ABSTRACT
On the focus of this chapter is the repertory of kontakia that are arranged for the whole church year and are included in the book of the Psaltikon. The latter was in use between the eleventh and fourteenth century and was designated for the performance of soloists for the cathedral liturgical rite of the secular churches, known as “sung Office” like this one of the Great Church “Hagia Sophia” in Constantinople. The study of the kontakia in the Greek Psaltikons shows that in terms of their arrangement they resemble the repertory of the Tropologion. Like the latter, the kontakia in almost all of the Greek Psaltikons are arranged in an uninterrupted order: the yearly cycle of both the fixed feasts for the twelve months throughout the liturgical year and the movable feasts for the periods of Lent, Easter, and Pentecost are interspersed in a single calendar sequence. The movable feasts are placed between February 2, the Hypapante, and June 24, the feast of St. John Prodromos. The first two weeks of the Preparatory period of Lent – of the Publican and Pharisee and of the Prodigal Son – are missing. The movable cycle starts with the Meatfare Sunday – a fact that is established for all of the older hymnographic books containing the repertory of Lent. The arrangement of the kontakia in the Psaltikons reveals that they have preserved an archaic written tradition that goes back to Jerusalem before the ninth century.
