I need help - urgent!!

Zoxsasi

Dear friends,

I really need two main pieces of advice:

1. I need to know the hymns and protocol for hymns for Nativity mass. I'll be leading the deacons.

2. The church i go to is very small, and we have a small congregation. I'm probably the only one that knows Coptic, the rest speak Arabic. My question is this: Is it honestly worth it if I sing stuff like Pijenmisi if no one else knows it?? 

Going back to Q.1, can you answer these questions:

a) Do we sing Apenchoise before Agios Others?

b) In Agios Otheos, what is the main verse? Is it just O ekpartheno genetics Aleyson emas? Do I sing that 3 times, or just once?

c) Which other hymns do we have to include? 

d) What is the verse to be sung during psalm 150?

Thanks

Amoussa01

Hey Zoxsasi,

a) Yes we say Apenchoice before Agios

b) yes it is o ekpartheno three times

c) Since this is a major lordly feast, there are a lot of things that can be said. For matins, you say the joyful morning doxology tune followed by the verses specific to the feast. There is also the hymns of the 7 tunes in which is very long, and the doxologies...thats mainly it for matins. For the Liturgy of the Word, you have hymns like Epouro, the Hiten's for the feast, the praxis response, E-parthenos & Pigenmisi followed by Apenchoice and Agios. 

For future reference, check out the hymns library here: http://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/cat/6

Regarding your second queston: 

I think saying E parthenos and Pigenmisi wont take much time and you might be surprised to find that some people may know it given the simplicity. With that said, I strongly recommend you use discretion and not go overboard if you believe you are the only one saying these hymns. It would be great if you, at the least, had some powerpoint or translation...if not, why not say the hymns in Arabic? That way it would occupy their minds and hearts as opposed to only their ears. 

Zoxsasi

Thank you matey! 

Excellent post! That's exactly what I was interested in.

Dude, these people are angels, I love them. They are my congregation, but trust me, they don't know much.

I'll skip pigenmisi. 

What is meant by Matins? That's vesper (before we dress as deacons?). What do you mean the joyful tune? Do you have any examples of thus?

Thanks

ophadece

Matins is baker which is the morning counterpart to vespers.
I don't think it's wise to skip beginmisi as it is the signature hymn for the feast.. please check the lyrics.. literally 45 seconds and it's much nicer than abartanos.. indeed it's a bit similar to other common hymns so perhaps as Amoussa01 said you'd be surprised..
oujai khan ebshois

joeg

Matins = raising of morning incense, it must precede every Liturgy. It may be a bit confusing on the Nativity, because we usually pray late on the 6th January so that the Liturgy concludes on the 7th January (the 29th Kiahk), so Matins is late at night. The service vestments aren't worn during Matins.

Khepra

Can I just point out that Matins refers to the prayers of the First Hour of the day just as Vespers refers to the prayers of the Eleventh and Twelfth Hours of the Day. The correct term you are looking for of "Offering of Morning Incense" / "Offering of Evening Incense", since we literally offer a sacrifice of incense. 

Based on that explanation, then @joeg you are correct - service vestment need not be worn during Matins or Vespers. However, service vestments are to be worn during all 'liturgical services'.

cyril

is the sadra / epitrachelion to be worn by Abouna for Orthros, Matins and Vespers?

Khepra

I don't think so, since everyone is supposed to pray those anyway - priest or not.

Zoxsasi

OK.. let's go to the specifics:

1./ What additions are to be sang in Hiten?

2./ After the sermon, do we still say Tenti Nempi? or Tenechisi emmo?

3,/ When is Pigenmisi sung?

4,/ When do we sing Shere Maria? 

5/ I need help? can anyone here come over to my house for Christmas?

Amoussa01

Hey Sasi,

As I mentioned to you before, refer to the hymns library section link I posted previously and you will find all the answer to these simple questions! Common mate! 

Nevertheless, I will break it down for you.

1. http://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/view/79

2. The gospel responses you are referring to are reserved for the Kiahk buddy! The one for the feast is here: http://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/view/89

3. After the Acts. Lately, I have been noticing some priests read the Synaxarium which states the reason why we celebrate the feast. Check to see if your priest will read this...if not then after the Acts

4. There are two hymns that have a similar name. Shere Maria is a hymn said during the offertory (the very beginning) ...this is an annual hymn (not said for feasts). The other is Shere Ne Maria (which is what I believe you are referring to) which is the Praxis response. This hymn is also an annual hymn...this feast has its own praxis response which you can find here: http://tasbeha.org/hymn_library/view/81

5. I can't do that since I live in California (USA) but what I can do is send you this link with many different cantors for you to review: http://tasbeha.org/mp3/Hymns/Major_Feasts_of_the_Lord/Nativity.html

You should start reviewing soon... the liturgy is in a couple days!