Kontakion 3
By the power of the Holy Spirit every flower breathes. They breath I feel in the quiet movement of the fragrant fields. Observing the harmony of colors I admire Thee. Wherever I look, I see all around me the beauty of the Great One in the little. Glory and thanks to the life-creating God Who covers the earth with flowery meadows, crowns the fields with golden ears of grain and embellishes them with blue cornflowers, and my soul with the joy of contemplation. Be glad and sing to Him: Alleluia!
Ikos 3
How wonderful Thou art in the beauty of spring when all earth is being rejuvenated and thousands of sounds sing about Thee: Thou art the spring of life, Thou art the conqueror of death! In the pale moonlight with the song of the nightingale, the valleys and forests rest under a snowy white veil. The whole earth, Thy bride, is awaiting Thee, the Eternal Bridegroom. When Thou so clothest the grass of the field, how art Thou to adorn Thy chosen ones when the resurrect in the future age! How will then our bodies shine forth and our souls glitter!
Glory to Thee Who from the dark depths of the earth/bringeth forth so many colors and scents.
Glory to Thee for the beauty of nature.
Glory to Thee Who hast surrounded us/with thousands of Thy creatures.
Glory to Thee for the depth of thy wisdom/whose seal is borne by all creation.
Glory to Thee for the tender feeling/which which I kiss the trace of Thine invisible foot.
Glory to Thee Who hast from the beginning/lit the glowing light of eternal life.
Glory to Thee for the hope in perfect and eternal beauty.
Glory to Thee, O God, in ages!
Notice that you may also order a recording of this akathist at the same website (scroll down). The Orthodox parish that recorded it is a mission church in Madison, Wisconsin. They sing this akathist once a month. Lucky are the people who can go hear it, or sing it with the congregation.
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The anointing service is used every year here at Holy Cross in Linthicum, MD. I have not been part of an Orthodox parish that did not use this rite.
Rod and friends, Beyond this very disc, any other collections of Orthodox music you'd recommend? In my old age (30s) I'm finding I'm leaving behind pop music of all stripes and simply playing more classical and chant and etc. Ideas?
St. Irenaeus -- it's a bit late to have it for Pascha this year, but by all means get hold of Ivan Moody's "Passion and Resurrection of Jesus" on the Hyperion label. Moody is a young British Orthodox composer who has in this piece, written what amounts to an Orthodox version of something like one of Bach's passions. It is quite traditional in Orthodox musical style, despite being a contemporary piece. You'll also want to get a recording of Rachmaninoff's "Vespers" or "All Night Vigil." There are many recordings of this available. And Tchaikovsky's "Liturgy" is well worth picking up: the recording by the Corydon Singers under Matthew Best is very good and it also has the advantage of including Tchaikovsky's "Spiritual Songs", which are not readily available elsewhere.
A good resource for Orthodox music is the website 'Musica Russica,' which has a lot of music of various Orthodox styles, and has some things that are difficult to find elsewhere.
Pretty much everything recorded by Cappella Romana is worth a listen--I particularly encourage giving a listen to "The Fall of Constantinople". The "Glory of Byzantium" recording that's a joint effort between Serbian cantor Divna and Lycourgos Angelopoulos' Greek Byzantine Choir is well worth having, as is The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom recorded by Angelopoulos (sometimes found under the title "Byzantine Liturgy"). Not everybody would necessarily agree with me, but anything by Angelopoulos is going to be at least worth listening to, even if somewhat hard to find. The Rachmaninoff Vespers (as it's known colloquially; it's really a Vigl) and Divine Liturgy are both available in wonderful recordings by King's College Chapel Choir. If you're interested in things in English... well, there's the Boston Byzantine Choir, but I'm not sure they've really solved the problem of singing Byzantine chant in a way that doesn't subject one to the tyranny of the editorial barline. Fr. Apostolos Hill's recordings don't have this problem, and he sings well, but he's not to everybody's taste necessarily. Cappella Romana has put out a very nice recording of Orthodox music composed in, rather than adapted for, English by Fr. Sergei Glagolev ("Lay aside all earthly cares"), and later this year will be releasing a recording of the Divine Liturgy sung using a new English adaptation of traditional Byzantine chants that hopefully will sound fairly idiomatic. If you want to start getting a bit esoteric and/or scholarly, the collaborations of Lycourgos Angelopoulos and Marcel Peres are worth a listen, particularly "Chants de l'eglise de Rome". All of these should be readily available at http://www.liturgica.com; you can also find them on Amazon, but they're a little tougher to find in some cases. Hope this helps, and I can always make more suggestions. :) Richard
I came across this Thanksgiving Akathist just before last Thanksgving Day. After listening to it, I bought several more copies for friends and family. A part I found especially moving was where the author discourses on the beauty in the faces of the dead. In the midst of the gulag, he found beauty and thanksgiving (and hence joy) even in the dead. This past Sunday at my parish, Deacon Michael gave a talk during Sunday school on the day's Epsitle (Philippians 4:4 et seq). Joy is the result of thanksgiving. I have noticed that in my own life; the more thankful I am, the more joyful. The talk is not yet posted (at http://www.theorthodoxproject.com/ ), but should be soon, and I highly recommend his other podcast talks posted at The Orthodox Project (plug over). Finally about Orthodox music, I suggest listening to Ancient Faith Radio on the web and ordering whatever sounds good!
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