I am considering offering three new product lines for 2012, and would like feedback from members of the Byzantine Forum about them. Electronic Byzantine Daily Office – an electronic PDF file of the daily prayer services in their complete form and with the special prayers for each day of the year (for the saint, the feast day, or season). The file would include Morning Prayer, First Hour, Third Hour, Sixth Hour, Ninth Hour and Evening Prayer. The files would be distributed by email on a weekly basis for the upcoming 7 days. Is this something you would be interested in subscribing to? Do you think others would be interested? Would you be willing to pay about 25 cents/day ($7.50/month) for this service? Do you have any ideas how this could be improved?
Sunday Bulletin Inserts – for parishes who do not currently receive our Sunday Bulletin Covers, this would be a single page insert sheet (1/2 of a legal paper) with a color icon on the front and text commentary on the back for one feastday in each month of the calendar year. Feasts would be those celebrated by all Catholic and Orthodox Churches regardless of calendar (e.g. Presentation in the Temple, Annunciation, Palm Sunday, Easter, Pentecost, etc.) and would not be dated. Would you like receive this in your own parish? Do you think many parishes would be interested in subscribing to this monthly service? Do you think a price of $7.00/100 copies is reasonable and affordable? How could this be more attractive to Roman Catholic or Orthodox parishes (different content, different size, different price)? Electronic Distribution of Audio Recordings – make our 200+ library of lectures, audio books, OL plenary sessions, liturgical services and choral music available through downloadable websites (e.g. iTunes, etc.) for portable devices or desktop computers. Each album would contain about 30-45 minutes of material in 8 to 20 tracks and be priced at $4.95 per album. Would you be interested in purchasing this type of product? Which category of material would you most likely purchase – lectures, audio books, OL plenary sessions, liturgical services and choral music? What type of device would you use for listening to these audio recordings? What website are you most familiar with for downloading audio material?
Please comment to this thread or send me a private message on this forum. If we find enough interest in any or all of these products, we will be making announcements in the near future.
Jack Figel Publisher, Eastern Christian Publications and Bulletin Service Executive Producer, OLTV
All three sound intriguing, and in considering the first and third, I think electronic distribution of several of your existing products would also be well received (e.g. smaller print booklets; videos).
Of the three new potential offerings, I would personally be most interested in the third and would be inclined to purchase selections from each of the categories you've mentioned, but most especially music / audio of chant selections, DLs and other services of various Eastern traditions.
Concerns of the secular world would preclude me from enjoying the full benefit of an electronic Daily Office, but I could see that as being a compelling offering for many.
Perhaps I've been spoiled, as I can't recall being in a parish that doesn't use your bulletin covers. That said, I do think the inserts as you've described could be useful for many purposes, including adult catechesis, and the suggested offering price is certainly reasonable. As for potential crossover sales to RC parishes in particular, I know many that have larger bulletins (ledger size paper, 8.5x11 when folded) so that would have to be considered. But they all seem to like icons and icon study these days. If you were to conform sizing and chose icons applicable to popular feasts of the Latin Rite, together with appropriate text, I think you'd have a very captive audience. I'll poll some of my RC friends and family on this one, as well. FYI - I do often save a number of the front pages of your bulletin covers each year, and it would be nice to have them available in the larger size (8.5x11). You might even be able to bundle them up as a new icon study pack on some sturdier stock.
Hope this feedback is helpful!
May the Lord continue to bless you and inspire you in your faithful ministry,
Stuart and Joe, thanks for your comments. Your feedback is very helpful.
But I'm just a little disappointed that even though over 300 people have "viewed" this survey in the last 24 hours since I posted it, only two have replied with any comments. Looks like to me there's not really that much interest in these ideas!
To answer the questions raised:
1) I'm thinking of offering two Daily Office products -- one for Gregorian and one for Julian dates of Pascha -- and trying to follow a pan-jurisdictional Typicon, overlaying Raya's BDW, Petras' Typicon, the Romanian Almanac, the Greek Horologion, etc.
2) I know of a few smaller Roman Rite parishes that use legal size bulletins, so 1/2 of a legal size would fit both while a full letter size would not. But then again, I might offer 2 or 3 different sizes (1/2 letter, 1/2 legal, and full letter) and then let the market pick.
I'm just a little disappointed that even though over 300 people have "viewed" this survey in the last 24 hours since I posted it, only two have replied with any comments. Looks like to me there's not really that much interest in these ideas!
Jack:
Glad to have given you feedback, sad to see you are a bit discouraged for not having received more.
As I read your post and reflected on all that you have built, I could not help but think of the famous quote from the movie Field of Dreams = "If you build it, they will come ..."
Your ministry is living proof! How many attended the last Orientale Lumen Conference? And from how many different Churches, Eastern and Western, Catholic, Orthodox or otherwise? Who would have thought it possible just a generation or so ago ...
Please keep the faith and keep doing what you do best!
- Joe
P.S. I will as promised get back to you shortly with some additional feedback, after polling some of my RC friends and family about the bulletin inserts.
I would like the daily readings. Since my husband passed I've been very lazy about doing them, and spending too much time on my iPad. So maybe this way I wold do them while spending time on my iPad.
I think it is a wonderful ministry. I will send it onto Father Frank. Also, I don't know anything about iTunes or downloading. I do know that the kids download stuff from iTunes all the time.
I was waiting for others to reply first. I would like the Electronic Byzantine Daily Office. This would make it more convenient. I recently ordered the Roman Rite Magnificat magazine for $45 yearly to simplify my prayer life and meditations.Keep up your great work. I was wondering if a web site with the prayers would be easier to maintain and use.
I would definitely subscribe to a daily office that included vespers and matins if they were sufficently complete, depending on the license I might even need a couple of subscriptions to cover familly to make praying together easier. How complete (what changing parts) are you thinking of making the service?
Would it be possible for you to preview the Byzantine Daily Office for, say one day? That way we would have a better idea of what you were offering. Thanks,
Thanks all, for your feedback. I'm a little more encouraged now.
For the Byzantine Daily Office, to keep things simple, and designed for private prayer rather than parochial prayer, we're thinking of only including Morning and Evening prayer (will not change from day to day, but included for completeness) and the four Hours -- First, Third, Sixth and Ninth. Vespers and Matins are intended as community prayers with a priest, so they fall outside the scope of our goals with this Daily Office for private prayer. The only changeable parts are the Troparia taken each day based on the tone of the week, the saint of the day, and any festal periods, especially during Lent and Pascha when there are other prayers added. I'm thinking of just two versions -- one for Gregorian Pascha and the other for Julian Pascha, as we do today with our Sunday Bulletin covers..
And to further test market this, we may offer it for free on a trial basis to see what level of interest we have, and then put the infrastructure in place for paid subscriptions. This way, we can also collect more feedback on the content and design intent.
Looking forward to seeing it! To be able to access this on my Driod at work will be very helpful. As a healthcare worker I'll be able to keep up with my daily prayers more easily.
Jeff, great and thanks. That's exactly one of the goals I have in mind for this product. I think a lot of professional could benefit in this same way. Also, I'm hoping it might spur more people to start Daily Prayer in earnest, and especially encourage young people, who seem to spend ALL DAY on their iPhones, to start a routine of prayer, too. I understand the Latin equivalent of this is quite a popular app, and I would hope we could offer a full app along these lines in the future, when we have the resources to do the programming. We'll try a more "shoe-string" approach on the cheap for now!
May God abundantly bless your evangelization work.
I have come across a catechetical need and I have found a vacuum. Our traditional children's ECF program was failing because we have so few students. I've adapted the UGCC "Generations of Faith" concept; we invite all ages and then break down into youth and adult groups for the ending session. So far it is working well.
I have difficulty finding material. I would like to center each session around a short (3-10 minutes) video The Greeks and Melkites have the best selection of YouTube material, but most of it isn't in English, or if it is it has a heavy accent, which turns off the youth. Videos of each of the sung or recited prayers (Our Father, Angelic Salutation, Heavenly King, Trisagion, Creed)centered around the icon(s) would be helpful. The combined video and audio bring the prayers to life for all ages, child and adult.
For instance, for January a video for the Theophany would be appropriate, music- "All you who have been baptized" with icons of the Theophany and video of baptism and blessing of Holy Water.
The Church calendar with Holydays, prayer, and the Mysteries would be the initial subjects of these videos.
This may be asking too much, but since you asked.....
Thanks for the ideas and requests. If there is a need, I would certainly like to find a way to fill it.
Actually, we already have a 6 six disk program (45 minutes each) on the Great Feasts of the church given by Dr. Richard Schneider in English using icons (sorry, no music or connection to liturgy at this point). In it's current form, it might be too heavy for young folks, but we could try to produce a simplified version and add some liturgical music, etc.
I also have a series of lectures by Met Kallistos on preparation for Lent that might be good for the upcoming season.
In all, OLTV has produced some 30 adult enrichment programs of 6-10 disks each on various topics. Have a look at the Adult Enrichment section of the OL Online catalog at:
Also, there were several talks at past OL conferences on the church calendar, sacred time, and icons. Again, these may be too detailed and in-depth for your audience, but maybe we can find a way to simplify them into more understandable catechesis for youth and adults alike.
Based on the positive feedback, we are going to try a FREE trial of an electronic Byzantine Daily Office! It will be distributed by email each evening for the following day and contain the texts for morning and evening prayer, and the First, Third, Sixth and Ninth Hours, along with the changeable parts as per the Byzantine Ruthenian Typicon (which we publish too) and the Gregorian date for Pascha. When the calendar dictates, we will also offer a version for the Julian date for Pascha.
If we find enough interest in the FREE trial, we will continue and ask for a modest subscription fee through our website. But to receive these FREE emails of a 50+ page PDF with all the Hours for each day, simply send us an email and indicate which calendar you follow. We will send the PDF to you at the email address you use. Send the email to:
info@ecpubs.com
We ask you to USE the file, and give us your feedback of how it could be improved, or if you like it, will subscribe to it, and recommend it to friends.
Perhaps using some or all of this electronic Daily Office could be a New Year's Resolution for 2012. We will start with January 2nd, sending them out the evening of January 1st! We will continue until further notice based on how many sign up and the feedback we get. Thanks for participating!
Joe, yes we have started distributing the free trial, since Sunday evening. I've been trying to keep up with emails as they come in. When did you send it?
If you haven't received anything yet, send another message to info@ecpubs.com so I have your email address, I'll get it out asap, and add you to the list for nightly distribution at 9 pm.
There are any number of free daily office (Eastern and Western) web sites available.
It would be a tremendous good will gesture--not to mention an opportunity to increase the discipline of prayer among the faithful--to make a "basic" version (major hours only, perhaps) available for FREE--permanently.
A more detailed/larger version by subscription fee.
Vespers and Matins are intended as community prayers with a priest, so they fall outside the scope of our goals with this Daily Office for private prayer. The only changeable parts are the Troparia taken each day based on the tone of the week, the saint of the day, and any festal periods, especially during Lent and Pascha when there are other prayers added.
Jack,
If I may make a suggestion, I believe we really don't need another product with the Morning Evening Prayers and the Hours. These are already easily had. What is needed is a something with a privately do-able daily Vespers and Matins. I understand your statement that they are supposed to be communal parochial prayer but the sad fact is these offices are rarely done in the majority of parishes. I believe the best way to improve this situation is to offer an office the person can just pick up and read through without having to worry about coordinating several books or flipping back and forth. If people can become familiar with the services there will be more appreciation and call for the public serving of these services.
I am in full agreement with Fr. Deacon Lance. I did subscribe to the new product in order to check it out, but what I am most interested in personally is, as Fr.Deacon put it, "a privately do-able daily Vespers and Matins," without having to buy a lot of expensive books, and without having to spend time (that I don't have) figuring it all out every day. Fr. Deacon's suggestion is exactly what I have been wanting for some time now, and it would be a great blessing to have this available. Daily Vespers and Matins are not offered at the parish level at any Eastern church, Orthodox or Catholic, where I live, and even if they were, my work hours might well preclude my being able to attend regularly. So, I heartily second his suggestion!
Thanks for the reply Jack, maybe I'll see you at Compline later this month, God willing.
I took a look at the materials you referenced and you're right--they are too heavy. In fact most of our adults are, outside the DL, at only the middle/high school level. I'm trying to present a family oriented program. GOARCH has a nice printed presentation which could be put on slide show (infringing copyright?).http://www.goarch.org/special/listen_learn_share/epiphany/index_html
For the December session I used icon explanation material from the Ouspensky/Lossky "The Meaning of Icons" and modified it to a 3 minute time frame while displaying and highlighting portions of the Nativity icon. Afterwards the children (with a lot of unneeded assistance of the parents) put their piece of the snipped up icon "puzzle" in place. This session lasted maybe 15 minutes, then we moved on to another session. I plan to do the same with the Theophany, then for the adult group I'll talk about baptism. St George Melkite Parish has a nice slide-showable document (if it's large enough, not sure yet...thanks Pani Rose) http://melkite.org/Baptism.html I want to intersperse some baptismal pics from our parishes and add background narrative/music.
I'm winging it, but so far our All-Generation sessions have had a good acceptance.
Thanks for your comments, but I have searched the internet and have not found other electronic sources for the Morning/Evening prayers and hours as we are providing in the Byzantine Daily Office as a single file each day. Can you be more specific about what resource this is duplicating? And the propers (changeable parts) needed to pray the Hours completely are only in several different books, that are complicated to use, and for which one needs the Typicon to know which ones to use each day. The convenience we are trying to provide is having the propers and changeable parts in the hours that you can carry with you easily, or access at work/school/recreation, and pray anytime and anywhere.
My understanding is that Matins and Vespers are ONLY to be prayed by a priest with a congregation, so a personal version is not in keeping with Church tradition. When a priest has no congregation, or a lay person has no priest, Morning and Evening prayer is used for Matins and Vespers. I'm in no position to provide something that tries to get parishes to have more services -- that's the job of bishops and priests.
The other value we are trying to provide is the "figuring it out" for the uneducated or inexperienced lay person in an easy-to-use form. Comments we have received so far include:
-- So far, it looks great. I would be ready to pay as soon as you give the word.
-- Thanks for the wonderful Byzantine Daily Office online.
-- I have started reading the offices and they are most comprehensive - much more so than readings for the daily Liturgy than I have been receiving, and I commend you on it. Thank you for starting this.
-- I have been wanting something like this for so long.
-- Your electronic Daily Office is such a wonderful idea – and so needed for our Church.
-- I think this a great service that will inspire priests to pray more than just having the daily Divine Liturgy. There is no question in my mind that unless and until priests pray more than just the Daily Liturgy, God will not abundantly bless the works of his hands in his priestly ministry. I remember that Bishop Fulton J. Sheen always attributed the success of his weekly TV show to the fact that he always spent one hour each day (outside of his daily Mass) in front of the Blessed Sacrament praying.
-- Thank you so much for this good idea. The spirituality of these prayers which, when said with the heart, leaves nothing more to be said to God, as they allow a complete emptying of oneself in an effort to express love to God. These are truly the church’s rich gifts, other than the eucharist, that God has given to us. Thank you!
We are still accepting requests for the Free Trial period, so if anyone wishes to sign up, just send an email to info@ecpubs.com and request being added to the distribution list.
My understanding is that Matins and Vespers are ONLY to be prayed by a priest with a congregation, so a personal version is not in keeping with Church tradition. When a priest has no congregation, or a lay person has no priest, Morning and Evening prayer is used for Matins and Vespers. Jack Figel Pubisher
In Europe in the last century, Vespers was celebrated in church on Saturday evenings, as well as on the vigils of feasts; in some places, it was celebrated on Sunday evenings as well. Even daily Vespers was sometimes held in village or city churches.
Unfortunately, in this country Saturday evening Vespers is seldom celebrated, being displaced by an evening Divine Liturgy, or omitted endirely. Parishes which desire to restore a richer liturgical cycle might fittingly begin with celebrating Great Vespers each Saturday evening. (In those parishes where eliminating a Divine Liturgy is not presently feasible, it might be desirable to hold a Vigil Divine Liturgy instead, beginning with Vespers as on the eves of Nativity and Theophany.)
Great Vespers takes about an hour to celebrate if the Psalter and Old Testament readings are used; perhaps 45 minutes if they are omitted, and a bit longer if Litija is held. The number of stichera sung as the Lamplighting Psalms can be reduced if necessary, but the wholesale elimination of the chanted verses of the Lamplighting Psalms (as is done in some places) should be discouraged.
Vespers can be celebrated in the home, or in parish or mission settings, even when a priest is not available to lead the service. For more information, see Reader Services.
In Europe in the last century, Matins was celebrated in church on Sunday mornings, as well as on the mornings of feasts. Even daily Matins was sometimes held in village or city churches. Unfortunately, in this country Matins is seldom celebrated.
Matins on Sundays and feasts can take anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours to celebrate, depending on how the service is abbreviated for parish use, and how much of the prescribed material is used at the Canon.
Matins can be celebrated, in whole or in part, as morning prayer in the home, following the rubrics for Reader's Services. [emphasis mine]
Sorry, I know there must be a more "official" looking way to copy text from a webpage into a forum post, but I don't know how to do it.
If you go to the website, you can then click on the link for "Readers Services" (sorry, it didn't come through on the post as a link), and it explains what changes you need to make when the service is prayed at home. These are things such as blessings, and certain wordings, where substitutions are made in the absence of a priest.
The Lutheran Churches which collaborated on the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship hoped that their publication would lead to a wider use of the daily prayer Offices both in the church and in the home.
Toward that end they included some inconspicuous rubrical markings indicating which portions were appropriate for home use.
Their intention was beautiful, but three decades later the Offices are still widely ignored, much to the spiritual impoverishment of laity and clergy alike. Alas.
Jaya, I'm aware of what the MCI website says, and the texts they offer, but which bishop has approved those texts or statements, or the usage of Reader's services in the home? I'm simply following what I've been told by my pastor and my bishop. Also, the target usage of our Byzantine Daily Office is PERSONAL, PRIVATE prayer, not group or family or parish, prayer.
Thomas, maybe an electronic version that's easy to use and portable, and accessible especially by our youth, has a chance of being more used by clergy and laity alike. I've had quite a few priests signup for the trial period saying it will make their own personal prayer life easier to fulfill, given all the other distractions they now have to contend with. And maybe our Eastern approach to prayer will also inspire Western Christians to a more spiritual prayer life. I also think our approach of "sending" the file on a regular basis, rather than having to go to a website to download it, might just provide the kind of reminder people need to do it and keep at it!
Jaya, I'm aware of what the MCI website says, and the texts they offer, but which bishop has approved those texts or statements, or the usage of Reader's services in the home? I'm simply following what I've been told by my pastor and my bishop. Also, the target usage of our Byzantine Daily Office is PERSONAL, PRIVATE prayer, not group or family or parish, prayer.
Jack
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.
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