Celebration at the RILA MONASTERY
Issued: 2004
Style: Orthodox music
Company: Balkanton
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In the 10th century A.D. the great wilderness of the Rila Mountain was illuminated by the angel-like life and radiant monastic ascetics of St. John of Rila, an all-bulgarian defender and God-inspired monk. He set an example of a life directed at spiritual perfection by avoiding the temptations of the world in hermit solitude, prayer vigils and assiduous service to his fello-men, thus soaring up to an angel-like life. The divine services in the monastery church are the core of spiritual life in the monastery. Their magnificence embraces all features of the centuries-old liturgical heritage of the Holy Orthodox Church.
The School for church chanters at the Rila monastery, a School widely known in the 19th century, played a foremost role in translating liturgical texts, adapting the tunes to the Church-Slavonic text and shaping the national element in the overall pattern of Byzantine 8-mode singing, which was adopted by the Orthodox church of Bulgaria.
Contents:
GREAT VESPERS
MATINS
Documentary recording from a SOLEMN DIVINE SERVICE IN PRAISE OF THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN OF RILA (Held and sung by priest-monks of the stately Rila Monastery church in 1979)
The chants are sung by a Rriest-Monk Church Choir
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