   
At our present stage of musical development in the English-speaking Orthodox Church, we have no recordings in English of the festal hymns of Transfiguration. Therefore, we are providing the texts below of the hymns heard on the program, so listeners can follow along.
Selection 1: The Troparion of the feast:
You were transfigured on the mount, O Christ God,
revealing your glory to your disciples as far as they could bear it.
Let your everlasting light shine upon us sinners
though the prayers of the Theotokos.
O Giver of Light, glory to You!
Selection 2: Sticheron at “Lord, I have cried” from Small Vespers:
Shining forth with the light of the virtues,
let us set foot on the holy mountain,
that we may behold
the divine Transfiguration of the Lord.
Selection 3: Doxastichon at “Lord, I have cried” from Great Vespers
Prefiguring Your Resurrection, O Christ our God,
You took with You in Your ascent of Mount Tabor
Your three Disciples, Peter, James and John.
When You were transfigured, O Savior,
Mount Tabor was covered with light.
Your Disciples, O Word, threw themselves down upon the ground,
unable to gaze upon the form that none may see.
The Angels ministered in fear and trembling;
the heavens shook and the earth quaked,
as they beheld on earth the Lord of Glory.
Selections 4 and 5: Lity Sticheron
In Your goodness You have sanctified the whole world with Your Light:
You were transfigured on a high mountain,
showing Your power to Your Disciples;
for You redeem the world from transgression.
Therefore we cry out to You: “O Lord of compassion, save our souls!”
Selection 6: Doxastichon of the Lity
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of our God,
and behold the glory of His Transfiguration,
the glory of the only-begotten Son of the Father!
Let us receive light from His light!
Let us be uplifted in spirit,
and forever sing the praises of the consubstantial Trinity!
Selection 7: Sticheron Apostichon
He, Who of old, spoke through symbols to Moses on Mount Sinai saying: “I am He Who is,”
was transfigured today upon Mount Tabor before the Disciples.
In His own person He showed them the nature of mankind
arrayed in the original beauty of the Image.
Calling Moses and Elijah to be witnesses of this surpassing grace,
He made them partakers of the gladness,
foretelling His death on the Cross and His saving Resurrection.
Selection 8: Troparion from the Eighth Ode of the Second Canon
Now the unheard of has been heard.
For the Son Who came forth without a father from the Virgin
receives gloriouos testimony from His Father’s voice,
that He is both God and man for evermore.
Selection 9: The Exaposteilarion
Today on Mount Tabor,
in the manifestation of Thy Light, O Word,
Thou unaltered Light from the Light of the unbegotten Father,
we have seen the Father as Light and the Spirit as Light
guiding with light the entire creation.
Selections 10 and 11: The Festal Hymn to the Theotokos
Magnify, O My soul, the Lord who was transfigured on Mount Tabor.
Your birthgiving was incorruptible.
God cam forth from your womb
and appeared upon the earth in the flesh,
dwelling among men.
Therefore, we all extol you, O Theotokos.
Several recordings from which the above selections were taken are out of print and no longer
available. Selections 2 and 7 are from CD D025, in the series “Orthodox Shrines of the Russian
North,” Selection 5 appears on CD D105, “To the Glory of God,” by the Konevets Quartet, Selection 9 appears on CD D027, also from “Orthodox Shrines of the Russian North,” and Selection 10 appears on CD D053 – “Russian Orthodox Church Music” by the Konevets Quartet. These recordings are available from www.musicarussica.com.
--Vladimir Morosan
8-2-2008 |
