Strictly speaking, Byzantine Chant is the sacred chant of
Christian Churches following the Orthodox rite. This tradition,
encompassing the Greek-speaking world, developed in Byzantium
from the establishment of its capital, Constantinople, in 330
until its fall in 1453. It is undeniably of composite origin,
drawing on the artistic and technical productions of the
classical age, on Jewish music, and inspired by the monophonic
vocal music that evolved in the early Christian cities of
Alexandria, Antioch, and Ephesus. In the Orthodox Church today,
many churches use Byzantine Chant as their primary musical
tradition, including the Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria,
Antioch, Jerusalem, Romania, Serbia, Greece, and Cyprus. Early
Christian Period Byzantine chant manuscripts date from the ninth
century, while lectionaries of biblical readings in Ekphonetic
Notation (a primitive graphic system designed to indicate the
manner of reciting lessons from Scripture) begin about a century
earlier and continue in use unti