Acolouthia

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Acolouthia, (from the Greek akoloutheo, to follow) in ecclesiastical terminology signifies the order or arrangement of the Divine Office (perhaps because the parts are closely connected and follow in order) and also, in a wider sense, the Office itself. The Acolouth is composed of musical and rhetorical elements, the first usually given in the musical mode or tone (Echos), according to which the liturgical compositions are chanted.

There are eight modes:, four primary and four secondary (plagal).

As the early chanters rarely used texts set to musical notation, they learned by heart the words and music of some standard hymn or canticle, and this served as a model for other hymns of the same rhythm. For example, one strophe or stanza of a standard hymn which indicates the melody of a composition, is known as an irmos (eirmos, hirmos). An irmos is placed at the beginning of an Ode to introduce the melody to which it should be chanted, and to tie the Biblical Canticle on which it is based to the hymns of the Ode that follow (see Canon (hymnography)). A katabasia is the irmos that is sung at the end of an Ode by the choir, which descend from their seats (kathismata) and stand on the floor of the church to sing it. The katabasia winds down the Ode and returns it again to the theme of the Biblical Canticle.

The fundamental element of the Acolouthia is the troparion, which is a short hymn, or one of the stanzas of a hymn. The kontakion is a troparion which explains briefly the character of the feast celebrated in the day's Office. The oikos is a somewhat longer troparion, which follows after the kontakion and in concise style glorifies the virtues and merits of the subject of the feast which were treated in the kontakion. The apolytikion is a troparion which is proper to the day, and is said just before the dismissal.

The ode was originally one of the nine inspired canticles sung in the morning Office, but later the name was also given to compositions consisting of a varying number of poetical troparia and modelled after the Scriptural odes. Such odes are often combined to form a canon (kanon) which is usually composed of nine, but sometimes of a smaller number of odes. Finally, the stichos is a short verse taken from the Psalms or some other book of Holy Scripture, while the sticheron is a short verse of ecclesiastical composition modelled after the stichos.

The parts of the Office are Little Vespers, Great Vespers, Orthros (Matins), the four Little Hours, and Apodeipnon (Compline). Little Vespers, which is chanted only before an All-Night Vigil, consist of the Usual Beginning, Psalms 103 and 140, several stichoi and similar stichera, a short hymn, and a psalm, some similar stichera and stichoi, the Nunc dimittis, the trisagion, and the apolytikion.

Great Vespers, which is chanted around sunset, begins with the Usual Beginning, Psalm 103 and the Great Ektenia. Then the priest says the Prayers of the Lamplighting (Lychnic). The reader recites the first kathisma (division of the psalter), and after the deacon has said the Little Ektenia the chanters begin "Lord, I Have Cried" (Psalm 140, etc.) while the deacon performs the censing. After putting on his phelonion, the priest says the Prayer of the Entrance, and he and the deacon go out the side door of the Iconostasis to make the Entrance with the censer. After the Prokimenon (and readings from Scripture, if any are appointed) the deacon recites the ektenias, and the priest says the prayer of benediction. During the procession to the narthex, stichera proper to the feast are recited, and then the deacon recites the Lity (an ektenia, to which the choir answers Kyrie Eleison many times), and the priest blesses all present. Next the Aposticha (stichera proper to the feast) are chanted by the choir followed by the Nunc Dimittis, the trisagion, a prayer to the Trinity, the Lord's Prayer, the apolytikion (hymn of the Feast), a the dismissal by the Priest.

For information about the Midnight Office, see the article by that name.

The first part of Orthros, consists of twelve prayers read by the priest in front of the Holy Doors while the reader reads the Six Psalms, the greater litany, two stichera followed by Psalms 134 and 135, a third sticheron followed by the gradual psalms, an antiphon with the prokeimenon, the reading of the Gospel, many acclamations and the Canon, while the second part of the Orthros, corresponding to Lauds in the Roman Office, is composed of Psalms 148, 149, 150, several similar stichera, the greater doxology, a benediction, and the dismissal.

Each of the Little Hour may followed by a supplementary hour, called an Inter-Hour (Mesorion) during certain seasons of the year. The First Hour (Prime) begins with the recitation of three psalms followed by a doxology, two stichoi, a doxology, a troparion in honour of the Theotokos, the trisagion, several variable troparia, the doxology and dismissal, while its supplementary Hour is composed of a troparion, doxology, troparion of the Theotokos, Kyrie Eleison repeated forty times, a prayer, and a doxology. The Third Hour (Terce), the Sixth Hour (Sext), and the Ninth Hour (None) and their Inter-Hours each follow the same basic outline as the First Hour.

Before or after the Ninth Hour (depending upon the liturgical season), an office called theTypika is recited. The Typica is only chanted on days when the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated, and consists of many of the psalms and hymns that would have been chanted had the Liturgy been celebrated. Ordinarily this consists of Psalm 102, Psalm 145, and the Beatitudes, followed by prayers and hymns. But in the seasons of fasting this Office is regulated by different rubrics. The last part of the Office is Compline (Apodeipnon), and is served in two different manners. Great Compline is said during the Lenten seasons, Little Compline during the rest of the year. The latter is composed of psalms, a doxology, troparion, the trisagion, the Lord's Prayer, the Kyrie Eleison repeated twelve times, and invitatory versicles, and Psalms 50, 69, and 162, which are followed by the greater doxology, the Creed, the trisagion, the Lord's Prayer, the troparion proper to the feast, the Kyrie Eleison repeated forty times, several invocations, and the long prayers of dismissal.

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.