The texts, music and commentary on this website were prepared by the Metropolitan Cantor Institute of the Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh. They are approved for provisional use in the Archeparchy, but are otherwise unofficial and should be considered superseded by any materials promulgated by the Council of Hierarchs.

Upcoming Events

February 20, 2010 - Fourth meeting of the 2009-2010 Metropolitan Cantor Institute, Byzantine Catholic Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA.

complete upcoming events

Liturgical Calendar

January 30 is the feast of the Three Holy Bishops: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom.
Vespers (samohlasen) - Divine Liturgy

January 31 is the Sunday of the Prodical Son.
Vespers - Matins - Divine Liturgy

February 2 is the feast of the Neeting of our Lord with the elder Simeon, and Anna the prophetess.
Vespers - Matins - Divine Liturgy

February 6 is the first All Souls Saturday.
Divine Liturgy

February 7 is the Sunday of Meatfare, the Sunday of the Last Judgment.
Vespers (samohlasen) - Matins - Divine Liturgy

February 13 is Cheesefare Saturday, on which we commemorate all holy ascetics.
Divine Liturgy

February 14 is the Sunday of Cheesefare, the Sunday of the Expulsion of Adam and Eve.
Vespers (samohlasen) - Matins - Divine Liturgy - Vespers of Forgiveness

February 15 is Pure Monday, the first day of the Great Fast.

February 20 is the first Saturday in the Fast, on which we commemorate the miralce of the holy martyr Theodore.
Divine Liturgy

February 21 is the first Sunday of the Great Fast, the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
Vespers (samohlasen) - Divine Liturgy - Sunday evening Vespers

February 27 is the second All Souls Saturday.
Divine Liturgy

February 28 is the second Sunday of the Great Fast.
Vespers - Divine Liturgy - Sunday evening Vespers

complete liturgical calendar

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The Great Fast

The Great Fast (Slavonic Velikij Post', or Svjata Chetyredesjatnica, "holy forty days") is our annual preparation for the feast of Pascha. (read the entire article)

New books for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

In January 2010, the Council of Hierarchs announced the availability of new service books for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

Using the new books for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts

Singing the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts (using the new books)

Download the music for the fixed parts of the service, and for the first week of the Great Fast (LARGE)

Recordings of the chant for the service are in preparation. In addition, if there is interest, we are open to providing parish- or deanery-based workshops on the new Presanctified books. Interested pastors should contact the MCI directory, Father Daniel Forsythe (daforsythe@gmail.com) as soon as possible.

Music for the Great Fast

The MCI publishes weekly propers for Saturday evening Vespers, Sunday Divine Liturgy, and Vespers on Sunday evening. These materials are available on this website, and also through the mcimusicfiles e-mail list.

Sunday evening Vespers

This year, we will be printing complete propers for the service of Vespers on Sunday evening in the Great Fast, beginning with Forgiveness Vespers, the service on the evening of Cheesefare Sunday which begins the fast. Since the propers leaflet each week will include all the hymns for the day, we have reprinting the following service book in a much shorter (28 page) format:

Weekday services

The MCI has books for the following weekday services in the FastL

Since the newly-released books for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts includes propers texts for the ordinary days on which this service is celebrated, the Cantor Institute will not be producing separate propers leaflets for the Presanctified liturgy.

Melodies for the Liturgy of Saint Basil

On the five Sundays of the Great Fast, we celebrate the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great. The new service books promulgated in 2007 contain English settings for the anaphora (Eucharistic prayer) of this liturgy in two versions. The following articles present the two versions of the Basil melodies, with advice on singing them properly:

Looking for Local Recordings of Prostopinije!

We would like to expand our archival collection of recorded prostopinije, old and new, in order to provide a record of prostopinje use in Europe and in the New World, to prevent any further loss of melodies, and to support the process of setting texts in English to the Church's plainchant.  

Parishes or individuals with recorded prostopinije who are willing to grant non-exclusive webcast rights to the Metropolitan Cantor Institute are asked to contact the webmaster, Jeff Mierzejewski, at ByzKat@stny.rr.com.   Along with the recordings themselves, please provide a description of where and when they were recorded, and the names of the cantor(s) if known.