Very interesting. Thanks Dave.

Are there any parishes in the Metropolia that were formed by folks from Uzhorod that still partake of the full antiphons?

So, the ICEL has an opportunity to restore a treasure that been lost.

Blessed Theodore pray for us!

The various prayer books published from the 1940s to the little green “Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom” in 1965 to the “Byzantine Book of Prayer” in 1976 all had the three verses of each antiphon. It was only the music editions of these books that did not contain them.

There are Divine Liturgy books that are in print and in use that do contain the full text of the Divine Liturgy (including the three verses of the antiphons, they typical psalms, all of the litanies, and the rest). [See the book listed in the Kliros Forum for one example.] So the IELC is doing absolutely nothing new here, except removing text found in the official books.

Here in Virginia we took the three verses to the three antiphons since the founding of the parish in the late 1960s (I was not here then but the first “pew book” was the little green one). There were a small number of parishes that followed this custom. These verses were sung for 30 years until Bishop Andrew prohibited anything more than the first verse of each.

The problem is that when you revise or alter the Liturgy to suit your own tastes or make it (in your opinion) easier to get done in an hour the very next generation will come along and do the same (lowering the standard even further). All sense of stability and commonality will be lost. The answer is not for each generation to revise our inheritance to a self-perception of “what is good for us” but to embrace it in its fullness. Our English language Liturgy Books should be as identical to the official Slavonic books as is possible.

The typical psalms and the beatitudes are sung at some parishes. My parish sings them during the four Lenten periods. We’ve been doing this for at least 20 years.

"Any theories on Antiphons two and three, InCogNeat3's?"

From the 1964/1965 Prot. N. 380/62 book.

Second Antiphon
________
Sunday

Be gracious to us, O God, and bless us; let Your face shine upon us, and have mercy on us.

O Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to You.
Alleluia.

That Your way may be known upon earth, among all nations Your salvation.

O Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to You.
Alleluia.

Let the peoples praise You, O God, let all the peoples praise You.

O Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to You.
Alleluia.
________
Weekday

The Lord reigns, He is clothed in majesty; robed is the Lord and girt about with strength.

Through the prayers of Your saints, O Saviour, save us.

For He has made the world firm, which shall not be moved.

Through the prayers of Your saints, O Saviour, save us.

Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed; holiness befits your house, O Lord, for length of days.

Through the prayers of Your saints, O Savior, save us.
_____________

In the Sunday Second Antiphon we see the need, and the demand for Gods Grace, that God's precepts be followed, and that God be praised. Not by just the Greeks, the Rusnaks, or even the Canadians. But ALL peoples must know God's way and Praise God. Also, in Sunday's Second Antiphon, we proclaim "Christ Is Risen," though in a different form as, "O Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to You. Alleluia." Notice the "Sing to You" in reference to the True God, Risen from the dead. Not some other God.

Summary of Sunday's Second Antiphon: Everyone needs God. Everyone needs God's grace and Blessings. Likewise EVERYONE must serve and Praise God.

I wonder if the Ecumenical movement has anything to do with tampering with the Antiphons? Sometimes (if not always, or almost always) ROCOR really knows what it's talking about.
__________

In the Weekday Second Antiphon we see that it is the Lord that reigns, He is clothed in majesty and girt about with strength. The Lord is Lord, not some sissy as many would have us make Him out.
Next we see that we need the prayers of the Saints and for THE Savior to save us. This is very important, (like the rest of the antiphons) but I find something particularly important about, "Through the prayers of Your saints, O Savior, save us." This powerful sentence proclaims that there are Saints, we need their prayers. There is something special about these Saints, I need them because they are better than me, the sinner. "O Savior, save us." What from? Sin! To remove this line would be the sin of sins, Pride!

God made the world firm, it shall not be moved. Not by the IELC, any Liberal Bishop, not even by a liberal Protestant ecumenist.

Next we see that the Lord's decrees are "worthy of trust indeed; holiness befits your house..." The Lord has made many decrees, some promises to do good to those that do good, others to punish those that do bad. This line reminds us of the reality od God's Holiness and our sinfullness. We need to repent and we need the prayers of the saints. O Savior, Save us!

Weekday Second Antiphon Summary:
The Lord is Holy, we are not. The Lord and the Saints are better than us. We need the prayers of the Saints and the Savior to save us. God keeps his promises, the world will not be moved.
_____________

Hopefully, I the sinner have at least somewhat helped the patient readers of this post to realize the Theological, and sinful nature of removing and shortining the Sunday and weekday Antiphons. We truly need to chant these Antiphons to beseech the Lord to save us as we admit our sins and ask for help.

Does anyone know what happens to the "prayer of the first antiphon," the "prayer of the second antiphon," and the prayer of the third antiphon?"

As I was just reviewing the Second Antiphon for my previous post, I got to reading the Priest's/Bishop's silent antiphon prayers. They are so beautiful and magnificent! We really need these prayers!

Sure we need those prayers. We also need all three Antiphons, done credibly, and the two small synaptes.

Fr Serge

Amen!

Then again, Tom Lehrer once hypothesized a title song for the film - the song was to be called: "Incredible Shrinking Man, I Love You"! I suppose that could be applied to the Antiphons.

SK