Cherubikon

History

The hymn symbolically incorporates those present at the liturgy into the presence of the angels gathered around God's throne. It concerns the very heart of the Divine Liturgy—the Anaphora, the earliest part which can be traced back to Saint Basil and to John Chrysostom's redaction of Basil's liturgical text.

Exegetic tradition

The trisagion or thrice-holy hymn which was mentioned by John Chrysostom, could only refer to the Sanctus of the Anaphora taken from the Old Testament, from the book of the prophet Isaiah in particular (6:1-3):

[1] And it came to pass in the year in which king Ozias died, that I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, and the house was full of his glory. [2] And seraphs stood round about him, each one had six wings, and with two they covered their face, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. [3] And one cried to the other, and they said "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! The whole earth is full of His glory!"

In a homily John Chrysostom interpreted Isaiah and the chant of the divine liturgy in general (neither the cherubikon nor the trisagion existed in his time) as an analogue act which connected the community with the eternal angelic choirs:

While the legions of angels praise above, down the human congregations sing the very same hymn. Above the seraphim jubilate the thrice-holy hymn, from deep down the human crowd raise with the same hymn into a solemn communion of the heavenly with the earthly spheres—a eucharist, one cheerfullness, one acclaim.

Composition during the 6th-century reform

Although its liturgical concept already existed by the end of the 4th century, the cherubikon itself was created 200 years later. The Great Entrance as a ritual act was needed for a procession with the Gifts, coming from outside the church, while simultaneous prayers were celebrated behind the Constantinopolitan altar screen. As processional troparion the cherubikon had to bridge the long way between prothesis, a room outside the apsis, and the sanctuary which had been separated by changes in sacred architecture under Emperor Justin II. The cherubikon was divided into several parts. The first part is sung by the congregation before the celebrant begins his prayers, there were one or two simultaneous parts, and they all followed like a gradual ascent in different steps within the Great Entrance. Verses 2-5 were sung by a soloist called monophonaris from the ambo. The conclusion with the last words of verse 5 and the allelouiarion were sung by the choir in dialogue with the domestikos and the monophonaris.

Today the separation of the prothesis is part of the early history of the Constantinopolitan rite (akolouthia asmatike). With respect to the Constantinopolitan customs there are many different local customs in Orthodox communities all over the world, there are urban and monastic choir traditions in different languages into which the cherubikon was translated.

The troparion begins as a solemn hymn, and during the 6th century "trisagion hymnon" could also refer to the troparion or refrain of the third antiphon, sung at the beginning of the catechumenoi part. Today it is sung as an own ordinary mass chant after the Small Entrance. Both chants, the trisagion as well as the cherubikon, have the Sanctus as main point of reference.

The cherubikon was added as a troparion to the Divine Liturgy under Emperor Justin II (565 – 578), when a separation of the rooms, where the gifts were prepared and consecrated, made it necessary, that the eucharist part, also known as the part of the baptised during which the others had been excluded, started with a procession. This procession was known as the "Great Entrance", because the celebrants had to enter the choir by the altar screen, later replaced by the iconostasis. The chant genre offertorium in traditions of Western plainchant was basically a copy of the Byzantine custom, but there it was a proper mass chant which changed regularly.

The anti-cherubika

In contrary the cherubikon belongs to the ordinary mass chant, because it has to be sung during the year cycle, however, it was sometimes substituted by other troparia, the so-called "anti-cherouvika". On Holy Thursday, for example, the cherubikon was, and still is, replaced by the troparion "At your mystical supper" (Τοῦ δείπνου σου τοῦ μυστικοῦ), while during the Liturgy of the Presanctified the troparion "Now the powers of the heavens" (Νῦν αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν) was sung, and the celebration of Prote Anastasis (Holy Saturday) uses the troparion from the Liturgy of St. James, "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" (Σιγησάτω πᾶσα σὰρξ βροτεία). The latter troparion is also used occasionally at the consecration of a church.