Byzantine Spirituality

[Margaret_Ann]

Ah, I take it that you’re on the mixed calendar.

 

[George720]

Ah, I take it that you’re on the mixed calendar.

3 hours of Services today, including a Procession to Mercy Creek for the Great Outdoor Blessing of the Waters, with a Cross thrown into the water and a son going into the water to retrieve it…

No, that’s exactly what I was saying. In the Transcarpatian region all the people sing. They have so called “Izbornik” - a book that contains lots of liturgical texts including Octoich and part of Minea for major feasts. Sure, it’s shortened (i.e. for canons it has only irmoses), but people do sing the majority of the time, especially in villages. Sure, there is a leader (dyak), who leads the singing and begins troparions, etc., but all the rest joins in and sings.

That is wonderful news… I am glad to hear you have the book of the eight tones and the Menaion with the full Canon, even if seldom done in full (a monastic practice). So do you also have Monasteries that do the full Services every night?

For our Orthros today (Epiphany) we did the full double Canon, followed by Basil’s Divine Liturgy, then the Outdoor Blessing… Finished up a little before noon… What a great way to start the day! We sing along as best we can too, and have singers who can sing the Irmoi for those of us who can’t!

geo

 

[dvdjs]

No, that’s exactly what I was saying. In the Transcarpatian region all the people sing.

I think you mean “yes”, not “no”.
Participation of the people in the chanting of readers parts in hours probably only faded in the BCC in the US as the loss of Slavonic among people outpaced the development of stable English texts. Where the materials are available it is not uncommon for Trisagion prayers, the psalms, etc., to be chanted by the people. But it is not done by memory but with the aid of materials. That, to some finite extent, limits the use, as compared to things that are changed by heart.

 

[Justin_Mary]

Secondly, I can’t help but think that, had our Lady appeared to a few shepherd children in Ukraine or in the Trans-Carpathian mountains, perhaps she would’ve told them to pray Paraclesis or the Akathist daily since that would’ve been in keeping with their tradition… just something worth pondering.

Do the Carpathian mountains run through Portugal?

 

[Margaret_Ann]

No.

“The Carpathians are a mountain system located in eastern Europe, and the source of the Dniester, Tisza and Vistula Rivers. They form the natural border between Slovakia and southern Poland, and then extend southward through Ukraine and into Romania.”

Source: Carpathian Mountains - WorldAtlas

 

[Margaret_Ann]

I listened to the Byzantine Sunday & Festal Gospel reflections and subscribed to their YouTube channel.