''Ton Despotin'' is an acclamation chanted by the

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

in honour of a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

when he gives a

blessing In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will. Etymology and Germanic paganism The modern English language term ''bless'' likely ...

in the

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

churches. While the

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of C ...

may be chanted in any language, ''Ton Despotin'' is almost always chanted in the original

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. The words in Greek are: *"Τόν Δεσπότην καὶ Ἀρχιερέα ἡμῶν, Κύριε φύλαττε, εἰς πολλὰ ἔτη, Δέσποτα" *''Ton Despotin ke Arkhierea imon, Kirie filate, is polla eti, Despota'' An English translation would read: *Preserve, O Lord, our Master and

Hierarch An ordinary (from Latin ''ordinarius'') is an officer of a church or civic authority who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute laws. Such officers are found in hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ...

. Many years to you, Master! The final phrase ''Eis pollá étē, Déspota'' is usually chanted three times, each with progressively more elaborate embellishment. There are many musical settings for the hymn, which can be roughly divided into simple and elaborate, each being used at different points during the services. Often, ''Ton Despótēn'' is chanted while the bishop, vested in full, stands on an

eagle rug An Eagle rug, (Greek αετός, aëtos; Church-Slavonic орлецъ, orlets) is a small rug, usually round, upon which Eastern Orthodoxand those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite bishops stand during divine liturgy and ...

and blesses his flock with

dikirion and trikirion Dikirion ( el, δικήριον or δίκηρον) and trikirion (τρικήριον or τρίκηρον) are liturgical candlesticks, used by a bishop of the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic Churches to bless the clergy and faithful. Th ...

. An abbreviated form, consisting only of plainchanting ''Is pollá eti, Déspota'' three times, is used at less solemn blessings.

External links

*{{Cite web, url = http://analogion.com/site/html/TonDespotin.html , title = Τον Δεσπότην και Αρχιερέα chanted when the Bishop venerates the icons , publisher = Analogion
Ton Despotin
musical setting (western notation)
Ton Despotin
Greek and English text. Eastern Christian liturgy Christian chants Greek language