I am looking for the music for a polychronion for a priest. Does anyone know where to find one either in Greek or English???
thanks
Hi,
In actuality, there is no such thing as a
Polychronion for a priest. Technically, the only
polychronia that were written were for the king and the patriarch, and they were chanted within the context of the Divine Liturgy just before the Gospel reading. (The patriarch's is still chanted to this day at the Patriarchate, but after the distribution of the
antidoron at the end of the Divine Liturgy. And this is a
syntomon version, not the longer drawn-out version we may have heard recordings of.)
Funny thing, I have actually seen a
polychronion for the SULTAN!! (And I think I have a copy of it somewhere...) But that is something that might be a later addition. (I'm not sure if the sultan's
polychronion was ever chanted within the Liturgy; personally, I doubt it, but maybe someone has information about this.)
What are also later additions are
polychronia for hierarchy (mostly archbishops). All of these later additions had no place in the Liturgy and were (are) only chanted perhaps at the VERY END of vespers or Liturgy (AFTER the "
Di' efxon"), or perhaps at an event honoring the hierarch or during a concert of Byzantine Music. Again, these are not "standard", but rather
polychronia composed according to the standard patriarchal models, always ending with, "
Kyrie fyllate afton, eis polla eti, eis polla eti, eis polla eti."
Apostolos