Vision: ACROD, the BCC and the eparchies of Preshov and Mukachevo sharing musical resources.

How can we make this happen?

Some thoughts...
The way to do this is to open a new association of cantors and amateurs, but this group being unaffiliated with the church. Invite cantors from any jurisdiction to participate. I would expect some (a few from those who are left) OCA cantors to be interested as well as ACROD and BCC cantors. All could come together for workshops and cant-a-thons.

Recordings of the events could be made, old books and documents could be displayed or even reprinted with the help of vanity publishers.

Call it the 'Sacred Music Preservation Society for Carpatho-Rus Traditions' or something like that. There must be models for such an association in other areas of culture where rare and wonderful things are appreciated.

Forget waiting for the bishops to act, and don't ask them for help unless you have actually put together an active membership list. If you rely on the church authorities it will never happen, once you have something started they will be eager to help.

Michael

Isn't this what Jerry Jumba is doing already???

This is a quote from another board and I think it sums this all up.


"From my perspective I think a huge part of the problem is that many of those who have acquired positions of prominence see the Carpatho-Rusyn spiritual musical tradition as one that, while having some value, is very shallow and even superficial. And so they are very willing to try to create new things where they feel the existing tradition is lacking. Unfortunately, I feel that the "faithfulness" that they have proclaimed their own work to have is so myopic as to render the entire tradition, and those who have practiced it in community in this country for several generations, a grave disservice and have wrought destruction. Their new creations, I feel, are of dubious value and were these "authorities" more open to the original tradition in its breadth and depth, would never have been necessary. The end result is alienating people from their own church and will, over time, destroy what remained of the tradition in this country."

No. Just use it as food for thought.

This is a quote from another board and I think it sums this all up.


"From my perspective I think a huge part of the problem is that many of those who have acquired positions of prominence see the Carpatho-Rusyn spiritual musical tradition as one that, while having some value, is very shallow and even superficial. And so they are very willing to try to create new things where they feel the existing tradition is lacking. Unfortunately, I feel that the "faithfulness" that they have proclaimed their own work to have is so myopic as to render the entire tradition, and those who have practiced it in community in this country for several generations, a grave disservice and have wrought destruction. Their new creations, I feel, are of dubious value and were these "authorities" more open to the original tradition in its breadth and depth, would never have been necessary. The end result is alienating people from their own church and will, over time, destroy what remained of the tradition in this country."

What I find interesting is that many Ruthenians "think" that certain melodies come from their tradition, when in fact they do not. We have already been borrrowing from other traditions for centuries. What we might think are "new creations" almost always have a precedent in our past.

What I find interesting are those who are NOT Ruthenian but know EVERYTHING there is know about Prostopinje but have NEVER set foot outside of the USA...

To start, let me clarify that my comments above conflate several phenomena and may inaccurately suggest that responsibility for some of what I am reacting to rests entirely on the Pittsburgh Metropolia's cantor institute.

(Lemko Rusyn responded:)

It's never acknowledged on that "other" forum, but the people at St. John's Cathedral in Munhall have been dead wood since way before the RDL was even a twinkle in the eye of Met. Judson Procyk. In fact, I attended Mass (twuddn't no Divine Liturgy) at the cathedral several times in the early 1990s with then-rector Msgr. Procyk and I was amazed at how horrible the liturgical practice was on the part of the celebrant and the congregation. Maybe the RDL is partially to blame there, but they weren't doing so well before that, either.

Steve,

Where do we go from here? A priest from the Archeparchy has now been assigned to teach music and chant at the seminary. Who will take over the MCI? Is Rome indeed reviewing the RDL? Stay tuned, as inquiring minds would like to know!

Ung

Yes, but he said not to mention his name. Hopefully the Archeparchy will make an annoucement.

Ung

I'm trying to find a copy of the Bokshay book. Anyone know where to get one? The cantor I learned under used it all the time, so I'm familiar with it. However, I DID find a copy of it in pdf form online a few years back and downloaded it: http://www.patronagechurch.com/PDF/Prostopinije/prostopinije_index.htm

Right....

what an idiot I am!

I'm trying to find a copy of the Bokshay book. Anyone know where to get one? The cantor I learned under used it all the time, so I'm familiar with it. However, I DID find a copy of it in pdf form online a few years back and downloaded it: http://www.patronagechurch.com/PDF/Prostopinije/prostopinije_index.htm

Perhaps what's needed is one of us to master Slavonic and make an accurate translation into English. I'd love to do both, as I'm a) a musician, b) a songwriter, c) an English teacher/expert. But I'm not d) fluent in Slavonic or e) a theologian.

I'm not saying this to dispute the RDL. I'm saying it to preserve true Prostopinije. Why hasn't anyone done a good English translation of this work?

I was saddened by a comment recently. I was at an OCF meeting and the president suggested that we should start doing vespers in different traditions (not just Greek). He rattled off a list of traditions (Russian, Ukranian, Serbian...) but after he said "Carpatho-Russian" the priest who is OCF's spiritual father said, "Ugh, they've really simplified that." and I got the impression he wasn't a fan. I didn't know what to say. I'm in ACROD and my fellow Prostopinije singer is Byzantine Catholic. We didn't know what to say.

My immediate thought was to go to Bokshay and try to figure it out. But I'm at a loss here.