adapted from information supplied by Stephen Reynolds, June, 2005
Automelon = Samopodoben / Prosomion = Podoben
Southwestern Russian (Kievan, Carpatho-Rusyn and Galician) chanting systems contain a more expansive traditional repertoir than the modern Muscovite Russian Church. Moreover, a great deal of the 8-Tone system of melodies in the Muscovite Church is derived from Kievan and other Southwestern Russian melodies, which usually were simplified at the same time they were borrowed. The following is an attempt to sort out the complexity of the Southwestern Russian repertoir of melodies, as applies to the Carpatho-Rusyn tradition. (The Kievan and Galician traditions have similar systems, but with some minor differences.)
Just as is the case with stichera, some Troparia (including Sessional Hymns, Kontakia, etc.) are actually idiomela; that is, they (in theory) neither borrow their melody from any other Troparion nor lend it to any others. But it doesn't always work that way, and in actual practice, we sing all Troparia to a set of eight stereotype melodies – one for each tone, unless we are instructed to do otherwise. 'Otherwise' means usually that we have run into a prosomion (podoben), directly or indirectly. Let's examine the Sunday Troparia and Kontakia from the Octoechos.
The Resurrectional Troparia Melodies:
Tone 1, "When the stone was sealed," is in fact an automelon (samopodoben); the melody in Bokshai and similar sources serves then both as a podoben melody and as the generic default melody for Troparia of Tone 1.
Tone 2, "When you descended to death," is not (as far as I know) a podoben or samopodoben. The melody is the default melody for any Troparion (etc.) of Tone 2.
Tone 3, "Let the heavens rejoice," also is not a podoben or samopodoben. Same situation as in Tone 2.
Tone 4, "When they learned the joyful message" or "When the women disciples of the Lord": likewise not a podoben or samopodoben. Again, the same situation as in Tones 2 and 3.
Tone 5, "Let us the faithful praise and worship the Word, who is co-unoriginate," is an automelon, with a respectable if not record-setting number of prosomia, and is thus in the same case as the Resurrectional Troparion of Tone 1.
Tone 6, "Angelic hosts were at the tomb," is also an automelon; the situation here is the same as in Tones 1 and 5.
Tone 7, "You destroyed death by your Cross," is not an automelon or podoben.
Tone 8, "From on high," is not an automelon or podoben.
The Resurrectional Kontakia Melodies:
Tone 1, "You arose as God from the tomb in glory," is a prosomion of the Kontakion of Last Judgement (Meatfare) Sunday, "When you, O God, shall come to earth with glory". If we sing it to the generic Troparion melody of the Tone, it means that we have lost the proper melody.
Tone 2, "You rose from the tomb, O almighty," is a prosomion of "Seeking the heights," probably the automelon with the greatest number of prosomia among the Troparia; again, if we sing it to the generic Troparion Tone it means that we have lost the proper melody. However, it can be easily recovered from the Galician books; "Seeking the heights" shares the melody with "Noble Joseph" – that is the short one, not the longer version to which the Russians sing "Noble Joseph." Nevertheless, the Galicians, who have the melody, do not sing "You rose from the tomb" to it, but rather use the generic Troparion melody of the Tone. (Why this is I cannot say.)
Tone 3, "You rose today from the tomb, O merciful," is a prosomion of "Today the Virgin." But both Carpatho-Rusyns and Galicians sing it to a melody different from both the generic troparion melody and the usual melody for "Today the Virgin." (I'm not sure what to make of this either). In any case, this has become the default melody for Kontakia of Tone 3.
Tone 4, "My Savior and Redeemer," is a prosomion of "You have appeared today," the Kontakion of Theophany, and sure enough it is sung to that melody. Here we have the situation explicated by Walter Obleschuk: the Resurrectional Kontakion is a podoben, and the melody of that podoben thus becomes the default melody for all Kontakia (only) of that Tone.
Tone 5, "To hades, O my Savior, you descended," is a prosomion of the Resurrectional Troparion of the Tone, "Let us the faithful praise and worship the co-unoriginate Logos," and is sung as one would expect to the same melody. Some sources, however, refer to it as a prosomion of "Being an imitator of the Merciful"; this is an automelon metrically very similar to "Let us the faithful," and perhaps is no more than a surrogate automelon for the latter.
Tone 6, "By his life-bestowing hand," is a prosomion of "When you had fulfilled the dispensation for our sake," the Kontakion of Ascension, and is sung to the melody of that podoben. Again, we have a case of "Obleschuk's Rule" in action.
Tone 7, "No longer will the dominion of death," is a prosomion of "No longer will the flaming sword," the Kontakion of the 3rd Sunday in Lent. It is sung to the generic Troparion tone apparently because the proper melody is lost.
Tone 8, "Having risen from the tomb," is a prosomion of "As the first-fruits of nature," the Kontakion of All-Saints' Sunday, and is sung to the proper melody; again, "Obleschuk's Rule" applies.
The Resurrectional Sessional (Sedalny, Kathismata) Melodies:
The Galician books have several of these for Sunday Matins in all eight tones. They are also to be found in Carpatho-Rusyn manuscript Irmologia. It appears that these, along with a number of Znamenny melodies (Dogmatika, festal stichera, etc.) were lost in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 19th century. Here we see something similar to "Obleschuk's Rule" in operation: if such a Podoben melody occurs in a given set of Sessionals, it will tend to spread to others in the same set even when they are not Podobny.