Hi there, just wondering if anyone would be able to help me with where to get resources of the Divine Liturgy in Arabic, namely videos, audio, and romanized texts for me to learn up.

Oh, at the same time, where can I find resources like prayers and liturgies/offices for funerals and other occasions like weddings etc to help out? I am Latin Rite but am very touched by the Byzantine Rite celebrated in Greek and Arabic.

Shlomo Collin Nunis,

Contact the Melkite Eparchy of Newton. They have the information you seek.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Collin,

first question: are looking for these liturgies and resources for the Melkite Greek Catholic Church or the Antiochian Orthodox Church or (for the Greek only) the Greek Orthodox Church? If you're interested in Greek Orthodox texts in Greek or Byzantine texts in English--and don't care about a particular translation--there are tonnes of resources out on the Internet.

The Greek Orthodox Church in the US has a good choice of liturgical texts on line, in Greek and English. Some samples of Greek Byzantine chant also available there. See here, i.a.: http://www.goarch.org/en/chapel/text.asp.

If you're interested in Melkite liturgical texts, PM me with your e-mail address and I can forward you some. I only have them in Arabic and English. I do not have anything at all in transliterated Arabic (i.e., so people who cannot read Arabic can pronounce it). If you have a particular prayer or troparion or similar that you wish transliterated, let me know.

The Melkite eparchy in Canada has some nice videos and music of the Divine Liturgy sung in Arabic and Greek (e.g. http://www.melkite.com/chant/index.html). Some of these and similar ones have been posted on YouTube.

The Melkite eparchy in the US has texts in English for sale: http://www.melkite.org/SophiaPress/sophia_press_orderform.htm . I'm not aware of them having anything in a transliterated Arabic, although they may. The patriarchate in Damascus and the Melkite Paulists have the texts in Arabic (no transliteration), some in English, and some in French.

Lastly, try Abouna Samir's site: http://www.rannem.com/ . (The Arabic word "rannama" means 'to chant'.) There are some recordings of music from the Nativity, Great Lent, Easter, as well as some general hymns--all in Arabic. (Although Sr Mary Keyrouz sings partly in Greek as well.)

Well, I already have resources in English and Greek and some basic ones in Arabic... Really really basic. At the moment, I'm hoping to focus more on Melkite resources.

I actually have the DL in Arabic... in mp3 format.

As requested, the Hail Mary in Arabic transliterated.

as-salaamu 3aliyki ya maryam
ya mumtali'atu ni3matin
ar-rabbu ma3ki.

mubaarakatun anti fiyn-nisaa'
wamubaarakatun thamratu baTniki yasuu3u.

ya qaddiysatu maryam
ya waalidatul-laah
Salliy li-ajlina naHnul-khaTa'a
al-aana wafiy saa3ati mawtina.

And the "O my Jesus".
ya yasuu3iy
ighfir lana khaTaayaana
najjina min naar jahannam.
khudh ila fardawsika kullan-nufuws
khuSuwSan tilkal-llatiy biHaajatin a3DHama ila maraaHimika.

Should you be interested in the original Arabic text, you can find it here: http://www.marypages.com/PrayersRosaryArabic.htm .

Oh, where did you find that? Orthodox or Melkite?

Timothy the catechumen

Oh my God, thank you soo much!!! For now, I will meet Edward and get the rest.

dox, i think. it's from fr sleiman hajjar's choir. i just realised i have balamand's vespers cd too. am trying to get the mt lebanon choir arabic dl cd now...

errm, not really. It was a collaboration between the Melkites and Orthodox. Fr. Sleiman Hajjar (later Bishop) is Melkite.

see, i don't understand any arabic! if it were greek or slavic, i could at least have figured it out by trying to notice which bishop/patriarch was being prayed for!

Well, it's not in Arabic, but it is according to the Arabic Orthodox tradition of Byzantine chant...

http://www.kelfar.net/orthodoxiaradio/Catalog/CD_Eng1.html

Bought this through Liturgica.com this morning. If you note on that page, it's got some good endorsements...so, good enough for me.

Timothy the catechumen

Tim - i didn't mean the Mount Lebanon one, I meant the Fr Sleiman Hajjar cd. I *can* actually tell the difference between Arabic and English

Edward,

I know that. I was just saying about the CD I mentioned because I thought it seemed a great resoruce for Arabic Orthodox chant, even though it is in English. I certainly wasn't implying that you couldn't tell the difference between English and Arabic...

The Fr. Sleiman CD is pretty good, then? Where can one purchase it?

Timothy the catechumen

http://melkite.com/chant/index.html

This recording was in its own standards, a "bestseller". Besides that, having a part of this recording is a blessing and is in a way, a tribute to the late Sayidna Sleiman Hajjar (who reposed tragically in 2002), whom everyone knew as a good man. It is always worthy to remember good people and what they've done for the community.

Colin-

The above is an excellent recording.

The following website might be helpful to you as well:
http://www.kelfar.net/orthodoxiaradio/ArabicChant/arabicchant.html

The Antiochian seminary in Balamand publishes several CDs, available through Liturgica.com. One of them is an recording of the Paraklesis. One edition I have (not the one available through liturgica) has a book outlining the service which accompanies it. It's probably available directly from the Seminary; I'd recommend checking it out.

I have all of Fr. Nichola Malek's recordings. Hehe.

Well, I heard the whole recording once again. The patriarch in question is the regretted Patriarch Maximos V Hakim of thrice-blessed memory.

By the way, how do they say "John Chrystosom" in Arabic?

John Chrysostom's name when translated into English means 'John the Golden-mouthed'. Arabic translates the Greek, and so we say: "yuHanna el-dhahabi el-fam" (يوحنّا الذهبيّ الفم).

Oh wonderful... Anyways, I just watched a video of the Good Friday Lamentations being chanted by the priests of the Balamand Monastery during the Good Friday celebrations. It was sung by Fr. Jacques Khalil. Is there an English text and an accompanying romanized Arabic text with it? Its in my head and I can't get it out.

English version of the music is available on the Melkite GMA web site (http://www.melkites.org), at least a sample of a couple of the chants. You can buy the complete CD from there as well, I believe.

You can find the words to the songs of Fairuz' CD here: http://www.6arabsongs.net/Lebanon/fairouz/good_friday/ . These are largely the hymns we chant on the evening of Great and Holy Thursday and Friday.

Apart from a transliterated version of Fairuz' songs, I doubt you'll find any transliterated texts around.

In our eparchy, all our texts are either in Greek (using the Greek alphabet), Arabic (in Arabic script), or in English.