Original Melodies

Original melodies, or automela, are a large body of Eastern Orthodox hymns that serve as models or prototypes for the composition of other hymns. When the incipit of an original melody appears above another hymn, it indicates that the hymn is to be chanted to that same melody. Such a hymn is called a prosomion—Greek for “similar to”—because it follows its model note for note, syllable for syllable, and accent for accent. A prosomion is called podoben in Slavonic.

The earliest written sources of these melodies survive chiefly in manuscript Heirmologia, the musical books containing the heirmoi of the canons. The 1607 Heirmologion of Theophanes Karykes, the first known Protopsaltis of the Great Church after the Fall and Patriarch of Constantinople from 1596–1597, was the first such collection to place the original melodies for stichera, sessional hymns, and exapostilaria alongside the heirmoi of the canons. The 1698 Heirmologion of Ioasaph of Vatopedi (the New Koukouzelis) then became the foundation for the later embellished Heirmologia of Chrysaphes the New, Germanos of New Patras, Balasios the Priest, and Cosmas the Macedonian of Iviron. In turn, the 1717 Heirmologion of Balasios the Priest displaced these earlier collections and prevailed through much of the 18th century, though it has never been transcribed into the New Method.

The tradition took on its present form with the 1773 Heirmologion of Peter the Peloponnesian, which became established in liturgical practice around 1780 and remains in use today. The English adaptations presented below stand within this received tradition, their slow settings being drawn from Peter’s Heirmologion as transcribed by Chourmouzios the Archivist (Constantinople, 1825), a classic of unique purity and simplicity, and their brief settings from the Heirmologion of John the Protopsaltis (Constantinople, 1903), which embellishes the brief melodies of the 1825 edition. These melodies have stood the test of time, bearing profound beauty and an unmistakable ecclesiastical character. In the few cases where these publications do not contain an original melody, we have drawn on other sources, such as the Doxastarion of Panagiotes Keltzanides (Constantinople, 1882–1886), or provided our own compositions.

We are grateful to the Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Brookline, MA) for their kind permission to use their metered translations of these texts into liturgical English, without which this effort would not have been possible. In the few cases where the Monastery’s text for a given original melody was not metered, we have provided our own metered translation.

First Mode

In the Greek liturgical repertoire, “The soldiers standing guard…” and “Let Angels’ holy choirs…” are two distinct but very similar original melodies. In practice, they are used in opposite ways: “The soldiers standing guard…” serves almost entirely as a Sessional Hymn melody (around 96% of its ~390 usages), while “Let Angels’ holy choirs…” leans the other way, serving mostly as a Dismissal Hymn or Kontakion melody (about 70% of its ~50 usages). Both appear across all three hymn types, but with opposite emphases. HTM’s publications normalize them into a single original melody, consistently referred to as “The soldiers standing guard…”

In the Greek liturgical repertoire, “When the stone had been sealed…” is the original melody and “While Gabriel was saying…” is its prosomion. In HTM’s publications, however, this is inverted: “When the stone had been sealed…” is left unmetered, while “While Gabriel was saying…” is metered and treated as the original melody.

Second Mode

“The Cross is the guardian of the whole world…” is technically not an original melody, but rather a prosomion of “While Thy disciples looked on Thee…”

Third Mode

In the Greek liturgical repertoire, “The power of Thy Cross…” and “The power of Thy Martyrs…” are two distinct but very similar original melodies. HTM’s publications normalize them into a single original melody, consistently referred to as “The power of Thy Cross…”

While “In the Jordan River’s streams…” is technically an original melody, in practice it is a prosomion of “From the heights our Saviour, Christ…”

Fourth Mode

Plagal of First Mode

Plagal of Second Mode

In the Greek liturgical repertoire, “Ere the morning star…” and “She whose way of life…” are two distinct but very similar original melodies. HTM’s publications normalize them into a single original melody, consistently referred to as “Ere the morning star…”

Grave Mode

Plagal of Fourth Mode

In the Greek liturgical repertoire, “Thou, as the Life of all…” and “The song the shepherds played…” are two distinct but very similar original melodies. HTM’s publications normalize them into a single original melody, consistently referred to as “Thou, as the Life of all…”

Original Melodies ​

First Mode ​

Second Mode ​

Third Mode ​

Fourth Mode ​

Plagal of First Mode ​

Plagal of Second Mode ​

Grave Mode ​

Plagal of Fourth Mode ​