In the past thirty years, I have attended almost 7000 liturgies in the United States, Canada, Russia, and Greece. Some of these have been in small candlelit chapels in the desert of Mount Athos; others have been in magnificent imperial monasteries with a thousand years of history. I have beheld liturgies celebrated by patriarchs and […]
The appearance of Kurt Sander’s Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, which was released simultaneously on April 26, 2019, in recorded form by Reference Recordings and in print form by Musica Russica, in many ways represents a unique and unprecedented event in the realm of Orthodox liturgical singing in North America. The work was created […]
A liturgical craft that ideally draws very little attention to itself is that of translation — particularly, the translation of hymnography. The English texts that we hear in church were translated by somebody, and that translator also had to make them natural-sounding and singable in English. In addition, there is also the question of whether […]
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on John Graham’s website featuring his tours of Georgia and Georgian liturgical music. We are reposting it here because it will be of great interest and assistance to any choirs who would like to add Georgian settings of ‘Christ is risen’ to their repertoire. Since posting this, John has added additional […]
This is post 3 of 6 in the series “Notes from The Psalterion” In part one of this series, I outlined the argument that Orthodox liturgical singing, given that it is above all else an offering to God, is a privilege, a craft, and a discipline. In part two, I tried to suggest, at least in […]
The mission of The Saint John of Damascus Society is “revealing Orthodox Christianity through its sacred music”, and one part of how we seek to do this to be a collaborative partner for existing arts organizations and entities on projects promoting Orthodox liturgical music. Our first collaboration to reach the public eye is a segment […]
This is post 2 of 6 in the series “Notes from The Psalterion” In the first installment, I discussed a set of ideals that essentially argue that Orthodox liturgical singing is, first and foremost, an offering to God and to be treated as such — in short, that it is a privilege, a craft, and […]
This is post 1 of 2 in the series “The Creation of a Christian Culture” “Christianity has a great calling, which many do not ever realize. This purpose can be defined as the creation of a Christian culture.” – Ivan Ilyin Of all the great callings that Christians are reminded of on a daily basis, […]
This is post 1 of 2 in the series “A ‘Small Entrance’ into Orthodox Christian Sacred Music” Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Savior, the angels in heaven hymn. Enable us also on earth to glorify Thee in purity of heart. [1] In trying to discern some of the truth about the phenomenon of Orthodox […]