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Today at Divine Liturgy we chanted three antiphons at the little entrance. What determines how many antiphons we chant? Sometimes there seem to be only two.

John,

I�m not sure if you are speaking of the number of antiphons or the number of verses sung in each antiphon together with its refrain.

There are three antiphons appointed for every Divine Liturgy. The order for the first part of the Liturgy of the Word is as follows:

- �Blessed is the Kingdom�.�
- The Litany of Peace (technically the �Great Synapte�)
- The First Antiphon
- The Little Litany
- The Second Antiphon and the Hymn �O Only-begotten Son�
- The Little Litany
- The Third Antiphon and the Little Entrance

Currently, in the Ruthenian Recension (which includes Carpatho-Rusins, Ukrainians, Hungarians, and some Romanians) the most common usage on Sundays is selected verses from Psalms 65[66]:1-3 for the First Antiphon, Psalm 66[67]:2-4 for the Second Antiphon (together with the Hymn �O Only-begotten Son� and Psalm 94[95]:1-3,6 for the Third Antiphon and Entrance Hymn. Feast days of our Lord and their octaves have special psalm verses taken at the antiphons.

Originally, all of the verses of each Psalm were sung but over time that got whittled down to 3 psalm verses for each antiphon together with its troparion refrain (i.e. �O Son of God, risen from the dead, save us who sing to You: Alleluia!�). The Entrance Hymn is really just a continuation of the Third Antiphon (another verse), but that is when the procession into the sanctuary (originally into the church) would be interrupted with a �Wisdom! Be attentive!� by the deacon. Several feasts offer 4 Psalm verses for each antiphon. And there is also the use of the �Typical Psalms� together with the Beatitudes but that is another story.

But this may not be what you are asking about at all.

In some (most) places the antiphons are abbreviated.

Carpatho-Ruthenians reduced the number of verses for each antiphon down to one and eliminated the little litanies and Third Antiphon entirely. [Praise God they are making a comeback in many places!]

Ukrainians in many places abbreviated by taking only the First Antiphon (but with all the verses) and skipped the Second and Third Antiphons.

In both �local usages� there are those priests who will make the holy season a bit fuller by making use of these Scriptures offered by the Church.

I hope I have not been too confusing! To recap, there should be three antiphons with at least three verses each (plus the �Glory�) but in many places they abbreviate them (which is their loss).

Admin

Thanks Admin. That helps!

John, a slight modification to the Admin's post. The Ukrainians typically take the First and Third antiphons in their entirety, and omit the second. That is the usage indicated in both the 1973 and 1988 pew books, and is what I have typically encountered. Only the Second Antiphon is usually skipped (although it is in the Altar Liturgikon and is used in some places).

Also the Ukrainians take the "Typical Psalms" (102 and 145) and the Beatitudes in some parishes which is typically not done in Carpatho-Rusyn parishes.

Most parishes using the Russian rescension, however, take the Typical Psalms and Beatitudes (with interspersed troparia in some places) most Sundays of the year except those with specific appointed festal antiphons.

Small addendum: on the relatively rare occasions that the Divine Liturgy begins with Vespers (four or five times a year), there are no antiphons at all.

Incognitus

IIRC, these days would be:

• Eve of the Nativity
• Eve of Theophany
• Great & Holy Thursday
• Great & Holy Saturday
• Eve of the Annunciation (if the Feast falls on a weekday of the Great Fast*)

* If someone doesn't beat me to it, I'll confirm this later as I don't have the appropriate books to hand.

Σώσον, Κύριε, καί διαφύλαξον η�άς από τών Βασιλιάνικων τάξεων!

Admin,

Would you elaborate on your reference to "some" Romanians using the Ruthenian Rescension?

It was always my understanding that the Romanians were considered to have their own rescension but, even if that isn't the case, I'm surprised that there would be two rescensions in formal usage. Or, are you referring to instances of "local" or "parish" usage?

Many years,

Neil

Andrij, that is correct. To add addenda to your addendum , for Christmas, Theophany and Annunciation it is dependent on which day of the week the feast falls. Depending on the day of the week, a Divine Liturgy may be celebrated with antiphons on the vigil.

Neil,

Your question is an excellent one. The Romanians in the Carpathian Mountains of central Europe adhere to the Ruthenian Recension, which they share with Carpatho-Rusins, Ukrainians and Hungarians. I am not a scholar and I have never had the opportunity to study the matter. It seems to me this is probably due to geographic proximity. Roughly speaking, the Romanians following the Ruthenian Recension are those who live north of the Transylvanian Alps and (roughly) west of the Carpathian Mountains. They would probably have had easier access to the area where today�s borders of Romania, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland come together. I seem to remember that Transylvanians did not always consider themselves to be ethnic Romanians, or at least at one time constituted a distinct political entity. I don't have a detailed listing of the differences between the Ruthenian and Romanian usages at the Liturgy, but my guess is that they are probably less than the differences between the Ruthenians and the Russians (which is really not all that great).

Of course, the mere mention of Transylvania makes me think of the old black-and-white Dracula movie in which the vampire was stopped in his tracks by a three-bar cross. I�m sure Romanians hate having this association with their wonderful ethnicity.

Admin

Dear Administrator,

Being of Romanian background, I know that the Count who became the legendary "dracula" was a hero to Romanians under the Turkish Yoke.

He simply hated the Turks for what they were doing to Romania and the Orthodox Churches under Ottoman Rule.

He once ordered a Turkish emissary to have his hat nailed to his head for refusing to take it off in his presence.

Er . . . it's safe to assume he wasn't a nice fellow . . .

A number of such heroes are honoured throughout the Balkans and in Greece.

During a visit to Greece, I saw a statue of a young boy holding a torch standing on a wall.

He had been setting fire to Turkish settlements by cover of night until he was captured, flayed alive and then hung upside down on the same wall . . .

Have a great day!

Alex

Neil, no Romanian eparchies were specifically included in promulgation of the 1940 Ordo. Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who is responsible for the Ruthenian Ordo Celebrationis, did not have any direct Romanian representation within his ad hoc liturgical consultors. He did have several bishops living within Hungarian areas and Kyr Dionisii Nyaradi of Krizhevtsi who provided input.

That being said, it is true that in some areas of northern Romanian Transylvania a more Ruthenian-style usage was present, as these areas bordering Hungarian Transylvania which used only the Ruthenian Rescension.

It is a complex development. Cardinal Kollonich even in the early 1700s gave his opinion to Rome that his Jesuits working with the Romanian Catholics should adhere to a more Greek usage rather than one received from Rus'.

Back to the Antiphons - there is another possible complication to be aware of. Many places, including some entire Local Churches, prefer the option of using the two "Typical Psalms" and the Beatitudes rather than the Antiphons properly so called - to add to the confusion, should this be done, it is common to call the two Psalms the First and Second Antiphon, and the Beatitudes the Third Antiphon. To add still more to the confusion, the Octoechos and the Menaion provide intercalatory troparia to chant antiphonally (!) with the Beatitudes - very few parish churches actually use these troparia, but occasionally one runs into them.
The strict rule of the Ruthenian Recension prescribes the use of the Typical Psalms and Beatitudes on Sundays, but it varies from parish to parish.
For reasons we needn't go into at the moment, I prefer the Typical Psalms and Beatitudes (without additional troparia) myself.

Incognitus

I also prefer the Typical Psalms and the Beatitudes on usual Sundays. The troparia on the Beatitudes are themselves small gems of hymnography which are often not used or ever heard, even in some Orthodox parishes which use the Beatitudes.

These troparia on the Beatitudes I mentioned above are included in their entirety in English (translated from Slavonic) in the Octoechos published by the St. John of Kronstadt Press. Many years to Reader Isaac for his efforts.

The Typical Psalms and Beatitudes are prescribed in the Sabaite Typikon; probably the Rusyn and Ukrainian parish usage of three Antiphons instead is a pre-Sabaite usage. The Typical Psalms are sung on Sundays mostly during fasts; otherwise, most parishes sing the Antiphons or an abridgment of them.

The troparia intercalated with the Beatitudes are usually omitted even when the Beatitudes are sung; but in old Irmologia there are simple melodies to which they are to be sung. This was no doubt a monastic usage, and seems to have died out even there (these melodies are omitted from more recent Irmologia). But this is certainly a more satisfactory way of doing them than singing the verses of the Beatitudes and reading the troparia. However, there is nothing wrong with the Sunday Antiphons, despite the disapproval of Russians.

Stephen

Here's the favorite "complication" that I have encountered:

First Paschal Antiphon
Second Paschal Antiphon
Beatitudes

:rolleyes:

Dave