What is "litany"

Litany \Lit"a*ny\ (l[i^]t"[.a]*n[y^]), n.; pl. Litanies (l[i^]t"[.a]*n[i^]z). [OE. letanie, OF. letanie, F. litanie, L. litania, Gr. litanei`a, fr. litaney`ein to pray, akin to li`tesqai, li`ssesqai, to pray, lith` prayer.] A solemn form of supplication in the public worship of various churches, in which the clergy and congregation join, the former leading and the latter responding in alternate sentences. It is usually of a penitential character.

Supplications . . . for the appeasing of God's wrath were of the Greek church termed litanies, and rogations of the Latin.
--Hooker.

c.1200, from Old French letanie and directly from Medieval Latin letania, Late Latin litania (source also of Spanish letania, Italian litania), from Greek litaneia "litany, an entreating," from lite "prayer, supplication, entreaty," of unknown origin. From notion of monotonous enumeration of petitions in Christian prayer services came generalized sense of "repeated series," early 19c., borrowed from French.\n\nFor those who know the Greek words, a litany is a series of prayers, a liturgy is a canon of public service; the latter in practice includes prayer, but does not say so.

[Fowler]

n. 1 A ritual liturgical prayer in which a series of prayers recited by a leader are alternated with responses from the congregation. 2 A prolonged or tedious account.

1. n. any long and tedious address or recital; "the patient recited a litany of complaints"; "a litany of failures"

2. a prayer consisting of a series of invocations by the priest with responses from the congregation

Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Judaic worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin litania from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (litaneía), which in turn comes from λιτή (litê), meaning " supplication".

For the "Litany" as used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, see Ektenia.

Litany is the fourth album by the Polish death metal band Vader. It was released in 2000 by Metal Blade Records. The album was nominated for a Fryderyk Award in the category 'Hard & Heavy Album of the Year (Album roku - hard & heavy)'.

Litany was recorded in 1999 at Red Studio in Gdańsk, Poland, and was produced by Piotr Wiwczarek and Adam Toczko. The album was mastered by Bartłomiej Kuźniak at Studio 333 in Częstochowa, Poland.

A music video was shot for the song "Cold Demons", which was directed by Adam Kuc. The album charted at number 1 on Gazeta Wyborcza bestsellers list in Poland.

Litany is an EP by British musician, songwriter and producer Steven Wilson under the pseudonym Bass Communion. This 2-track release contains 22 minutes of new experiments in choral/vocal samples and looping techniques. The material is considered a work in progress, and may lead to a full album.

Released by Tonefloat (catalog number: TF071), the EP will be limited to 1,000 copies on black 180 grams 12 inch vinyl and 250 copies on clear 180 grams 12 inch vinyl.