www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Vespers, Matins & the Divine Liturgy The Revised Divine Liturgy Logistical question with the new pew book

There are multiple versions of most hymns and responses in the new pew book. Are cantors going to announce prior to starting each response which one they're using? Or will they be preparing a sheet/handout for each Liturgy listing which versions they're using at which point, along with page numbers for troparions/kontakions or any other flipping that needs to be done? Or maybe installing hymn boards? How are people handling this in their parishes?

The Greek-Catholic cathedral in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, has a prominent electric sign board, which displays the page number of the standard "pew book" for the benefit (one assumes) of the faithful. I found that it made following the service much easier - but then, I don't speak Hungarian.

Fr. Serge

It looks like the hymns match up. A goes with A, B with B, and so on. They could announce prior to the start of liturgy that they are taking the As, if that's the case. They could also print it in the bulletin. Or they could make a bookmark to place in the book which lists the order for regular Sundays in that parish. None of those would disrupt the flow of the Liturgy.

In the old pew books, there are multiple musical settings. The first setting in the new book is closest to the one we currently use and I imagine that will continue. When people enter the nave, they pick up a bulletin. We could tell people where to put the ribbons in the bulletin. I think most people will just sing the "ordinary" in sequence and when substitutions are made or for the "propers" they will listen to the cantor and/or learn by imitation.

I think the pew books are well done - setting aside the question of the content of the changes. I do think they could have added maybe 50 pages of popular para-liturgical hymns.

The books will be especially useful for newcomers to the Byzantine Rite that are eager to have access to all the music and to figure out how the Divine Liturgy works.

John K asked, "Are cantors going to announce prior to starting each response which one they're using? Or will they be preparing a sheet/handout for each Liturgy listing which versions they're using at which point, along with page numbers for troparions/kontakions or any other flipping that needs to be done? Or maybe installing hymn boards? How are people handling this in their parishes?"

If you are close enough to Pittsburgh to attend one of the Cantor's Institute sessions, you could benefit from the interaction of several cantors with Professor Thompson on this. He is visiting Phoenix tomorrow, so several Arizona parishes' cantors and other interested parishioners will get to avail themselves of his expertise.

Also, I am working with my own pastor on how best to do all this. There are a number of recommendations included in the Cantor's Companion, some of which you have just mentioned, which you can read on-line at the MCI website. Announcing selections during the service would likely disrupt worship, and the Companion points out that in some places it is even forbidden. My own parish is not planning to print paper copies of the propers, etc. each week at this point, because it is too labor-intensive and expensive. Besides, the book already has what is needed in it for worshiping in English, so we are working on a way to communicate the selections, instead. A paper list is one way we are considering, in case we start using the new book before we get a hymn board. It would only include things the congregation doesn't know already. We are hoping to use some musical settings in the book that are familiar already (Trisagion, Cherubicon, etc.) where possible. The hymn board idea you mention might work well in my parish, because it can be seen from all parts of the nave, if it's big enough. It needs to be as unobtrusive as possible in order not to disturb the design of the temple, however. It also carries the advantage of being reuseable, unlike the slips of paper idea.

Basically, pastoral decisions are needed locally in order to effectively make changes beneficial to your parish. It can be helpful to have several parishioners involved in contributing ideas for the pastor to consider, depending on the managerial style of the pastor. The pastor who usually manages this way will probably already know who best to ask. Some cantors are given greater freedom to manage this process, some less, depending on the pastor's comfort level in matters of control, and the expertise of the cantors.

Our main cantor just sings what he wants -- everyone knows the tunes and follows along. I never considered having to tell folks which one we're doing.

It's the job of the cantor, he... errr. he/she starts and the congregation follows. A key signature of prostopinije.

GROAN!

Domilsean said: "everyone knows the tunes and follows along."

If no service book with music is available, visitors are more easily shut out of meaningful involvement in the services. I figure that's not good for evangelisation.