[Mediterraneo10]

Russian liturgical music is not Byzantine chant. Yes, traditions like Znamenny can ultimately be traced back to Byzantine music, but along the way they evolved into something different. Later, Western polyphonic singing that had nothing to do with the Byzantine tradition was imported, and that informed the work of many prominent 19th-century and early 20th century Russian composers of sacred works.

That is why in the Orthodox Christian world, people perceive such a distinct difference between the liturgical singing of e.g. Greece, Albania, or Romania, and the singing of e.g. Ukraine or Russia.

[michaelsbradley]

Fair enough, but there is an audible relationship — it's not apples to oranges, as discernible even in the recordings linked in my previous comment.

Similarly, in the West the one-voice Gregorian chants are not separated by a great gulf from the polyphonic pieces that gained prominence in the 1500s.

One can listen to a Gregorian choir sing the Regina caeli laetare and then listen to a rendition of Palestrina's Sicut cervus without the feeling of crossing into a wholly alien musical universe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzMa0qzwagA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yd5EE0hAB8