Leaf from a Demestvennik Songbook: Chant for the Feast Day of St. Demetrius

Having denounced Patriarch Nikon’s institution of Western-style choral singing into Orthodox worship, Old Believers performed in the Demestvenny style, which derives its name from the Greek word domestikos, a term for the choir leader in Byzantine liturgy. Demestvenny singing does not follow the system of eight tones and is recorded with staffless notation and neumatic signs as in this chant dedicated to the holy warrior and martyr St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, one of the most popular saints in Eastern Orthodox Christianity who triumphed over paganism in the early fourth century. Sung on October 26, the saint’s feast day, the chant begins with a gold-leaf-decorated initial “B” from the Cyrillic alphabet and was once part of a Demestvennik book.