Allēlouïarion.

In the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, the equivalent of the alleluia verse of the Roman Mass. According to medieval descriptions of the Byzantine rite, the allēlouïa was preceded by the chanted announcement of the psaltēs: ‘Allēlouïa, a psalm of David’. The psaltēs then sang ‘allēlouïa’ to one of six non-melismatic melodies, followed by the allēlouïarion, which consisted of two or three psalm verses set to a moderately elaborate melody. The chant concluded with a choral repetition of the allēlouïa. Thodberg has argued persuasively (Der byzantinische Alleluiarionzyklus, MMB, Subsidia, viii, 1966) that the Byzantine allēlouïa-allēlouïarion had a crucial influence on the origins of the Roman alleluia of the Mass. See Alleluia, §II.