An akathist (Greek, akathistos) is a hymn dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The word akathist itself means "not sitting." The akathist par excellence is that written in the 6th century to the Theotokos. In its use as part of the Salutations to the Theotokos service (used in the Byzantine tradition during Great Lent), it is often known by its Greek or Arabic names, Chairetismoi and Madayeh, respectively.
The writing of akathists (occasionally spelled acathist) continues today as part of the general composition of an akolouthia, especially in the Slavic tradition, although not all are widely known nor translated beyond the original language. Isaac E. Lambertsen has done a large amount of translation work, including many different akathists. Most of the newer akathists are pastiche, that is, a generic form imitating the original 6th century akathist into which a particular saint's name is inserted.
I've not been able to find the words so far, but continue to search....
Here's a simply stunning Bogoroditse Devo; the choir is "From Age to Age," and they are quite wonderful here.
Bogoroditse Devo is the Eastern version of the Ave Maria; here's the original language with transliteration, plus an English translation:
Church Slavonic text:
Богородице Дево, радуйся,
Благодатная Марие, Господь с Тобою;
Благословена Ты в женах
и благословен плод чрева Твоего,
яко Спаса родила еси душ наших.
Transliteration:
Bogoroditse Devo, raduisya,
Blagodatnaya Mariye, Gospod s Toboyu.
Blagoslovenna Ty v zhenakh,
i blagosloven plod chreva Tvoyego,
yako Spasa rodila esi dush nashikh.
English translation
Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos,
Mary full of grace, the Lord is with Thee.
Blessed art Thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb,
for Thou hast borne the Savior of our souls.
Cutting-edge interpretations and superb ensemble singing are trademarks of From Age To Age. Founded by Artistic Director Andrew Miller in January 2007, From Age To Age has quickly made a name for itself in the upper Midwest. The ensemble performed as an auditioned professional ensemble at the 2010 MN ACDA convention, and shortly after was invited to perform as a premier professional ensemble at the 2011 ICDA Summer Symposium. From Age to Age was highlighted as a "Regional Spotlight" group on Minnesota Public Radio in 2010 and will be featured on the Classical Minnesota Public Radio Holiday CD "A Taste of the Holidays", vol. II coming this December. The CD is a joint collaboration with the nationally syndicated radio show "The Splendid Table". The ensemble has collaborated with several high school, honors, collegiate, and semi-professional ensembles including Kantorei, The Youth Chorale of Central Minnesota, The Duluth East Choralaires, Bismark State College Choirs, and the Brainerd High School Chamber Singers.
The members of From Age to Age come from all areas of Minnesota and North Dakota,
brought together with a common passion for performing top quality a cappella music. They strive to share their talents with areas typically under-served in the choral arts. The ensemble makes it part of their mission to regularly perform at nursing and senior centers in the regions that they visit.
About Andrew Miller, Artistic Director
Andrew Miller, founder and artistic director of From Age to Age, is an accomplished choral conductor, published composer/arranger, vocalist,and educator. Miller graduated from Brainerd High School in 2001 under the musical direction and inspiration of Dr. Michael Smith. Andrew holds a degree in vocal music education from Bemidji State University, and a masters degree in choral conducting from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Miller taught K-12 vocal music in the Long Prairie/Grey Eagle school district 2007-2008. Andrew has been invited as a guest clinician to the Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) student convention in Mankato, MN, 2009, and to the Iowa Choral Directors Association (ICDA) Summer Symposium, July, 2011. Andrew is currently serving as Director of Choral Activities at Bismarck State College where he conducts the BSC Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, and Women's Chamber Ensemble, and teaches choral conducting, music theory, aural skills, and music appreciation.
History
From Age To Age was founded at the turn of the new year, January, 2007. Initially, several singers from the former Hannah/Brokering Sacred Ensemble helped form the foundation. Singers from all areas of the state eventually joined the ensemble to create the group as it is today: a chamber ensemble of highly trained vocal artists that come together throughout the year in different areas of the upper Midwest. From Age to Age focuses not only on performance, but also on outreach and educational programming. The ensemble has expanded its touring area with each successive season.
2010-2011 started with an additional focus on the Twin Cities metro area, and expanded into North Dakota and Iowa..
From Age to Age has an active educational outreach program. The ensemble visits high
schools and colleges across the upper Midwest, conducting focused educational workshops for both students and directors. In 2011, From Age to Age conducted workshops/collaborative performances with students at Bismarck State College (Bismarck, ND), St. Clair High School, and Lanesboro Senior and Junior High School. From Age to Age is currently accepting workshop inquiries for the 2011-2012 season. For more information, please contact info@fromagetoage.org.
You were transfigured on the mountain, O Christ God, / revealing Your glory to Your disciples as far as they could bear it. / Let Your everlasting Light also shine upon us sinners, / through the prayers of the Theotokos. / O Giver of Light, glory to You!
Kontakion — Tone 7
On the Mountain You were Transfigured, O Christ God, / And Your disciples beheld Your glory as far as they could see it; / So that when they would behold You crucified, / They would understand that Your suffering was voluntary, / And would proclaim to the world, / That You are truly the Radiance of the Father!
The Apolytikion (Greek: Ἀπολυτίκιον) or Dismissal Hymn is a troparion (hymn) said or sung at Orthodox Christian worship services. The apolytikion summarizes the feast being celebrated that day. It is chanted at Vespers, Matinsand the Divine Liturgy; and it is read at each of the Little Hours. The name derives from the fact that it is chanted for the first time before the dismissal (Greek: apolysis)
of Vespers. In the Orthodox Church, the liturgical day begins at
sunset, so Vespers is the first service of the day. The term apolyikion
is used in Greek tradition. In Slavic tradition the term troparion is
specifically used to stand for Apolytikion, whilst troparion is of more
generic usage in Greek tradition.
The apolytikion could be compared in the Western liturgy to the collect or post-communion, inasmuch as it changes for each feast-day of the year and specifically commemorates the subject of the feast.
Communion Hymn from the Paraklesis
To Saint Mary Magdalene The Myrrh-Bearer.
Plagal 4th tone.
Chanted By"Monks of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra, Mount Athos.
Text in English: "Her sound has gone forth into all the earth, and her words unto the end of the world, Alleluia (cf.Ps19-5)
A Paraklesis (Greek: Παράκλησις) or Supplicatory Canon in the Orthodox Christian Church and Eastern Catholic Churches, is a service of supplication for the welfare of the living. It is addressed to a specific Saint or to the Most Holy Theotokos whose intercessions are sought through the chanting of the supplicatory canon together with psalms, hymns, and ekteniae (litanies).
The most popular Paraklesis is that in which the supplicatory canon and other hymns are addressed to the Most Holy Theotokos (the Mother of God). There are two forms of this service: the Small Paraklesis (composed by Theosterictus the Monk in the 9th century), and the Great Paraklesis (composed by Emperor Theodore I Ducas Lascaris in the 13th century). During the majority of the year, only the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos is chanted. However, during the Dormition Fast (August 1—14, inclusive), the Typikon prescribes that the Small and Great Paraklesis be chanted on alternate evenings, according to the following regulations:
If August 1st falls on a Monday through Friday, the cycle begins with the Small Paraklesis. If August 1st falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the cycle begins with the Great Paraklesis.
On the eves of Sundays (i.e., Saturday nights) and on the eve of the Transfiguration (the night of August 5) the Paraklesis is omitted.
On Sunday nights, the Great Paraklesis is always used unless it is the eve of Transfiguration.
Another Pentecost treat: some lovely Georgian chant.
From the YouTube page:
Troparion of Pentecost, sung by the choir of the convent of Sameba-Jikheti. It can be found on their CD "Chant melodies."
"Blessed art Thou, O Christ our God, Who hast revealed the fishermen as most wise by sending down upon them the Holy Spirit - through them Thou didst draw the world into Thy net. O Lover of Man, glory to Thee!"
A Troparion (also tropar; plural troparia) is a type of hymn in Byzantine music, in the Orthodox Church and other Eastern Christian churches. It is a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series of stanzas; this may carry the further connotation of a hymn interpolated between psalm verses.
The term most often refers to the apolytikion (or "dismissal hymn"), the thematic hymn which closes Vespers. (In Greek churches, the apolytikion troparion is known simply as the apolytikion; in most other churches, it is known simply as the troparion.) This troparion serves as a thematic hymn and is repeated at every service of the day.
Troparia are also found as the stanzas of canons. Such troparia are modeled on the irmoi of the ode.
Troparia are also sometimes used as refrains for chanted psalm verses, though stichera more often serve this function.
A Kontakion (also kondakion, kondak, and kontak; plural kontakia, kondakia) is a type of thematic hymn in the Orthodox Church and other Eastern Christian churches. Originally, the kontakion was an extended homily in verse consisting of one or two proemia (preliminary stanzas) followed by several strophes called oikoi (also ikoi; singular oikos, ikos), usually between 18 and 24. The kontakia were so long that the text was rolled up on a pole for use in the services -- the genesis of the name kontakion, which means "from the pole" in Greek. It is typical of the form that each of the proemia and strophes end with the same refrain. Acrostics are also a hallmark of this hymnographic form.
In current practice, the kontakion has been greatly abbreviated. Only the (first) proemium and first strophe are sung or read after the sixth ode of the canon at orthros. The proemium alone is sung at the Divine Liturgy, following the troparia, and most other services of the daily cycle. The kontakion is not sung at vespers.
According to tradition, SaintRoman the Melodist wrote the first kontakion, the Kontakion for the Birth of Our Lord, by divine inspiration. Legend aside, Roman established the kontakion in the form it retained for centuries, and he is the most famous composer of kontakia.
I wanted to post this beautiful hymn in Syriac and figured I could do it now, since the Transfiguration gets celebrated twice during the church year! The feast day itself is on August 6 - but the event itself occurs just before Palm Sunday and gets celebrated each year on the last Sunday before Lent begins (last week).
John Tavener is just about my favorite contemporary composer, and this song is achingly, stunningly beautiful. Tavener is a British convert from Presbyterianism to Eastern Orthodoxy, and writes music for the liturgy; he's a complete genius, I think.
I first heard this piece in around 2003, on September 11, at a memorial service for that day. I've since learned, via a commenter, Robert, that the text comes from an Orthodox liturgy; we've seen it in this Google Book, at least: Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. There, it's labeled as part of "The Order for the Burial of the Dead (Priests)."
Funeral Ikos (1981)
Why these bitter words of the dying,
O brethren, which they utter
as they go hence?
I am parted from my brethren.
All my friends do I abandon,
and go hence.
But whither I go, that understand I not,
neither what shall become of me yonder;
only God who hath summoned me knoweth.
But make commemoration of me with the song:
Alleluia.
But whither now go the souls?
How dwell they now together there?
This mystery have I desired to learn,
but none can impart aright.
Do they call to mind their own people,
as we do them?
Or have they forgotten all those
who mourn them and make the song:
Alleluia.
We go forth on the path eternal,
and as condemned, with downcast faces,
present ouselves before the only God eternal.
Where then is comeliness?
Where then is wealth?
Where then is the glory of this world?
There shall none of these things aid us,
but only to say oft the psalm:
Alleluia.
If thou hast shown mercy
unto man, o man,
that same mercy
shall be shown thee there;
and if on an orphan
thou hast shown compassion,
that same shall there
deliver thee from want.
If in this life
the naked thou hast clothed,
the same shall give thee
shelter there,
and sing the psalm:
Alleluia.
Youth and the beauty of the body
fade at the hour of death,
and the tongue then burneth fiercely,
and the parched throat is inflamed.
The beauty of the eyes is quenched then,
the comeliness of the face all altered,
the shapeliness of the neck destroyed;
And the other parts have become numb,
nor often say:
Alleluia.
With ecstasy are we inflamed
if we but hear
that there is light eternal yonder;
That there is Paradise, wherein
every soul of Righteous Ones rejoiceth.
Let us all, also, enter into Christ,
that all we may cry aloud thus unto God:
Alleluia.
An ikos, according to this site, "is a short composition that follows the Kontakion, between the Sixth and Seventh Odes of the Canon." Here is the entire ikos - not short! - from the book at the link above; again, this comes from the funeral service for a priest:
Thou only art immortal, who hast created and fashioned man. For out of the earth were we mortals made, and unto the earth shall we return again, as thou didst command when thou madest me, saying unto me: For earth thou art, and unto the earth shalt thou return. Whither, also, we mortals wend our way, making of our funeral dirge the song: Alleluia.
In thought I implore ye, hearken unto me: For with difficulty do I announce these things. For your sakes have I made moan ; perchance it may profit one of you. But when ye shall sing these things make mention, now and then, of me whom ye have known. For often have we walked together, and together in the house of God have sung: Alleluia.
Rise now, all ye, and make ready, and when ye are set, hearken ye unto the word. Terrible, my brethren, is the judgment Seat before which all we must appear. There is neither bondman nor freeman there; there is neither small nor great; but we shall all stand naked there. Wherefore, it is good to sing together the psalm: Alleluia.
Let us all be consumed with tears, when we behold the earthly remains lying low; and when we shall all draw near to kiss, and peradventure to utter such things as these: Lo l thou hast abandoned us who love thee. Why speakest thou no more with us, 0 friend? Why speakest thou not, as thou wert wont to speak, but holdest thus thy peace who before with us didst say: Alleluia.
Why these bitter words of the dying, O brethren, which they utter as they go hence? I am banished, brethren. All my friends do I abandon, and go hence. But whither I go, that understand I not, neither what shall become of me yonder; but only God, who hath summoned me knoweth. But make commemoration of me with the song: Alleluia.
But whither now- go the souls? How dwell they now together there ? This mystery have I desired to learn, but none can impart aright. Do they call to mind their own people, as we do them? Or have they already forgotten those who mourn them and make the song: Alleluia?
Accompany ye the dead, 0 friends, and come ye to the grave with heed, and there gaze ye steadfastly, with understanding; and make ready your feet. All youth is fallen to dissolution there; there all the flower of life is faded ; there are dust, and ashes, and worms; there all is silent ; and there no man saith : Alleluia.
Lo! now behold we him who lieth here, but ne’er shall lie before us more. L0! already is his tongue stilled, and 10! his mouth hath ceased to speak. Fare ye well, 0 my friends, my children. Fare ye well, 0 brethren! Fare ye well, 0 my comrades ; for I go forth upon my way. But make commemoration of me with the song: Alleluia.
None of the dwellers yonder have returned to life to tell us howthere they fare, our erstwhile brethren and our offspring gone before us to the Lord. Wherefore, again and 0ft we say: Shall we see each other there? Shall we see our brethren there? Shall we there again together say the psalm : Alleluia?
We go forth on the path eternal, and as condemned, with downcast faces, present ourselves before the only God. Where then is comeliness? Where then is wealth? Where then is the glory of this world? There shall none of these things aid us, but only to say oft the psalm: Alleluia.
Why dost thou untimely vex thyself, O man! Yet one hour, and all things shall pass away. For in Hell there is no-repentance, nor further remission there. There is the worm that sleepeth not; there is the land, all dark and gloomy, where I must be judged. For I made not haste to say the psalm : Alleluia.
Naught is so easily forgot as mortal from his brother-mortal parted. If for a brief space we call to mind, yet straightway forget we Death, as we had not ourselves to die. Parents, also, are utterly forgotten of their children, whom from their own bodies they have borne and reared ; and they have dropped tears with the song: Alleluia.
I remind ye, O my brethren, my children, and my friends: Forget me not, when unto the Lord ye pray. I entreat, I beseech, I implore, that ye learn by heart this thing, and mourn for me night and day. As said job unto his friends, so sayI also unto you: Sit ye again and say: Alleluia.
Leaving all things behind us, forth we go, and naked and grieving must present ourselves to God. For like the grass doth beauty fade, and man is but allured therewith. Naked wast thou born, O wretched one, and naked there must every man appear. Dream not, O mortal, of sweetness in this life, but only groan ever with the moan : Alleluia.
If thou hast shown mercy unto man, O man, that same mercy shall be shown thee there; and if on an orphan thou hast shown compassion, the same shall there deliver thee from want. If in this life the naked thou hast clothed, the same shall give thee shelter there, and sing the psalm : Alleluia.
Toilsome the way in which I must go hence, the which, in truth, I never yet have trod; and unknown is that land, and thereof knoweth no one anywhere. Awesome is it to behold my guides; most terrible he who hath called me. the Ruler of life and death, who also calleth us, when he willeth, thither: Alleluia.
If journeying from a home-land we stand in need of guides, what shall we do when forth we fare to a land to us still all unknown? Many leaders wilt thou then require, many prayers to accompany thee, to save the wretched sinner's soul; until thou come to Christ and say to him: Alleluia.
They who are in thrall to the material passions shall find no pardon whatsoever there. For there are the dread accusers; there, also, the books are opened. Where, then, around about thee wilt thou gaze, O man? And who then shall succour thee? Unless thou hast led an upright life, and hast done good to the needy, singing: Alleluia.
Youth and the beauty of the body fade at the hour of death,and the tongue then burneth fiercely, and the parched throat is inflamed. The beauty of the eyes is quenched then, the comeliness of the face all altered, the shapeliness of the neck destroyed ; and the other parts have become numb, nor often say: Alleluia.
Hush, then ; be dumb. Henceforward keep ye silence before him who lieth there, and gaze upon the mighty mystery; for terrible is this hour. Be silent, that the soul may issue forth in peace. For it to a great ordeal is constrained, and in fear doth oft petition make to God : Alleluia.
I have beheld a dying child, and I have mourned my life. He was all agitated, and trembled greatly when the hour was come, and cried, O father, help me! O mother, save me! And no one then could succour him, but only pined away as they gazed on him, and wept for him in the grave: Alleluia.
How many suddenly are snatched even from the plighting of their troth, and united by a bond eternal ; and without avail have made their moan unending, and have not risen from that bridal chamber! But there was both marriage and the grave, both union and disunion, both laughter and weeping, and the psalm : Alleluia.
With ecstasy are we inflamed if we but hear that there is light eternal yonder; that there is the fountain of our life, and there delight eternal ; that there is Paradise, wherein every soul of Righteous Ones rejoiceth. Let us all, also, enter into Christ, that all we may cry aloud thus unto God : Alleluia.
There is a detailed article about Vespers at OrthodoxWiki.org, with a section covering the "General Structure of Great Vespers" and another called "Vesperal Services," which outlines various divergent forms. It all seems quite complicated, but of course that's because I really know very little about it and am only learning.
There is also some really interesting (Eastern) Pentecost art out there.
First, from the "Rabula Gospels," a "6th century illuminated Syriac Gospel Book":
Google Translate tells me that this - described as "Собор 12-ти апостолов с Константином Великим" on this Wikimedia page - is an "Icon: Cathedral of 12 Apostles of Constantine the Great." Don't know from what time period:
Then, an interesting painting from around 1902 called "To the Pentecost," by Sergey Korovin. I assume this is a painting of farmers on their way to Pentecost services, but don't really know; I'm looking more in to it.
This piece is - as usual, I find, with John Tavener - just stunningly beautiful. The text comes, apparently, from the Liturgy for Great and Holy Saturday:
"As one who has slept the Lord has risen
And rising he has saved us. Alleluia."
