The divisions of the psalms into kathismata is as follows (using the Septuagint numbering):
The kathismata are divided up between
Vespers
Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , meanin ...
and
Matins
Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning.
The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated b ...
, so that all 150 psalms are read during the course of the week. Normally there is one kathisma at Vespers and either two or three at Matins, depending on the day of the week and the time of the year, according to the Church's
liturgical calendar
The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...
. On Sunday nights and the nights following an
All-Night Vigil The All-night vigil is a service of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches consisting of an aggregation of the canonical hours of Compline (in Greek usage only), Vespers (or, on a few occasions, Great Compline), Matins, and the F ...
, there will be no kathisma at Vespers. During
Great Lent, kathismata are read during the
Little Hours
In Christianity, the Little Hours or minor hours are the canonical hours other than the three major hours.
In the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Indian Orthodox Church, two denominations in Oriental Orthodox Christianity, these fixed prayer time ...
also, so that the entire Psalter is completed twice in a week.
Besides the 150 Psalms, the Psalter also contains the nine biblical
Canticles
A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy.
Catholic Church
...
which are chanted at matins alongside the
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
which evolved from them.
Kathisma XVII, which is composed entirely of
Psalm 118
Psalm 118 is the 118th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in the English of the King James Version: "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever." The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the He ...
, "The Psalm of the
Law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
," is an important component of Matins on Saturdays, some Sundays, and at the
funeral service. The entire Book of Psalms is traditionally read aloud or chanted at the side of the deceased during the whole time from death until the funeral, mirroring Jewish tradition, and is a major element of the
wake. When the Psalms are read at a wake, there are special hymns and
litanies
Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Judaic worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin '' litania'' from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (''li ...
for the departed that are chanted between each kathisma, often printed at the end of the Psalter.
Some
monasteries
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
have a tradition of a "Cell Rule" whereby each monastic will pray several kathismata a day in addition to the ones that are said publicly during the services. Some Psalters have special hymns and prayers printed between the kathismata to be read as devotions when reciting the Cell Rule. In the 20th century, some lay Christians have adopted a continuous reading of the psalms on weekdays, praying the whole book in four weeks, three times a day, one kathisma a day.
In the
East Syriac Rite
The East Syriac Rite or East Syrian Rite, also called the Edessan Rite, Assyrian Rite, Persian Rite, Chaldean Rite, Nestorian Rite, Babylonian Rite or Syro-Oriental Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy ...
, the Psalter is divided into similar sections called ''hulali''.
Hymns
The word kathisma can also refer to a set of
troparia
A troparion (Greek , plural: , ; Georgian: , ; Church Slavonic: , ) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas.
The wi ...
(hymns) chanted after each kathisma from the Psalter at Matins which may be preceded by a little
ektenia
An ektenia (from el, ἐκτενής , translit=ektenés; literally, "diligence"), often called by the better known English word litany, consists of a series of petitions occurring in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic liturgies. The pr ...
(litany), depending on the
typikon
A typikon (or ''typicon'', ''typica''; gr, , "that of the prescribed form"; Church Slavonic, Slavonic: Тvпико́нъ ''Typikonə'' or Оуставъ, ''ustavə'') is a liturgical book which contains instructions about the order of the By ...
in use and a number of aspects of the day's
propers
The proper (Latin: ''proprium'') is a part of the Christian liturgy that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the liturgical year, or of a particular saint or significant event. The term is used in contrast to the ...
. In
Slavonic it is called a ''sedálen'' from ''sediti'', "to sit" (Cf.
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''sedere'', "to sit").
For the sake of clarity, many translations into English use the term Sessional Hymns or Sedalen to indicate these hymns as distinct from the kathisma of psalms they follow. Hymns with the same name are also used after the third ode of the
canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
.
Seating
The third meaning of kathisma is its original sense: a seat, stall or box in the sense of a theatre box. (It is related to the word 'cathedral', meaning where a bishop sits, and the phrase 'ex cathedra', which literally means 'from the chair'.) The term was used for the Imperial box at the
Hippodrome of Constantinople
Sultanahmet Square ( tr, Sultanahmet Meydanı) or the Hippodrome of Constantinople ( el, Ἱππόδρομος τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, Hippódromos tēs Kōnstantinoupóleōs; la, Circus Maximus Constantinopolitanus; t ...
. In this sense, kathismata (also called ''stasidia'') are the
choir stalls
A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tab ...
used in Orthodox monasteries. Instead of being a long bench, like a
pew
A pew () is a long bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom.
Overview
The first backless stone benches began to appear in English churches in the thirt ...
, the kathismata are a row of individual seats with full backs attached to the walls. The seats are hinged and lift up so the
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
or
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
can stand upright for the services. The backs are shaped at the top to form arm rests that the monastic can use when he is standing. Often the hinged seat will have a
misericord
A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a par ...
(small wooden seat) on the underside on which he can lean while standing during the long services. Monasteries will often have strict rules as to when the monastics may sit and when they must stand during the services. There will be two rows of kathismata, one on the right
kliros
The kliros ( Greek: κλῆρος ''klēros'', plural κλῆροι ''klēroi''; Slavonic: клиросъ, "kliros" or sometimes крилосъ, "krilos") is the section of an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic church dedicated to the choir. It ...
(choir), and one on the left.
The bishop has a special kathisma which is more ornate than the ordinary monk's. It is normally located on the right kliros (choir), at the westernmost end, and is often elevated above the others and may have a canopy above it (see
cathedra).
Monastic cell
At
Mount Athos, each monastic establishment, large or small, belongs to one of twenty "Sovereign Monasteries." The smallest type of these monastic establishments is called a kathisma: it is a
simple abode for one solitary monk.
Notes
External links
"Psalter" at Orthodox Wiki(
Church of the Holy Sepulchre)
Jonathan Lipnick, ''The First Church Dedicated Entirely To Mary'', in Biblical Hebrew & Greek, 20 July 2016 about the
Church of the Seat of Mary (Kathisma)
The Church of the Seat of Mary ( la, Ecclesia Kathismatis, from gr, κάθισμα, kathisma, seat), Church of the Kathisma or Old Kathisma being the name mostly used in literature, was a 5th-century Byzantine church in the Holy Land, located ...
on the Jerusalem-Bethlehem road
{{Byzantine music
Byzantine music
Genres of Byzantine music
Byzantine Rite
Liturgy of the Hours
Mount Athos
Eastern Christian hymns