www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology "Easter Procession" from Liturgical Press

Hi everybody!

I got a copy of the latest Liturgical Press catalog in the mail today, and I noticed a book and CD of something titled

THE EASTER PROCESSION
Encounters with the Risen Christ
A Devotion in Paschaltide
(from Byzantine Sources)

Does anybody know what this is? Is it Byzantine, Roman, or a hybrid? Since it's sold in the Liturgical Press catalog, I'm guessing it is being marketed to RC parishes.

Dave

From the Introduction of The Easter Procession :

From the inside jacket of the CD:

Thank you, Deacon John!

What is the structure of this service?

Dave

I have a copy of the book in front of me. The devotion begins with the priest's singing the Paschal tropar ("Christ is risen from the dead...") which the people repeat while the priest, deacon and candlebearers enter in procession. The priest sings the entrance verses ("Let God arise..", "As smoke vanishes..." and so on), after each of which the people sing the Paschal tropar.

At the deacon's call, "Let us pray to the Lord." (People: "Lord, have mercy") the priest chants a prayer; the priest enters the altar while "Christ is risen" is sung.

The devotion continues with any number of the eight sections, each of which consists of a Gospel reading describing an encounter with the Risen Christ (preceded and followed by "Glory to your holy Resurrection, O Lord") and a hymn to be sung by choir or congregation. The hymns are similar in style to troparia in the canons of the Pentecostarion.

"Christ is risen" is sung between each of the sections.

Finally, at the deacon's bidding "Let us pray to the Lord" and the people's "Amen", the priest intones another prayer, then "Glory to you, Christ our God, our hope; glory to you!" to which the people respond "Christ is risen", the dismissal ("May Christ our God, risen from the dead, through the prayers..."), the people's "Amen", and an exit procession to the Paschal tropar.

The Paschal tropar and the people's responses are provided in prostopinije chant, harmonized in 4 parts. Two different settings of the choir hymns are provided: one by James E. Clemens (SAB), the second using prostopinije melodies (samohlasen tones (1-2 and 4-8) and kontakion tone 8), harmonized SATB. A final entire page in the music book explains the singing of the prostopinije, the use of chant rhythm, and the voicing of the harmonizations.

As a way of spreading some of the riches of Byzantine hymnody and spirituality, this is a splendid work.

It should be noted that one of the two authors of the work is a ByzCath poster, Professor J. Michael Thompson of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Seminary.

Yours in Christ,
Jeff Mierzejewski

Hmm...

I think this is very interesting, but curious at the same time. From the descriptions, it looks like the authors extracted the format and content of this service from one liturgical tradition to be used in another, in an effort to supply what is supposed lacking (in this case, a lingering Paschal "spirit of joy" in the Roman tradition).

How does this differ from those Greek Catholics who adopted the Stations of the Cross (to make up for the lack of Lenten emphasis on the Passion in the East) or other Latin devotions?

Is the Roman rite more flexible in this regard?

Dave

I don't think the "Easter Processions" service is supposed to provide a "spirit of joy" so much as to emphasize the Resurrection as the completion of the Paschal Mystery - in fact, some of the ways the "spirit of joy" might have been augmented in a Western parish, aren't. (For example, the Alleluia, which IS used in the West and still DOES emphasize Easter joy there, is absent here, unless one chooses the option of singing the verses of "Ye Sons and Daughters", a VERY traditional Western paschal hymn).

I have seen quite a few posts here ardently desiring that Western Christians placed more emphasis on the Resurrection, and on theosis. Now, if this devotion were REPLACING a Western liturgical office, or even a Western Paschal devotion, I'd agree with you, Chtec. But

1. The number of processions used in the West has greatly diminished, and something like this might help restore that authentic (monastic and parochial) tradition;

2. Sunday Vespers in Paschaltide (in the Western tradition, on Sunday afternoons) is a magnificent service - but there is no standard traditional music that works well in English. (I led such services in college in a Latin campus parish, with adapted Gregorian plainchant melodies - our own melodies work MUCH better.)

2. A Resurrection vigil was added to Sunday Matins in the Roman books of 1970 - but is not yet widely used, and the timing (early morning) just does not fit Western devotional patterns. The same comments apply; I haven't yet seem a good consistent set of widely used music.

If Roman Rite parishes celebrated Matins/Lauds with an Resurrection vigil before Sunday Mass, and celebrated Paschal Vespers on Sunday afternoons, and people attended and benefited from the services - there would be no need at all for this devotion. But in their absence, I think this is a good way to help Western Christians keep the liturgical cycle, and experience better liturgical music than Western churches often see.

By the way - many of the Liturgical Press books are directed at least as much at other groups of Christains (Lutherans, Anglicans) in the Christian tradition as at Roman Catholics, so framing this as a purely RC vs. EC issue is not quite accurate.

Yours in Christ,
Jeff

Thanks for your post, Jeff!

Has there been any attempt to make musical settings in English for the Roman "Paschal" offices (Resurrection Vigil, Vespers, etc.)? How do these Offices compare in structure and content to the "Resurrection Procession" service? Overall, for those who have experienced it, does the Procession mesh well into a Roman/Western (including Anglican, Lutheran, etc.) liturgical tradition?

How does this also compare to the (recently composed?) Roman Paschal devotion of the "Via Lucis"?

Dave