The genre of music that includes the sacred hymns of the Greek Orthodox Church, known as chants, is called Byzantine Music. It was named so because it was cultivated and developed during the Byzantine era. It first spread in the East and later in the West. It was created by inspired composers called melopoioi, melodoi, or hymnodoi, and was cultivated by the highest clergy of the church and the state, namely the hierarchs and the emperors.

Music in antiquity was widely used, among other things, for religious purposes. We have evidence of the use of music for religious purposes from the time of the theocratic regime of the state of Israel. During the reign of King David, he had organized 4,000 singers (who were also called sacred singers) divided into 24 orders, each of which, in turn, sang in the Temple for a week. The head of the sacred singers was the chief cantor. During the last centuries before Christ, when Greek culture had penetrated throughout the Middle East, Jewish music had been influenced by Greek music.