The divisions of the psalms into kathismata is as follows (using the Septuagint numbering):
The kathismata are divided up between
Vespers and
Matins, 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. On Sunday nights and the nights following an
All-Night Vigil, there will be no kathisma at Vespers. During
Great Lent
Great Lent, or the Great Fast, (Greek: Μεγάλη Τεσσαρακοστή or Μεγάλη Νηστεία, meaning "Great 40 Days," and "Great Fast," respectively) is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denominat ...
, kathismata are read during the
Little Hours also, so that the entire Psalter is completed twice in a week.
Besides the 150 Psalms, the Psalter also contains the nine biblical
Canticles which are chanted at matins alongside the
canon which evolved from them.
Kathisma XVII, which is composed entirely of
Psalm 118, "The Psalm of the
Law," is an important component of Matins on Saturdays, some Sundays, and at the
funeral
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
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
Wake or The Wake may refer to:
Culture
*Wake (ceremony), a ritual which takes place during some funeral ceremonies
*Wakes week, an English holiday tradition
* Parish Wake, another name of the Welsh ', the fairs held on the local parish's patron s ...
. When the Psalms are read at a wake, there are special hymns and
litanies for the departed that are chanted between each kathisma, often printed at the end of the Psalter.
Some
monasteries 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 Psalter is divided into similar sections called ''hulali''.
Hymns
The word kathisma can also refer to a set of
troparia (hymns) chanted after each kathisma from the Psalter at Matins which may be preceded by a little
ektenia (litany), depending on the
typikon in use and a number of aspects of the day's
propers. In
Slavonic it is called a ''sedálen'' from ''sediti'', "to sit" (Cf.
Latin ''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.
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. In this sense, kathismata (also called ''stasidia'') are the
choir stalls used in Orthodox monasteries. Instead of being a long bench, like a
pew, 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 or
nun 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 (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 (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
A ''cathedra'' is the raised throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principa ...
).
Monastic cell
At
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...
, 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
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
)
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) on the Jerusalem-Bethlehem road
{{Byzantine music
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Eastern Christian hymns