Bohohłasnik Poczajowski

In most Central European countries, mainly in the Orthodox community, there is a literary collection of religious songs called Bohohłasnik. He has played and still plays a very important role in the spiritual development of Orthodox Christians living in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and other East Slavic countries. The history of this collection goes back several centuries. It is a collection of spiritual, paraliturgical songs, i.e. all chants and psalms that are not canonical parts of church services according to the Typikon (rulesagenda), but accompany the faithful during liturgical and non-liturgical meetings. They were created in parish communities, but also in monastic centres. The oldest known songbook, and at the same time the prototype containing paraliturgical songs, is Pochaiv Bohohłasnik (1790), the content of which includes over two hundred songs (chants, psalms) from the first half of the 17th and 18th centuries. This collection also includes works from various manuscripts, and their common source is undoubtedly Old Ruthenian spiritual poems, dating back to the period of adaptation of Greek Christianity in Ruthenia.