The Catalog of Good Deeds

Who can sing in English in our Convent? What is special about liturgical music in English? I asked some of the people who took part in the recording of Mystical Supper — the first CD album of the chants of the Divine Liturgy in English — to shed light on these issues.

Part One. An interview with Nun Maria. on the English Language and the Language of the Liturgy

Nun Maria, what does the Liturgy mean to you?

Liturgy is life. We are renewed by the Liturgy and we are revived through communion. When we take communion, all our divisions and strifes cease, the walls between us and God and between us and other people fall into pieces. The Blood of Christ renews us, and we all become one.

The Mystical Supper CD album is a recording of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. St John said some very beautiful words about the Liturgy, "There isn't anything that exalts one's soul, gives it wings, lets it soar above the ground, releases it from dark chains, delivers a philosophy, or helps to achieve total contempt for earthly cares better than harmonious singing and guidance by the text of the Divine chants."

Yes, the value of choir singing lies in catholicity, in unity. Where there is unity, there is God. Of course, technically you can sing the Liturgy alone, on your own, but this is hard to compare. The sound of a choir, when people sing together and try to tune in to each other, is much better. It can be difficult at times because we all are different and each one of us is in a different spiritual state. However, we should exert ourselves to "synchronise" with each other, to seize that unity. It makes us closer to God and to each other. Unity with God and with each other is the purpose of the Liturgy.

Could you please tell about those who directly participated in the project?

The singers who took part in this project had not come from a certain choir of our Convent. The main selection criterion for them was, naturally, their proficiency in English. There were two sisters from the Monastic Choir, four brothers from the Festive Choir, Anton — a singer from the Male Choir, and Tatiana and Olga — one of them sings in the boarding home for children, and the other sings in other Minsk churches. Plus, Alexandra and Margaret — two MSLU undergraduates who sang in the student choir of that university — also participated in our choir.

Two of us knew practically no English — I mean Brother Konstantin and Nun Tatiana. Industrious people, they wrote Russian translations above the English texts in order to follow what we were singing. We all had to do a crash course in phonetics to level the variations.

Did you have any difficulties with translation?

We did not have to translate anything. The difficult part was in choosing one out of the many translations that exist. Since we sing in Church Slavonic, rather than Russian, in our church, we decided to choose a translation that would not sound too modern, a translation that uses…

The Shakespearean English?

No, not the language of Shakespeare, but a translation that uses some archaic and outdated words.

How did this idea come about? Why did people in a Belarusian Orthodox convent suddenly decide that they were to record church chants in English?

When we introduced our music CDs in Britain, people were asking, "Are they in English?" When we said that no, they aren't, we could spot the slight disappointment on the people's faces.

How did you choose the name for the album? Why not call it simply The Liturgy?

We tried to find a poetic name, which would sound equally good in Russian and in English, and be easily understood by all English speakers, be they Orthodox or Catholics or Protestants.

One of the chants has the following words, “Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Lord, may I today partake…” There is a tradition in some Orthodox parishes in Great Britain to sing this prayer during the communion, instead of the “Receive Ye the Body of Christ…” This is where the name of our album came from.

Click here to order a copy of
The Mystical Supper

Part Two. An interview with Konstantin Karmanov, the head of the audio studio of St Elisabeth Convent. On rehearsals, mutual aid, MIDI tracks, and other technicalities of creative process

How long did it take to release this album?

We did the first recording in 2010. A lot changed during this time: we changed mikes and some members of the choir… At times, I was beginning to think that this project would never end. It was when we were choosing the best takes during the editing stage that we felt we'd made it, in spite of all obstacles.

What were your rehearsals like?

By the time we could manage it for a rehearsal, we all were tired, having spent an entire day at work. Apart from that, I had to learn English. However, I saw how passionate everyone was to sing, to create, to be involved in our work, and this gave me strength.

Sure, it is hard to sing using manuscripts: some want to write down their own transliteration of the texts or make notes but there is no place in the music sheets to do that. This is why I decided to type this sheet music using a computer. In addition, we got MIDI tracks, which one could play and learn their parts independently. Not everyone needed them but some of us did. It was like a crash course in music for people whose main profession was not related to it. Naturally, we musicians explained all nuances and details – the things that every musician must know by default — to them as if they were kids. It sounded new and interesting to them. For us, professional musicians, this is a routine not unlike breakfast, lunch, and dinner; for translators and interpreters singing was like a real feast. The linguists, for instance, would change some words in the text because we could not always follow the written text to a tee. This exchange of knowledge during the rehearsals produced a unique experience.

We would record even in summer. Even though our linguists had exams and were getting ready for various contests, they still found time to come and sing with us. It was like: we gather for a recording session, and there is a thunderstorm outdoors. We would sing one take, wait for a thunderclap to pass, and then sing another one. You know, the proverb goes that there is no bad weather.

Some professionals visited us during our rehearsals and recording sessions. One of them was Nigel Rose, an Englishman. He is a choir director in his home country. Nigel listened to our singing and remarked that they never sang like this, that the way we sang was unprecedented.

Our first rehearsals made it evident that our singing was too amateurish. We made painfully slow progress: we had to gather seven or eight times in order to record just two chants. Nevertheless, recording sessions, or, more precisely, their inevitability, were the best motivation for all of us. As soon as I felt that it was time to do the recording, I would say, “Okay, let’s record it!” We met for recording sessions in the evenings: we would gather at around seven o’clock in the evening and warm up for the recording, which would go on until eleven, and sometimes even later. We liked to sing together.

What makes the Mystical Supper album so unique?

This album is unique because of the incredible creative approach and fresh treatment of familiar chants in a new and beautiful language. Originally, we took the church chants that are typical of our region and are often heard in the parishes of our Russian Orthodox Church but we adapted them to suit the liturgical English texts. We learned these chants at a leisurely pace, appropriated them by singing, and then recorded them. Our choir consisted of Slavic people who know English – a language that is very different from the original languages of these chants – well enough to sing in it. I assume that, as a result of this concerted endeavour, we managed to create an interesting church music sound mix, consisting of Slavonic church chants inseparably combined with worship texts from English church tradition.

I would like to highlight the fact that all these chants have a common nature and belong to one and the same cycle of the main Orthodox service – the Liturgy. This is very important because one could sing the Psalms, or specific concert pieces, or praise songs, but here we have liturgical chants taken from the regular rite of the Liturgy. The order in which they are recorded on the disc is the same order in which they are performed during the Liturgy.

Interview by Vadim Yanchuk

CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW THE ICONS FROM THE ICON CASING WORKSHOP

Visit the icon casing workshop

For more than 15 years, the Icon casing workshop has been operational in Saint Elisabeth Convent. All these years, day after day, brothers and sisters dedicate themselves to prayer and work: painting icons, embroidering shrouds, creating jewel casings and icon shrouds made of thin metal (foil, the copper, aluminium, brass) or cloth.

The tradition of decorating sacred images with luxurious casings, comes from ancient time. Long since, Rus has followed the example of Byzantnium where highly revered icons were covered with jewel casings.

However, icon casing should not be considered a decoration. Primarily, icon casing has deep symbolic significance – as an offering of gratitude to the Lord, The Mother of God, the saints for their eternal help and support. For Example, the glow of gold symbolizes Divine grace, white shade of silver represents holiness and spiritual purity, and natural gems personify numerous moral virtues.

Today, icon casing craftsmanship remains an equally important art for the orthodox faithful, just as it was hundreds of years ago.

Icon painters of Saint Elisabeth Convent icon casing workshop paint in various historic styles. The process begins with painting an icon. Over a chalk ground board the craftsman outlines the images. It is very important to note that our workshop will paint the icon in its entirety as opposed to the 19th Century approach where only the visible parts of the icon were painted.

Gold plating is performed with leaf-gold, acryl, oil, and tempera are used to paint (“write”) the icon and if the icon is painted in an open case, it is covered with “asist”. Then it is time to place the casing which is an overlay covering board over the multicolored layer.

The icon casing workshop is known for making luxurious casings out of different fabrics. First of all, the craftsman outlines the shape of the image on thin paper. This is the basis or the initial pattern. If we break down the casing layer by layer, we will see the following: paper, unbleached calico, thick cloth, flax. All components are glued together and embellished with velvet.

Then the casing is embroidered with pearls, beads and spun gold. Stitch by stitch, bead by bead… and there are no random components. Casing elements include consignment halos (decoration around the head), riza (part of icon casing, covering images of clothing), frame (covering the edges), and the background (metal framing).

The decorations include decorative plaque (small silver or gold rectangular or figure-shaped form plate with a cut out to attach the icon), stone bezel setting (metal frame around the stone).

One of the main tasks for the sisters and brothers in the workshop is to serve God, preserve ancient traditions and maintain high quality requirements. All the work is done manually, with prayer, and with strict adherence to Orthodox canons.

A Holy Fulfillment: The Old Testament and the Adornment of the Church

Any discussion of the theological importance of liturgical vesture within the Church is not complete without considering the place of the Old Testament Scriptures that specifically refer to garments used in Levitical worship. The primary scriptural references to the priestly garments of the old covenant are found in Exodus 25-36, in which God gives explicit instructions to the Prophet Moses for the outfitting of the Tabernacle as well as the garments to be worn by the priests. Indeed, these instructions read like technical notes, with emphasis given to how things are to be made: "The hem shall be interwoven with the rest, to prevent ripping" (Ex 28.27); what they are to be made from: "Gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet cloth; fine spun linen, and female goats' hair, ram skins dyed red and skins dyed blue, and incorruptible wood; oil for the light, and incense for anointing oil and for composition of incense; sardius stones, and stones for the carved work of the breastplate and the full-length robe" (Ex 25.3-7); and who is to make them: "Now Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whom the Lord put wisdom and knowledge to know how to do all manner of work for the service of the holy place, did according to all the Lord commanded" (Ex 36.1).

It is interesting to note that over one quarter of the book of Exodus is devoted to these detailed instructions for the outfitting of the Tabernacle and the garments of the priests of God... The decorations of the tabernacle, ephod, and breastplate are no mere afterthought; indeed, thirty-eight verses are devoted solely to the curtains and the garments of the priests and are quite specific in the colors and symbols that are to be used (gold, blue, purple, and scarlet fabric and pomegranates and bells, respectively). There is a careful and methodical approach to these adornments and in this it is demonstrated that the worship of God must be attended to with order and reverence. Through this meticulous precision we see God teaching mankind that things used for His glory are to be "built by God."

On account of these detailed passages, some authors have argued that Christian vestments have their origin in Levitical dress, but even the most desultory comparison of the garments clearly illustrate that this could not be so. But just as the study of Orthodox Christian theology reveals much about the qualities of beauty within the Church, so it is through a reading of these chapters in Exodus that yet another quality of beauty within the Church is revealed: the fulfillment of types. This fulfillment is found in the progression from the Levitical understanding of worship, as outlined in the Old Testament, to the Christ centered understanding of liturgy as found in the New Testament and the unwritten tradition handed down by the early Church a rapidly coalescing tradition which led to the standardization of vestments and other adornments of the Church in the first few centuries following Christ's earthly life.

St. John of Damascus, writing in response to the iconoclasts who were arguing for a rejection of images based on Old Testament passages such as "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath" (Ex 20-4), states:

It is not I who am speaking, but the Holy Spirit who declares plainly through the holy apostle Paul, "God spoke of old in many various ways to our fathers by the prophets." Note that God spoke in many and various ways. A skillful doctor does not prescribe the same for all alike, but each according to his need... In the same way the most excellent physician of souls prescribed correctly for those who were still children and susceptible to the sickness of idolatry, holding idols to be gods, and worshipping them as such, abandoning the worship of God, offering to the creature the glory due the Creator.

He goes on to further explain this fulfillment of types by quoting from a sermon of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews: How can what comes first be the image of what is to follow, as Melchizedek is of Christ?

Melchizedek is used as an image in the Scriptures in the same way as a silhouette is an outline for a portrait. Because of this, the law is called a shadow, and grace and truth are what is foreshadowed. Consequently, the law personified by Melchizedek is a silhouette of Him whose portrait, when it appears, is grace and truth inscribed in the body. So the Old Testament is a silhouette of things to come in a future age, while the New Testament is the portrait of those things.

St. John recognized that just as a tiny seed looks nothing like the blooming, flourishing plant, so it is necessary to be mindful that Orthodox Christian worship is not designed to look like Old Testament worship. The fulfillment of the beauty and liturgy of the Church, like the fulfillment of the salvation of mankind, comes in no less a person than Christ Himself through His Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection.

The instructions in Exodus lay the groundwork, teaching that adornment of the holy things of God is integral to our worship of Him. But just as Christ took the place of rams sacrificed on stone altars, the adornment of our churches took a new and holy form through Christ's Resurrection, molded by the time and place in history in which the Resurrection took place and by the subsequent establishment of a Christian nation in the Byzantine Empire.

We know that the Fathers of the Church had a deep and thorough knowledge of the Scriptures (after all, St. John Chrysostom spent two years memorizing the Scriptures in their entirety) and such an education could not have left them puzzling over how to outfit the churches of their day. Add to this the unwritten tradition which they had inherited and it would be completely illogical to suppose that men so formed by these Scriptures and providentially shaped by a world in which honor and majesty were the cornerstone of political and social hierarchy would have been able to construct liturgies to the Creator of All without glory and beauty. "Bring to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in His holy court" (Ps 28.2). They knew that "holiness is proper to Your house, 0 Lord" (Ps 92.5) and that "they shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of Your holiness, and they shall describe Your wonders" (Ps 144.5).

While Exodus teaches that order and reverence are necessary components to the worship of God, the Church Fathers knew that any reading of the Old Testament Scriptures must be undertaken with an understanding that such Scriptures have their fulfillment in the coming of Christ and the traditions of the Church. Majestic and holy worship began with the Old Testament Levitical patterns but did not find its culmination until the Resurrection of Christ and the subsequent redemption of the world. With Christ's coming everything is raised to a higher order, so the Church's worship follows the same essential patterns, yet looks different. As adopted sons of God, we are the inheritors of this holy fulfillment. As the Psalmist prophesies: They shall be intoxicated with the fatness of Your house, and You will give them drink from the abundant water of Your delight. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light shall we see light. (Ps 35.9-10) In the beauty of the Church's worship we find the fulfillment of the prophetic words and foreshadowing of all the Old Testament Scriptures.

From "The History of Vestments"

By Subdeacon Zoran Bobic

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/zjbobic/history-of-vestments

(Nun Anfisa about the beginnings of the Convent, about icon painting and the workshops…)

Mother Anfisa, can you tell us how the workshops came into existence in the Convent?

The Convent was founded in 1999, and it was then that our sisters started to make vestments. At first, the sewing, icon painting and ceramic workshops started their work. Later, the mural painting, mosaic, joinery, icon setting and stone workshop were established. Each of the workshop was tiny at first and grew on with time. Today we have more than twenty long-established workshops, each with its own microclimate. Generally, we did not plan that there would be workshops in the Convent. It was God who decided in a different way.

The first workshops were established within the premises of the National Psychiatric Clinic. We asked the head doctor for permission to use one of the basements in an old shabby building within the walls of the Clinic. They granted us that permission; we put everything in order there. This was our first workshop. The room was also packed with humanitarian aid, which we handed out to the patients. In those times, the ill people had to stay in the hospital for half a year or even more, so they needed those clothes. Our first iconostasis was also painted in that basement. This iconostasis now stands in the church in honour of St Nicholas the Wonderworker. It was started by Alexander Cress who made the templates for the icons. Father Sergius, who is now the head of the icon painting studio, and novice Demetrius, who is the head of the mural painting workshop, were students of the Academy of Arts at that time. They were rubbing the paints for that iconostasis with great reverence. They also visited Father Igor Latushko in the Holy Spirit Cathedral to learn the art of icon painting from him. They learned how to paint icons, how to gesso the surfaces and prepare paints, they were his apprentices, in fact.

Then it turned out that Alexander could not finish his work, and it was time to consecrate the church, so Father Andrew blessed the brothers to finish the iconostasis on their own. These were their first icons. Nun Liudmila, Nun Martha and Matushka Larissa helped Father Sergius and Brother Demetrius.

How did the icon painting studio develop after that?

New people were coming. Father Igor Latushko helped us a lot: he told us about icon painting and painted icons himself. We started travelling a lot, seeing and seeking advice from other iconographers… We were gathering information about the art of icon painting, about various cultural layers related to church art: Byzantine Greek style and Russian art of icon painting, of course.

Learn more about the Workshops: catalog.obitel-minsk.com/workshops

Did you develop a unified style?

Everything that Father Sergius, Matushka Larissa, nuns Liudmila and Maria, had to work hard to achieve and learn, now goes to the young artists, the would-be icon painters. The young artists can learn from their experience straight away. When we look at our first icons, they are so very different from what we are able to paint now. It is surprising to see the school develop…

The style develops after years of scrupulous work. Generally, there are many churches in our Convent, and if you take a look at them, neither frescoes, nor iconostases ever repeat one another. It is amazing that the icons are painted according to the canons and at the same time they show creativity. This is what constitutes the school, a specific direction and style in icon painting.

Can you tell us about the Convent? How did it start?

There were sisters who wanted to devote themselves to monastic life. There was God’s blessing through the spiritual father of the Sisterhood and through some circumstances of their lives. The first sisters started to live together in the spring of 1998. At first, they had to sleep right in the workshops. They had to stay in the workshops all night because Liturgies normally started early in the morning, at half past six, and the sisters were to take the patients to communion, so it was difficult for most of them to come to the hospital from downtown by that time. The sisters often stayed in the hospital wards until very late so it was meaningless to come back home.

There used to be waste land on the place where the convent now stands. Later we laid the foundation of the church in honour of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, bought a small cabin and installed central heating in it.

How many sisters were there at that time?

At first, there were four sisters. Later there were twelve of us. The first monastic tonsure was held in August of 1999, and three sisters were tonsured into Rassaphore at that time. That is how we lived. Later they built the second floor and that was the accountant’s office. There also was a small house close to it, where the ceramic workshop with just one oven was located. The ground floor turned into the joinery workshop. It was interesting to see that it was the office during the day and the bedroom at night. The sisters took turns cooking meals.

Weren’t you afraid?

No, I was not. It was just that once I realized that the meaning of life lies much deeper. Is it worth living when you feed your vain pride and build your life according to stereotypes? Ought a person to struggle for the sake of this? What must a person struggle for? The Lord showed me the beauty of monastic life. Monastic life is deep. Everything apart from that ceased to mean anything for me. This is my way, perhaps. Each person has his own way to God. This is a mystery that one keeps inside.

What was next?

We started building St Nicholas Church. When the basement floor had already been finished, we immediately decided to have it consecrated. We started celebrating Liturgies there. I remember when the first Liturgy was celebrated in that church, water dropped onto our heads, everything was gray, and we were standing on sand mixed with small stones but everybody was incredibly happy because this was the first Divine Liturgy in the new church.

Actually, first we started divine services in the National Psychiatrical Clinic, in their rehabilitation centre. The room where the Liturgies were celebrated on Thursdays normally served as a room for hypnosis. Services there continue up to the present day. We dreamed about building a church for the people who stay in the wards for them to feel a completely different life. We made gates in a hospital wall to take the patients to church but unfortunately, we forgot about several problems. The patients who stayed in the department for drug and alcohol addicts were only too happy to use this gate to run away from the hospital… We had to close this gate. Only the patients who are allowed to go out from their departments can do so. There is a confession on Wednesday evening, and the Liturgy is served on Thursdays. What we are to do is prepare the patients and take them to the service. Most departments are isolation type, and the patients who stay there are not always emotionally stable, so it is their doctor who approves or disapproves of their going to church. Those who are allowed to go out the hospital, come to the convent, and it is a great joy for them.

Then Father Andrew blessed the construction of the monastic dormitory. Later, a church in honor of St Elisabeth was built. There are photos, and when I look at them I just cannot believe that it was real. Then we received our first true cells, two or three cells, I do not remember exactly how many. The dormitory was consecrated in 2002.

MORE ON THE MINISTRY OF THE CONVENT...

Were the icons for St Elisabeth Church painted in the workshops of the Convent?

All icons located in the churches of our Convent are painted in our workshops. The Lord has provided it that everything has been made with our own hands. It is surprising, of course.