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To Those Who Participated:

Were any significant changes to the Liturgy/Chant in evidence this past weekend?

With Thanks,

Michael

Yes and no.

Chant and texts were the same as always. The quality of the singing, overall, however, I thought was mediocre. Maybe it was the weather. (The Sunday morning Slavonic Liturgy was quite well-done all around, though. )

Yes i agree the Slavonic liturgy was very well done. Everything else was just as you said so so. Nothing to complain about nothing to shout about.

-Katie g

The Sunday Slavonic Liturgy is my favorite "guilty pleasure" at Wetpust, I mean Otpust each year. I love it 'cause it's done WELL, all the folks who are there WANT to be there, and it's not the only liturgical opportunity of the day for those who prefer English. Pat does a wonderful job leading, and a lot of cantors come out of the woodwork to join. That wuz me, singing my heart out in the line of cantors behind the railing!

The feet kill by the end of it - Matins at 7:30 leading directly to the Slavonic Liturgy, and the concrete floor of the Shrine Altar is cruel indeed, but it's a wonderful pain. That Liturgy also held one of the more humorous moments of the weekend, when Fr. Jack Custer was commemorating all the bishops in elegant Slavonic, sputtered a moment, stopped, then out came "WILLIAM" - for whom there seems no easy Slavonic equivalent.

Dunno how many folks attended the Akathist on Saturday? In the schedule it was listed as beginning at 7:30, but that's because you can't put down the starting time of "when the procession from the cemetery gets back to the top of the hill." Cantors and celebrants were all keeping a weather eye out over the hill for the returning parade - and when the kadillas made it back up, we started Marian hymns. That service turned out to be one o' those "more fun than humans should be allowed to have" deals. It's a joy to sing the Akathistos with a priest who can sing. Well, we got two of 'em. Anybody who knows Fr. Jack Custer knows he's got a lovely tenor voice. None of us clustered around the cantor's lectern knew the other priest, Fr. Ivan Mina. He'd stopped to talk with the cantors beforehand, asking what voices the cantors sang (lead:bass, can sing baritone, other guy cantor:baritone, me: mezzo) which is rather a nice and courteous thing. The priests alternate the chants between themselves, and we sing the kontakia & the "Hails" and the "Alleluias." Fr. Jack sang the first chant, we did the interim, then Fr. Ivan took the second. No tenor there - a lovely rich baritone with hints of Russian bass. Still better, an educated voice. Fr. Jack uses a particular melody for the chants. (And we started humming harmony under it.) By about the third chant, Fr. Ivan began to pick up that melody. He didn't have it quite down for the next several chants, but he never got "stuck" or ended a musical phrase ungracefully. That takes talent. By about the second half, we were humming harmony under both priests. Waaaaaaaayyyyyy too much fun.

Oh - as for major liturgical changes, yes, there was a big change - several services (including the Saturday, noon Liturgy, which was my joy to sing for Fr. Leo Schlosser) were moved indoors.

Cheers,


Sharon

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know if the Saturday afternoon enrichment session on parenthood ever took place? I had wanted to attend. It had been scheduled to take place in "the Academy," but because of the rain, the Moleben was moved there. There was talk of moving the session in time or space, but after about half an hour of trying to find anybody who knew anything, I kinda sorta gave up.

I know it was to be re-offered the following day, but I ended up taking my kids home - the whole experience was a bit too much for them.

Anyway, just wondering - and if you managed to attend, how was it?


Sharon

the actual Slavonic version of William is, believe it or not, Vil'hel'm - and yes, it does come from German. A much better alternative is, of course, Basil. Incognitus

Who are the "Byzantine Singers"
I heard a quintet with red-shirts so-labeled, singing hymns by the grotto before the Sunday afternoon liturgy. They were really terrific and sang terrific arrangements. Who are they?

djs,

There's a group from the Cleveland area that goes by that name. Might have been them.


Sharon

I thought William in Slavonic is the same as Basil, that is "Vasilij"?

Ung-Certez

You got it, Sharon. They've been around the Mount during Otpust for quite a few years with their maroon shirts. Andrew Marko (who's Orthodox, by the way) is one of them. I believe he's an OCA choir director; at least he was one about 10 years ago at a parish in the Pittsburgh area.

As the dope who made the Slavonic flub, let me chime in here in person.

William-Vasil is one of those immigrant assimilation phenomena. In Philadelphia, where I pastored with great joy for 3 years, most men named William had fathers named Vasil. The elders had equated the two for reasons of sound.
Greeks do a similar trick between Dimitri and Jimmy.
The alternative, Vasil-Charles seems to be based on etymology. Vasil comes from Greek "vasilefs" "King" and Charles sounds like "Korol" one Slav possibility for "King."
As to my flub, I got to William, wondered how to render it, then how to decline it. I punted, gave it in English and nearly forgot my own hierarch, Bishop Andrew of Passaic, in the process!
I checked with Bishop William later. He is most definitely William and there's no Basil in the genealogy. He was actually named after the founder of the Mayo Clinic, "William Charles."
All of which only makes the annual Slavonic liturgy at Uniontown more enjoyable.

Thanks Sharon and LR,

I was able to find their website:
http://www.his.com/~englehardt/byzantinesingers/index.html

Well, I didn't get to hear any of the "new" music, but it was certainly a great pleasure to hear this group. Splendid.

I came on Sunday too late for the Slavonic Liturgy, but did hear a some: a small group led by a banner carrier as they made the way of the cross singing "Preterp'ivy za nas strasti" betwen stations; another group who completed their recitating the rosary by chanting "Dostonjo Jest", just-so (even taking the breath between rozhd and shuju). Little gems.