Byzantine, Texas

As a chanting parishioner more easily identified as a lowing cow than a member of the choir of angels, I asked our priest where I could get the liturgy on CD or online to improve my lamentable efforts. He told me about the CDs I hold in my hand right now (well not right now, or I wouldn't be able to type). " The Divine Liturgies of Our Holy Fathers John Chrysostom and Basil the Great " is huge (7 CDs) and cheap (often costing less than a single CD). There is no doubting that it is complete; you'll hear the same sections of the liturgy in different progressions so that if you want a ready reference this would be it. For in the car listening it might be a bit repetitive (do I really need the Thrice Holy Hymn chanted to me 6 times in a row?), but as it has some good examples ot the tones, I plan to use it to teach the kids prayers at home. Most parents would not be surprised to hear that prayers sung are more quickly and happily learned by their children than rote prose...

More on the recent goings-on in Russia covered in the person of Orthodox priest, Fr. John Whiteford. He's parish rector of St. Jonah Orthodox Church in Spring, TX. Take a look here for all his thoughts, pictures of the events, and even some video clips. Some choice bits: When we landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, the passengers spontaneously began to sing the Paschal Troparion (in Slavonic), "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life". ... We boarded various buses, and headed to the place which most of us stayed at, which was a hotel owned and operated by the Moscow Patriarchate, called the Universityets Gostinitsa (if I remember correctly) which is so named because it is near to Moscow State University ... a building which is known as one Stalin's seven sisters , because all seven buildings were built during his tenure, and they all look very similar... a sort of Stalinesque Gothic. ... Russia...

Kontakion (κοντἁκιον) - The kontakia hymns were so long that the text was written on vellum and rolled up on a wooden dowel for use in the services -- the genesis of the name kontakion, which means "from the pole" in Greek. Not sure where the kontakion is in the service? You will hear it after the little entrance (when the clergy walk with the Gospel).

You will find that in America there is no uniform way of dealing with children in Church. That said, there are a few main classes of treatment ("The Geneva Convention on Child Care and Faith Formation" aka the "Proverbs 22:6 Commission"). Bunker mentality - We go to our service and the children go to theirs. The children's service often involves more VeggieTales than the order of the mass or leiturgikon calls for, but that can't be helped. The children can go to church when they are "old enough." Suffer the little children - That's not a dig at the little blighters (see Luke 18:16). Other churches choose to have a cry room where the rowdy can be "corrected" and the infants can be... no idea what women do here; dread of variously disrobed, nursing mothers striking me with frying pans and diaper bags for entering sacred domain keeps me away. The surgery seems to be going well - Some churches have a glass wall to the rear of the chu...

An event that finally rejoins the two churches after communism forced Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, to let the Russian Orthodox outside Russia govern themselves as the communist state grew increasingly more confrontational with the Church. As an American it is difficult to imagine the government sponsored atheist processions, the imprisonment and torture of clergy, the constant spying, and the unceasing government involvement in synodal meetings. What a difference a few years make! Be sure to also take a look at the official ROCOR announcement . From AsiaNews : 80 years on, Putin blesses the end of the schism within the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexi II and the head of the Church abroad, metropolitan Laurus, today signed an act of canonical communion putting an end to the division between the two communities. Before a congregation of hundreds the first communal liturgy was celebrated today in Moscow’s Christ the Saviour cathedral, with Putin in the front row. Moscow (Asia...

Last night parishioners were invited to eat potluck and attend a Moleben (pronounced 'molaybean,' which sounds tasty too). The always helpful Orthodoxwiki speaks of the service thus: A molieben (also called a moleben, service of intercession, or service of supplication) is a supplication prayer service in honor of either our Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, or a particular saint or martyr. It is a Slavic service, but closely related to the Paraklesis service. A molieben is usually served by an ordained priest, but a laymen can also do a molieben, although in a modified form. Having been to a paraklesis service I can say that the two are very similar. A lot of "Lord Have Mercy"s. But, me being me, I wanted to know more about the history of it so I dug a bit deeper. Here's an encapsulation of what I found ... How does the moleben compare to a paraklesis? The paraklesis is of course Greek in origin. It also differs in that the moleben does not use the canon. W...

I've always been a fan of Father Taft's work. I own a lot of his books. Touchstone just reviewed the latest addition to his already lengthy list of publications, Through Their Own Eyes: Liturgy as the Byzantines Saw It . In the review they also mentioned this interview in the National Catholic Reporter . It's a bit long for a blog post, but an enjoyable read. Famed scholar has never been one for diplomacy By JOHN L. ALLEN JR. Rome Crossing paths with Jesuit Fr. Robert Taft, an American who has taught at the Pontifical Oriental Institute here for more than 30 years, can be something like spotting a bright orange tie or a pair of red Converse sneakers amid a sea of gray suits at a corporate headquarters. Such flashes of sartorial dissent can be a way to express a bit of life, of rage against the machine, amid the numbing sameness of institutional culture. It’s not that in the hallways of ecclesiastical power, Taft, a famed scholar specializing in the liturgies of Eastern chur...

On May 6th our three Texas parishes came together in Austin to attend the divine liturgy and then party hearty at a local park. I, of course, forgot my camera so I am just now receiving pictures from those who took pity on this poor scrivener. The Austin mission celebrates at Our Lady's Maronite Church on Sundays and that is where we were for the all-Texas meet-up. The church is gorgeous and quite large. I quite enjoyed being in such a beautiful church with so many people. Pews also helped me to rope in the children. Even with their depleted numbers (only three came with us), my children managed to use their amateur ninjitsu training to get passed our ever vigilant (while still remaining appropriately contemplative looking) eyes once or twice. I could recount from memory, but the parish website quite a good job on their own Nearly half of St. Basil's parishioners made the 7+ hour round-trip drive to Austin to attend the First Annual All Texas Byzantine Liturgy and Picnic. Th...

Imagine a wide selection of ice cream flavors. Now imagine that over time ice cream makers made more and more vanilla ice cream, and consequently less and less of other flavors. It's certainly easier to just make vanilla ice cream - easier to put quality controls on just one item, easier to market one strong product, and so many people already eat it. So why not just make that and do away with all the hassle and bother of counting nuts, measuring fruit mixtures, stirring in syrups? That, in a nutshell (if you'll forgive the pun), is the direction many authors will attest to the church taking before Vatican II. Eastern churches slowly Latinized, incorporating more Roman practices and marginalizing or completely doing away with practices that had existed in their parishes for centuries. Icon screens were removed, statues were placed inside and outside the churches, pews replaced open spaces, and the list goes on. Returning to our ice cream analogy, would anyone say that chocolate...

If you're not already an Eastern Christian (an umbrella term for Oriental Orthodox , Eastern Orthodox , Eastern Catholic , or another unassociated like the Assyrian Church of the East ) the term "Byzantine" might not mean a thing to you. In fact even if you are one of these the term might mean nothing to you. After attending a paraklesis (παρακλεσις in Greek, sometimes written as paraclesis) service at a local Greek Orthodox church I went to the adjoining fellowship hall. There were a lot of older, extremely nice people there. After talking for a while a woman asked me if I had ever been to a Greek service before. When I said I had been to a Byzantine Catholic service that was very similar she said, "A what?" After some more discussion it was clear neither she nor anyone sitting next to her knew anything about Byzantine or any other kind of Eastern Catholic. So to explain what a Byzantine Catholic is - glossing over a lot - I'll just say this. There is mor...

Today we celebrate the Saints Cyril and Methodius (Methodios) called "Equal to Apostles" and "Patron Saints of Europe" for their phenomenal evangelization of the East. Upon being asked by Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia (Ἡ Μεγάλη Μοραβία) , the two brothers spent the rest of their lives spreading the good news to people in the vulgate - going so far as to create an alphabet for the Slavic peoples ( Glagolitic , a modified cursive version of Greek based on the Slavic Thessalonika dialect where the brothers were raised) and translating the Gospel along with liturgical texts for their use. I expect you'll see many posts just like that on the feast day of these universally beloved saints. It is worth noting that the feast day is not celebrated on the same day by all the churches. I rather detest "gimme" posts made just to perfunctorily bookmark a day, so let me say that to me beyond the importance of the work done by these inestimable saints for the Slav...

Having finished divine liturgy last night (we usually have divine liturgy Wednesday in addition to Sunday) I pondered chanting. As the number of Eastern churches varies from few to none in most of the state I've had little chance to experience the musical diversity of the East. For those not familar with the Ruthenian way of doing things, our chant is unique to the Carpathian Mountains and its environs called by some Carpathian Ruthenia or "Carpathian Rus". Depending on your linguistic dexterity you can call it either the the more common "Carpathian Plainchant" or "Prostopinije" (meaning proste: simple and pinije: chant) or by other names like "Mukachevo" or "Uzhorod" chant. It follows the 8 tone system of other Eastern churches, but as you would expect the 8 tones of one church will not match up with the 8 tones of another. The cantor (aka chanter, diak, kantor, etc.) leads the faithful who either sing with him or sub-sing (e.g. ...

Parental duty demands that I post at least one picture of the children gussied up for Easter. Here they are.

Many moons ago I bought a book called All That a Greek Orthodox Should Know by Fr. Nicon D. Patrinacos, MA D. Phil. . I'm not Greek Orthodox so why did I buy it one might ask. Well, there is much to be loved about our Greek brothers - their history, philosophy, theology, liturgical practices, etc. Beyond that I thought I was buying a solid Orthodox text with a distinctive flavor I might not have come across before. That's not what I got. Instead the book did a few things that had me audibly tsk-tsking . It fell into the standard traps that do nothing but foster continued division: Snide references to St. Augustine on things everyone knows have either been rejected in part or in whole just to spit on the West? Check! √ Dismissive comments about hierarchical nature of Protestants and Catholics inserted for no real reason? Check! √ A verbiage laden treatment of serious moral issues (abortion, contraception, etc.) where clear teaching is needed? Check! √ So all in all I wa...

In the first of what promises to be many posts along this line, here's a quick rundown of the books I'm reading. American Eastern Catholics (Pastoral Spirituality) by Fred J. Saato - At the moment I'm wincing my way through their early immigration to the US and subsequent treatment by unprepared Latin bishops. Partakers of Divine Nature: An Inspiring Presentation of Man's Purpose in Life According to Orthodox Theology by Archimandrite Christoforos Stavropoulos - A book to be read slowly. You could easily nod your head through the reading of this book and miss so much. I've been rereading the first few pages over and over for the last couple of days. A History of Icon Painting by Archimandrite Zacchaeus - Before starting this book I had no idea how to read even the most simple of icons. If you want to learn the history of icons this is the book for you. If you want to learn what certain poses or items in an icon mean, you'll have to dig for them but the answer...

As someone who jumped on the Internet before the advent of the web (yes, I gophered around and pounded on UNIX shell accounts with no idea what I was doing for quite a while) the idea of a nice little package that does all your HTMLizing for you is quite unsettling. At work I still edit web pages by (XHTML 1.0 compliant no less) hand. So - should there be any readers yet - please have patience!