medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
The orthodox divine liturgies, either John Chrysostom's or Basile's,
being sung in Greece or in Russia or in France or in Canada, would not
stand as "orthodox" if any or all of the 3 antiphons which open the
office were omitted, the 3rd one (Beatitudes) being separated from the
2nd one by a fixed hymn : "God's Unique Son and Verb". These four pieces
and their introductory litanies make a long preparatory part during
which the assembly can softly get into the world of the liturgy, which,
as everyone knows, a timeless and spaceless "universe". The narthex of a
church stands for the same use : some sort of, should I say, an
interface device between the visible world and the invisible sanctuary.
Antiphons 1 and 2 are real antiphons, that is, sung by two groups (monks
or assembly), whereas antiphon 3, which is not a psalm, supposes the two
groups to join in and become a single choir (the use of monodic or
polyphonic syles is irrelevant here). Sticherae can be eventually
"sliced in" in antiphon 3, and in that case the "antiphonic structure"
becomes that of a soloist vs. a choir, and therefore should be
considered a respons rather than antiphony.
All the best,
Frank Gayte
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