New Byzantium Publications

Click Facebook logo, then click "Like" to receive updates.

LATEST UPDATE: January 13, 2012 - The Memorial Service (Mnimosino) in Greek and English is up on the site now. Also available are the apolytikia for the Sunday saints of January: January 15 - St. John the Hut-Dweller,
January 22 - The Apostle Timothy, and January 29 - St. Anastasios of Persia

THE PURPOSE OF THIS WEBSITE
The hymnody of the Greek Orthodox Church has been handed down through the ages in a complete form, consisting of thousands of texts that include Psalms, prayers, praises, poems, sermons, and histories. The language of these texts in their original Greek, is of a very high literary quality containing much poetic description, imagery, and power. These carefully constructed texts are accompanied by a specifically-formulated musical system for their oral expression by appointed chanters of the Church who lead the congregation in hymn singing and responses. Today, these chanters include both the formally ordained and volunteers from the laity who may be untrained in the rubrics of Orthodox hymnody. For these chanters with lesser training, this website offers resources, educational essays, and a selection of frequently used hymns in the Divine Liturgy and other services both in Greek and in English. There are many English translations elsewhere, but most fail to transmit the poetry and power of their Greek counterparts, nor are most metered properly to the model melodies of the Church, which makes it impossible to chant them in the prescribed manner. The English versions on this website try to correct these problems and make the English as understandable, poetic, and easy to convey as is possible.

Icon written by Arlene Tighlman and is available at comeandseeicons.com

        ORTHODOX CHURCH HYMNODY RESOURCES AND
             INFORMATIVE ARTICLES FOR DOWNLOADING:

WHAT ORTHODOX CHOIRS SHOULD KNOW
Practical information for members of Orhtodox lay choirs about how to prepare themselves for service to the Church.

WORSHIP SERVICES OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
A basic list of the services of the Church with descriptions of the more important services.

HYMNOLOGY Q & A
A brief article by Nancy Takis answering some basic questions about Orthodox Hymnology. Very useful information.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CORRECT IN ORTHODOX CHURCH MUSIC?
An article by Nancy Takis presented in the Byzantine Echo, the newsletter of the Mid-Eastern Federation of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians.

THE NEED TO RETURN TO TRADITIONAL MUSIC
An article from The Epistle, the newsletter of Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in St. Clair Shores, written by Father Anthony Cook, associate priest, on the occasion of Church Music Sunday 2007. It explains the importance of moving away from Western polyphonic choral music and into the direction of traditional chant.

BYZANTINE MUSIC THEORY FOR WESTERN MUSICIANS
A 7-page essay by Stan Takis giving rudimentary information about Byzantine music. This is intended for people who know something about music theory.

ENGLISH TEXT AND BYZANTINE CHANT: SOME PROBLEMS AND ISSUES
Nancy Takis' presentation at the Axion Estin Conference on Byzantine Chant, New Rochelle, NY, January 21, 2006

BYZANTINE MUSIC FOR AN ORTHODOX AMERICA
A short article published in 1994 by The Burning Bush, news-letter of the Holy Dormition Monastery in Rives Junction, MI.

ON CHANT AND POLYPHONY
A brief article on the roles of chant and polyphony in the liturgical services of the Orthodox Church by Stan Takis.

MUSIC AND ORTHODOXY
By Father Michael Varlamos. A priest's perspective, explaining why he feels simple chant should replace complex, polyphonic music in the Greek Orthodox churches of America.

THE ORTHROS BOOK OF NICHOLAS ROUBANIS
This 300-page, handwritten manuscript has been out of print for years. We offer it here as an aid to chanters and their training. It contains all of the music for the Sunday Resurrectional Orthros service in Western staff notation,    in Greek with English phonetics.

HOLY WEEK BOOK OF J. SAKELLARIDES
This 386-page book is out of print and copies are very rare. It contains all of the music for Holy Week in Greek and Western staff notation.

READING PSALMODIA
The late David Melling's booklet on Byzantine music theory and reading Byzantine notation. Provided as a service to those who are having difficulty finding the original website.

THE MNEMONIC VERSES - A QUICK AND EASY GUIDE TO THE BYZANTINE TONES
By Jessica Suchy- Pilalis. A four-page primer on the music theory of the Byzantine Octoechos taught through the medium of some short and clever mnemonic melodies. This is a very easy way to be introduced to the Tones and their modes.

ABOUT VESPERS
An educational look at the order and music of the Orthodox Vespers service. For a look at the entire Vespers service of July 22, 2007, as celebrated at the Mid-Eastern Federation of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians convention, here for the booklet that was used by the congregation.
To read the service booklet and listen to MP3 files of the Vespers service of the 2008 convention, click here.

TONE VS. MODE
A discussion of the translation of echos and Octoechos.

BYZANTINE OCTOECHOS CHART
A one-page chart that explains the most common characteristics of the eight Byzantine tones for those who were trained in Western music and want to recognize or understand the Byzantine theore of music.

BYZANTINE THEATER AND RITUAL
A well-researched and documented doctoral thesis written by Andrew Walker White which contains a considerable amount of information and history concerning the music of the Orthodox Church. Well worth reading!

MEGA THEORETIKON BY CHRYSTANTHOS
We used to have this volume online, but it has recently been updated by the author, Dr. Katy Romanou, and published by the Axion Estin Foundation. The link above is to their contact page. If you would like a copy of the book, please write a request to them. This book is an English translation of the seminal work of one of the Three Teachers which explains Byzantine musical theory as it is applied in the modern era. (Since 1832.) It also has a wonderful history of Chrysanthos and the Byzantine music of his era and before.

THE HYMNOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF HOLY COMMUNION
This interesting article by Gerasimos Koutsouras was taken from PHRONEMA, Vol. 21, 2006, the official annual review of St. Andrew's Theological Seminary, Sidney, Australia. Opinions are those of the author. It contains a very useful chart of the text of all the Communion hymns with their days and sources.

VIDEO EXPLAINING BASICS OF BYZANTINE MUSIC
Stan Takis' presentation for the 2005 National Forum Summer Church Music Institute in Brookline, Massachusetts.

                         ABOUT NEW BYZANTINE CHANT

Chant is a form of purely vocal music that serves a written text. The words are intoned using a limited scale, and melodic formulas are used to emphasize certain words and syllables. In chant, the music is shaped by the text, as opposed to song, in which the music takes a fixed melody and has equal or greater artistic importance than the text.

The purest form of chant is monophonic, that is, there is a single melodic line. Byzantine chant is often duophonic, having a melodic line accompanied by a lower droned note which enforces the base tonality of the mode. A melodic line could be harmonized with chords and still be considered chant, provided that the text remains dominant and the harmonies are homophonic and do not distract from the flow of the words. This would preclude the use of contrapuntal polyphony and complicated chord structures.

There is a certain style (or iphos) associated with Byzantine chant. This style has a unique vocal character and includes much ornamentation and precise microtunings of scales. The iphos is generally employed by chanters trained in the art of Byzantine music.

The music of this web page is aimed primarily for the use of lay choirs and congregations. We call it "New Byzantine Chant" because, while it is based upon Byzantine music theory, it can be chanted in a Western vocal style in English by lay choirs and congregations using the modern even-tempered scale. Congregational chanting is becoming a more important part of Greek Orthodox worship, and represents a return to an ancient Christian practice.

                                         ABOUT US

New Byzantium Publications provides music for use in Orthodox Christian churches, primarily churches that use both Greek and English in their services. The main goal is to offer ecclesiastical music in English put in common staff notation that is accurately translated, poetic, close to the rules of Byzantine Chant, and can alternate easily with the traditional Greek versions.

The music in English available on this site is written by Nancy Chalker Takis, a hierarchically-blessed chanter of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and holder of the Patriarch Athenagoras medal for notable service to her metropolis. She has been given approval to translate Church hymns from three consecutive hierarchs of the Metropolis (formerly Diocese) of Detroit. She currently chants regularly in the parishes of Assumption Church in Flint, Michigan and Annunciation Church in Muskegon, Michigan, and other parishes when called upon. Greek versions of these hymns are provided as a service for choirs which alternate Greek and English texts and are from various sources, some traditional, some original, and also some from composers of the past.

The music here has melodic lines and ison parts written out. It follows the melodic rules and formulas of Byzantine chant, but does not include all of the traditional ornaments. It can be used by chanters, choirs, and congregations. Some of the music is from the hymnal of John Sakellarides, whose melodies remain popular in America today. A few pieces are in 3 or 4-part SAB/SATB choir arrangements. The English text has been treated in a way that respects the placement of the accented syllables of the language, as one finds in traditional Greek church music. There is no awkward English in these arrangements.

Stan Takis, the owner and operator of this website and who is responsible for the typesetting of the music, is a life-long educator and an experienced choir director both in Greek Orthodox churches and in the public schools. He is currently the Minister of Music and choir director at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He also holds the Athenagoras medal for service to his metropolis.

All files are in .pdf format. You must have Adobe Reader to read or print them. (This is a free download on the Internet. If you don't have it, go to Adobe.com and select downloads.)

Call us or send e-mail any time you like. You can also send comments and donations to the following address:

Stan and Nancy Takis
1900 Burkley Rd.
Williamston, MI 48895-9755

Phone: (517) 655-2060 or (517) 980-3830

E-mail: takistan@yahoo.com