Monday, June 08, 2009

Chevetogne

The Monastery of Chevetogne in Belgium is unique insofar as it a monastery which is comprised of both lungs of the Church, having both Latin and Byzantine churches, monks and liturgical services there. It is also tied to the person of Dom Lambert Beauduin, whose name will be well known to those with an interest in the Liturgical Movement.

I ran across this clip from the Byzantine church of the Abbey, by way of Fr. Raymond Blake who in turn found it by way of Carlos Antonio Palad at Rorate Caeli.

The description of the video is of the following liturgical text in characteristic Byzantine phrasing, which pairs with the video itself:

Troparion of the Veneration of the Epitaphios:

Come and let us bless Joseph of everlasting memory, who came to Pilate by night and begged for the Life of all: 'Give me this stranger, who has no place to lay His head. Give me this stranger, whom His evil disciple delivered to death. Give me this stranger, whom His Mother saw hanging on the Cross, and with a mother's sorrow she cried weeping: "Woe is me, my Child! Woe is me, Light of mine eyes and beloved fruit of my womb! For what Simeon foretold in the temple is come to pass today: a sword pierce my heart, but do Thou change my grief to gladness by Thy Ressurrection." '

We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ.
We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ.
We venerate Thy Passion, O Christ, and Thy Holy Resurrection.

One of our Eastern Christian readers can probably confirm, but from the liturgical text as well as the ceremonies I am seeing in the video itself, which I have seen before, this would be occuring in the context of "Great and Holy Friday" (i.e. Good Friday in the West).

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