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An ektenia (from Greek: ἐκτενής, romanized: ektenés; literally, "diligence"), often called by the better known English word litany, consists of a series of petitions occurring in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic liturgies. In Greek: συναπτή, romanized: synaptê is the prevalent ecclesiastical word for this kind of litany, while in Church Slavonic: ектенїѧ, romanized: yekteniya is the preferred word.
A litany is normally intoned by a deacon, with the choir or people chanting the responses. As he concludes each petition, the deacon raises the end of his orarion and crosses himself; if there is no deacon serving, the petitions are intoned by a priest.[a] During many litanies the priest says a prayer silently;[b] after the last petition of the litany, the priest says an ecphonesis which, when a silent prayer is said during the litany, is the final phrase of that prayer.
When there is no priest present during the canonical hours, the litanies are not said; rather, the reader replaces them by saying "Lord, have mercy," three, twelve, or forty times, depending on which litany is being replaced.
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