Ektenia

thumb|upright=1.2|Russian Orthodox [[deacon intoning an ektenia. Note the stole, or orarion, the end of which is raised by the Deacon after each petition. Painting by Andrei Ryabushkin, 1888]]

An ektenia (, ), 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, is the prevalent ecclesiastical word for this kind of litany, while in Church Slavonic, is the preferred word.