This Page Last Updated Septermber 27th, 2009 (new style reckoning)

Znammeny Chant

The photo above is from one of the guides to Znamenny chant that I found. One of the many capitulations that modernized Russia allowed itself to fall into was the corruption of Znammeny. Old Russian Chant not only sounds very different from heretical western music, but also looks very different when reading it. The Old Believers chant stands separate from the rest of the music in the world today. I hope that other people might find the rare and unique beauty of Old Believer chant.

The closest example of Old Believer chant, outside of the Old Faith, might be with the Latinized Greeks monasteries that attempt to keep some of their old style chant alive. But how can we trust them with all their western influences, as with the invasion of Mt. Athos by the Latinizing Franks? The only place that I would look for a proper example of Christian psalmody are the more strict Old Believers, for there are significant noticeable differences. When the New-Rite Russians try to fake Znamenny Chant by harmonizing it in a western fashion like the monastery on Valaam island (and others) sometimes do, it then becomes a butchered conglomeration of anything but heart lifting song.

Modern minded Russians must have wrongly thought that the monotone of old style chant was ugly compared to the new polyphony of the western world. Today the music of the modern Russian Orthodox Church sounds more like a foreign opera house than Church. Modern music has no good ground, the corruptors overlooked common sense and decided that the evil way was better. What a travesty.

Strict Old Believers do not use computers, so there is really not any good example of their chant online. If you really want to make Znamenny a part of your life then I recommend finding the strictest Old Believer you can and learn from them in person. Below are some links I found about Znamenny.

Russian Znamenny Chant, Znammeny Chant, Znameny Chant

Znamenny Chant - Oktoikos corrupted by Western type sheet music, in English (why English is heretical).

Znamenny chant information from Nikonites who do not get it all correct.

Old Believers use types of Russian plainchant such as Znamenny and Demestvenny.

Some interesting information about Znamenny Chant can be found at Answers.com if you can get around all the devilish advertising. It mentions the development and standardization of ‘sign notation’ (znamennaya notatsiya), or ‘chanting by signs’ (znamenney raspev).

Below are ten links to MP3 Znammeny Chants in Old Slavonic from the Riga Old Believers at Pashka. They are the best example of pure Old Slavonic Znamenny that I have found online. You can also download and save these audio files in order to listen to them.

Stihira - My God Vozzvah. Tone 8 (1st),

Stihira - My God Vozzvah. Tone 8 (2nd),

Stihira - My God Vozzvah. Tone 8 (3rd),

Stihira Slavnik. Tone 6 “Neshnjuju Secret”,

Stihira slavnik. Tone 6, Transformed,

Stihira Slavnik. A Greater Singsong,

Verse after Paremii. Tone 5 (1st) “We Sing Gospodevi”,

Verse after Paremii. Tone 5-th (2nd) “Song of the Lord”,

Prokimenon before the Epistle - “All is Poklonittisja”,

81st Psalm - “God Judges Everything”,

Here is a page with some links to Spiritual Songs in MP3 format from a Old Believer Convent near Novgorod.

Also there is Oktay from Pure Nature Music that has samples of MP3s for members to listen to. They are more like spiritual songs sung around the meal table with the whole family. Still it is part of the long standing Old Believer tradition and well worth gaining a better understanding. Some consider this a lowly folk style music, but it is completely based upon the old Russian plainchant known as Znammeny, far better than the modernized Church singing we might hear today.

Znammeny Chant is not at all written like the linier notation in western sheet music.

To illustrate I place below a photograph of a page from a real handwritten Znammeny hook notation manuscript that is many centuries old.

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