[B-Greek] A question on the Greek mass

Ivan Moody psaltisuk at gmail.com
Tue Sep 30 15:43:18 EDT 2008


It seems to me that what Mr Isaksson is looking for is in fact the
Mnimosinon (memorial service), rather than the Eucharistic Liturgy.  Many
Greek liturgical texts are online, and there is a fairly complete listing on
the "Orthodox Liturgical Links" page of my site, www.ivanmoody.co.uk.  If
anything else is needed, or if this is off-topic, please feel free to
contact me at ivanmoody @ gmail.com
.

Fr Ivan Moody


Rev. Ivan Moody, Ph.D
---
http://www.ivanmoody.co.uk
http://www.isocm.com




Message: 1
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:21:30 -0700
From: "+Fr Patrick B O'Grady" <fatherpatrick at fastmail.fm>
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] A question on the Greek mass
To: "Leonard Isaksson" <leonardo1orchardcity at mac.com>,
       b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <1222701690.3416.1276541989 at webmail.messagingengine.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

As a teacher of Greek and an Orthodox Christian priest I offer some info
here, as may be useful to the one who inquired about prayer for the dead
and to all who use this site. If you want some further clarification,
you can contact me off-site <fatherpatrick at fastmail.fm>  Since I am
rather new to this list, please forgive any unintentional violation of
the list's mode of the transcription of Greek words into Roman letters.
I promise to study it carefully!
1. First of all, the Orthodox Church celebrates the Divine Liturgy
("mass" is a nickname employed from the dismissal of the catechumens
which, being derived from Latin, "missa est" [=the service of the
catechumens is dismissed] has never been used by Orthodox) for all, the
living and the dead, as one universal expression of the offering of
Christ once and for all (ephapax).
2. There are prayers in the anaphora (eucharist) for both the living and
the dead. There, actual names of the deceased can be inserted, and the
deacon who serves, reads the names of the living and the dead (diptycha)
while the priest says the commemorations of the anaphora.
3. The text of the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, the most common
Orthodox liturgy, can be found on the net, in many sites. Simply Google
the Liturgy of Chrysostom.
4. The Liturgy of St John Chrysostom stems from about the year 390 C.E.,
in kernel form, as a pastorally abbreviated form of the ancient
Antiochene liturgy, which, in turn, came from Jerusalem. Chrystostom was
actually a deacon and then presbyter in Antioch before he was taken to
Constantinople. So, leaving aside the finer points of liturgical
development, this liturgy is roughly 16 centuries old. Of course,
certain (Roman) imperial acclamations, etc., embellish this ancient
apostolic liturgy. The Liturgy of St James, its predecessor, is much
older, as is the Liturgy of St Basil, the dominant liturgy of that time
(now served ten times a year, mostly during Great Lent).
5. BTW, the language of the Divine Liturgy is basically Koine, with
certain classicisms. The Greek Orthodox have steadfastly resisted any
attempt to use modern Greek (nea ellinika).
In behalf of your father, as we say in Greek, Mnestheti Kyrios o Theos
afton en ti Basilia aftou!
Fr Patrick B. O'Grady

On Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:03:39 -0500, "Leonard Isaksson"
<leonardo1orchardcity at mac.com> said:
> Hello there,
>
> I am wondering about the Greek mass for a funeral.  I have read, so
> well as I am able, the Requiem Mass in Latin, and was struck by the
> 'Dies Irae'.
>
> Now I am wondering whether anyone has the text of the Greek mass, or if
> that extends back far enough that it would be considered a part of the
> Greek on this site.  I would think so.
>
> My father just died.   Upon the death of my mother, while I am
> Protestant, and not Roman Catholic, I did employ the introit and part
> of the sequence, the Dies Irae.  So powerful a statement.  The RC folks
> who were there, followed the introit after hearing it in Latin.
>
> Now I am wondering about the Greek service.  I do not speak modern
> Greek, and any Koine  pronunciation, while I greatly admire the work
> that Mr. Buth has done, I would stumble over.  But I would like to know
> where one may find the text of the  Greek service, since so far as I
> gather, it must date back to the mediaeval Greek church.
>
> I hope this is the right place to ask this.
>
> Leonard Isaksson
>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek

"Repentance is the returning from the unnatural into the natural state, from
the devil to God, through discipline and effort." -- St. John of Damascus
(8th century)



More information about the B-Greek mailing list