This is one of the twenty major monasteries forming the monastic republic of Athos. It was founded in the tenth century and occupies the easternmost of the three prongs of the Chalkidike peninsula in northern Greece. Lying directly on the sea on the west coast of the prong, it bears the name of its first abbot, Xenophon, who founded it about 1000.
Like all monasteries on Athos, this has extensive buildings designed for a much larger community than exists to-day. Like' them, too, it has known periods of prosperity (especially the eleventh and twelfth centuries and again the fourteenth and nineteenth) and periods of complete decay - in 1744, for instance, the community consisted of precisely four monks.
To-day there are twenty in the community, mostly very young monks, under the guidance of Abbot Alexios. Their arrival here in 1976 marked the beginning of a new upward curve in the history of the monastery.
Further details about Athos and the Xenophontos Monastery are to be found in vol. 1: The Celebration of the Night before Easter.

The theory of Greek Orthodox church-music is based on that of Byzantium, as set out in vol. 1, and suffers from two handicaps. In the first place, Chrysanthos of Madytos, when making reforms in the years between 1821-1832, did not make it clear what traditions he altered; and secondly, the few guides that exist to this church-music were not conceived from a scholarly, but from a purely practical point of view. The psáltai, or cantors, have always been trained for the most part orally, by other cantors, so that the need for theoretical exegesis has never been felt.
The table of scales given in vol. 1 was taken from Egon Wellesz’ “Byzantinische Musik”, Breslau 1927, and probably comes from one of these educational treatises; but it is of more theoretical than practical significance (the octave is for the most part divided into 72 intervals). As far as can be ascertained, cantors in practice use exactly the same intervals as those of Western European music. Nevertheless the scales of the októichos, as this system is called, are very important semantically, i. e. for the understanding of this music. Composers were not free to follow their own whim in choosing the modality (íchos) in setting a liturgical text, for each of the eight “scales” has its own clearly defined ethos, or basic spiritual character. These modes correspond to those of Gregorian music, thus:
Tone I (authentic) = Dorian
Tone II (authentic) = Phrygian
Tone III (authentic) = Lydian
Tone IV (authentic) = Mixolydian.
Tones V-VIII are so-called plagal tones (Hypodorian etc.) and based on these so-called authentic tones.
It can already be seen that the structure of these scales does not depend, as in the diatonic system of European classical music, on the hierarchy of the first, fourth and fifth degrees, but on a much more delicate internal structure derived from tetrachords, or four-note groupings. The tetrachord is formed from the bottom and top notes of a fourth (e. g. D - G) in which two further degrees, of subsidiary importance, are included (e. g. D - e - f - G). This pitch-based structure is continued in a second tetrachord above the first (e. g. A - b - c - D). The plagal modes therefore resemble the authentic in intervals, but have a different ranking of tetrachords, i. e. a different tonal structure and a different tonic.

This finely poised tonal hierarchy is derived from theology and not, as is the case with Western music, from any “absolute” musical aesthetic; and the informed listener will distinguish different levels in each musical statement:
1. The basic mood, determined by the choice of íchos from the októichos.
2. The tetrachordal structure of the individual íchos.
3. The note-levels of the melody (salient notes), which form a_linear dimension in the duration of a piece.
4. The neumata, or note-groupings, which are symbolised by graphical signs (cf. vol. 1. Notation) and form, in the duration of a piece, a second linear dimension - the level of melodic figuration, which is felt by the uninstructed listener as ornament.
It follows that the listener whose ears are schooled to classical polyphony with its two dimensions - vertical (harmony) and horizontal (melody) - must alter his way of listening. In the linear music of Byzantine church-music both dimensions are horizontal: the structure of the salient notes and the note-groups (neumata), which do not correspond to them and are not ornaments simply veiling the melodic line (as in classical music) but a second syntactic level of listening, with just as much semantic significance as the notes forming the skeleton of the melody.
A further dimension of musical understanding is introduced as a purely spatial element, by the practice of antiphonal singing - a cantor with one group of singers standing on the right hand side and a similar, but vocally weaker group on the left. (See vol. 1 Manner of performance.)
These apparently theoretical considerations are an essential condition for a proper hearing of this music, which creates a psychic space-time structure in which musical time passes in two directions, and so either suspends the “real” time of our everyday lives, or else transcends it and enters the realm of metaphysics. Just as the ikon-painter’s disregard of perspective abolishes space, so this music represents in the listener’s experience another, theologically derived world. Those who listen to this music purely intuitively often associate it instinctively with a large, wide space, which is in direct contradiction to the churches for which it was designed, which are for the most part small.

Bells are the chief form of instrumental accompaniment, but símandra (wooden beams and iron hoops used as percussion instruments) also have a part (see vol. 1). All these instruments - to which should be added small jingles attached to the thurible and wooden balls and pieces of metal attached to the big candelabra and to the chorós (a metal ring round the candelabra, with candles and ikons attached to it) - belong to the class of idiophones or “selfsounding” instruments; and such instruments have in all cultures a “magical-functional” significance. This suggests in the present case pre-Christian influences (see also vol. 1).

The present record contains, almost complete, the Esperinós (Vespers) of Easter Sunday and this, liturgically, is the beginning of the Easter Monday liturgy. In the Greek Church this goes by the name of “the second Resurrection”, in contradistinction to the festival night office. In general form it resembles the ordinary week-day office, but contains a number of specifically Paschal features, and in particular a special reading of the Gospel. This contains the account of Christ’s appearing to the disciples on the evening of Easter Day, when Thomas was not there, and of Thomas’ doubt (John XX, 19-25). This carries the liturgical drama, which has unfolded during Holy Week, right up the actual Resurrection, one step further (cf. vols. 2 and 1). On the other hand there is no liturgical poetry to complete the bare text of the Gospel narrative; so that the effect on the listener depends chiefly on the musico-dramatic shaping, particularly of the reading.

Side 1
1. After the initial blessing, which is not included here, comes the Easter tropárion with its versicles and responses (Tone V) sung antiphonally by the celebrant and the community. These interlacing tropária are sung in the tempo moderato which is characteristic of the whole festival (1/4 = 100). In the background can be heard the small bells on the thurible and the footsteps of the community as it enters the church.
2. Next comes one of the litanies of intercession, a dialogue between the deacon and the congregation (represented by the choir) with a final blessing by the celebrant - a characteristic form in the Byzantine rite. This is a good example of recitative with “Kyrie eleison” formulae sung by the choir - also very characteristic of Greek Church music.
3. The onset of the evening is marked by the singing of the psalms “at the lighting of the lamps”, the so-called lucernar-psalms. These are here confined to Psalms 140 (141), 1-2; 129 (130), 3-8; and 116 (117) with their stichirá, verses of liturgical poetry (Tone II). The poems connected with the psalm-texts are not peculiar to this festival but are taken from the hymnal which is used on Sundays throughout the year, and are not provided with special texts. Since every Sunday in the Byzantine Church’s year has a markedly Paschal character, the texts are relevant as they stand, even if they have no bearing on the particular character of the day.
During the rather free, melismatic music of the first psalm-verses the deacon incenses the church, and it is possible to hear the small bells on the thurible and the knocking-together of the wooden balls hanging on the large candelabra. Both this and the chorós are set in circular motion after the lighting of the lamps, and this creates the sensation of the whole churchbuilding slowly spinning - an effect which cannot of course be reproduced on the record.
The lucernar-psalms end with a comparatively short (2’) doxastikón (also in Tone II). This is slightly slower in tempo (1/4 = 92-96) but forms a contrasting climax and conclusion after the stichirá. The bells on the thurible can again be heard in the background; and before the chorós and candelabra are again set in motion, there is the sound of the church-door closing behind a late-coming pilgrim.
4. The first side of this record ends with the hymn “Thou gentle light of holy majesty”, which dates from the first centuries of the Christian era. This accompanies the small procession of clergy with the book of the Gospels. The announcing of the Gospel for the day follows without a pause.

Side 2
5. This announcing is followed by the prokímenon (gradual) which is in the striking, comparatively rare tone VII. The text is taken from Psalm 76 (77): “What God is as great as our God? Thou art God, who alone workest wonders” (vv. 14 et seq.). This is interspersed with other verses of the same psalm and is thrice repeated, forming a solemn antiphonal introduction to
6. the reading of the Gospel, which is the heart of the liturgy. The text is divided into three sections, which cover verses 19-25 of the psalm. Each section is read several times and - according to a comparatively modern use - in several languages, symbolising the announcing of the Resurrection to all peoples. In our recording the Gospel is read in Latin as well as Greek, so that what the listener hears is first the Greek, then the Latin and finally the Greek a second time. The dramatic effect is enhanced by the subdivision of the text and the assigning of the repetitions to different solo voices. The carefully calculated pauses, the sounding of bells before each new section and the gradual raising of the pitch contribute greatly to the increase of tension; and this reaches its height with the loud instrumental accompaniment of the final section, continuing after the reading is over and only gradually dying away. This outburst - which recalls the opening of the nocturnal office of the Resurrection - is prepared by the bells which are rung during the first section and the setting in motion again of the chorós, the wooden balls on which can again he heard.
7. Another double series of intercessions follows the reading of the Gospel, only the first of which is recorded here. These lead into
8. the benediction, with its invocation of peace, and the Kephaloklisía (bowing of the head). This was originally the conclusion of Vespers, pronounced over the congregation, which stood with heads inclined.
9. In Vespers to-day the kephaloklisía is succeeded by a further section of the office, namel the apósticha (tropes on selected verses from the Psalms). Although the first of these is taken from the general Sunday texts (Tone II), the rest are the stichirá proper to Easter (Tone V), which recur like a scarlet thread throughout the canonical Hours of Easter Week. They end in the threefold Easter tropárion (Tone V). Both text and melody are identical with those of Easter Eve; but the comparatively reserved manner of performance makes it quite clear that the emotional experience of the occasion is different here. Instead of the violent outburst characteristic of the night office, we find here a quieter kind of
rejoicing, as it were a contemplation of that earlier explosion of feeling in the light of a quiet assurance.
Against the solemn chant the voices of the monks can be heard, as they each express their Easter good wishes to the Abbot; and towards the end of the apósticha, as the lights are extinguished, there are the sounds of the sexton lowering the lamps on the iconostasis and raising them again after knocking off the wick-ends from his pole.
10. Finally, after the Easter tropárion, come the dismissal, the chief element in which is the closing prayer invoking all the saints - those particularly revered being mentioned by name -  and asking them to intercede with God for his mercy and protection. For the last time the Easter tropárion is repeated and the Abbot's personal Easter greetings to the community form the bridge between the liturgy and the every day life of the monastery.