I. Liturgy

Litanies (from λετανεία/letaneía, “public supplication”) are common among many worship traditions. A singer performs invocations or prayer request, to which the congregation each time responds with an identical request (e.g. Kyrie). Litanic patterns appear in the Old Testament (e.g. Ps. 136). Extra-biblical Jewish litanies include the selihot, based on Exod 34:6f., originally composed for days of fasting. While evidence for ¶ insistent prayer exists as early as Polycarp (Pol. 12.3), clea…