As to a bishop's approval of the MCI texts, to be honest, it's not the kind of thing that would have ever occurred to me to think about. The instructions looked reasonable and appropriate to me given what I know about the tradition, plus I had some ROCOR friends who did Readers Services at home, so I was familiar with the concept. Also, I had no idea something distributed for home use would have to be approved by a bishop. I certainly wouldn't fault you for following your pastor's and bishop's advice.

As for myself, I did sign up for the free trial for my own personal, private use - just me and the icon corner. A few years ago, I put together a very pared-down and simplified form of Matins and Vespers for myself to pray at home, and have found it to be of immense benefit to my spiritual life, more so than the morning and evening prayer I was using previously. I have hoped for years now to find something similar online with all the propers dropped in everyday for me, more than I'm able to put together, and that's what I thought you might be offering. It's the main reason I signed up.

I appreciate all the thought and effort you're putting into the project, and I'm sure it will be valuable for many people, but I'm not sure that it will be what I was looking for.

Jaya, if our offering helps you fine, if not, you should continue what you are doing. You are more advanced already than most people, and so I'm hoping that what we're offering will be an introduction and new experience for a lot of other folks. As a Catholic publisher (now print and electronic media) I must, by canon law, get approval from a bishop for any material containing prayers that I produce and distribute. I have to follow the rules.

Thanks for your comments, and good luck in your own spiritual growth.

Jack

Thanks for the explanation, and for your good wishes. Many blessings on all the good work you do!

Jaya

We are still running the free trial of the electronic Byzantine Daily Office, so anyone interested should send an email request to:

info@ecpubs.com

and we will send you the daily file.

Comments so far have been very positive, but we need more interest to make it worthwhile.

Jack Figel
Publisher