www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West No quiet time in Byzantine DL

At our parish (St. Basil's in Irving, TX) we sing the cherubikon perhaps 6 or 7 times as the priest & servers prepare for the Great Entrance. It'd be hunky-dory with me if we just sang it 2 times and allowed the interval between the chrubikon and the GE to become a time of expectant silence, pregnant with anticipation.

The same goes for the moments between the Epistle and the start of the alleluia verses.

Just my opinion, but either your cantors need to slow down the chant or your priest needs to 'kick it up' at bit. There is a difference between pregnant anticipation and a period of gestation.

Dave,
I remember your dad telling me that he didn't understand why the Byzantine Catholics sing the Cherublic Hymn in one and not in the three parts as in the Slavonic text. People may not be aware that in ACROD we still sing it in three.

Ray
www.theologyincolor.com [theologyincolor.com]

I hope that your wife will give herself the time to become familiar with the prayers and music of Divine Liturgy. I suspect that once she is comfortable with the rhythm of the service, when she is no longer trying to figure out what is going on, that she will discover that she has internalized the prayer, and she won't even notice that there is no "quiet time."

DMD,

In some parishes it is customary to have a full incensation during the Cherubikon, which really slows things down, especially if the priest waits at the holy table until the incensing is done and then recites the Cherubikon prayers with the deacon before starting the Great Entrance. (Then, if it's a large sanctuary ...)