Sticheraric vs. Heirmologic - When is each done?

Loukas12

Reader Luke
I've noticed a discrepancy between local practice, and maybe that is the answer to my question, but when it comes to services such as Daily Vespers, Great Vespers & Orthros, there seems to be a difference as to whether the Kekragarion, Stichera, Aposticha etc... are done in a Sticheraric fashion or Hiermologic.

In my parish, a few of the chanters (those here for Great Vespers & Orthros) tend to do everything (except the Kekragarion itself, because they use the Kazan sheet music) in a Hiermologic manner as follows:

Kekragarion - Sticheraric
Set a Watch & Following verses - Hiermologic
Bring My Soul & following hymns - Hiermologic
Glory/Both Now - Sticheraric
Doxastikon & Theotokion (following the Glories) - Hiermologic
Aposticha - Hiermologic


However, for some of us chanters who go to the Daily Vespers services during the weekdays, we do the following:
Kekragarion - Sticheraric
Set a Watch & following verses - Hiermologic
Bring My Soul & following hymns - Sticheraric
Doxastikon & Theotokion - Sticheraric
Aposticha - Hiermologic

I've noticed that as I watch and listen to services in Greece, they seem to do the following for Daily Vespers:
Kekragarion - Hiermologic
Set a Watch (if done) - Hiermologic
Bring My Soul - Hiermologic
Doxastikon & Theotokion - Sticheraric
Aposticha - Hiermologic

Now, our Priest himself prefers us to take our time and chant slower rather than rushing through everything. I've tried to talk to him about this, and he says that we shouldn't try to use Greece or even Arabic churches as a guide because they are able to have regular services and easier access to parishes and we can only have church a few times a week, and so it's better to take our time and make the service last, so the people can take time and enjoy it , pray and escape the worldliness for a while.

Is there a general rule here that I'm missing?

I know most things in our services is set and isn't something you just decide how you want to do it. But I don't know what determines how we chant or which form of a tone to use.
 
Last edited:

romanos4

Παλαιό Μέλος
That's a good summary via Papa Ephraim. Thanks for posting.
 
Last edited:
Top