Liturgica Music, a division of Liturgica.com, produces recordings of Byzantine chant in English. Byzantine chant is the liturgical music form of the so-called “Greek” Eastern Rite Churches. Early Byzantine chant was the original form of liturgical music in the Christian Church, developing from the interplay of Greek music forms and the early Christian biblical and Semitic tradition. It greatly influenced Old Roman Chant, ultimately gave rise to various western chant forms, was the precursor of Kievan and Znammeny chant (the early chant forms in Rus), and has come down to modern times as the chant form found in the Eastern Rite Churches.

As the Eastern Orthodox Churches have become more established in North American, there has been an ever increasing demand for recordings of Byzantine chant. More recently, as more and more Orthodox Churches celebrate their services in English and service books are translated into English, there is an increasing demand for recordings of Byzantine chant in English.

Given its origins from the Biblical and Semitic traditions, it is no surprise that the hymns, songs and poems used in the Eastern Rite Churches are understood as a “re-sounding” or echo of the heavenly chanting, which the hymnographer hears with a spiritual ear and transmits in his work.

This understanding of liturgical music closely parallels the understanding of the sacramentality of the liturgy itself as re-presenting the reality of the faith and as an entering into the reality of the Kingdom of God, an ascent to an invisible reality. The Church’s hymns are proclaimed by the angels, and therefore the Church’s hymnographers must follow the established types of heavenly origin, and thus there is a “model” or structure in Byzantine hymnography that is understood as a metaphysical concept rather than a rigid structure or an object of simple imitation. This structure is the Octoechos, or the eight tones of Byzantine chant.

These eight tones directly draw upon and developed from the modal structure of Greek music, and over time grew into the full body of liturgical music. The development of hymnody in the early and mid Byzantine period was then, both a significant musical achievement in its beauty and complexity, and a significant theological accomplishment in its content. In much the same way as the efforts of the Seven Ecumenical Councils and (among others) the Cappadocian Fathers defined the theological and doctrinal foundations of the Church, the work of the hymnographers naturally incorporated this teaching into the liturgical life of the church for the purpose of edifying the faithful and building up the faith.

It is said that someone once asked Fr. Georges Florovsky (a great contemporary Orthodox theologian in America) where was the best place to go to learn the teachings of the church. He is said to have replied: "Go and stand next to the chanter's stand for a full year and you will learn the theology of the Church."