April 22, 2021 480 2 St Kassia and Her Creations, Still Heard at Today’s Divine Services The personality of Kassia the Hymnographer is relatively unknown, but the stichera and irmoi written by her are familiar to every church person attending…
November 2, 2020 140 0 Saint Luke, Apostle, Evangelist and Provider of Songs On October 18, Christians in both East and West commemorate the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke. But “Provider of Songs”, as above? I made that…
October 10, 2020 147 0 Bells of the Holy Danilov Monastery in Moscow Bells have been used In the Christian tradition since the fourth century. For ages bell-ringing has been a way to gather believers in the…
March 13, 2020 601 0 Prayer Lord Have Mercy: History and Use in Worship Lord have mercy is probably the most frequently used phrase in the Orthodox worship practice. Whenever a person enters a church – in the…
November 6, 2019 199 2 Music Is the Best Gift of Heaven for Mankind Wandering In the Dark Every year, in the Church of Joy of All Who Sorrow on Bolshaya Ordynka, before and on the day of the namesake feast, the…
October 30, 2019 93 0 The Full Version of the Concert “Derzhavny Glas-2019” Nun Juliania (Denisova): Singing festival Derzhavny Glas is our down-home monastery feast that invites all guests. It has started as a small domestic concert,…
February 7, 2019 4188 2 Why Does Orthodox Church not Use Musical Instruments? A reader of our blog has asked us recently in the comments to the post concerning musical instruments in the Bible (see the mentioned…
February 1, 2019 41720 8 The List of Musical Instruments Mentioned in the Bible Shofar “My bowels, my bowels, I writhe in pain! The chambers of my heart are throbbing! My heart moans within me! I cannot keep…
January 21, 2019 67 0 How Can We Glorify God with One Mouth and One Heart? The fathers of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which took place in Moscow in 1917-1918, asserted that the task of “singing…
January 3, 2019 136 0 One of the Most Important Services: “The All-Night Vigil” Album Review The All-Night Vigil is one of the most important Services of the Orthodox Church. First, Jesus Christ Himself used to spend “all night in…
