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"Vos^el jesi" is NOT "Ton Despotin." It is (conceptually) based on a hymn from the Roman Rite for the entrance of a Bishop. I found it in an old Latin hymnal once... I'll have to post more once I get back from class.

By the way, I'm not saying this to disparage the hymn in any way. It's very catchy and I really like it.

These are the two hymns from the older Roman Rite for the entrance of a bishop. I don't know how exactly they were used; maybe someone familiar with the Tridentine use could explain. I found the English translations online.


Sacerdos et Pontifex,
et virtutum opifex,
Pastor bone in populo,
sic placeisti Domino.

O priest and bishop,
thou worker of all virtues,
good shepherd of thy people,
pray for us unto the Lord.


Ecce sacerdos magnus,
qui in diebus suis placuit Deo:
Ideo jurejurando fecit illum Dominus
crescere in plebem suam.
Benedictionem omnium gentium dedit.
Illi, et testamentum suum confirmavit super caput ejus.

Behold, a great High Priest,
who in his days was pleasing unto God.
Therefore with an oath the Lord hath made him to increase among his people.
He hath given unto him the blessing of all nations:
and hath confirmed his covenant upon his own head.

Now, I said before that Vos^el Jesi is based conceptually on these hymns. The text and melody of Vos^el Jesi is purely Ruthenian... or so I think.

Lemko says he hasn't heard it in 10 years; I know that is has been used in recent history because I heard it in 1999 in the Cathedral in Pittsburgh. On the Monday following the 75th Anniversary Celebrations, the hierarchs who came from Eastern Europe concelebrated a Divine Liturgy in Slavonic with Metropolitan Judson. This was not a full pontifical celebration, but as the hierarchs processed in, the cantors sang Vos^el Jesi. (If I recall correctly, our Forum's own Fr. Jack Custer was the lead djak for the occasion. Afterwards, my dad commented to me, "Not bad for a Slovak RC boy from Jersey City." )

That was the first time I had been to a Liturgy entirely in Slavonic, and I must say it was beautiful and moving; having 250+ people singing it all in prostopinje also added to the effect. It pained me not to be able to receive the Holy Eucharist that day, and made me pray all the more for the reestablishment of communion between our divided church!

I seemed to have stayed from my original topic, so I'll end it here.

-Dave

Egads, Chtec, I was at that Liturgy too. How come I don't remember? I guess I was still fuming from the day before when our Metropolitan told us that "Our Church is not a Church for Carpathians, Hungarians, Slovaks..."

Actually, I thought the quote was:

"Our Church is not a Church JUST for Carpathians, Hungarians and Slovaks but for all people regardless of ethicity." I believe the Metropolitan went on to speak of the responsibility we all have to evangelize America.

Dear Administrator,

Perhaps a shorter recasting of your Metropolitans words might be:

"You don't have to be Eastern European to belong to our Church - but it helps?"

No?

O.K., I'll go home now.

A good evening to you . . .

Alex

Or, more simply:

"You do like kielbasi, don't you?"

Chtec, you are right, I was a little ambiguous, Ton Despotin is not exactly Vosel jesi in textural content, but is used for the same purpose at the entrance of the Bishop.

It's just me, but I prefer a Constantinopolitan hymn in its unaltered mother tongue for the entrance of the bishop, although the melody for that "Ruthenianized" Latin entrance hymn (as we learned its origin above) isn't bad. It sounds even better in the older Znamenny melody.

Actually, when it was sung for Bishop Maximos of the GOC (a substitute bishop for Bishop Smisko)when he was the principal celebrant for St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Greek Catholic Church's(Johnstown Diocese ACROGCC) centennial anniversary Hierarchical Divine Liturgy back in Nov. '97, the deanery choir sang it both in Church Slavonic and English and it sounded very majestic(indeed showing its Eastern Christian and Greek origin). Just because it is sung in the Rusyn Prostopinije doesn't mean it is a Latinization or less "majestic" as when it is sung in the Greek or Great Russian chant. Bishop Maximos seemed to be very pleased with it!

Ung-Certez :rolleyes:

Ung,
You forgot to mention that it happened in St. Clair, Pa. (The proper name of that parish is "St. Michael's Greek Catholic Russian Orthodox Church" )

They may be tossing most of their pre-Nikonian/particular "Ruthenian" usages out the window, but the Johnstown Diocese still has our duch (spirit). May they persevere!

Would that this have been what he actually said, his words would not have caused the pain that they did. (And I don't mean just to me.) That one word JUST and I could have assented to, even applauded, this statement. However, the lack of that one word changed the tone of his homily entirely. Instead of it indicating an openness to all peoples (which I firmly support), it said "this is who we were; it is who we are no more."

Without +Judson among us today to clarify his meaning, I can only assume that he regretted these words, that the words he spoke were not exactly the words he meant to say. I say this not only in giving him the benefit of the doubt, but also because:
1) The homily was never published;
2) The homily was edited out of the videotaped Liturgy that was distributed by the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh.

I am going to listen to my CDs again tonight, and compare the Slavonic to what djs was kind enough to provide. I have this chant on two CDs by "Great Voices of Bulgaria", and probably on a third CD also, but can't remember which one. Unforunately, these CDs did not come with liner notes. I think that the English translation is probably the second one which Steve provided, because the first phrase is repeated twice. After that, I was lost with the Slavonic. With the eison and mystical quality of this chant, it is one of my favorites to listen to. Thanks to you, I will finally know what it means!

[ 09-18-2002: Message edited by: Double_Eagle ]

Ung Certez and All:

A very good point indeed. Our music and hymns need not be compared to other traditions to find legitimacy. While Chtec's theory of comparison to the Latin Ecce sacerdos magnus and Sacerdos et Pontifex, may have some credence that motivated our people to compose the Voshel Jesi, (perhaps - this I do not have documentation of) the content of the two hymns differs greatly.

Our people possessed a genius, as I said recently, to integrate the focal points of scripture and tradition into practical, useful tools that enhanced the liturgy. It is my observation that no other ritual group has duplicated exactly what our liturgy has done in the combining of various aspects of the faith with its praxis, both in everyday life and objects pertaining to it as well as its liturgical expression during public worship.

As we have seen, many peoples have a tradition of special entrance songs or hymns that accompany the entrance of a hierarch into the church. Theologically, this image is important because it represents the liturgy "par excellence" - in ecclesiology, the Eucharistic model in which the bishop, as representative of Christ, is always the chief celebrant and presider.

Unlike either the Latin or the Greek hymn, our "Voshel Jesi" is completely scriptural, based in its entirely on Hebrews 5: 1-3, with a reference also to verse 7b:

"Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and the erring, for he himself is beset by weakness and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people." (NAB)

A line by line comparison is not hard to construct. For the purpose of this parallel, I use the translation provided above, (which I believe is that of Jerry J. Jumba) with the corresponding lines from Hebrews in italicized parentheses:

You have entered O Noble Archpriest, (2x) - (Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative)

You have entered into the Church of the Most High God - (before God)

You will offer a precious sacrifice - (to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins)

and lead your people as they pray, - (With the ignorant and the erring)

to overcome their human frailties - (for he himself is beset by weakness . . . and so for this reason)

In service to the Lord this day, - (he must make sin offerings {ed. note: service} for himself as well as for the people)

may He hear your prayer - (and he was heard because of his reverence - v. 7b)

This is one of the areas in which I am very proud of the unique character of our liturgy. While this hymn does not need to be used at each and every pontifical liturgy, it should be preserved and used when appropriate, being promoted as much as possible.

There is a danger presently of relegating this entirely to oblivion by adopting the entrance rites used in the Russian and other usages: i.e.: "Wisdom" followed by the singing of the Dostojno Jest' or "It is truly proper." While I understand the reasoning behind its use in these churches (image of the Mother of God=the church=the bishop), it was never the one in ours until I heard it recently. We have always used a different, more participatory rite, which would leave opportunity for the singing of Voshel Jesi, if desired. The imagery here equates Christ, the high priest of Hebrews with the role of the eparchial bishop, offering sacrifice on behalf of all the people - a most appropriate symbolism, in my opinion.

Formerly and presently in some places, the entrance of a hierarch includes:

1. The psalm prayer for blessing by the deacon to the bishop: "May the Lord bless you from Zion . . . "

2. The psalm response from the bishop: "Praise you, servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord."

3. Acknowledgement from the people: "Blessed be the name of the Lord, now and forever."

4. At this point, the "Voshel Jesi" (or another hymn) could be sung, or the "Blessed be the name of the Lord. . . " repeated until the bishop reaches the amvon.

Sometimes, the bishop would sprinkle the congregation with holy water, using the "kropilo" as he enters the church. Bishop Pataki has sometimes maintained this ritual. It may be a carry over from the Latin "asperges" or it may have another origin. I have not had the opportunity to study this aspect. Either way, it is a positive reminder of our baptismal commitment and the image of water in the life of the church.

I don't think it is necessary, (correct or not-so exact, I don't know), to completely imitate the practices of other traditions just because its what the majority of Orthodox are doing. Even among the Orthodox, there has been a large amount of "borrowing" from one tradition to another, including many Russian practices that crept into the Antiochian usage, at least until more recently, and those now being experimented with in the ACROGCD. The singing of "Dostojno Jest'" while common for some traditions, is unknown to ours. Our tradition offers a unique opportunity for dialogue and interaction between the hierarch and the congregation that itself has intrinsic value.

But, the main value in our entrance hymn, "Voshel Jesi" is its scriptural imagery that speaks of the connection between Christ the high priest and the bishop as well as Christ's sacrifice and the Eucharistic offering, including the one about to take place in the church that day.

Fr. Joe

[ 09-18-2002: Message edited by: Fr. Joe ]

We're Byzantines here. If we all did the same thing, we wouldn't be Byzantine. Diversity is good.

Slavonic, English, Greek, Ton Despotin or Vosel Jesi, Prostopinje, Greek melody or Znamenny, they all are wonderful hymns. Everyone will have personal preferences on text and melody.

Thank God that we are actually returning to the practice of publicly showing Vladyko the respect he deserves in whichever of these forms as the successor to the Apostles. Eis Polla Eti Despota! Mnohaya Lita Vladyko! Many years, Master!

Double Eagle, with an Eison that may either be Greek chant, znamenny or a more primitive Bulgarian chant. I would be curious to know. Sometimes the liner notes tell which chant style it is. Later Bulgarian chant is mostly polyphonic without eison.

Dear Diak,

In looking over my CDs, I came across other chants by the same person who set the composition for this particular chant. My Sredets Chamber Choir - Sophia, lists another chant by him in 1280. One of my Musik Der Ostkirchen CDs puts him in the 14th century.

Several chants on my "Medieval Voices" Sredets CD, have an eison. There is one composer, circa 18th century, who used an eison (Yoasaph of Rila).

Since several of the Bulgarian CDs I have purchased from Musica Russica contain chants with an eison, I thought that it was still commonly used today in Bulgarian Churches. Now that I closely examine the dates of composition, I see that the eison was dropped somewhere between 1500-1800, in favor of polyphony. How very sad.

Note: If anyone out there loves Slavonic chant in Byzantine tones with an eison, you might want to keep an eye out for music by - Johannes Kukusel/Yoan Kokozel/Ioannas Koukouzelis. (This is the same guy, but CDs from different countries spell his name differently.)

The main one to look for is by a men's choir in the Musik Der Ostkirchen series from Sofia: Fruhe Gesange Der Bulgarisch Orthodoxen Kirche - Mannerchor>Kukusel Der engelsstimmige, Sofia.

To me, there is nothing on earth like Slavonic with Byzantine tones, and an eison!