Tag: Hymns

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On the Feast of Stephen

In the carol “Good King Wenceslas“, we sing that the good king went out to serve a peasant gathering firewood “on the feast of Stephen”. The feast of Stephen is the day after Christmas in the Western calendar [two days after Christmas on the Eastern calendar] and celebrates St. Stephen, the first martyr for Christ (and my Patron Saint). In Acts, chapters 6 and 7, we read that Stephen was chosen to be a special servant of the Church in Jerusalem because he was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. It was in the context of his role as a servant that he was enabled to do miracles among the people, and this drew attention to him both among those open to the Truth of Christ and among those opposed to it. The enemies of the Church soon had Stephen arraigned before a hostile court that threw him out of the city and put to death by stoning.

The proximity of the feast of St. Stephen to Christmas reminds us that the coming of the Prince of Peace is no guarantee of an untroubled life for his followers. Just the opposite in fact: Jesus promised his followers that they would have struggles, that they would have to pick up and carry crosses, just like him. St. Stephen’s example shows us that the way of martyrdom is the prototypical way of the Christian.

Continue reading “On the Feast of Stephen”
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A Western Rite Album

As Western Rite churches and organizations continue to build up resources, one that deserves more attention is an album of choral music recorded by St. Patrick Orthodox Church in Bealeton, VA. This album’s the first of its kind (that I know of), providing an actual example of what a good Western Rite Orthodox choir can sound like. Scores and hymnals are well and good, but here in this recording is what the music sounds like, what it’s meant to be.

Continue reading “A Western Rite Album”

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The Glory of that Perfect Rest

In the Western Rite there’s room for what may be termed ‘paraliturgical’ hymns in our services. These are hymns or anthems or carols that are not prescribed as part of the official liturgical texts (as is the case for the Ordinary and Propers of the Mass), but rather serve to accompany actions like processions or the distribution of Communion, etc. And because these hymns are not part of the prescribed texts, there is some latitude that can be exercised regarding their source. The rules governing what songs can be used are not dogmatical, but they are very sensical. In a word, the Orthodox phronema is employed to choose.

I’ll return to the broader theme of hymnody in the Western Rite in the future, but at present I’d like to briefly introduce a set of general criteria for appropriate hymnody, and provide an example of a hymn that I think meets these criteria, a hymn especially appropriate both for the Feast of the Holy Name and for the Feast of the Ascension. Continue reading “The Glory of that Perfect Rest”

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Eastern Wisdom in Western Verse

In both the Eastern and Western traditions, the Church year is centered around Jesus and the redemptive story of his life, death, and resurrection. The Scriptures read in the Liturgies, the various prayers, and also the hymns that are sung generally correspond to the seasons of the year, and the seasons themselves correspond to events or periods in the life of Jesus. The season of Lent takes the Church with Jesus both into the desert where he fasted for forty days and also on his last journey to Jerusalem (and ultimately to the cross and his glorious resurrection). Several themes and lessons of the Lenten season are emphasized in the Liturgies, but two of the most prominent are repentance and spiritual struggle.

These are the overarching themes in two songs that come to us from St. Andrew of Crete (8th century) through the translation and poetical rendering of Fr. John Mason Neale (19th century).  Continue reading “Eastern Wisdom in Western Verse”