Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music or Psaltic Art is the amalgamation of the Greek hymnographic discourse with ancient rhythmic motifs and melodies of unsurpassed beauty.

The strict and unpretentious rendering of the Byzantine chants in the ecclesiastic services is survived through its evolving music notation as is testified by the manuscripts from the 9th-10th c. up to the present day, as well as, with the mnemonic methods of the oral tradition through its performers over the centuries.

It is the uninterrupted thousand-year-old living traditional musical art of the Greek nation and is considered one of the most important expressions of the cultural heritage of Hellenism. For the above reasons, it was registered in the UNESCO list during the 14th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage on December 11, 2019.

The contribution of Thessaloniki to the development and preservation of Byzantine Ecclesiastical Music is indisputable. During the Byzantine period, Thessaloniki was the crossroads and center of socioeconomic and spiritual ideas and practices between Western Europe and the Byzantine world and therefore it was considered the most vivid urban center after the Constantinople. In addition, its proximity to Mount Athos contributes to the spiritual uplift of the inhabitants, culminating in the spread of Hesychastic movement of teaching during the Paleologian era.

The eponymous tradition of chant compositions in the music manuscripts is a fact from the 14th century and on and bears witness to a number of Thessalonikian composers and performers such as Nikolaos Kampanis, Dimitrios Veaskos, Daniel Achradis, Georgios Kontopetris, Manuel Plagitis and Ioannis Kladas.

In addition, in codex EBE2047 of the National Library of Greece, survives the so-called ‘asmatikē akolouthia’ preserved under the supervision of the Metropolitan of Thessaloniki Symeon (1416-1429). The survival of the ‘church typikon' or ‘asmatikē akolouthia’ or ‘sung service’ during the Byzantine period is due to its preservation and practice throughout the ecclesiastical year in the metropolis of Thessaloniki, while in the rest of the Byzantine territory the churches followed the ‘Palestinian monastic service’ from the 9th century on with few exceptions.

From the liberation of Thessaloniki from the Ottoman Turks in October 1912 until today, the Byzantine churches of the city hosts prominent psaltes and music teachers, such as Konstantinos Priggos, Athanasios Panagiotidis, Chrysanthos Theodosopoulos, Avraam Efthymanis, Athanasios Karamanis and Charilaos Taliadoros, the excellent students of which, continue their work uninterruptedly.

In our days, Thessaloniki has regained its role as a nursery of the Byzantine music tradition with associations of cantors, music schools and conservatories, as well as music departments at the university level.

Dr Arsinoi Ioannidou