The key phrase for Dec. 20th in the 12th C. observation, The Great “O” Antiphons, is O Radix Jesse, or Key of Jesse. It’s such a shame that the modern Church rarely uses these great teaching assets, but you can still enjoy and, hopefully, learn from them here.
Today’s hymn is Hear the Herald Voice Resounding, a Latin hymn from the 6th C. The Anglican version is Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding, an 1849 A.D. translation set to the tune Merton by W. H. Monk). It is performed by Jared Haselbarth. You can find this and other music by him at http://www.nabaudio.com.
The series was originally recorded in 2014 A.D. and revised with Jared Haselbarth’s great and uplifting solos and other modifications in 2015 A.D. This program and other resources for traditional worship are available from the Digital Library page.
Watch the Video. Listen to the Podcast.
The key word for December 19th is Adonai, the Hebrew word for Lord, for which the Latin and Greek equivalent is Kyrie. This is the second of seven presentations leading up to Christmas Eve based on the 12th C. celebration of the Roman Catholic Church augmented with pictures, music and Scripture readings. It was recorded in 2015 A.D.
What a busy week! Phone conversations and site visits with clients, in town and out of town, and meeting with a potential singer/chanter for The War on Christianity series Episode Six and Episode Seven. Plus putting up the family Christmas tree after Church on Sunday – and then nearly all day Monday as well. But it was truly worth it on all fronts!
I’m very pleased to announce that initial problems with producing The St. Chrysostom Hymnal in a single volume are being resolved this month. The first effort resulted in a volume far to large to transmit to our printer unless the book was separated into two volumes. The problem was resolved using file compression technology and by making the file compatible only with the most recent versions of Adobe Acrobat.
One viewer raised a question concerning the current episode, Episode Five, in AIC’s Christian Education video series, The War on Christianity. The question indicates the need for a clarification for those who my have not seen Episode One through Episode Four. For those who have just joined in watching series, let me repeat some of the points I made in that first episode.
To Western minds, so filled with confidence that the whole world constantly progresses, this episode demonstrates how three pivotal events which happened up to a millennium ago had consequence that are still being felt in the second decade of the 21st C. The three events are the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 A.D.; the capture of Constantinople by misguided Crusaders, led astray by the ambitions of the Venetian Republic, in 1204 A.D.; and the Fall of Constantinople in the Spring of 1453 A.D. The illustration is a 15th C. a miniature of the Battle of Manzikert in the National Library of France.


