Octoechos (liturgy)
Encyclopedia
The Octoechos—literally, the book "of the Eight Tones"—contains an eight-week cycle, providing texts to be chanted for every day at Vespers
, Matins
, the Divine Liturgy
, Compline
and (on Sundays) the Midnight Office
. Each week begins a new mode (Greek: ἦχος, échos
) or tone (Slavonic: глáсъ, glás' ), and within that mode texts are provided for each day of the week. The new mode begins with Saturday night Vespers.
Sometimes the word "Octoechos" will be used to describe a briefer volume that contains only the texts for the Sunday services. To distinguish the full version from the briefer one, the term Paraklētikē (Greek: Παρακλητική) can be used to describe the complete volume. The word Paraklētikē comes from the Greek parakalein (παρακαλεῖν), meaning, "to supplicate" (the more penitential texts are found on weekdays).
In addition to the standard melodies provided by the eight modes, there are also several "special melodies" (Greek: ἰδιόμελον idiomelon
, Slavonic: Samoglasen), and the "pattern melodies" (Greek: προσόμοια prosomoia, Slavonic: podobny) which are based upon them. Each of these belongs to one of the tones and will be indicated in the superscription introducing some of the hymns in the Octoechos and other liturgical books.
in Palestine
, with compositions by St. John Damascene
(c. 676–749) and St. Cosmas of Maiuma
(† 773). Other prominent hymnographers include Saint Joseph the Hymnographer
(810-886)http://www.anastasis.org.uk/jo-hym.htm; Saint Theophanes the Branded
, Bishop of Nicaea (c. 775-845)http://www.anastasis.org.uk/theophan.htm; Paul of Amorium
; Metrophanes of Smyrna
; as well as numerous anonymous authors.
The Oktoechos was the very first book printed (incunabulum
) in Cyrillic typeface. It was published in Kraków
in 1491, by Schweipolt Fiol
, a German native of Franconia
. There are only seven known copies of this first publication remaining, the only complete one being in the collection of the Russian National Library
.
In the Russian Church
a special singer's Octoechos developed in the second half of the fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries, containing not only the text but also musical notation. The first printed edition, the Oktoikh notnago peniya, sirech' Osmoglasnik, using square notation, was published in 1772. It contained the hymns in Znamenny Chant, as well as the "pattern melodies" mentioned above, that belong to each of the Eight Tones.
(moveable cycle) of the church year; that is to say, it is dependent upon the date of Pascha
(Easter). During Bright Week
(Easter Week), one of the eight tones is used each day of the week (excluding the Seventh or "Grave" Tone). Then, beginning on Thomas Sunday (the Sunday after Pascha), the First Tone is used for the entire week, and the cycle continues uninterrupted, one tone per week, until Palm Sunday
of the following year. Holy Week
has no tone assigned to it (the natural order of things is interrupted), while Bright Week has all tones assigned to it (the Resurrection is the sum of all joy).
The Octoechos is not used at all from Lazarus Saturday
(the day before Palm Sunday) through Thomas Sunday. It is not used on major feast days when they fall on weekdays. It is always used on Sunday, unless a Great Feast of the Lord occurs on that day.
The hymns of the Octoechos (the moveable cycle) will be combined with hymns from the Menaion
(the fixed cycle), which contains the texts for the saints whose commemorations are determined according to the day of the calendar year. When more of the service is chanted from the Menaion, less of the Octoechos will be used; when less material is found in the Menaion, more from the Octoechos will be used. Since the services from the Octoechos on weekdays tend to be penitential, days on which more of the Octoechos is used are more penitential in nature. For this reason, services to monastic saints in the Menaion tend to be simple services, so that more hymns from the Octoechos will be utilized.
Most liturgical texts are not printed with either staff notation
or neume
s; rather, only the tone is named, and the chanter is expected to know the appropriate melody and apply it extemporaneously to the text.
These themes are developed primarily in the texts of the Octoechos.
In the Greek usage, the first four tones are referred to as the "authentic" (authentes or kyrioi) modes, and the last four are "plagal
" variations on them. The latter term comes from the Medieval Greek
plagios, "oblique" (from plagos, "side"). The plagal modes have a range from the fourth below to the fifth above their final tone. These modal structures do not carry over into the Slavic tones, which are melodic compositions. (See the article Octoechos
for further information on the development of the Greek modes.)
also makes use of a system of eight modes (makam
s). Each hymn (Syriac: qolo, plural: qole) is composed in one of these eight modes. Some modes have variants (shuhlophe) similar to the "special melodies" mentioned above. Only skilled chanters can master these variants.
The modal cycle consists of eight weeks. Each Sunday or Feast day is assigned one of the eight modes. During the weekday offices, known in Syriac by the name Shhimo, the 1st and 5th modes are paired together, so are the 2nd and 6th, the 3rd and 7th, and the 4th and 8th. If a particular Sunday makes use of the 1st mode, the following Monday is sung with the 5th mode, Tuesday with the 1st mode, etc., with the pair alternating every day of the week (see the table provided in Guide to the Eight Modes in the External Links below).
The ecclesiastical year starts with Qudosh `Idto (The Consecration of the Church), a feast observed on the eighth Sunday before Christmas
(Yaldo). The 1st mode is sung on this day. The following Sunday makes use of the 2nd mode, and so on, repeating the cycle until it starts again the next year. The cycle is interrupted only by feasts which have their own tones assigned to them. Similar to the Byzantine usage, each day of Easter Week has its own mode, except the Syriacs do not skip the 7th mode. Thus, the Sunday after Easter, called New Sunday (Hadto) is in the 8th mode rather than the 1st.
In one type of hymn used by the Syriac Church, the Qole Shahroye (Vigils), each of the modes is dedicated to a theme: The 1st and 2nd modes are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the 3rd and 4th to the saints, the 5th and 6th to penitence, and the 7th and 8th to the departed
.
The primary collection of hymns in the eight modes is the Beth Gazo d-ne`motho, or "Treasury of Chants."
, the system of eight modes is referred to as oot tzayn (eight voices). Although there is no structural relation between the Greek and Armenian modes, the division into "Authentic" and "Plagal" modes is parallel. In Armenian terminology, the "Authentic" modes are referred to as "Voice" (Tzayn) and the "Plagal" modes are called "Side" (Koghm), and are utilized in the following order:
This order is important, because it is the order in which the modes are used liturgically. Instead of using one tone per week, the Armenians use one tone per day. Easter Sunday is always the First Voice, the next day is First Side, and so on throughout the year. However, the cycle does not actually begin on Easter day, but counts backwards from Easter Sunday to the First Sunday in Lent, which is always Forth Side, regardless of what mode the previous day was. Each mode of the oot tzayn has one or more tartzwadzk‘ (auxiliary) modes.
The Sharagnots is the book which contains the Sharakan, or Sharagan (Canons
), hymns which constitute the substance of the musical system of Armenian liturgical chant in the eight modes. Originally, these were Psalms
and Biblical Canticle
s that were chanted during the services. A Sharagan was composed of verses which were interspersed between the scriptural verses. Eventually, the Sharagan replaced the biblical text entirely. In addition, the eight modes are applied to the psalms of the Night office, called ganonaklookh (Canon head). the Armenian Church also makes use of other modes outside of the oot tzayn.
Vespers
Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...
, Matins
Matins
Matins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. The term is also used in some Protestant denominations to describe morning services.The name "Matins" originally referred to the morning office also...
, the Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy
Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
, Compline
Compline
Compline is the final church service of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours. The English word Compline is derived from the Latin completorium, as Compline is the completion of the working day. The word was first used in this sense about the beginning of the 6th century by St...
and (on Sundays) the Midnight Office
Midnight Office
The Midnight Office is one of the Canonical Hours that compose the cycle of daily worship in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The office originated as a purely monastic devotion inspired by Psalm 118:62, At midnight I arose to give thanks unto Thee for the judgments of Thy righteousness , and also by...
. Each week begins a new mode (Greek: ἦχος, échos
Echos
Echos is the name in Byzantine music theory for a mode within the eight mode system , each of them ruling several melody types, and it is used in the melodic and rhythmic composition of Byzantine chant , differentiated according to the chant genre and according to the performance style...
) or tone (Slavonic: глáсъ, glás' ), and within that mode texts are provided for each day of the week. The new mode begins with Saturday night Vespers.
Sometimes the word "Octoechos" will be used to describe a briefer volume that contains only the texts for the Sunday services. To distinguish the full version from the briefer one, the term Paraklētikē (Greek: Παρακλητική) can be used to describe the complete volume. The word Paraklētikē comes from the Greek parakalein (παρακαλεῖν), meaning, "to supplicate" (the more penitential texts are found on weekdays).
In addition to the standard melodies provided by the eight modes, there are also several "special melodies" (Greek: ἰδιόμελον idiomelon
Idiomelon
Idiomelon —pl. idiomela—is a type of hymn found in the liturgical books used in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Rite of Constantinople...
, Slavonic: Samoglasen), and the "pattern melodies" (Greek: προσόμοια prosomoia, Slavonic: podobny) which are based upon them. Each of these belongs to one of the tones and will be indicated in the superscription introducing some of the hymns in the Octoechos and other liturgical books.
Historical development
The origins of this book traditionally go back to the Monastery of Mar SabbaSabbas the Sanctified
Saint Sabbas the Sanctified , a Cappadocian-Greek monk, priest and saint, lived mainly in Palaestina Prima. He was the founder of several monasteries, most notably the one known as Mar Saba...
in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, with compositions by St. John Damascene
John of Damascus
Saint John of Damascus was a Syrian monk and priest...
(c. 676–749) and St. Cosmas of Maiuma
Saint Cosmas
Saint Cosmas of Maiuma, also called Cosmas Hagiopolites , Cosmas of Jerusalem, or Cosmas the Melodist, or Cosmas the Poet , was a bishop and hymnographer of the Eastern Orthodox Church.-Life:Saint Cosmas was probably born in Damascus, but he was orphaned at a young age...
(† 773). Other prominent hymnographers include Saint Joseph the Hymnographer
Joseph the Hymnographer
Joseph the Hymnographer was a monk of the ninth century. He is one of the greatest liturgical poets and hymnographers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is also known for his confession of the Orthodox Faith in opposition to Iconoclasm. He is called "the sweet-voiced nightingale of the Church".He...
(810-886)http://www.anastasis.org.uk/jo-hym.htm; Saint Theophanes the Branded
Theophanes the Branded
Theophanes the Branded also called Theophanes Graptus or Theophanes of Nicea was a Byzantine monk and hymnographer.Next to Joseph the Hymnographer, Theophanes is the major contributor to the Orthodox liturgical book called the Paraklitiki .-Life:His Vita prima was recorded in the Life of Michael...
, Bishop of Nicaea (c. 775-845)http://www.anastasis.org.uk/theophan.htm; Paul of Amorium
Amorium
Amorium was a city in Phrygia, Asia Minor which was founded in the Hellenistic period, flourished under the Byzantine Empire, and declined after the Arab sack of 838. Its ruins are located near the village of Hisarköy, Turkey....
; Metrophanes of Smyrna
Metrophanes of Smyrna
Metrophanes of Smyrna was a Christian bishop, Metropolitan of Smyrna, in the ninth century. He was a leader of the Ignatian bishops at the time of the Photian schism .-Life:...
; as well as numerous anonymous authors.
The Oktoechos was the very first book printed (incunabulum
Incunabulum
Incunable, or sometimes incunabulum is a book, pamphlet, or broadside, that was printed — not handwritten — before the year 1501 in Europe...
) in Cyrillic typeface. It was published in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
in 1491, by Schweipolt Fiol
Schweipolt Fiol
Schweipolt Fiol from Neustadt an der Aisch in Franconia was a German-born 15th century pioneer of printing in Eastern Europe....
, a German native of Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
. There are only seven known copies of this first publication remaining, the only complete one being in the collection of the Russian National Library
Russian National Library
The National Library of Russia in St Petersburg, known as the State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library from 1932 to 1992 , is the oldest public library in Russia...
.
In the Russian Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
a special singer's Octoechos developed in the second half of the fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries, containing not only the text but also musical notation. The first printed edition, the Oktoikh notnago peniya, sirech' Osmoglasnik, using square notation, was published in 1772. It contained the hymns in Znamenny Chant, as well as the "pattern melodies" mentioned above, that belong to each of the Eight Tones.
Use
The cycle of the Octoechos is a part of the Paschal cyclePaschal cycle
The Paschal cycle in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, is the cycle of the moveable feasts built around Pascha . The cycle consists of approximately ten weeks before and seven weeks after Pascha. The ten weeks before Pascha are known as the period of the Triodion...
(moveable cycle) of the church year; that is to say, it is dependent upon the date of Pascha
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
(Easter). During Bright Week
Bright Week
Bright Week or Renewal Week is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite for the period of seven days beginning on Pascha and continuing up to the following Sunday, which is known as Thomas Sunday...
(Easter Week), one of the eight tones is used each day of the week (excluding the Seventh or "Grave" Tone). Then, beginning on Thomas Sunday (the Sunday after Pascha), the First Tone is used for the entire week, and the cycle continues uninterrupted, one tone per week, until Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....
of the following year. Holy Week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
has no tone assigned to it (the natural order of things is interrupted), while Bright Week has all tones assigned to it (the Resurrection is the sum of all joy).
The Octoechos is not used at all from Lazarus Saturday
Lazarus Saturday
Lazarus Saturday, in the Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, is the day before Palm Sunday, and is liturgically linked to it...
(the day before Palm Sunday) through Thomas Sunday. It is not used on major feast days when they fall on weekdays. It is always used on Sunday, unless a Great Feast of the Lord occurs on that day.
The hymns of the Octoechos (the moveable cycle) will be combined with hymns from the Menaion
Menaion
The Menaion refers to the annual fixed cycle of services in the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches. Commemorations in the Menaion are tied to the day of the calendar year.-Service books:...
(the fixed cycle), which contains the texts for the saints whose commemorations are determined according to the day of the calendar year. When more of the service is chanted from the Menaion, less of the Octoechos will be used; when less material is found in the Menaion, more from the Octoechos will be used. Since the services from the Octoechos on weekdays tend to be penitential, days on which more of the Octoechos is used are more penitential in nature. For this reason, services to monastic saints in the Menaion tend to be simple services, so that more hymns from the Octoechos will be utilized.
Most liturgical texts are not printed with either staff notation
Staff (music)
In standard Western musical notation, the staff, or stave, is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch—or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending upon the intended effect,...
or neume
Neume
A neume is the basic element of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation prior to the invention of five-line staff notation. The word is a Middle English corruption of the ultimately Ancient Greek word for breath ....
s; rather, only the tone is named, and the chanter is expected to know the appropriate melody and apply it extemporaneously to the text.
Themes
In the Orthodox liturgical tradition, each day of the week has a distinct theme:- Sunday—the Resurrection of ChristResurrection of JesusThe Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus states that Jesus returned to bodily life on the third day following his death by crucifixion. It is a key element of Christian faith and theology and part of the Nicene Creed: "On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures"...
- Monday—the Holy Angels
- Tuesday—St. John the BaptistJohn the BaptistJohn the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
- Wednesday—the CrossChristian crossThe Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
and the TheotokosTheotokosTheotokos is the Greek title of Mary, the mother of Jesus used especially in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches. Its literal English translations include God-bearer and the one who gives birth to God. Less literal translations include Mother of God... - Thursday—the Holy Apostles and St. Nicholas
- Friday—the Cross and the Theotokos
- Saturday—All SaintsAll SaintsAll Saints' Day , often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November by parts of Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity, in honour of all the saints, known and unknown...
and the departed
These themes are developed primarily in the texts of the Octoechos.
Nomenclature
The names ascribed to the eight tones in the texts of the Octoechos (and other books) will differ between the Greek and the Slavic usage:| Greek | Slavic |
|---|---|
| First | First |
| Second | Second |
| Third | Third |
| Fourth | Fourth |
| Plagal of the First | Fifth |
| Plagal of the Second | Sixth |
| Grave | Seventh |
| Plagal of the Fourth | Eighth |
In the Greek usage, the first four tones are referred to as the "authentic" (authentes or kyrioi) modes, and the last four are "plagal
Plagal mode
A Plagal mode may mean different church chanting modes, depending on the context.-In Western Practice:A plagal mode is a musical mode, which is one of four Gregorian modes whose range includes the octave from the fourth below the tonic, or final, to the fifth above...
" variations on them. The latter term comes from the Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...
plagios, "oblique" (from plagos, "side"). The plagal modes have a range from the fourth below to the fifth above their final tone. These modal structures do not carry over into the Slavic tones, which are melodic compositions. (See the article Octoechos
Octoechos
Oktōēchos is the name of the eight mode system used for the composition of religious chant in Syrian, Coptic, Byzantine, Armenian, Latin and Slavic churches since the middle ages...
for further information on the development of the Greek modes.)
Syriac Usage
The Syriac Orthodox ChurchSyriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....
also makes use of a system of eight modes (makam
Makam
Makam In Turkish classical music, a system of melody types called makam provides a complex set of rules for composing and performance...
s). Each hymn (Syriac: qolo, plural: qole) is composed in one of these eight modes. Some modes have variants (shuhlophe) similar to the "special melodies" mentioned above. Only skilled chanters can master these variants.
The modal cycle consists of eight weeks. Each Sunday or Feast day is assigned one of the eight modes. During the weekday offices, known in Syriac by the name Shhimo, the 1st and 5th modes are paired together, so are the 2nd and 6th, the 3rd and 7th, and the 4th and 8th. If a particular Sunday makes use of the 1st mode, the following Monday is sung with the 5th mode, Tuesday with the 1st mode, etc., with the pair alternating every day of the week (see the table provided in Guide to the Eight Modes in the External Links below).
The ecclesiastical year starts with Qudosh `Idto (The Consecration of the Church), a feast observed on the eighth Sunday before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
(Yaldo). The 1st mode is sung on this day. The following Sunday makes use of the 2nd mode, and so on, repeating the cycle until it starts again the next year. The cycle is interrupted only by feasts which have their own tones assigned to them. Similar to the Byzantine usage, each day of Easter Week has its own mode, except the Syriacs do not skip the 7th mode. Thus, the Sunday after Easter, called New Sunday (Hadto) is in the 8th mode rather than the 1st.
In one type of hymn used by the Syriac Church, the Qole Shahroye (Vigils), each of the modes is dedicated to a theme: The 1st and 2nd modes are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the 3rd and 4th to the saints, the 5th and 6th to penitence, and the 7th and 8th to the departed
Prayer for the dead
Wherever there is a belief in the continued existence of man's personality through and after death, religion naturally concerns itself with the relations between the living and the dead...
.
The primary collection of hymns in the eight modes is the Beth Gazo d-ne`motho, or "Treasury of Chants."
Armenian Usage
In the Armenian Apostolic ChurchArmenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
, the system of eight modes is referred to as oot tzayn (eight voices). Although there is no structural relation between the Greek and Armenian modes, the division into "Authentic" and "Plagal" modes is parallel. In Armenian terminology, the "Authentic" modes are referred to as "Voice" (Tzayn) and the "Plagal" modes are called "Side" (Koghm), and are utilized in the following order:
| Greek | Armenian |
|---|---|
| First | First Voice |
| Plagal of the First | First Side |
| Second | Second Voice |
| Plagal of the Second | Second Side |
| Third | Third Voice |
| Grave | Third Side |
| Fourth | Fourth Voice |
| Plagal of the Fourth | Fourth Side |
This order is important, because it is the order in which the modes are used liturgically. Instead of using one tone per week, the Armenians use one tone per day. Easter Sunday is always the First Voice, the next day is First Side, and so on throughout the year. However, the cycle does not actually begin on Easter day, but counts backwards from Easter Sunday to the First Sunday in Lent, which is always Forth Side, regardless of what mode the previous day was. Each mode of the oot tzayn has one or more tartzwadzk‘ (auxiliary) modes.
The Sharagnots is the book which contains the Sharakan, or Sharagan (Canons
Canon (hymnography)
A canon is a structured hymn used in a number of Eastern Orthodox services. It consists of nine odes, sometimes called canticles or songs depending on the translation, based on the Biblical canticles. Most of these are found in the Old Testament, but the final ode is taken from the Magnificat and...
), hymns which constitute the substance of the musical system of Armenian liturgical chant in the eight modes. Originally, these were Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
and Biblical Canticle
Canticle
A canticle is a hymn taken from the Bible. The term is often expanded to include ancient non-biblical hymns such as the Te Deum and certain psalms used liturgically.-Roman Catholic Church:From the Old Testament, the Roman Breviary takes seven canticles for use at Lauds, as follows:*...
s that were chanted during the services. A Sharagan was composed of verses which were interspersed between the scriptural verses. Eventually, the Sharagan replaced the biblical text entirely. In addition, the eight modes are applied to the psalms of the Night office, called ganonaklookh (Canon head). the Armenian Church also makes use of other modes outside of the oot tzayn.
External links
- Use of the Eight Tones by St. Kosmas of Maiouma
- The Armenian Octoechos Ensemble Akn