Anastasimatarion

DIMITRI CONOMOS

A liturgical book containing musical set­tings in each of the eight modes (tones) of the Resurrection or Sunday hymnody (each Sunday being a commemoration of the res­urrection: anastasis) for Great Vespers and Matins, together with other supplementary chants. There are three types of Anastasi- matarion: (1) argon (“slow”) or palaion (“old”) melodies that are highly melismatic and extended; (2) argosyntomon (literally, “slow-fast”) melodies which are moderately ornate; and (3) syntomon (“fast”) melodies that are syllabic and simple. The composers, editors and arrangers of the editions of the Anastasimatarion currently in use are Petros Peloponnesios (1730–78) and Ioannes Protopsaltes (d. 1770).