www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Byzantine Worship Guides Available

Dear Forum Readers,

As many of you know I produce the �Byzantine Worship Guides� containing the changeable texts for the Sundays and Feast Days throughout the liturgical year. They are used in most Byzantine-Ruthenian parishes. For some reason the printer produced an extra 30 sets of the handouts for the July-September mailing. I would be happy to offer one of the extra sets of these �Byzantine Worship Guides� to anyone who requests them. They will be available on a �first-come first-serve� basis until they are gone. To request these materials please send me an e-mail at webmaster@www.byzcath.org with your name, address and e-mail. I request that current subscribers and people in parishes which already use this material refrain from requesting the worship guides to allow for the widest dissemination of these materials possible. Requests from those who are not members of Byzantine-Ruthenian parishes are welcome as these materials are also used by some Carpatho-Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox parishes.

For those who might not be familiar with the �Byzantine Worship Guides� they consist of a handout containing the changeable texts (set to music) for the Divine Liturgy for each Sunday and Feast Day. They also contain a short commentary on the Scripture readings for the day and the ones for feast days generally contain a short explanation of the feast. Each subscription contains a single copy of each handout that parishes can duplicate and distribute to their parishioners. Duplicating and sharing are encouraged and feedback on the musical settings is always encouraged. The subscription offering covers only the cost of duplicating and mailing and I do not profit from this ongoing apostolate.

Admin

Dear Administrator:

First, let me express thanks for this work that you do. But I also want to express surprise at the method of publication and dissemination. In principle, it would seem much easier to distill and post pdf's (like the OCA). Maybe there are barriers to this approach that I haven't considered? (Could you use some help on this?)

djs,

You hit the proverbial nail on the head.

When I started this project in 1986 there were no such thing as pdfs and our parishes have gotten used to this distribution process. The music software I am using supports saving the files in eps format (which can then be imported into the program I use to prepare the text portion of the handout) but the quality is not yet to my liking. If you haven�t seen the worship guides please send me your contact information so that I can send you a copy.

Amongst the other numerous projects I�m working on at the moment is just exactly what you have suggested. I have set up a web page listing all the changeable texts for the Divine Liturgy for the liturgical year. Each feast will contain links for pdf files with music for the antiphons, the troparia, the prokimny, the Magnification and Irmos and the Communion Hymn. All I need is a whole, interrupted, entire weekend to finish the project and put it online. Then, of course, I�ll need to do the same thing with vespers and matins. But there are a few other important projects ahead of this.

The goal for the Byzantine Worship Guides is to be able to post them on the web where anyone can download them. That will reduce the duplicating and distribution costs to almost nothing.

Help is always welcome. Please contact me via PM.

Admin

I just wanted to chime in for anyone who is not familiar with the worship guides. They are fantastic, and make it a whole lot easier to lead the congregation in singing, since everything is laid out neatly before you.

Anthony

Our Administrator wrote:"...You hit the proverbial nail on the head..."

Is the nail wearing a veil???

Is the nail on the head holding the veil to the head?

Did I get lost again? Can someone get me out of here?

Joe Prokopchak
archsinner

How do these "handouts" compare with the new revised Divine Liturgy, both in terms of text amd music? Are they going to be able to be used after our "Archeparchial Inquisition" officially issues the new revised books??

Ung-Certez

Ung-Certez,

The texts that I have used are those given in the Levkulic Pew Book (1978 edition). The musical settings are my own. I have not seen the new musical settings so I do not know how they compare to mine.

If only the liturgical revisions were mandated I could easily adapt my existing work to reflect the new texts and they would continue to be useful to some in our Church. If new arrangements of our music were mandated and all other arrangements prohibited, then I suppose my work would become worthless. If that is the case then I would give thanks to the Lord for allowing me to serve the Church with this apostolate for the past 18 years.

Admin

When will we see the revised Divine Liturgy and will it be shortened?I hope not!

Will Medved and/or two lungs please explain their veiled reference?

UC, I wouldn't worry about the Inquisition. As Joe points out, "mandate" is hardly the right word. If "official music" is published that will be very nice; and if the music really works if will be used; but singing people will find a way to smooth out weak spots. And mistakes will also be made. No one will get in trouble for smoothly interpreting a difficult passage.

The work of Boshaj was not a "mandate". There was some concern about the quality of singing, and perhaps the proliferation of too wide a diversity in the musical renditions. Bokshaj went out to the parishes, studied what was being sung, picked up what worked, set it in modern notation, and published and disseminated it as a guide to cantors. No doubt, local variations continued after Bokshaj (again, if by no other mechanism, then by error.) And a century before Bokshaj there was an analogous compilation and standardization. And also for us, a century later.

In our parish we have been using the guides for many years now. Within the past year we have been running off enough copies so that the congregation has them. And they sing it!
I think it is because they have the music in front of them that they will sing it than a matter of how it is set. I notice that over the years the settings have been corrected and fine tuned. the first time through the congregation is kind of unsure, by the third or fourth time many more are figuring it out.
I notice that this year ISTM that the Exultation and Irmos settings have been changed, particularly the use of the podoben melody for the irmos instead of the samohlasen tone. I gather that this is in keeping with the technique of small changes over a relatively long period of time. Many of the parishioners were confused at first, then started to pickup on the difference of podoben vs samohlasen. A lot of the difficulties were eased by explaining things as people asked questions.

Thank you for the work you do in setting and distributing the worship guides.

Steve

CIX!

Yes, I too would like to thank the Administrator for all his hard work and coordination in pulling together these worship guides. We have used them for almost six years, since the inception of our mission. They have proved valuable to both our cradle-born and the non-cradle-born members.

A humerous aside related to the guides... several years ago I had to go to Kansas City for work. Being there over the weekend I found our very small B.C. parish outside of the city (little bit of a drive). When I went in the church I picked up a copy of the worship guide (at our mission we are able to provide copies for everyone). Unbeknownst to me, I had picked up the one and only copy, reserved for the cantor. Well, the cantor shows up to find he has no music. Because the congregation was small, they pretty much were able to track down the "perp" in no time. Needless to say, my face was a little red, but everyone got a chuckle out of it.

Just over half have been claimed....

Chad,

for all intents and purposes, except for perhaps textual variations, the Eparchy of Van Nuys has been and is currently celebrating the "revised" Divine Liturgy. When the day arrives and the Liturgy is promulgated, the changes will be so ever slight.