GLOSSARY OF LITURGICAL TERMS
Alleluja: A hymn following the reading of the Gospel.
This is the oldest and most widely used hymn in the liturgies.
Antiphons: A short refrain, between the verses
of a given psalm. Each psalm consists of two antiphons, performed
by two alternating
choirs singing the psalm verse and that short refrain.
It also refers to a series of psalm verses with a refrain sung before the Little
Entrance. Originally, antiphons were intended for singing during the procession
to the church.
Kathisma: The twenty parts of the Psalter, each
one subdivided by three stasis or antiphons. Palestinian monastic
origin (St. Saba
monastery).
Koinonikon/Communion hymn:
a hymn sung by the faithful before partaking Holy Communion, taken from psalms
or other Biblical books.
Kontakion: A didactic piece of poetic genre; collection
of poetic strophes, each of an equal number of syllables and of the
same rhythm.
Lectionary: A liturgical rearrangement of perikopes
from the Gospels to follow the Church calendar.
Menologion: A multi-volume compilation of the lives
of the saints, accompanied by illustrations from the saints' lives.
Prokimeinon: A responsorial verse placed before
a psalm and used as a refrain between the psalm verses, preceding
the reading of the
Epistles and also before the readings in Vespers, Hours and other
divine services. In Greek, it means "that which is placed before."
Stichos: A verse of a psalm.
Troparion: A poetic genre of worship, an extended
response (antiphon) and has short metrical hymn of popular character.
Typicon: A book regulating the Liturgy of the Hours
and of the Eucharist, i.e., the Divine Liturgy throughout the Church
year, beginning with
Easter. It prescribes the rubrics of the prayers, readings, and hymns.
The oldest typicon comes from the 9-10th century, of the Great Church
Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Monastic typicons came from the St.
Saba and Stoudios monasteries.
