These verses are known as stichoi (sing: stichos), but sticheraric poetry usually follows the hexameter and is collected in a book called sticherarion (Greek: στιχηράριον).
It was obviously not used on a pulpit during celebrations, but rather an exercise book with various examples which could be studied for own compositions with similar accentuation patterns.
This classification became even more complex by the translation of the hymn books into Slavonic, which forced the kanonarches, responsible for the preparation of the services, to adapt the music of a certain avtomelon to the translated prosomoia and the prosody of the Slavonic language, in certain cases the adaptation needed a musical recomposition of the prosomoion.
Often the prosomoia had been written apart before the Octoechos part of Sticherarion, which was usually not organised according to the eight modes unlike the Great Oktoechos.
[6] Since John Koukouzeles and other contemporary scribes who revised the sticheraria, there was development from the traditional sticheron, sung by a whole congregation or community,[7] to a rather representative and elaborated performance by a soloist.
It was based on transcriptions of the hyphos, short versions created by the generation of Ioannes Trapezountios and Daniel the Protopsaltes who had recomposed the traditional melodies.
[13] The oldest copies can be dated back to the 10th and 11th centuries, and like the Heirmologion the Sticherarion was one of the first hymn books, which was entirely provided with musical notation (Palaeo Byzantine neumes).
[17] The stichera idiomela are commonly written in two liturgical year cycles, the immobile one or sanctoral, and the mobile one between Great Lent and Pentecost.
It was usually the abridged form that only contained the hymns of Saturday hesperinos preceding the orthros and divine liturgy on Sunday.