Znamenny Chant- The pre-Nikonian tradition

Znamenny Neumes

The Orthodox Christian Church music before 17th Century Russia, during the Muscovite era, was done by using signs that look similar to elegant marks. These marks were known by the general term called “Znamenny Chant” which means Sign Singing. Znamenny Chant was sung in octaves by men (and now women) without having any harmony, excluding the classical type of singing used by Papists, but performs with peoples own, natural voices, in order to achieve the sound of all voices to become united in one single voice that would sound almost folklore. Znamenny Chant was done in this way to be pleasing to the ear, while most importantly proclaiming truth which penetrated into the hearts of Christians. However, until the unfortunate and hideous reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 17th Century Russia, the old Muscovite tradition of Church music was shattered. The only people who faithfully retained to the Znamenny Chants were the Old Believers and Old Ritualitists.

Patriarch Nikon’s reforms introduced the dominant harmonized choral screeching into the Russian Orthodox Church which caught on rather quickly, especially due to the requests of wealthy people in Russia at the time. This un-canonical way of singing in many Orthodox Christian Churches still exists, while Neumatic Notation and the ancient Znamenny chant melodies within the Churches has been almost completely forgotten.

Gladly, many monasteries and Orthodox parishes in North America are bringing back the traditional Znamenny Chants in order for Orthodox Christian hymnography to once again penetrate in its simple and traditional way into many Orthodox Christians.

Fr. Seraphim Rose (1934 – 1982)

Fr. Seraphim (Rose) of Platina

Fr. Seraphim was an inspiration for thousands of people. He gave some of the most inspiring sermons ever uttered in the English language. His constant counsel was: “Never excuse yourself. If you must, or think you must, give way to a weakness, then be certain to recognize it as a weakness and a sin. But see your own faults and condemn not your brother!”

During the latter portion of his life, Fr. Seraphim continually emphasized the need for spiritual attentiveness in preparation for struggles to come. He seemed to have an awareness, a foreknowledge of apocalyptic times ahead. His message was conveyed in a well-known phrase: “It is later than you think!”

In conversation he was the proverbial “man of few words”. He had no interest in idle chatter, seldom expressed a personal preference for anything, and disliked fakery of all kinds, often speaking of the “Disneyland mentality” of America which was making it impossible for people to seek and find the truth.

It should be noted, however, that his apostleship — to Russia or to any other nation into whose languages his works are translated — did not emerge until he finished his earthly sojourn: he died in September, 1982 at the age of 48, and the twentieth anniversary of his untimely death is solemnly observed these days all over the globe. And here on earth he lived in a tiny Orthodox monastic community in the mountains of North California, constantly immersed into the church service cycle, into research, writing, editing and publishing work, translating treasures of Christian heritage into English, responding to letters from readers and inquirers, attending to the daily needs like gardening, firewood, truck engine and printing equipment, and praying in silence.

The death of Fr. Seraphim produced a spiritual phenomenon untold of in our times. Lying in state in a crude wooden coffin in the humble monastery church, not only did the body remain soft and life-like in the summer heat, but so comforting was his face that one could not bear to cover it, in the traditional monastic way. Even children could hardly move away from the coffin, since the body brought such internal peace and suggested such love. Everyone was aware that, in our times, among us, a holy man had left in his body a phenomenon that challenges science and our hearts.

http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Orthodox_Elders/Various/Fr._Seraphim_Rose/index.shtml

St. John of Kronstadt

Father John of Kronstadt, one of the most well known saints of recent history, possessed an evangelical fervour, and, above all, was ‘flesh of the flesh’ of the Orthodox tradition and of the faith and life of the Orthodox Church. Father John was an expressive and impressive preacher, an promoter of frequent communion, a man who moved the hearts of hardened sinners to repentance, a man with a great depth of love, and a spiritual healer. Huge crowds flocked to him from all parts of Orthodox Russia to hear him and to be healed by him (in body and soul).

Father John believed in indulging people with love. To indulgent people with love means not to judge, not to take revenge, and to endure and forgive. “Do not confuse man -this image of God – with the evil which is in him, because evil is only his accidental misfortune, a sickness, a devil’s dream; but man’s essence – the image of God – is always there”. This recognition of God in others is the rule he used in relating to others. He also said, “As far as is it possible, be gentle, humble and simple to all, considering yourself, without hypocrisy, to be spiritually below everyone. Pride is the reason for a cold, pompous and insincere manner towards those whom are considered to be below us, or those from whom we hope to derive some benefit. When people speak ill of you and you feel resentment, it means that you are proud, and pride must be eliminated from your heart by worldly dishonour. Therefore, do not resent and hate those who speak ill of you, but try to love them as you would love people who benefit you, and pray for them. Maintain a peaceful and loving disposition towards your brother even if he deprives you of your last shilling; show him that, above all, you love God’s image in him. However most people are angry when they are deprived even of a very small part of their property!”

One of the basic aims of love is to see everyone saved, transformed and united to true, divine love. This is impeded by what he called “malicious joy” when he said, “Oh, how disgusted I am by this devilish malicious joy over the sins of one neighbour! People cast a slur on someone’s whole life because of one sin that he has committed. They forget that love extenuates everything. A Christian must truly wish for himself and others, that God’s name should be constantly glorified in both himself and others, that all should become Temples of God”.

However, sobriety from evil is not enough. We should also seek to obtain inner peace, since “without inner peace and harmonious coexistence with others, one cannot have peace and harmony within oneself. In acquiring inner peace, let us also be peacemakers in relation to our fellowmen”.

To attain peace and love, and to preserve them, “Do not be put out of countenance when you are angry and when this anger prepares to manifest itself in worlds, command it to be silent. When you allow anger to express itself, it will pour out with great force and may overwhelm your defence”. He continued, “Do not expose all your impurities, not to contaminate others with the breath of evil concealed in you. It is better to speak of your illness to your spiritual father or your friend in order that they may direct and restrain you”.

On reproaching others of their evil he said, “It is better not to pass on reproachful words, but to keep silent about them or, even if it is not true, convey words of love and goodwill; then our spirits will be at peace” and, “if you wish to correct somebody’s faults of your own accord, restrain yourself, because, usually, through our pride and irritability, we do more harm than good… Pray to God that He Himself will enlighten the mind and the hearts of men; if God sees that your prayer is full of love, He most certainly will grant your wish. An embittered person is ill; to cure him we must apply to his heart a plaster of Love”, and finally, “Look at every human being as if he were unique in God’s world, a great miracle of God’s wisdom and grace, and do not let the fact that you are accustomed to him serve as a ground for neglect”.

“Our Saviour bids us to love our enemies which is extremely difficult; but for a heart which is reborn through grace, it is easy to do so because God helps the believer in everything”.

http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Holy_Fathers/St._John_of_Kronstadt/index.shtml

Ecclesiastical writiers of the Orthodox Church

For Orthodox Christians today, we have many spiritual books that we take for granted, and such books many Saints in the past longed to have for their own spiritual benefit. The Holy Fathers of our Church collected many patristic writings with much labor and hardships for the spiritual benefit of future Orthodox Christians. Our Venerable Paisius Velichkovky is highly credited with being a talented ecclesiastical writer himself, and who labored many years of his life to collect, translate, edit and publish spiritual books. St. Paisuis had a big influence on Athonite and Russian writers, and a number of authors should be mentioned to demonstrate the dominating mark he left upon Orthodox spiritual literature. Below I have mentioned the major ecclesiastical writers in the Paisian tradition:

PARTHENIUS, Abbot of Guslits Monastery, an Athonite monk, was a Russian born and raised in Moldavia by Old Believer step-parents. After many years of monastic struggles among Old Believers, he became converted to Orthodoxy and became a fervent missionary. His four volumes (1076 pages in all) of Travels and pilgrimages in Russia, Moldavia, Turkey and the Holy Land (Moscow 1856) is a classic work on 18th and early 19th century monasticism in the Paisian regions, focusing on the Athonite Paisian tradition. As a writer he is warm, simple, human, and creates a vivid picture of the monastic mentality, its zeal, its contrition of heart and guilelessness; he gathered information concerning anchorites as Palladius did in his Lausiac History. He was not an educated man in the worldly sense, but he gives a profound psychological study of many true servants of God; his information is indispensable for the hagiography of this time.

SERAPHIM the Hagiorite (1814-1852), was the author of perhaps the most popular book in Russia on Mount Athos, Letters to Friends About the Holy Mountain, in which he gives not only the history of this monastic continent, but also various details of its life, past and present, its natural setting, monastic customs, etc. But above all he captured the Athonite spirit and transmitted his love for it. He had a poetic gift, and his warm, endearing language and his keen observations enhanced his popularity. Being a politic writer, he complied The Athonite Patericon, A History of Russian Monks on Mount Athos from the Tenth to the Sixteenth Centuries, a book of verse, and Akathists, etc. He died there as a Schema-monk and a recluse at a young age, inspiring a definite attraction for Mount Athos and the Paisian tradition.

NILUS, Shema-Hieromonk of St. Nilus of Sora Skete (1801-1870), although he never visited Mount Athos, definitely inherited from his beloved St. Nilus the Athonite spirit. From early childhood he was under the protection of St. Paisius, for his father was in correspondence with Blessed Paisius and gave lodging to his monks whenever they visited Russia. With such a background it is not accidental that he was drawn to St. Nilus and his Tradition of the Skete Rule. Elder Nilus revived the Sora Skete where he kept a strict Athonite typicon with all-night vigils, and painted icons in the strict Byzantine style. He wrote the popular Prayer to the Theotokos for Every Day of the Week, Sermons, and the original Service to St. Seraphim of Sarov, on whose day he died, according to his own wish.

BISHOP IGNATIUS BRIANCHANINOV (1807-1867), was the writer who resembled Paisius the most, both in his patristic urgency and his concern for the purity of Orthodox Spirituality, being himself in the direct line of Paisian discipleship through his Elder, Leo of Optina. He assimilated Paisius message and presented it in an accessible and most eloquent classical language to the leading society of Russia, which was then the protector of all Orthodox lands. The significance of Bishop Ignatius has not been properly recognized, simply because he, just like Paisius himself, was “ahead of time.” Some of his writings (such as On Miracles and Signs), and especially his little known letters, reveal insight which is directed a whole century ahead to our time of apostasy. The five volumes of his Ascetical Works (including the fifth known in English as The Arena) and a sixth volume. The Patericon (of his complication), are a treasure which is indispensable for a student of spiritual life today, for in them he expounds for modern man what Paisius had collected for St. Macarius Philokalia. No writer before or since in the whole Orthodox world has had such a profound knowledge of the Western mentality, combined with such a refined, noble taste and such grounding in the spirit of the Fathers. His treatment of subjects like the Jesus Prayer, the Pharisaical mind, Prelest, the state of the soul after death etc, comes directly from the Paisian teaching. Today even highly reputed academic theologians in the Orthodox world are surprisingly ignorant of the Orthodox teaching on these subjects. In his private life, Bishop Ignatius attained the heights of perfection of true Saint. As a proof of this, upon his righteous death he appeared in a dazzling light from the other world to his spiritual child, who was being attacked by demons. Dispersing the unclean power of darkness, he said: “All that is written in my books in the truth.”

SEDERHOLM, Hiermonk Clement (1828-1878), a Swedish Lutheran, after a visit to Mount Athos came to Optina, was converted to Orthodoxy, and took part in the translation of the Paisian texts into Russian. It was his idea to compile full biographies of the Optina Elders as carriers of the Paisian teaching in practice. He wrote the Lives of Elders Anthony and Leo and could not complete that of Elder Moses due to his early repose. He wrote a very important work on Russian hesychasts in the 18 century, Desert Dwellers of the Roslavl Forests, published in 1882.

THEOPHANES the Recluse (1815-1894). To him St. Tikhon of Zadonsk was what Paisius was for Biship Ignatius, for that Saint inspired him to go into retreat in order to dedicate himself entirely to repairing “spiritual food for the hungry.” In this respect he is very much in the spirit of Sts. Macarius and Nicodemus, for the translated into Russian the latter’s Unseen Warfare and was even intending to publish Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress, with an Orthodox content. From his reclusion he poured out an incredible amount of Partistric works. He translated the Philokalia into Russian, and enlarged it into five volumes, thereby continuing St. Paisius work on an even larger scale. He wrote especially valuable books as intermediary or preparatory texts, such as What is the Spiritual Life and How to Attune Oneself to it, The Path to Salvation, and numerous volumes of Letters designed especially for such a purpose. Just like Bishop Ignatius, he himself is unquestionably a Holy Father of the Church.

Among these brilliant writers of the Orthodox Church, we also have Ivan M. Kireyevsky, Theophanes the Archbishop of Potlava and Theodosius who translated the Evergetinos. All information about the ecclesiastical writers mentioned above is taken from the book called, “Blessed Paisius Velichkovsky,” published by St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood.

Guidence of St. Simeon the New Theologian

St. Simeon the New Theologian

“Come to the Lord with unhesitatingly firm faith and warm love and, in the words of the Lord, renounce this world completely and all the beautiful and sweet things which are in it, and your own will and understanding, and be poor in spirit and body. And thus by the grace of Christ, holy zeal will be kindled in perfect souls; and with time and growth in this work, there will be given in proportion to the work tears, lamentation, and a certain small hope to comfort the soul, and likewise a hunger and thirst for righteousness, that is, a flaming zeal, so as to be directed in all His commandments, in humility, in patience, in mercy and love toward all, and above all toward the unfortunate of soul, to the sick and suffering and aged; which are the fruits of the Spirit, according to the divine Apostle; and so as to bear the infirmity of one’s neighbor and lay down one’s life for one’s brother and endure the temptations which occur, that is, offences, mockeries, reproaches, bitter wounds, and to forgive each other with the whole soul every offence and wound, and to love one’s enemies, to bless those who slander you, and do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who do evil to you; which are the highest commandments of Christ; and besides all this, to endure manfully, with thanksgiving, the various bodily trials that come; infirmity, sickness, wounds, the fierce and bitter temporal suffering for the sake of the eternal salvation of one’s soul. And thus you will attain to perfect manhood, in the measure of the spiritual stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13).

And if you will remain thus forcing yourselves, this community will stand as long as the Lord wills. But if you depart from heeding and reading the Patristic books, you will fall away from the peace and love of Christ, that is, from the fulfilling of Christ’s commandments, and there will enter into your midst rebellion, tumult, and disorder, disturbance of soul, wavering and hopelessness, murmuring against and judgment for each other; and because of the increase of these, the love of many will grow cold, or rather that of almost all; and if such will be, this community will soon be dissolved, first in soul, and with time in body also.”