[mp3]
And a sample of current Patriarchal practice regarding what is chanted during communion. They chant/recite "Tou Deipnou Sou" until communion is finished.
[mp3]
A long melismatic Koinonikon recorded
live from the radio on 27 Jan 05. The chanters are the choir
Hagiopolites led by I. Arvanitis. The recording is live from a vigil
(agrypnia) in Petraki Monastery in Athens. The mode is
Plagal First. The composer is Manuel Chrysaphes "o palaios" ("the old
one"), Lambadarios of Hagia Sophia at the time of the fall of
Constantinople
(1453 AD). It is one of the longest Koinonika I've
heard in a
city parish agrypnia. (21 minutes long!) - this also is an answer to
people
who wonder where such long pieces can be chanted.
[mp3]And one more from another Agrypnia (22 Dec 04) at the same monastery
[mp3]
Question:
Do
any Greek churches sing "The
body of Christ" (Swma Christou)
repeatedly during the communion of the people? Or is this uniquely
Slavic? I don't know, having said "Slavic", what the normal
practice
would be in a Serbian, a Ukrainain, a Bulgarian or,
non-Slavically, a
Rumanian church.
I. Arvanitis:
I have heard once this Koinonikon
sung repeatedly before and during the communion of the faithful by the
sister of the famous Father Porphyrios
and the nuns of Daou Pentelis (a monastery near Athens) on the Apodosis
of Pascha. The sister of Father Porphyrios is (or was?) was leading the
choir as they sung it in the form ''Soma Christou metalavete, pigis
athanatou geusasthe; pigis athanatou geusasthe, soma Christou
metalavete'' (and
then in the reverse order) on the music of the 3rd mode Exaposteilaria.
I
have not heard it sung in this way anywhere else. I can say that some
singers simply recite it repeatedly, after they have finished a
melismatic one. Unfortunately, the practice of singing something well
organised (a melismatic Koinonikon or something else appropriate to
this moment) in
this place of the Divine Liturgy suffers a deterioration, so you cannot
have
a result by investigating the present praxis. Singers sing everything
they want (Polyeleoi, Agni Parthene or some new and frequently
'romantic' compositions) irrespective of the liturgical or musical
tradition. There are some ancient verses for a repeated singing of
'Soma Christou' published by Antonios Alygizakis. You could maybe use
them. I can try to find them but I cannot maybe translate them in a
good way.