Liturgy
An All-Night Vigil for St. Richard of Wessex: An Old Saint is Venerated Anew
Overview: On the evening of 6 February 2022, Dormition of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Somerville, Massachusetts celebrated an All-Night Vigil (full festal Vespers, Orthros, and Divine Liturgy served consecutively) for Saint Richard of Wessex (7 February, +722 A.D.). At the altar were three priests: Rev. Fr. Anthony Tandilyan, proistamenos of Dormition Rev.…
Continue reading »‘Being’, The Art and Life of Father Sophrony
Archimandrite Sophrony, painting Christ at the Last Supper, early 1980s, the Monastery of St John the Baptist, Refectory.[1] Image: ©The Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex. Editorial note: This is the second part of a series on the artistic path and iconographic legacy of Saint Sophrony (Sakharov) as seen through a collection…
Continue reading »Benedict Sheehan: Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2018)
Liturgical Music in America Liturgical music is closely bound up with the people that sing it. Language, history, culture, experience, education, social class, all of these things shape the sound-world of worship. The people that founded Orthodox parishes in America more than a century ago—for the most part, immigrants from Russia, Greece, Eastern Europe, and…
Continue reading »The Typika Psalms and Beatitudes: A Liturgical Opportunity
Editor’s note: This article addresses the Typika Psalms and Beatitudes in the Divine Liturgy, and describes the differences in usage among contemporary North American Orthodox jurisdictions. In particular, the author considers opportunities in which choirs in the Greek and Antiochian Archdioceses might expand their use of these liturgical texts. It is frequently observed that the Psalter is the chief source…
Continue reading »Voice and machine: Technology and Orthodox liturgical music
Recently, iconographer Aidan Hart published the thought-provoking essay “Hand and machine: Making liturgical furnishings”. Mr. Hart’s piece is part of an ongoing exploration by liturgical artists of the question of how technology has changed, and is continuing to change, our relationship to crafts that have up until recently been done by hand. Liturgical designer Andrew Gould has…
Continue reading »The Sacred Arts Initiative “Rethinking Sacred Arts”
The Sacred Arts Initiative “Rethinking Sacred Arts” A Review Although the task of OAJ has mainly been to work towards the promotion of the revival of traditional Orthodox liturgical arts, along the way we have not hesitated to engage the sphere of secular art. This has not only been relegated to a critique of its…
Continue reading »A New Hieratikon – The Typographical Design of a Liturgical Book
Editor’s note: This article is offered to us by Hierodeacon Herman regarding his design for a new liturgical book. This book represents one of the first significant applications of the Orthodox Illustration Project, sponsored by this journal. All the graphic ornaments used in the Hieratikon come from the Illustration Project, being drawn or edited by Scott Patrick O’Rourke,…
Continue reading »Heaven Is Round. Earth Is Square.
This is post 4 of 4 in the series “Ancient Cosmology Today” Jonathan Pageau uses a phenomenological approach to explain traditional cosmology and its symbolism, explaining in what manner it is crucial to our experience of being in the world. Most of The Time The Earth Is Flat. Where is Heaven? Heaven and Earth in…
Continue reading »Technical Hierarchy
This is post 3 of 3 in the series “Hand and Machine” Jonathan Pageau and Andrew Gould exchange ideas in an attempt to understand the difficulties and opportunities of new technologies in the making of liturgical art. The discussion is also in reaction to fr. Silouan’s article on Degraded Iconicity. The Robot and The Master…
Continue reading »The current state of things with the Saint John of Damascus Society’s Psalm 103 project
Back in April, I posted about the Saint John of Damascus Society‘s Kickstarter campaign for the first phase of the Psalm 103 project. I’m happy to say that it was more than successful, and we’re just about to deliver on one of the first parts this phase. Before I get to that, let me tell…
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