I would recommend this series of lectures for anyone wishing to read or sing in church, especially for those who are ordained or will be ordained....It helped me immensely. When I first started to read I had no or little help. I had to learn the hard way. People were quick to criticize, but did not offer any help and did not want to assist me as it would have meant coming early or coming to a practise. Thank God I found these courses....Stephan in Ottawa
Neither reader nor choir director, but I've always wondered about the various books that keep appearing and disappearing at the reader's stand. Thank you very much for this series.
Very interesting. It is good for laypersons to learn about the service books of the Church. Thank you for this series. May God bless you and your work.
I have just discovered this wonderful resource. I have searched for this sort of easy presentation. What a blessing Father Herman gives us though these lectures. Sbdcn Richard.
Hello from Lebanon! Thank you for the clear and well-structured presentation. This is really helpful and highly recommended for anyone who is interested in learning about our beloved Church's liturgical books. God bless!
Good Lord, I'm a reader in training so to speak and I stumbled upon these videos by pure accident... or perhaps Divine providence? Regardless, I'll make sure to watch them all many times over! Thank you so much and God bless you!
Great series of videos, thank you for making them Father. As an update to availability of liturgical books since this video was uploaded, an English translation of the Typikon of the Great Church (the "Violakis Typikon") has been published by the Metropolis of Denver (available through their Denver Church Music Federation last I checked) and a new translation of the Paraklitiki (it's titled 'Octoechos', but it actually a Paraklitiki and includes all the hymns for the entire week in the 8 tones, not just the Sunday ones) has just been published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in the same style as their Menaion and Pentecostarion. Now if someone can just get around to translating the Sabaite Typikon into English we'd be pretty much set. I know, easier said than done, they are not easy books to translate and the proof reading is a nightmare.
This is great! Thanks for uploading these videos. I have been looking for a book or videos explaining the liturgical cycles and liturgical books of the church!
Wait-there are TWO volumes for the Order of Divine Services? Also, there is an English Violakis Typikon available from the Metropolis of Denver. Helpful to Greeks more than Slavs, of course.
There are two volumes, yes. The other volume (which, confusingly is titled "volume 3" - but volume 2 has never been printed) focuses on various combinations of Menaion feasts with other commemorations. It is useful, but very specific.
I highly recommend the Metropolis of Denver's Bilingual Violakis Typikon for Greek & Antiochian parishes. There is also a digitized & reformatted Typikon reflecting Antiochian practice, translated by Bishop Demitri Khoury & edited by Archpriest John Morris. One can find this volume online by searching the internet for the keywords: almoutran, typikon, khoury
Also, for the Paraklitiki/Octoechos in Greek practice, there's a "Small Octoechos" for weekday services in each mode published by St. Gregory Palamas Monastery, and translated by Fr. Seraphim Dedes: sgpm.goarch.org/Monastery/?p=66 The translation is metered to the melodic meter of the Byzantine melodies. His "weekend" Octoechos material can be accessed each week via AGESInitiatives.org
I don't where or how to address what I am about to say . I don't claim any deep knowledge of Orthodoxy. I write what I say as feedback not as criticism. I attended a Vespers service, my second time in an Orthodox church. I wanted to explore Orthodoxy, which was new to me. The constant monotone chanting of scripture and divine texts drove me crazy. I listened as long as I could but I could not take the ongoing chanting. The congregation had TV monitors display the text, which was in English along with the chanting which was also done in English and I have no quarrel with what was written or presented. Please take this as feedback from an investigator.
If you are still interested in Orthodoxy and there are other parishes near you try a different one, there is no problem with that. If not maybe try again and see if they were simply missing some of their choir. Vespers my not be a well attended service there leaving too few of people to actually sing the hymns. I do not know but I can see why that would be off putting or foreign.
The "pandemic" scared away many people from attending church, and also because of the government mandates which recommended that "social distancing" should be implemented, thus church attendance diminished drastically. In my church, which is small to begin with, when the "pandemic" first started, had an adverse affect on church attendance including the size of the choir & the quality.
@@lxmzhgwhy do you keep putting quotation marks around the word pandemic as if it wasn’t a pandemic? Please tell me you’re not one of those people that think Covid was just a government conspiracy
I'd be dubious of any parish that has monitors anywhere in their building, but maybe that's just me being judgemental. Also, Hieromonk Herman here has no stake in how you felt about vespers, not to be coarse, but what you describe is definitionally a "you problem". You need to approach Orthodoxy with fear and trembling, or at least a sufficiently broken heart. Christ will find His way in. I was deeply moved and mystified when I first attended a service. Look elsewhere. You may just not be used to being attentive, as the deacon or priest calls the laity to.
