section_path: Liturgy/Church services/Chanting
section_name: Chanting
paragraph_text: Chanting
  
  Chanting is not considered "music" by Orthodox Christians, but rather sacred melody and prayer, in Orthodox Theology. An Orthodox Divine Service is chanted in their entirely by the clergy, the choir, and the congregation from the start of the service to the end. Early Christian forms of chanting began with ancient Judaic traditions of chanting the Psalms, which priests have now declared with the hymns in the Book of Psalms. As the Church grew, so did persecution, and many new forms of hymns began to appear.
  
  Liturgies contain the reading and chanting of prayers, headed by a bishop or priest. Many various forms of liturgies include different forms of chanting services (for example, the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great has chanting of longer duration and the priest privately reads his prayers at the alter). For the composition of religious chant, the Octoechos, an eight- tone (mode) system, analogous to the Gregorian modes in the West, and to other ancient Christian musical systems, is used. Byzantine music is microtonal.
  
  Byzantine chants are associated with the Eastern Roman Empire's period (AD 330 to 1453) and developed form Jewish and Syrian traditions in the early-Christian Church. This continued to evolve throughout the 16th century. However, many mistake it for Greek Christianity in the east, but is unrelated to the ancient Greek period.
  
  Northern Slavs, however, have used simpler tonal systems evolved through the sundry local types of Znamenny chant; today Western music, often with four-part harmony, and the "tones" are simply sets of melodies. Russian liturgical chants (including some Ukrainian and Balkan churches) evolved from the Kievan Rus people in AD 988. Byzantine melodies adapted to the patterns of the Old Church Slavonic language. In the 14th century, Russian elements began to be used in the church. By the 16th century, Russian chants had many links to the Byzantine style.
  
  There are numerous versions and styles that are traditional and acceptable and these vary a great deal between cultures.