A Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology by Eve Tibbs

Author:Eve Tibbs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Eastern Orthodoxy;Orthodox Eastern Church—Doctrines;Orthodox Eastern Church—Customs and practices;REL049000;REL067000;REL017000
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2021-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

Singing Theology

One of the unique aspects of Orthodox life and worship, as compared to most Western Christian traditions, is that the majority of worship is sung and chanted as a responsive prayer between clergy and laypeople. There is nothing in Orthodox liturgical worship like the praise music most Western Christians have experienced in the past few decades, or even the “old hymns” of Protestant denominations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Orthodox hymns are highly theological in the sense that they are directed to God and proclaim scriptural truths about events in the Bible or about the lives of the saints, and especially dogmas about the Holy Trinity—in the form of praises, doxology, and thanksgiving. Orthodox hymns also do not rhyme! They are traditionally chanted in two parts: a melody and an eison (drone note), although four-part polyphonic music is also found in some Orthodox churches.

“The Hymn of the Evening” (Second Century) Sung at Vespers

O Gladsome Light of the holy glory of the Immortal Father, heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ. Now we have come to the setting of the sun and behold the light of evening. We praise God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For it is right at all times to worship Thee with voices of praise, O Son of God and Giver of Life, therefore all the world glorifies Thee.a

a. English translation by the Orthodox Church in America, https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-daily-cycles-of-prayer/vespers.

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