kontakion means A form of hymn or poem recited as a dialogue between a chanter and the choir. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
KONTAKION — [Noun] A thematic hymn or poetic sermon in the Orthodox Church, originally a lengthy dialogue between a chanter and the choir. From Byzantine Greek κοντάκιον (kontákion), a diminutive of Late Greek κόνταξ (kóntax, "pole, rod"), so called because the lengthy text was traditionally written on a scroll wound around a pole. Unlike the brief, modular troparion or the sprawling, architectonic canon, the kontakion is a singular, narrative river of theology. It is the tactile weight of a vellum scroll unwinding from its rod, the call of a single voice answered by the deep murmur of the choir, and a fragile thread of doctrine spun against the encompassing silence—a truth coiled around its own axis, to be remembered in the bones.
noun
- A form of hymn or poem recited as a dialogue between a chanter and the choir.“The liturgical form of hymn which replaced the kontakion was the canon, a set of nine hymns.”