Unto the Mother of God

We rehearsed Arkhangelsky's Unto the Mother of God adapted by Michael Hilko today following trapeza. It is the troparion of the Canon to the Mother of God, which can be found here.

You can find one version of it here; its #5, and there is a midi for you to listen to. Its not exactly the same, but you get the general idea.

There is a clip of it here at #6.

We will rehearse this intensively for the next few weeks until we have it down pat, and then we will take it up again when we get close to St. Philip's Fast in November.

New Music

The new Let Our Mouths Be Filled that we will be working on can be found on page 351 of the "old" green liturgy book, and also here:

http://www.musicarussica.com/titledet.lasso?-database=musrus_titles&-response=titledet.lasso&-layout=Item_Detail&-op=eq&mus_rus_ID=%22HNP%20016%22&-search

If you click here, you will be taken to it. A window will pop up asking you to click to run an ActiveX control - go ahead and click yes, because that is what will allow you to listen to a choir singing this piece. You can also see a pdf of the music on this page as well.

We will also begin work on a special Theotokos hymn by John Warren which we will sing only during Advent. You can find it here:

http://www.musicarussica.com/titledet.lasso?-database=musrus_titles&-response=titledet.lasso&-layout=Item_Detail&-op=eq&mus_rus_ID=%22HNP%20009%22&-search

Just like the previous one, click here, and you will be taken to the ActiveX control which will allow you to listen to it. It is very, very beautiful, and will really add to our Advent Liturgy and make it special, since there is no specific Theotokos hymn specified in the rubrics, like there is during Great Lent.

The origin of "It Is Truly Meet"

Today, June 11th, is the Commemoration of the Appearance of the Archangel Gabriel to a Monk on Mt. Athos, and the Revelation of the Hymn, "It Is Truly Meet..." Or Axion Estin

The "It is Truly Meet" Icon of the Mother of God is in the high place of the altar of the cathedral church of the Karyes monastery on Mount Athos.

One Saturday night an Elder went to Karyes for the all-night Vigil. He left, instructing his disciple to remain behind and read the service in their cell. As it grew dark, the disciple heard a knock on the door. When he opened the door, he saw an unknown monk who called himself Gabriel, and he invited him to come in. They stood before the icon of the Mother of God and read the service together with reverence and compunction.

During the Ninth Ode of the Canon, the disciple began to sing "My soul magnifies the Lord…" with the Irmos of St Cosmas the Hymnographer (October 14), "More honorable than the Cherubim…." The stranger sang the next verse, "For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden…."

Then he chanted something the disciple had never heard before, "It is truly meet to bless Thee, O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God…"

Then he continued with, "More honorable than the Cherubim.…"

While the hymn was being sung, the icon of the Theotokos shone with a heavenly light. The disciple was moved by the new version of the familiar hymn, and asked his guest to write the words down for him. When the stranger asked for paper and ink, the disciple said that they did not have any. The stranger took a roof tile and wrote the words of the hymn on its surface with his finger. The disciple knew then that this was no ordinary monk, but the Archangel Gabriel. The angel said, "Sing in this manner, and all the Orthodox as well." Then he disappeared, and the icon of the Mother of God continued to radiate light for some time afterward.

The Eleousa Icon of the Mother of God, before which the hymn "It Is Truly Meet" was first sung, was transferred to the katholikon at Karyes. The tile, with the hymn written on it by the Archangel Gabriel, was taken to Constantinople when St Nicholas Chrysoberges (December 16) was Patriarch.

Numerous copies of the "It Is Truly Meet" Icon are revered in Russian churches. At the Galerna Harbor of Peterburg a church with five cupolas was built in honor of the Merciful Mother of God, and into it they put a grace-bearing copy of the "It Is Truly Meet" icon sent from Athos.

Rubrics for Thomas Sunday

This general pattern is repeated, with minor differences, until the leavetaking of Pascha

Paschal Beginning (done every day until the leavetaking of Pascha):
Priest: Blessed is the Kingdom . . .
Choir: Amen
Priest: Christ is Risen . . . (x 2.5)
Choir: And upon those in the tombs . . .
Priest exclaims: Christ is Risen! and people respond: Indeed He is Risen! (x3)

First and Second Antiphons as usual

Third Antiphon (Beatitudes)
8 Troparia for Thomas Sunday: 4 from Ode III and 4 from Ode VI of the Canon
8: By Thy Cross Thou didst render us new instead of old, and incorruptible instead of corruptible, O Christ; and Thou didst command us to live worthily in newness of life.
7: By Thy Cross Thou didst render us new instead of old, and incorruptible instead of corruptible, O Christ; and Thou didst command us to live worthily in newness of life.
6: Though enclosed within a grave in Thy circumscribable flesh, Thou didst arise, O Christ, Who art uncircumscribable; and while the doors were shut, Thou didst come unto Thy disciples, O Almighty One.
5: Having preserved intact Thy wounds, which Thou didst endure willingly forus, Thou didst show them unto Thy disciples, O Christ, as a witness of Thy glorious Resurrection.
4: Thou didst not leave Thomas immersed in the depth of unbelief, O Master, when he stretched forth his hands to examine Thee.
3: Thou didst not leave Thomas immersed in the depth of unbelief, O Master,when he stretched forth his hands to examine Thee.
2: Our Savior said: When ye touch Me, see that I have bones and flesh; I am not subject to change.
1: Thomas felt Thy side; and believing, he recognized Thee, though he was not present when Thou didst first come, O our Savior.

At the Entrance: Troparion for St. Thomas; Glory... now and ever.... Kontakion for St. Thomas

The Prokeimenon in the Third Tone:
Great is our God and abundant in power! / His understanding is beyond measure!
vs: Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God!

Epistle: Acts 5:12-20 beginning with "At that time"


vs: Come let us rejoice in the Lord! Let us make a joyful noise to God our Saviour!
vs: For the Lord is a great God, and a great king over all the earth.

Gospel: John 20:19-31

Instead of "It is truly meet . . .,"The angel cried . . .Shine! Shine! . . .- - - - -

Communion hymn:
Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

Communion of the Clergy: Canticle of Pascha "(Let God Arise")

People's Communion: Christ is Risen!

Paschal Ending (done every day until the leavetaking of Pascha)
Priest: O Lord, save Thy people and bless . . .
Choir: Christ is Risen (instead of We have seen the True Light)
Priest: Always now and ever . . .
Choir: Amen. Let our mouths be filled . . .

Paschal Dismissal (done every day until the leavetaking of Pascha)
Priest: Glory to Thee, O Christ . . .
Choir: Christ is Risen . . . (x3)
Priest: May He who rose from the dead . . .
Priest exclaims: Christ is Risen! and people respond: Indeed He is Risen! (x3)
Choir: Christ is Risen . . (x1)
Choir: (Tone 8) And unto us He has given eternal life. Let us worship His resurrection on the third day!

April and May Rehearsal Schedule

Saturday, April 7th - Holy Saturday - no rehearsal

Saturday, April 14th - rehearsal for wedding in Helena on 4/21

Sunday, April 15th - rehearsal for wedding in Helena on 4/21

Saturday, April 21st - wedding in Helena - no rehearsal

Sunday, April 29th - rehearsal following trapeza

There are only three rehearsals scheduled for April, plus the wedding.

Beginning on April 29th, we will start getting ready for the consecration, so each rehearsal in May is vitally important. Please write them in your schedule to reserve the time.

Sunday, May 6th - rehearsal following trapeza

Sunday, May 13th - rehearsal following trapeza

Sunday, May 20th - rehearsal following trapeza

Saturday, May 26th - rehearsal at 4:45 pm prior to vespers

Thursday, May 31st and/or Friday, June 1st - rehearsal only if necessary to keep me from having a nervous breakdown.

Dear Ones, I know that Sundays are difficult for rehearsing because it makes for a very long day, but attendance on Saturdays has been quite spotty. I've scheduled mostly Sunday rehearsals for the consecration because that seems to be when the greatest number of people actually show up to rehearse.

Once the consecration is over, we can revisit scheduling of rehearsals.

The Akathist Hymn

from the Antiochian Archdiocesan website:

DID YOU KNOW ...

... that the word Akathist means "without sitting"? During the chanting and praying of the Akathist Hymn, it is proper for us all to stand and not sit.

With regards to the Akathist Hymn, traditionally speaking, there really is only one Akathist Hymn, the Akathist Hymn to the Virgin Theotokos, written by St. Romanos the Melodist in the 6th century. The entirety of this composition is properly called a Kontakion (or Kondakion), which he then named The Akathist Hymn to the Virgin Theotokos. It begins with a shorter hymn called the Koukoulion (which we know as "To Thee the Champion Leader", or "Verily, I thy city", depending on the translation) and is followed by 24 other poetic narratives, each called an Oikos (pl. Oikoi). In our modern day practice, we have greatly reduced the full Kontakion down to only its Koukoulion, and called this the Kontakion. You may also notice that after the 6th Ode of a particular Canon in the Orthros (Matins) Service, the full Kontakion has again been reduced to only the Koukoulion (which we now call the Kontakion) and the First Oikos. Furthermore, there are other compositions given the name "Akathist," such as the Akathist to the Most Holy and Life-giving Trinity; Akathist to our Sweetest Lord Jesus Christ; Akathist to the Theotokos, the Joy of All Who Sorrow; and even various Akathists to the saints, such as the Holy Great Martyr George, St. Nicholas, St. Herman of Alaska, and St. John the Baptist. There is even an Akathist for the Repose of the Departed. These may all have the form of how St. Romanos wrote his original composition, but really there is only ONE Akathist Hymn, that to the Theotokos.

The following was written over 1,400 years ago, author unknown:

Perhaps the greatest representative of the Byzantine hymnographic tradition is St. Romanos the Melode (+556), a native of Beirut and a convert from Judaism. He is considered to be the foremost master of the kontakion, a hymnographic form based on the Syrian memra which was a didactic or narrative poem which was intended to be recited rather than sung.

The Akathist Hymn to the Virgin Theotokos, the most famous of the Byzantine kontakia and the only one chanted in its entirety today, is in all probability the work of St. Romanos. This kontakion achieved great popularity in the city of Constantinople (the “City of the Virgin”). It has been called the “greatest achievement in Byzantine religious poetry.”

Although the Akathist was previously believed to have been written for the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25), there is evidence which now clearly indicates that it was used for the Synaxis of the Theotokos (December 26). The Emperor Justinian officially established its use for the Synaxis sometime between 530 and 550. The Akathist replaced an older kontakion which had been written in 431.

Soon after it was written the Akathist took on the character of a “song of victory” being used as a hymn of thanksgiving to the Theotokos for her protection. It is recorded that it was used as such on at least four occasions:

1. 626 for a victory of Heraclius I (the fifth Saturday of Great Lent)

2. 673 for a victory of Constantine IV

3. 719 for a victory of Leo III

4. 1421 for a victory of Manuel II

It was after the siege of Constantinople in 626 that the present kontakion “To Thee the Champion Leader” was added to replace what is now the apolytikion or troparion “At the magnificence of thy virginity.”

Since the victory of Heraclius I, who protected the city of Constantinople from an attack of the Persians, the Akathist has been assigned to be sung on the Fifth Saturday of Great Lent as an annual thanksgiving to the Theotokos. (* See below for the history regarding this victory.) (Today this service is celebrated as follows: On the First Saturday of Great Lent (Friday evening) we sing the First Stasis (the first six Oikoi); on the second week we sing the Second Stasis (Oikoi 7-12), etc., until the Fifth Saturday (Friday evening), when we sing the entire Akathist Hymn of 24 stanzas.)

Soon after the time of Saint Romanos, the kontakion form (in its fullness) became obsolete and was replaced by another form known as the canon (katavasias).

*The following is taken from the Synaxarion of the Saturday of the Fifth Week of Great Lent (Nassar, pages 712-173).


"In the year 620 of Christ, the Persians from the east and the Arians, a tribe of the Scythians from the west, attacked the imperial city of Contantinople with great armies to besiege and occupy it. King Heracles was then absent, and the invaders filled the sea, particularly the Gulf of Constantinople, with their ships, and the land with their infantry, cavalary, and military machines, making ready to attack. With valour and perseverance the inhabitants held back he enemy, but being greatly outnumbered and unable to cope with such a great force, they surrendered to despair, and all hope of delivery was gone. Then they sought refuge in the Theotokos, asking succour and protection. Suddenly, a violent tempest broke out in which the ships of the enemy were wrecked, sinking with all on board. The waves flung the bodies of the drowned Barbarians in front of the Church of the Theotokos in the suburb of Blachernae (commemorated on July 2nd). When the people saw this, they gained courage, went out, and exelled the remaining soldiers, who fled in fear. In the evening, the people gathered in the Church of the Theotokos, and spent the whole night, standing, thanking her and praising her with the cantons of the Canon known as Akathiston, during which it is not permitted to sit. In remembrance of this miracle, through which the faithful were saved, we celebrate this day, glorifying and honouring the Mother of our Lord and God."

From St. Basil the Great

A psalm implies serenity of soul; it is the author of peace, which calms bewildering and seething thoughts. For, it softens the wrath of the soul, and what is unbridled it chastens. A psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity. Who, indeed, can still consider as an enemy him with whom he has uttered the same prayer to God? So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining people into a harmonious union of one choir, produces also the greatest of blessings, love. A psalm is a city of refuge from the demons; a means of inducing help from the angels, a weapon in fears by night, a rest from the toils of the day, a safeguard for infants, an adornment for those at the height of their vigour, a consolation for the elders, a most fitting ornament for women. It peoples the solitudes; it rids the market places of excesses; it is the elementary exposition of beginners, the improvement of those advancing, the solid support of the perfect, the voice of the Church. It brightens feast days; it creates a sorrow which is in accordance with God. For, a psalm calls forth a tear even from a heart of stone. A psalm is the work of angels, a heavenly institution, the spiritual incense.

St Basil the Great

REVISED March Rehearsal Schedule

Last week I sent out a schedule of alternating Saturdays and Sundays for the month of March. Cindy called to my attention that I had scheduled rehearsal on Lazarus Saturday, which simply will not work out according to our usual liturgical practice of Divine Liturgy in the morning, fellowship followed by vespers. However, we can't afford to just SKIP that rehearsal, so the prior weekend, we will rehearse on both Saturday *and* Sunday.

Here is the revised schedule for March:

Saturday, March 3rd: 5:00 pm at Xenias prior to Reader's Compline

Sunday, March 11th: following trapeza, in the church

Saturday, March 17th: 4:45 pm at church, prior to Vespers

Saturday, March 24th: 4:45 pm at church, prior to Vespers

Sunday, March 25th: following trapeza, in the church

Last Sunday, we debuted the Theofanovskoye Anaphora. This Sunday, we will debut the Simonovsky Cherubic Hymn and will return to the Kedrov Lord's Prayer. Its very important that we rehearse these two pieces on Saturday, March 3rd, and if possible, at 9:15 am on Sunday, March 4th, just prior to Liturgy.

Other new music in our immediate future:
a two-part The Wise Thief that is so beautiful, you won't miss the other one
Paschal Troparion in Romanian

I will try to scan and post both of these asap.

February Rehearsal Schedule

Saturday, Feb 3rd: 5:00 pm at Denise's

Saturday, February 10th: 4:45 pm at Church

Sunday, February 11th: following trapeza

Saturday, Feb 17th: 4:45 pm at Church (last chance prior to the Forgiveness Vespers, Great Canon and Presanctified Liturgy)

Saturday, Feb 24th: 4:45 pm at Church (last chance prior to Sunday of Orthodoxy)

Again, please attend at least two of the four rehearsals during February

The Gates of Repentance and By the Waters of Babylon

Its time to begin singing our beloved "Open to Me the Gates of Repentance" and "By the Waters of Babylon". Here is the schedule:

January 28: (Publican and Pharisee) Open to Me after Psalm 50; the rest as usual. Thy Fatherly Embrace for Priest's Communion.

February 4: (Prodigal Son) By the Waters of Babylon after the Polieley, and Open to Me after Psalm 50; the rest as usual. Thy Fatherly Embrace for priest's communion.

February 11: (Meatfare) By the Waters of Babylon after the Polieley, and Open to Me after Psalm 50; the rest as usual. By the Waters of Babylon for priest's communion.

February 18: (Cheesefare/Forgiveness Sunday) By the Waters of Babylon after the Polieley, and Open to Me after Psalm 50; the rest as usual. By the Waters of Babylon for priest's communion.

February 25: (Sunday of Orthodoxy) Polieley is not sung, and neither is By the Waters of Babylon. Sing Open to Me after Psalm 50; the rest as usual. Open to Me for Priest's Communion

March 4: (St. Gregory Palamas) Polieley is not sung, and neither is By the Waters of Babylon. Sing Open to Me after Psalm 50; the rest as usual. Open to Me for Priest's Communion

March 11: (Veneration of the Cross) Polieley is not sung, and neither is By the Waters of Babylon. Sing Open to Me after Psalm 50; the rest as usual. Open to Me for Priest's Communion.

March 18: (St. John of the Ladder) Polieley is not sung, and neither is By the Waters of Babylon. Sing Open to Me after Psalm 50; the rest as usual. Open to Me for Priest's Communion.

March 25: (St. Mary of Egypt and Annunciation) Polieley *is* sung with a special Magnification for Annunciation. After Psalm 50, Open to Me is *not* sung - the post gospel Stikhera are sung instead. With the Archangel's Voice for Priest's Communion.

April 1: (Palm Sunday) - Yay!

What is the weekly cycle of Eight Tones?

There is a tradition that St. John of Damascus (died
760) set up the system of music now used in the Orthodox Church.
It is said that he devised a scale, ascending and descending,
with the voices in octaves. From this scaled he adopted eight
tones, which he called "the principal tones." Then he elaborated
the various tones, creating several tunes for each. In actual
fact, though St. John did develop many songs and hymns for the
services and wrote music for them, the eight tones existed long
before his time -- originating in the early Church, probably in
Jerusalem or Antioch. What the system amounts to is, as inferred
by the term "Eight Tones," is eight modes or forms around which
melodies are constructed.

Traditionally then, the Church music of the Orthodox Church
has been based upon these eight tones, ranged in two groups of
four:

a. Tones 1, 2, 3, and 4.

b. Tone 5 (sometimes called first plagial, tone 6
(sometimes called second plagial), tone 7 (called also grave
tone), and 8 (sometimes called fourth plagial).

There are several forms: "Byzantine Chant" is used
throughout the Mid-East, and "Russian Chant" is used in most of
the Slavic countries, though there is considerable exchange of
music between churches (as you might imagine). In the West
(centered around Rome) the eight tones were developed into what
is called "Gregorian Chant," and in England they were called
"plainsong."

Each week has its appointed tone. On Saturday evening in
Easter week (the eve of the Sunday of St. Thomas), the cycle of
tones commences with Tone One; and so, week by week, the sequence
continues through the successive tones One to Eight, changing to
a new tone every Saturday evening. The various texts of the
hymns and chants for the Tone for the week are found in a
liturgical book called the Octoechos (a Greek word meaning "eight
tones).

The special texts of hymns and chants for fixed feasts (in
the Menaia (singular, Menaion) -- that is, books of songs and
hymns) and for days during Lent and Eastertide (in the liturgical
books called the Triodion [the book for Lent] and the
Pentecostarion [the book for the time between Easter and
Pentecost -- fifty days]) are set in various tones; and these do
not, except by coincidence, correspond with the appointed tone of
the week.

While all Orthodoxy uses the same division into eight tones,
the way in which these tones are sung varies from one Orthodox
Church to another. That is, for example, the Russians do them
quite differently from the Greeks.




Please note that the above article is kindly contributed by the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

Music for Rehearsal on January 16th

We will be changing out the Cherubic Hymn and Anaphora for Lent, and the following links will bring you to www.podoben.com where you can find the hymn for Prodigal Son Sunday as well as the Cherubic Hymn we are learning. If you have Adobe Acrobat reader, you can access the music on line as well as listen to mpegs of all four parts.

You can access the Cherubic Hymn here.

You can access Thy Fatherly Embrace here.

You can listen to both pieces online via midi files as well, but I haven't figured out how to post music files yet! Just go to www.podoben.com, click on Mixed Chorus, then click on Liturgy - its Cherubim Hymn #35. Then click on Great Lent and Thy Fatherly Embrace is the first selection under Prodigal Son Sunday.

We will also be changing out the litanies for Lent as we normally do.

Keep in mind for upcoming rehearsals that I expect to spend some time Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers this year, since we will be hosting it at our parish, and it has been quite a few years since we did so.

The Order of Services

The order of services or prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Churches is set forth in the Typicon, a volume that provides the order of church rites for all services, special prayers, and church celebrations for the whole year. The two main sources of the Typicon are the ancient Ordo of St. Sabas monastery in Palestine (the Jerusalem Ordo), and the later Studite monastery in Constantinople. These monastic centers were places where the existing practices were complied and synthesized and codified into a more standardized form.

The St. Sabas Ordo is associated with many great monastic saints in Palestine, and the churches and monasteries associated with holy places in the area around Jerusalem. The Ordo of St. Sabas developed as the Church grew, as monasticism prospered and became a normal part of Church life, and as monasticism was an important part in the battle against heresies. It became the rule of prayer for the whole Church, and reached its final synthesis in the ninth century.

The Studite Ordo is very similar in structure to the Jerusalem Ordo, and is a later synthesis that took place in the Byzantine capital. It is particularly notable for its hymnography (especially the development of the Lenten Triodion), harmonizing the more ancient Ordos, and some unique structural elements. The development of these two Ordos represents the compilation and synthesis of the liturgical form and practice of the Eastern Church and its development to a peak during the middle Byzantine period. The development of the Ordo in the Eastern Church since this period has been minimal, and possesses no change either in structure or in the expression of the rule of prayer.

What is most important to understand is the premise and motivation behind the whole concept of developing a uniform rule of prayer, and the principles underlying such an undertaking in the Byzantine tradition. Perhaps the best summary is by Fr. Schmemann in a section titled "The Byzantine Typicon" in the concluding chapter of Introduction to Liturgical Theology:

"Side by side with the true development and discovery of the Church's lex orandi [rule of prayer] there has been an obscuring of her tradition. We feel that this fact should be admitted and at least some attempt made to explain it, no matter how much this conclusion may run counter to the extraordinary widespread and blind "absolutization" of the Typicon in all its details, which exists throughout the Orthodox Church. What is truly fixed and eternal in this Ordo which has come down to us through such a complicated process, and which includes so many various layers of material? What is its essential nature as the liturgical tradition of the Church, as the "rule of prayer," which, according to the Church's teaching, contains and reveals her "rule of faith"? If we have termed the culmination of this development and building up of layer upon layer a "synthesis" rather than a hodge-podge, in what way does this synthesis have a creative and determining significance for the future? At a moment when the world in which the Church lives can no longer be called Christian in the sense in which it was Christian from the fourth to the twentieth centuries, this is the only question, which really matters.

"No restoration in history has ever been successful. Only if there is a lack of faith in the Church herself as the source of Life can the traditions of the past be dealt with on the principle "let what has been set before us remain forever!" Tradition for the Church is not the vista of a beautiful past, which can be admired in a mood of aesthetically religious nostalgia, but rather a summons and an inspiration. Only a liturgical theology, that is, a detailed study and elucidation of all the elements which form the liturgical tradition of the Church (her Sacraments, cycles, rituals and ceremonies) can provide a true answer to our question. The present work is only a very general introduction to a proposed complete course in liturgical theology. In concluding this introduction we must point to what we are convinced the Ordo shows to be the guide in the study of Orthodox worship.

"What is absolutely essential for a correct understanding of the general spirit of the Byzantine synthesis is that it was unquestionably formed on the basis of the Church's original rule of prayer, and from this point of view must be accepted as its elaboration and revelation, no matter how well developed are the elements which are alien to this lex orandi and which have obscured it. Thus in spite of the strong influence of the mysteriological psychology on the one hand and the ascetical-individualistic psychology on the other, the Ordo as such has remained organically connected with the theology of time which contained its original organizing principle. This theology of time was obscured and eclipsed by "secondary" layers in the Ordo, but it remained always as the foundation of its inner logic and the principle of its inner unity.

"This connection is evident, first, in the correlation (preserved throughout all the changes) of the Eucharist with the liturgy of time or in other words, in the special place occupied by the Eucharist in the general structure of the Ordo. The Eucharist has its own time, its kairos, and this time is distinct from the units used to measure the liturgy of time. We have spoken of the ascetical and individualistic modification, which occurred in the view of the Eucharist under the influence of monasticism, and or how, in connection with this, the Eucharist was included within the liturgy of time as one of its component offices. But this change was never fully accepted in the Ordo, and in it there is a characteristic ambiguity toward the Eucharist. The lectionary, the setting apart of a relatively small number of non-liturgical days, and a whole series of other rubrics all point to the success of one tendency in this process. Its success can be traced also in the popular acceptance of the so-called "votive masses," of the idea that the Eucharist can be subordinated to individual needs.

"On the other hand if all the rest of the prescriptions of the Ordo are taken together, if one carefully considers their inner logic and also the rite of the Liturgy itself, it can hardly be doubted that the Eucharist has preserved its basic character as the Feast of the Church, as the expression and actualization of her eschatological fullness, as an action which is combined with the liturgy of time and related to it, but precisely by virtue of its ontological difference from it. It is true that the prescriptions concerning the kairos of the Eucharist have become a dead letter in modern times. But what is important is that these prescriptions have in fact been preserved, and this means that for those who have been brought up on the "Byzantine synthesis" they constitute an inviolable part of the liturgical tradition of the Church and are part of her rule of prayer. What else do these prescriptions prove, this whole complicated system of relationships between the Eucharist and time — with its hours, days and cycles — if not that the time of the Eucharist is something special, and that what it expresses in time fulfills time and gives it another standard of measurement.

"The fundamental meaning of these different prescriptions must be seen in the principle of the incompatibility of the Eucharist with fasting. The Eucharist is not celebrated during Lent. On the strict fast days of the eves of Christmas and Epiphany it is celebrated in the evening, just as the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is celebrated in the evening. The whole complicated system for the transfer of the Christmas and Epiphany eves of fasting to Friday if they happen to fall on Saturday or Sunday expresses the same idea: Saturdays and Sundays, being Eucharistic days, are incompatible with fasting. Obviously what is preserved here in full force is the liturgical concept of fasting as a condition of expectation in the Church herself, related to the Eucharist as the Sacrament of the Parousia of the Lord. Even where the Eucharist is thought of as a daily service, it is not simply inserted into the system of daily offices, but preserves its special kairos, depending on the length of the fast, the degree of importance of the commemoration, etc.

"The meaning of all these prescriptions is clear: the Eucharist must be preceded by a fast or vigil (which is in fact the liturgical expression of fasting, as a station, or statio, vigilia), since in this fast or vigil, in this time of expectancy and preparation, time itself is transformed into what it has become in the Church: a time of waiting and preparation for the unending Day of the Kingdom. The entire life of the Christian and the entire earthly life of the Church become a fast in the deepest meaning of this word: the eschaton, from the end and fulfillment of time, since everything is connected with this End, everything is judged and illuminated in relation to it. But this "End" can become a force which transforms life and transmutes "fasting" into "joy and triumph" only because it is not something in the future only, the terrifying dissolution of all things, but rather something which has already come, already begun, and is being eternally "actualized" and "fulfilled" in the Sacrament of the Church, in the Eucharist.

"We have been fulfilled by thine everlasting life, we have joyfully tasted thine inexhaustible food, which thou hast deigned to communicate to us all in the age to come..." That same Life will appear at the End which is already in existence, that New Aeon will begin in which we are already participating, that same Lord will appear who is now coming and is with us. This rhythm of fast and Eucharist which is perhaps the forgotten and unfulfilled but still obvious and basic principle of the Ordo shows that at the foundation of the Church's liturgical life there is still that same unchanging and inexhaustible experience of eschatology, the experience of the Church as new life in new time existing within this old world and its time for the express purpose of its salvation and renewal.

"Thus too in the daily cycle, which is the basis of the liturgy of time, the Ordo or structure of its services can be understood only in relation to the theology of time, which they contain and express. Outside it they become an inexplicable, arbitrary sequence of diverse elements connected in no way other than by a "formal" law. The Christian theology of time is clearly expressed in Vespers and Matins, in which four themes follow one another in a definite sequence. In Vespers there is the theme of Creation as a beginning (the preparatory psalm "Bless the Lord, 0 my soul"), the theme of sin and fall ("Lord I have cried ..."), the theme of salvation and the coming into the world of the Son of God ("O Gladsome Light"), and the theme of the End ("Lord, now lettest thou thy servant...").

"The same themes form the order for Matins, only in the opposite order. The daily cycle is a kind of constant contemplation of the world and the time within which the Church dwells, and of those ways of evaluating the world and its time, which were manifested by the Parousiaof the Lord. The note of cosmic thanksgiving, the perception of God's glory in creation, its affirmation as something "very good," these insights which come at the beginning of Vespers, followed by the commemoration of the fall of this world, of the indelible mark of separation from God which accompanied it, the relationship of all things to the Light of salvation which has come into and illuminated this world and, finally, the concluding "thy Kingdom come" of the Lord's prayer — here is the liturgical order of the daily cycle. Each day Christians pray that in and through the Church the time of this world may become the new time for the children of light, may be filled with new life for those whom she has brought to life. And so she "refers" this day to that which constitutes her own life, to the reality of the Presence which she alone in this world knows, and which she alone is able to reveal.

"The Church year, which has been torn away from the theology of time more than all the other liturgical cycles, still preserves the sign of its original and inerradicable connection with this theology in Easter and its year long cycle. No matter how many other Feast Days there are and no matter what they celebrate, they all reflect something of the light of Easter, and it is not by chance or for the sake of an artificial emphasis that the late Byzantine liturgiologists constructed the "pre-festivals" of Christmas and Epiphany — two of the most ancient and important feast days of the Christian year — on the pattern of Holy Week. Whatever is being celebrated, the celebration is fulfilled in the Eucharist, in the commemoration of that Paschal night when before His Sacrifice our Lord bequeathed the Supper of the Kingdom to the Church, in the commemoration of that morning when the new life shone in the world, when the Son of Man had completed His passage to the Father, and when in Him the New Passover had become the Life of men. Each Feast Day is related to that New Time which is celebrated by Easter.

Like the Lord's Day in the week, so also Easter each year manifests and "actualizes" that eternal beginning which in the old world appears as an end, but which in the Church signifies an End that has been turned into a Beginning, thereby filling the End with joyous meaning. Easter is an eschatological feast in the most exact and deepest meaning of this word, because in it we "recall" the resurrection of Christ as our own resurrection, eternal life as our own life, the fullness of the Kingdom as already possessed. As the beginning and end of the Church year Easter links this eschatological fullness with real time in its yearly form. Life in the world becomes a "correlative" of the eternal Easter of the New Aeon. Thus Easter reveals the essential nature of every Feast Day, and is in this sense the "Feast of Feasts."

"Having preserved the eschatological theology of time as its foundation and principle of formulation, the Byzantine synthesis has also preserved the ecclesiological significance of the Church's "rule of prayer." No symbolical explanation, no mysteriological piety and no ascetical individualism could obscure completely the unchanging essential nature of worship as the Church's act of self-revelation, self-fulfillment, self-realization. It must be frankly admitted, in our modern "liturgical piety" this essential nature has been very poorly understood. Nowhere is the need to "unfetter" the meaning of the Ordo so apparent, nowhere is the need to rediscover the meaning of the Ordo's now dead language so urgent.

"The Ordo was fettered precisely because the ecclesiological key to its understanding and acceptance had been lost and forgotten. It is only necessary to read over the "rubrics" and prescriptions with new eyes, and to meditate on the structure of the Ordo, in order to understand that its major significance lies in its presentation of worship as the service of the new people of God. From the unchanging liturgical "we" of all liturgical texts to the most complicated rite for an All-night Vigil, with its vesting and unvesting of the clergy, its shifting of the center of the service from the altar to the middle of the church, its censings, processions, bows, etc., everything that is important and basic in the Ordo is a Byzantine "transposition" of the original meaning of worship as the corporate act and "fulfillment" of the Church. From the standpoint of "eternal" value and inner consistency certain details of this transposition can be called into question; one can distinguish between what is local (and often accepted as "universal") and what is universal (and often accepted as "local"); but it is impossible to deny that in the overall design of the Ordo, in its essential and eternal logic, it was, is and always will be the Ordo of the Church's worship, a living and vital revelation of her doctrine about herself, of her own self-understanding and self-definition.

"Finally, the ultimate and permanent value of the Ordo, a value which determines the whole complex path of its Byzantine development, is the Church's "rule of faith" which is revealed and imprinted within it. The theology of time and ecclesiology which in some way define the very essence of the Church's cult have been preserved in the Ordo in spite of the various pressures exerted upon it, and the revelation in and through the Ordo of the Church's dogmatic teaching must be regarded as a genuine product of Byzantine Christianity.

"The Byzantine period of history still awaits a proper evaluation in the mind of the Church. It can hardly be doubted that the development of dogmatic thought went hand in hand with a weakening of ecclesiological consciousness. The "Christian world" on the one hand and the "desert" on the other obscured the reality of the Church, which had come to be understood more as the source of a beneficient sanction, as the dispenser of grace, than as the people of God and the new Israel, a chosen people, a royal priesthood. This eclipse of ecclesiological consciousness was reflected in liturgical piety, in the forms and the view of the cult. But what constitutes the permanent value of this period is that in Byzantine worship the Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon were not simply "transposed" from the language of philosophy into the language of sacred liturgical poetry; they were revealed, fathomed, understood, manifested in all their significance."

Credits
Excerpted with permission of the publisher from Introduction to Liturgical Theology, by Fr. Alexander Schmemann. Copyright St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.

Servants of Beauty The Precious and Sacred Role of Church Musicians

by Matushka Deborah Johnson

The following is abridged from an introductory talk delivered at the 1998 Russian Orthodox Musicians' Conference, Washington DC.

In the wondrous blending of sounds it is Thy call we hear; in the harmony of many voices, in the sublime beauty of music, in the glory of the works of great composers: Thou leadest us to the threshold of paradise to come, and to the choirs of angels. All true beauty has the power to draw the soul towards Thee, and to make it sing in ecstasy: Alleluia! - Kontakion 7, Thanksgiving Akathist

How many of us converts, in attending our first Orthodox service, were overwhelmed by its sheer beauty. The warmth of the flickering candles, the radiance of the icons, the fragrance of the incense, and, yes, the sublime beauty of the music all combined to enkindle our spirits and our hearts, so that, like the emissaries of Saint Vladimir, we didn't know whether we were in Heaven or on earth. This is the precious legacy which has come to us - whether through the Russian, Greek or other Orthodox tradition. But however uplifting and spiritually inspiring, beauty alone is insufficient as a means of conveying and nourishing faith. The intellect must also be engaged, i.e., we must understand what it is we are praying.

In recognition of this imperative, many Orthodox parishes have begun to incorporate English in their services, and, of course, there are a growing number of missions where English is used exclusively. For many of us it means that we can now pray, as the apostle enjoins, with understanding. And we rejoice in this. Unfortunately, however, this transition to English has not always carried with it the soul-stirring beauty of the Russian (or Greek) chant tradition. This is understandable inasmuch as this is a difficult transition and a transition that is still in its infancy. It is this deficiency that we hope to begin seriously to address in this conference.

All of us here come from different situations - English missions and parishes where only one language is used in worship, parishes where Church Slavonic is the only language used, and parishes where both languages are used. Some of you come from outside the Russian tradition altogether. The pastor of each parish has to work out how to best deal with the language of worship in his parish. It is not the purpose of this conference to recommend any one solution. The purpose of this conference is to help those who are using English, however much or little, to do it as prayerfully and as beautifully as possible. We hope that the principles put forth here will be absorbed and used, regardless of language.

One particular point we are hoping will come out of this conference is a renewed zeal for rehearsals. Fr. George has a favorite quote from the preface to one of his hymnals: "If the people be desirous of joining in the musical part of the Service, it is only right that they should be given the opportunity of attending rehearsals, and only due to Almighty God that they should sacrifice some little time in preparing for His worship, and not be content to give Him that which has cost them no trouble." (from Songs of Syon.) It is a great privilege to be a choir director or a church singer: but also an awesome responsibility. Here at St. John's, rehearsals were always encouraged, but when I took over as director of the English choir from Fr. George after he was ordained, we decided that they should be a requirement. We now rehearse every Thursday evening from 7:00 to 9:00. It is a commitment: some of our choir members drive as much as fifty miles to the church. But the fruit of such effort is rewarding.

As a new choir director, my experience of directing the Divine Liturgy and the All-Night-Vigil, was that while the Vigil was more difficult intellectually, with all the different parts coming from different sources, the Liturgy was more difficult spiritually. I think it has to do with the unique place of the Divine Liturgy in the worship life of the Church. All of the other services of the Church are somehow related to Time, that is, they take place in a cycle of time, be it daily, weekly, fixed according to a calendar date, or variable according to the occurrence of Pascha. But the Divine Liturgy is different. It takes place outside of time. It can be celebrated in the morning or the evening. While I was preparing for my first Liturgy, Fr. Leonid pointed out to me that one of the litanies in the Liturgy begins, "Let us complete our prayer unto the Lord," not "Let us complete our morning prayer," which we hear during Matins, or "Let us complete our evening prayer," which we hear during Vespers. I had this sense of the timelessness of the Liturgy, combined with a feeling of embarking on a journey from which it is impossible to turn back.

Beginning with the Cherubic Hymn, we are literally reaching for Heaven. We are trying to do something which is impossible, and yet, we are doing it. A small group of sinful human beings says: "Let us, who mystically represent the Cherubim and chant the thrice holy hymn unto the life creating Trinity, now lay aside all earthly care." In what is a great mystery that we cannot hope to understand, we swim out into an ocean of prayer, into a timeless realm, a place where the angels are chanting: the cherubim with many eyes, and the six-winged seraphim who are veiling their faces, because, as it says in the priest's service book, "to serve Thee is a great and fearful thing even unto the heavenly hosts themselves." We leave behind all that is familiar to us of our normal earthly concerns, including even the very nature of time itself. We are going on a journey, outside of time, to that Upper Room, where the Lord Himself gives us His Body and Blood in the great Mystery of Holy Communion.

It is an awesome responsibility to be part of this mystery. Because this is such a fearful thing, we must prepare for it. If we are going to receive Holy Communion, we prepare for it with Confession, fasting and a prayer rule. Likewise, the choir must prepare, through rehearsing. Rehearsing is the key to the ongoing spiritual and musical growth of a choir.

What if you are a small mission and you don't have a choir yet, or you are planning to do only congregational singing? Have rehearsals anyway. Someone has to be in charge of the service - of passing the music out, of leading the singers, be they a designated choir or the whole congregation. Even in congregational singing, someone is leading. If you don't plan for it, then the singing will by default be led by the loudest voice, which may produce an ugly and unprayerful result. Encourage members of the congregation to come to the rehearsals. You can teach them the tones, you can mark the sticheri ahead of time, so that you all are singing together. You can practice the composed music. You can learn the order of the services. People can be taught the principles of choir singing even if there is no official choir.

Some people say: "I can't pray while I'm singing in the choir," or, "It's too hard for me to pray while thinking about the notes, the shuffling of the music distracts me," etc., etc.

If someone truly cannot pray while singing, then he shouldn't sing in the choir. But please consider this. Church singing is many things: it is a talent, a gift of the Holy Spirit, and it is also a cross. While you sing you are serving the Church, you are carrying your cross. When you carry your cross joyfully, obediently, God will help you and console you. There are moments, when suddenly one is flooded with the pure, radiant joy of the feast or the saint which is being commemorated. At times I have felt so uplifted that it was all I could do to stay inside my shoes.

Another comment frequently heard is: "I already know the music and the tones. I don't need to come to rehearsals. It's boring for me."

Prayerful, beautiful church singing consists of more than just getting the notes right. Perhaps you already know the notes. But a robot can sing the right notes. There are a lot of other things which are worked on in rehearsals besides the notes. For example:

Your brothers and sisters in the choir may not know all the notes. Most choirs have a fair amount of turnover. This means there are always people who are just learning the tones and the music. These new people need help in order to learn. One of the most valuable things a choir director can have, in trying to teach the music to new people, is the presence of at least one knowledgeable person in each of the four parts. How can a choir director accomplish this if the most knowledgeable people, those who "already know the music," stay home?

No one's voice should be heard over the others'; the choir is one body, and we need practice in becoming one. This can only happen through rehearsal. There is a large body of music repertoire available, which many choir directors would like to introduce but cannot because of a lack of attendance at rehearsals. If you deprive the choir of your presence, you may also deprive the choir of an opportunity to do some of the most beautiful and edifying music. Many times, the presence of just one more person can make all the difference in the world.

A variation on "I already know the music," is: "Give me a copy of the music, and I'll practice it at home." Yes, one can take music home and learn the notes; that is good. But, as we have said, learning the notes is only the first step. Many people consider chamber music to be the highest form of instrumental music; the beauty of chamber music lies in the blending of the instrumental voices into one voice. The same is true of choir singing.

Church singing requires sacrificial devotion, just as does any work which is done for the Church. We do it out of a sense of love for God, and for our brothers and sisters - both those who are already Orthodox and those not yet so. I often tell my choir: sing as if someone who is listening is visiting our church for the first time - it is their very first time in an Orthodox church. Or, perhaps more sobering, sing as if it is their last time in church. Sing with missionary zeal! Regardless of the language of worship, pronounce the words clearly, so that the listener will understand them; as it says in the psalms, "Sing ye praises with understanding." You don't know who is listening; perhaps there is someone in the congregation who has lost his faith and given in to despair. Perhaps the prayerful singing of tonight's Vigil will help that person to turn around and set his foot back on the path to salvation. You don't know.

I would like to end by reading to you some thoughts on Orthodox music, which were written by a 16 year-old member of our choir. If anyone still has doubts about what the benefits of singing in a choir can be, I hope that hearing this will help.

"When my mother first brought me to the Russian Orthodox Church, the simplicity and absolute beauty of the music attracted me right off. The first services that I ever attended were the Slavonic ones, and I didn't understand a word that was being said. But after a few times to the church, I found myself humming along with the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes. Because I didn't understand Russian, the services were always a bore to me ... except for the music."

"I soon learned about the English congregation of my church, and joined in with the choir to have something to do during the long Orthodox services. I couldn't stand still for two hours in a row without doing anything, so the singing provided a nice outlet for my energies during the services. I thought that since I seemed to have a slight talent for music and I had always loved singing, I might as well turn Church into something fun instead of it just being somewhere that I went on Sundays. I enjoyed singing in the services, and loved how we sounded - even on our bad days. I had never attended a choir rehearsal during the year or so of my singing, and when rehearsals became a requirement for singing in the choir, I stopped singing for a while."

"One day I was standing in church, just listening to the English choir sing, when I was suddenly in tears. Like it or not, I was no longer bored in church; the music had changed from something fun to something very spiritual and moving. And I liked it very much. I realized that the music had first attracted me, then entertained me, then captured my heart. Church was no longer a place to get up early on Sunday mornings and go to ... it was now The Church and my home."

"The music of the Church has done no one little thing to me, it has changed me forever and captured and bound me to the Church for the rest of my life. I was not born Orthodox, I joined the Church in third grade, but I know every time I step inside St. John's that I have found my home at last." - Larissa Sauter

You can hear the fervor and devotion that were excited in Larissa through church music. I'm hoping that we here today can approach our work as church musicians with the same fervor. May God help us to inspire each other and encourage each other, as one candle is lit by another.

The Lord tells the Apostles: Go, and teach all nations... I pray that all of us attending this conference can work together to bring the beautiful Russian Church music and, through it, the Faith of the Apostles, to the English-speaking world. May God help us in this work.

Music as Prayer

This essay came from the periodical, "Orthodox America," Issue 157, Vol XVIII, No. 1, July, 1998

Music as Prayer
by Priest George Johnson

Among many things, the newcomer to Orthodox worship is at once impressed by the fact that our services are continuous song. From first to last, no sound is heard, aside from a sermon, that is not some form of music. Even sermons were of old cast in poetry to be sung, and to most elaborate music at that. Almost the entire content of a service is made for singing. Even the reading is always intoned and becomes inflected in a tune-like manner, never entirely monotonous. This union of word and song spills over from public to private, spontaneous acts of worship. Are Orthodox gathered in pilgrimage at a holy place? At the very least, they will sing a hymn about what happened there. Is a pious person traveling? Whether especially musical or not, he will sing "He that dwellest in the help of the Most High." Is someone soon to die? When the priest comes, those at the bedside and, if possible, the sufferer, will sing the hymns of the Unction service. Where there is Orthodox worship, there is music.

Why is it that music is so wedded to the spiritual life of the Church, to her prayer? This is so because of the power in its beauty, the power to drive deep into the souls of the faithful the memory and meaning of what our Creator and Deliverer does for us, the power to tell to the world these more-than-heroes' deeds in a way that simple speech cannot, the power to ignite our longing for the Heavenly Kingdom. Because of music's great power, the Church has ever carefully husbanded its use. This husbanding does not, however, mean that her music is everywhere cookie-cutter identical. On the contrary, when we hear music from different Orthodox national traditions, we find that no two sound anything alike, unless directly borrowing from each other; but there is ever present a sobriety and spiritual serenity which is the hallmark of Orthodox music, regardless of its dress. This is the result of the Church's care for her worship. The music is never static, it is ever-evolving but always characteristic, representing in its time and mode the treasured and precious inheritance. Since the spiritual life of the Church is so wedded to its music, we in the Church who are musically aware, and therefore responsible, must make it the first call on our effort to know and hold as our own our inherited musical tradition in all its glorious detail. If we would add something of our own, let it first be our open eyes and ears. At all events, complacency should play no part; we should make ourselves merciless skeptics toward our own preconceptions.

We who are converts to the Faith in adulthood have a particular labor to perform. We bring baggage. In our fresh zeal and desire for perfection, we tend to lift items of this baggage to the level of moral or even theological principle. One piece of such baggage is the notion that since everyone can more or less sing, then the only proper worship consists in everyone singing, and that continually. This idea has more to do with a rigorous Calvinism than with Orthodoxy. The historical fact of the matter is that church music has always consisted in some combination of particular and general singing. One is no better than the other in any absolute sense. Everyone knows and sings some of the music; a few know and only they sing some of the music; sometimes, everyone sings all the music, whether they know the music or not. The possibilities exercised vary from time to time, place to place and from occasion to occasion. No one possibility represents the immutable paradigm. Another piece of baggage is a tendency to trust to the tradition as found in books rather than in living tradition. This tendency comes from those religious bodies with legalistic pre-dispositions, having only a legacy of the written word with a nearly inbred distrust of any other type of tradition. Again, with our fresh zeal for perfectionism, on finding a discrepancy between what we have found out in a book and what is done, we try to enforce the thing read and dismiss the thing done. The thing done just happens to be the on-going prayer life of the Church. When we attempt to drive the wedge of our opinions between the faithful and their prayer life, the most likely result is that we will drive a wedge between ourselves and the Church. In any case, the last thing the Church needs is a re-enactment of the Protestant Reformation masquerading as purest Orthodoxy.

Having said all this, no claim is made here that musical prayer life is everywhere perfect as it stands. It is a fact of our fallen world that dust settles on things that must then be cleaned. In human activity, the dust of complacency corrodes the quality of what we do. But as we refresh, let us remember that what we are dealing with is living and spiritual. We have heard the jest: "The operation was a success, but the patient, unfortunately, did not survive." Woe betide us if our actions traumatize the spiritual life of a place and we thereby adorn ourselves with a millstone. When we refurbish, let it be by barely perceptible degrees. Let our work be entirely with pastoral support and consultation. Let our labor reflect a prayerful and expectant patience. Are we part of a new parish and part of getting musical prayer life established? Let our hands build on the best that already exists elsewhere.

All these expressions of work are no metaphorical excess. If we would lead in the Church, in anything, not just music, we must be willing to be humble, tireless workers. When we think we are done, there is, forever and always, more. But what else have we better to do? Once, when visiting our dear, then 95 year-old retired pastor, Father Nicholas Pekatoris (may his memory be eternal), I tried to cut the visit short since he was looking tired, even for his age. As I began to make my good bye, he said, "Oh, Father George, no need to go. Pretty soon I rest, many, many." Let us, like Father Nicholas and countless others, Be not weary in well-doing. For help, let us call on those, like Saint Romanos, Saint John Kukuzelis and all who have kept the song sounding through the ages, to pray for us. Let us strive to be the harp in the hand of God; let all our song be of Him.

Priest George Johnson Saint John the Baptist Orthodox Cathedral Washington D.C.

Saturday Night Vespers Prokemenon

We have been singing the Carpathian Tone 6 prokemenon on Saturday nights, and it is deceptively simple. Click here to listen to the Combined Carolina Choirs (OCA) sing it with all four parts. I'm not sure that we have EVER sung it with four parts!

Welcome!

This blog is conceived as an adjunct to rehearsals St. Mary Magdalene Orthodox Church's choir members. I hope and pray that it will be useful to us as we continue our ministry to our beloved parish.