Between Earth and Heaven

Program: #09-17   Air Date: Apr 20, 2009

We begin a six-part series in collaboration with the Belgian Tourist Office and the Embassy of Belgium in Washington, D.C., including Belgian performers and composers.For information, you may go to:

www.visitbelgium.com

The Monks of Chevetogne: Between Earth and Heaven

Dear Friends of Millennium of Music:
Even by the standards of our most popular program, we have been gratified (and taken aback) by the overwhelming response we have received from this series dedicated to the work of the monks of Chevetogne. To this end, we are providing some extra information on how to reach the monks on line or by mail.

Monastère de l'Exaltation de la Sainte Croix
Rue du monastère 65
B - 5590 - Chevetogne
Belgique

Tel.: + 32 (0)83 21.17.63
Fax: + 32 (0)83 21.60.45

www.monasterechevetogne.com

Email addresses of the Monastery:

[email protected]
(this is the current e mail address of Fr. Thomas
Pott, current music director--new as of January 2005)

Again, thank you for you enthusiastic support for the program; we hope to continue this series for some time.
-- Robert Aubry Davis

Fr. Thomas Pott writes: The forty days separating Easter Sunday from the feast of the Ascension appear as passing through a "garden of delights."

At the center of the garden is a tomb. And it is this tomb, paradoxically, that transforms the place into that garden of delights. The tomb is open, and no one could doubt that it is empty. From its centre there emanates a sweetness, a reassurance, that freshens the garden like water satisfying a parched earth. And for those who walk there, this lightness becomes the air they breathe, the water or wine they imbibe, and the bread or dishes that nourish them. The garden is a place of special encounter, for it is here that Mary Magdalene meets Jesus on the morning of the Resurrection.

It is woman encountering man, and, at the same time, it is humanity encountering God.

For this reason such meetings, however private and personal, take on a universal significance. At the same time, they take place at a level of intimacy that would not be possible elsewhere. The intimacy of these encounters is equalled by the reverence which they inspire: each fully opens to the other--man, entirely man, meets God, entirely God, where the absence of barriers is real and total. This garden is, then, an intermediary place between earth and heaven; or, better, a place where earth and heaven are conjoined without losing their respective natures.

Week of Easter

--Easter Beginning: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down Death by death"

--Great Prokeimenon at Easter Vespers: "What God is as great as our God?"

--Great Prokeimenon on Easter Monday: "Our God is in heaven and on earth"

--Great Prokeimenon on Easter Tuesday: "I cry with my voice unto the Lord"

--Great Prokeimenon on Easter Wednesday: "O God, listen to my prayer"

--Great Prokeimenon on Easter Thursday: "I love You, Lord, my strength"

--Great Prokeimenon on Easter Friday: "You grant me the heritage of those who fear you"

Eastertide

--Megalynarion of Sunday after Easter: "We extol you, O Life-giving Christ"

--"In that we have beheld the Resurrection of Christ:"

--Katavasia of the Canon of Easter (9 Odes): "The Day of Resurrection! Let us be illumined, O ye people"

--Troparia of the Resurrection: "Blessed are you, O Lord: teach me your statutes."

--"The Angel cried to her that is full of grace: Pure Virgin, rejoice!"

--The Paschal Stichera: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered"

Ascension

--Aposticha at the Vespers: "You were born, as you yourself willed"

--Troparion of the Feast: "The Lord is God"/"All the nations have surrounded me"

--Megalynarion: "We extol You, O Christ, the Giver of Life"

--Canon, odes 1-6: "To God the Savior who guided the people"

--Kontakion: "When you had fulfilled the dispensation for our sake"

--Canon, odes 7-9: "You saved the Youths who sang your praise"

--Exapostilarion: "With your Disciples watching you, O Christ, you were taken up to the Father to take your seat with Him"