COLLECTION OF ORTHODOX SPIRITUAL MUSIC, LITURGICAL CHANTS, PSALMS, PRAYERS, HYMNS, TROPARIONS, ACATHISTI
The interest in spiritual music, which had faded away, has risen again in recent years. Chants can be heard more often at concerts, on radio and television. Initially in Russia, spiritual music emerged at the end of the 10th century after baptizing of the land. The Orthodox Art Corporation Andcross spiritual center offers a video COLLECTION OF ORTHODOX SPIRITUAL MUSIC, LITURGICAL CHANTS, PSALMS, PRAYERS, HYMNS, TROPARIONS, ACATHISTI, which you can watch and listen to online on our YouTube channel.
Spiritual music – the Russian people’s heritage
Church or spiritual music, as well as painting and architecture, is a great layer of the Russian people’s cultural heritage. And it is a shame that such a layer was forgotten for a time, namely, for almost a century after the revolution.
Today people are once again hearing the beauty of spiritual music and feeling its benefits. Churches are once again filled with people praying and reciting psalms. There are a huge number of unique works in this area, masterpieces created by great composers: Rakhmaninov, Bortnyansky, Tchaikovsky, Grechaninov. There are also works by unknown authors. Listening to liturgical hymns, psalms, prayers, troparions and acathisti is not only pleasant for the ear, but also good for the human soul.
Spiritual music (you can listen to it on our channel) is filled with deep philosophical meaning. It tells you of human life, suffering, joy, patience and humility, eternal life and death. Among the works there are many compositions written for professional ensembles, not just for service in churches. Some of the works were composed for concert performance.
But there is another part of the compositions. The one written for a modest audience, to be performed by churchgoers or a small church choir. Simple hymns and psalms were, and still are, sung during services. They are easy to reproduce and memorize. On hearing them once, one can repeat them at home.
What is spiritual music.
Spiritual music in a narrower sense is Christian church compositions. In a broader sense, it is not limited to performance in churches, it is used not only to accompany the worship service. Spiritual music online on YouTube (you can listen to it on our channel) belongs not only to believers. Today, the beauty and the great semantic load of this field of art is understood and appreciated by people of different ages and professions. After all, spiritual music in every country has deep national roots. Music is a source of virtue and strength.
Among the features of Orthodox spiritual music one can mention he following:
Unaccompanied singing. Often performers simply recite prayers to a particular tune without a special melody.
It is the text that is of paramount importance, not the melody in itself. The latter should not prevent listeners from following the meaning of the prayer words.
As a rule, church hymns are designed for polyphony.
Once upon a time, people used to perform spiritual chants often in home life. Many chants were considered family ones and passed from generation to generation. The church traditions of each family were special. Believers would perform chants and prayers on the way to churches, other settlements, at home on holidays.
New generations do not just perceive spiritual music as something far-off – they are quite unaware of it. And although today the traditions of Christianity are being revived in schools – they are beginning to teach the word of God, read prayers and psalms, but as for spiritual music, young people can only hear it from elderly ones or during church services. And given that the tunes performed in churches are only a tiny fraction of the huge layer of the art, it is understandable why it is worth focusing on this.
The Benefits of Spiritual Music, Prayers, and Psalms
Prayer is an appeal to God. In prayer, believers thank Him for the blessings sent down, for the gift of life, food on the table, and everything they have. Or better to say, it should be so. But in reality, people recollect prayers only at moments of greatest grief, when something needs to be asked for.
Initially, prayers and sacred psalms were intended exclusively for communication with God. Today, prayers are used as a kind of net with which people try to catch a goldfish – God.
As a matter of fact, people mostly do not even know prayers as it were. There are just ordinary words like “God, help (save, make, forbid, etc.)”. A real prayer from the heart brings great benefits.
When turning to God, believers open their minds. When reading the words of the prayer thoughtfully, they gradually begin to see their future path and ways of their salvation and bringing a relief to life.
In Buddhism, the analogue of saying prayers and psalms is meditation. One submerges into oneself, analyzing the situation, and also believing that at this moment God hears him and will certainly help. So, it was for a good reason that in ancient time people devoted so much time to prayers and worship. Visiting temples, being immersed into the atmosphere of common faith, saying prayers together with everyone, one would review his life, cleanse himself spiritually and get ready to move on.
Standing up for prayer every day, one cultivates in himself the will, patience, learns self-control and composure. The point here is not in pronouncing special words, although they carry a sacred meaning, but simply in the fact that while praying one restrains himself. And the spiritual music we offer to listen to on the channel of the Orthodox Art Corporation Andcross spiritual center, helps to immerse even deeper in one’s inner world and better understand the need for constant contact with God!
