity of the Paschal Triduum in the
"Sung" Office of Constantinople, which was marked primarily by scriptural lessons and a few
proper refrains, and its richness in the rite imported from Palestine, familiar today from the
modern Orthodox offices of Holy Week." The same dialectic between the two rites may also
be observed in their weekly observances of the Resurrection at Sunday matins, especially
before the insertion of a gospel lection, with attendant chants and ceremonial, increased the
Paschal content of the asmatic service. In the Palestinian liturgical tradition the poetry of the
Oktoechos, which has no parallel in the archaic psalmody of the "Sung" rite, explicitly
emphasised the resurrectional character of Sunday.
II. The Musical Reforms of John Koukouzeles
The Emergence of the Neo-Sabaitic Rite
The destruction of Christian sites in Jerusalem by Caliph al-Hakim in 1009 caused a
disruption of liturgical life in Palestine analogous to that occasioned by Persian capture of the
Holy City in the seventh century. Once again, recovery was accompanied by a realignment of
Sabaitic monastic worship, although this time on a more conservative basis. To distinguish the
revised Palestinian usages of the eleventh century from such earlier strata of Sabai'tic worship
Symbolic Structure and Faith Expression, trans, by Matthew J. O'Connell (New York: Pueblo Publishing
Company, 1986), 50-76, 178-88.
Gabriel Bertoniere, The Historical Development of the Easier Vigil and Related Services in
9 9
the Gre
Church, OCA 193 (Rome: 1972), 121-224; Taft, "A Tale of Two Cities," 21-33.
155
as the Studite rite, Robert Taft has christened them the "Neo-Sabai'tic synthesis." 100
Distinguishing features of this new synthesis included the restoration of the agrypnia, which
appears to have fallen out of use at some point before the adoption of the Palestinian offices at
Studios in the eighth century, and an increase in the daily pensum of continuous psalmody
during certain seasons of the liturgical year. 101

One should note, however, that these
adjustments were relatively minor in comparison to the changes effected by earlier phases of
liturgical development, the fruits of which were largely preserved intact within the Neo-Sabai'tic
Divine Office.
For reasons that are not entirely clear, elements of this Neo-Sabaitic synthesis began to
infiltrate the Studite Typika of Byzantium in the twelfth century. 102

According to Uspensky,
the pace at which monastic usages from Palestine spread picked up markedly following the
capture of Constantinople by the L a t i n s in 1204. 103

After first being adopted by the Serbian
monastery of Ffilandarin 1190, the retouched Typikon of St. Sabas enjoyed particular success
on Mount A t h o s 104
where highly structured Studite cenobitism was gradually giving way to
the more flexible lavriote pattern of monastic organisation favoured by its hesychast monks. 105
The liturgical practices of Athonite monks became an important factor in the
development of the Byzantine rite during the Empire's final two centuries, when the Holy
Mountain came to play an increasingly prominent role in ecclesiastical affairs. 106

This
occurred partially by default, for Mount Athos was the only major centre of Orthodox
monasticism to emerge relatively unscathed from the disruptions caused by the loss of Asia
Minor to the Turks, the resurgence of Slavic kingdoms in the Balkans, and the invasion of
The Byzantine Rite, 19, 79.

1 0 0
1 0 1
The Byzantine Rite, 79-80; idem, "Mount Athos," 187-90. On the form of the revived Palestinian
Taft,
agrypnia, see Uspensky, "Chin vserioshchnogo bdeniia," 88-98.
Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 81; idem, "Mount Athos," 190.
1 0 2
Uspensky, "Chin vsenoshchnogo bdeniia," 88.

1 0 3
Ibid., 100-15.
1 0 4
Taft, "Mount Athos," 191.

1 0 5
The role played by Mount Athos in liturgical developments of the fourteenth century is discussed m Taft,
1 0 6
"Mount Athos," 191-94.

156
Frankish crusaders. 107

Meanwhile, monks filled a void left in church administration after the
Latin occupation of Constantinople (120461), thus accelerating the progressive monasticising
of the Byzantine Church that had begun with the rise of Studios in the eighth century. The
vigorous defence of monastic spirituality mounted by Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) during
the mid-fourteenth-century controversies over hesychast theology and practice brought both
these processes to a climax in the councils of 1347 and 1351 which, in confirming the full
orthodoxy of the Athonite monastic party, paved the way for its complete takeover of the
church hierarchy. 108
One of the most dynamic hesychasts to ascend the patriarchal throne in the second half
of the fourteenth century was Philotheos Kokkinos (|1379), friend and biographer of Gregory
Palamas. 109
Born to a Jewish family in Thessalonica c. 1300, Philotheos paid for his own
education from the great scholar Thomas Magistros by working as his cook. Upon completing
his studies, he traveled to the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, where he received
his monastic tonsure and formation. Somewhat later he transferred to the Great Lavra on
Mount Athos, becoming its abbot sometime in the 1340s. As a result of thefirstconciliar
victory of the hesychasts, Philotheos was promoted to Metropolitan of Herakleia in 1347,
where he served before ascending the patriarchal throne in 1353.
During his two terms as Ecumenical Patriarch (1353-55,1364-76), Philotheos was
instrumental in consolidating the position of the Patriarchate of Constantinople within the
Orthodox Church, thus preparing it to withstand the coming collapse of the Empire. 110
In the
realm of liturgy, he promoted the standardisation of the Palestinianriteaccording to the
Athonite recension of the Neo-Sabaitic synthesis with two rubrical treatises that he had
John Meyendorff, "Mount Athos in the Fourteenth Century: Spiritual and Intellectual Legacy," DOP 42
1 0 7
(1988): 157.
1 0 8
The circumstances and consequences of the hesychast victory are discussed in Meyendorff, "Mount Athos in
the Fourteenth Century," 160-65; Donald M. Nicol, Church and Society in the Last Centuries of Byzantium:
The Birnbeck Lectures 1977 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 9-65. The basic work on
Gregory Palamas is J. Meyendorff, Intruductiona Ve~tude de GregoirePalamas (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1959);
translated into English as A Study of Gregory Palamas, 2nd ed., trans. George Lawrence (London: The Faith
Press, 1974).
1 0 9
V. Laurent, "Philothee Kokkinos," Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique, XII, 2, cols 1498-1509.
1 1 0
Meyendorff, "Mount Athos in the Fourteenth Century," 160-63.
157
composed while abbot of the Great Lavra. The more famous of these is the Aidrafrs- rtf?
Oeias- Aet rovpytas; an order for the Divine Liturgy and its preceding ceremonial preparation
of the gifts or "prothesis." 111

Equally important for the history of the Byzantine rite is the
lesser-known Aidra&S' Tfjs" lepoScaKOUias; 112

a set of instructions for the Neo-Sabai'tic
agrypnia celebrated on Saturday nights and the eves of major feasts. 113
Even though Studite usages for the Divine Office persisted for some time on the
periphery of the Greek-speaking world, the Philothean order for the all-night vigil proved to be
extremely influential. 114

One indication of its success is that Symeon of Thessalonica's
mystagogical commentary on the monastic forms of Byzantine matins and vespers assumes the
Philothean recensions of these services. 115

Another is the rapid diffusion of the Neo-Sabai'tic
agrypnia in Byzantium's Slavic commonwealth. After the translation of the Aidra^ts" rf}?
[epoSiaKoisias'vt&Q Slavonic in the late fourteenth century, the agrypnia was adopted by the
Trinity-St. Sergius monastery outside of Moscow in 1429, followed by Novgorod in 1441,
eventually reaching the White Sea monastery of Solovki in 1494. 116

The continuing
dominance of Philothean rubrics in the offices of the modern Byzantine rite was later assured
by their incorporation into the first typeset editions of Orthodox service books. 117
Neo-Sabai'tic Sunday Matins
The AidTa&s" rfjs- iepctfta/covta?ofh\\o\heos describes an agrypnia that is a
composite of solemn Sabaitic vespers and matins. In the event that Sunday matins was
celebrated separately from Saturday vespers, Philotheos provides alternate rubrics for the
1 1 1
Text after MS Panteleimon 770 in Panagiotes Trempelas, AL rpeis" Aecrovpytac mrd rov? ei/
'AOijvais- /ccoSi/cas; 2nd ed. (Athens: Soter Brotherhood, 1982), 1-16.
Ed. J. Goar, EvxoAdyiov sive Rituale Grcecorum, 2nd ed. (Venice: 1730)= PG 154, cols. 745-66.
1 1 2
Taft, "Mount Athos," 191-94.

1 1 3
Studite usages were only completely replaced in the Russian Orthodox Church by the seventeenth-century
1 1 4
Nikonian reforms, while the Greek monasteries of Southern Italy continue to employ local rescensions of the
Typikon of Studios. See Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 82-84.
1 1 5
PG 155, cols. 561-88, 596-620; Treatise, 17-45, 51-68.
Arranz, "N.D. Uspensky," 183; and Uspensky, "Chin vsenoshchnogo bdeniia," 3-4.
1 1 6
Taft, "Mount Athos," 192-94. On these editions, see N.B. Tomadakis," 'H iv 'haXiq ZKSOOLS
1 1 7
iXXrjVLicaJv i/acArp-iacrTucwv 0ifiAitov kvptaj? Aeirovpyiiaov) yevopevr} impeAeia 'EAAfjvcov dp8o86cov

KATIPLKLOV Kara TOVS LeiC aidjvas" EEBS 37 (1969-70): 3-33.
158
former office's performance after the Midnight Office (Mesonyktikon). 118

In either case, as
may be seen in Table 5, Neo-Sabaitic Sunday matins was a revision of the parallel service in
the Studite rite, retaining all of the latter's Resurrectional hymnography from the Oktoechos, as
well as most of its cathedral-style responsories and ceremonial. According to the Philothean
Diataxis, the conservation of this complex Studite inheritance in the all-night vigil necessitated
the participation of a priest, a deacon, a canonarch, two readers, and a pair of antiphonal choirs
with soloists. Neo-Sabaitic Sunday matins, like its Studite counterpart, had therefore strayed
considerably from the primitive austerity of the seventh-century "canon of psalmody" observed
by Nilus of Sinai, both with regard to its chant and to its diverse complement of liturgical
personnel. 119
Indeed, although all three morning offices share a common skeleton of ordinary
psalms and canticles, the Studite and Philothean recensions of Sunday matins can be seen to
have adopted precisely the trappings of cathedral worship singled out by the Sinaite abbot as
appropriate for cathedrals but unsuitable for monks.
New Trends in Byzantine Church Music
Although new hymns were occasionally composed after the completion of the weekly
and annual cycles of Byzantine hymnography in the twelfth century, they were for the most
part peripheral additions to a repertory that was becoming increasingly standardised. As we
have previously noted, varied textual compendia arranged by hymnodic genre like the
Sticherokathismatarionthe purpose of which was to proffer a variety of possible ways to
ornament the ordinary psalms and canticles of the Horologionconsequently gave way to
abridged collections with an obligatory pensum of Sabai'tic hymnography for each day of the
liturgical year. Thus codified into separate volumes, the hymnodic legacy of the Sabaites and
Studites came to enjoy an authority and invariability within the Byzantineritecomparable to
1 1 8
PG 154, cols 758-60.
1 1 9
C f . Table 4, supra, p. 136.
159
TABLE5
SUNDAY MATINS IN THE STUDITE AND NEO-SABAITIC RITES 3
STUDITE RITE A F T E R MSS A T H E N S 570 A N D N E O - S A B A I T I C RITE A F T E R PHILOTHEOS A N D

V I E N N A T H E O L . GR. 185 b
SYMEON OF THESSALONICA 0
Opening Blessing: EvXoyr]UUr] r) paaiXeia Opening Blessing: EvXoyqrds 6 Oeds^
ROYAL OFFICE e
Trisagion, Most Holy Trinity, Our Father

Psalms [19, 20]
Trisagion, Most Holy Trinity, Our Father
Troparia
[Supplications] and Exclamation:
A6a rfj dyiq., Kai duoovaia), Kai {(OOTTOIU), Kai
dSiaiperti) TpidSi
NOCTURNAL PSALMODY NOCTURNAL PSALMODY

Hexapsalmos (Ps. 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142) Hexapsalmos (Ps. 3, 37, 62, 87, 102, 142)
The celebrant accompanies the psalms with five prayers At Ps. 87, the celebrant emerges from the sanctuary and
from the Euchology (Morning Prayers 1-5) silently reads the Morning Prayers [1-12]
from the Euchology
Great Synapte (Diaconal Petitions) Great Synapte (Diaconal Petitions)
Morning Prayer 6 from the Euchology
Beds Kvpios (Responsory with verses from Ps. 117) Oed? Kvpios (Responsory with verses from Ps. 117)
Troparia (apolytikia) of the day, including the Troparia (apolytikia) of the day, including the
Resurrectional apolytikion in the tone of the week from Resurrectional apolytikion in the tone of the week from
the Oktoechos the Oktoechos
Sung Antiphon: Ps. 115-116 f

2nd Kathisma from the Psalter (Ps. 9-16)
Little Synapte and Morning Prayer 7 Little Synapte
Poetic Kathismata from the Oktoechos Poetic Kathismata from the Oktoechos
Sung Antiphon: Ps. 117 3rd Kathisma from the Psalter (Ps. 17-23)
Little Synapte and Morning Prayer 8 Little Synapte
Poetic Kathismata from the Oktoechos Poetic Kathismata from the Oktoechos
CATHEDRAL VIGIL CATHEDRAL VIGILS

Polyeleos (Ps. 134-35) Psalm 118 or Polyeleos (Ps. 135-35)
Evlogetaria (Troparia for Ps. 118)

Hypakoe of the Oktoechos Hypakoe of the Oktoechos
Antiphons of the Oktoechos (Anavathmoi) Antiphons of the Oktoechos (Anavathmoi)

160
TABLE 5 (continued)
ORDER FOR A FESTAL GOSPEL (if required) n

ORDER OF THE SUNDAY GOSPEL
Festal Prokeimenon Prokeimenon of the Oktoechos
Responsory: "Let everything that hath breath" Responsory: "Let everything that hath breath"
Festal Gospel Resurrectional Gospel
Hymn: "Having seen the Resurrection of Christ"
Psalm 50 and Morning Prayer 10 Psalm 50
Troparia Troparia
THE KANON THE KANON

(Biblical Odes with Troparia from the Oktoechos)(Biblical Odes with Troparia from the Oktoechos)
Odes 1-3 Odes 1-3
Small Synapte (+ Morning Prayer l l ) 1
Small Synapte
Odes 4-6 Odes 4-6
Small Synapte J Small Synapte
Kontakion and Oikos of the Oktoechos Kontakion and Oikos of the Oktoechos
Odes 7-9 Odes 7-9
Small Synapte and Morning Prayer 12 Small Synapte
LAUDS LAUDS
Resurrectional Exaposteilaria Resurrectional Exaposteilaria
Ps. 148-50 with Ps. 148-50 with

Resurrectional Stichera from the Oktoechos^ Resurrectional Stichera from the Oktoechos
Great Doxology Great Doxology
Trisagion Trisagion
ORDER OF THE SUNDAY GOSPEL 1

(Resurrectional Troparion of the week)
Resurrectional Troparion of the week

sung antiphonally
Fixed Resurrectional Prokeimenon
Resurrectional Gospel
Diaconal Litanies Diaconal Litanies

Morning Prayer 13 and Dismissal Morning Prayer 13 and Dismissal
161
T A B L E 5 (continued)
NOTES
a
The divisions of the morning office into smaller units (e.g. the "Royal Office") have been adapted from Mateos,
"Quelques problemes de 1'orthros byzantin," Proche-orient chritien 11 (1961): 202; and Taft, The Liturgy of the
Hours, 279-282.
b As mentioned above, Studite documents display a notable lack of uniformity in their adaptation of material from the
Byzantine cathedralriteto the Palestinian monastic office, especially with regard to the placement of the Euchology's
prayers and the matutinal gospel. Table 5, which is reconstructed primarily after the orders for this service given in
the Thessalonian Akolouthiai MS Vienna Theol. gr. 185 and the thirteenth-century Euchology MS Athens 570 (after
Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," 89-90), therefore offers only one possible recension of
Studite Sunday matins. The Vienna Akolouthiai and the Athenian Euchology are characteristic of Studite sources with
a cathedral as opposed to a monastic orientation. They were chosen because Vienna Theol. gr. 185 and such other
musical manuscripts as Athens MS 2458 ("1336") and Athens MS 2622 indicate the use of such a rite in Northern
Greece during the Late Byzantine period. On the character of Studite documents, cf. supra, pp. 149-50. The
Thessalonian order of matins is discussed in Christian Hannick, "The Performance of the Kanon in Thessaloniki in
the 14th Century," in Dimitri Conomos, ed., Studies in Eastern Chant 5 (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press,
1990), 140-43.
c
Philotheos, Aidrafis rfjs- iepoSiaicoi/ias; PG 154, cols. 757-65; Symeon, PG 155, cols. 561-88, 596-620;
Treatise, 17-45, 51-68. Cf. the orders for modern Byzantine matins in Mother Mary and Kallistos Ware, eds., The
Festal Menaion, 75-76; Ioannes Phountoules, MovaxiKds' opdpos; 2nded., Keifieva Aeirvipyi/rfs' 10
(Thessalonica: Pournaras, 1978); and Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 279-82.
d When matins is celebrated as part of an agrypnia, this exclamation is omitted because of the blessing pronounced at
the outset of vespers.
e
Before becoming permanently prefixed to monastic matins, this office commemorating the sovereign was initially
employed only in certain imperial foundations. Its separate provenance is reflected in modern Neo-Sabaitic usage by
the fact that when matins is celebrated as part of a vigil, the Royal Office is omitted. See Mateos, "Quelques
problemes de 1'orthros byzantin," 201; Philotheos, Aidrafrs, PG 154, cols., 757-60; Phountoules, MOWXIKO?
opdpos, 7-8; Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours, 277.
f The continuous psalmody of the Studiterite,according to Arranz ("Les grandes Stapes," 64), was not recited as in the
Sabai'tic and Neo-Sabaitic traditions, but was sung in imitation of cathedral rite usages. In addition, the Studite
Typikon of the monastery of San Salvatore di Messina, which gives a more strictly monastic order of matins than MS
Athens 570 or MS Vienna Theol. gr. 185, features an additional distinction between ordinary kathismata from the
Psalter and proper psalmodic "antiphons," designating three such "antiphons" for regular Sunday use. See M. Arranz,
Le Typicon du Monastire du Saint-Sauveur a Messine: Codex Messinensis Gr. 115 (A.D. 1131), OCA 185 (Rome:
1969), xxxvi, 186, 328, 385.
Mateos ("Quelques problemes, 203-15) believes this portion of Sabai'tic festal matins to be the remnant of a
cathedral vigil like the one observed by Egeria in earlyfifth-centuryJerusalem.
n
As such in Athens 570, but this is only one of the possibilities given for the placement of a festal gospel in Studite
documents. The musical MS Vienna Theol. gr. 185 places the order for a festal gospel after the sixth ode of the
kanon. The Typikon of S. Salvatore, in accord with the later Philothean rubrics for Sundays, assumes only a single
gospel before the kanon. On the placement of the gospel in Byzantine matins, see Arranz, Le Typicon du Saint-
Sauveur, xxxvi-xxxvii, 400, 428; Hannick, "The Performance of the Kanon," 140-43; and Mateos, "Quelques
problemes de 1'orthros byzantin," 212-15.
1
Athens 570 does not appoint a specific moment for the recitation of Morning Prayer 11, but Arranz assumes from its
placement in the series that it was recited at some point during the kanon. See "Les prieres presbyterales des matines
byzantines," 88-89.
162
J The musical MS Vienna gr. Theol. 185 places the order for a festal gospel at this point. Cf. supra, n. h.
^ It should be noted that the Typikon of S. Salvatore also mentions the use of cathedral-style refrains for Ps. 148-50.
On these refrains and their relationship to the Byzantine cathedral rite, see our discussion supra, pp. 99100.
1
Note also that this asmatic sequence for the Sunday Gospel is not found in the Typikon of S. Salvatore, which calls
for the monastic order of the gospel after Psalm 50, as in the Neo-Sabaitic rite. See Arranz, Le Typicon, xxxvi-
xxxvii.
that of the biblical texts they were intended to farce. The effects of the perceived equivalence of
hymnody and biblical psalmody may be seen i n the transformation of such forms as the
antiphons of the Oktoechos into free-standing hymnody through the atrophy of their scriptural
component. 120
Even as the systematisation of hymnodic propers for the monastic rite was
consolidating and canonising the achievements of one revolution in Byzantine liturgical music
and piety, the stirrings of a second were becoming evident i n the thirteenth century with the
appearance of elaborate new musical settings placing an unprecedented emphasis on
sophisticated melody. Three important preconditions for this development were already in
place at the end of the twelfth century: 1) the saturation of the monastic office with hymnody,
the completion of which channeled liturgical creativity away from the creation of new texts i n
established genres; 2) the invention of a fully diastematic musical notation capable of recording
complex melodies i n d e t a i l 121

; and 3) the integration of the Great Church's solo and choral
repertories of the Psaltikon and the Asmatikon into the Studite rite, which supplied a precedent
for monastic performances of florid chant originally developed for professional cathedral
1 2 0
In the case of the anavathmoi, according to Strunk, the process of biblical atrophy appears to have been
well under way by the early thirteenth century. One should note that this phenomenon is not limited to
medieval Byzantium, for a tendency toward suppression of an office's scriptural ordinary in favour of its
hymnodic propers is still clearly evident in modern Orthodox services, especially when performed outside of a
monastic environment. In a typical parochial celebration of Sunday matins, for example, the daily pensum from
the Psalter and the nine biblical canticles are regularly omitted, even though their accompanying poetic
kathismata and kanons may still be sung. See Strunk, "The Antiphons of the Oktoechos," 166-67; N.M.
Vaporis, The Service of Sunday Orthros (Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1991).
1 2 1
Kenneth Levy, "Le Tournant decisif dans l'histoire de la musique Byzantine: 1071-1261," Actes de XVe
Congres International d'^tudes Byzantines, I (Athens: 1979), 475-79.
163
choristers. Together they paved the way for the appearance i n the thirteenth century of a new
'kalophonic' or 'beautified' idiom that was generally distinguished by vocal virtuosity, but
which could also be characterised by textual troping, highly melismatic passages, and even
textless vocalisations on nonsense syllables called teretisms or kratemata. 122
The earliest known examples of kalophonic chant appear in the Asma, the thirteenth-
century musical collection previously discussed i n relation to its settings of the first antiphon of
Byzantine cathedral rite m a t i n s . 123

Varying somewhat from copy to copy, the list of chants
subjected to kalophonic elaboration in the four South Italian manuscripts transmitting the A s m a
contains a decidedly eclectic mix of liturgical items. In addition to music for the opening
psalms of "Sung" matins, the collections feature a variety of chants for the monastic rite,
including Psalm 135 (the second psalm of the Polyeleos), the gospel responsory "Let
everything that hath breath," several concluding troparia for Psalm 50, and a large repertory of
stichera, most of which are dedicated to the Mother of G o d ("Stichera Theotokia"). W i t h the
single exception of a setting of the Marian troparion" "Aixodev oi TTpcKpfJTai" with a melody
composed by a certain Andronikos, all of the pieces i n the repertory of the A s m a are
anonymous. 124
It is interesting to note that the Asma's tentative essays i n the kalophonic style appeared
around the onset of the so-called "Paleologan Renaissance." Lasting for a little over sixty years
after the restoration of the Byzantine Empire under Michael VIII Paleologos in 1261, this
period was marked by revivals i n the areas of Hellenic secular knowledge, visual art, and
spirituality. 125
In the early fourteenth century, at the apogee of this final episode of heightened
On these vocalisations, see Dimitri Conomos, Byzantine Trisagia and Cheroubika of the Fourteenth and
1 2 2
Fifteenth Centuries (Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1974), 273-86.
1 2 3
See the text and references given supra, pp. 85-88.
124 n "Avwdev oi TTpocpfjTac," which is sung in the modern Byzantineriteduring the vesting of a bishop,
appears on folios 95r-109r of the MS Grottaferrata T. y. VII. See Bartolomeo di Salvo, "Gli asmata nella
musica bizantina," BolletinodellaBadiaGrecadiGrottaferrata 13 (1959): 135; 14 (1960) 165-66.
1 2 5
On the "Paleologan Renaissance," see John Meyendorff, "Spiritual Trends in Byzantium in the Late
Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries," in Paul A. Underwood, ed., The Kariye Djami, vol. 4, Studies in
the Art of the Kariye Djami and Its Intellectual Background, Bollingen Series 70 (Princeton: Princeto
University Press, 1975), 95-106: Nicol, Church and Society in the Last Centuries of Byzantium, passim,
esp. 31-65; Steven Runciman, The Last Byzantine Renaissance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
164
intellectual and artistic achievement, a series of new chantbooks containing kalophonic works
by named composers heralded the advent of a period of intense musical creativity that would
continue beyond the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. 126

Lacking the experimental
character of the Asma, these musical collections are fully developed representatives of what one
scholar has called "a Byzantine ars nova," 127

the effects of which were felt beyond the
boundaries of the Greek-speaking world. 128
The central figure in this musical revolution was the prolific composer, scribe, and
maistor St. John Koukouzeles (ca. 1280-ca. 1341/75 ). According to his problematic vita,
129
he was tonsured a monk of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos, after which he would regularly
spend weekdays outside the monastery walls practising hesychia. 130

In addition to producing
1970); and Ihor Sevcenko, "Society and Intellectual Life in the Fourteenth Century," in idem, Society and
Intellectual Life in Late Byzantium (London: Variorum Reprints, 1981), I, 69-92.
126 lyiiloS Velimirovid has published a representative list of over one hundred names of fourteenth- and
fifteenth-century composers from an Akolouthiai manuscript dated "1453" in his study "Byzantine Composers in
MS Athens 2406," in Essays presented to Egon Wellesz, ed. Jack Westrup (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1966), 7-18.
1 2 7
Edward V. Williams, 'A Byzantine Ars Nova: The 14th-century Reforms of John Koukouzeles in the
Chanting of Great Vespers,' in Aspects of the Balkans: Continuity and Change, ed. Henrik Birnbaum and Spero
Vryonis, Jr. (The Hague, 1972), 229; and 'John Koukouzeles' Reform of Byzantine Chanting for Great Vespers
in the Fourteenth Century,' (Ph.D. diss., Yale University 1968), 388. The developed state in which the new
chantbooks appear is discussed in Dimitri E. Conomos, The Late Byzantine and Slavonic Communion Cycle:
Liturgy and Music, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 21 (Washington, D . C : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and
Collection, 1985), 69-70.
1 2 8
E.g. the Slavonic tradition of Koukouzelian chants in transmitted in Moldavian manuscripts, on which see
Conomos, The Late Byzantine and Slavonic Communion Cycle, 171-89.
1 2 9
Gregory Th. Stathis (Ol dfaypap.fxaTLap.ol ml ra pa&TJpara rfjsfivgdisnisfjspouri/crjs (Athens:
Institute for Byzantine Musicology, 1979), 127, n. 4) has suggested that a reference to "o ndXai
KovKOvXris" in the colophon to the Sticherarion MS Athens 884 can be interpreted to mean that Koukouzeles
was no longer alive in 1341, when the manuscript was copied. This is in general accord with the views of Erich
Trapp ("Critical Notes on the Biography of John Koukouzeles," Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 11 (1987):
223-27), who proposes that Koukouzeles was not active after 1330. Williams ("John Koukouzeles' Reform,"
314,357) bases the date ca. 1375 on a terminus ad quern of 1376. Andrija Jakovlevid (" 'O Meyag MaiuTajp
'Itodwris KovKovCiXr]s narraSdnovXog,'' KArjpouopta 14 (1982): 371) has suggested a compromise date of
1360. Karas, on the other hand, has recently resurrected the hypothesis of Papadopoulos that Koukouzeles lived
in the twelfth century. See Simon Karas, Tojduurjg MatcTwp d KovtcovCeArjs ical ij enoxr] TOV (Athens
SiXXoyos TTpdg StdSooiv TTJS e&viKrys povoLKt)s, 1992), 9-12, 34-41,57-58; cf. Georgios I. Papadopoulos,
ToTopLKT] emaKdwryjLS T/JSfivCaisrcidjseKxArjaiaoTiicfjs p.ovaiKTJS' and Ttou dnoaroAitccSv
pexpi rcdis m6' f/pas (1-1900 p.X.) (Athens: 1904; repr. ed., Katerine: Tertios, 1990), 138-41; idem,
SvpfioAai els Tr/y loroplais rfjs~ nap' jjpiy etc/cArp-iao-ritafe povai/cfjs(Athens: 1890; repr. ed., Ath
Koultoura, 1977), 261-65.
1 3 0
Conomos, The Late Byzantine and Slavonic Communion Cycle, 79. Reliable general surveys of
Koukouzeles' life and the problems connected with his vita are given in Jakovlevi6," '0 Meyas Maturwp
'lojdyyrjs KovKov(iXrys TtanaSdnovXos," 357t-74; Trapp, "Critical Notes," 223-29; and Williams, "John
Koukouzeles' Reform," 304-57. The oldest copy of the vita in MS Vlatadon 46 (" 1591") remains unedited, but
is consulted by Jakovlevi6 in op. cit., 366-67. A later rescension of the vita of Koukouzeles is accompanied
with an English translation in Williams, op. cit., 492-508.
165
such famous pedagogical works as his didactic chant illustrating the standard repertory of
melodic figures ("cheironomiaV'), 131

he composed musical settings of texts from across the
Byzantine liturgical spectrum. 132

Koukouzeles was also active as an editor of chantbooks,
preparing updated versions of the Heirmologion and Sticherarion featuring relatively minor
adjustments to their traditional melodies. 133

His most significant contribution in this field was
the compilation of the Akolouthiai or "Orders of Service," a new volume which, for the first
time, combined under a single cover the ordinary chants and psalmodic propers for the
Byzantine eucharistic liturgies and Palestinian Divine Office. 134
The central repertory of office chants transmitted by Akolouthiai manuscripts is an
amalgamation of traditional and newly-composed works ranging from syllabic psalm-tones to
free-standing kratemata. For our present purposes, these may be divided into the following
four categories:
1) Traditional and, for the most part, previously unnotated anonymous syllabic model
verses for the ordinary psalms and canticles that are farced with hymns from the
Heirmologion and Sticherarion. These include the lucernarium psalms of Palestinian
vespers (Ps. 140, 141,116, and 129), Lauds (Ps. 148-50), and the biblical canticles of
matins; 135
2) Such anonymous responsories as the daily and festal prokeimena, "The Lord is God,"
and the gospel chant "Let everything that hath breath"), for which alternate versions may be
offered representing regional (Agiosophitikon, Agioritikon, Thessalikon, etc.) or functional
The earliest copy of the so-called Mega ison of Koukouzeles has been studied by Gabor Devai in "The
1 3 1
Musical Study of Koukouzeles in a Fourteenth-Century Manuscript," Acta Antiqiia Academiae Scientiarum

Hungaricae 6 (1958): 213-35.
The texts set by Koukouzeles are listed in Sophronios Eustratiades," 'loidwqg 6 KovKOvCikqs, 6
1 3 2
MatoToop, Kai 6 XP S TS' dmfjg aurou," Enerripis ErmpeLag BvâynyiSu 2TTOV8(3I> 14 (1938)
V TJ 4
27-67.
1 3 3
The two earliest copies of Koukouzeles' edition of the Heirmologion are MS St. Petersburg 491 (formerly
numbered 121, dated "1302"), and MS Sinai 1256 ("1309"). The only known Sticherarion explicitly attributed
to the Maistor is MS Athens 884 ("1341"), which bears a colophon stating that it was copied from a manuscript
corrected by Koukouzeles. Several other manuscripts without this attribution, including the Sticherarium
Ambrosianum (MS Bib. Ambr. A 139 sup.) recently published in facsimile by the MMB, appear to be copies
of the Koukouzelian Sticherarion. On these manuscripts and their contents, see Karas, 'lajdwrjs Maiorcop 6
KovKovCekris, 36-40, Plates 15-21,25, 28; Lidia Perria and J0rgen Raasted, eds., Sticherarium Ambrosianum,
Pars Suppletoria, MMB Sirie principale 11 (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1992), 1112; Lorenzo Tardo, L'Antica
melurgiabizamina:NeU'interpretazionedellascuolamonasticadiGrottaferrata (Grottaferrata: 1938), 73;
Velimirovi6, "The Byzantine Heirmos," 213-224; Williams, "John Koukouzeles' Reform," 80,310-12.
1 3 4
A good introduction to these MSS (including a representative list and brief discussions of their composers)
is provided by Conomos in The Late Byzantine and Slavonic Communion Cycle, 68-82.
1 3 5
Strunk, "The Antiphons of the Oktoechos," 170-74, 186-89; Velimirovic, "Byzantine Chant," in Richard
Crocker and David Hiley, eds. The Early Middle Ages to 1300, The New Oxford History of Music 2 (Ox
New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 54-55.
166
variants (e.g. monastic, cathedral, synoptikon) . Stylistically related to these chants are
1 3 6
ferial and festal katavasiai for Ode 9 of the kanon at matins, and the cathedral rite order for
the Sunday Resurrectional gospel previously discussed in Chapter 4. Many of these chants
are supplied with optional codas of considerable length set in the kalophonic style;
3) Compilations of individual psalm-verse settings for solemn psalmodic chants of the

Neo-Sabaitic vigil not ordinarily troped with stichera, the progenitors of which are the
collections of through-composed psalm verses contained in the Asma. Two separate
137
items from vespers are set in this manner: the Prooemiac Psalm (Ps. 103) and the First
138
Kathisma of the Psalter (Psalms 1-3). 139

Matins, on the other hand, is provided with
alternate repertories for the festal third kathisma of the Psalter the Amomos (Ps. 118), 140
the Polyeleos (Ps. 134-35), and a variety of proper festal psalmodic "antiphons" that
141
are sung after or in place of the Polyeleos. Regional and functional variants of these
142
compilations analogous to those of the responsories mentioned above appear in the

manuscripts. The individual verses of these psalmodic collections display a great deal of
stylistic variety, but may conveniently be classified as: a) "quasi-traditional" settings not
attributed to any named composer, a category which includes anonymous regional and
functional variants; b) eponymous compositions, often of considerable virtuosity; and
c) extended kalophonic works, also eponymous, placed either as interludes or codas; 143
and
4) Other kalophonic pieces intended for use adlibitum, often appended to the main body of
music for the Divine Liturgy and Office. These include festal and penitential stichera;
136 variants of the matutinal responsory "The Lord is God" are transcribed and discussed in Diane Touliatos-
Banker, "The Byzantine Orthros," Byzantina 9 (1977): 342-83; Velimirovic', "Byzantine Chant," 55-57.
1 3 7
Along with the compilations of the Asma, one should also add the First Antiphon of asmatic matins from
the Asmatikon MS Kastoria 8 examined above, the setting of Psalm 135 in the Blagoveshchensky Kondakar
(f. 107r-l 13r), and the Polyeleos verses from the so-called "Bachkovo Fragment of the Asmatikon." This latter
source is described by Elena Toncheva as a fragment from an Asmatikon inserted among the folios of the
Sticherarion Church Historical and Archeological Museumof Sofia (CHAM) MS 818 ("1281"). See Toncheva,
"The Bulgarian Liturgical Chant (9th-19th centuries)," in Christian Hannick, ed., Rhythm in Byzantine Chant:
Acta of the Congress Held at Hemen Castle in November 1986 (Hernen: A.A. Bredius Foundation, 1991),
49, 172; "Za rannata polieleina pesenna praktika na Balkanite (po isvori ot XII-XIII v.)," Bulgarsko
muzikoznanie 9, 3 (1985): 3-29.
138 Milos Velimirovic", "The Prooemiac Psalm of Byzantine Vespers," chap, in Words and Music, the Scholar's
View: A medley of problems and solutions compiled in honor of A. Tillman Merritt, ed. L. Berman
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1972), 317-337.
139 Ed ard V. Williams, "The Treatment of Text in the Kalophonic Chanting of Psalm 2," Studies in Eastern
W
Chant 2, ed. E. Wellesz and M. Velimirovi6 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), 173-93.
1 4 0
Diane Touliatos-Banker, The Byzantine Amomos Chant of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
Vlatadon 46 (Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute for Patristic Studies, 1984), 95-216.
1 4 1
Maureen Morgan, "The Musical Setting of Psalm 134-the Polyeleos," Studies in Eastern Chant 3, ed.
MiloS Velimirovic" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973), 112-23; Edward V. Williams, "The Kalophonic
Tradition and Chants for Polyeleos Psalm 134," Studies in Eastern Chant 4, ed. M. Velimirovic" (Crestwood:
St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1979), 228-241.
These special festal "antiphons" are referredtoas "iicXoyai" ("choices" or "selections") by Symeon of
1 4 2
Thessalonica and by modern Greek Orthodox church musicians. See Phountoules, Movaxcicos dp&pos, 9, 64;
and infra, 206-07.
1 4 3
These distinctions were first made by Williams, who thoroughly analysed each style in "John Koukouzeles'
Reform," 110-298. See also idem, "The Kalophonic Tradition," 229-41, in which he addresses the question of
regional variants.
167
melismatic oikoi from various kontakia; and free-standing kratemata, some of which bear
such evocative names as "Viola," "Persikon," and "Tartarikon." 144
The Late Byzantine musico-liturgical synthesis embodied in the Akolouthiai of
Koukouzeles was a multifaceted achievement. From a technical perspective, Koukouzeles and
his colleagues perfected the kalophonic idiom of Byzantine chant and established its primary
musical and textual forms, many of which remain staples of the Neo-Byzantine repertory. Y e t
these innovations were not liturgically neutral advancements of musical technique, for they
signalled a significant breakdown of the traditional one-to-one correspondence between words
and melody i n Byzantine worship. The unprecedented length and complexity of many of the
newly composed works not only indicate a profound shift of emphasis away from the kanons
and stichera of the proper, but imply an increased confidence i n the expressive potential of
purely musical techniques, combined with new attitudes toward their use i n Orthodox worship.
The practical consequences of these developments may be seen in the newly found ability of
Late Byzantine choirmasters to effect almost endless variations in the length and style of a
service by making selections from among multiple and often highly individual settings i n the
new c h a n t b o o k s . 145
Conclusion
B y the fifteenth century, the ancient dichotomy between elaborately sung cathedral
worship and austere monastic offices articulated in the seventh century by Nilus of Sinai and
revived by Symeon of Thessalonica i n his treatise On Divine Prayer remained valid for the
ferial performance of the lectio continua from the Psalter. A s Oliver Strunk has noted, it was
144 After the fourteenth century these types of compositions began to appear in specialised collections: the
Kalophonic Sticherarion, the Oikoimatarion, and the Kratematarion. The Kalophonic Heirmologion was a later
development of the seventeenth century. On these chants and their later dedicated collections, see Stathes, Oi
duaypappaTiapoi mi rd pa&rjpara, 41^13, 113-25; Velimirovi6, "Byzantine Chant," 61-63; idem, "'Persian
Music' in Byzantium?," in Studies in Eastern Chant 3, ed. Velimirovid (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1973), 179-81; and Williams, "John Koukouzeles' Reform," 294-98.
145 The relationship of these musical developments to trends in fourteenth-century monastic spirituality have
been explored by the present author in "Hesychasm and Psalmody," Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism
(London: Variorum, forthcoming).
168
recited in the Neo-Sabai'tic rite, but sung with refrains in the asmatikeakolouthia. 146
Otherwise, pace Symeon, the total proportion of chanting in the cathedral and monastic Divine
Offices of the Late Byzantine period allows both to be fairly described as 'sung' rites. This is
not to say that important distinctions did not remain, for while chant in the "Sung" Office
continued for the most part to be confined within the parameters established for cathedral
psalmody in Late Antiquity, liturgical music developed along quite different lines in the Sabaitic
tradition. In particular, we have identified two strata of chant in the monastic rite that depart
significantly from earlier cathedral precedents:
1) The cycles of Sabaitic and Studite hymnography (7th-12th c.) which, by breaking
longstanding strictures against non-scriptural hymns, not only bestowed greater
musical and textual variety on the Palestinian rite, but also manifested a new approach
to the commemoration of 'Salvation History' within the Divine Office; and
2) The fourteenth- and fifteenth-century repertories of Koukouzelian chant, in which

melody emerges as a semi-autonomous shaping force in Byzantine liturgy. In addition
to emancipating chant composers from the restrictive compositional frameworks of
centonate cathedral psalmody and monastic hymnody, the musical reforms associated
with John Koukouzeles even allowed them to burst the bonds of human speech in the
textless vocalisations of the kratemata.
Despite substantial differences in their respective musical forms, the products of these
two phases in the development of the Byzantine monastic rite jointly presuppose the existence
of a group of expert singers able to adapt to frequent changes of text and/or melody. In this
regard they differ substantially from the antiphonal psalmody of the "Sung" Office, which was
designed to accommodate the limited collective capabilities of the large urban congregations of
Late Antiquity. As we have previously seen, this was accomplished in the Byzantine cathedral
rite through the manifold repetition of choral psalm-tones and short congregational refrains,
which were complemented by only a relatively small repertory of proper chants for the
liturgical year. Aside from such functional concerns, the rise of Sabaitic hymnography and
Koukouzelian chant also display a similar confidence in the suitability of boldly applying
human creativitywhether through the medium of non-scriptural hymns or personalised
Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia,", 130-31. This distinction refers to the celebration of
1 4 6
monastic offices in common according to the Neo-Sabai'tic Typikon, rather than to the private rule of solitary
prayer maintained by each monk.
169
melodic stylesto the praise of God, a characteristic that is largely absent from even the solo
chants of the archaic asmatike akolouthia.
In conclusion, one should note that the qualitative differences observed between
chanting in the Byzantine cathedral and monastic rites allow for a reinterpretation of Symeon's
statement regarding "the many priests and cantors" of the "Sung" Office. Since the festal
services of both rites were largely sung, each in fact required the presence of a full complement
of musical personnel. Yet, as we noted in the conclusion to Chapter 4, the relative musical and
textual simplicity of the Byzantine cathedral rite meant that its aesthetic impact on the
worshipper was primarily dependent on the careful coordination of its celebrants in majestic
ceremonies. In contrast, although not devoid of ceremonial, the Neo-Sabaitic agrypnia held
the attention of the worshipper with variegated contents that were of greater literary and musical
interest than the archaic psalmody of the "Sung" Office. This was, in part, a logical
complement to the small scale of most Byzantine monastic churches, which were in any case
unsuited to the physical requirements of the asmatike akolouthia. Nevertheless, whatever their
proximate causes, seven hundred years of remarkable development in monastic liturgy had left
a significant musical and textual gap between the two rites that Symeon was obliged by his
restless congregation to fill.

CHAPTER6
T H E SETTING A N D SOURCES FOR T H E C A T H E D R A L LITURGY
IN BYZANTINE THESSALONICA
The reformed "Sung" Office instituted by Symeon of Thessalonica in the first quarter of
the fifteenth century was the final episode i n a long process of liturgical development that we
have traced back from tenth-century Constantinople to the popular urban assemblies of
Christian Antiquity. A s a prelude to our detailed evaluation of the celebration of Sunday
Matins i n Late Byzantine Thessalonica, we shall now survey the relevant sources for that city's
tradition of cathedral liturgy. A n outline of what little is known about the local rite's progress
prior to the fourteenth century w i l l form a necessarily brief introduction to a more thorough
discussion of the context and contents of its Late Byzantine documents, both reformed and
unreformed. Hitherto, where these sources have been cited, they have been used as witnesses
to the transmission of elements from the central tradition of Byzantine cathedral worship, not as
indicators of its late Thessalonian variant.
I. Early Thessalonian Cathedral Liturgy
A . Origins
Founded in Hellenistic times by a general of Alexander the Great, Thessalonica under
later Roman administration was a bustling commercial city with privileges of limited self-rule.
Its prosperity was due in part to the city's strategic location at the crossroads of important
North-South trade routes with the V i a Egnatia, the major artery crossing the Balkans linking
the Empire's densely-populated eastern provinces with Italy. 1

During the third century A . D . ,
Thessalonica became significant as a centre of Imperial military resistance to barbarian
1
Robert Browning, "Byzantine Thessalonike: a unique city?," DialogoslHellenic Studies Review 2 (1995):
91-92; Oscar Tafrali, Thessalonique au quatorziimesiecle (Paris: 1913; repr. ed., Thessalonica: Institute for
Balkan Studies, 1993), 1.
170
171
incursions, while at the turn of the fourth century it was also briefly elevated to political
prominence when the Emperor Galerius made it his residence, an action that resulted i n the
construction of numerous monuments. A m o n g the major contributions of later emperors to

2
the topography of Thessalonica were a new harbour ordered by Constantine the Great and, of
importance for the city's later survival, an impressive complex of land walls constructed by
Theodosios at the end of the fourth century.
Secure behind its massive fortifications against the eventual onslaught of barbarian
invasions, Thessalonica thus became the sole capital of the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum after
the destruction of Sirmium in 441. 3

Around this time, Thessalonica also became the seat of a
new Papal Vicariate with jurisdiction over the Illyricum. A s an important ecclesiastical centre,
4
it must have been the home of some form of cathedral rite, but no written sources for a Late
Antique Thessalonian liturgy are known. Significant differences between liturgical planning i n
the Early Christian basilicas of Thessalonica and in those of Constantinople, however, indicate
that the former's local rite differed from the transplanted Antiochene forms that presumably
were in use at that time in the capital.
The points at which Thessalonica's early churches diverged from their
Constantinopolitan counterparts may be seen from the original layout of the city's oldest
surviving basilica, a three-aisled structure of the mid-fifth century dedicated to the Mother of
G o d , Acheiropoietos (Figure 3 ) . 5
Four aspects of its architecture are especially noteworthy: 6
2
ODB, s.v. "Thessalonike," 2071.
3
Athanasios A. Angelopoulos, 'H E/acArjata OeaaaAoft/ajs: Aiaxpoyt/o) nyevpart/cr/ d/crti/ofioAta Tfjs
ndAecos OTIJIS Xepaovrp-o TOV Aipov cos Eapxtas, Btmpidrov, ml MijrponoAecos, 2nd. ed.
(Thessalonica: Pournaras, 1991), 35; ODB, s.v. "Thessalonike," 2071.
4
The history of the Papal Vicariate of Thessalonica is summarised in Angelopoulos, H E/c/cA/jata
OeaaaAoviKTis, 91-109; and Carl Jerold Furst, 01 mvdvtices ayeaeis TTJS e/CKArjoias QeoaaAoviicrjs pe
9
TOV imoKono PaJprjs," in Xptariaft/cf/ OeaaaAoutxr): and rfjs'IovoTii/tai/elovenoxfjs ecos ml rfjs

MaKeSoutKTjs Swaaretas, TTaTpiapxt/cdu "ISpvpa ITarept/ccof MeAendf 7epd Movr) BAardScof, 18-20
'O/CTcoftpiov 1989, Kei/rpo 'laroplag OeaaaAon/ajg TOV Aijpov OeaaaAovl/ais avroreAetg i/cSdaeis 6 k

5
The earliest witnesses (9th-10th c.) refer to the church only as being dedicated to the Theotokos. The term
"Acheiropoietos," which evidently refers to an icon "not made by hands," First appears in sources of the
fourteenth century. See Raymond Janin, Les eglises et les monasteres des grands centres byzantins: Bith
Hellespont, Latros, Galesios, Trebizonde, Athenes, Thessalonique (Paris: Institut Francais d'etudes Byzan
1975), 375-78; cf. Andeas Xyngopoulos, "Al nepi TOV vaov Tfjg AxîponoifjTov OeaaaXovlicrjg
elSrjaeig TOV KcovoTavrlvov AppevonovAov" in Tdpos KwwTaw'ti'ov'AppewnovAoveni rfj
172
1) Marble parapets were placed between the columns that separated the aisles from the
nave. Typical of churches i n mainland Greece, this floor plan has only been discovered i n
7
one early basilica i n Constantinople;

8
2) In place of a Constantinopolitan synthronon, the sanctuary featured a low platform for

the bishop, with benches for the lower clergy flanking the altar; 9
3) The presence of a monolithic ambo with a single set of stairs (Figure 4), the original
location of which is u n k n o w n . Examples provided by other basilicas i n the region,
10
however, suggest that it is unlikely that the ambo was located on the central axis of the
church, or that it adjoined a Constantinopolitan-style s o l e a ; and
11
4) The narthex was totally enclosed, opening into the nave through a wide triple arcade or
tribelon. 12
The approach to liturgical planning evident i n the Acheiropoietos seems to have been
followed i n Thessalonica's other large early churches, including the shrine of the city's patron
and defender St. Demetrios. Probably founded near the end of the Fifth c e n t u r y , 13
the church
of St. Demetrios is a large five-aisle basilica with a tribelon. It originally featured parapets
limiting access to the nave, a sanctuary arrangement akin to that of the Acheiropoietos, and a
e&Koaierrjpi'Si rffe iafii/3Aov avrov (1345-1945),'Emorr/poM/cr}'Ewerrpis-6(Thessalonica:

IJavemoTrjutou QeoaaXoviK-qs, SxArj NopLK&v ml OLKOVOPLKLOV Emarr)ii&v, 1952), 1-3.
r
6
The main characteristics of liturgical planning in mainland Greece are summarised in Richard Krautheimer and
Slobodan CurciC, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, 4th ed., The Pelican History of Art (London and
New York: Penguin Books, 1986), 99-103; Dimitrios Pallas, "L'edifice cultuel chreTien et la liturgie dans
l'lllyricum Oriental," Actes duXe congres international d'archeologie chretienne, I (Vatican City and
Thessalonica: Pontifical Institute of Christian Archeology and the 'Eraipeia MaKeSovimv STTOVSCOU, 1984),
85-158; and Jean-Pierre Sodini, "Les dispositifs liturgiques des basiliques paleochretie"nnes en Grece etdans les
Balkans," XXXI Corso di Cultura sulVArte Ravennate e Bizantina: Seminario Internazionale di Stud
Greciapaleocristiana e bizantina Ravenna, 7-14 Aprile 1984 (Ravenna: Edizione del Girasole, [n.d.]), 441-73.
7
Cyril Mango, Byzantine Architecture, paperback ed. (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1978),
38-40.
8
Intercolumnar parapets have been found in the small sixth-century church known as Beyazit Basilica A. See
Thomas F. Mathews, The Early Churches of Constantinople: Architecture and Liturgy (University Park and
London: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971), 72, 120.
9
Mango, Byzantine Architecture, 39.
1 0
On the ambo of the Acheiropoietos, see Eutychia Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, "Les ambons paleochr&iens a
Thessalonique et a Philippes," in XXXI Corso di Cultura sulVArte Ravennate e Bizantina, 255-58.
1 1
Pallas, "L'edifice cultuel Chretien," 123-29. Long soleas connecting the ambo to the sanctuary, according to
Pallas, were rather rare in mainland Greece and, where they do appear, reflect later Byzantine influence. In any
case, as he astutely notes, the enclosure of the nave by marble parapets in the churches of Greece rendered them
somewhat superfluous. Cf. Sodini, "Les dispositifs liturgiques," 445-51.
1 2
Mango, 38; Jean-Pierre Sodini, "Note sur deux variantes rgionales dans les basiliques de Grece et des
Balkans: le tribelon et 1'emplacement de l'ambon," Bulletin de correspondence Hellenique 99 (1975): 581-84.
1 3
Krautheimer and Curcic, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, 128.
173
Figure 3. The Acheiropoietos: longitudinal section and floor plan. From Anastasios K .
Orlandos, 7V ûAooreyos' 7raAaioxpio-naî/a] /3aaiAi/aj rfjs" MeaoyeLatcfjs' AeKdvrjs;
v o l . 1, BL/3AiodrJKr] rfjs- iv'Ad/jvais-'ApxaioAoyi/djs-'Ermpeias-35(Athens: 1952), 156.
^ 1 /7<ST
Figure 4. The ambon of the Acheiropoietos. From Orlandos, 'H guAoareyos'

TraAaioxpioTiai/i/a] PaaLAuaj, v o l . 2, (Athens: 1954), 545.
174
monolithic single-stair a m b o . 14
Similarly, when the Roman Rotunda of Galerius was
converted into a church sometime between the end of the fourth and the beginning of the sixth
century, 15
it was provided with an elaborately carved ambo of the single-stair v a r i e t y . 16
Twentieth-century excavations have also shown that the same patterns may be observed among
structures no longer fully extant, notable among them the enormous fifth-century basilica
underlying the present church of Hagia Sophia, the sanctuary of which was arranged like those
of Thessalonica's other early churches. 17
B . The Rise of Constantinopolitan Influence During Byzantium's "Dark Centuries"
Thessalonica was one of a handful of ancient cities i n the Balkans to survive the
disruption caused by constant migrations of Slavic tribes during the late sixth and seventh
centuries. Remaining largely intact because of its formidable defences, it became by default the
second city of the shrunken Byzantine E m p i r e . 18

Yet it still had to endure more than a century
of nearly continuous distress that loosened its ties to the enfeebled Roman Church, allowing
Thessalonica to drift into the ecclesiastical orbit of Constantinople. One notable consequence
19
of the latter's growing influence was the abolition of the Papal Vicariate of the Illyricum around
the year 732, after which the Archbishopric of Thessalonica became the sixteenth-ranking see
The basic architectural study of the church of St. Demetrios is that by Giorgios and Maria Soteriou, 'H
1 4
BacnAacr) TOV 'Ayiov Arjprjrpiov OeaaaAovLiajs, BL/SAIO&TJ/O} rfjs 'A&rfmis" 'ApxaLoAoyuajs

Eraipeias-34 (Athens: 1952). For further information and a bibliography, see Janin, Les e'glises et les
monasteres des grands centres byzantins, 365-72. The remains of the basilica's ambo are examined in
Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, "Les ambons paleochr&iens," 258-60.
1 5
Janin, Les eglises et les monasteres des grands centres byzantins, 358-62.
1 6
Gustave Mendel, Muse~es imperiaux ottomans: Catalogue des sculptures Grecques, Romaines, e
vol. 2 (Constantinople: 1914), 393-405; Anastasios K. Orlandos, H fvAdcrreyos- TraAaioxpicrTumia)
ftaaiAua] rfjs- Meaoyeia/cffe Aefcdurjs; vol. 2, Bi/3Aio&rf/aj TTJS' ev'Adrjvais-'ApxaioAoyi/ajs 'Eraipeias:
1
35 (Athens: 1954), 550-54; Jean-Pierre Sodini, "L'ambon de la Rotonde Saint-Georges: remarques sur la
typologie et la decor," Bulletin de correspondence Hellenique 100 (1976): 493-510.
1 7
Sodini, "Les dispositifs liturgiques," 441^15. In addition, Pallas ("L'edifice cultuel chretien," 124) has
suggested that the monolithic single-stair "ambo of Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica" presently preserved in the
Archeological Museum of Istanbul may have belonged to the Early Christian basilica and not the present
church. The structure and dating of the immense five-aisled basilica under Hagia Sophia are discussed in
Kalliope Theoharidou, The Architecture of Hagia Sophia, Thessaloniki, BAR International Series 399 (O
British Architectural Reports, 1988), 10-13. On the ambo in question, see Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, "Les
ambons paieochretiens," 257, 260; Mendel, Musees imperiaux, 406-08; Orlandos,'H^vAdareyos
iraAaioxpioTi.ai'iKTi /3acnAi/aj, vol. 2, 546.
1 8
Mango, Byzantine Architecture, 89.
1 9
ODB, s.v. "Thessalonike," 2071.
175
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. 20

Another was the construction and decoration of
Thessalonica's surviving church of Hagia Sophia. According to Theoharidou, the pre-existing
Early Christian basilica on the same site was largely destroyed by a disaster that occurred
sometime between the late sixth century and the years 620-30 that, she suggests, may very
well have been the earthquake which struck Thessalonica i n 6 1 8 . 21

A much smaller "cross-
domed" church was subsequently built on the ruins of the Western half of the old basilica's
nave, incorporating the earlier structure's narthex as an exo-narthex, and possibly its atrium as
well (Figures 5 and 6 ) 2 2

The design of the new Hagia Sophiaessentially a modification of
the sixth-century design known today from Constantinople's Hagia Eirene and a handful of
other examples located in modern Turkey constituted a distinct move away from the
23
indigenous tradition of ecclesiastical architecture typified by the Acheiropoietos and toward that
of the Imperial capital. The possibility that the erection of Hagia Sophia may have been a
deliberate act symbolically asserting the authority of the central government is also given
credence by Theoharidou's observation that the workmanship of its early phases suggests the
active participation of masons from the capital i n its construction. Whatever the motivations
24
of the founders of the church, the elaborate schemes of mosaic decoration executed with
imperial patronage in the late eighth century made certain that this church would be indelibly
2 0
Angelopoulos,'H'EicicArjaiaOeaaaAofLKrjs; 106-16.
2 1
The Architecture of Hagia Sophia, Thessaloniki, 155-57. Theoharidou's meticulous survey of the
exceedingly complex architectural history of Hagia Sophia leads her to conclusions that stand in opposition to a
scholarly consensus which had recently begun to emerge dating the church to 780-87. This latter theory is
based on the assumption that the mosaic inscriptions in the apse, which include monograms of Emperor
Constantine VI and the Empress Irene, are contemporary with the foundation of the church. In this latter
circumstance, Mango has suggested that the church may have been conceived as a memorial of an Imperial
offensive against the Slavs in 783. Whatever the actual date of its initial construction, the structure remains a
monument to increased Constantinopolitan influence. See Krautheimer and 6urci6,295, n.5; Mango, 89; and
esp. Robin Cormack, "The Apse Mosaics of S. Sophia at Thessaloniki," AeAnou rife XpiaTiai/i/dfe
'ApxaLoAoyiKife Ermpeias-4110(1980-81): 111-26.
Theoharidou, 64-68.
2 2
On the typology of Hagia Sophia, see Krautheimer and Curci6,285-300; Mango, 89-96; Theoharidou,
2 3
153-56.
Theoharidou, 156.
2 4
0 5 10 20 30 40 50 M
Figure 5. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: Ground plan of the present church (in grey) and the
Early Christian basilica. Excavated foundations of the latter are indicated in black, while
broken lines mark their probable full extent. From Theoharidou, The Architecture ofHagia
Sophia, Figure 2.
Figure 6. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: longitudinal section through the north gallery of the
present church i n its original form. Note the reuse of the Early Christian basilica's narthex
(shaded) as an exo-narthex for the later structure. From Kalliope Theoharidou, "The Structure
of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki From Its Construction to The Present," i n Robert M a r k and
Ahmet S. Cakmak, eds., Hagia Sophia From the Age of Justinian to the Present (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1992), 98.
177
associated with Constantinople. 25

Documents from the tenth century and onward confirm this
identification, referring to Hagia Sophia as the "Great Church of Thessalonica" i n imitation of
its Constantinopolitan namesake. 26
A n additional possibility raised by the many ties binding the Thessalonian church of
Hagia Sophia with that of the capital is that the former monument, either at the time of its
construction, or, more probably, its imperially sponsored (re)decoration with mosaics, acted as
the vehicle for the introduction of the Constantinopolitan cathedral Rite of the Great Church.
A s demonstrated by canons of the Quinisext Council (690-91) that censure the divergent
liturgical and disciplinary practices of Latins and A r m e n i a n s , Byzantine Christianity was

27
becoming a sufficiently distinct entity for the Church of Constantinople to demand
standardisation elsewhere along the lines of its own current usages. 28

Moreover, the
establishment of a major church manifesting a city's ties to the Imperial capital not only i n its
design and decoration, but also in its worship, would certainly have been consistent with the
Empire's current efforts to bring Thessalonica firmly under the ecclesiastical and administrative
control of the central authorities.
The architectural record is somewhat ambiguous on the crucial question of exactly how
closely the interior arrangement of Hagia Sophia reflected Constantinopolitan norms, mainly
because its original Christian furnishings were removed after its transformation into a mosque
in 1523/24 (930 A H ) . What may possibly argue against the asmatike akolouthia's simul-
taneous introduction with Theoharidou's first phase of construction i n the late sixth or early
seventh century is her report that the spaces between the columns separating the aisles from the
2 5
Theoharidou (pp. 153-56) argues for two separate phases of decoration: a pre-Iconoclastic adornment of the
dome in 690/91, possibly financed by Justinian II in commemoration of his victory over the Slavs in 688/89;
and a redecoration of the apse associated with Constantine VI and Irene, rendered between 780 and 787. If, on
the other hand, the present building is to be dated to the late eighth century (cf. supra, n. 21), Hagia Sophia
must have been a particularly potent vehicle for the symbolic reassertion of Imperial power.
2 6
Theoharidou, 3.
2 7
Canons 13 and 55 of the Council in Trullo censure the Latins for fasting on Saturdays and requiring
candidates for ordination to the diaconate or priesthood to cease cohabiting with their wives, while Canons 32,
33, 56, and 99 condemn certain Armenian practices. For the texts of these canons, see J.D. Mansi, ed.,
Sacrorum concilium nova et amplissima collectio 11 (Florence: 1759-98), 948, 956-60,969, and 985.
2 8
178
nave of Hagia Sophia, with the exception of the easternmost opening, were blocked with
marble parapets 1.23 m . i n h e i g h t . 29

A s we have previously noted, barriers limiting access to
the nave, although not totally unknown in Constantinople, were really more characteristic of
the local Thessalonian approaches to planning as carried out in the Acheiropoietos and in St.
Demetrios. Nevertheless, Hagia Sophia was otherwise eminently suited for the physical
requirements of the asmatike akolouthid. The enclosure of its nave by massive piers and the
retention of the earlier basilica's Western portions created the necessary space for the clergy
and congregation to perform the Byzantine cathedral rite's long stretches of pre-introit
psalmody in the narthex. In addition, only the nave of Hagia Sophia was endowed with
mosaics and white marble revetments, 30

thus assuring the hierarchical differentiation of space
necessary to the ceremonial entrances of the Rite of the Great Church, which, as we have
previously noted, were intended to recall visually an entry into heaven. 31

Finally, the
testimony of Symeon of Thessalonica later makes it clear that, at least in the fifteenth century,
Hagia Sophia possessed an ambo and a solea arranged along the church's central a x i s . 32
If we
were to assume, therefore, that the ambo reported by Symeon was not a late replacement, it
appears that from the outset the present church was appropriately equipped for the celebration
of the Byzantine cathedral rite.
C . Three Middle Byzantine Witnesses to the Thessalonian Cathedral Liturgy:
1. John Kaminiates' "Capture of Thessalonica"
B y the end of the eighth century, it was apparent that Thessalonica had successfully
weathered the storms of Byzantium's "Dark Centuries," emerging in the year 780 with a
population thatTreadgold estimates at approximately 50,000 3 3

Subsequently the city entered
Theoharidou, 21, 30 (n. 23).

2 9
Ibid., 30.
3 0
See above, pp. 43^18; cf. Taft, The Byzantine Rile, 35-37.
3 1
Pallas, "L'ddifice cultuel Chretien," 120 (n.5), 124 (n. 2), 128 (n. 2); cf. Ioannes Phountoules, "Maprvpiai
3 2
TOV QeoaaXovLKT]S Zvpecov nepi TCOP vacov rf}s OeooaXovLKrjs,"'EmaTrjpoi/LKT)ETTerrjpis (feoAoyitajg-

SxoAfjslX (Thessalonica: 1976), 151-54, 162-63. Cf. supra, n. 17.
3 3
Warren Treadgold, The Byzantine Revival: 780-842 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988), 41.
179
an extended period of recovery that saw the reestablishment of overland lines of
communication with Constantinople 34

and the reopening of a long dormant m i n t . 35
Shortly
thereafter, the replacement in the years 809-10 of the city's formerly symbolic Imperial
representation of an archon with a detachment of one hundred soldiers by a strategos with a
standing army of two thousand troops sealed Thessalonica's full integration into the Empire's
military and administrative system of themes 3 6

A century of growth and the strengthening of
its defenses, however, failed to prevent a temporary setback in the year 904, when the city was
briefly captured by a Saracen fleet led by the renegade L e o of Tripoli.
The detailed and ostensibly eyewitness description by John Kaminiates of the Arab
sack, transmitted under the title 'Icodwov KATJPLKOC Kai KovplovKeAicnou TOV Kaptytdrov
els' TTJI> dAcvcriis rfjs- OeaaaAonKrjs', though frequently cited by modern scholars as De
expugnatione Thessalonicae 31
contains important references to liturgical singing. If
Kaminiates' account of the catastrophe is at least in part the contemporary witness it purports to
be, a long-accepted presumption that has recently been vigorously challenged by Alexander
Kazhdan 3 8
it may well be the earliest literary report of Thessalonica's developed cathedral
3
These links were probably first established in the 780s during the joint reign of Constantine VI and his
4
mother Irene. Temporarily abandoned to its rural Slavic population after the Bulgar Khan Krum's defeat of the
Byzantines in 811-12, this corridor was permanently reoccupied by Imperial troops in 836. See Treadgold, The
Byzantine Revival, 70-75, 124, and 292.
3 5
ODB, s.v. "Thessalonike," 2071-72; cf. D.M. Metcalf, "The Coinage of Thessaloniki, 829-1204, and Its
Place in Balkan Monetary History," Balkan Studies 4 (1963): 277-88.
3 6
Treadgold, 161-62,353.
3 7
Ed. Gertrude B6hlig, loannis Caminiatae de Expugnatione Thessalonicae, Corpus Fontium Histori
Byzantinae, Series Berolinensis 4 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1973); annotated German
translation by idem, Die Einnahme Thessalonikes durch die Araber im Jahre 904, byzantinische
Geshichtsschreiber 12 (Graz, Viena and Cologne: Verlag Styria, 1975); modern Greek translation with
commentary by Yiannes Tsaras, Jtoduuov Kapefidrov arrjf dAcoar] TTJS GeaaaAopiKTjs' (904 p.XJ
Eiaaycoyfj - hkracppaarj - (Thessalonica: Kyriakides Bros., 1987).
3 8
Kazhdan has argued that the work may have been fabricated or, at the very least, reworked in the wake of
Thessalonica's fall to the Turks in 1430. While Kazhdan's more radical views on this subject have not been
generally accepted, other scholars have noted that inconsistencies in the text and problems in the transmission of
Kaminiates' account would not be incompatible with the emendation of an earlier source. For the purposes of
the present study, however, we shall accept De expugnatione Thessalonicae as essentially a tenth-century
document. See Kazhdan, "Some Questions Addressed to the Scholars Who Believe in the Authenticity of
Kaminiates' Capture of Thessalonica," Byzantinische Zeitschrift 71 (1978): 301-14; together with the
responses by Vas. Christides, "Once Again Caminiates' Capture of Thessaloniki," Byzantinische Zeitschrift 74
(1981): 7-10; Erich Trapp," 'H xpoôAoyla ovyypafyfjS TOD vepl TT)S dAakxecus rfjs- OeaaaAovLKqg,
epyov TOV 1u)dwr] KapeviaTT), inl TTJfidoeiyAwoiicwv SeSopevuv" in F Emcrnipovucd avp
XpLcmdviKTi OeaaaAoviKT) and rfjs- '/ovcrnfiaveiov enoxfjs ecos Kal rfjs MaKeSovi/cfjs' A
Keirpo'/aropiasGeaaaAovi/ojS' TOV Afjpov BeaaaAoyi/crjs', AvroTeAeis- i/cSdaecs~& (Thessalon
180
liturgy. These references are of particular interest because the titles and positions ascribed to
the author at various points within the textnamely reader, cleric of the metropolis of
39
Thessalonica, member of the corps of clerics attached to the "royal houses" {"OLKOL TWU
40
BaatAetcov"), and kouboukleisios are consistent with those of a Byzantine cathedral

41 42
chorister 4 3
Consequently, it seems likely that the descriptions are of services in which
Kaminiates had participated personally as a musician.
1991), 45-52; and Yiannes Tsaras, "H avdevriicoTriTa TOV XPOVLKOV TOV Icodvvov Kapevidrrj,"
BuCam-LOKd 8 (1988): 41-58.
3
Kaminiates (De expugnatione Thessalonicae, 39) describes himself, his brothers, and his father as
9
avayvuxiTai. As we have previously noted (supra, pp. 43-44), the musical forces apportioned by imperial
legislation among Hagia Sophia and three other state-run churches of Constantinople consisted of an elite group
of cantors (tpdAraL) and a much larger corps of readers.
4
Ibid., 69.
0
4 1
Ibid., 48.
4 2
Ibid., 3,69. According to the ODB (vol. 2, p. 1155), "kouboukleisios" was an "imperial title conferred on
patriarchal chamberlains."
4 3
These titles have been among the objects of controversy in the recent debate over the work's authenticity.
Kazhdan ("Some Questions," 301, 313) has found Kaminiates' claim to membership in the clergy of the royal
house to be problematic, for, with the ancient exception of the reign of Galerius, there was no imperial palace in
Thessalonica until the thirteenth century. Kazhdan further insinuates that the titles of kouboukleisios and reader,
both of which are ascribed to Kaminiates, are inherently incompatible (ibid., 312). Bbhlig, however, had already
noted that the ecclesiastical rank of kouboukleisios was at times bestowed on members of the lower clergy.
A different solution to the question of Kaminiates' authentic titles has been proposed by Tsaras. Both in the
commentary to his modem Greek translation (Srrjv dAcoarj rrjs OeaaaAovi/ajs; 13-15) and in his response to
Kazhdan ("H CLVBVTLK6TT)TQ." 43-44), Tsaras maintains that the positions of kouboukleisios and cleric of the
metropolis of Thessalonica mentioned in the title and coda to the main text are not original, but the additions of
a later scribe. According to Tsaras, therefore, Kaminiates was a reader in the service of the palatine chapel of the
local strategos, thus interpreting the phrase "iv rots OIKOIS T&V fiaoiAemv" as a referencetothe palace of the
military administrator of the theme of Thessalonica. A more logical explanation of the problematic phrase
"cleric in the royal houses," however, is that it is a variation on the common title of "royal cleric" (" fiacnALKds
KATIPLKOS"). Jean Darrouzes (Recherches sur les 0<P<PIKIA de l'eglise byzantine, Archives de I'Ori
11 (Paris: Institut Francais d'litudes Byzantines, 1970), 88) has shown that Constantinopolitan clergy including
singers bearing this honorific were usually attached to the capital's cathedral of Hagia Sophia, demonstrating that
the honorific of "royal" 1) did not automatically presuppose attachment to a palatine chapel, and 2) that it was
not incompatible with service in one of the major state-supported cathedral churches of a Byzantine city. There
is therefore no reason to suppose with Tsaras that Kaminiates could not have been simultaneously a "royal"
cleric and a cleric of the metropolis of Thessalonica, which, like the capital, also had a "Great Church" of Hagia
Sophia as its cathedral.
Finally, the inscription on the lead seal of the singer cited by Darrouzes (Recherches, 42) offers compelling
evidence that Kaminiates may have held all four of the titles ascribed to him in his account. Listed as no. 139
in Vitalien Laurent's monumental catalogue of seals (Le Corpus des sceaux de I'empire byzantin, 5:1 (Paris:
Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1963), 111), the seal in question is dated by Laurent to
the 11th or 12th century, and by Nicholas Oikonomides to the 10th or 11th century (the author would like to
thank Dr. John Nesbitt of the Dumbarton Oaks Sigillography Project for graciously providing a copy of
Oikonomides' handwritten notes on this seal). As reconstructed by Oikonomides, the inscription reads:
XKivpikffloTJdei]'lu)dv(v)xi IK]OVÔVKA(T]MLCO), /3(aot.AiKX{)) KAripdicqJ) [beat) npcoTotydATr] [Tr)gl\
p(e)y(dAris) 'EKKA(ri\p-(las)\ T(<2>) Tpiy...
tLord, help John Trig..., Koubouklesios, Royal Cleric and Protopsaltes of the Great Church
Although it may be objected that the protopsaltes, as an accomplished soloist and/or conductor was a special
kind of singer, his ecclesiasticalrankaccording to the type of ordination he had received was identical to that of a
181
The relevant passages, apparently first cited in modern times for their musical
significance by Papadopoulos, occur in the course of the encomium of Thessalonica that

44
forms the first part of De expugnatione. After sections on the city's topography and
commercial activity, the author turns to the city's religious life and fondly recalls the wonderful
singing of its choristers. 45

He then goes on to say:
6 TO 8' and TOVTOV, Kai pdXioQ' bri Tris evpvdpov TLOV dapaT&v ipvijod-qu
r)8v<p(x>vCas, OVK ol8a TLS yevcopat rj vol Tip Xoyco xwpfjcno, rrotov 8e
rrapaXeino) TGJV T\8COTIX)V KIVU)V Kai evraKTiov peXipSrjpdTcov, ols
ovveipaXXov Kai ovveopTaCov dvdpamoi Tats ovpaviais SvvdpeoLV. 7 el yap
TiS TT)l> pOVaaV iKlVT)V, TT)V K TTOVTOS OTOpaTOS V<f>' V Tip lp
duarrep-iTopeuriu TOVS vpvovs iv Tats nav8rjpois ovvdêai, Tip fjxtp TCQV
iopTaCovrcov dyyiXcov, ivQa eixppaLVouiviov ndvTcov rj KOTOLKLO, iêiKoviaai
deXrjaetev, ovSiv TOV SiovTos dpaprrjaeTai.
11. Naoi yap Tives rrappeyiQets Kai treptKaXXets rfj noiKiXr)

SiaKoo-prjcreL, Sid piaov trpoBeBXrjpivoi TTJS rroXecos locnrep Tivd Koivd npos
TO detov iîXaanjpia, KOLL TOVTCOV pdliora 6 TTJS navTovpyov Kai deias TOV
vtrepovoiov Xoyov oocpias OLKOS, Kai 6 rfjs deirrapQivov travdyvov Kai
deoprJTopos, dXXd Kai 6 TOV vrpoXexdivTos travev86ov Kai KOXXIVIKOV
pdpTvpos Ar\prrrpiov, ivda TOVS Qeiovs ddXovs Sirjvvae Kal TO BpaBeiov TTJS
ULK-qs i8iaTO, oi Kai TOV dnavra Sfjpov Tats Kara rreptoSov iwaviovoacs
TUJV iopTiov rjpipats iv iavTots iKKXx]oidCovTes, dveKXdXrjTov evippcoavvrfv
Kai nvevpaTLKfjv x Pf W
a
L$
lol/
ovviovoiy
t
iBpdBevov. 2 iKeKXfjpcovTo yap
iv eKdartp TOVTOJV TaypaTa iepicov, Si' cov fj PVOTLKT) TeXetrai XaTpeia, Kai
dvayvioaTiSv avaTijpaTa, 8L' COV rj TCOV dapaTcov orrovSdCeTai vpvipSia,
dpoiBaSov TOVS OTIXOVS dXaXdCovTes, Kai Tats x P M'- S' ec
^ psXidv
01/0 AL T( u
TOV
(pdoyyov SiaTtdevTes, Kai pzydXrjv Tivd Kai diodeaTOv xopeiav
ovvioTiovres, Tip T eiSet Ttjs doTpanrovorjs crroXfjs Tas TOJV opcovTcov
QiXyovTes oêis, Kai TTJ Texvcopivr) TUJV ip-aXpcov Xvpa TT)V aKor)v
KaTaTeprrovTes.
Since I have just recalled the ordered sweet-singing of the canticles, I do not know
what to do or how to proceed with my story. W h i c h of those most sweet and elegantly
proportioned songs I should omit, which men chanted and celebrated with the heavenly
powers. For i f one might wish to compare that muse, which sent up hymns to G o d
from every mouth at the civic assemblies as with one voice, to the sound of the angels
celebrating in that place where all the blessed reside, he would not miss anything
essential.
reader (Darrouzes, 87-89). When this is taken into account, it seems perfectly plausible to conclude that John
Kaminiates may indeed have been a chorister in the cathedral liturgy of Thessalonica bearing the additional
honorary titles of "royal cleric" and "kouboukleisios."
44
Georgios I. Papadopoulos, SvpfhAai el$ rfjv loroplav rife nap' jjpli/ e/c/cArp-iaori/ajs- ponai/cfjs-
(Athens: 1890; repr. ed, Athens: Koultoura, 1977), 225,241. More recent citations of this passage by
musicologists are Neil K. Moran, Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting, Byzantina Neerlandi
(Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1986), 40-41; and Bjame Schartau, "On Collecting Testimonia' of Byzantine Musical
Practice," Universite de Copenhague Cahiers de VInstitut du Moyendge grec et latin 57 (1988): 159-61
4 5
Ed. Bohlig, De Expugnatione Thessalonicae, 11
182
There are certain enormous and very beautifully decorated churches that are located in
the midst of the city as sites for common worship. Foremost of these are the house of
the divine and almighty W i s d o m of the superessential W o r d , and that of the all-pure
and ever-virgin Mother of G o d , but also that of the altogether glorious and triumphant
Martyr Demetrios, in which the Saint accomplished his holy struggles and gained the
prize of victory. Seasonally assembling the whole populace on recurring feast days,
these churches continuously rewarded unspeakable gladness and spiritual j o y to their
congregations. For i n each of these had been appointed corps of priests, by whom the
mystical worship is served, and companies of readers, by whom the hymnody of the
canticles is diligently accomplished, singing the verses i n alternation, and regulating the
sound of the melodies by cheironomy. Constituting a great and visually impressive
host, they enchant the gazes of those watching by the appearance of their shining
vestments, and delight the ear by their artful performance of the p s a l m s . 46
Kaminiates here sketches the outlines of a stational system of cathedral liturgy dominated by
three large churches: Hagia Sophia (presumably the cathedral), the Marian Acheiropoietos,
47
and St. Demetrios. Each of these churches, which possessed groups of higher and lower
clergy to celebrate their services, 48

acted as focal points for festal gatherings of the city's entire
populace. In describing these events, Kaminiates, himself an anagnostes, not surprisingly
pays particular attention to the role of the readers who, arrayed i n splendid attire and evidently
present in significant numbers, made a great impression on the congregation. W i t h respect to
their actual musical performance, in addition to noting, as was customary, its resemblance to
the angelic liturgy at the throne of G o d , he reports that the readers executed psalmody i n an
antiphonal manner, and that they sang guided by the intricate Byzantine art of choral
conducting known as cheironomy 4 9

Although Kaminiates provides no further details about
the Thessalonian cathedral rite of the early tenth century, each element i n his description offers
significant parallels with the Rite of Constantinople's Great Church, which also possessed a
stational system of prominent churches centred on a cathedral of Hagia Sophia, employed a
large corps of singing readers in antiphonal psalmody, cultivated cheironomy, and was 50
4 6
Ibid., 12 (my translation).
4 7
Theoharidou, The Architecture of Hagia Sophia, 5-6.
4 8
Strictly speaking, Kaminiates only refers to celebrating priests and singing readers. One would assume,
however, that these urban churches maintained full complements of clergy of higher (e.g. deacons and
subdeacons) and lower (e.g. psaltai, domestikoi, and doorkeepers) degrees.
4 9
Cf. the brief discussion of cheironomy in reference to this passage in Kaminiates by Schartau, "On
Collecting Testimonial 161, n. 5.
5 0
Singing under the direction of cheironomy is mentioned in Middle Byzantine sources both in the context of
court ceremonial, and in reference to the repertories of the Asmatikon and Psaltikon. For a thorough discussion
of Byzantine cheironomy, see Moran, Byzantine Singers, 38-47, esp. 39-41.
183
generally characterised by its visual splendour. One may therefore conclude that the subject of
Kaminiates' description was the Byzantine asmatike akolouthia, which by the early tenth
century had evidently already replaced the old local cathedral rite of Thessalonica.
2. The Timarion
After the temporary setback of904, Thessalonica continued to increase i n prosperity
until the Norman occupation of 1185 ushered i n another period of troubles associated with the
Crusades and their aftermath. Immediately prior to this, however, the city had once again
become a major centre of international commerce with a large population that, according to
Charanis, may have reached 100,000 or m o r e . 51

Commercial, cultural, and religious activity
reached an annual peak in Thessalonica around the feast of St. Demetrios on 26 October. The
commemoration of the city's patron was marked on the one hand by solemn liturgy, and on the
other hand by an international trade fair attracting merchants from as far away as Spain and
Portugal.
A description of Thessalonica and its annual festivities in honour of St. Demetrios
opens the Timarion, an anonymous twelfth-century satire modeled after Lucian that features a
journey of its protagonist through the u n d e r w o r l d . 52

In addition to a colourful account of the
trade fair, the Timarion also includes two brief passages describing the conduct of public
worship for the feast:
rCverai Sent rpels aurn navvvxovs BiavvKrepevoeis woXXtdu iepecov, iroXXtdv

8e vaCipaioov vrrb Svo XPLS 8iaipovp.viov Kai rr)u vjiuwStau rrXrjpouyrajv TOJ
fidprupi. 'Erri rovrotg 6 dpxiepeus lorarai dpxtdeoopog, old rig rr)v iopTr)v
-
KaOtorcou cos- eiicds Kai irepi TOJV rrpaKreOJV SiaraTTopevos. "Evvvxa pev Sr)
ravra Kai imb (pcori Kai XaprrdSi reXovpeva.
T h i s feast is observed with three all-night vigils featuring many priests and monks divided
into two choirs performing the hymns to the Martyr. The Archbishop presides over these
s
Peter Charanis, "Town and Country in the Byzantine Possessions of the Balkan Peninsula During the Later
1
Period of the Empire," in ed. Henrik Birnbaum and Speros Vryonis, Jr., Aspects of the Balkans: Continuity and
Change (The Hague: Mouton, 1972), 131-32.
5 2
For a brief description of this satire, see ODB, 3, p. 2085, s.v. "Timarion." An English translation of its
text with extensive commentary by Barry Baldwin has been published as Timarion, Byzantine Texts in
Translation series (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1984).
184
personnel, supervising the proper conduct of the feast and ordering its activities. These
assemblies are celebrated at night by torch- and l a m p l i g h t .
53
ToTe...ujaA/j.q)8ia Beiorepa Tig i^nKovero, pvdpal Kai rdei Kai dpoiBfj ivrexfo)
iroiKiXXopevr] rrpbs TO x^pteorepov. Hv 8e OVK dvdpoov povov vpvog
T
duarrepnopevog, dXXd 8r) Kai yvvaiKeg ooiai Kai iioudCovoat rrepl TO

tTTepvyiov evcovr/pd TTOU TOV iepov, npbg Svo x^povg dvTupcovovg SiaipedeioaL
Kai avrai TO ooiov dneStSouv T& pdpTvpi.
T h e n . . .a most divine psalmody was heard, elegantly varied i n its rhythm, order, and
artistic alternation. Not only did men send up a hymn, but righteous women and nuns i n
the wing to the left of the sanctuary were divided into two antiphonal choirs, and also
rendered honour to the M a r t y r .
54
This anonymous description of the religious observances i n honour of the city's patron
immediately identifies the services i n question as stational celebrations of the cathedral rite not
unlike the urban vigils of Late Antiquity. In particular, the central importance attached in the
first passage to the presence of Thessalonica's archbishop, together with the collective
attendance of his clergy and the clearly popular nature of the events, clearly correspond to the
definition of cathedral worship as episcopal liturgy manifesting the unity of the urban c h u r c h . 55
The second passage, on the other hand, offers a brief but noteworthy account of an individual
stational celebration. Its reference to a wing off the sanctuary pinpoints the location of this
assembly in the "cross-transept" basilica of St. Demetrios, while the presence of antiphonal
56
choirs of monks and nuns is strikingly reminiscent of Egeria's witness to the participation of
Hagiopolite monazontes and parthenai i n the urban liturgy of Jerusalem some seven centuries
before.
3. Demetrios Chomatenos: Responses to Questions by Constantine Cabasilas
The first unambiguous witness to the celebration of the "Sung" Office in Thessalonica
comes from the first decades of Latin occupation i n Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade of
Pseudo-Luciano, Timarione: Testo critico, introduzione, traduzione, commentario, e lessico a cur

5 3
Romano, ByzantinaetNeo-HellenicaNeapolitana 2 (Naples: Universita di Napoli, 1974), 55 (my translation).

Timarione, 59 (my translation).
5 4

5 5
On the typology of this basilica, see Krautheimer and durcic, Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture,
5 6
124-28.
185
1204, at which time Byzantine resistance to the Franks was divided between rival Greek states
i n Europe and A s i a M i n o r . It is contained i n the responses of Demetrios Chomatenos
(tca.1236), 57
who was appointed in 1216/17 to the autocephalous Archbishopric of Ohrid by
the Despot of Epiros Theodore Comnenos Doukas, to questions on ecclesiastical matters posed
by the Metropolitan of Dyrrachion Constantine Cabasilas. In the first of these, Chomatenos
answers an inquiry about the order observed at the enarxis of resurrectional vespers and matins
by noting that the proper sequence depended on whether the Divine Office was being celebrated
according to the Constantinopolitan "Sung" rite or the Hagiopolites, the rite of the " H o l y C i t y "
of Jerusalem. 58
He then reports that the former was being used i n the "Great Church" of
Constantinople, the metropolitan cathedrals of Thessalonica and Athens, and possibly a few
other churches, while the Palestinian monastic rite was employed everyplace else. The
remainder of this response is devoted to a detailed exposition of the opening sequences of the
morning and evening offices according to each rite.
Summary
The total absence of textual or musical documents for the urban liturgy of Thessalonica
severely constrains any attempt to trace the origins and shape of the city's cathedral rite prior to
the fourteenth century. Our brief survey of the scattered evidence nonetheless allows several
general observations to be made about its early history. A s a major commercial centre and an
important episcopal see, Thessalonica undoubtedly possessed some form of a cathedral rite in
Late Antiquity. The architectural witness of its great Early Christian basilicas, however,
indicates that the city's local rite initially differed from that of contemporary Constantinople, a
conclusion that is in accord with Thessalonica's ecclesiastical allegiance to the Roman Papacy
and the concurrent immaturity of a still nascent Byzantine rite. The asmatike akolouthia was
evidently introduced sometime during Byzantium's "Dark Centuries," when the general
On Chomatenos, see ODB 1, p. 426, s.v. "Chomatenos, Demetrios."

5 7
Demetrios Chomatenos,'EpcoTTJaeisTOV dyLOJTaxrov

5 8
prjTponoALTOv Avppaxtov icvpov Kajvo-Taisrtvov
TOV Ka/SdaiAa, in J.B. Pitra, ed., Analecta sacra et classica spicilegio solesmensi, 6: Jurisecclesiatici
Graecorum (Rome: 1891), col. 619-22.
186
disruption of life i n the Balkans and the consequent loosening of ties to the West left a gap that
was eventually filled by direct Constantinopolitan influence. In addition to the abolition of the
Papal Vicariate and the integration of Thessalonica into the Empire's system of themes, this
was clearly manifested by the construction and decoration of a new cathedral of Hagia Sophia
with Imperial patronage, an act that i n and of itself could conceivably have precipitated the
transplantation of the Byzantine cathedral rite. In any case, later references in John
Kaminiates' account of the Arab sack of 904 and in the anonymous Timarion testify to the
maintenance of cathedral worship with a strong stational component from Thessalonica's
economic recovery in the tenth century to the height of its prosperity i n the twelfth.
II. Thessalonian Cathedral Liturgy in Late Byzantium
A. The Historical Context
The long reign of peace in Thessalonica came abruptly to an end in 1185 when a
Norman expeditionary force sacked and temporarily occupied the city, causing great damage to
its churches and a temporary disruption of its liturgical l i f e . 59

The city soon returned to
Byzantine rule, but fell once again under Western occupation after the Latin conquest of
Constantinople i n 1204. In stark contrast with the sorry fate of Byzantium's capital at that
time, Thessalonica was not looted. W h i l e its churches of Hagia Sophia and St. Demetrios
were expropriated for Latin use during the city's rule by the House of Montferrat, 60
urban life,
according to Browning, suffered only relatively mild disruption. The potentially deleterious
61
effects of Western occupation were also minimised by its comparative brevity, for it ended after
5 9
Apostolos Vakalopoulos, A History of Thessaloniki, trans. T.F. Carney (Thessalonica: Institute for Balkan
Studies, 1963), 42-46. The famous eyewitness account of the Norman attack and occupation by Archbishop
Eustathios of Thessalonica not only includes vivid descriptions of the atrocities committed by the invaders in
the city's main churches, but also some interesting reports of their later interference in the conduct of Orthodox
services, including Hagia Sophia's patronal feast of the Holy Cross on 14 September. See the text with English
translation in Eustathios of Thessaloniki, The Capture of Thessaloniki, trans. John R. Melville Jones,
Byzantina Australiensia 8 (Canberra: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, 1988), 114-19, 126-29,
134-37.
6 0
Janin, Les eglises et les monasteres des grands centres byzantins, 366-67, 407-08.
6 1
Browning, "Byzantine Thessalonike," 98-100.
187
only twenty years with the liberation of the city i n 1224 by Theodore Comnenos Doukas,
Despot of Epiros. Total reintegration with the Byzantine political mainstream occurred with the
city's submission to the Emperor of Nicea John Vatatzes in 1246. Browning has suggested
that this combination of historical circumstances may have been responsible for Thessalonica's
rapid emergence as the cultural rival of the capital during the "Paleologan Renaissance" of
literature and scholarship that followed the restoration of the Empire i n 1261, spanning the late
thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. 62

B y extension, it is also conceivable that the
profound difference between the experiences of Byzantium's two greatest cities under Western
occupation may have contributed to the survival of the "Sung" Office in Thessalonica despite
its abandonment in the Imperial capital during the same period.
Thessalonica reached the peak of its renewed prosperity in the first half of the
fourteenth century as a cosmopolitan trading centre capable of supporting the construction of
several large urban monastic foundations. 63

It was also praised by contemporaries for its
intellectual life, serving at one time or another as the place of residence for an impressive
number of distinguished scholars and churchmen, including Thomas Magistros, Gregory
Palamas, and Philotheos Kokkinos. In particular, the city was an important point of diffusion
for both the recently revived 'outer wisdom' of Hellenic learning and the 'inner wisdom' of
hesychast p r a y e r . 64
Achievements in these areas appear to have been complemented by a
flourishing musical scene. Numerous Thessalonian compositions appear i n manuscripts of
Koukouzelian chant for the monastic rite, 65

while Williams has suggested that its local melodic
6 2
Ibid.
6 3
Marcus L. Rautman, "Patrons and Buildings in Late Byzantine Thessaloniki," JOB 39 (1989): 295-315.
6 4
Basil Laourdas," 'H icAaaaiici) (piAoAoyia els rr)v 9eaaaAoviKT\v leard TOP Se/carov Teraprov aiwv
(Thessalonica: 'Eraipeia MaKeSovLK&v ZrrovSajv, 1960); Donald M. Nicol, Church and Society in the L
Centuries of Byzantium: The Birkbeck Lectures 1977 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 31-65;
idem, "Thessalonica as a Cultural Centre in the Fourteenth Century," chap, in 'H OeaaaAofiKT): Merav
'AisaroAfjs fcal Aiaews (Thessalonica: 'Erepeta MaKeSoviK&v SnovScDi/, 1982), 121-31; and Tafrali,
Thessalonique au Quatorzieme siecle, 149-69.
6 5
Christian Hannick, "Thessalonique dans l'histoire de la musique eccISsiastique," chap, in'HOeaaaAofi/a]:
Meragv'AmroAfjsical Avaeajs, 113-20.
188
tradition may have played a role in the rise of the florid kalophonic style of chanting, the
primary musical innovation of the p e r i o d . 66
A s the fourteenth century progressed, the artistic and intellectual activity i n
Thessalonica was increasingly played out against a background of accelerating political
instability and decline. After 1320, the city was frequently employed as a base of operations
by rival claimants to the Imperial throne i n the civil wars that plagued Byzantium during its
final decline. 67
Social inequity and dissatisfaction with the central government also fomented
strife among its own citizens, which came to a head near the beginning of the civil war of
1341-47. In 1342, a group of revolutionary "Zealots" wrested control of Thessalonica from
the aristocracy and established an independent republic that lasted until 1 3 5 0 . 68
Even as the Empire was preoccupied with internal conflicts, it was buffeted from
without by newly ascendant Serbs and Ottoman Turks. During the first half of the fourteenth
century the Serbs, led by their charismatic Emperor Stefan Uros I V Dusan (f 1355), forged an
empire in the Balkans, while nearly all of Byzantium's remaining possessions in A s i a Minor
were simultaneously lost to the Ottoman Turks. After the death of Stefan, the Ottomans
skillfully took advantage of Byzantine weakness and Serbian confusion to undertake the
conquest of Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly. The capture and sack of the nearby Byzantine
city of Serres on 19 September 1383, was soon followed by a Turkish siege of Thessalonica
that continued for four years until the Emperor Manuel II surrendered the city to the Ottomans
in 1 3 8 7 . 69
This first episode of Turkish rule lasted until 1403, when the city was returned to
Byzantine hands after the epic defeat of Sultan Bayezid I and his forces by the Mongols under
6 6
Edward V. Williams, "The Kalophonic Tradition and Chants for the Polyeleos Psalm 134," in MiloS
Velimirovic", ed., Studies in Eastern Chant 4 (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1979), 228-41.
6 7
The civil wars of the fourteenth century are discussed in Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium:
1261-1453, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 151ff.
6 8
On the Zealot revolt, see Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 193-202, 227-30; idem, Churchand
Society, 20-28; Ihor Sevcenko, "The Zealot Revolution and the Supposed Genoese Colony in Thessalonica," in
idem, Society and Intellectual Ufe in Late Byzantium (London: Variorum Reprints, 1981), III, 603-17; idem,
"Nicolas Cabasilas' 'Anti-Zealot' Discourse: A Reinterpretation," in Society and Intellectual Life in Late
Byzantium, IV, 81-171; Tafrali, Thessalonique au quatorzieme siecle, 225-72.
6 9
Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 286-88.
189
Timur in 1402. In the interim, the inhabitants of Thessalonica were subjected to some
70
notable indignities, including the seizure of a few churches in the 1390s and a devshirme or
child-tribute of boys forcibly seized for training as Muslim Janissaries. Nevertheless, the city
otherwise succeeded in preserving a measure of autonomy, and its major churches remained in
Christian hands. 71
The treaty of 1403 between Manuel II and Bayezid's son Suleiman (1402-11) restoring
Thessalonica to Byzantine Rule inaugurated the city's final respite from the Turkish
onslaught. The junior co-emperor John VII initially assumed its governorship, serving with
72
distinction until his early death in 1408. He was replaced by Manuel's third son Andronikos,
who was installed as Despot of Thessalonica while still a small child. Throughout this period,
the Ottomans were preoccupied with dynastic struggles between the sons of Bayezid and the
pacification of rebellious emirs in Asia Minor. Byzantium remained on the sidelines of these
conflicts and peace was maintained until the brief ascendancy of Musa (1411-13), who
followed victory over his brother Suleiman with attacks on Thessalonica and Constantinople.
In this instance the Turks were soundly defeated, but there are indications that the rulers of
Byzantium's second city were sufficiently unnerved to have opened secret negotiations for
surrender 7 3
Following the emergence of Mehmed I as sole Sultan in 1413, the Turks rapidly
reconsolidated their position in Europe and Asia. Nevertheless, Mehmed's deep gratitude to
Manuel for help in overcoming Musa was instrumental in preserving the peace for another eight
years. The relationship between these two rulers even managed to withstand the strains caused
by Manuel's involvement in the revolt of the Ottoman pretender Mustafa, an event that
7 0
Ibid., 315-22.
7 1
On the first Turkish occupation of Thessalonica and the treatment of its Christian population, see David
Balfour, ed., Politico-Historical Works of Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica (1416117to 1429):
Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary, Wiener byzantinische Studien 23 (Vienna: Verla
5sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1979), 106-119, 251-53; Apostolos E. Vakalopoulos,
"IJpo^XrjpaTa TJ)$ ioTopias rfjg OeooaXovLKTjg Kara rd reAr) TOV 14ov mi dpx^S TOV 15OV ald
chap, in'HOeoaaAovixT): MeTa^v'AvaroAffeKai Avaecos; 31-41.
7 2
On the Turco-Byzantine treaty of 1403 and its immediate aftermath, see Nicol, The Last Centuries of
Byzantium, 318-30.
7 3
Balfour, Politico-Historical Works, 119-26.
190
provoked Mehmed to initiate a brief Turkish siege of Thessalonica in 1416 after the rebel had
taken refuge within its w a l l . 7 4

This policy of peaceful cohabitation, however, did not survive
the death of Mehmed in 1421 by more than a few months. Byzantine support for the renewed
claims of Mustafa enraged the heir Murad II, who immediately responded by mounting
simultaneous assaults on Constantinople and Thessalonica. A combination of stout Byzantine
resistance and further Ottoman dynastic intrigues led to the withdrawal of the Turkish army
from the walls of the capital on 6 September 1422, but Thessalonica remained under siege
without hope of relief from the central g o v e r n m e n t 75
A n increasing desperation within Thessalonica's walls fostered the emergence of parties
of citizens vocally advocating surrender of their city to the Turks or to the Venetians. W i t h the
apparent acquiescence of Manuel II, the pro-Western party persuaded the young Despot
Andronikos i n 1423 to sign over the city to Venice, which hoped to revive the city as a regional
centre of commerce. 76
The Turks frustrated these plans from the outset by refusing to lift their
siege, leaving the city's inhabitants totally dependent on occasional shipments of Venetian aid.
In the face of the continuing military emergency, Venice reneged on its promises of autonomy
to the citizens of Thessalonica, subjecting them instead to an authoritarian regime that
methodically deported people suspected of harbouring pro-Turkish sympathies. 77

Political
repression and dwindling supplies induced many to desert the c i t y , causing its population to
78
drop from either 40,000 or 25,000 at the time of the Venetian takeover (depending on the
/4
T h e 'Mustafa Affair' is discussed in Balfour, Politico-Historical Works, 126-31; and Nicol, The Last
Centuries of Byzantium, 329.
Nicol, The Last Centuries, 331-33.
7 5
7 6
On the transfer of Thessalonica and its Venetian administration, see Balfour, Politico-Historical Works,
150-88; Yiannes Tsaras," 'H OeaaaAoucKT) and TOVS- BvCavrivovs arovg Beveandvovg (1423-1430),"
Ma/ceSow/cd 17 (1977): 85-123; and Apostolos E. Vakalopoulos, "SvpfioArj orr)v ioropia rfjs
OeaoaAoviKrjs eiri BeveTOKparLas (1423-1430)," in Td/ios KcofarafTiyov ApfievonovAov,
'EmarriponKT] 'Fnerrpis 6 1
7 7
Balfour, Politico-Historical Works, 234.
7 8
E.g. the member of Symeon's own staff whose notebook records his departure for Constantinople on 8 April
1425 due to Thessalonica's miserable state under Turkish siege and Venetian administration. See Sokr. Kugeas,
"Notizbuch eines Beamten der Metropolis in Thessalonike aus dem anfang des XV. Jarhhunderts," Byzantinische
Zeitschrift 23 (1914-19): 152.
191
source consulted) to around 10,000 on the eve of Thessalonica's fall to the Turks on
79
29 M a r c h 1 4 3 0 . 80
B . Archbishop Symeon of Thessalonica
Sometime between June 1416 and A p r i l 1417, 81

Symeon, a monk and native of
Constantinople, was appointed Archbishop of Thessalonica. Although details of his early life
are somewhat obscure, an examination of his writings has led Balfour to conclude that Symeon
was bom i n the Imperial capital early i n the last quarter of the fourteenth century. 82
Evidently
the recipient of a good literary education, 83

Symeon was tonsured a monk probably while still
in his youth, and was only later ordained a priest. During this period of spiritual formation,
according to Balfour, Symeon seems to have been a disciple of Kallistos and Ignatios, two
influential teachers and practitioners of hesychast spirituality who were known collectively as
"the X a n t h o p o u l o i . " 84
In addition to shaping his staunchly Palamite religious outlook,
Symeon's apprenticeship with these holy men, who were known to have exercised
considerable influence upon Manuel II, may have also provided him with important
ecclesiastical and political contacts. Balfour surmises that it was through these connections that
Symeon acquired both his intimate knowledge of patriarchal usages, and possibly even an
appointment as Manuel's confessor. He further suggests that this i n turn may have contributed
7 9
Charanis, "Town and Country," 133-34.
8 0
Speros Vryonis, Jr., "The Ottoman Conquest of Thessaloniki in 1430," in Anthony Bryer and Heath Lowry,
eds., Continuity and Change in Late Byzantine and Early Ottoman Society: Papers given at a Sym
Dumbarton Oaks in May 1982 (Birmingham and Washington, D.C.: 1986), 320-21. On the Ottoman
conquest of Thessalonica, see also Yiannes Tsaras, ed., Twdimjs-'AyaywcrrrjsÂirjyTjcns" vepi rffs -
reAeuraias' dAakretos' rffs BeaaaAovi/cr/s' (Thessalonica: 1958); idem, 'H reAevraia dAajor/ TJJS"
OecraaAovbcTjs-. Ta Ketpeva peracppaapeua pe eiaayteyi/cd ar/pet'copa KOL axdAia (Thessalonica:
Kyriakides Bros., 1985).
8 1
On the date of Symeon's arrival in Thessalonica, see Balfour, Politico-Historical Works, 131-37.
8 2
David Balfour, "Saint Symeon of Thessalonike as a Historical Personality," Greek Orthodox Theological
Review 28(1983): 58-59.
8 3
George Scholarios, the learned churchman who became Patriarch Gennadios II after the Turkish conquest of
1453, describes Symeon as "highly educated" ("ireiraLSevpevos iv rols pdAicrTa"), as well as "of outstanding
virtue" ("dperfj rwv Tore npoexdvTcov ev npcorots'''). Oeuvres completes de Georges Scholarios, e
Petit, X.A. Siderides, and M. Jugie (Paris: 1928-37), 506; quoted in Balfour, "Historical Personality," 60.
8 4
Politico-Historical Works, 91-97, 211-28, and 279-86. Kallistos died three months after becoming
Patriarch Kallistos II in 1397, but, according to Balfour, Ignatios may have lived well into the fifteenth century,
during which time he probably served as Symeon's spiritual father. For information on the writings of the
Xanthopouloi, see the references in idem, 281-82.
192
to Symeon's elevation against his w i l l to the important see of Thessalonica, which at that time
ranked fourth in the Byzantine ecclesiastical hierarchy. 85

Patronage need not have been the
only justification for his consecration, however, for Symeon had already acquired a reputation
for erudition i n matters of faith, having preached i n public and written a short treatise On the
Priesthood* while still a resident of Constantinople.

6
Symeon arrived in Thessalonica to assume his new post either shortly before or
immediately after the brief siege connected with the 1416 Mustafa affair, i n the wake of which
Byzantine Thessalonica enjoyed a final six years of p e a c e . 87

Upon his accession, Symeon's
first act as Archbishop was to issue an encyclical advising his flock to repent of their s i n s . 88
This proved to be a characteristic act, for although personally a humble and sincere man of
prayer, i n practice Symeon soon showed himself to be a rigidly idealistic pastor ready to
denounce what he perceived to be the moral failings of others. H i s outspokenness, together
with his impartial and strict application of Christian teachings i n the city's ecclesiastical and
civil courts, quickly alienated much of his flock. Opposition, ingratitude, and the heavy weight
of responsibility caused Symeon such grief that his delicate health began to fail, often leaving
him bedridden during the first half of his episcopate.
Symeon's popularity reached its nadir following the outbreak of hostilities with the
Turks in 1422, at which time he advised the young Despot Andronikos to remain faithful to the
central government i n Constantinople at all costs. The stress brought on by his campaign
against both the city's majority pro-Turkish party, and those favourably disposed to overtures
from the Venetians, whom he regarded as heretics, i n the end caused a near-total breakdown of
his health. But once the transfer to Venice became a fait accompli, Symeon reluctantly accepted
the new rulers as appointed by G o d , subsequently supporting them i n their efforts to keep the
Turks at bay by threatening to anathematise anyone who wavered in this cause 8 9

H i s health
Balfour, "Historical Personality," 58-61.

8 5
ITepi lepoawrjs; PG 155, cols. 953-76.

8 6
This summary of Symeon's career is based on Balfour, "Historical Personality," 61-67.

8 7
Text in 'Ayiov Ivpecov ApxiemoKonov Oeaaa\ovLKT]s, "Epya GeoAoyi/cd, ed. David Bah'our, Ana
8 8
Vlatadon 34 (Thessalonica: Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies, 1981), 155-70.

Balfour, Politico-Historical Works, 83-90, 207-10.
8 9
193
improved somewhat at this time, and he even seems to have recovered a modicum of popularity
for his efforts at war relief on behalf of the city's less fortunate citizens, as well as for his fierce
and largely successful defence of the rights of the Orthodox Church under Venetian
occupation. 90
In the fall of 1429, Symeon died unexpectedly. H i s death, which occurred
some six months before Murad mounted his final assault on Thessalonica, was perceived by
some citizens as an i l l portent presaging the removal of God's protection from the city.
C . The Byzantine Cathedral Rite in Symeon's Liturgical Writings
1. Published Works
Until relatively recently, Symeon of Thessalonica's literary reputation has been almost
entirely dependent on a series of seven works edited by Patriarch Dositheos of Jerusalem and
published i n Jassy, M o l d a v i a i n 1683. B y far the largest and most important work of the
91
seven, all of which circulated widely in manuscript copies prior to their publication, is the
monumental Dialogue in Christ (AidAoyosr if Xpiorcp), an extended treatise on doctrinal and
liturgical matters that established Symeon's subsequent reputation i n the West as an astute
liturgical commentator with a marked anti-Latin b i a s . 92

Set as a dialogue between Symeon and
an unnamed lower cleric, the Dialogue proceeds from an initial section refuting various
heresies, to a systematic presentation of descriptions and mystagogical interpretations of the
major liturgical services of the Orthodox Church. In fact, the Dialogue is the first commentary
to address systematically not only the Byzantine Divine Liturgywhich had been the subject of
theological exegesis since M a x i m o s the Confessor (580-662) penned his Mystagogy but 93
9 0
Ibid, 232-39.
9 1
Ibid., 19.
9 2
The full title of the Dialogue is AtdAoyos if XptarcS mrd nao~(3f rcSfalpeaetoy ml uepl TTJS pdfijs
marecos TOV Kvpiov Kai Oeov mi ZZdrtfpos r/puif 'Jrjaov Xptarov, rcov tepcSf reAeraif re mi
pvoTT]pttoy ndfTtoi/ TITS''E/acArjatas(PG 155, cols. 333-696).
English translation in Maximus Confessor, Selected Writings, trans. Geoge C. Berthold, The Classics of
9 3
Western Spirituality (New York, Manwah and Toronto: 1985), 183-214. Although the Mystagogy of
Maximus is the first properly Byzantine liturgical commentary, the roots of this genre pass through the
Ecclesiastical Hierarchy of pseudo-Dionysios to the baptismal catecheses of Cyril of Jerusalem, John
Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and other bishops of the fourth century. On the origins and development
of Byzantine mystagogy, aee Rene" Bornert, Les Commentaires byzantins de la Divine Liturgie du Vile au XVe
siecle, Archives de VOrient Chretien 9 (Paris: Institut Francais d'Studes byzantines, 1966); Hans-Joachim
194
also the Liturgy of the Hours, both Neo-Sabai'tic and reformed Constantinopolitan. T w o
shorter works touching upon liturgical matters were also included in Dositheos' edition: the
Interpretation of the Divine Temple, an essay written for the clergy of Venetian-occupied
94
Crete discussing the symbolism conveyed by the physical arrangement of Byzantine churches
and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy within them; and a series of Responses
('ATroKpioets) to questions posed to Symeon by Metropolitan Gabriel of P e n t a p o l i s . 95
The published mystagogical works of Symeon have attracted the attention of scholars
representing various disciplines. Students of theology have studied Symeon's valedictory
synthesis of the "cosmic" and "life of Christ" streams of the Byzantine tradition of eucharistic
mystagogy. 96
Liturgiologists, on the other hand, have valued these same writings for their
eyewitness accounts of Late Byzantine services. In particular, the detailed description and
symbolic interpretation of the early fifteenth-century Thessalonian asmatike akolouthia in
Symeon's Dialoguewhich was for many years the only readily accessible account of the
"Sung" Officehas served as the starting point for many pioneering discussions of the
Constantinopolitan cathedral rite. 97

This work begins with a prologue asserting that
Thessalonica's cathedral was the last church to maintain the old rite, after which Symeon
successively discusses the services of asmatic vespers, Sunday matins, Trithekte, the Liturgy
Schulz, The Byzantine Liturgy: Symbolic Structure and Faith Expression, trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (N
York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1986); and Taft, "The Liturgy of the Great Church," 59-72.
9 4
Often cited as Expositio de sacro templo, the full title of this work is'Eppr/uetairepi re TOV detov vaov
Kai rcSf if airrco iepecof re rrepi Kai Stamfcof, dpxtepicof re Kai nov cSf eKaaTos rovrcof aroA
tepcSf neptftdAAeTat, ov prjf dAAd Kai uepl rfjs Betas pixrrayuytas, Adyof eKdcrrco StSovaa
avr(j reAovpiftof &eta>s /cat rots if Kpifrj) evcrefiiat (PG 155, cols. 697-750).
'AnoKpiaetsrrpds rtrns ipwrfjaets dpxtepicos rjpcorrjKdros avrdf(PG 155, cols. 829-952). On the
9 5
value of all three works for the study of Byzantine liturgy, see Ioannes Phountoules, To AetrovpytKOf ipyof
Zvpecof TO &eaaaAoi>LKT)s (Thessalonica: 1966), 26, 29-37.
9 6
Symeon's contribution to the theological interpretation of the Divine Liturgy is discussed in Bomert, Les
Commentaires, 245-62; Michael Kunzler, Gnadenquellen: Symeon von Thessaloniki (fl429) als Beisp
die Einflufinahme des Palamismus aufdue orthodoxe Sakramentaltheologie und Liturgik, Trier t
Studien 47 (Trier Paulinus Verlag, 1989); Schulz, The Byzantine Liturgy, 114-24; and Hugh Wybrew, The
Orthodox Liturgy: The Development of the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite (Crestwood:
Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1990), 164-71.
9 7
Scholarly works employing this text as the main resource for examinations of the Byzantine "Sung Office"
include Evangelos Antoniades, "TTepi TOV dopanicov rjfivCavrivovKoopiKov TVTTOV TUP 'AKOXOVQLLOV
rf)s r)y.epovvKT[ov Trpooevxfjs," &eoAoyt'a 20 (1949): 704-20, 21 (1950): 339-53; Alexander Schmemann,
Introduction toLiturgical Theology, 3rd ed. (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1986), 162-72;
Nicholas Uspensky, Evening Worship in the Orthodox Church, Paul Lazor, trans. (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's
Seminary Press, 1985), 37-40.
195
of the Presanctiiied, and Pannychis. These analyses include digressions noting weekday or
festal variations in the services, as well as comments marking borrowings from the monastic
rite and other alterations Symeon made to the traditional cathedral rite order. W h i l e the
recovery of such important and relatively pristine primary sources as the Typikon of the Great
Church, the Constantinopolitan Euchologies and the notated Antiphonaria has to some extent
moderated the utility of Symeon's liturgical commentaries as a resource for the unreformed
"Sung" Office, they have remained an important scholarly resource. 98
2. Unpublished Works in MS Athens 2047: The "Typikon of St. Symeon of Thessalonica"
The important witness to Thessalonica's asmatic liturgy provided by the Dialogue in
Christ has been complemented by the discovery of important unpublished liturgical documents
written or edited by Symeon. These reveal h i m to have been not only a commentator on
Byzantine liturgy, but also an author, reformer, and compiler of service texts. H i s most
significant contributions in these areas are preserved in two manuscripts of Thessalonian
provenance in the National Library of Greece. One of these, the archiepiscopal Euchology
Athens 2065, is unfortunately of limited value for this study because its initial sections
containing the ordinary prayers for Thessalonica's Liturgy of the Hours are m i s s i n g . The 99
manuscript's surviving folios transmit mainly seasonal and other occasional orations, among
which are several original prayers by S y m e o n . 100

Athens 2047, on the other hand, a
manuscript which formerly bore the title "Typikon of St. Symeon of Thessalonica," is a
document of profound importance for our investigation. 101

W h i l e today it lacks six folios at its
9 8
E g . Oliver Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Saint Sophia," in EMBW, 113-35.
9 9
On this Euchology and its prayers, see Linos Polites, KardAoyos Xeipoypdcpcoy rfjs- E&yiicfjs
BiÂiodrjiajs TTJS- EAAdSos dp. 1857-2500, 77payparecai rfjs A/caSrfplas'AQqywyÂ(Athens: 1991),
105-106; and Phountoules," '0 "Ayios Svpeoov OeaaaXovLicqs Zvyypacpevs evxwv," chap, in ITpa/cn/cd
Aeirovpyticov avyeSplov els npr}y teat pyrjprjy TOV' ey dylois rrarpds rjpcSy Zvpecoyos
ApxiemaicoTrov GeacraAoyiicrjs TOV Qavparovpyov, (Thessalonica: 1981), 123-30;To AeiTovpyucdy
epyoy, 48-67.
Symeon's previously unedited prayers from this and several other manuscripts are published in Ioannes
1 0 0
Phountoules, ed., Zvpecoy ApxtemaKonov 6eo~aaAoylicr}s,Td Aeirovpyacd Zvyypdppara I: Evx i ai m
vpyoi, Eraipela MaiceSoynccSy SnovSiSy 10 (Thessalonica: 1968).

According to Phountoules, the now-lost title page of the manuscript bore the title "Tvmicdu TOV dylov
1 0 1
Svpewvos OeaoaXoi/iKTjs" when it was consulted by Bishop Theophilos of Campania (tl795) for a prayer
196
beginning and an uncertain number at its e n d , 1 0 2

this manuscript was first brought to the
attention of modern scholars in 1956 through Basil Laourdas' edition of its order for
Thessalonica's patronal feast of St. D e m e t r i o s . 103

Seven years later Jean Darrouzes published
a preliminary description of its contents, revealing that the manuscript contained six collections
of rubrics and texts for the Divine Office at Symeon's cathedral of Hagia S o p h i a . 104
However, it was Phountoules who, i n his study Symeon of Thessalonica's Liturgical Works
(1966), first noted that Athens 2047 was the vehicle for a systematic reform of the
Thessalonian asmatikeakolouthia which Symeon undertook some years before his composition
of the treatise On Divine Prayer. 105

Phountoules suggests that it was probably implemented
near the beginning of his archiepiscopate, when Thessalonica was at peace and external
conditions would still have allowed such a v e n t u r e . 106
The following brief descriptions of the six individual works comprising the "Typikon"
provide a preliminary idea of the scope and purposes of Symeon's r e f o r m : 107
a) M S Athens 2047, f. l r - 5 r : An Order for Stations and Censing ( Tacts' rife crrdaetos' Kai
TOV 9vjj.tdfiaros) . 1 0 8
The Taxis is a short treatise i n two parts describing in minute detail the vesperal rituals
of censing and the entrance of a celebrating hierarch in the Great Churches of Constantinople
and Thessalonica. Within this work, Symeon explains that the local rite of censingwhich, he
composed by Symeon for the Feast of the Indiction (1 September). See Phountoules," 'O dyiog Svpecov
Qeooa\ovLKV(S ovvrdKTr\s TVTTLKOV," chap, in JTpa/cri/cd A&rovpyi/cov crvveSpiov, 110.
102 p codicological description of Athens 2047, see Basil Laourdas, "Zvpecuu OeaaaXovLKr\s, ' AKptfifis
o r a
SidTa&s rfjs ioprfis TOV dyiov Ar]pr]TpLov" rpijyopLos' 6 ITaAapds' 19(1956): 327-28; and Polites,
KaTdAoyos Xetpoypatpcov, 94-95. See also the inventories of its contents in Jean Darrouzes, "Notes d'histoire
des textes," REB 21 (1963): 235-42; and Ioannes Phountoules, To AeiTovpyiKOV epyov Svpecov TOV
OeaaaAoyi/ajs (Thessalonica: 1966), 37-48.
-
1 0 3
"AtcpLpfc 8i.dTais," 326-41.
1 0 4
"Notes d'histoire des textes," 235-42.
105 fd AeiTovpyiicdv ipyov, 38.
1 0 6
" "ZwTdKTT)s TvrriKov," 109-10, 115-17.
This discussion is partially dependent on the excellent summaries by Phountoules in To Aeirovpyi/cdf
1 0 7
epyoi/, 40-48; and "Svurdicrrig TVTTI/COV," 117-19. Where the manuscript fails to give an overall heading for
a section, the descriptive titles by Phountoules are provided.
Appearing without a summary title in Athens 2047, the Taxis has been partially published with
1 0 8
commentary by J. Darrouzes, "Sainte-sophie de Thessalonique d'apres un rituel," REB 34 (1976): 45-78.

197
alleges, was formerly "slightly confused" (' uvyKexvpivos

x
pi Kpov") has
109
been revised
to bring certain of its aspects into conformity with Constantinopolitan practice. The Taxis
concludes with statements reflecting the "cosmic" tradition of liturgical interpretation
maintaining that the received order of services is divine because the Church imitates the
worship of the angels i n H e a v e n . 110
b) M S Athens 2047, f. 5r-9r: A most precise and well-ordered exposition of how the
Thessalonian "Sung Office" should be chanted at daily, Sunday, and festal matins and
vespers according to the prevailing excellent and ancient tradition. The offices of the
Menaion and Triodion composed by the saints have also been added to the "Sung" rite as
seasoning, thereby completing the Church to the glory of God and his saints ( "EK$ecris~
d/cpifieorepa per' evragias" rtf? if OeuaaAofLKj) (paAAopefT)? dKoAoudias TOV -
acrparos; OTTIOS' XP ? </>dAAeo~0at /card ro Kparfjaav KdAAtarof Kal dpxatof eVos

7 1
if re rep opOpto Kal rqj icrrreptfcp Ka8' Tjpepaf re Kai if tcvpiaKais- Kai
eoprais;. Svffjipe Si red dapart Kai rtjf roO Mrjfaiov Kai rou TptqjSiov
aKoAouOtaf ovfredeipefrif eK rtSf dytcof co? fjSiapa reAovaaf rfj 'EKKAT]O~IC2
rrpos' Sdaf XpiaroO Kai ralf dytaif avrov).
The Ekthesis is comprised of two parts: a theoretical prologue, followed by a practical
section of rubrics. Symeon begins the former with a series of general statements about
Christian worship that echo the opinions expressed i n his treatise On Divine Prayer on such
subjects as the necessity of daily prayer and the seven times instituted for its o b s e r v a n c e . 111
After noting that some persons are appointed to praise G o d on behalf of the entire assembly,
Symeon then addresses the clergy of his archdiocese directly i n order to explain why he has
undertaken a reform of the Thessalonian "Sung" Office:
Aid rama roivvv Kai rj perpiorng T)p<x>v, Kpiuaoiv oi$ ol8ev 6 rrdvra
Xoyoig dpprrrois oiKovopiZv, eig rr)v Qeiordrr\v ravrr\v rdîv rcov dpxiepicou
iXQovoa, itrei rr\v iyKexeipicrpivqv avrip KariXaBe rroipvr\v, rrjf dyitordrrji/
Tavrrjv TCOV OeaaaXouLKioju iKKXr\oiav, rovro XP^S" XoyiCopivt) Kai i8iv
Kai KOLVOV, rr)v eis Oeov co? etprrrai vpurjaiu Kai rr\v TGJV vaults evraîav
Kai rrepi ra deia SioiKrjaiv, arrov8r)u eioevyjvoxe rrdaau, wore rovs iv
avrfj evayeordrovs KXrjpovg, Kar' avro rovro ro evayis KOXCOS dyeadai, Kai
prj TO ivavriov drdicrajs (pipeodai Kai paBvpdals, o Kai padvpia rivcov Kai
dqSoBia Oeov ovviBaive yiveoBai- dXXd pdXXou crnevbeiv 6ar\ 8vvapi$ eis
rrjf rrpbg rb Qeiov 8ooXoyiav, Kai epyois Kai Xoyoig TJyojviodpeQa, Kai
Darrouzes, "Sainte-Sophie," 51.

109
Athens 2047, f. 5r. Cf. Symeon's discussion of prayer and the angels in the Dialogue (PG 155, cols. 536-
1 1 0
541; Treatise, 9-13).

1 1 1
Ekthesis, f. 5r-5v; cf. PG 155, cols. 536-41, 549-53; Treatise, 9-13, 18-20.
198
Trapnveoapiv re, Kai napaivovpev vvv rovro Sid ypappdrcov 8ievepyelo8ai

perd dydnng, Kai ivreXXopeda- cog av Kai Kara rb napbv i'Xecov Kai evpevfj
rov vTrepvpvnrov ebv evpotp(e)v, Kai noXXoov pvodeCrjiiev Seivcov iv rod
rrapovn aitovi, cog Kai rretpa troXXaKig eyvcopev, KOV TOO piXXovn Se rfjg
avrov rov vnepev86ov eov d&oodwpev evpeveiag Kai x<*P S> ^ lTO KC
ovvavXiodoopev avrto Kai ovvSoâodoopev cog SOVXOL evxdpioroi, irpbg rag

vrrep Xoyov Scopedg avrov inaiverai (pavevreg evyvcopoveg, ei Kai pr)
epyoig dyadoig, dXXd Kai iv Xoyoig rag xdptrag KadopoXoyovvreg. 112
For these reasons, Our Moderacy, according to judgements which H e W h o directs all
by ineffable commands knew, came upon this most divine hierarchical order of service
upon gaining possession of the flock entrusted to us, namely this most-holy church of
the Thessalonians. Viewing this as both a private and a common duty with regard to
what has been called the praise of God, the good order of its churches and the
administration of divine tilings, we spared no effort to ensure that the most-holy clergy
perform this pure rite well and not, on the contrary, conduct themselves i n a disorderly
and supine manner (for certain persons were showing indifference and fearlessness of
God), but hastening as much as possible unto the glorification of the Divine. W e have
previously struggled and exhorted i n words and deeds, and now exhort with love in
writing and command this to be completely implemented in order that i n the present we
might find G o d , who is worthy of supreme praise, to be propitious and gracious, and
that we might be delivered from the many dangers of the present agefor we have
known many trialsand that i n the future we may be found worthy of favour and
grace, that as faithful servants we may dwell and be glorified together with H i m ,
appearing as grateful ones who praise H i s gifts above description, each confessing the
blessings not only by means of good deeds, but also i n words.
A s i n the preceding Taxis, Symeon here portrays his reform as the effort of a concerned pastor
to correct disorder in the celebration of the Thessalonian "Sung" Office. A t the same time, he
makes clear that diligence i n common prayer was not simply a matter of decorum for his
clergy, but a vitally important act of propitiation required by all for deliverance i n troubled
times. This reflects Symeon's belief that the Byzantines were being punished by G o d for their
moral and spiritual laxity, with the consequence that redemption of city and Empire ultimately
depended on sincere repentance and steadfast faithfulness to O r t h o d o x y . 113

Expressions of
this sentiment are found not only i n the hortatory writings published by Balfour, but also in his
highly topical prayers for the stational liturgy of T h e s s a l o n i c a . 114
1 1 1
Athens 2047, f. 5v-6r (my translation).
1 1 3
Balfour, Politico-Historical Works, 103-04, 111-12, 248-49. If somewhat obstinate in his defense of the
failing Empire, Symeon was by no means unique in his assessment of the contemporary geo-political scene.
The spectrum of Byzantine reflection on its deterioration is surveyed in Nicol, Church and Society, 98-130; and
Ihor Sevcenko, "The Decline of Byzantium Seen through the Eyes of its Intellectuals," DOP 15 (1961): 169-
86, repr. as essay II in idem, Society and Intellectual Life in Late Byzantium (London: Variorum, 1981).
1 1 4
Ibid., 249; cf. the texts in ed. Phountoules, Td Aeirovpyifcd vyypd/j.fiaTa I, 3-72.
199
In the next section of the prologue, Symeon turns from theoretical matters to the
mechanics of the administration of worship at the secular churches in his archdiocese. W h i l e
noting that the reformed asmatic order has been composed for his cathedral of Hagia Sophia,
he states that the clergy of Thessalonica's other "catholic churches" who chanted the "usual"
texts for matins (presumably those of the monastic rite) were to follow its prescriptions for
cathedral rite v e s p e r s . 115

This command is of considerable significance, for by testifying to
the partial maintenance of the Byzantine cathedral rite at the "catholic" churches of the
Acheiropoietos and St. D e m e t r i o s , 116

it indicates a wider distribution of the asmatike
akolouthiai celebration than his oft-quoted remarks i n the treatise On Divine Prayer would
seem to s u g g e s t . 117
Evidence of this may be found not only i n rubrics for the celebration of
asmatic vespers at churches other than Hagia Sophia within Symeon's reformed " T y p i k o n , " 118
but also i n the transmission of music for the cathedral rite office of festal evening prayer in a
number of Late Byzantine A k o l o u t h i a i . 119
Symeon subsequently narrows his focus by directly addressing the liturgical staff of his
cathedral, ordering his priests, cantors, deacons, and readers to fulfill without exception their
duties at vespers, matins, and the Divine Liturgy on the weeks and days designated by ancient
custom. A l l the cathedral's liturgical personnel, however, were to be present at Saturday
evening vespers, Sunday matins, and the following archiepiscopal celebration of the Divine
Liturgy. They were likewise to assemble for services on Feasts of the L o r d , those of important
1 1 5
Ekthesis, f. 6r.
1 1 6
Although not mentioned in the extant portions of Symeon's Typikon, it is possible that the "catholic
churches" of the city may have included the church of the Asomatoi, which some scholars have identified with
the impressive Rotunda of Galerius presently dedicated to St. George. Discussions of the Asomatoi and its
status in Late Byzantine times include Janin, Les eglises et les monastires, 355, 358-62; W. Eugene
Kleinbauer, "The Original Name and Function of Hagios Georgios at Thessaloniki," Cahiers Archeologiques 22
(1972): 55-60; Michael Th. Laskaris, "Naoi Kai povai OeaoaXoviicqs els TO oSonropiKov TOV ex
SpoXeuuK 'lyvariov* in Td/uos Kajyarayriyov'AppevonovAou,318, 327-31; and Yiannes Tsaras, "Oi
Teaaepis KaOoXtKoi vaoi rfjs OeoaaXouLKT)s oro XP^VIKO TOV 'Iudwov 'AuayvakrTr}," in A'
I7ai>eAArji>io'IaropiicdZvveSpio: TTpa/cri/cd(Thessalonica: 'EXXrjvad) ioTopiKr) 'eTaipeia, 1983), 133-3
Symeon, ITepi TTJS deias npoaevxfjs, PG 155: 553-56, 624; Treatise, 21, 71.
1 1 7
Cf. infra, pp. 203-05.

1 1 8
On this tradition, see the present author's article "Festal Cathedral Vespers in Late Byzantium,"
1 1 9
OCP (forthcoming).
200
saints, and for the traditional litanies and synaxes of the city's stational l i t u r g y . 120
The
Archbishop was thus attempting to reinforce participation i n the liturgical celebrations which
had been central to cathedral rites since Late Antiquity, namely the weekly commemoration of
the Resurrection and the seasonal stational observances.
Symeon concludes his prologue with an impassioned plea for the perpetual maintenance
of the "Sung" Office similar to the one in the Dialogue. 121

Noting that it was once celebrated
i n Constantinople, Antioch, and i n other churches, he repeats his claim that the asmatic rite has
been preserved only at Hagia Sophia i n Thessalonica, a statement that is, as we have seen,
strictly accurate only i n reference to its maintenance in totality. It is only at this point that
Symeon addresses the substance of his reforms:
Kai en 8ia.Tvnovp.ev eig KpeiTTOva TOI^LV TOJV tepojv vpvoov, avvdrJKrjv

Te icai evTa&av, i'va TOV rraXatov aopaTog dSopevov, olov dpTvpd TL
Kai rjSvopa, Kai oi napd TOJV dyicov owreBevTeg 8id Kavovoov vpvoi,
ovv TovTip peXnoovTeg- ojg av Kai ai TOJV TTOXXOJV aKoai BeparrevoivTO,
eig 9og eXdovoai Tfjg peXcoSiag TOJV Kavovoov, Kai drrXojg cog dvajKatov
SvTog rov irpdypaTog- TO pev, cog Tag eopTag KOTO TTOXV KOOPOVVTOJV
TOJV dyiojv Sid TOVTCOV TOJV vpvoov, eK TOJV evayyeXtKcov Te Kai
dnooroXiKoov apa Kai npcxpnTiKtov prjoecov Kai evvoiojv deioov airrolg
ovvreQeipevojv TO Se, cog Kai TOJV dyCoov Std TOJV dycoviopaTcov avrojv
enaivovpevoov, Kai ovvSoâCopevwv TOJ vrrep ov r/ycovioavro- eTi Se, cog
Kai rfj TraXaig Tfjg Kaivfjg ovpcpcovovong, Kai pdXXov r a rrpiv oKicuSn rfjg
dXndeCag emod>payiCovor\g Kai TeXeiovong.
A n d furthermore we prescribe for the sake of a better sequence of sacred hymns,

balance, and good order, that the hymns composed by the saints in the form of
kanons be sung together with the old asmatic rite as a kind of seasoning and
sweetening in order that the ears of the multitude might be healed upon
encountering the ethos of the kanons' melody. This is also simply a necessary
measure in order that, on the one hand, the feasts of the saints may be greatly
adorned by these hymns, which are composed from the divine phrases and
messages of the Gospels, the Apostolic books, and the prophetic writings; and, on
the other hand, so that the saints are praised for their struggles and glorified
together with that for which they struggled, just as the N e w Testament agrees with
the O l d and, more specifically, shadowy portents of truth are consummated and
fulfilled.122
120
Ekthesis, f. 6r.
Cf. Symeon, ITepl rffs &eia$-
1 2 1
Trpoaeuxfjs, PG 155, cols. 553-556; Treatise, 21-22.
1 2 2
Ekthesis, f. 6r-6v (my translation).
201
A t the outset this passage closely parallels Symeon's brief description of the reforms in his
treatise On Divine Prayer, 123

for i n both cases the only instance of borrowing from the
monastic rite mentioned is the insertion of kanons, an act referred to in nearly identical
language as "sweetening" and "seasoning." 124

Thereafter the accounts diverge as Symeon
offers different reasons in each for undertaking the reform. In the Dialogue, Symeon presents
the addition of kanons to the "Sung" Office as essentially a pastoral decision necessary to
forestall the criticism of ignorant malcontents eager to do away with the asmatikeakolouthia
because of its unfamiliarity. In the Ekthesis, on the other hand, he treats this innovation i n a
much more positive manner, at first citing spiritual healing mediated by the ethos of the
melodies themselvesa concept that is also found i n the writings of the great hesychasts
Theoleptos of P h i l a d e l p h i a 125
and Gregory P a l a m a s a s a benefit accruing from his
126
introduction of kanons. He then admits that the paucity of hymnodic propers i n the archaic
"Sung" Office constituted what he viewed as a real deficiency, the correction of which, to a
certain extent, seems to have been simply a matter of propriety, i.e. assuring that the saints
receive the praise due to them. Nevertheless, it is significant that Symeon's description of the
reformed offices in terms of the N e w Testament's fulfillment of O l d Testament symbols echoes
the argument for representational art presented in Canon 82 of the Quinisext C o u n c i l . 127
By
making explicit the typological relationship between Old Testament psalmodic texts and
monastic hymnody that we had previously proposed in Chapter 5, Symeon is stating his belief
that the former are in and of themselves insufficiently specific with regard to the "truth and
grace" clearly manifested by the latter. Yet Symeon also diverged somewhat from the example
of the Quinisext Council's wholesale replacement of the Lamb with the human figure of Christ
Quoted supra, p. 132.

1 2 3
124 "ApTVijd n Kai rjSvcrpa," cf. "fjSvopd TL Kai dprvpa yAvKalvov" in \6&m,ITepi Trfe deias
rrpoaevxfjs; PG 155, col 556.
1 2 5
Discourse 19 in Robert E. Sinkewicz, ed. and trans., Theoleptos of Philadelphia: The Monastic Discourses
(Toronto: 1992), 323.
1 2 6
"OpiAta NA in Gregory Palamas, V/uAi'ai KB' (Athens: 1861), 108. For an overview of hesychast
attitudes toward liturgical singing, see the present author's study of "Hesychasm and Psalmody," in Anthony
Bryer, ed., Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism (London: Variorum, forthcoming).
1 2 7
Cf. Symeon's remarks in the treatise OnDivine Prayer (PG 155, col. 636; Treatise, 78-79). On the canon
of the Quinisext Council, see supra, p. 152.
202
by retaining both the scriptural type (the psalms) and its consummation (hymnody) in his
offices, balancing these two elements in order to create what he believed to be a superior order
of worship.
The second half of the Ekthesis contains detailed outlines of the reformed cathedral rite
offices of daily and Sunday matins, followed by a similar plan for Saturday vespers that
complements the ferial evening order of the preceding Taxis. Although i n general accord with
the corresponding descriptions i n the treatise On Divine Prayer, the Ekthesis, which includes
rubrics for festal variations among its orders, is considerably more specific about the structure
of the reformed offices it describes. W e shall temporarily forego an analysis of the service
plans in the Ekthesis, however, because the format for Sunday matins w i l l be discussed i n
greater depth i n the following chapter. Nevertheless, with regard to the question that has
already been raised about the celebration of "Sung" offices in Thessalonian churches other than
Hagia Sophia, it is worth noting that the order of the Ekthesis for Saturday vespers contains
instructions for the ordinary celebration of this asmatic service at the basilica of St.
Demetrios. 128
c) M S Athens 2047, f. 9v-24v: A synoptic outline of the festal services of the liturgical year
listing: when it is necessary to ring both of the holy bells, which are the catholic and
medium feasts of the year, and how one must chant for them ('TTrorvTrcoms' eu avi/afrei.
T(3i> dfcoXovdiali/ roll/ eoprcof TOV OAOU enavroO teal wore Set anpatfetf Sid
ralf lepoji/ KcoSaji/tois St-TrAdis* Kal trotai Se at KadoXiKai Kal peaai eopral TOV
enavroO Kal wcDs' Set ipaXXeLU ev avrats).
A s indicated by its title, the Hypotyposis is an abbreviated Typikon containing outlines
of the services for the feasts of the Thessalonian liturgical y e a r . 129

Symeon scatters references
to an older local order throughout the Hypotyposis, indicating that he was relying, i n part, on a
now lost cathedral rite Typikon for T h e s s a l o n i c a . 130

W h i l e the work as a whole is presented
as a restoration of former custom, he frankly notes the replacement of several traditional
1 2 8
Ekthesis, f. 9r.
A complete list of the commemorations included in the Hypotyposis is given in Phountoules, To
1 2 9
AeiTovpyiKov epyov, 41.

Ibid., 42-43.
1 3 0
203
Thessalonian observances with newly instituted commemorations. 131

A poignant reminder of
Symeon's own difficulties is his addition of alternate rubrics for the stational commemoration
of H o l y Thursday i n the event of the archbishop's i l l n e s s . 132
The rubrics of the Hypotyposis for the fixed commemorations of the calendar year
appear on folios 9v-21r of Athens 2047, followed on folios 21r-24v by those for the movable
Paschal cycle. When such multiple feasts of the same class as those of the four evangelists
share a single order, only the first commemoration encountered in the course of the
ecclesiastical year (1 September-31 August) is provided with complete rubrics. A n exception
to the preoccupation of the Hypotyposis with variations in the normal order is its detailed
description of the ferial services of 2 September, which, Symeon informs us, is intended as a
model of reformed daily usages. 133

O f particular interest are the precise instructions of this
ordinary for the ritual actions of Hagia Sophia's ecclesiastical personnel at asmatic matins,
including an order of censing comparable to that given for vespers in the Taxis. 134
In addition to orchestrating services at Thessalonica's cathedral, the Hypotyposis
includes rubrics for the processions and remote celebrations of a stational system of
archiepiscopal liturgy analogous to that of Constantinople. Not including the residence of the
Archbishop and three chapels, all of which seem to have been part of the cathedral complex,
the Hypotyposis refers to a total of eight stational sites within the city, the most significant of
which are the churches of the Acheiropoietos and St. Demetrios (cf. Figure 7 ) . 1 3 5
According
to the Hypotyposis, the Marian basilica of the Acheiropoietos hosted the major feasts of the
Mother of Godnamely the Nativity of the Theotokos (8 September), the Entrance of the
Theotokos (21 November), the Presentation of Christ i n the Temple (2 February), the .
1 3 1
E.g. those of the monastic saints Theodosios the Cenobiarch and Anthony the Great (Hypotyposis, f. 17v);
cf. Darrouzes, "Sainte-Sophie de Thessalonique d'apres un rituel," 78.
1 3 2
Hypotyposis, f. 23r; cf. infra, p. 209, n. 152.
1 3 3
Hypotyposis, f. lOr-llv.
1 3 4
Substantial excerpts from this matutinal order for censing are published in Darrouzes, "Sainte-sophie," 60-
63.
1 3 5
The four Stational celebrations occurred at the city's Forum and its churches of the Ascension (or Saviour)
in the Acropolis, the Holy Apostles, the Acheiropoietos, St. Demetrios, Sts. Theodore, the Theotokos
Katafyge, and the Apostle Paul. See Phountoules, "Maprvptai TOV GeooaAoviiajs Svpedv rrepi T&V vatiJv
TTJS OeacraXovLKTjs,"'Emorrjpoi'iiaj'EireTipfeOeoAoyiKTJS" ZxoArJsIl (Thessalonica: 1976): 167-79.
204
0 J L J . i
500
I
u Meters

nr**" *Hosios David

Prophet Etias
3 Catherine St. Nicholas

Orphanos

i
St. Demetrios t-
>
4r Rotunda of
i
Holy Apostles St. George
I
Panagia
vDodekapostoio i
i Chalkeon A cheiropoietos
i

VTT\ \ EGN A TIA Arch'

of Galerius
Hagia Sophias
Palace
of Galerius
----*J**te Hippodrome,

THERMAIC G F
Figure 7. Thessalonica i n the Fourteenth Century. M a p from O D B , vol. 3, 2071.

205
Annunciation (25 March), and the Dormition (15 August)thus exercising a function within
the Thessalonian stational system reminiscent of that jointly fulfilled by the Constantinopolitan
churches of Chalokoprateia and B l a c h e r n a e . 136

The Acheiropoietos was also the site of
solemn archiepiscopal observances on Great Friday and Saturday of H o l y Week, bringing the
number of stational events at this ancient church to an annual total of eight. This was exceeded
by the nine occasions on which the archbishop presided over liturgical celebrations at the city's
patronal shrine of St. Demetrios: the Feast of St. Demetrios (26 October), Theophany
(6 January), the Sunday of Orthodoxy (the first Sunday of Lent), the Veneration of the Cross
(the third Sunday of Lent), a commemoration of the Turkish siege of 1412 (the Wednesday of
mid-Lent), Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday evening, the Apodosis of Pascha, Ascension, and
the Sunday of A l l S a i n t s . 137
A novel feature of the Hypotyposis mentioned i n its full title, but not found in such
earlier documents of the Byzantine cathedral rite as the Typikon of the Great Church, is the
provision of rubrics governing the duration of bell-ringing for each commemoration at
Symeon's cathedral and, on one occasion, at St. D e m e t r i o s . 138

Assuming that Symeon is not
referring to semantra and other such traditional Byzantine instruments of assembly but to true
bells, which were still relatively new i n the Greek East, they must have been introduced to
Thessalonica as a result of Latin influence sometime during the thirteenth or fourteenth
century. 139
In any case, as Darrouzes has noted, the Hypotyposis dictates that the bells were
to be sounded for the commemorations of the liturgical year in one of four Ways according to
the relative solemnity of the day i n question, with the most important feasts featuring the
longest ringing by the greatest number of b e l l s . 140

Another progression from the tenth-century
Phountoules,
1 3 6
"Maprvpiac TOV OeooaXouLicqg ZvpewK" 168; cf. Baldovin, The Urban Character,
292-99.
1 3 7
Phountoules, "Maprvplat," 172-73.
Ibid., 139, 170.
1 3 8
On the history of bells and their precursors in Byzantium, see Edward V. Williams, The Bells of Russia:
1 3 9
History and Technology (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985), 10-27. The rubrics of the Hypotyposis
were apparently unknown to Williams when he wrote (idem, p. 23) that Symeon mentions only semantra and
not bells in his writings.
Darrouzes, "Sainte-sophie de Thessalonique d'apres unrituel,"75-78.
1 4 0
206
Typikon of the Great Church is the inclusion of rubrics in the Hypotyposis mandating the
performance of kalophonia at Hagia Sophia between the apolytikia and the dismissal of
vespers on the cathedral's patronal solemnity of the Holy Cross, and its joint feast of Saints
John Chrysostom and Gregory Palamas, the latter of whom was buried in the c a t h e d r a l . 141
d) M S Athens 2047 f. 25r-34r: Psalter of the "Sung" Rite (iPaAnjpi.oi> TOV aapariKou) ,142
This is not an Antiphonarion, as one might expect from an "Asmatic Psalter," but a
collection of psalms encompassing a few invariable cathedral antiphons and a much larger
number of festal texts from the monastic rite. The Psalterion begins with invariable psalmody
of asmatic vespers: the first antiphon Psalm 85, followed by the three psalms constituting its
concluding "little" antiphons (Pss. 114, 115, and 116), all of which are accompanied by the
incipits of their respective refrains. The fixed first antiphon of "Sung" matins (Pss. 3, 62, and
133) concludes the Psalterion'?, meagre selection of traditional cathedral rite psalmody, for its
two next items are the psalms of the Polyeleos (Pss. 13435) from the festal Neo-Sabai'tic
morning office, the first of which bears the heading " A Psalm chanted on Great Feasts of the
Lord." 1 4 3
The Psalterion then concludes with the fourteen festal "iicXoyai" ("selections")
listed in Table 6. General rubrics for the insertion of the Polyeleos and eklogai into festal
celebrations of asmatic matins are given in the Ekthesis, 144

while specific instances of their
application occur in the Hypotyposis and the Diataxis.145
Despite their dominance in the Psalterion, neither the Polyeleos nor the eklogai had any
distinct function in the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite as found i n such traditional sources as
the tenth-century Typikon of the Great Church or the asmatic ordinaries of the two Late
Byzantine A n t i p h o n a r i a . 146
Instead, as we noted in the preceding chapter, they belong to festal
1 4 1
Hypotyposis, f. 12v, 14r.
This work appears in the manuscript without a summary title, but Phountoules (To AeiTovpyiKov epyov,
1 4 2
42) notes that Symeon refers to it in the Ekthesis as the Psalterion tou asmatikou.
1 4 3
MS Athens 2047, Psalterion, f. 26v.
1 4 4
Ekthesis, f. 7r-8r.
1 4 5
E.g. the rubrics for 8 September in the Hypotyposis (f. 12v) and the Diataxis (f. 94v).
1 4 6
The Polyeleos, which is nowhere mentioned in the TGE, appears within the unreformed asmatike
akolouthia of the Antiphonaria only as a ferial antiphon of the "Distributed" Psalter. According to Georgiou's
207
TABLE 6
L I S T O F F E S T A L P S A L M S (EKAOrAf) IN T H E
PSALTERION O F M S A T H E N S 2047 (F. 27r-34r)
Feast Psalm
The Nativity of the Theotokos (8 September) 133
Apostles 18
Martyrs 45
Hierarchs 48
Righteous Saints 39
The Entry of the Theotokos (21 November) 47
Christmas (25 December) 65
Theophany (6 January) 66
The Annunciation (25 March) 71
Pentecost 18
Transfiguration (6 August) 47
The Dormition of the Theotokos (15 August) 99
The Birth and the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (24 June and 29 August) Ill
matins of the Studite and Neo-Sabaitic traditions, and the abundance of elaborate musical
"settings in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Akolouthiai manuscripts further identify them as an
important vehicle for the stylistic innovations of Koukouzelian c h a n t . 147

There can be no
charts of psalmodic distribution derived from the MSS Athens 2061 and 2062 (" 7/ ipSofiaSiaLa avrupooviicq
KaTaiso/j.rj," 186), Psalms 134 and 135 were sung at Friday matins in Week 2, and Friday vespers in Week 1.
With regard to the eklogai, it must be noted that the "Sung" Office possessed its own cycle of proper festal
psalms that replaced the final variable antiphon (the "teleutaion") from the Antiphonarion's ordinary at vespers
and matins. Only two of the festal teleutaia listed in the table of asmatic propers on folios 44v-45r of Athens
2062specifically those for the feasts of hierarchs (Ps. 48:3) and apostles (Ps. 18:4), both of which also appear
elsewhere as propers for the Byzantine Divine Liturgymatch the psalms in Symeon's cycle, thus confirming
the non-asmatic origins of the Psalterion's eklogai. On the asmatic teleutaia, see the present author's study of
"Festal Cathedral Vespers in Late Byzantium."
1 4 7
208
doubt that Symeon had this complex musical repertory in mind when compiling the Psalterion,
for on folio 147v of the Diataxis he goes so far as to specify that Psalm 135 is sung at matins
on the feasts of the Holy Cross (14 September) and St. Demetrios i n the florid setting by the
composer K o u k o u m a s . 148
When this datum is considered together with the references to
kalophonic interludes already noted in the Hypotyposis, it becomes readily apparent that the
reformed Thessalonian offices overlaid the archaic psalmody of the asmatike akolouthla with
not one but two major strata of material, namely monastic hymnody and Koukouzelian chant.
e) M S Athens 2047, f. 36r-74r: Oktoechos [of the "Sung" Rite]( 'O/crconxos-[rov

dopariKoC]).
This is an abbreviated Oktoechos containing the portions of the Parakletike's eight-
week cycle of resurrectional hymns designated by Symeon for insertion into the asmatike
akolouthia. Each of the eight musical modes is represented by a set of seven abbreviated
groups of propers for daily vespers, together with a comparatively lengthy selection of hymns
for Sunday matins. Included among the monastic Sunday hymns are the eight asmatic
resurrectional pentekostaria transmitted in the textual appendix to the Antiphonarion M S
Athens 2 0 6 1 . 149
Appended to the entire eight-week cycle of resurrectional hymns are the
eleven Sunday Exaposteilaria of Constantine Porphyrogenetos, which are copied without their
theotokia. Each exaposteilarion is followed by its corresponding Morning Sticheron from the
set composed by L e o V I to accompany the eleven Sunday morning gospels of the resurrection.
f) M S Athens 2047, f. 75r-274r: A Regulation for the services of the entire year at the most-
holy Great Church of God in Thessalonica, being ancient, yet further composed in a well-
ordered manner and corrected by the humble Symeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica. The
asmatic psalmody is sungfirst,accompanied afterwards by hymns composed by the saints
as idiomela, troparia, and kanons to the glory of Christ and His saints (A i draft? rcov
d/coAovdialis rov dAov eviaurou rffs" rfj dytcordrrj rov 9eov MeydAy
"Kai evdvs 6 SevrepostyaApdsTOV Kovmvpd 'EopoAoyeto8e TCO Kvpicodpyds, o$ ml rfj

1 4 8
eoprfj Tffe 'Ttywews ipaAAerac," Diataxis, f. 147v, cf. Laourdas," 'Amififfe Stdra^g," 332. The musical
work in question is an eight-mode setting transmitted by numerous Akolouthiai, the earliest being Athens 2458
("1336"), the first known manuscript of this type. The setting in this source begins on f. 96r, where it is
labeled "rerpdcmxos* without further attribution.
1 4 9
209
'E/acArjtn'a OeaaaAoviKqs; dpxaias: pei> ovarjs; ovisredeions' Se em jrAeoi/

evraKTcvs' Kal StopdcoBeLcrns- napd TOV raneifoO Svpecov dpxtemaKonou
OeaoaAoi>LKT)S" iftdAAovrai Se npwroi/ rd dapariKd, enetra ovf auTofe teal al
napd TCOW dytojf ovvTedevTes' Sid re iSiopeAajy Kal rponapitoy Kal KaucJftou
vpvoi, els' S6av XpioroO Kal rc2u dyicois adrov).
In its present form, the Diataxis is a sort of incomplete Menaion containing rubrics and
textual propers for the fixed commemorations occurring between the beginning of the
Byzantine ecclesiastical year (1 September) and the feast of Saints Athanasios and C y r i l
(18 January) inclusive, after which the manuscript abruptly breaks off, its further folios now
missing. From the reference i n its title to "the entire [liturgical] year," however, it may be
assumed that the Diataxis was originally an expanded version of the Hypotyposis covering
fully at least the church's fixed yearly cycle, and probably the movable season as well. W h i l e
the loss of its missing sections can only be lamented, the remainder of the Diataxis is an
invaluable supplement to the Hypotyposis for reconstructing the liturgical life of Late
Byzantine Thessalonica, amplifying the provisions of the latter with a wealth of additional
detail. Significantly, the Diataxis transmits many of the proper texts for the reformed "Sung"
Office i n full, including numerous hymns composed after monastic models by S y m e o n . 150
Its
rubrics include further topographical references, 151

additional provisions for Symeon's weak
health, 152
and, as noted above, the name of a particular musical work by a named
composer. 153
O f particular interest in the Diataxis are several complete or nearly complete texts for
seasonal services falling outside the normal parameters of asmatic liturgy. The propers for
Hagia Sophia's patronal feast of the Exaltation of the H o l y Cross (14 September) 154
and the
1 5 0
Symeon's hymns are fully discussed in Phountoules, To Aeiroupyiicdi/ ipyov, 67-115; and critically
edited in Phountoules, ed., Td Aeirovpyucd Svyypdppara, 75-266.
1 5 1
The topographical references in the Diataxis have been edited with commentary in Phountoules,
"MapTvplai TOV Qeooa\oviKT\s Zvpecov," 141-48, 151-86. See also Laourdas, "AxpLfiris SidTafrs;"
327-28.
1 5 2
According to Athens 2047, f. 90v, if the archbishop is ill on a feast of the Mother of God, the clergy are to
process without him. Cf. excerpt A2 from the Diataxis in Phountoules, "MapTvpiai," 142.
1 5 3
Cf. supra, n. 148.
1 5 4
This service is given on f. 105r-110v of Athens 2047, which is unfortunately missing a folio or more
containing the opening of matins.
210
two Sundays before C h r i s t m a s 155

feature unusual versions of asmatic matins that differ
considerably from the outlines for Sunday and festal morning prayer i n the Ekthesis. Other
variations i n the normal patterns of worship take the form of special services inserted between
the offices of the daily cycle, including the public commemoration of the Indiction on
1 September, 156
the nocturnal "Acclamations i n the Trullo" outside the archbishop's residence
on 14 September, 157
and the liturgical drama of the Three Children i n the Fiery Furnace sung
after matins on the Sunday before C h r i s t m a s . 158

Transgressing the two categories is a N e o -
Sabai'tic matins for the feast of St. Demetrios inserted between the evening and morning
cathedral rite offices for the day. Sung in imitation of the monastic matins of Holy Saturday,
this extraordinary office is highlighted by the performance of Psalm 118 troped by lamentations
for the m a r t y r . 159
D . Late Byzantine Musical Sources of the Thessalonian Cathedral Rite
Many of the important musical sources for the cathedral rite in Late Byzantine
Thessalonica have already been identified in Chapters Three and Four above because they
transmit chants representing the archaic and unreformed strains of the asmatic tradition. The
1 5 5
Diataxis, f. 209v-219r.
Ibid., f. 81v-86r.
1 5 6
Ibid., f. 104 v. Cf. Ioannes Phountoules," 'lSioppvQpieg TT)S AeiTovpyiK?\s tTpdêujg TT)S
1 5 7
OeaoaAovtKrfc Kara rig dpx^s TOV IE' ai&vos" in Xpiorcavc/cfj OeaaaAoisi'icr}: TTaAmoAoyeios- e
The Diataxis contains the most complete libretto of the play yet found on f. 219v-221v, which presently
1 5 8
remains unpublished. The text and music of the "Service of the Furnace" as it appears in four Byzantine
musical manuscripts are discussed in detail by MiloS VelimiroviC in his comprehensive study of "Liturgical
Drama in Byzantium and Russia," DOP 16 (1962), 351-85. The play was originally discovered in the late
nineteenth century independently in two of these manuscripts by Aleksei Dmitrievskii ("Chin Peschnago
dieistva," Vizantiiskii Vremennik, I (1894), 585-88 [MS Iviron 1120]) and Alexander Lavriotis (" 'AKOAOVBLO
ipaXAopevr) T(J KvpLaKi] TWV 'Ayicoi/ HaTepuv npo rfjg Xptorov rewrjaecos1 T)TOL Tfjg Kapivov"
EKKArp-iaan/cfj'AAij0eia43(1895), 345-46 [MS Lavra A 175]). A third version of the drama was later found
in MS Athens 2406 by Panagiotes Trempelas ( F/cAoyr) eAATji/iKr}? dp&oddfov iipvoypacfrias, repr. ed.
(Athens: 1978), 42426). On the performance of the play in Thessalonica, see the present author's unpublished
study of "The Liturgical Place and Origins of the Byzantine Liturgical Drama of the Three Children,"
summarised in Nineteenth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference: Abstracts of Papers, 4-7 Novembe
Princeton University, 81-82; Phountoules, To Aeirovpyi/cdv ipyou, 47-48; and idem,""18ioppvQple<s," 159-
60. Curiously, in direct contradiction of the manuscript and his earlier study, in the latter work Phountoules
says that the play was performed on the second Sunday before Christmas (the Sunday of the Forefathers).
The rubrics from Athens 2047 for this service are published in Laourdas, "Aicpi/3i)s ScdTagts;" 330-332.
1 5 9
For the texts, see I. Phountoules, MeydArj efi5opds> rov'AytovAr/prjrpcois, Ketpeva Aecrovyi/crjs-17
(Thessalonica: Pournaras, 1986), 99-112
211
following short survey will discuss certain aspects of these manuscripts in greater detail,
especially taking note of those items that we have previously ignored because they represented
textual incursions from the monastic rite or were set to music in the Late Byzantine style of
composition advanced by John Koukouzeles.
1. The Earliest Notated Antiphonarion: MS Athens 2062
Manuscript Athens 2062 is the earliest musical source for the psalmodic ordinary of the
Byzantine cathedral rite. Its many propers in honour of St. Demetrios, some of which bear the
names of composers from Thessalonica, as well as a reference to the church of the
Acheiropoietos, clearly identify it as a Thessalonian document. 160

Based upon its acclamations
for the Emperors John V (1354-91) and Andronikos IV, Athens 2062 has been variously dated
to the period between the betrothal and first revolt of Andronikos (1355-1373), 161
his first
reign of 1376-79, and the three years between his reinstatement as heir in 1381 and death in
1385. 162
While all of these dates fall before Thessalonica's first occupation by the Turks, the
first would place the manuscript's compilation possibly as far back as the final years of
Gregory Palamas' archiepiscopacy (1347-59), as well as the reigns of his immediate
successors Nilus Kabasilas (1360-63), Anthony (1363-71), and Dorotheos Vlates (1371-
78?), a disciple of Palamas and co-founder of the Thessalonian monastery of Vlatadon. 163
The
Kosmas I. Georgiou, "'H ipSopaSiala dvTKpcoviicf) mravopr) T&V ipaXpcov mi TQV COSCSV eis rag
1 6 0
'Aoparims AKoXovQias eoirepLvov mi opBpov. 'EXXT)VLKOI MOVOLKOL KcoSixes 2061-2062 'EdvLKf\g

BifiXiodr\KTfs 'ABTJVQV* (Ph.D. diss., Pontifical Oriental Institute, 1976), xxxiv-xxxv. Georgiou provides a
codicological description of Athens 2062 on pp. xxvii-xxix.
16
1 John W. Barker, Manuel Paleologus (1391-1425): A Study in Late Byzantine Statesmanship (New
Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1969), 455-56.
162 Miguel Arranz, "L'office de YAsmatikos Hesperinos (vepres chantees) de 1'ancien Euchologe byzantin,"
OCP 44 (1978): 391; and Georgiou, " 7/ efiSopaStata dvTicfxoviKf)," xxix-xxxiv. Georgiou prefers 1382-85,
while his thesis supervisor Arranz advocates 1376-79.
The metropolitan succession of Thessalonica in the latter half of the fourteenth century is examined in Jean
1 6 3
Gouillard, "Le Synodicon de 1'Orthodoxie: Edition et commentaire," Travaux et Memoires 2 (1967): 27980;
Vitalien Laurent, "La liste episcopate du synodicon de Thessalonique: Texte grec et nouveaux complements,"
Echosd'Orient 32 (1933): 300-10; Louis Petit, "Les eveques de Thessalonique," tchosd'Orient 5 (1901/2):
90-97; idem, "Le Synodicon de Thessalonique," Echosd'Orient 18 (1916/19): 236-54. Gouillard notes that the
exact years of Dorotheos' archiepiscopacy and his place in the metropolitan succession are in doubt due to some
oddities in the copying of the Synodikon. Dorotheos and the monastery of Vlatadon are discussed in Janin, Les
Eglises et les monasteres des grands centres byzantins, 356-58; and G.I. Theoharides, "Oi iSpvrai rfjs iv
OeoaaXovLKij povffe T&V BXarrdScov," in Panagiotes Chrestou, ed., TTai/riyvpucds' Tdpos TOV 'Eopraapov
212
narrower temporal ranges of the latter two dates, on the other hand, correspond only to the
archiepiscopacies of Dorotheos and Isidore Glabas (1380-96). 164

In any case, emendations to
the acclamations in Athens 2062 indicate that the manuscript remained in liturgical use through
the reign of Manuel II (1391-1425) and into that of John VIII (1424-48). 165
Although its ordinary office chants belong solely to the cathedral tradition, the contents
of the manuscript as a whole are decidedly mixed, suggesting that new material was entering
the Thessalonian "Sung" Office decades before Symeon embarked on his reforms. The first
forty-four folios of Athens 2062 are occupied by its most conservative element, a one-week
cycle of ordinary psalmody for the "Sung" offices of vespers and matins presented without
monastic incursion. 166

Most of the music for this well-rubricated ordinarium is appropriately
traditional, consisting of anonymous florid solo intonations, syllabic choral psalm-tones, and
refrains of varying lengths. The only chants of a more recent vintage in this portion of the
manuscript are a series of through-composed verses with refrains for Psalm 118 at Sunday
matins. Six settings by the domestikos George Kontopetres for the first "stasis" of the 167
Amomos are restrained examples of the Koukouzelian style. 168

Less florid than the chants of
the old Asma for thefirstinvariable antiphon of cathedral matins, the works by Kontopetres are
rife 'EgaKocnoaTfjs- Errereiov TOV Oavdrov TOV 'Ayiov Fprjyopiov TOV TTaAapd(Thessalonica: 1960),
49-70.
1 6 4
On Isidore, see R.J. Loenertz, "Isidore Glabas, Metropolite de Thessalonique (1380-96)," Revue des Etudes
Byzantines 6 (1948): 181-90.
1 6 5
Georgiou, "'H efiSopaSiata avricpwvLKr} KaTauoprj," xxxiii-xxxiv.
1 6 6
Georgiou provides an inventory of the manuscript's major repertories ibid., xxxvi-xl.
1 6 7
This is one of several cases in which Athens 2062 substitutes terms proper to the divisions of the
Palestinian Psalter ("first stasis") for asmatic terminology ("first antiphon").
1 6 8
M S Athens 2062, f. 40r-41v. Regarding Kontopetres, about whom little is known other than that he
appears to have worked sometime during the fourteenth century, see Dimitri E. Conomos, The Late Byzantine
and Slavic Communion Cycle: Liturgy and Music, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 21 (Washington, D . C . :
Dumbarton Oaks, 1985), 78. The musical settings are discussed in Diane H . Touliatos-Banker, The Byzantine
Amomos Chant of the Fouteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, Analecta Vlatadon 46 (Thessalonica: Patriar
Institute for Patristic Studies, 1984), 74-93. Note, however, that Touliatos identifies Kontopetres as "Giorgios
the domestikos," whom she equates with George Panaretos, another fourteenth-century composer. Proceeding
from biographies from George Papadopoulos' notoriously unreliable SvpfioAat eig TT]V ivTopiav rr/?
nap'-qplv iKKAr}OLaTLKfjg povoiKT)s (Athens: 1890; repr. ed., Athens: Koultoura, 1977), Touliatos states that
this composite Kontopetres/Panaretos lived in the tenth century. On the "dubious usefulness" of Papadopoulos'
work for modern scholarship, see Christos Patrinelis, "Protopsaltae, Lampadarii, and Domestikoi of the Great
Church during the post-Byzantine Period (1453-1821)" in MiloS Velimirovic", ed., Studies in Eastern Chant 3
(London: Oxford University Press, 1973), 144.
213
not u n l i k e the e p o n y m o u s settings o f P s a l m 118 i n the contemporary m o n a s t i c t r a d i t i o n . 1 6 9

In
the s a m e style but w i t h o u t attribution are an a d d i t i o n a l three settings f o r the s e c o n d "stasis" o f
the A m o m o s , 1 7 0
the first o f w h i c h (Ps. 118:126), h o w e v e r , is a s c r i b e d to a c e r t a i n
C h r i s t o p h o r o s o n f o l i o 2 4 r o f the fifteenth-century A n t i p h o n a r i o n M S A t h e n s 2 0 6 1 . 1 7 1
T h e ordinary chants o f A t h e n s 2 0 6 2 are succeeded b y a series o f a s m a t i c o f f i c e s f o r
s o l e m n i t i e s o f the l i t u r g i c a l year that vary c o n s i d e r a b l y i n the degree to w h i c h they incorporate
n o n - t r a d i t i o n a l m a t e r i a l . Settings f o r the cathedral rite vespers o f Easter, the feast o f St.
D e m e t r i o s , a n d other " s i g n i f i c a n t feasts" (ViV emoij/j-ovs' eoprds") are free o f m o n a s t i c
borrowings, 1 7 2
as is a n unnotated table o f proper p s a l m s a n d refrains f o r the l i t u r g i c a l year
found on folios 44v-45r. T h e manuscript's m u s i c f o r the o f f i c e s o f the T h e s s a l o n i a n H a g i a
S o p h i a ' s patronal F e a s t o f the E x a l t a t i o n o f the H o l y C r o s s (14 S e p t e m b e r ) , 1 7 3

o n the other
h a n d , presents a f a s c i n a t i n g m i x o f traditional cathedral rite p s a l m o d y , K o u k o u z e l i a n chant,
and m o n a s t i c h y m n o g r a p h y . T h e first i t e m i n the series i s a setting o f cathedral rite V e s p e r s o f
the H o l y C r o s s o n f o l i o s 5 3 r - 5 5 r c o n t a i n i n g a rubric m a n d a t i n g the i n t e r p o l a t i o n o f m o n a s t i c
stichera a m o n g the final verses o f a n otherwise p u r e l y a s m a t i c setting o f P s a l m 1 4 0 . 1 7 4

Music
f o r the T h e s s a l o n i a n " A c c l a m a t i o n s i n the T r u l l o " ( f o l i o s 55v56r) then serves as a prelude to a
m a s s i v e c o l l e c t i o n o f chants ( f o l i o s 5 6 r - 9 2 r ) f o r the heterogeneous order o f a s m a t i c m a t i n s
given i n Symeon's Diataxis. T h e sequence o f chants f o r 14 S e p t e m b e r c o n c l u d e s w i t h the

115
1 6 9
A quick comparison of Touliatos' transcriptions of Panaretos' verses for the cathedral rite Amomos with
those she has made of contemporary monastic rite settings for Psalm 118 is sufficient to confirm the affinity of
their respective melodic idioms. The absence of any works by Kontopetres (or Panaretos) in Touliatos' general
table of concordances for settings from the first stasis of Psalm 118 in Akolouthiai MSS would, however, seem
to rule out the possibility of direct borrowing. See Touliatos, The Byzantine Amomos Chant, 131-99,
231-40.
1 7 0
Ps. 118:126, 130b, and a GloriaPatri (f. 42T-42V). Touliatos (The Byzantine Amomos Chant, 64-65)
omits v. 130b from her inventory of asmatic Amomos verses in Athens 2062.
1 7 1
A rubric on f. 24r of Athens 2061 states that the verses after Ps. 118:26 and the concluding GloriaPatri are
to be sung to the same melody. The three verses of 2062, however, differ in length and melodic detail.
1 7 2
These are found on f. 47r-49r (Easter), f. 135r (St. Demetrios), and f. 49v-50r (significant feasts). These
settings are discussed in the present author's study of "Festal Cathedral Vespers."
1 7 3
Ioannes Phountoules," 'ISioppudjites," 157.
1 7 4
This setting is analysed in Lingas, "Festal Cathedral Vespers."
1 7 5
The use of this unusual order for matins is also implied by Symeon's Hypotyposis, which states that the
portions of the service following the invariable first antiphon were celebrated according the requirements of the
"old Diataxis" (Vat mdegffs TO. Aoind, a& Aeyec r) dpxaia Sidraîs;" MS Athens 2047, f. 12v).
214
ceremony of the Exaltation of the H o l y Cross and propers for the Divine Liturgy (folios 9 2 r -
95r).
Although we shall reserve a detailed examination of Athens 2062's complex of offices
for the H o l y Cross for a future study, several of its provisions for matins are worthy of brief
comment. Interspersed among the poetic odes of the monastic rite's kanon for the feast are
twelve antiphons of psalmody that consist almost entirely of through-composed verses
occasionally accompanied by kalophonic interludes. Some of the verses are anonymous
works, but the majority are ascribed to such fourteenth-century composers as Andreiomenos,
Dokeianos, John Koukouzeles, Christopher Mystakonos, Manuel Plagites, and the Maistor
Kpukoumas, whose Polyeleos concludes the series. While the presence of so many named
composers is itself a characteristic normally associated with the Neo-Sabai'tic repertories of Late
Byzantium, it is also significant that, with the major exception of the Polyeleos, the psalmodic
antiphons for this office have no regular place i n the monastic liturgical tradition. Tfiis raises
the possibility that these works may have been commissioned specifically to adorn matins at the
Thessalonian Hagia Sophia with updated psalmody on the occasion of its patronal f e a s t . 176
Following the festal asmatic offices, Athens 2062 contains a large number of chants not
normally associated with the cathedral rite. Four kanons in honour of St. Demetrios occupy
the thirty-seven folios preceding the asmatic propers for the Saint's feast, the last of which is a
text attributed in the manuscript to the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenetos (913-59) and set
to music by the "Protopsaltes of Thessalonica K y r Manuel P l a g i t e s . " 177

W h i l e popular
devotion alone might explain the presence of monastic chants to the city's patron i n a
manuscript headed by an asmatic ordinarium, 178

it would be hard pressed to account for a
Commissions from Late Byzantine composers were not unknown. Manuel Chrysaphes, for example, wrote
1 7 6
works at the behest of the emperors John VIII Paleologos (1428-48) and Constantine XI Paleologos (1449-53).
See Dimitri Conomos, The Treatise of Manuel Chrysaphes, the Lampadarios: On the Theory of the A
Chanting and on Certain Erroneous Views That Some Hold About it (Mount Athos, Iviron MS
1458]), MMB, Corpus scrptorum de re musica 2 (Vienna: Verlag der osterreichischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, 1985), 12-13.
Athens 2062, f. 120r-134v.
1 7 7
On the veneration of St. Demetrios in Late Byzantine Thessalonica, see Balfour, Politico-Historical Works,
1 7 8
103-06; Phountoules, " 'ISioppvBpies,* 153-56; and Tafrali, Thessalonique au quatorzieme siecle, 130-48.
215
staggering eighty-nine folios of florid music from the Koukouzelian Akolouthiai for the psalms
of the Neo-Sabaitic vigil, which begin with kalophonic verses for the psalms of Great Vespers
(f. 179r-232v), followed by similar compositions for Psalms 13436 from festal matins
(f. 233r-268v). Athens 2062 concludes with an even larger collection of kratemata (f. 2 6 9 r -
391 v), textless chants which, while normally included among the repertories of the
Akolouthiai, could conceivably have been equally appropriate for use in either the cathedral or
the monastic rites.
2. The Antiphonarion MS Athens 2061
The second major source for the Thessalonian "Sung" Office, and the only other
surviving Antiphonarion with musical notation, is the manuscript Athens 2 0 6 1 . 179

Imperial
acclamations commemorating the Emperor Manuel II (1390-1425) and his consort Helen
Dragas place the date of its copying somewhere in a thirty-five year period that began while
Thessalonica was still under Turkish occupation and ended during the latter portion of
Symeon's archiepiscopacy. 180

Despite its later compilation, Athens 2061 is nevertheless a
much more homogeneous document than Athens 2062, containing little other than music for
the cathedral rite. A s we have previously noted, the manuscript commences with a two-week
psalmodic ordinary for the "Sung" Office matching the pattern of rotation for choristers
assumed by the tenth-century Typikon of the Great Church. L i k e the ordinary offices of
Athens 2062, the cycle of morning and evening services of Athens 2061 is dominated by
conservative specimens of cathedral rite psalmody. Musical exceptions are once again located
i n the Amomos of Sunday matins, but this time they are isolated to the second stasis. A single
1 7 9
Georgiou provides a codicological description of this MS, followed by discussions of its provenance,
dating, and a summary inventory of its contents in " 'H e/3SopaSiaia durtcpajvLicq /caTavopfj," xv-xxvi.
1 8 0
On the dating of Athens 2061, see Barker, Manuel Paleologus, 453-55; Georgiou, " 'H fi8o/ia8taia
dwi(pa)viKT} KaTdvofiij," xvii-xxi; and Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia," 116-17. Barker
narrows the range to 1408-21, finding it unlikely that the acclamations would have been sung either before
Thessalonica's liberation in 1403, or during the reign of John VII in the city as basileus from the autumn of
1403 to that of 1408. Georgiou argues strongly for a date early in Symeon's archiepiscopacy, which he takes to
have occurred in 1410/18-29. Unless the manuscript was copied almost immediately after Symeon's accession,
however, the absence of any traces of liturgical reform suggests to the present author a date during the
ecclesiastical adminstration of his predecessor Gabriel (1397-1416/17).
216
verse attributed to Christophoros occurs among the chants of the first w e e k , 181
while four such
chants are appointed for the second S u n d a y . 182

The latter consist of two anonymous verses,
one of which is labeled "old" ("traAaLov"), together with single works by George Panaretos
and the domestikos Patrikios.
Most of the chants following the two-week ordinarium of Athens 2061 are cathedral rite
propers for the Thessalonian liturgical year. These include several sequences which we have
previously found in Athens 2062: the suite of services for the Exaltation of the C r o s s , 183
together with the festal settings of asmatic vespers for Easter and extraordinary f e a s t s . 184
Athens 2061 also transmits a considerable amount of music for seasonal observances of the
asmatike akolouthia. These settings, which are absent from the other notated Antiphonarion,
hearken back i n their texts to the old cathedral repertories of the Psaltikon and Asmatikon: sets
of hypakoai and other proper office chants for the Sundays and feasts of the Christmas
cycle, 185
prokeimena for the movable c y c l e , 186
and even a few "asmatic" hymns for the Divine
Liturgy. 187
The manuscript ends with the list of resurrectional pentekostaria cited above in
Chapter 4 . 1 8 8
3. Other Musical Collections
Music for the texts borrowed from the monastic rite by Symeon of Thessalonica for the
reformed "Sung" Office of his cathedral is readily available i n chantbooks already widely
employed in contemporary Neo-Sabaitic w o r s h i p . 189

The requisite melodies for kanons and
stichera are contained in the Heirmologion and the Sticherarion, two venerable collections of
hymnody which had been updated in the fourteenth century by John Koukouzeles. Polyeleoi,
Athens 2061, f. 24r-24v.

1 8 1
Ibid., f. 46r-46v.
1 8 2
Ibid., f. 73r-93r.
1 8 3
Ibid., f. 48r-50r.
1 8 4
Ibid., f. 51r-72v, 93r-114r.

1 8 5
Ibid., f. 120r-123r.
1 8 6
Ibid., f. 114r-117r.
1 8 7
Supra, pp. 94-95.

1 8 8
189 T h sources are discussed supra, pp. 147-48,165-67.

e s e
217
eklogai, and kratemata, as well as contemporary settings of prokeimena and other psalmodic
chants common to both rites are regularly transmitted among the core repertories of
Akolouthiai, which include both individual melodies and large psalmodic collections ascribed
to the tradition of T h e s s a l o n i c a . 190

A few Akolouthiai also append music for such special
observances as asmatic vespers for significant f e a s t s , 191

the Thessalonian services for the H o l y
Cross, 1 9 2
and the Play of the Three C h i l d r e n 193
to their standard chants.
Conclusion
Rather than the selective patching implied in the treatise On Divine Prayer, the
unpublished works of Athens 2047 reveal that Symeon implemented a carefully considered and
comprehensive renovation of the entire Thessalonian "Sung" Office, systematically updating its
archaic cathedral psalmody with the fruits of two revolutions in Byzantine liturgical
consciousness: the explosion of monastic hymnography in the seventh century, and the more
recent advent of kalophonic chant. The archbishop presents this action as necessary, justified
not only by a need to "sweeten" the old offices so as to make them more palatable to
contemporary congregations, but also to remedy what he perceived as glaring deficiencies in
both the composition and the execution of the existing services. In particular, he believed that
the austere responsorial psalms and canticles of the pure Byzantine cathedral rite were no
longer sufficient to offer fitting praise to G o d and H i s saints without the addition of monastic
hymnography. About the florid Neo-Sabaitic psalmody and kalophonia that were also added
to the ancient framework of the Byzantine cathedral rite, however, Symeon curiously says
nothing in his commentary.
Hannick, "Thessalonique dans l'histoire de la musique," 113-20; and Williams, "The Kalophonic Tradition
1 9 0
and Chants for the Polyeleos," 228-41.

For references to individual manuscripts and discussions of the music involved, see Hannick, "fitude sur
1 9 1
YdKoXovQia aopctTiioj," 243-60; Strunk, "The Byzantine Office," 138-39; Diane Touliatos-Banker, "The
"Chanted" Vespers Service," KArjpovofiia% (1976): 107-26; and Lingas, "Festal Cathedral Vespers."
References in Hannick, "Etude," idem; and Strunk, "The Byzantine Office," 138.
1 9 2
Cf. supra, p. 210, n. 158.

1 9 3
218
The existence of monastic hymns and kalophonic psalmody in Thessalonian musical
sources antedating Symeon's archiepiscopacy, as well as his silence about key repertories of
chant, bring into question the reform's originality. W h i l e a comprehensive answer must wait
for an examination of the individual components of each office, a number of preliminary
conclusions may be drawn from the existing evidence. Since the preceding survey of the
musical sources has revealed that the mixed character of the Matins of the H o l y Cross and
certain other festal offices of Thessalonica's cathedral rite had been established decades before
Symeon took office, it can be confidently stated that in some cases he was merely ratifying late
fourteenth-century practices. Yet modifications to the archaic traditions of Byzantine cathedral
worship were not new to this period either, for, as we have seen i n preceding chapters of the
present study, the earliest manuscripts of the Typikon of the Great Church are not free of
Sabaitic borrowings, while florid cathedral psalms first appear among the proto-kalophonic
monastic repertories of the A s m a . 1 9 4

It is consequently likely that, with respect to late
fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century performance practice, the stark contrast between the pure
asmatic ordinaries and the heterogeneous appendices of the Antiphonaria did not i n fact reflect
major discontinuities between ordinary and festal cathedral usages. Symeon's constant
references to previous disorder i n the celebration of Thessalonian services probably refer then
not solely to clerical sloth, but to the haphazard deletion and insertion of material on days for
which no set procedures existed, a problem neatly solved by the uniform orders and
circumscribed hymnodic cycles of the reformed "Typikon." Without denigrating the creativity
of his solution or his original texts for the Thessalonian Divine Office, one may therefore
conclude that the liturgical reforms implemented by Symeon were not revolutionary, but
represented the harmonisation and systematisation of existing precedents for the inclusion o f
texts and music from outside the Byzantine cathedral tradition.
1 9 4
It is interesting to note that musical settings of the monastic festal psalms in the Akolouthiai regularly
follow an order similar to that of traditional cathedral antiphons. For example, the first full verse of the opening
psalm of the Polyeleos (Ps. 134) is prefaced in the musical manuscripts by the phrase "AovAoi Kvpiov,
'AAArjAovia," which is analogous to the intonations for the invariable first antiphons of asmatic matins ("Kal
ikrvcoaa. Aoga ooi, 6 Oeos") and vespers ("Kal erraKovaou pov. A6a aoi, 6 0e6s"), as well as to those
for the three antiphons of the Amomos at Sunday matins.
CHAPTER7
REFORMED ASMATIC SUNDAY MATINS OF ORDINARY SUNDAYS:
STRUCTURE, MUSIC, A N D INTERPRETATION
The preceding survey of Paleologan sources for the Thessalonian cathedral rite revealed
a remarkable spectrum of textual and musical forms that represent developments spanning the
history of Byzantine urban worship from its origins in Late Antiquity to its valedictory Neo-
Sabai'tic synthesis. In the present chapter we shall examine the coexistence of these repertories
within the context of the single service of asmatic matins as celebrated after the reforms of
Archbishop Symeon on so-called 'ordinary' Sundays, i.e. those Sundays without special
commemorations affecting the normal resurrectional order of service. A s i n Chapter 4 above,
musical manuscripts w i l l be examined as well as non-musical sources, not only as aids to
reconstructing the order of Sunday matins, but also as witnesses to the way i n which diverse
melodic styles profoundly shaped the textual surface of the office. Since many traditional
anonymous melodies of the Sunday ordinaria have already been discussed, we shall devote
particular attention to previously ignored variations in the structures of antiphonal psalmody
and eponymous Late Byzantine accretions to the asmatic repertories.
A major source for our exposition of Thessalonian Sunday matins is the well-known
account of this service in Archbishop Symeon's mystagogical treatise On Divine Prayer, a
work that we shall make use of in two w a y s . First, the commentary, despite certain
1
shortcomings, w i l l be employed cautiously together with the unpublished works i n Athens
2047 to reconstruct the order of the reformed rite. One begins to realise the nature of these
deficiencies in cross-referencing to Athens 2047, whereby it becomes apparent that information
1
Symeon of Thessalonica, JTepi rife detas rrpoaevxfjs; PG 155, cols. 636-49; trans, by H.L.N. Simmons
as St. Symeon of Thcssalonikc, Treatise on Prayer: An Explanation of the Services Conducted in the Orthod
Church (Brookline, Mass.: Hellenic College Press, 1984), 79-88.
219
220
relating to the order of weekday and festal reformed matins is at times presented in the treatise
without being clearly distinguished from material pertaining to ordinary Sundays. Similarly, 2
it should be noted that the liturgical terminology employed in the commentary is somewhat less
accurate than that found in the unpublished "Typikon of St. Symeon." In the commentary, for
example, the generic term "psaltes " ("psalmist" or "cantor") is used for soloists and choristers
regardless of rank, whereas Athens 2047 contains more precise references to the two
domestikoi of Hagia Sophia and their choirs. 3
In the end, it is difficult to fault Symeon for these imprecisions, for the treatise On
Divine Prayer is first and foremost an essay i n mystagogy, i n which descriptions of the texts,
physical setting, and ritual actions of services are overlaid by theological interpretations. Far
from being, as some modem scholars have maintained, parasitic medieval "allegories" serving
only to obscure the original meaning of a given service, liturgical commentaries have recently
4
been shown to offer valuable insights into the continuities and discontinuities between the
practice and the reception of liturgy in Byzantium. 5

More precisely, in addition to providing
information about the way in which worship was conducted at a particular time, such
mystagogical works serve to indicate the way in which liturgical texts and rituals were either
modified or theologically reconceived for integration into the liturgical syntheses of eras other
than those for which they were originally created. It is therefore fortuitous that the treatise On
Divine Prayer presents an exegesis of the Late Byzantine "Sung" Office by the very author of
its reform, offering interpretations not only of innovations i n the structure of asmatic Sunday
matins, but also of those of its elements that had changed little over the centuries. Although a
2
The lack of a clear division between references to the Sunday and weekday orders of asmatic matins in the
treatise On Divine Prayer has led Miguel Arranz ("Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," OCP 38
(1972): 104-5; cf. idem, "L'office de l'Asmatikos Orthros (matines chantees) de l'ancien Euchologe byzantin,"
OCP 47 (1981): 146) mistakenly to include the chanting of the Prayer of Zachariah (Lukel:68-79, the Bene-
dictus) as part of Thessalonian Sunday matins, rather than as a part of the weekday office where it properly
belongs. For Symeon's rubrics governing the chanting of the Benedictus at ferial matins, see Athens 2047:
Ekthesis, f. 7v; and Hypotyposis, f. llv.
3
This may be clearly seen by comparing the directions for the matutinal psalmody and censing in the
Hypotyposis (f. 10v-l lv) with the corresponding account in the Dialogue.
4
For sample references, see Robert Taft, "The Liturgy of the Great Church: An Initial Synthesis of Structure
and Interpretation on the Eve of Iconoclasm," DOP 34-35 (1980-81): 45, n. 1.
5
John Meyendorff, "Continuities and Discontinuities in Byzantine Religious Thought," DOP 47 (1993): 78.
221
full analysis of the theology presented i n Symeon's commentary on the Byzantine Liturgy of
the Hours is beyond the scope of the present study, we shall follow our structural survey of the
reformed asmatic office of Sunday matins with a few remarks about the continuities and
discontinuities evident i n his mystagogical explanation of that service.
The Structure of Asmatic Sundays Matins
A s shown in Table 7, Symeon's most substantial alterations to the service of asmatic
Sunday matins were the result of his wholesale addition of Resurrectional poetry from the
monastic Oktoechos. It is remarkable that, with the relatively minor exception of the poetic
stichera substituted for the final six asmatic refrains of Lauds (Ps. 148-50), this new material
was absorbed without discarding any of the psalmody native to the "Sung" rite. Most of the
hymns were incorporated between Psalm 50 and the psalms of Lauds i n a single self-contained
complex clustered around the kanon, an arrangement that provides some justification for
Symeon's failure to note monastic borrowings other than kanons i n the treatise On Divine
Prayer. Phountoules, observing the structnral affinities between this interpolation and
occasional monastic services constructed around supplicatory kanons, has aptly noted that it
constitutes a sort of parenthetical "Paraklesis" or "Supplicatory Service" embedded within the
fabric of the morning cathedral office at its approximate midpoint. 6

A s such, it considerably
expanded the service of praise sung at the ambo without disrupting either the preceding
sequence of morning psalmody that prepared and accompanied the entry into the nave, or the
following series of chants and ritual actions climaxing with the recitation of the Gospel of the
Resurrection.
The persistence of functional processions together with their psalmody is another
important indicator of how deeply conservative the structure of asmatic Sunday matins
remained after its reform. B y the early fifteenth century, processions inherited from the
6
Ioannes Phountoules, "'O ayios- Hvpecbv QeooaXoviicqs: owTatcrris TVTTIKOV" chap, in fTpa/cri/cd
AeirovpyiKov avvedpiov els npr/f Kai pffjpr/v rov dycois" narpds' ijpcdi/ HvpecSvos
'ApxiemaKonov BeaaaAoviicqg TOV Oavparovpyov, (Thessalonica: 1981), 116.
222
TABLE7
ASMATIC MATINS OF ORDINARY SUNDAYS
ACCORDING TO SYMEON OF THESSALONICA 3
1. V I G I L I N T H E N A R T H E X
Opening Blessing
Synapte of Peace
"The Three Psalms" (Ps. 3, 62, 133)
The Priest recites the Morning Prayers (1-12?) silently before the "Royal Doors"
Small Synapte
Amomos, 'Stasis' 1 (Ps. 118: 1-72)
The priest censes the narthex and the nave during the first stasis of the Amomos
Small Synapte
Amomos, 'Stasis' 2 (Ps. 118: 73-131)
Small Synapte
Amomos, 'Stasis' 3 (Ps. 118: 132-76)
Entry into the nave and Prayer of the Entrance
2. M O R N I N G P S A L M O D Y A T T H E A M B O
A. Cathedral Psalmody
Benedicite: Dan. 3:57-88 with concluding troparia
Synaxarion
(Ektene?)
Synapte of Supplication: "TfAripakrajpev rr)v Sirpiv r)p.u)V"
Psalm 50 and Pentekostaria
B. Monastic Hymnography
Anavathmoi
The Kanon: Odes 1-3 (8 troparia per ode: 4 Resurrectional, 4 from the Menaion)
Poetic Kathismata
Odes 4-6
Resurrectional Kontakion and Oikos

"We Have Seen the Resurrection"
"Glory... At the prayers of the apostles"
"Both now... At the prayers of the Theotokos"
"Have mercy on me, O God" (Ps. 50:3) and "Jesus is risen from the tomb"
Odes 7-9 with Stichologia of the Magnificat
(Elevation of the Panagia with Marian troparia?)
Resurrectional Exaposteflaria
a
Texts sung by the cantors and readers are given in bold print.
223
C. Cathedral Psalmody (continued) and Rite of the Resurrectional Gospel

Lauds (Ps. 148, 149, 150)
Psalm 148:1-149:8 with Asmatic Refrains
Ps. 149:9-Ps. 150:6 with 6 Resurrectional Stichera
"Glory be to the Father..." and Morning Gospel Hymn
Prayer and entry into the sanctuary
"Both now... Most blessed art thou"
Great Doxology {Gloria in excelsis)
Trisagion
Resurrectional Hymn
Fixed Sunday Prokeimenon (Ps. 9:33)
Resurrectional Gospel
3. P R A Y E R S A N D SUPPLICATIONS IN T H E S A N C T U A R Y
Ektene
Synapte of Supplication
Prayer of Inclination
Dismissal
stational liturgy of Constantinople in the Divine Liturgy and asmatic vespers had degenerated
into symbolic 'entrances,' during which clergy would make a brief circuit out of the sanctuary
and into the nave before returning again to the altar. Matins in the reformed Thessalonian
7
cathedral rite, on the other hand, retained intact its tripartite progression from the narthex to the
sanctuary with an intermediate station at the ambo not only on Sundays, but on weekdays as
well. 8
The maintenance of these processions was, of course, facilitated by the design of
Symeon's cathedral of Hagia Sophia (Figure 8) which, as previously noted, seems to have
been constructed to fulfill the physical requirements of the Byzantine Rite of the Great Church
7
On the truncated processions of the Divine Liturgy, see Robert F. Taft, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History,
American Essays in Liturgy (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 71-4. Symeon describes the symbolic
"entrance" of asmatic vespers both in the treatise On Divine Prayer (PG 155, col. 628; Treatise, 73-74) and in
the Taxis of Athens 2047 (Jean Darrouzes, "Sainte-Sophie de Thessalonique d'apres un Rituel," Revue des
Etudes Byzantines 34 (1976): 55-59). The form of the entrance at vespers in the Late Byzantine cathedral rite
both inside and outside Thessalonica is discussed in the present author's study of "Festal Cathedral Vespers in
Late Byzantium," OCP (forthcoming).
8
Symeon outlines the weekday order in the Ekthesis, 6v-7v; Hypotyposis, f. 10v-l 1 v.
I
224
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a XI
O H
3 s
2
o 2
o
c
COa
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ac
o' u
Cfl
<D
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00
CO
cO o
2
3
UH T3 C O
225
KEY
1. Royal (fiaaiAiKai) or Beautiful (aipalai) Doors
2. Side Entrance
3. Aidrnvipa
4. KapapiSiov T&V SiaoTuXuu
5. Throne (aramdiov) of the Archbishop
6. Holy (ayiai) Doors
7. Templon (Sidarvkd)
Figure 9. Hagia Sophia Thessalonica: Partial reconstruction of the floor plan during the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. After Theoharidou, The Architecture of Hagia Sophia, Plan 1.
226
during its Constantinopolitan heyday. Despite numerous subsequent modifications

9
including the addition of side chapels at a relatively early date, several phases of reconstruction
i n the galleries, and the replacement of the Early Christian exo-narthexthe church retained a
central plan eminently suitable for the conduct of asmatic worship (Figure 9 ) . 1 0
Despite the exigencies of life i n Thessalonica during the decades leading up to its
capture by the Turks i n 1430, another prerequisite of Byzantine cathedral liturgy evidently
maintained at Hagia Sophia through the implementation of the reform was a clerical
establishment including singers of various r a n k s . 11

This is reflected i n the rubrics of Athens
2047, which repeatedly assume the presence of a varied complement of personnel embodying
the diversity of ministries that had been characteristic of urban worship since Late A n t i q u i t y . 12
The broad outlines of their system of distribution may be discerned i n the remarks Symeon
directs to his clergy i n the Ekthesis:
Toiig KCLQOAOV rrdvras ev avroo KXT/PLKOVS, TrpeaBvrepovs, StaKovovs, ipdXras re

Kai dvayvcoaras, drrapaXeirrroos ev avroo avvdyeadat KeXevopev, cos i'dos
dpxaiov eKaarov pev ev rfj drroraxOeLorj efiSopdSi re Kai r)pepq, cos dv ev
re TOO ecmeptvqj Kai TOO opBpco Kai rfj iepq Xetrovpyiq, rr)v xPâv drrorrXnpooai
rfjs oiKeCas SiaKOvias TOO Oeqo eKaaros' opov Se trdvras ovvdyeoBai eis
SooXoyiav Qeov Kotvrjv, ZaBBdrov re eorrepq, Kai opdpqo KvpiaKfjs, Kai rfj
iepq Xetrovpyiq, orrov Kai 6 dpxiepevs eorai avv avrols crvvayopevos, rr)v
vrrep navroov SoôXoyCav dvarrepnoov rod Oeoo, rov re Xabv evXoyodv Kai
irapaivoov rd ocorrjpia, Kai vrrep avroov rrpoaevxdfJLevos' opoicos re
9
1 0
The configuration of the church in the fourteenth and earlyfifteenthcenturies is discussed in Kalliope
Theoharidou, The Architecture of Hagia Sophia; Thessaloniki, BAR International Series 399 (Oxford: B
Architectural Reports, 1988), 84-85,145-46. The Byzantine side chapels and other structures surrounding the
main body of Hagia Sophia are no longer extant, but archeological investigations have revealed a great deal
about their form. On these auxilliary buildings, see F. Drosogianni,"MeoaicovLicd MaKeSovlas,"
'ApxatoAoyiicdf AeAriov 18 (1963): 235-241; Marinos G. Kalligas," 'AvaoKcxpiKai epewai ev raj ev
OeooaXovLKT] vacp rife 'AyLas Zocpias," TTpaKTLicd TTJS ev'A&rjvaisApxaioAoyi/d)s' EraLpecas(1938):
67-75; idem," 'Avao>ca<piKai epewai ev Tcp ev QeooaAovLKfl vaq) rffe Ayias 2ocj>[as," TTpaKTLicd rfjs-
ev AdrjvaLs- ApxaLoAoytKfjs Eracpeias- (1940): 23-27; idem," 'Epyaoiai el$ TOV vadv TT)$ 'Ayias
1
Zo4>Cas OeaoaAovLKTis," JTpaKTiKd rfjs ev AOfjvais ApxaioAoyL/cfjs ETaipeias (1941): 43-52; Stylianos
Pelekanides,"Meoaiwvucd MaKeSovtas," ApxatoAoytKov AeAriov 17 (1961/62): 253-56; and Theoharidou,
op.tit.,13-16, 143-45.
1 1
Given the rapid decline of Thessalonica's population from approximately 40,000 to an estimated 10,000
during the final Turkish siege of 1422-30, it is uncertain whether the norms of urban worship were maintained
at Thessalonica's "catholic" churches until the very end. The participation of the urban clergy in this exodus is
confirmed by the departure account of a member of Symeon's staff in S. Kugeas, "Notizbuch eines Beamten der
Metropolis in Thessalonike aus dem Anfang des XV Jahrhunderts," Byzantinisches Zeitschrift 32 (1914-19):
152.
1 2
The ecclesiastical personnel mentioned by Symeon in Athens 2047 are discussed in Darrouzes, "Sainte-
Sophie," 72-75.
227
ovvadpo((eodai ovv avrco ndvras drrapaXeiTrrtos, ev re rats' deairoriKats

eoprals, xal ralu peydAcof dylcov, Kal rats Kar' edos dpxotou dtroreraypivots
Xtravelais re Kal avvdêatv, cos du KOLVCOS Kal rj rrpos Oeov a'iveais yivoiro,
Kal rj evraîa aioCotro, els 86av Oeov Kal Kooptov rfjs eKKXriolas.
W e command the entire clergy [of Hagia Sophia]presbyters, deacons, cantors and
readersto gather unremittingly in [the cathedral] according to ancient custom: each on the
prescribed day and week in order that they may fulfdl their proper service to G o d at
vespers, matins and the Divine Liturgy. In the same way, [it is necessary] for everyone to
assemble at Saturday vespers, Sunday matins, and the Divine Liturgy, at which the
archbishop assembles with them, rendering glorification to G o d on behalf of all, blessing
the people, preaching salvation, and praying for them. [It is] likewise [necessary] for them
all without exception to gather with [the archbishop] on Feasts of the L o r d , on the
[memorials] of great saints, and for the litanies and synaxes designated by ancient custom,
so that the praise of G o d might take place in common, and that good order might be
preserved, to the glory of G o d and the adornment of the c h u r c h .
13
Rather strikingly, these instructions would have been equally applicable to the clergy of the
Constantinopolitan Hagia Sophia in the tenth century to say nothing of those serving at the
same Justinianic church in the sixth century or even the rotunda of the Anastasis in early fifth-
century Jerusalemas to their fifteenth-century successors at Symeon's cathedral. Worship at
the Thessalonian Hagia Sophia in Late Byzantine times evidently continued to feature a diverse
group of liturgical ministries centred, like all ancient cathedral rites, on the person of the local
bishop. Daily prayer was offered by designated clerics in rotation, while the entire complement
of personnel gathered in the presence of the archbishop for the weekly commemoration of
Christ's resurrection, as well as for certain seasonal observances, some of which possessed a
stational component.
Beyond this general congruency with the ancient patterns of urban worship, the rubrics
of Athens 2047 make clear that the assignment of musicians to particular days continued to be
determined by the two-week system of alternating choruses found in the tenth-century Typikon
of the Great Church. 14

In the model schema for ferial vespers in the Hypotyposis, for
example, after an instruction stating that the concluding refrain (perisse) of the Trisagion at
vespers should be sung " i n a louder voice according to the melody of the first or second
week," Symeon explains that
1 3
Ekthesis, Athens 2047, f. 6r (my translation).
1 4
TGE II, 289; cf. supra, p. 44.
228
each [week] has its own [melody], but on Saturdays and feasts the great [melody] is
performed. It should be noted that each weekeither the first or the second, i.e. of the
first domestikos or the secondhas a refrain for Psalm 140 (kekragarion) for each day,
which are chanted daily. 15
The applicability of this distinction to the morning office is subsequently made plain in the
rubrics for the invariable first antiphon of asmatic matins, which state that the domestikos
should sing the psalms "in the mode of the day of his week." - Consequently, both sets of
1 6
instructions presuppose not only the weekly alternation of two choruses led by domestikoi, but
also a set of melodies unique to the singers of each week analogous to the pair of ordinary
psalmodic cycles transmitted in the Thessalonian Antiphonarion Athens 2061.
Although the sources are relatively clear regarding the participation of professional
musicians, they are decidedly less so about any active involvement of the laity in the celebration
of the Late Byzantine "Sung" Office. This question is significant because the antiphonal
psalms and canticles contained in the weekly ordinaries of the notated Antiphonaria preserve
musical and textual features originally developed to foster popular participation in the urban
assemblies of Late Antiquity. As previously noted, the congregational element retained from
these ancient structures is a short refrain repeated after verses with longer texts or more
complex music that are allotted to the choirs and soloists. Nevertheless, Symeon says nothing
about congregational participation in the asmatic psalms of the "Sung" Office in his writings,
while the Thessalonian Antiphonaria simply append the refrains to choral verses without
further comment. From this, and from Symeon's complaints about widespread indifference
toward the cathedral rite offices and his efforts to save them through the importation of
kanons, - one might be led to conclude that average Thessalonian churchgoers, like their
1 7
counterparts in most modem Orthodox churches, remained silent. On the other hand, passages
in the archbishop's Exposition of the Divine Temple indicate that the Late Byzantine laity had
"To aiiro yeycovdrepov, els pdAos TTJS npojrrjs rj Sevrepas eflSopdSos' emorr} eyei- ISi
1 5
adfifiaoi Kal eoprals, Aeyerai TO peya- lareov Se, on KeKpaydpiov eKaarr) e^Sopds, T) Trparrr] re
kal r) Seurepd, rjtdc rod ffprirdu SopedfiKOv fj TOV Sevfepov, i'xei kd8' i]pepdv ev'd kai
tpdAAovrai Ka&-qpipav,"Hypotyposis, Athens 2047, f. lOr.
16
"Eis TOV ffxov TTJS Tjpepas TTJS efiSopdSos avrov," ibid., f. lOv.
1 Symeon, ITepi rffsffeiasTrpoaevxfjs, PG 155, col. 556; Treatise, 22.
7
229
not yet relinquished all of its chants. In the course of a discussion of the function and
significance of each class of believers within the liturgical assembly, Symeon employs the
participation i n the sung responses of litanies to define the place of the Orthodox laity i n the
heavenly hierarchy symbolically manifested by w o r s h i p . Commenting on the Divine Liturgy

18
later i n the same work, he notes congregational renditions of two ordinary chants: the
Sanctus 19
and the fraction acclamation "One is H o l y . " 2 0
Unless one is willing to dismiss
these references as entirely metaphorical, the possibility of continued lay participation in the
refrains of asmatic psalmody cannot therefore be entirely excluded.
The preceding brief survey of the reformed office of asmatic Sunday matins and the
liturgical establishment of the Thessalonian Hagia Sophia has revealed the presence of certain
innovations within what remained a traditional cathedral rite context. In the following
paragraphs we shall narrow the focus of our analysis to examine the constituent elements of the
morning office of ordinary Sundays, concentrating on those texts and musical repertories not
previously described i n Chapter Four of the present study.
L i k e its tenth-century Constantinopolitan predecessor, the reformed Thessalonian
service of asmatic matins began on normal Sundays i n the narthex with antiphonal psalmody
outside the closed doors of the nave. Descended from Late Antique psalmodic vigils like the
one witnessed by Egeria outside the basilica of the Anastasis in early fifth-century Jerusalem,
the first segment of the Sunday morning office emerged from the reform unadorned by any
monastic hymns. Only the series of antiphons appointed for this portion of the service i n the
tenth-century Typikon of the Great Church were sung, a textual conservatism matched by the
form given to the invariable first antiphon of matins in the music repertories of the
1 8
Symeon, Fpprjveia nepi re TOV Beiov mov, PG 155, cols. 708-9. The description of Neo-Sabaitic
matins in the treatise On Divine Prayer (PG 155, col. 585; Treatise, 43) also mentions congregational
participation in a litany, although this might be explained by the monastic context.
1 9
Symeon, Fpprjveia, PG 155, col. 732.
2 0
Ibid., col. 741.
230
Thessalonian Antiphonaria. For ordinary Sundays, the manuscripts provide only two
anonymous settings of this antiphon, which Symeon often simply calls the "Three P s a l m s . " : 21
In addition to the sober Mode Plagal II version transmitted i n Athens 2062 and the first week of
Athens 2 0 6 1 , 22
the second week of the latter Antiphonarion features a brighter but equally
conventional set of melodies i n M o d e Plagal I V (Example 31).
In the midst of this traditional asmatic psalmody, a major departure from the original
Constantinopolitan order for matins may be identified in the instructions given by Symeon for
the presidential prayers of the Euchology. According to both the Hypotyposis and the treatise
On Divine Prayer, the priest offered the "morning prayers" silently before the doors of the nave
during the chanting of the "Three P s a l m s . " 23

Since, with the exception of the final Prayer of
Inclination, Symeon's writings fail to mention the recitation of a single Morning Prayer from
the Euchology at its proper place, it may be concluded that the distribution of these orations
throughout the office had been abandoned, despite the survival of their original psalmodic
context. 24
Such grouped recitation was probably a relatively recent development i n
Thessalonian cathedral liturgy, for the traditional arrangement of prayers in asmatic worship
was attested to near the beginning of the thirteenth century by Demetrios Chomatenos, 25
and
comparable schemes of distribution throughout the monastic office have been noted by Arranz
in Studite recensions of the Euchology as late as the sixteenth century 2 6

Perhaps this practice
had even been instituted by Symeon himself in imitation of the format prescribed i n the Diataxis
of the Neo-Sabaitic vigil by Philotheos Kokkinos, which calls for the first twelve morning
prayers to be said silently at monastic matins during the last three psalms of the
2 1
E.g. Ekthesis, Athens 2047, f. 6v.
2 2
Cf. supra, Example 1.
2 3
Athens 2047, Hypotyposis, f. lOv; PG 155, col. 641, and Treatise, 82.
2 4
This was also true of reformed vespers, for the Hypotyposis notes that this recitation was accomplished in
the same manner as the reading of the evening "Prayers of Light" during Psalm 85 at reformed asmatic vespers.
2 5
Demetrios Chomatenos, 'Epionjaeis TOV dyicoraTov prjrpoTroAiTov Avppaxtov icvpov KaivaTavri
TOV KafidaiAa, in J.B. Pitra, ed., Analecta sacra et classica spicilegio solesmensi, 6: Jurisecclesiatici
Graecorum (Rome: 1891), col. 621.
2 6
Miguel Arranz, "Les prieres presbyterales des matines byzantines," OCP (1972): 96-7.
231
- - i \ "T
Tfj Kvpiaiqj nptoi; Hxos\frJ\

r
A r V
A r s7\
JT, .
j f J'J' 1
J'r i- r. I r f / i f :1
l'HgH=
>'Ao(a mi vvv TO avro.

232
Hexapsalmos. 2,1
If so, while further demonstrating the prestige of the Philothean Diataxis, 28
it
would furnish another example of Symeon's efforts to bring certain aspects of Thessalonian
ritual into line with contemporary practice in Constantinople, an ancillary goal of his reform
that the archbishop states in the Taxis of Athens 2 0 4 7 . 29

In any case, since the office prayers
of the Euchology had probably been recited silently for centuries, this harmonisation could
have been accomplished without affecting the audible surface of asmatic worship.
The Amomos
a) Rubrics and Ceremony
The triple antiphon formed from Psalm 118commonly called the "Amomos" after the
solo intonation ("01 dpcopoi iv 68aj") of its first antiphoncontinued to dominate the
introductory portion of the reformed morning office on ordinary Sundays. This lengthy
meditation on the Law of the Old Testament also remained the only proper item sung in the
narthex at Sunday matins, replacing the daily allotment of six or four antiphons from the
"Distributed Psalter." 30
W h i l e the Sunday order of the Ekthesis simply notes that Psalm 118
was sung "with the appointed refrains," 31

the treatise On Divine Prayer provides a relatively
detailed account of the performance of the Amomos at Sunday matins. W i t h two minor
exceptions, the commentary lists the expected asmatic sequence of solo intonations, refrains,
and choral verses for each of the three antiphons, which, borrowing their appellations from the
Palestinian Psalter, it refers to as 'staseis.' The discrepancies i n the treatise's description occur
at the beginning of the first and third 'staseis' when the cantor is said to have intoned the
phrase " Tfjv oiKovpivqv" postponing in each case the proper Amomos incipit given by the
Antiphonaria until after the priest's ecphonesis. 32

Although it seems most likely that the
2 7
Philotheos Kokkinos, Aidrafis" rffe iepoSia/cdvias; PG 154, cols. 749, 760.
2 8
The influence of Philotheos' orders for Byzantine worship is discussed in Taft, "Mount Athos," 191-94.
2 9
Darrouzes, "Sainte-Sophie," 47-51, 63.
3 0
According to the Hypotyposis (f. llr), six antiphons were sung daily at ferial matins during the period from
1 September through the end of Great Lent, while four antiphons were chanted from the Sunday of All Saints to
31 August.
3 1
"'0 dpajpoff perd TI2V KOTO. rtiJ-iv ScaipdApav," Athens 2047, f. 7v.
3 2
Symeon, ITepi rfjs deias npoaevxfjs; PG 155, col. 637; Treatise, 80.
-
233
citation of the generic intonation for odd-numbered ferial antiphons with an Alleluia refrain is
simply a poorly identified reference to the weekday order, it could also reflect a variation to the
usual format for introductions of the sort we shall note below i n our analysis of the musical
settings for this psalm.
The treatise On Divine Prayer also describes two daily ceremonies of asmatic matins
that were accomplished on Sundays during the chanting of the Amomos. This account, which
helpfully notes the coordination of actions with particular verses of Psalm 118, is
complemented by more detailed rubrics for these same rituals in the model ferial matins of the
Hypotyposis. The first of these ceremonies was the censing of the narthex and closed nave by
a priest during the first 'stasis' of the Amomos. A t the beginning of the psalm, the priest took
the censer to the right end of the narthex near an icon (no longer extant) of the Archangel
Michael. H e then censed the walls and foundations of the church, moving, according to the
Hypotyposis, from East to North to West before arriving at his point of origin in the south end
of the narthex. 33
Cued by the domestikos with a solo rendition of Psalm 118:12, the priest,
after proclaiming "Wisdom. Let us attend," began to cense the central doors of the nave and the
icon i n their vicinity, followed by censings of the attending clergy and laity according to their
rank. Having censed all in attendance, he entered the nave alone through the small portal to the
left of the closed central doors i n order to commence a thorough censing of its interior
according to a complicated course delineated by the Hypotyposis. 34

After completing his
circuit of the nave, the priest then passed over the ambo and through the solea into the
3 3
ITepi rfjs- 6etas wpoaevxfjs, PG 155, cols. 641-44; Treatise, 82-84; Athens 2047, f. lOv-llr; cf.
Darrouzes, "Sainte-Sophie," 60-61.
3 4
In his analysis of this passage in the Hypotyposis (f. llr), Darrouzes ("Sainte-Sophie," 64-65), while
allowing for the possibility that the priest may have entered the nave through the opening to the immediate left
of the "royal" doors, suggests in his Figure 1 that the priest proceeded into the north ambulatory. This
hypothesis is based on the identification of the "SidKoixpa" mentioned by Symeon with the north and south
ambulatories of Hagia Sophia. Their equation with the "SiaKOixpa," however, led Darrouzes to plot the path of
the priest through the intercolumnar slabs (the existence of which he appears not to have been aware) that once
separated the nave from the south ambulatory. If, on the contrary, the point of entry is assumed to have been
the left door to the nave, it therefore seems logical to identify the "SLdtcovcpa" with the short narrow
passageways running immediately to the North and South of the cathedral's central piers. For annotated listings
of instances in which the terms "StdKovcpa" and "nAayiai" appear in Symeon's liturgical works, see Ioannes
Phountoules, "Maprvplai TOV BeooaAoviKnfs Uvpecov ire pi r&v va&v rfjs OeooaAovLKrjs"
'EmarripoviKij Ewerr/pi's OeoAoytKrjs 2\'oAf/s2l (Thessalonica: 1976): 155, 160.
234
sanctuary. After censing the altar and other furnishings of the sanctuary, he hung up the
censer. Taking the processional cross kept behind the altar, he then left the sanctuary and
nave, departing the latter through the opening to the south of the central doors.
Symeon's account of the second set of rituals accomplished during the A m o m o s , which
encompassed the entrance of the entire assembly into the nave during chanting of its third
antiphon, closely follows the thirteenth-century description of the same ceremonies by
Demetrios Chomatenos. 35
A t the conclusion of the prefatory small synapte, only one of the
two central doors to the nave was opened as the first full verse of the third antiphon (Psalm
118:132) was sung, after which the choirs continued the 'stasis' in alternation. Upon reaching
verse 170, according to the treatise On Divine Prayer, the doors were opened and the entrance
verse ('eisodikon') was chanted together with its A l l e l u i a refrain in a louder v o i c e . 36
Accompanied only by the deacon, and, if present, the celebrating bishop, the priest then
entered the nave through the central doors bearing in his hands the processional cross adorned
by three lit candles as the rest of the assembly made their own entry through the side doors.
Although Symeon does not identify the text and no such oration is provided among the
traditional Morning Prayers of the Constantinopolitan Euchology, both the Hypotyposis and
the treatise On Divine Prayer mention the recitation of an entrance prayer after the arrival of the
celebrant(s) in the nave 3 7

Following the completion of this prayer, the remaining verses of the
psalm and a GloriaPatri were sung. The antiphon then concluded with the perisse, a final
solo rendition of the A l l e l u i a refrain chanted again i n a louder voice by the domestikos, who,
according to the Hypotyposis, employed the melody of the eisodikon. 38
3 5
EptoTfjaeis; col. 623.
3 6
PG 155, cols. 637-40; Treatise, 80-81.
3 7
Hypotyposis, f. l l v ; PG 155, col. 640; Treatise, 81. The Euchology only includes introit prayers for
vespers and the Divine Liturgy. Use of the prayer for the former is unlikely given the references in this text to
Psalm 140, the evening psalm of Byzantine vespers. On the other hand, assuming that Symeon was not
referring to a now lost prayer peculiar to the Thessalonian cathedral rite, the introit prayer of the Divine Liturgy
could conceivably have been employed. Not only does it refer to the act of entrance in terms that do not
preclude its use outside the Eucharist, but its imagery accords well with the 'cosmic' symbolism invoked by
Symeon in his mystagogical interpretation of this rite. On the symbolism of the introit prayer of the Divine
Liturgy, see Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 34-38.
3 8
Athens 2047, f. llv.
235
b) The Musical Settings of the Antiphonaria
Collectively, the musical settings for the A m o m o s of ordinary Sundays constitute the
most varied and complex psalmodic repertories among the weekly cycles of the two notated
Antiphonaria. Examination of them reveals numerous subtleties of contemporary Thessalonian
performance practice which are at variance with Symeon's conventional description of asmatic
antiphony in the treatise On Divine Prayer. Unlike the vast majority of antiphonal psalms and
canticles in the weekly asmatic ordinaries of the Antiphonaria, for example, the repertories of
the A m o m o s include original verses and refrains of considerable musical complexity, some
bearing attributions to Late Byzantine composers. Proffering a stylistic alternative to the usual
utilitarian choral psalm-tones and refrains assembled from stock formulae, these through-
composed settings are functionally analogous to the florid verses for the invariable first
antiphon of asmatic matins transmitted in the older repertories of the Asmatikon and the A s m a .
Other deviations i n the repertories for the Amomos from the norms of "Distributed" psalmody
affect the standard asmatic framework of intonations, choral verses, and refrains of individual
'staseis' more seriously, altering their usual textual and melodic interrelationships.
A l l three of the musical settings transmitted i n the Antiphonaria for the first antiphon or
'stasis' of the Amomos for ordinary Sundays feature variations to the normal format for
"Distributed" psalmody (Table 8). The solo introduction to the version for the second week of
Athens 2061 begins with an unusual triple intonation featuring fragments of three verses ( l a ,
12b, and 50b), each of which is followed by an alleluia refrain extended by nonsense syllables
(Example 32a). From the rubric denoting the "change" CvrraXXayif) from one chorus to
another, and the modal signatures at the breaks between verse fragments, it seems that these
three phrases were executed antiphonally. A t all events, the second intonation after the
ecphonesis returns to the conventional pattern, combining the opening phrase employed i n the
corresponding section preceding the "Three Psalms," with the setting of verse l a from the
intonation before the celebrant's exclamation (Example 32b).

236
TABLE 8
M U S I C A L REPERTORIES OF T H E ANTIPHONARIA FOR T H E A M O M O S

O F O R D I N A R Y S U N D A Y S : ' S T A S I S ' 1 (PS. 118:1-72)
Athens 2062 (f. 40r-42r) Athens 2061: Week 1 (f. 23v-24r) Athens 2061: Week 2 (f. 45v^t6r)
Mode Plagal II Mode Plagal II Mode Plagal IV
Solo Intonation: Solo Intonation: Solo Intonation:
Oi dubjfioi ev 6St3 fvs. la]- Oi duuuoi iv 68q} [vs. la]- Oi duiouoi ev 6Sbj [vs. laj-
dXXrjXovia. dAAr\Xovia. dXevavevave, dAXr/Xovia.
Td SiKaicufiard aov [vs. 12b]-
dAevavevave, dAXiJAovia.
'YnaAAayr): 'E{r]ae[v\ ue [vs. 50b]
dXevavevave, dXXrjXovia.
Ecphonesis Ecphonesis Ecphonesis

'Autjv. MaKapioioi duwpoi 68$
'Aufjv, Mampioi oi duwuoi iv 'Aufjv.
iv 6St3 MaKapioi oi duwuoi iv 68&
[vs. la] 'dAAr/Aovia. [vs. la]-dAAriAovia. [vs. la]- dXevavevave, dAArjXovia.
Choral verse: Choral verse: Choral verse:
MampT... [vs. 1, incipit only] MaKapioi... [vs. 1, incipit only] MaKapioi oi d~...
[vs. 1, incipit only]
At the censing: At the censing:
EvXoyryr&s el, Kvpie SiSa(dv EvAoyqrds
fie TO. el, Kvpie 8i8a6v ue ra
SiKaiwpard oov [vs. 12]. SiKaioifiard oov [vs. 12].
'aAevaveveXovxovia, 'aAevaveveXovxovia,
vaAexevaveXovxovia. vaAexevaveXovxovia.
[6 through-composed settings with Rubric: Rubric:

extended refrains by George EtfiovAjjAeyets eis TOP ipaAjidv Ei fiovAfl Aeyets els rov tpaAfidv
Konwpetres:] TOVTOV Kai dAArjAovidpta ei? TOVTOVTOIS mi dAArjAovidpta et's" TOP
aurdv fyou. avrdv rfxoiy.
'Qs itri ndma TTXOVTOJ;- ("You may sing alleluiaria in this
("You may sing alleluiaria in this
[vs. 14b, 2 settings] mode with this psalm ad libitummode
)" with this psalm ad libitum ")
Td Sucata/iard aov
[vs. 24b? and/or 26b?, 2 settings]
AVTT) ue TTapeKdXeaav ...[vs. 50]
MeoovvKriov 4êyeip6ur]v... [vs. 62]

Adfa mi wv Adfix mi
Perisse: Perisse: Perisse:
'AXXr)Xovia, dXXrjXovLa, dXevave... 'AXXrjXovia, dXXTjXovia, dXevave... 'AAArjXovla, dAXrjXovia, dXeva...
[Incipit of the melody for vs. 12b [Incipit of the melody for vs. 12b [Incipit of the melody sung for vs.
sung at the censing] sung at the censing] 12b in the opening solo intonation]
The first week of Athens 2061 and the unique weekly cycle of Athens 2062 transmit
identical and structurally conventional musical introductions in M o d e Plagal II for the first
'stasis.' These are followed in both cases by a moderately florid setting of verse 12 appointed
for use at the censing described i n the writings of Symeon (Example 33). W h i l e the second
week of Athens 2061 does not transmit a separate melody for verse 12, it seems l i k e l y , for
b. After the Ecphonesis.'
Example 32: First 'Stasis of the A m o m o s ( M S Athens 2061, Week 2)^

238
i
5=
fc=rV=E 3a r- J r
4=** *
\ 6lJ-Ao-jr'J-ro$ tt, KVJ - pt- , 6c'-Sa-cV w 5t - Kat - - ^
0
^ca w >4A-)l - id - a t - U l " Aoy -
, n Jj
A v
lit
5= 5
^ - Aw - xo^ l - et.
Example 33: Amomos 'Stasis' 1, Verse at the Censing ( M S Athens 2062).
^ c
n V-rr\
5 nut . 5 /U' -
i
V Aou - V - et, taX
' L uJji, r m,uj

V r
r r
r"IL/UIJ ir
I,I
't- ..
7- : A
^ C|) : , 1aX - X*| - W - v -
Êxample 34: The Second Melody by Kontopetres for Ps. 118:14b ( M S Athens 2062).
239
reasons that w i l l soon be made clear, that the fragment of this verse appearing in its triple
intonation may have been employed at the censing.
The setting of verse 12 is followed in Athens 2062 by a series of six settings attributed
to the early fourteenth-century composer George Kontopetres. 39

These through-composed
works consist of partial or complete verses followed by alleluias extended through various
degrees of textual repetition. The style and median length of these chants is illustrated by
Example 34, which shows the composer's second melody for verse 14b. This composition
begins with the dissolution of a formulaic reciting tone into short melismas that are linked to a
series of alleluias by the interpolated cue "A.e'ye" ("say"). 40

W h i l e no similar newly composed
settings are included among the chants of the first 'stasis' for either week of Athens 2061, both
ordinaries feature a rubric giving the singers the option of singing the succeeding verses with
"alleluiaria." From the prominence given to the refrain in the works by Kontopetres i n Athens
2062, it seems likely that this instruction refers to the addition of similar extended alleluias.
A t the conclusion of the first 'stasis,' the final solo coda (perisse) of all three ordinaries
exhibits an unusual relationship with one of the preceding melodies. A s we have seen in the
ordinary settings for the invariable first antiphon of asmatic matins, the perisse normally
recapitulates the melody of the antiphon's opening solo intonation. The codas of Athens 2062
and the first week of Athens 2061, however, recapitulate the melody of the verse sung at the
censing. Despite the fact that it does not include a full setting of verse 12, a similar pattern may
be observed in the second week of Athens 2061, the perisse of which recapitulates music
attached to the fragment of this verse in the initial intonation, thereby offering confirmation for
our hypothesis that this melody was used at the censing:
Example 35: Perisse of the First 'Stasis' (cf. Example 32a, staffs 2-3).
3 9
On Kontopetres, see Conomos, Communion Cycle, 78.
4 0
Such connecting modules are frequent in the Neo-Sabaitic repertories of through-composed psalms for the
Liturgy of the Hours. On their function, see Edward V. Williams, "John Koukouzeles' Reform of Byzantine
Chanting for Great Vespers in the Fourteenth Century," (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1968), 181-85, 226-32.
240
Although neither Symeon nor the Antiphonaria record any ceremonies like those
accompanying the first 'stasis' that might have provided a rationale for variations to their
antiphonal frameworks, all three settings of the second 'stasis' once more feature certain
structural peculiarities (Table 9). A s before, the music for the second week of Athens 2061
displays such changes from the outset, i n this instance reversing the normal stylistic
relationship between the intonation after the ecphonesis and its succeeding choral verse
(Example 3 6 ) . 41
Specifically, the initial intonation is given a relatively simple melody that
reappears i n modified form as the first choral verse, rather than as the second intonation after
the " A m e n . " Continuing the parallels with their counterparts in the first 'stasis,' the
introductory chants of Athens 2062 and the first week of Athens 2061 are again relatively
conventional, possessing identical pairs of solo intonations before and after the celebrant's
ecphonesis that share melodic material i n the expected way. These are followed in each
manuscript by a simpler setting of the first choral verse that is cast in a low register and
prefaced by the rubric "quieter" (Example 37).
Rubrics following the model choral verse in both weeks of Athens 2061 indicate that,
as was customary in asmatic antiphons, its melody was employed for the succeeding verses.
This pattern of performance was evidently interrupted at verse 126, for which all three
ordinaries transmit through-composed solo settings. The related repertories of Athens 2062
and the first week of Athens 2061 provide the same music for this verse (Example 38). W h i l e
this melody is presented anonymously i n Athens 2062, Athens 2061 contains an attribution to
the early fourteenth-century domestikos Christophoros, together with a rubric directing the
42
domestikos to "double," possibly at the octave 4 3

The second week of Athens 2061 includes a
slightly simpler "old" ( iraAai6i>") melody for verse 126 in M o d e II by George Panaretos that
n
was sung, according to the accompanying rubric, by the domestikos i n a louder voice.
4 1
One should note, however, that a second hand has written part of the melody of the intonation after the
ecphonesis above the neumes of first intonation (Athens 2061, f. 46r).
4 2
Conomos, Communion Cycle, 75.
For a discussion of the technical application of the verb "SnrXaotdCcx)" in Late Byzantine musical
4 3
manuscripts, see Williams, "John Koukouzeles' Reform," 257-59.

241
TABLE 9
MUSICAL REPERTORIES OF THE ANTIPHONARIA FOR THE AMOMOS
OF ORDINARY SUNDAYS: 'STASIS' 2 (PS. 118:73-131)
Athens 2062 (f. 42r-43r, 44r) Athens 2061: Week 1 (f. 24r-24v) Athens 2061: Week 2 (f. 46r-46v)
Modes Nenano and Plagal II Modes Nenano and Plagal II Mode II
Solo intonation: Solo intonation: Solo intonation:

Kal errXaadv ue [vs. 73b]' Kai errXaadv pe [vs. 73b] -
Kal errXaadv pe [vs. 73b] -
Swenadv ue, Kvpie. Swenadv pe, Kvpie. Svvenadv pe, Kvpie.

'Aprjv. Al x if S' oov erroir\adv ue
>e
'Aufjv. Ai A'rfpe? aov erroirpdv pe 'Aufjv. Ai x&pes aov eiroirjadv pe
Kai errXaadv ue [vs. 73b]' Kai errXaadv ue [vs. 73b]' Kal errXaadv pe [vs. 73b] -
Svvenaov pe, Kvpie. Svvenaov pe, Kvpie. Swenadv pe, Kvpie.

Choral Verse: Choral Verse: Choral Verse:
'HavxttJTepov: Ai êi/jes* aov 'HavxcoTefioy Ai gapes' oov Ai xîp^S aov erroiijadv pe Kal
erroirpdv ue Kal errXaadv ue [vs. erroirfrdv pe Kal irrXaadv pe [vs. errXaadv pe [vs. 73b] -
73b] Svvenaov ue, Kvpie.

-
73b]- Svvenaov pe, Kvpie. Svvenadv pe, Kvpie.
Rubric: Rubric:
Kai </>dUerai TO piAos ecu? TOV
iMAAerai d'Arj rj ardms TO avrd
peAos ecus' ipSe. Eis Se TOP aTixof TOVTOI/. Kai evdus Aeyei
OTIXOIS TOVTOK SinAamdCei d Sopeonicos yeyuvorepg </myfj TO
So/iean/cos mi.Aeyei TOV TOV JTavapeTov Kvpov Fecopyiov.
[Setting by Christophoros] Xptarorpopov: /TaAaidy.
Kaipos TOV rroifjaai TO) Kvpiio Kaipos- TOV rroifjaai TIO Kvpiu
Kaipos TOV rroifjaai T(3 Kvpiij)
SieoKeSaoav TOV vdpov aov SieOKeSaaav TOV vdpov aov SieoKeSaoav TOV vdpov aov
[vs. 126] [vs. 126] [vs. 126]-
Aeye, ovve, ovvenaov pe, Kvxvpie. Aeye, ovve, avvenodv pe, Kvxvpie. Svvenaov pe, Kvpie.
Kal avvenei vqxirriovs 'H SfjXcoais TWV Xdywv aov cpconei

[vs. 130b] -
Kal avvenei vqrriovs [vs. 130]
Svvenaov pe, Kvpie, avvenadxo, Svve. avvenodv pe, Kvpie.
avvenodv pe, Kvpie.
Tov TTarpLKiov Kai SopeartKov:
Ada ITaTpi, ml Tii3, Kal Ayicoxu
TTvevpan Svvenodxov pexexe,
ovvenaov pe, Kvpie.
Tov FTavapeTov:
Ad(a TTarpi, Kal Tiqi, Kal Ayiij) Ad(a ITaTpi, Kal Tiw, KOI Ayiw
TTvevpan- Svve, avvenodv pe, ve TIvevpaTi - Svvenaov pe, Kvpie.
avvenadv pe, Kvpie.
Kai wis, TO auTd
Perisse: Diegermos: Perisse:

Svvenaov pe, Kvpie, Svvenadv pe, Kvpie, Svvenaov pe, Kvpie,
ovvenaov peve Kvpie. avvenodv peve Kvpie. avvenadxov pe Kvpie.
242
,\'EK<$Hi)vr)(Jis.
i/-,-^y First Solo Intonation ,
(fti-Cu" 11 1
T 1 1 1
Kai e - f ^ < - ^ yU - >tl-n-irov /*> Ki/-/H-
Second Solo Intonation

r
-V> L
_ ( ) - <rov L i t . o - vt ** 3
tt - <rov
r First Choral Verse O r
A /
fP
u
j _ ft * pf -f
0 ^ / pi, KI/-/H
v - ve ' rt - ffi
Example 36: Intonations and M o d e l Choral Verse of the A m o m o s , 'Stasis' 2

( M S Athens 2061, Week 2).
U. i J> n P h h r> M I1) l>

yffi-p^ , V- r) - <rV p( Kai | . t^'trJ* fit. u - ve - z<- - <roV
P^ ^ >
^ j : / J 4 1 1
Example 37: M o d e l Choral Verse in M o d e Plagal II for the A m o m o s , 'Stasis' 2

( M S Athens 2061, Week 1). . "
243
ii ," ''ij,
T
" 1
1 7 / y M 1
l i f e
6x) vo ^ <rv.
fipf. J'iwft ;3 fffl .ft j i
Example 38: Ps. 118:126 by Christophoros ( M S Athens 2061, Week 1).
Several other through-composed verses subsequently appear i n the repertories of
Athens 2062 and the second week of Athens 2061 for the second 'stasis.' In addition to a pair
of unrelated anonymous settings of verse 130, the two manuscripts contain a total of three
versions of the antiphon's concluding "Glory be to the Father." Athens 2062 features an
anonymous composition in the Nenano mode, while the second week of Athens 2061 has a
moderately florid work by Patrikios the domestikos, followed by a more modest setting by
George Panaretos (Example 39), both of which are in Mode I I . 44

These melodies for the
GloriaPatriwhich are the only notated settings of this doxology to appear in any of the three
'staseis' of the asmatic Amomos for ordinary Sundayswere evidently repeated by the
opposite choir with the second half of the doxology. This aspect of asmatic performance
practice is indicated by a rubric following the work of Panaretos i n Athens 2061 directing that
"Both now and ever" should be sung to the same melody.
A t the conclusion of the second 'stasis,' all three repertories conclude with a perisse.
The related ordinaries of Athens 2062 and the first week of Athens 2061 transmit slightly
different recensions of a single melody. Rather curiously, this music is not derived from any
Williams (ibid., 215) places the period of Patrikios' activity in the first half of the fifteenth century.
244
0 /w. - rt 2 u - vc" - r<- -<rcv y^t
JTJ [ i f ; ^ J l f
Example 39: "Glory be to the Father" by Panaretos for the A m o m o s , 'Stasis' 2

( M S Athens 2061, Week 2).
f-%y ,f
Xu-yt-zi-roY/At , Kv - pi - 1 OV _
f
y A
^ } ^cr
Ex. 36 sfaf? 3
ri f he A m 0 m 0 S
>
' '
S a S i S
' 2 < M S A
' t a s 2 0 6
> - W k 2).
245
previous verse, thereby negating the usual recapitulatory function of a perisse within an
antiphon. The Mode II setting contained i n the second week of Athens 2061 is also somewhat
peculiar, quoting not from the opening intonationwhich, as we previously noted, was
uncharacteristically related to the melody of the choral reciting tonebut from a portion of the
second intonation after the ecphonesis (Example 40).
The musical repertories of the Antiphonaria for the third 'stasis' of the asmatic A m o m o s
on ordinary Sundays (Table 10), unlike those of the previous two antiphons, include only
anonymous settings of verses and refrains. In another departure from the patterns established
in the preceding 'staseis,' all three settings are i n the same mode and employ, albeit with some
variations, a common set of melodies. Alterations to the conventional structures of asmatic
antiphony such as those we have noted above, however, appear in all three repertories for the
third 'stasis,' beginning with a troped intonation prefixing each setting. In the ordinaries of
Athens 2062 and the first week of Athens 2061, the intonation "Kai e\er\oov pe
dXArjAovia" is preceded by a fragment of verse 168. This trope is accompanied by a florid
refrain of the type previously designated an "alleluiarion" by the rubrics of Athens 2061
(Example 41). In the second weekly ordinary of Athens 2061, the order of the two segments
is reversed and a final cadence is affixed to the end of the alleluiarion.
The main body of the third 'stasis' begins after the ecphonesis i n all three settings with
the stock introductory formula for antiphons in M o d e Plagal I V that we have previously seen
employed i n chants of the second week from Athens 2061 (Example 42, cf. Example 31, staff
three and Example 32b). This opening is followed i n each case by a recapitulation of only the
music for verse 132a from the first intonation, appended to which is either an incipit or a
complete setting of the initial choral verse. Instead of being set i n a considerably simpler
melodic idiom than the intonation, the choral verse and its refrain are themselves variants of the
preceding solo. Rubrics in the two ordinaries of Athens 2061 allowing the performance of
alleluiaria, however, indicate that the musical style of the antiphon could have been elevated
further by the insertion of even more elaborate compositions.

246
TABLE 10
MUSICAL REPERTORIES OF THE ANTIPHONARIA FOR THE AMOMOS

OF ORDINARY SUNDAYS: 'STASIS' 3 (PS. 118:132-76)
Athens 2062 (f. 43r-43v) Athens 2061: Week 1 (f. 24v-25v) Athens 2061: Week 2 (f. 46v-47v)
Mode Plagal IV Mode Plagal IV Mode Plagal IV

'Evavriov oov, Kvpie [vs. 168b]- 'Evavriov aov, Kvpie [vs. 168b]- Kai eXerjadv pe [vs. 132a]-
AvavayiavaXevexeoveyye, AiavaXevexeoveyye, dXXrjXovia.
dXXrjXovia. dXXrjXovia. 'Evavriov aov, Kvpie [vs. 168b]-
Kai eXerjodv pe [vs. 132a]' Kai eXirjodv pe [vs. 132a]- AxavayiaxaXevexeoveyye,
dXXrjXovia. dXXrjXovia. dXXrjXovia.

ErripXeipov err' epe Kai eXerjodv pe
'ErrifiXetpov err' epe Kai eXer/adv pe
'ErrifiXeipov irr' ipe mi eXerjadv pe
[vs. 132a]- [vs. 132a]- [vs. 132a]-
dXXrjXovia. dXXnXovia. dXXrjXovia.
Choral Verse: Choral Verse: Choral Verse:
'ErrifiXeipov en' epe Kai eXeryadv pe
'ErrifiXeipov err' epe mi eXerpdv Em'/SXetpov
pe e~... [incipit only]
- dXXrjXovia. dXXrjXovia.
Rubrics: Rubrics:
Ei deAei mi eis TOI> i/)aApdy Ei deAei ml eis Toy ipaApdy
TOVTOV i/tdAAei dAArjAovidpia eis
rovToy ipdAAet dAArjAovidpia d
TOV avrdv rjxov. Sopeanms eis Toy avrdv rjxov.
Rubric:
El's Se Toy arixoy TOOTOV yiverai
Eis Se TOV arixov TOVTOV yiveratEis Se TOV arixoy TOVTOV yiyerai
rj EiaoSos Kai Aeyerat ro rj EidoSos mi Aeyerat TO rj EiaoSos ml Aeyerai TO
EiaoStmv TO EtfvAafa: EiaoStmy OVTCOS-- EiaoSiKdy
E<pvXa(a rs" einoAds aov KaiE<pvXaa
TO. rag evroXds aov mi Ec/>vXa(a
Td rds evroXds aov mi TO
papTvpid aov, on rrdaai ai 6Soi paprvpid aov, on rrdaai ai 6Soipaprvpid aov, on rrdaai ai 6Soi
pov evavriov aov, Kvpie [vs. 168]-
pov evavriov aov, Kvpie [vs. 168]-
pov evavriov aov, Kvpie [vs. 168] -
aw...[incipit only] ava...[incipit only] ava...[incipit only]
Elra Aeyouatv mi rovg Aoirrovs'
Tovro Se Adyerat eyrds TOV yaov Tovro Se Aeyerai eyrds rod yaov
OTIXOV$: eis TO peaoy perd Tijy EtaoSov: eis TO peaoy perd rr)y EiaoSov:
EiaeXdoi TO d(iu>~... EiaeXdoi TO d(iajpd pov evtomovEiaeXdoi TO dfr'apd pov evt&mdv
[vs. 170a, incipit only] aov, Kvpie- mrd TO Xdyiov aov aov, Kvpie- mrd TO Xdyiov aov
pvoai pe [vs. 170]- pvoai pe [vs. 170]-
dXXijXovia, dvaXXrjvaXrjXovia. dXXijXovia.
Rubrics: Rubrics:
Kal Aeyei mi d dptarepds XPSKai Ae~yei ml d dptarepds xpds
arixoy TO avrd peAos. 'Opoicos
arixoy TO avrd peAos. 'Opoitos
rrdAiv ml TOVS Aoirrovs arixovsndAiy ml TOVS Aoirrovs arixovs
OVTCOS. OVTCOS-
Adfiz, ml yvy TO avrd peAos. Adfir, mi yvy ro avrd.

"Yarepoy Se rrepiaarjv rd EiaoStmy
"Torepoy Se rrepiaarjv rd EiaoStmy
Ada, mi yvy, mi nepiaarjy rrdAiy.- rrdAtv:
AXXrjXovia, dXXrjXoviavavayi 'AXXrjXovia, dXXrjXoviavavayi 'AXXrjXovia, dXXrjXoviavavavayi
aXevexeoveyye, dXXrjXovia. avaXevexeoveyye, dXXrjXovia. avaXexevexeoveyye, dXXrjXovia.
247
I
i Example 41: First Solo Intonation of the A m o m o s , 'Stasis' 3 ( M S Athens 2061, Week 1).
fbl - fcv eft' - ui

-y* K<ti l - X t - 1*
1 te ri fift J i n v U/
*7
Xou - V - et.
~ vv v
A
V -<
Example 42: Intonation After the Ecphonesis and M o d e l Choral Verse for the A m o m o s ,
, 'Stasis' 3 (Athens 2061, W e e k 1). ^ ~- - -
248
The third 'stasis' of the Amomos, like the first, accompanied and provided musical
cues for the ritual actions of a liturgical ceremony, which was in this case the entrance of the
liturgical assembly into the nave. A l l three ordinaries transmit essentially identical solo settings
of verse 168 (Example 43), which they designate the verse of entry (eisodikon). This verse
recapitulates the music of the trope to the first solo intonation of the antiphon, thus displaying
the same relationship previously noted i n the second week of Athens 2061 between the
"censing" verse (Psalm 118:12) of the first 'stasis' and its preceding triple intonation. Its
appellation, however, conflicts with the descriptions of the matutinal entrance rite by Symeon
of Thessalonica and Demetrios Chomatenos, both of whom place the procession at verse 170,
the text of which ("Let my supplication come before Thee, O Lord") conveys the idea of entry.
This disagreement between the sources is underlined by the rubrics attached to the settings of
verse 170 i n Athens 2061, which mandate the performance of this verse " i n the middle of the
church." In any case, it may be remarked that the melodies of these two settings of verse 170
are not related to each other nor to any of the antiphon's intonations. The version transmitted
by the first week is an anonymous through-composed work with alleluiarion, while that of the
second is a simple formulaic setting perhaps representing the melodic continuation of this
ordinary's incipit for the choral psalm-tone and refrain (Example 44). Identical rubrics i n both
ordinaries of Athens 2061 direct that the remaining verses of the 'stasis' and the succeeding
"Glory to the Father" be sung to the melody provided for verse 170. A s had also occurred at
the end of the first 'stasis,' the third antiphon concludes with a perisse recapitulating the
melody of the soloist's cue, in this case the eisodikon, rather than the music of the intonation
after the celebrant's ecphonesis. 45

None of these codas include a final cadence, thereby
facilitating the uninterrupted transition to the Benedicite in the same musical mode.
4 5
The melodic identity of the perisse and the eisodikon in the final variable antiphon is noted by Symeon in
the model weekday ordinary of the Hypotyposis (Athens 2047, f. 1 lv).
J
249
Example 43: Verse of Entry (Ps. 118:168) from M S Athens 2061, Week 1.
i Example 44: Verse Sung i n the Middle of the Nave (Ps. 118:170) from M S Athens 2061,
\Week2.
250
2. Morning Psalmody at the Ambo
The writings of Symeon do not indicate any modifications to the traditional asmatic
order for the canticle of the Three Children, the music for which we have discussed a b o v e . 46
The treatise On Divine Prayer and the unpublished works of Athens 2047 do, however, supply
some new details about the ritual actions that accompanied the chanting of the Benedicite after
the entry into the nave. According to the liturgical commentary:
While this [canticle] is being sung, they ascend, the priest holding the cross like an angel,
and the bishop symbolising the Lord. W i t h everyone following, they ascend i n the
direction of the sanctuary, as if toward the throne of G o d . A n d the bishop sits on his
throneby which I mean his stasidionwhich manifests the Saviour's ascension into
Heaven and session at his throne. The cross is then affixed to the ambo opposite the
sanctuary, witnessing to all the death and resurrection of the Saviour, and, through its three
candles, to the doctrine of the Trinity4 7
The location of the Archbishop's throne and the placement of his clergy around the
ambo of Hagia Sophia at matins may be inferred from the Taxis of Athens 2047, which
provides a detailed account of their arrangement at asmatic vespers:
The archbishop is situated at his throne, below which, in front of the throne, the bishops
are arranged by rank toward the East, that is to say to the right of the archbishop, who is
placed above them; to his left and below the senior bishop the stavrophoroi begin to be
48
arranged according to rank, descending toward the West, and after them the remaining
deacons with offices ("cxpcpiKidAioi SiaKovot"). The presbyters [are located] by the side
of the ambo opposite the deacons, while the o s t i a r i o i [are arrayed] in front of the holy
49
ikons placed i n the templon ("ev rots' SiaorvAois") when bishops are present; i f not,
they are arranged laterally, from the pier near the throne to the sanctuary barrier. W i t h
regard to the cantors, the first domestikos is placed on the first step of the solea on the
right, while the remaining [singers of the first choir] are below, on the side, [arranged]
according to rank facing the archbishop. W i t h them are the covered and uncovered
readers, two of whom are placed outside the H o l y Doors [of the sanctuary], in order that
50
they may serve at the holy altar when necessary and to chant aloud "Kyrie eleison" and the
other [responses] during the petitions. O n feast days, the other domestikos is placed on the
4 6
Cf. supra, Example 8.
4 7
PG 155, col. 640 (my translation).
4 8
Beginning in the fourteenth century, stavrophoroi were high ranking officials bearing a cross on their
coiffure. On these "cross-bearers," see Jean Darrouzes, Recherches sur les O&PIKIA de l'eglise byzantine,
Archives de VOrient Chretien 11 (Paris: Institut Francais d'fitudes Byzantines, 1970), 126, 136, 157; Neil K.
Moran, Singers in Late Byzantine and Slavonic Painting, Byzantina Neerlandica 9 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1
and Symeon of Thessalonica, TTepi TCOU lepcSv xeiporoficois, PG 155, col. 369.
4 9
Ecclesiastical ostiarioi were "doorkeepers" of diaconal rank. See "Ostiarios," in ODB 3, 1540.
5 0
Late Byzantine singers of higher rank wore hats or bonnets as part of their clerical dress. See Moran,
Singers, 37
251
other side of the solea, on the left step, while the remaining cantors form a chorus facing
toward the archbishop outside of the ambo, or are placed on the other side, outside of the
solea facing south. 51
The arrangement of the clergy around the ambo of Hagia Sophia can be visualised by
comparing the prescriptions of the Taxis with the plan of the church shown above i n Figure 9.
Since all of the church's liturgical furnishings were removed after its conversion to a mosque i n
1523/24 ( A H 930), the exact dimensions and placement of its ambo, templon, and solea are
conjectural. Nevertheless, the rubrics of Athens 2047 clearly indicate that the disposition of the
ambo and solea in the fifteenth-century Hagia Sophia reflected Constantinopolitan principles of
liturgical planning, rather than the ancient local forms employed in Thessalonica's Late Antique
basilicas. Located on the central axis of the church, the ambo was of the two-stair variety, with
3 steps o n its eastern end, and possibly another three on its western end 5 2
Similarly, the
solea was evidently a raised passageway connecting the ambo to the "Holy Doors" of the
templon that was approachable from its western end by single steps on its north and south
sides. 53
The chanting of the Benedicite, according to Symeon, concluded with a GloriaPatri
accompanied by Trinitarian and Marian tropes, followed by a perisse and the Marian troparion
"Ze TO dnopdrjTov relxos" 54

The Synaxarion for the day was then read to a seated
assembly, the members of which had already assumed their appointed p l a c e s . 55

A t the
conclusion of this reading litanies were recited, although Symeon is less than clear about their
number or the identity of their texts. In the two orders for matins in the Ekthesis and i n the
treatise On Divine Prayer, Symeon refers to an ektene after the S y n a x a r i o n , indicating that a
56
5 1
Darrouzes, "Sainte-Sophie de Thessalonique," 53 (my translation).
5 2
Phountoules, "Maprvpiai," 151-53. The rubrics of Athens 2047, which clearly call for an ambo of the
two-stair variety, therefore exclude the possibility that the monolithic single-stair "ambo of Hagia Sophia,
Thessalonica" presently in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul was employed as the church's main ambo in
the fifteenth century. Cf. supra, p. 174, n. 17.
5 3
Phountoules, idem, 162-63. As Moran (Singers, 29-31) has noted, Darrouzes (p. 66, Fig. 2) mistakenly
assumes that the solea was a broad platform in front of the templon, as are those found in modern Greek
churches.
5 4
PG 155, cols. 640-42; Treatise, 82; cf. Hypotyposis, f. 11 v.
5 5
Ekthesis, f. 7v, Hypotyposis, f. l l v ; PG 155, col. 645; Treatise, 85.
56 "'E/creyfjg Serpens yivopevr\s," Ekthesis, f. 6v; "yiverai e/crevfj," idem, f. 7v; "77 eicrevrfs yi
Serpis? PG 155, col. 645.
252
litany of fervent supplication with a response of three K y r i e eleisons was chanted. 57

The
model weekday order of the Hypotyposis, however, does not mention an ektene, but includes
the following reference to another form of Byzantine litany:
Kai evQvs Kadnpevcov, TO ovva^dptov TiBeTai Kai peTa TOVTO 6 iepevs,

nXrjpoSaoopef TT)V Senoif r)ptx>v, ecus TOV Xpioriava TO. TeXn TTJS Cufjs' 6
dopecrriKos, TO netn-nKOOTapiof TTJS fjpepas' 6 iepevs, Tfjs TTauayCas, Kai
eK<pc6vriOLV, 'Ekeei Kai oiKTOtppois' 6 SopeoriKos TO nevTrjKOOTdpiov peTa rov
TrevTnKooTov.
A n d then with [everyone] seated, the Synaxarion is recited. After this, the priest
[commences the litany] "Let us complete our supplication," [continuing] until the [petition]
" A Christian ending to [our] lives," [at which point] the domestikos [chants] the
pentekostarion of the day. The priest [then continues with] "[Commemorating our] Most-
H o l y , " and the ecphonesis, " B y the mercies and compassions." The domestikos [chants]
the pentekostarion with [the first verse of] Psalm 50 5 8
The aiteseis mentioned here are petitions accompanied by the response "Grant this, O L o r d , "
which, according to Symeon's Diataxis, were also placed before Psalm 50 at the matins on the
Sunday before Christmas. 59

This litany was evidently integrated with the succeeding psalm by
the interpolation of a solo rendition of its refrainin this case the Resurrectional pentekostarion
of the mode of the daybefore the concluding doxology of the celebrant, a format we have
previously seen employed for the antiphonal psalmody sung in the narthex. G i v e n this overlap
with Psalm 50, it seems unlikely that the aiteseis were ever omitted, leading one to the
conclusion that both of the litanies mentioned by Symeon were regularly recited after the
Synaxarion in the reformed rite. Yet it is noteworthy that neither the notated A n t i p h o n a r i a , 60
nor the earlier Constantinopolitan Euchologies surveyed by Arranz prescribe the recitation of
The form and character of the Byzantine ektene are discussed in John Baldovin, The Urban Character of
5 7
Christian Worship: The Origins, Development, and Meaning of Stational Liturgy, OCA 228 (Rome:
221-25; and Peter Jeffery, "Litany," in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, vol. 7, ed. Joseph R. Strayer (New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982), 589-90.
Hypotyposis, f. l l v (my translation).
5 8
Athens 2047, Diataxis, f. 215v. The form and origins of the Byzantine aiteseis are thoroughly examined in
5 9
Robert F. Taft, The Great Entrance: A History of the Transfer of Gifts and other Preanaphoral Rites
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, OCA 200 (Rome: 1975), 311-49.
6 0
Rubrics attached to the chants for Monday matins in Athens 2062 direct the insertion of the pentekostarion
prior to "Tfjg Tlavayiag" but refer to the preceding litany as a synapte, which could have been either the Great
Synapte of Peace or, more likely, a little synapte. For the text of these instructions, see Kosmas I. Georgiou,
" 'H efiSopaSiaia disrupcDWKr] Karauopf] TCOU ipaAp&v Kai T&V ($8&V eig rag 'A. i ^ S 'AKoAovBLag a Ji TLKa
eonepivov Kai opdpov. EXkqviKoi MOVOLKOL KcoSiKeg 2061-2062 'EOviKfjs BifiAi.o6fJKr)g Adr
(Ph.D. diss., Pontifical Oriental Institute, 1976), 8.
253
either litany at this point i n asmatic matins, reserving them for the final segment of the service
celebrated in the sanctuary. 61

Since the transposition of the two litanies from the end of the
service may therefore have been a recent innovation, perhaps one or both was still occasionally
omitted i n favour of a small synapte. 62
After the celebrant's ecphonesis, Psalm 50 was sung by the two choirs according to the
cathedral rite's traditional division into ten long verses, each of which was accompanied by a
non-scriptural refrain 6 3
O n ordinary Sundays, the first six of these versescorresponding to
verses 3-12 i n the Rahlfs Septuaginta were followed by the resurrectional pentekostarion
64
of the mode, the texts of which are included i n Symeon's abridged Oktoechos. A t "Remove
not Thy face from me" (Ps. 50:13-14), according to the Sunday order of the Ekthesis, 65
the
resurrectional apolytikion of the mode was sung, followed by the troparion of the saint of the
day. O n weekdays, and conceivably on ordinary Sundays as well, verses 17-19 then served
to introduce the generic Marian kontakion TJpoaraaCa riZv XpLcrnavcov" while 20-21
n
prefaced the kontakion of St. Demetrios "Tots TOJV aipdrcou aov peidpots, ArjprJTpie." 66
A t the end of Psalm 50, i n place of the ferial troparia " V povoyevr\s YLos" and " Tr)u
virepei/8o(?ov" cited in the Antiphonaria, the weekday outlines of Athens 2047 and the treatise
On Divine Prayer, the Sunday order of the Ekthesis mandates the chanting of a presumably
6 1
6 2
The similar transposition and doubling of the aiteseis in the Divine Liturgy is discussed in Taft, The Great
Entrance, 333-38.
6 3
Symeon refers to the division of Psalm 50 into ten verses in the model ferial matins of the Hypotyposis (f.
llv.) This corresponds both to the long verses in the Saturday ordinary of Athens 2062 (cf. supra, Examples 9-
10), and to its versification in the famous ninth-century Khludov Psalter, a mixed-rite document with marginal
illustrations. A reproduction of the text of Psalm 50 from the latter source is published in the facsimile edition
of M. V. Shchepkina, Miniatiury Khlodovskoi Psaltyri: Grecheskii illiustrirovannyi kodeks IX veka (M
Iskusstvo, 1977), f. 50r-51r.
6 4
Alfred Rahlfs, ed., Septuaginta: Id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interpretes, 2, Libri
prophetici (Athens and Stuttgart: EAAr)vud) BifiAiKfj 'EraLpia and Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1979), 53.
6 5
The treatise On Divine Prayer (PG 155, col. 648), which appears to conflate the Sunday and weekday rubrics
for Psalm 50, records the chanting of the Marian kontakion " IJpooTaota" at this verse. Note also that
Simmons' translation (Treatise, 86) mistakenly omits the reference to the kontakion.
66
Hypotyposis, f. llv.
254
syllabic setting of the [resurrectional] h y p a k o e . 67

Symeon then offers an interesting
explanation for this rubric:
To Se 'TnepeuXoyrfpevr) KaraXipTTdverai, iva ev rfj reXevraia elaoSu) viro TOJV

lepecov perd TO ecodivov upvrjdrjaeTaL.
The [troparion] "Most-blessed" is omitted, so that it may be sung by the priests at the final
entrance [into the sanctuary] after the Morning [Gospel Sticheron by L e o ] . 68
A s we observed above in Chapter Four, the Marian troparion " 'YTrepevXoyqpevrj vnapxeis " -
precedes the Great Doxology in musical sources ranging chronologically from the Asmatika to
the Antiphonaria and Akolouthiai of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Symeon, however,
appears to be referring to the older traditionrecorded in the tenth-century Typikon of the
Great Church and evidently antedating the introduction of a Gospel of the Resurrection at
asmatic Sunday matinsof employing this hymn as a pentekostarion. 69

Unfortunately, the
absence of any music or detailed rubrics for Psalm 50 i n the Sunday ordinaries of Athens 2061
and 2062 makes it impossible to know whether Symeon was himself responsible for the
replacement of the Marian troparion with the hypakoe, or whether the use of
" 'YirepeuXoy-qpevrj VTrapxets-" as a pentekostarion had been made redundant by its adoption
for performance before the Great Doxology.
Following the conclusion of Psalm 50, the traditional progression of asmatic Sunday
matins was temporarily suspended i n the reformed rite by the interpolation of a large body of
proper monastic hymnody. O n ordinary Sundays, according to the rubrics of Symeon's
Typikon, these hymns were mainly drawn from the eight-week cycle of resurrectional
hymnography of the Oktoechos. The relevant excerpts from this monastic book are for the
6 7
A syllabic setting would match the style of the preceding kontakion "ITpoaTaaLa" (cf. supra, Example 10).
In those few cases where the rubrics of Athens 2047 specify the chanting of a florid hypakoe, it is always found
in its traditional location at the beginning of the service in the narthex (cf. supra, Table 2).
6 8
Ekthesis, f. 7v (my translation).
6 9
T G E II, 100, 110.
255
most part transmitted in the abridged Asmatic Oktoechos of Athens 2047, while musical
settings would have been widely available in the notated collections of the Neo-Sabai'tic rite.
Although Symeon fails to mention them in his treatise On Divine Prayer, the Ekthesis
begins the sequence of Sunday hymns with the Antiphons of the Oktoechos (anavathmoi) in
the mode of the d a y . 70

Originally conceived as an eight-mode cycle of tropes to the "Psalms of
Ascent" (Ps. 119-33), the anavathmoi, following the disappearance of their biblical verses
sometime after the twelfth century 7 1

have consisted of "antiphons" comprised of three short
troparia each. The Asmatic Oktoechos provides the full set of three antiphons for Modes I
through Barys (Plagal III), together with all four antiphons for Mode Plagal I V .
The kanon appears to have commenced on Sundays in the reformed Thessalonian
cathedral rite immediately after the anavathmoi.' 72

For ordinary Sundays, the Ekthesis
appoints a total of eight troparia for each ode: four from the Oktoechosconsisting of two
troparia from the Resurrectional kanon and two from the kanon of the Theotokosfollowed by
an additional four troparia from the Menaion in honour of the saint of the d a y . 73
Rather
incongruously, however, the Asmatic Oktoechos consistently provides an extra stanza from the
Resurrectional kanon for each ode, for a total of five troparia. Whatever the function of this
additional hymn, the figure of eight troparia per ode given in the Ekthesis must be
supplemented by the prefatory model stanza ( h e i r m o s ) 74

and the recapitulatory concluding
troparion (katavasia). 75
It is not entirely clear from the rubrics of Athens 2047 whether or not kanons were
sung in the reformed rite with their corresponding biblical odes from the Palestinian Psalter.
7 0
Athens 2047, f. 7v.
7 1
anavathmoi, see Oliver Strunk, "The Antiphons of the Oktoechos," chap,
On the structure and origin of the
in Essays on Music in the Byzantine World (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1977), 165-90.
In the Neo-Sabai'tic rite, the Antiphons of the Oktoechos are separated from the kanon by the Order of the
7 2
Sunday Gospel.
7 3
Ekthesis, f. 7v.
7 4
The heirmoi for the Resurrectional kanons are identified in the Asmatic Oktoechos only by rubrics preceding
each ode. The Diataxis of Athens 2047, however, mentions the chanting of kanons with their heirmoi on
Chrismas Eve (f. 222v), the Sunday after the Nativity (f. 237v), and Theophany (f. 258v).
7 5
Rubrics or texts for the katavasiai of kanons occur frequently in the Hypotyposis and the Diataxis.
Nevertheless, one should note that Symeon also employs the word "katavasia" to describe a set of stichera in
which each is a contrafactum ("prosomoion") of a single model melody (e.g. Diataxis, f. 102v).
256
The single stichologia regularly cited by Symeon in the context of the kanon is that of the ninth
ode, leading Phountoules to conclude that the chanting of the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)
76
with its customary refrain "More honourable than the Cherubim" was the only vestige of the
canticles that survived transplantation from the monastic rite. Yet scattered throughout
77
Symeon's "Typikon" are rubrics hinting that, at least on some occasions, stichologiai other
than the Magnificat may have been performed. The clearest of these references occurs in the
weekday matins order of the Ekthesis, which states that the Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79) was
dropped on feast days from its usual place after Lauds because it had already been recited with
the twelve troparia of the kanon's ninth ode. 78

A more oblique allusion to the chanting of
kanons with their canticles appears among the propers of the Diataxis for the matins of
Christmas, where it is simply noted that the kanons for the day were sung "to twelve verses"
("els' orixovg IB "), possibly attesting to the interpolation of biblical verses among the
1 79
troparia.
Although Resurrectional kathismata are not mentioned in the Sunday morning order of
the Ekthesis the Asmatic Oktoechos provides a pair of these hymns after the third ode in
80
seven of its eight Sunday kanons, the exception being the kanon for Mode III. 81
These hymns
are selections from the two sets of poetic kathismata for each mode supplied by the standard
monastic recension of the Oktoechos for performance with the Sunday allotment of continuous
psalmody from the Palestinian Psalter. Since the third and fourth odes of the Resurrectional
82
7 6
"Kai eig TTJV ewa.TT]v, r) Tfjg npiajrepag aTiyoAoyla," Ekthesis, f. 8r.
7 7
To AeiTOvpyiKov ipyov Zvpetov roO OeaaaAovLKT/g (Thessalonica: 1966), 155-57; "V dyiog Svpecov
QeoaaAoviicqg awn~dicrr)g TVTTLKOV" chap, in flpa/cnm AecrovpyiKov avveSpiov eig TLprji/ Kai pvrjpr}i>
TOV ev dyiois narpog ijptov Svpecovog ApxtemaKOTrov OeaaaAovL/ajg TOV BavpaTovpyov,
(Thessalonica: 1981), 116.
1
p '^\ôvr^^raALpTrqvopevov
! a TOV Ei/AoyrjTog Kvpie, enei eppeQr\ ev TT) evvdrr] qJSfj eig IB"
~"* Diataxis, Athens 2047, f. 233v
80
The weekday orders of the Ekthesis (f. 6v) and the Hypotyposis (f. 1 lv), however, call for the chanting of
S ( J
poetic kathismata after Ode 3 of the kanon. Kathismata are also frequently provided among the festal propers of
the Diataxis.
8 1
Phountoules, 71? AeirovpyiKov epyov, 45.
With the exception of Mode I, for which the first two chants for the first stichologia of monastic matins
8 2
were chosen, the pairs of kathismata included in the Asmatic Oktoechos consist of the first hymn appointed by
modern printed editions of the Parakletike for each of the two stichologiai.
257
kanons for Sunday matins appear in the full Oktoechos without any intervening chants, the
transposition of poetic kathismata from the beginning of the monastic office represents an
adaptation of the practice, found frequently among kanons for the fixed and movable cycles of
the liturgical year, of inserting hymns after the third ode. The practical effect of this departure
from the traditional monastic order was to incorporate familiar Sunday kathismata from the
Oktoechos without violating the compactness of the monastic segment of the reformed
cathedral office.
Material extraneous to the usual Neo-Sabaitic sequence for the Sunday kanon was
similarly inserted between the sixth and seventh odes after the usual Resurrectional kontakion
and o i k o s . 83
In particular, the Ekthesis records the performance of several chants from the
monastic order of the Sunday Gospel, beginning with the hymn "Having seen the resurrection
of Christ." This was followed without pause i n the reformed asmatic matins of Sunday by the
three short troparia sung as concluding refrains to Psalm 50 in the monastic r i t e , 84

settings of
which are regularly transmitted i n Late Byzantine A k o l o u t h i a i . 85
W h i l e it is clear that the ninth poetic ode of the kanon commenced on ordinary Sundays
with the chanting of the Magnificat and its usual refrain, followed by the poetic troparia of the
day, Symeon's writings are somewhat ambiguous with regard to what happened at its
conclusion. In the treatise On Divine Prayer, Symeon reports that he had instituted the
Elevation of the Panagia as a daily occurrence in Thessalonica's "catholic churches" at the
conclusion of the ninth ode of m a t i n s . 86

This is a short service of thanksgiving normally
8 3
As Phountoules (To Aeirot/pyi/cdv ipyou, 45) has noted, the Asmatic Oktoechos transmits the
Resurrectional oikoi in a rather haphazard manner. Only the kanons for Modes I, II, and IV are actually supplied
with an oikos, while the text for Mode I is not the stanza included in modern editions of the Parakletike. The
ommission of oikoi appears to have been a scribal oversight, for the texts and rubrics of Athens 2047 generally
indicate the performance of an oikos after the sixth ode of kanons.
8 4
Ekthesis, f. 8r.
8 5
E.g. MS Athens 2622, f. 106r-110v; and MS Vienna Theol. gr. 185, f. 85v-87v. These sources include
ordinary settings of thefirsttwo chants in a generally syllabic melodic idiom. For the final verse "Jesus is risen
from the tomb," both manuscripts transmit only a highly florid version with optional kalophonic codas. The
Vienna Akolouthia, however, identifies this as a composition that was sung on Easter Sunday
("neuTTjKOOTdpiou tpaXXdpevov rfj dyiq Kai peydXrj Kvpiaicfj rod TTdoxa," f. 86v).
8 6
PG 155, col. 668. Note also that Simmons' English translation is defective at this point (Treatise, 100),
failing to translate the phrase "ev rals KaBoXimis eKKXrpLais."
258
celebrated in a monastic refectory i n which a loaf of bread is elevated in blessing to the Marian
troparion "It is truly meet." Within Athens 2047, the Elevation of the Panagia at ferial matins is
confirmed by the model order of the Hypotyposis? but the outline of Sunday matins in the
1
Ekthesis includes no reference to this ceremony. Yet this should not be considered positive
proof of its omission on Sundays, for the weekday order for morning prayer in the Ekthesis
similarly fails to mention the Elevation of the Panagia, while also ignoring the stichologia of the
Magnificat. The incompleteness of the Sunday order of the Ekthesis is further shown by its
omission of the Resurrectional exaposteilaria, despite their citation in the treatise On Divine
Prayer and the inclusion of their texts in the Asmatic Oktoechos. 88
Even if the Elevation of the Panagia was not held on Sundays, Symeon's placement of
this ceremony i n matins can be explained by the fact that the troparion "It is truly meet" was
regularly sung at the conclusion of the ninth ode at matins. Musical settings of this hymn for
performance in this latter context are transmitted in Akolouthiai manuscripts, including both
anonymous formulaic works and eponymous compositions representative of the Late
Byzantine tradition of Koukouzelian chant, a style of music which has hitherto not been
encountered i n reformed asmatic m a t i n s . 89

The salient features and liturgical application of
both types of chants become apparent in the following comparison of an anonymous
" 'AyiopeiriKov" setting with two alternate codas for this hymn by John Koukouzeles
transcribed from Athens 2458, a manuscript dated 1336 and the earliest copy of Koukouzeles'
akolouthiai known to have s u r v i v e d . 90

Set i n Mode Plagal II, the Athonite chant possesses the
generous melodic compass of an octave, and a simple structure ( A B B ' C C ) based on the
8 7
"Merd rr)v ewdTTjv evQvs, ixpovrat navayia- ml TO "A&ov iorlu XeyeraL," Hypotyposis, f. l l v .
8 8
PG 155, col. 648; Treatise, 86.
8 9
The mixed-rite Thessalonian Akolouthia MS Vienna Theol. gr. 185, for example, contains five complete
settings: an anonymous Athonite composition,(f. 94r) followed by works of John Glykes (f. 94v), John
Koukouzeles (f. 95 v), George Panaretos (f. 96r), and Demetrios Dokeianos (f. 96v). The manuscript also
transmits a total of thirteen kalophonic codas representing the composers Xenos Korones, John Koukouzeles,
and George Kontopetres (f. 96v-105v).
9 0
A thorough description of this important manuscript (including a complete inventory of its contents) is
given by Gregorios Th. Stathis,' 'H gopaTacn StacpopoTTOLrioj] oirajs mTaypdcpeTat OTOV tccuSim EBE 2458
TOV irovs 1336,' Xpianaui/cn 0eaaaAouLKr -TIaXaLoAoyeios' erroxij (Thessalonica, 1989), 167-211.
r
Occasional corrections were made in trancription from the slightly later MS Athens 2622.
259
Example 4 5 : " TipiooTepa r] Xeyopeun ayiopeiTiKos" ( M S Athens 2458).

260
recurrence of its opening phrases (Example 45). Significantly, the troparion's concluding two
words ("ai peyakvvopev") are repeated several times i n the work's extended final section
( C ) which, although not particularly short or easy, provides a point of reference for its more
elaborate substitutes.
Both of the kalophonic compositions by Koukouzeles from Athens 2458 begin with the
phrase " Tr)v OVTCOS OCOTOKOV" and are presumably designed for insertion after the medial
cadence that precedes these words i n shorter settings of the entire hymn. The first of these
codas is, like the anonymous Athonite chant, in the second authentic mode. It begins with
repetitions of the canonical text that are soon interrupted by a breathless series of epithets for
the Virgin Mary: "TI)V ardpuou, TT)V pdBSov, rr)u rcou ovpavtov uiprjXoTepav, TT)V
yicpvpau..." (Example 46), after which a set of triumphant proclamations of the troparion's
final words concludes the work. Appropriate to the coda's novel form and text, its melody is
much more expressive than that of the traditional setting, ranging over the interval of a tenth.
Syllabic passages alternate with melismatic ones as the opposite extremes of its melodic
compass are employed in the service of word-painting. 91

Overall, this work is reminiscent of
an ecstatic confession of love for the Mother of G o d that bursts forth unexpectedly and yet
organically from the official hymn i n praise of her.
A similar result is achieved through slightly different means in Koukouzeles' other
coda, which begins on the same starting note as the previous settings but proceeds in the fourth
plagal mode. In this case, the text" Tr)v owing OeoroKov" gives way to repeated fragments
of earlier verses from this same troparion (Example 47). A s before, the vocal compass is a
tenth, but here the phrases are longer and the melody includes dramatic leaps as wide as an
octave. Towards the end of the work, rational speech gives way to the sequential vocalizations
of a kratema. This episode of institutionalised Pentecostalism starts with short bursts of "to-to-
to-to" that develop into increasingly extended passages of "te-re-re." A series of melodic
sequences then spins the kratema into successively lower vocal registers until it reaches the
9 1
E.g. "TT)U TCJV ovpauidv ixpiiXojTepav" in the high register.
Example 46: "KaAcxpajVLKOv [TOC] KouKouCeXn" (MS Athens 2458).
262
-Ml - 0 0
"
fart
ft*
r
r y A
J) Oft J , Jjyrî
4- trt\y ua. - T**.-I>\
f (J
() Ko\
K0.\\ y -- fc,
fc. .. i* -- r
Tt 0 ~ /*V- Tfa/ - V K A - U - So -
. a - f t - O V -
S0r * ?r-i
b 1i
. * :> I * * A - f c ^ S - r
> . ? " r-*r->
<l 6 c o - r* - KoV
' j ^ j y ^ r it f ^ J J i h r n n > J ' J > hJrfflff
Ko xtta o , o w ^ w co **[*.pf.fx.ptje UP*. fHftrp^pt' ttptptpi pt, pt

tlL "
r
P,. P. 2 a- =.1> r> . ut
' C e ' - f : ^ o* Dt-

xvftt P*-
T-\ r fl# o r - . i / r *Pt
H TtxfO
pi pe pe pt pe. pi
r>c fie t\c o* B* Oi
-ct.pt.
- u
pt. pt
n < a
cV
,
rt-ct-pipt. z&vLptPt uv^L n

pt.
'--0- w
Example 47: "'Erepa, TOV avrov Kvp 'laxxwov paiaropog rod KovKovCeXrf
( M S Athens 2458). . - -
263
work's lowest note (d), whereupon it startlingly leaps a seventh upwards, allowing the hymn
to conclude with a reprise of its final line of text.
C. Cathedral Psalmody (conclusion) and the Rite of the Resurrectional Gospel
After the exaposteilaria of the day brought the purely monastic portion of the reformed
Sunday morning office to a close, the traditional sequence of cathedral rite matins resumed.
L i k e the antiphonal psalmody preceding the kanon, the rest of the service featured relatively
few modifications to the unreformed o r d e r . 92

The only remaining interpolation of monastic
hymnody occurred at the conclusion of the psalms of Lauds, to which six resurrectional
stichera from the Oktoechos and one of the Morning Gospel Stichera were affixed. These
hymns were followed by the same fourteenth-century order for the Great Doxology and rite of
the Resurrectional Gospel discussed above in Chapter Four. Yet, as was also the case with the
Marian troparion "It is truly meet," their shape could be greatly altered through the substitution
of new Koukouzelian compositions for the anonymous chants we have previously surveyed.
In the "mixed" Thessalonian manuscript Vienna Theol. gr. 185, for example, the antiphonal
version of the Marian troparion" 'TnepeyXoynpevr] imdpxetS'" shown above i n Examples
13-16 is accompanied by an alternate setting attributed to Xenos Korones, a composer and
protopsaltes of the early fourteenth century. 93

This through-composed work is especially
notable for its word-painting in the sections normally sung by the clergy during their entrance
into the sanctuary. In place of the syllabic reciting-tone for the priests in the anonymous
version, Korones offers steeply falling and rising melodic lines reflecting contrasts i n the text
between the destruction of Death and the vivification of mankind (Example 48).
Akolouthiai transmitting the asmatic order for the Resurrectional Gospel also regularly
transmit an impressive repertory of kalophonic works to follow the old-fashioned anonymous
settings of the fixed Sunday prokeimenon " 'Avdarndc Kupie" (Ps. 9:33). Since the
9 2
One should note, however, that from Lauds to the end of the service, Studite rescensions of monastic Sunday
matins employing the cathedral order for the Great Doxology (cf. supra, Table 5) were structurally identical to
their asmatic counterpart.
9 3
On Korones, see Conomos, Communion Cycle, 78-9.
264
Example 48: Excerpt o f " 'TirepevAoynpevr] imapxtis"

by Xenos Korones ( M S Vienna Theol. gr. 185).
prokeimenon was the last item i n the long sequence of joyful morning chants of praise
beginning with Psalms 148-50, these florid pieces were analogous in their placement and
liturgical function to the optional endings for the " "Al;i6v eanv" at the conclusion of the
kanon. Their importance in this regard, however, was further enhanced by their strategic
position before the climactic proclamation of the Resurrectional Gospel from the ambo, at
which point by they would have been heard as the final work of significant musical substance
in the entire morning office.
Vienna Theol. gr. 185 contains a repertory of six codas to the matutinal prokeimenon,
which are divided evenly between texted works without a conclusive final cadence, and
265
wordless kratemata designed to be affixed to these pieces ad libitum. The first two of the
texted settings, a pair of compositions by Koukouzeles and Korones, are structurally similar to
the second setting of " Tr)u OVTUJS COTOKOV" shown a b o v e . 94

Both open with the
concluding words of the prokeimenon "Mr) imXddr] TOJV TrevrjToov GOV ELS' reXog," after
which repetitions of the prokeimenon text and teretisms conclude without a final cadence.
These relatively conventional codas contrast greatly with the next setting, a complex
work by Koukouzeles incorporating solo sections, choral refrains, and teretisms (Table 11).
This fascinating work, subtitled "fierd duacpojurnidroov" ("with refrains") i n the manuscript, is
prefixed by newly composed settings of the prokeimenon's usual solo verses (Ps. 9:2 and 3).
Presented i n the manuscript without an intervening refrain, these verses presumably would
have been separated in performance by one of the anonymous choral responds shown above in
Examples 29 and 30. After the second solo verse, the main body of the piece commences with
a rather unassuming partial setting of the prokeimenon (Example 49). This solo rendition is
interrupted before the final two words of the respond text by the vastaktai of the chorus, who
95
proclaim " L i f t up Thy hand, O Lord, forget not the poor until the end" at the interval of a
seventh above the preceding solo. What follows is a sort of rondo, as four solo verses
alternate with reprises of the choral refrain. A modified solo recapitulation of the prokeimenon
concludes the central portion of the work, leading, as in the other coda settings, to a long series
of teretisms.
9 4
Vienna Theol. gr. 185, f. 112r-113v. The work by Koukouzeles is transmitted without attribution in this
manuscript, but his authorship is recorded in such other Akolouthiai as Athens 2458 (f. 67r) and Athens 2622
(f. 145v).
9 5
"Kai ei)8v$ oi fiaoTaicrai rd imcpcjvqpa" Vienna Theol. gr. 185, f. 114r. According to Gregorios
Stathes ("An Analysis of the Sticheron Tov rjAtov tcpupavra by Germanos, Bishop of New Patras" in ed.
MHOS' Velimirovic", Studies in Eastern Chant, 4 (Crestwood: St. Vladimimir's Seminary Press, 1979), 205), the
vastaktai ("bearers" or "supporters") mentioned in medieval manuscripts are equivalent to the isokratai (drone-
holders) employed in modern performances of Post-Byantine chant. While this may often be a plausible
interpretation, the rubric here in question specifically entrusts the vastaktai with the melody of the refrain,
suggesting that these singers formed the ripieno of the chorus.
266
TABLE 11
PLAN OF THE SUNDAY PROKEIMENON CODA "META ANA <PQNHMA TON"
BY KOUKOUZELES
Introduction
Verse 1: 'EopoXoyrjoopai croi, Kvpie, iv dXrj mpSig pov, Sirjyrjoopai rrdvra rd davpdoia- rd
davpdoia oov, Kvpie (Ps. 9:2).
[Prokeimenon]
Verse 2: Evfipavdijaopai ml dyaXXidoopai iv ooi Kvpie, Kvpie, 6 Oeog pov (Ps. 9:3).
Main Body
Solo (Modified Prokeimenon): 'Avdorqdi, Kvpie 6 Oeog pov, vtpcodrJTco fj x ^P ~ >

e ov
pf) imXdBri TCOV nevrJTiov oov (Ps. 9:33).
Refrain: 'Ycpw&fJTa) rj x&P ~v, Kvpie, pf) ernXdOrj TOJV irevrJTcov oov eig reXog.
Solo: Mr) imXdOr) Kvpie TCOV nevfJTcov oov, TCOV nevfJTcov oov eig riXog.
Refrain: 'YtpioBrJTco fj x ^P aov

> Kvpie...
Solo: Mr) imXddr), Kvpie, ve TCOV nevrJTCov oov eig reXog, Kvpie.
Refrain: 'YipioOrJTio r) x^P <J0V

' Kvpie...
Solo: 'Opxpavcov ml TTTCOX&V OV rjoda fiorfiog (adapted from Ps. 9:35cd).
Refrain: 'YtpcoBrJTto rj x^' P < L aov

Kvpie...
Solo: 'Emdioag irrl Qpovov, 6 Kpivcov Simioovvrjv, Kvpie (adapted from Ps. 9: 5b).
Refrain: 'YipcodfJTio fj xîp &ov, Kvpie...
Solo (Modified Recapitulation): 'AvdoTqdi, Kvpie 6 Oedg pov, upwdfJTio r) x ' P ~ov, Kvpie,
e L
pf) imXddr) TCOV rrevrJTiov oov eig reXog.
Coda: Teretisms and Intonations
TOTOTO. ..
267
Example 49: Excerpt of the Sunday Prokeimenon Coda "fierd duacpoounpdTOJu" by

Koukouzeles ( M S Vienna Theol. gr. 185).
268
3. Prayers and Supplications in the Sanctuary
Alterations to the asmatic morning office's concluding segment of prayers and litanies
are apparent in Symeon's descriptions of the reformed Thessalonian cathedral rite. The only
oration from the Euchology that the archbishop explicitly mentions is the final Prayer of
Inclination, which would seem to indicate that the other three prayers for this portion of the
office were, i n imitation of the contemporary Neo-Sabaitic rite, either moved to the beginning
of the service or dropped completely. In the case of the Prayer of the Catechumens and its
accompanying litany, the recitation of which had already been limited to a few occasions a year
i n the eleventh-century Euchology Coislin 213, their abolition would have been scarcely
noticed. 96
O n the other hand, even i f their prayers no longer were read with them, references
in the treatise On Divine Prayer to the KTevr)s Serjotg" and "al peydXai alrrjaeis"
n
witness to the persistence of the other diaconal litanies. 97
The concluding rites of reformed asmatic matins on ordinary Sundays and their
relationship to the Divine Liturgy are also worthy of comment. O n weekdays, according to the
Hypotyposis, "Sung" matins regularly ended with a procession from the nave to the Marian
side-chapel of the Hodegetria that was accompanied by chants to St. Demetrios and the
Theotokos. 98
The purpose of this ceremony, which also occurred at the end of asmatic
vespers, was to return an icon of the V i r g i n Hodegetria that had been removed from its resting
place in the chapel at the beginning of each office. Athens 2047, however, never requires the
performance of this procession after a Sunday matins, leaving the matter unclear. A n argument
against the performance of this ceremony on Sunday mornings could be made from the fact that
the manuscript's only reference to the retrieval of the icon before a Sunday morning service
occurs on the Sunday of the Fathers, when matins was followed without interruption by the
'AicoXoudia rffg Kapluova. liturgical drama relating the story of the Three Children in the
9 6
9 7
PG 155, col. 649.
9 8
Hypotyposis, f 1 lv. On this procession and the chapel of the Hodegetria, see Darrouzes, "Sainte-Sophie,"
50-55, 70-72; and Phountoules, "MapTvpiai," 175.
269
Fiery Furnaceand the Divine Liturgy, thus leaving no interval for the p r o c e s s i o n . " O n the
other hand, Symeon states i n his Ekthesis that matins in Thessalonica frequently ended before
dawn, i n which case there was a period of rest before the celebration of Prime and the
Eucharist during which the ceremony could have been a c c o m p l i s h e d . 100
Mystagogy
Symeon of Thessalonica's treatise On Divine Prayer displays the same encyclopedic
exegetical approach reflected in his mystagogical works on the Divine Liturgy, resulting in the
juxtaposition of perspectives derived from considerably different liturgical theologies. 101

In
his introduction to the daily cycle of the Divine Office, for example, Symeon forthrightly
interprets matins at its most basic level as a service of "praise to the author of light for the
coming of the d a y . " 1 0 2

From the very beginning of the commentary, this primitive Early
Christian conception of the morning office is overlaid by a "cosmic" interpretation of the
earthly liturgy as a reflection of the continuous Heavenly Liturgy derived from the works of
pseudo-Dionysios and M a x i m o s the Confessor. A s we shall see, Symeon's exposition of
asmatic Sunday matins also contains elements derived from the "economic" stream of
Byzantine mystagogy represented by the Ecclesiastical History of Patriarch Germanos I , 1 0 3

in
which liturgical actions recall events i n the Christian History of Salvation.
From the relative length and coherence of its theological exposition in the treatise On
Divine Prayer, it is evident that the portion of the office stretching from the enarxis in the
9 9
Diataxis, f. 214v-215r; cf. Phountoules, "Maprvpiai," 147, 175.
1 0 0
Ekthesis, f. 7r.
Symeon's juxtaposition of interpretive motifs from earlier mystagogues is discussed in Hans-Joachim
1 0 1
Schulz, The Byzantine Liturgy: Symbolic Structure and Faith Expression, trans. Matthew J. O'Connell (N
York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1986), 114-24.
1 0 2
Treatise, 19; PG 155, col. 552.
1 0 3
Cf. supra, 152-53.
270
narthex to the conclusion of the Amomos in the centre of the nave offered Symeon of
Thessalonica the richest material for mystagogical exegesis. Although not entirely free of
seemingly superfluous explanations of minor a c t i o n s , 104

this portion of the commentary
achieves a remarkable level of thematic consistency that is generally lacking in his exposition of
the Neo-Sabai'tic v i g i l . 1 0 5
This should not be surprising, for unlike Late Byzantine monastic
services, the offices of the Constantinopolitan cathedral rite share with the Divine Liturgy an
inheritance of stational features from the formative Justinianic era of "imperial" w o r s h i p . 106
Indeed, it was precisely these ceremonies, both before and after their decomposition into
merely symbolic 'entrances,' that had provided such rich material for symbolic interpretation in
commentaries on the Byzantine E u c h a r i s t . 107

Returning then to the question at hand, it may be
said that asmatic Sunday matins was decisively shaped by the gradual progression of the
assembly from the narthex to the nave, followed eventually by the entry of the clergy into the
sanctuary. A s a gesture of considerable power transcending the sum of its component texts
and ritual actions, the passage from the expectance of keeping vigil to triumphant morning
praise imparted, as Arranz has astutely noted, an implicitly paschal character to the o f f i c e . 108
Symeon, while not excluding the straightforward historicisation evident in popular
vigils of the Resurrection since Late Antiquity, takes a broader view of the symbolism of these
ceremonies, incorporating both the "cosmic" and "economic" strains of Byzantine mystagogy
An example of this is his somewhat laboured interpretation of the temporary displacement of the laity
1 0 4
standing by the walls of the church during the incensation of the latter (PG 155, col. 644; Treatise, 84).
Symeon interprets the action of stepping away and returning to one's place as symbolising both the Incarnation
of Christ, and the human cycle of of sin and repentance.
105 jyijchae] Kunzler, Gnadenquellen: Symeon von Thessaloniki (fl429) als Beispielfur die Einflufina
Palamismus aufdue orthodoxe Sakramentaltheologie und Liturgik, Trier theologische Studien
Paulinus Verlag, 1989), 307-17. Although he briefly addresses the mystagogy of the treatise On Divine Prayer,
Kunzler only discusses that portion of the commentary dealing of the monastic rite. In his analysis, he
criticises Symeon's symbolic explanation of the Neo-Sabai'tic vigil for its incoherence.
1 0 6
Cf. the functional comparison of the cathedral and monastic rites by Demetrios Chomatenos ('Epcorfjoets,
col. 623), who notes that true entrances were native only to the "Sung" Office. In this regard, it is interesting
that Symeon himself comments on the superiority of asmatic offices as subjects for mystagogical exegesis.
After having concluded his exposition of the monastic offices, he boldly states in his preface to their asmatic
counterparts that "We shall see the figures of the economy of Christ more clearly in the so-called "Sung" Office
(""IScopev Se epcpavriKcorepov rd rfjs- olKovopias XpLorov rvnovpeva pdXXov Kai ev rfj dopantcr)
Xeyopevv] dKoXovdia," PG 155, col. 624).
107 This process is summarised in Taft, The Byzantine Rite, 72-75.
1 0 8
Cf. the discussion and references found supra, pp. 125-27.
271
into his interpretation. The commentary on the "Sung" office of Sunday matins begins with a
short theoretical prologue orienting the reader in a symbolic topography largely dependent on
the hierarchical interpretation of the church building by Maximos the C o n f e s s o r . 109

Echoing
the explanations of his own Exposition of the Divine Temple, he interprets the closed nave of
the church as heaven, and its sanctuary as the locus of the Heavenly L i t u r g y . 110
Recapitulating
the main theme of the first chapter in the treatise On Divine Prayer, 111
this vision of worship
concelebrated above by angels and on earth by men is reinforced throughout the commentary
on Sunday matins by consistent identification of the bishop with Christ, and the officiating
priest and deacon with a n g e l s . 112

'Cosmic' symbolism, however, is balanced from the outset
by a dual 'economic' interpretation of the closed nave as paradise and heaven, according to
which the placement of the faithful outside its shut doors represents both the collective
alienation of mankind prior to the Incarnation, and the separation from God of individual
believers due to sin.
Despite Symeon's taste for pseudo-Dionysian spiritualisation, it is noteworthy that his
commentary on asmatic Sunday matins is dominated by 'economic' interpretations of its texts
and actions. Curiously, he refrains from immediately evoking the vigil of the myrrhbearers at
Christ's tomb, which is perhaps the most obvious image for the prematutinal Sunday psalmody
in the narthex, choosing instead to embellish his vision of man before the coming of Grace:
The standing and chanting outside the nave indicates our expulsion from Paradise, as we
stated above, and that Heaven is closed to us, and that all the departed and righteous are i n
the power of Hades. Therefore we stand at the West of the church, as being the darkness
of hell and corruption, and as being subject to the horror of ignorance. W e do not light big
lamps because there is only partial light in us, the natural light of the knowledge of the just,
of the prophets, and of the L a w , which is not able to enlighten totally. For the great and
unsetting Light, the Sun of Righteousness, has not yet shone upon us, nor has the grace of
G o d been lightened upon us except to a small extent, obscurely and i n shadow as typified
Cf. Maximos, "The Church's Mystagogy," 186-95. This same topography is found in Symeon's
1 0 9
commentaries on the Divine Liturgy, on which see Rene" Bornert, Les Commentaires byzantins de la Divine
Liturgie du Vile au XVe siecle, Archives de I'Orient Chretien 9 (Paris: Institut Francais d'&udes byzantines
1966), 261-62; Schulz, The Byzantine Liturgy, 115-16.
ITepi rou deiov uaov, PG 155, cols. 701-04.
1 1 0
1 1 1
Cf. PG 155, cols. 536-41; Treatise, 9-13.
1 1 2
Cf. ITepi TOV detov mod, PG 155, cols. 708-9.
272
by the censing taking place in the narthex, signifying the shadowy worship of the
Law.... 1 1 3
Continuing this train of thought, Symeon subsequently integrates the censing of the closed
nave and sanctuary by a solitary priest into this O l d Testament context as a representation of the
offering of the High Priest i n the Temple's Holy of H o l i e s . 1 1 4
This interpretation is not a fanciful allegory, but a succession of O l d Testament images
in close harmony with the texts, actions, and physical setting of the pre-matutinal vigil. The
sense of nocturnal expectation that one finds both in Egeria's description of the Resurrectional
vigil of Jerusalem and in the texts of the eight antiphon prayers of the Constantinopolitan
Euchology, is transformed by Symeon into a figure of pre-messianic expectation. Similarly,
the crucial role played by the Mosaic L a w in governing the relationship of man to G o d prior to
the Incarnation is none other than the subject of the Amomos. W i t h respect to the physical
setting, the atmosphere of partial light to which Symeon attributes so much significance was
due not only to the small number of lamps employed, but also to the lack of natural light before
dawn. This ambiance could only have been reinforced by the relatively confined space and
sober decoration of the narthex in the Thessalonian Hagia Sophia.
W i t h the ceremonial entry into the main body of the church, according to Symeon, the
assembly passed directly from the old dispensation to fullness of the new. Remarkably, this
occurs i n the treatise On Divine Prayer without an intervening succession of symbols tied to
individual events in Christ's earthly ministry as had been customary in commentaries on the
Divine Liturgy since the Ecclesiastical History of Germanos. The sacrificial aspects of the
Paschal Mystery are vested solely i n the processional cross which was taken by the priest from
the altar of the closed nave. W h e n this cross was subsequently employed at the head of the
introit procession, the promise of the Incarnation had, according to Symeon, already been
fulfilled i n the Resurrection, granting the entrance both a historical and an eschatological
significance:
1 1 3
Treatise, 83.
1 1 4
273
Then everybody enters together, since Christ renewed and prepared for us a short way
through the veil of the flesh, and by this means we have the entrance to the sanctuary,
where the great High Priest entered before, affecting our eternal redemption and salvation
in the life to come. Thus we all enter together with him and bear his reproach, i.e., the
cross on which he suffered for us outside Jerusalem. This is why the cross is carried
outside the nave, so that we can enter with him into heaven, who is the King of Heaven,
and enter Paradise through our Saviour.... 115
This vision of the introit as entry into heaven fittingly consummates the 'economic' scheme of
Old Testament imagery for the vigil in the narthex, while brilliantly coinciding with Symeon's
parallel recollection of the 'cosmic' hierarchy. In the first instance, the leap from alienation to
full communion with God is in accord with the ancient view of Sunday as the "Lord's Day" on
which commemoration of the Resurrection was linked to a foretaste of eschatological
fulfillment. 116
At the same time, the equation of the nave with heaven recapitulates the
hierarchical division of the church with which Symeon began his commentary, while also
recalling the original Constantinopolitan context for such symbolism. Although not nearly so
grand as its Justinianic namesake, departure from the relatively dark confines of the
Thessalonian cathedral's narthex to its open interior resplendent with mosaics and white marble
revetments must have evoked some of the same feelings experienced upon entry into the
Constantinopolitan Great Church of Hagia Sophia. 117
2. Morning Psalmody at the Ambo
Quoted above in our structural analysis of Sunday matins, an interpretation of the rites
accompanying the Benedicite forms the conclusion to the historical sequence that began before
the Incarnation. 118

The session of the bishop upon his throne, according to Symeon,
manifested the Ascension into heaven which concluded Christ's earthly ministry. Completion
of the divine dispensation was then sealed by the priest who, representing an angel, affixed the
1 1 5
Treatise, 85.
1 1 6
1 1 7
1 1 8
Cf. supra, p. 250.
274
cross to the a m b o as a p r o c l a m a t i o n o f the P a s c h a l M y s t e r y o f death and resurrection.
Thereafter S y m e o n offers a b r i e f a n d r e l a t i v e l y c o n v e n t i o n a l e x p o s i t i o n o f the text o f P s a l m 5 0 ,
w h i c h he subsequently tries to incorporate i n t o his ' e c o n o m i c ' analysis o f matins b y
associating its preference f o r c o n t r i t i o n o v e r s a c r i f i c e (verses 1 8 - 1 9 ) w i t h the a b o l i t i o n o f the
O l d Testament L a w . 1 1 9
S y m e o n does not e n d o w the l o n g i n t e r p o l a t i o n o f m o n a s t i c h y m n s i n the m i d s t o f the
asmatic o f f i c e w i t h any particular s y m b o l i c s i g n i f i c a n c e , passing o v e r it i n a f e w l i n e s o f
c o m m e n t a r y . E c h o i n g h i s o w n w o r d s i n the p r o l o g u e to the Ekthesis, the a r c h b i s h o p f i r s t
notes that he h a d added kanons to " S u n g " matins "for the adornment a n d h a r m o n y o f the
c h u r c h , and f o r the g l o r y o f G o d and h i s s a i n t s . " 1 2 0

S y m e o n then further e x p l a i n s that they
were intended "for the profit, c o n s o l a t i o n , and perseverance o f the p i o u s , since they are used to
these k a n o n s . " 1 2 1
C. Cathedral Psalmody (conclusion) and Rite of the Resurrectional Gospel 122
T h e P s a l m s of L a u d s , together w i t h their asmatic refrains and m o n a s t i c stichera, are
d e s c r i b e d a n d their texts s i m p l y e x p l a i n e d w i t h o u t m y s t a g o g i c a l exegesis. In contrast, S y m e o n
interprets a l l the rituals o f the f o l l o w i n g R i t e o f the R e s u r r e c t i o n a l G o s p e l f r o m the entrance
o f the c l e r g y into the sanctuary d u r i n g the M o r n i n g G o s p e l S t i c h e r o n to the reading o f the
l e c t i o n i t s e l f a s images o f the R e s u r r e c t i o n . Parenthetically inserted i n this d i s c u s s i o n is a
final r e c o l l e c t i o n o f the i d e a o f c o s m i c hierarchies, w h i c h are i n v o k e d b y relating the antiphonal
c h a n t i n g between the c l e r g y i n the sanctuary a n d the choristers i n the nave to the unity o f the
c h u r c h i n h e a v e n a n d o n earth. S y m e o n ' s d i s c o u r s e o n these rites c o n c l u d e s w i t h h i s
d e s c r i p t i o n o f the priest p r o c l a i m i n g the G o s p e l f r o m the a m b o as an a n g e l , a statement i n
1 1 9
PG 155, col. 645; Treatise, 85-86.
1 2 0
Treatise, 86; cf. PG 155, col. 648.
1 2 1
Ibid.
1 2 2
PG 155, col. 649; Treatise, 87-88
275
accord with his interpretation of the ambo in the Exposition of the Divine Temple. In this latter
text the archbishop, borrowing from the topography of G e r m a n o s , 123

explains that the ambo
represents the stone rolled away from the tomb of Christ, upon which the deacon at the Divine
Liturgy and the priest at matins proclaim the Gospel i n the manner of a n g e l s . 124
3. Prayers and Supplications in the Sanctuary 125
The litanies and prayers in the final segment of matins are simply mentioned without
further explanation in the treatise On Divine Prayer.
Conclusion
The preceding examination of the text, music, and interpretive context of the reformed
office of asmatic Sunday matins now makes it possible to evaluate this service from two
perspectives, each of which reveals features of diverse origin contributing to the overall shape
of Thessalonian worship. The first encompasses the texts and ceremonies of the office, the
constituent elements of which, broadly speaking, were products of either the Byzantine Rite of
the Great Church, or the liturgical tradition of Palestinian monasticism. In this regard it may be
said that, despite the interpolation of a great number of hymns from the monastic rite, the
framework of reformed Sunday matins was unshakably Constantinopolitan, thereby
confirming Arranz's claim that the two rites remained ultimately i r r e d u c i b l e . 126
Evidence for
this has been seen in the conservation of the asmatic office's underlying structure, its physical
setting, its diverse complement of personnel centred around the archbishop, its antiphonal
psalmody, and its functional processions. Coincidentally, it was these archaic features that
provided Symeon with the material to elucidate a relatively coherent and suitable mystagogy of
Paul Meyendorff, St. Germanus of Constantinople:

1 2 3
On the Divine Liturgy (Crestwood: St. Vladimir's
Seminary Press, 1984), 62.
ITepi TOV deiov mov, PG 155, col. 708.
1 2 4
1 2 5
126 M i g i Arranz, "Les grandes Stapes de la Liturgie Byzantine: Palestine Byzance-Russie. Essai d'apercu
ue
historique." in Liturgie de l'egliseparticuliere et liturgie de l'eglise universelle, Bibliotheca Ephem

Liturgicae, Subsidia 7 (Rome: Edizioni Liturgiche, 1976), 45.
276
Sunday matins, thus providing some justification for his remark that the dispensation of Christ
was more clearly revealed in "Sung" worship than in the Neo-Sabaitic Divine O f f i c e . 127
Yet, as we noted in the preceding chapter, Symeon also felt that the Constantinoplitan
cathedral rite, with its cooly majestic "imperial" ceremonies and predominantly O l d Testament
texts, in and of itself failed to articulate the reality of post-Incarnational existence with sufficient
clarity. W h i l e the archbishop's comments to this effect in the Ekthesis are primarily directed
toward justifying the addition of monastic hymnography to the "Sung" Office as a remedy for
its dearth of propers in honour of the saints, his goal of consummating the "shadowy portents
of truth" was equally applicable to the commemoration of the Resurrection at asmatic Sunday
matins. 128
In particular, the hymnody of the Oktoechos inserted at the heart of the reformed
cathedral office served to offer the assembly a lengthy and explicit musico-poetic meditation on
Christ's triumph over death that was strategically placed immediately after the symbolic
procession from the darkness of the narthex into the light of the sanctuary. The self-suffiency
of these hymns as witnesses to the Resurrection is indicated by the fact that Symeon did not
include a mystagogical exegesis of their performance or texts in the treatise On Divine Prayer.
The musical sources offer a somewhat different perspective on the celebration of
asmatic Sunday matins in Late Byzantine Thessalonica, demonstrating the many ways in which
melody shaped the textual surface of the office. A m o n g the chants of the Amomos, we have
discovered important variations to the network of melodic relationships most commonly
exhibited by the psalmodic antiphons contained in the weekly ordinaries of the Antiphonaria.
Troped intonations at the beginning of an antiphon, for example, anticipated the music of later
solo verses that acted as cues for, or otherwise covered, a ritual action of the higher clergy.
The association of such an antiphon with the ceremony it accompanied was then sometimes
reinforced by recapitulating this melodyrather than that of the intonation after the
ecphonesisin the perisse.
1 2 7
ITepi rfjs Betas' npoaevxfjs, PG 155, col. 624.
1 2 8
Ekthesis, f. 6v.
277
The newly composed alternate chants in the repertories of the Antiphonaria and
Akolouthiai show how music, as a force operating independently of the traditional distinction
between cathedral and monastic rites, could alter the contours of asmatic Sunday matins in a
much more radical way. Continuing a trend first manifested by the florid settings for the
"Three Psalms" contained in the older A s m a and Asmatikon, the eponymous compositions
transmitted for the cathedral rite Amomos witness to the partial abandonment of the ancient
patterns of asmatic psalmody for the sake of greater melodic variety, complexity, and
expressiveness. More specifically, when these compositions were employed i n place of the
syllabic choral reciting-tone and refraina choice presumably left up to the choirmaster, given
the absence of regulations for such substitutions on ordinary Sundays in Athens 2047the
antiphons of the A m o m o s were to some extent transformed from utilitarian constructions
designed to foster congregational participation, into objects of contemplation performed by
highly-trained specialists. A s such, asmatic antiphons refashioned in this manner differed little
in musical form and content from the Polyeleos and other the festal psalms of the Neo-Sabai'tic
vigil.
The codas to the fixed Gospel prokeimenon present an even more vivid illustration of
the importance assigned to melody in Byzantine worship after the advent of John Koukouzeles
and his musical colleagues. A s we noted above i n Chapter Four, the earliest notated specimens
of the choral refrain and verses of this prokeimenon are already set i n a florid melodic idiom
and consigned to specialists. Yet i n length and virtuosity, the anonymous centonate
prokeimena of the Asmatikon and Psaltikon pale in comparison to the massive kalophonic
codas provided for them i n the Akolouthiai. These latter Koukouzelian works not only
transgress the traditional categories of Byzantine worship, but even, through the use of
teretismata, the limitations of human speech.
In conclusion, we may distinguish three major layers of material in the reformed
Thessalonian office of asmatic Sunday matins:

278
1) A fundamental cathedral rite stratum originating in Late Antiquity of antiphons, prayers,

and ceremonies that provided the structural and symbolic framework for Sunday morning
worship;
2) A stratum of Byzantine monastic hymnography elucidating the largely typological

proclamation of the Resurrection in the asmatic portions of the office; and
3) A Late Byzantine stratum of highly individual musical compositions that could be

substituted for traditional settings of cathedral or monastic origin at the discretion of the
choirmaster.
W h i l e the first of these strata continued to predominate in the reformed cathedral rite, the
importance of the second as its necessary complement was repeatedly emphasised by Symeon
for theoretical as well as pastoral reasons. The very existence of material for ordinary Sundays
representative of the third and most recent layer, on the other hand, is almost invisible outside
of the musical manuscripts. Nevertheless, the ability of the Koukouzelian melodic idiom to
obliterate distinctions between the rites by profoundly altering the traditional one-to-one
relationship of words to music i n Byzantine chant, as well as the monumental scale of some of
the compositions examined above, make it clear that one cannot adequately discuss the shape of
asmatic Sunday matins in Late Byzantine Thessalonica "without taking music into a c c o u n t . " 129
Oliver Strunk, "The Byzantine Office at Hagia Sophia," DOP 9-10 (1956); repr. as chap, in EMBW, 115.
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SUNDAY MATINS IN THE BYZANTINE CATHEDRAL RITE:

MUSIC AND LITURGY

ALEXANDER LEONIDAS LINGAS

B.A., Portland State University, 1986

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

We accept this thesis as conforming

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Alexander Leonidas Lingas, 1996

The University of British Columbia

This is an interdisciplinary examination of the office of Sunday Matins as celebrated

psalmodic assemblies of the fourth century to its comprehensive reform by Archbishop

Symeon of Thessalonica (fl429), Byzantium's last and most prolific liturgical

commentator. Specifically, it studies the influence of developments in liturgical music and

chantingon the order of service at the Constantinopolitan andThessalonian cathedrals of

Hagia Sophia. This is accomplished through reconstructions of the service of Sunday

than is generally acknowledged.

describes these reforms in his liturgical commentaries as a selective "sweetening" with

popular monastic hymnody. The reconstruction, however, shows that in addition to

adding hymnodyitself the product of a previous revolution in Byzantine liturgical piety

hesychast monks during Byzantium's twilight.

Table of Contents iii

Principles of Musical Transcription vi

Chapter 2 Sunday Morning Prayer in Late Antiquity:

Chapter 3 Sunday Matins in the Rite of the Great Church I:

Chapter 4 Sunday Matins i n the Rite of the Great Church II:

Chapter 5 Prelude to Reform: Musical Developments in

Chapter 6 The Setting and Sources for the Cathedral Liturgy i n

Chapter 7 Reformed Asmatic Matins of Ordinary Sundays:

Structure, Music, and Interpretation 219

List of Abbreviati ons 279

Works Cited 280

1. Musical Manuscripts Consulted i n Chapter 4 65

2. Sunday Matins According to the Rite of the Great Church 68

3. Asmatic Refrains for Psalms 148-50 99

4. The Agrypnia of Abbot Nilus of Sinai 136

5. Sunday Matins in the Studite and Neo-Sabai'tic Rites 159-62

6. List of Festal Psalms in the Psalterion of M S Athens 2047 207

7. Asmatic Sunday Matins According to Symeon of Thessalonica 222-23

8. Musical Repertories of the Antiphonaria for Psalm 118 on Ordinary

9. Musical Repertories of the Antiphonaria for Psalm 118 on Ordinary

10. Musical Repertories of the Antiphonaria for Psalm 118 on Ordinary

11. Plan of the Sunday Prokeimenon Coda "fierd dvafaoi'rifj.dTcov" by

1. Plan of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople 67

2. The Placement of the A m b o i n Hagia Sophia, Constantinople 90

3. The Acheiropoietos: Longitudinal Section and Floor Plan 173

4. The A m b o n of the Acheiropoietos 173

5. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: Ground Plan of the Present Church and

7. Thessalonica in the Fourteenth Century 204

8. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: Reconstruction of the North Facade as It

9. Hagia Sophia, Thessalonica: Reconstruction of the Floor Plan During

The system established by founders of the Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae ( M M B )

been criticised from a variety of technical and ideological perspectives. 1

employing a modified version of the M M B ' s method. In addition to being familiar to

following departures from the conventions of the M M B :

3) Byzantine neumes of expression, articulation or ornamentation that have usually

Byzantine chant, nor insuperable.

A semester of study in 1990 at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary provided

M o v i n g on to individuals, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my three

and M r s . R . W . B o y d provided loving encouragement and assistance throughout my years

Paleologan dynasty (1261-1453), Mount A t h o s . 4

The Byzantine Cathedral Rite as a Musical Problem

Justinian's Great Church, otherwise known as the "daixaTiKr) d.Ko\ovdia" ("Sung" or