Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy in English: Join Us This Sunday 21st April at St George's in Halandri

 INVITATION TO ALL ENGLISH-SPEAKING 

FRIENDS LIVING IN ATHENS

If you are in Athens, speak English better than Greek and would like to listen to Sunday's Divine Liturgy in English, then this is your chance... hope to see you there. We really enjoyed the first service Father Stefanos gave in English on December 2nd 2012. Join us!

 On Sunday, April 21st, 2013

The Divine Liturgy

will be celebrated in English

 by Father Stefanos Alexopoulos 

at the Church of St. George in Halandri

(81 Agias Paraskevis Street – Plateia Kennedy)

 

10:30-11:45 am

About Father Stefanos Alexopoulos



Father Stefanos Alexopoulos  serves as a parish priest at the parish of St. George, Halandri,  which belongs to the Archdiocese of Athens, Church of Greece.

Father Stefanos received a B.A. in Religious Studies from Hellenic College in Brookline, MA, and his M.Div. from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology (Liturgical History) from the University of Notre Dame, where his main area of concentration was Liturgical Studies, with minors in Byzantine Art and Patristics.

Before coming to Greece in 2003, Dr. Alexopoulos taught a theology course, “The Spirituality of the Christian East; Experience, Form & Expression,” at the University of Notre Dame, for which he received the “Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Kaneb Award for Excellence in Teaching.”

He has been teaching at the College Year in Athens Program since 2007 and was recently elected Assistant Professor of liturgy at the Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens. He is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Society of Oriental Liturgy of which he is the secretary.

Father Stefanos has participated  in the project “New Catalogue of Byzantine Manuscripts” of the Protestant Theological University, Kampen, Holland as an expert/consultant on issues of Byzantine liturgical history since September of 2009.

He has had his book, based on his dissertation 'The Presanctified Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite: A Comparative Analysis of its Origins, Evolution, and Structural Unit's published in the series Liturgia Condenda 21  by Leuven: Peeters Publishers, 2009.

In the Spring Semester of 2012, Father Stefanos was a visiting professor at the Institute of Sacred Music of Yale University.



 At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows!

 © GlobalGreekWorld 2013 All Rights Reserved

Divine Liturgy in English: This Sunday in Halandri

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The dome of St George Halandri 

Photo Source: Nikos Kosmidis

 INVITATION TO ALL ENGLISH-SPEAKING 

FRIENDS LIVING IN ATHENS

If you are in Athens, speak English better than Greek and would like to listen to Sunday's Divine Liturgy in English, then this is your chance...

 On Sunday, December 2^nd

The Divine Liturgy

will be celebrated in English

 by Father Stefanos Alexopoulos 

at the Church of St. George in Halandri

(81 Agias Paraskevis Street – Plateia Kennedy)

 

10:30-11:30 am

 

Father Stefanos Alexopoulos  serves as a parish priest at the parish of St. George, Halandri,  which belongs to the Archdiocese of Athens, Church of Greece.

Father Stefanos received a B.A. in Religious Studies from Hellenic College in Brookline, MA, and his M.Div. from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology (Liturgical History) from the University of Notre Dame, where his main area of concentration was Liturgical Studies, with minors in Byzantine Art and Patristics.

Before coming to Greece in 2003, Dr. Alexopoulos taught a theology course, “The Spirituality of the Christian East; Experience, Form & Expression,” at the University of Notre Dame, for which he received the “Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Kaneb Award for Excellence in Teaching.”

He has been teaching at the College Year in Athens Program since 2007 and was recently elected Assistant Professor of liturgy at the Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens. He is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Society of Oriental Liturgy of which he is the secretary.

Father Stefanos has participated  in the project “New Catalogue of Byzantine Manuscripts” of the Protestant Theological University, Kampen, Holland as an expert/consultant on issues of Byzantine liturgical history since September of 2009.

He has had his book, based on his dissertation 'The Presanctified Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite: A Comparative Analysis of its Origins, Evolution, and Structural Unit's published in the series Liturgia Condenda 21  by Leuven: Peeters Publishers, 2009.

In the Spring Semester of 2012, Father Stefanos was a visiting professor at the Institute of Sacred Music of Yale University.


  At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows!

 © GlobalGreekWorld 2012 All Rights Reserved

Ο Ακάθιστος Υμνος:Τη Υπερμάχω Στρατηγώ - To Thee, the Champion Leader

Τή υπερμάχω στρατηγώ τα νικητήρια
Ως λυτρωθείσα των δεινών ευχαριστήρια
Αναγράφω σοι η πόλις σου Θεοτόκε.
Αλλ' ως έχουσα το κράτος απροσμάχητον
Εκ παντίων μέ κινδύνων ελευθέρωσον
Ίνα κράζω σοι·
Χαίρε Νύμφη ανύμφευτε.

 To thee, the Champion Leader, 

O Theotokos

we thy servants dedicate a feast of victory and thanksgiving

as ones rescued from suffering ;

but as thou art one with invincible might, 

Deliver us from all possible dangers ,

so that we may cry to thee:

Rejoice, Unwedded Bride... 

Υesterday, Friday, the τελευταίοι Χαιρετισμοί took place, the day that the Akathistos Ymnos, of which this verse is the beginning, is chanted in its entirety in all Orthodox churches around the world, during the last of the Heretismous services - the Salutations to the Virgin Mary services.

 In the 7th Century, the people of Constantinople were saved from the attacking Avars by the divine intervention of the Virgin Mary after they took over the Church of Panagia ton Vlahernon. On the 8th of August wanting to give thanks to the Virgin Mary for her assistance, the people gathered in Aghia Sofia and standing up throughout the psalm, sang the Akathisto Ymno to thank her and to salute her with this most beautiful of hymns. One of Orthodoxy's most beautiful this hymn has been attributed to Romanos o Melodos, Romanos the Melodian, who wrote many Orthodox chants over that period.  

It is divided into four parts for the services of the Salutations to the Virgin Mary, Οι Χαιρετισμοί, which take place on the first four Fridays of Lent. During each of these four Fridays one part of the hymn is chanted whilst on the fifth Friday the entire Akathistos Ymnos is chanted.

Κατά το έτος 626 μ.Χ., και ενώ ο Αυτοκράτορας Ηράκλειος μαζί με το βυζαντινό στρατό είχε εκστρατεύσει κατά των Περσών, η Κωνσταντινούπολη πολιορκήθηκε αιφνίδια από τους Αβάρους. Οι Άβαροι απέρριψαν κάθε πρόταση εκεχειρίας και την 6η Αυγούστου κατέλαβαν την Παναγία των Βλαχερνών. Σε συνεργασία με τους Πέρσες ετοιμάζονταν για την τελική επίθεση, ενώ ο Πατριάρχης Σέργιος περιέτρεχε τα τείχη της Πόλης με την εικόνα της Παναγίας της Βλαχερνίτισσας και ενθάρρυνε το λαό στην αντίσταση. Τη νύχτα εκείνη, φοβερός ανεμοστρόβιλος, που αποδόθηκε σε θεϊκή επέμβαση, δημιούργησε τρικυμία και κατάστρεψε τον εχθρικό στόλο, ενώ οι αμυνόμενοι προξένησαν τεράστιες απώλειες στους Αβάρους και τους Πέρσες, οι οποίοι αναγκάστηκαν να λύσουν την πολιορκία και να αποχωρήσουν άπρακτοι.

Στις 8 Αυγούστου, η Πόλη είχε σωθεί από τη μεγαλύτερη, ως τότε, απειλή της ιστορίας της. Ο λαός, θέλοντας να πανηγυρίσει τη σωτηρία του, την οποία απέδιδε σε συνδρομή της Θεοτόκου, συγκεντρώθηκε στο Ναό της Παναγίας των Βλαχερνών. Τότε, κατά την παράδοση, όρθιο το πλήθος έψαλλε τον από τότε λεγόμενο «Ακάθιστο Ύμνο», ευχαριστήρια ωδή προς την υπέρμαχο στρατηγό του Βυζαντινού κράτους, την Παναγία, αποδίδοντας τα «νικητήρια» και την ευγνωμοσύνη του  "Τη Υπερμάχω Στρατηγώ".

Η Ορθόδοξη Εκκλησία ψάλλει τους Χαιρετισμούς κάθε Παρασκευή βράδυ, τις πρώτες 5 εβδομάδες της Μεγάλης Σαρακοστής. Για την ακρίβεια, κόβουμε τουςΧαιρετισμούς σε 4 κομμάτια (λέγονται "4 στάσεις") και λέμε από ένα κάθε Παρασκευή, ενώ την 5η Παρασκευή λέγεται ολόκληρο το έργο.

Τους Χαιρετισμούς τους απαγγέλλει με τη μουσική τους ο ιερέας. Πριν απ' αυτό, οι ψάλτες έχουν ψάλει ένα άλλο περίφημο μουσικό και ποιητικό έργο, που λέγεται "κανόνας των Χαιρετισμών" (οι κανόνες είναι ένα άλλο είδος βυζαντινής κλασικής μουσικής) και δημιουργός του είναι ένας ακόμη κορυφαίος ποιητής και μουσικός του Βυζαντίου, ο άγιος Ιωσήφ ο Υμνογράφος.  Read more at Agioritiko Vima/ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΙΚΟ ΒΗΜΑ

Royal Wedding : Greek Orthodox Icons Inside Westminster Abbey - A Tribute to the Greek Orthodox Religion?

Greek Orthodox Byzantine Icons inside Westminster Abbey

Picture source: GGW - BBC Live stream still

As Britain prepares for the marriage of Crown Prince William and Kate Middleton, it is interesting to note that there are two beautiful Greek Orthodox Byzantine style icons placed  inside Westminster Abbey, one on each side... something that we've never seen before, and maybe in deference to the Greek connection of the Royal Family.

Prince Charles is a frequent visitor to Mt Athos while Prince Philip, before renouncing his Greek citizenship to marry the Queen, was a member of the Greek Royal family, while ex King of Greece, Constantine is one of William's godparents.

Kai sta dika sas oi anypantroi!  (Thanks Lizzy K!)

You can watch the wedding Live on the BBC, Click Here 

P.S.  Our thanks to one of our readers, Alkyoni,  for letting us know that the icons are the work of Russian Icon painter Sergei Federov. Apparently they have been there a while. You can read a little about this talented icon painter here.