Иоанн Дамаскин. «Октоих». Кутеинская типография. 1646The Schøyen Collection MS 577, Oslo and London. Syriac Sertâ book script. Mt. Sinai, Egypt, ca. 11th c. :Hermologion: Heirmos 705-709, Melchite Use. MS in Syriac on paper, 2 ff.
Octoechos
from the Greek: ἡ Ὀκτώηχος Greek pronunciation: [okˈtoixos];[1] from ὀκτώ "eight" and ἦχος "sound, mode" called echos
Slavonic: Осмѡгласникъ, Osmoglasnik from о́смь "eight" and гласъ "voice, sound"
contains a repertoire of hymns ordered in eight parts according to the eight echoi (tones or modes = Τρόπος (μουσική))
Originally created as a hymn book with musical notation in the Stoudios monastery (Μονή Στουδίου) during the 9th century (9ος αιώνας), it is still used in many rites of Eastern Christianity (Ανατολικός Χριστιανισμός)
liturgical book
Types of octoechos books
the Great Octoechos (ὅκτώηχος ἡ μεγάλη) or Parakletike contained as well the proper of office hymns for each weekday - a Parakletike written during the 14th century can be studied online: "Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Ms. cgm 205". Parakletike or Great Oktoechos composed in eight parts without musical notation (Greek monastery near Venice). 1355–1365. http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0006/bsb00065696/images/index.html?fip=193.174.98.30&id=00065696&seite=5
Octoechos is often used to describe a smaller volume that contains only the hymns for the Sunday services. In order to distinguish the longer version from the short one, the term Paraklētikē (Greek: Παρακλητική) can be used as well for the Great Octoechos. The word Paraklētikē comes from the Greek parakalein (παρακαλεῖν), meaning, "to pray, implore, comfort, encourage" (the ordinary prayer texts for the weekdays)
The hymns of the books Octoechos and Heirmologion had been collected earlier in a book called "Troparologion" or "Tropologion". It already existed during the 6th century in the Patriarchate of Antiochia, before it became a main genre of the centers of an Octoechos hymn reform in the monasteries of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai and Mar Saba in Palestine, where St. John Damascene (c. 676–749) and Cosmas of Maiuma created a cycle of stichera anastasima.
From this early period there were only few Greek sources, but a recent study (Nikiforova 2013) of a tropologion at the St Catherine at Sinai could reconstruct the earlier form of the Tropologion which preceded the book Octoechos: Nikiforova, Alexandra (2013). "Tropologion Sinait. Gr. ΝΕ/ΜΓ 56–5 (9th c.): A new source for Byzantine Hymnography". Scripta & e-Scripta. International Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies. 12: 157–185. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=17991
