"On Wednesday, June 16, 2010, at 8:30 a.m., Rev. Hieromonk Aidan (Keller) will celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the Western rite. The Liturgy will be held in the Church of St. Moses, which is located upon the grounds of St. Nicholas Monastery, Ft. Myers, Florida. Fr. Aidan is a hieromonk of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, who has been given a blessing by Metropolitan Hilarion to celebrate services in the Western rite.
"The Liturgy will be in honour of Sts. Kevin and Clotilda, whose feast day is June 16). It will be preceded by sung Terce and Sext, and followed by the hour of None. Those attending should, if intending to receive Holy Communion, prepare themselves by fasting, reading the rule for Communion, and going to confession. Confessions will be heard from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in the church.
"Those desiring to serve in the altar or to chant, should contact Fr. Aidan on his cell at (512) 317-2197, or email him (hieromonachusaidanus at yahoo dot com), so that this can be arranged.
"Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis!" ("Wondrous is God in His Saints!")
above: Western rite service at the monastery June 2009
5 comments:
Father, is there any possibility of arranging some sort of discreet recording of this to be shared either by Youtube or something more private?
I'm not sure, and also, since Fr. Abbot David has confirmed he will be unable to come due to his secular employment, there will be no one to do the chanting properly (either he was going to celebrate, and I chant, or vice versa). Therefore I wouldn't want to use any (extensive) recording as an exemplar. We'll have to get by as best we can.
My feeling of fastidiousness on this topic may be because for so many years I was used to daily services being properly chanted. It is true the chant, especially at the Mass, is key to the timing of the prayers.
In the Byzantine rite, there is a continuous and beautiful forward flow to the way the service progresses. People who have gone to a modern-style Western rite service have commented that they missed that quality in the WR. But I can say, if the canonical chant is sung, then the timing will be just right. The soft prayers of the priest are exactly covered by the singing, and then the original "rhythm" of the service appears, moving seamlessly from chant to sung prayer, to chant, to epistle, to chant, etc., in a wonderful manner.
Maybe I'm too perfectionistic, so I'll ponder on this video footage idea. I do hope at least we'll have some pictures. In less than 24 hours, I'll be on a plane...
And, of course, we can't have a joint Liturgy once Ab. David is free from his secular employment, because of MY secular employment.
Well, the Sarum Mass was celebrated this morning. I had one altar server, and there were two nuns as the choir, and about ten people attending, including a Roman Catholic priest. We did Terce, then Sext, then Mass, followed directly by None. Then we had a nice little luncheon.
I just got back into Austin from parts abroad, about an hour ago.
Deo gratias!
P.S. There wasn't much time to set up pictures or recordings. What I hope is that a Liturgy can be done when both Abbot David and I can be there, and one of us can celebrate and the other can chant the correct melodies which make the service flow beautifully.
Deo volente.
I'm glad it went well and that it happened at all.
At the risk of sounding like a scratched record, were you in the UK, you would have a willing chanter in the person of a certain subdeacon. :-)
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