Script: English with selections in Slavonic, Romanian, Arabic, Greek, Albanian, Mandarin Chinese Publisher: Boston Byzantine Choir, St Mary's Orthodox Church, Cambridge, MA Date: April 2008 Tracks/Total Time: 25 tracks, 01:15:40 ISBN: 718122642533 Availability: in stock Price: $18.00 (Free Shipping for limited time)
PASCHA, The Feast of Feasts. The Festival of Festivals. No other day in the Orthodox calendar is celebrated with such majesty and splendor. The Paschal troparion, sung many times by the Church on the Eve of the Feast and throughout the Paschal Season until the Feast of the Annunciation, explains her joy: "Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life."
The bright sadness of Holy Week presented on the previous disc by the Boston Byzantine Choir—"Thy Passion"—is transformed on Holy Saturday morning to "unwaning" light during the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil. Anticipation and wonder are translated to exuberance and culminate in the Paschal Vigil and Liturgy.
On this fourth recording marking the Boston Byzantine Choir's 15th year, the Orthodox Paschal journey from death to resurrection, from the vigil at the darkened tomb to the sublime and radiant light of the angel at the empty tomb of the Risen Christ, is expressed through the Church's unique hymns and services. The joyful exclamations of "Christ is risen"—expressed most eloquently and passionately in the homily of St. John Chrysostom—reverberate throughout the night and well into the morning. It cannot be explained—it must be experienced.
May these Byzantine hymns from the Orthodox Church's celebration of Holy Pascha illumine and inspire you and may the light of the Resurrection of Christ fill your heart.
Several of the selections were translated into English from the Greek by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, and used with their permission. In order to maintain authentic Greek melodies in English, their method of translating at times necessitated literary departure from the original Greek text. The Paschal Troparion is also chanted in Greek, Arabic, Albanian, and Mandarin Chinese. This hymn was first chanted by the Boston Byzantine Choir in Mandarin Chinese during a Chinese Orthodox wedding on the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman (June 2002) at St Mary Orthodox Church, Cambridge, MA and a sample from the newly released CD can be heard online courtesy of the Boston Byzantine Choir.