What is "kontakion"

n. (context Eastern Orthodoxy English) A form of hymn or poem recited as a dialogue between a chanter and the choir.

Kontakion or Kondakion (, transl. kontakion; , transl. Kondakə) is a form of hymn performed in the Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches that follow the Byzantine Rite. There is also a chant book named after the hymn genre kontakion, the Kontakarion or Kondakar . The kontakarion is not just a collection of kontakia: within the tradition of the Cathedral Rite (like the rite practiced at the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople) it became the name of the book of the prechanter or lampadarios, also now as "psaltikon", which contained all the soloistic parts of hymns sung during the morning service and the Divine Liturgy. Because the kontakia were usually sung by protopsaltes during the morning services, the first part for the morning service with its prokeimena and kontakia was the most voluminous part, so it was simply called kontakarion.