Prokeimenon

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Prokeimenon

In the liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
, a Prokeimenon (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
????e?µe???, plural prokeimena; sometimes prokimenon/prokimena) is a psalm or 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 liturgy....
refrain sung responsorially at certain specified points of the Divine Liturgy

Divine Liturgy

The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine church tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches....
or the Divine Office

Canonical hours

Canonical hours are divisions of time, developed by the Christianity Christian Church, serving as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round....
, usually to introduce a scripture reading. It corresponds to the Gradual

Gradual

The Gradual is a chant in the Roman Catholic Mass . In the Tridentine Mass#Present status of the Mass it is sung after the reading or singing of the Epistle and before the Alleluia, or, during penitential seasons, before the Tract ....
of the Roman Mass.

Prokeimena are not selected based on the personal preference of the priest

Priest

A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities....
, reader, or choir director.

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Encyclopedia

In the liturgical practice of the Orthodox Church

Eastern Orthodox Church

Greek language

Canticle

Divine Liturgy

Canonical hours

Gradual

Priest

Octoechos (liturgy)

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 the Midnight Office....
, using the particular tone of the day. Many feast

Festival

A festival is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on some unique aspect of that community.Among many religions, a feast or festival is a set of celebrations in honour of God or Polytheism....
s also have their own prokeimena.

The basic pattern of a prokeimenon is for the reader to chant

Chant

Chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two pitch es called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of note s to highly complex musical structures, often including a great deal of repetition of musical subphrases, such as Great Responsories and Offertory o...
a single verse of the psalm or canticle (often announcing the tone as well). This is repeated as a refrain

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in Poetry; the "chorus" of a song. Poetry fixed forms that feature refrains include the villanelle, the virelay, and the sestina....
by the choir

Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
, as the Reader chants additional verses (exactly how many depends on local practice). The Reader concludes the prokeimenon by chanting the first half of the first verse, and the choir then sings the second half. Alternately, if a feast is being celebrated together with a Sunday liturgy, a verse of that feast's prokeimenon will often replace the final verse of the Sunday prokeimenon.

Example

The example given is the Sunday prokeimenon in Tone 8, assuming no additional feast. The verses are taken from Psalm 75 (Septuagint
Septuagint

The Septuagint , or simply "LXX", is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the 3rd century BC and 1st century BC in Alexandria....
numbering).

Reader: "The prokeimenon is in the eighth tone: Pray and make your vows before the Lord our God!"

Choir: "Pray and make your vows before the Lord our God!"

Reader: "In Judah, God is known; His name is great in Israel!"

Choir: "Pray and make your vows before the Lord our God!"

Reader: "Pray and make your vows!"

Choir: "Before the Lord our God!"

Liturgical structure

In the Divine Liturgy, the prokeimenon always proceeds the Epistle

Epistle

An epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually a Letter and a very formal, often didactic and elegant one. The letters in the New Testament from Twelve apostles to Christians are usually referred to as epistles....
reading, after the singing of the Trisagion

Trisagion

The Trisagion is a standard hymn of the Divine Liturgy in most of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches....
.

At Vespers

Vespers

Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Byzantine Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican, and Lutheran Liturgy of the canonical hours....
, the prokeimenon always follows the Entrance, whether or not there is an Old Testament

Old Testament

In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christianity Bible Biblical canon. These works correspond to the Hebrew Bible , with some variations and additions....
reading to follow. Whenever there is a Gospel reading, whether at Matins

Matins

Matins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodoxy liturgy of the canonical hours....
or during a Moleben

Moleben

A mol?ben , also called a molieben, service of intercession, or service of supplication, is a supplication prayer service used within the Orthodox Christian Church in honor of Jesus Christ, the Theotokos, a Great Feasts or a particular saint or martyr....
, it will be preceded by a prokeimenon. In Lent

Lent

Lent, in Christianity, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Conventionally it is described as being forty days long, though different Christian denominations calculate the forty days differently....
and Holy Week

Holy Week

Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday until but not including Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of Pentecostarion....
, at the Sixth Hour, a prokeimenon is also sung before and after a reading from the books of Isaiah

Isaiah

Isaiah is the main figure in the Biblical Book of Isaiah, and is traditionally considered to be its author. He was an 8th-century Before Christ Judean prophet who declared that all the world belonged to God and that God will destroy it....
or Jeremiah

Jeremiah

Jeremiah was one of the 'greater prophet' of the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth.His writings are put together in the Book of Jeremiah and, according to tradition, the Book of Lamentations....
.