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The fathers of the Nearby Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which took spot in Moscow in 1917-1918, asserted that the process of “singing the chants at the Church Service can be assigned each to unique choirs consisting of the expert musicians and to all folks who are praying in the temple.” They even planned to incorporate the Church singing into the curriculum of main schools in order to enable students be prepared to sing at the Church Solutions.
Sadly, the Bolshevik revolution and persecution of the Orthodox Church did not let to implement these choices of the Nearby Council. As a outcome of the lengthy history of atheism in the Soviet Union, now numerous folks who contact themselves Orthodox Christians represent a passive audience in the course of the Church Service.  They know how to light a candle in front of the icon and pray for their person requirements. But handful of fully grasp what it truly signifies to “glorify and hymn God’s most honorable and majestic name with one particular mouth and one particular heart.” For the most element, singing the Symbol of Faith and the Lord’s Prayer is the greatest they can do at the Liturgy.
In Belarus there are some parishes exactly where the priests encourage all the parishioners to sing at the Liturgy. Of course, the introduction of this practice is a lengthy method, which calls for a great deal power and patience from the priests and choir conductors. Naturally, prevalent folks can not rival the expert singers who devoted their complete lives to music. Therefore, the chants performed by the complete Church congregation need to be as very simple as attainable as far as the melody is concerned. In my opinion, we face but one more trouble. While the Divine Liturgy is the most crucial Church Service, the Vespers and the Matins are a great deal extra complicated relating to the structure of the Service. Without the need of lengthy and substantial preparation folks with no music education can not even consider of taking element in such Solutions as singers. Nonetheless, even in the course of the All-Vigil Evening all the parishioners can sing with each other a handful of prayers, such as “Vouchsafe, O Lord”, “Rejoice! O Virgin Theotokos!”, and so on.
I consider that practicing Orthodox Christian need to understand that their participation at the Church Service can not be restricted to listening only. Right after all, the fathers of the Nearby Council of 1917-1918 unambiguously stated that the choirs of parishioners have a proper to sing at the Solutions. As for the expert choir conductors and expert musicians, they need to be extra lenient to the “common people” who possess neither musical capabilities nor good voices. By the way, according to Saint Ambrose of Optina, “If you have a great voice, beware of demons.”  Furthermore, in the eyes of God our souls are extra crucial than voices “we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” (John 9:31). No doubt, when we discover to obey the commandments of God, we can actually glorify God with one particular mouth and one particular heart.By Vladimir Sypchu,
the chorister from the parish of
the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple,
Minsk, Belarus
The Catalog of Superior Deeds, 2019
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