拜占庭圣歌作为一门存在了2000多年的活艺术，是一种重要的文化传统和综合性的音乐体系，是拜占庭帝国发展起来的共同音乐传统的一部分。它突出并在音乐上加强了希腊东正教的礼拜文本，与精神生活和宗教崇拜密不可分。这种声乐艺术主要集中在呈现教会文本；可以说，圣歌之所以存在是因为“logos”这个词，因为传统的每一个方面都是为了传播神圣的信息。它在听觉上代代相传，几个世纪以来，它的主要特征一直保持着：它完全是声乐；它本质上是单声道的；圣歌被编成八调式或八音系统；圣歌采用不同的节奏风格来强调特定单词的音节。虽然诗篇艺术一直与男性的声音联系在一起，但女性吟诵者在尼姑庵中很常见，在一定程度上也参与了教区的活动。拜占庭圣歌除了在教堂中传播外，还因专家和非专家的奉献而蓬勃发展——包括音乐家、唱诗班成员、作曲家、音乐学家和学者——他们为其研究、表演和传播做出了贡献。

2019年度列入人类非物质文化遗产名录。

来源：联合国教科文组织亚太地区非物质文化遗产国际培训中心

As a living art that has existed for more than 2000 years, the Byzantine chant is a significant cultural tradition and comprehensive music system forming part of the common musical traditions that developed in the Byzantine Empire. Highlighting and musically enhancing the liturgical texts of the Greek Orthodox Church, it is inextricably linked with spiritual life and religious worship. This vocal art is mainly focused on rendering the ecclesiastical text; arguably, the chant exists because of the word (‘logos’), since every aspect of the tradition serves to spread the sacred message. Passed on aurally across the generations, its main characteristics have remained over the centuries: it is exclusively vocal music; it is essentially monophonic; the chants are codified into an eight-mode or eight-tone system; and the chant employs different styles of rhythm to accentuate the desired syllables of specific words. Though the Psaltic Art has always been linked to the male voice, women chanters are common in nunneries and participate in parishes to some extent. In addition to its transmission in church, the Byzantine chant is flourishing due to the dedication of experts and non-experts alike – including musicians, choir members, composers, musicologists and scholars – who contribute to its study, performance and dissemination.

Included in the list of human intangible cultural heritage in 2019.

Source: UNESCO International Training Center for intangible cultural heritage in the Asia Pacific Region