Benedict Sheehan’s Ukrainian War Requiem, Reviewed by Thomas Neal

Today marks the third anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We are honored to share this review by our friend Thomas Neal of a recording of the Ukrainian War Requiem, commissioned by the Axios Men’s Ensemble from composer Benedict Sheehan, in remembrance of the victims of the invasion. The recording is now available from Capella Records. We urge all of our readers to continue pray for an end to the conflict and the establishment of a just peace.

In 2022, Damein Zakordonski and Steven Brese of the Axios Men’s Ensemble commissioned the multiple Grammy-nominated composer Benedict Sheehan to create a new work in honour of those fallen in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The result is a substantial composition in twelve movements titled Ukrainian War Requiem, which received its premiere performance in April 2024. (Video of the part of the premiere performance at the church of St Basil the Great in Edmonton, Alberta; photos below.)

Described as “one of the leading voices in religious classical music in the 21st century” (ConcertoNet), Sheehan works out of the sacred choral traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy and has gained international recognition for his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2020) and Vespers (2021).

His Ukrainian War Requiem follows the basic structure of the panakhyda, the Byzantine Rite’s memorial service for the dead:

    I. Trisagion Prayers (Трисвятi Молитви)

    II. Psalm 90 (Псалом 90)
    III. Great Litany (Велика Ектенія)
    IV. Alleluia & Troparia (Алилуя і Тропарі)
    V. Evlogitaria of the Departed (Евлогитарії)
    VI. Sessional Hymn of the Departed (Сідальний: Упокой, Спасе наш)
    VII. Psalm 50 (Псалом 50)
    VIII. Canon (Канон)
    IX. With the Souls (З Духами спочилих праведників)
    X. Litany for the Dead (Заупокійна ектенія)
    XI. Eternal Memory & Light (Вічная Пам’ять)

    XII. In Paradisum

As Dr. Deacon Nicholas Denysenko explains in the liner notes:

Ukrainians remember the dead in a beloved ritual called a panakhyda—a type of vigil centred on song. Mourners stand before God, in solidarity with survivors, and sing a panakhyda. It is a ritual reflecting on life and death, a lament of grief and loss, and of hope. [In the face of recent world events] the Ukrainian spirit continues to cry out to God in the panakhyda, commending the dead to God, singing them into God’s realm, remembering them for their sacrifice.

Sheehan selected sacred texts in Ukrainian, English, and Latin, sometimes combining different languages in the same movement. And he has drawn on a variety of musical influences including Ukrainian and Galician chant (галицький розспів), Western plainchant, and a Ukrainian Jewish psalm tone (nusach). These disparate elements are brought together with original thematic material, and the various movements are unified through frequent use of the melody of the Ukrainian national anthem, Shche Ne Vmerla Ukraïna, by Mykhailo Verbytskyi.

Sheehan explains the use of such disparate elements by pointing out that Ukrainian culture and artistic heritage is both multicultural and multireligious. It is very much to the composer’s credit that he has succeeded in drawing on this great variety of musical-liturgical traditions, holding them in creative tension, and making them ‘speak’ to, and of, each other. The result could so easily have been overly sentimental, even kitsch; instead, it is an ‘authentic’ work in the best sense of the term. Sheehan’s Requiem is firmly grounded in musical traditions; but, like the householder “who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old” (Matthew 13, 52), he has not shied away from handling the material with a contemporary voice. The result is a remarkably homogenous composition: the variety of styles, traditions, and languages gives the work a clear structure that is well-proportioned and well-paced.

Sheehan’s Ukrainian War Requiem has now been recorded by the Axios Men’s Ensemble, together with the tenors and basses of Pro Coro Canada, under the direction of Michael Zaugg. The performance is astonishingly good. The exceptional quality of the voices, the consistency of tone throughout the tessitura, and the impeccable tuning and ensemble make for an outstanding performance.

The recording has been released by Cappella Records (CR 432) in time to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022-25). The album includes a 28-page booklet with essays by the composer and Dr. Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, attractive photography, and all texts and translations (the downloaded version includes a PDF of the full booklet).

Sheehan is, without doubt, one of the most innovative and exciting voices in contemporary liturgical composition, and I am sure many NLM readers will want to own this tremendous and timely new release.

Photos of the premiere performance...

conducted by Michael Zaugg of Pro Coro Canada.

soloist Yuliia Zasimova

The First Ukrainian Printed Book: An Epistle Lectionary of 1574

A few days ago, the YouTube channel of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University posted this video about the oldest printed book in Ukrainian, an Epistle lectionary with the text of the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline and Catholic letters. A friend of mine, Dr Daniel Galadza, who is an expert on the liturgical history of the Ukrainian church, informs me that the book was definitely made for liturgical use, and is not just a section of the Bible. This is why it also has an appendix which includes information about the Sunday antiphons (the chants which begin the Divine Liturgy), according to practices which are still observed to this day in the region of Galicia, which is now partly in western Ukraine, and partly in southern Poland, and at the Pecherskaja Lavra in Kyiv, also known as the Monastery of the Caves.

An Ordinariate Rite Votive Mass for Peace in Ukraine

The following description was provided by James T.M. Griffin, executive director of the Durandus Institute for Sacred Liturgy and Music. Our thanks to him, and to Mrs Allison Girone for these photos. We strongly urge all our readers to fervently pray for a swift end to the hostilities in Ukraine, and particularly for the safety of the many Byzantine Rite Catholics in that country.

The parish of St John the Baptist in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, where I serve as subdeacon, is an Ordinariate community serving the Philadelphia region. Besides having a Ukrainian Catholic parish up the street for neighbors, we are in proximity to the cathedral of the Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia. Following the invasion of Ukraine, we were moved to organize a special votive Mass for peace (or, as the Ordinariate’s Divine Worship Missal calls it, a Mass “in time of war or civil disturbance.”) This was originally intended to be a simple votive Mass in place of one of our regularly scheduled low Masses, but over the span of four days, interest grew, such that visiting singers and additional volunteers allowed us to celebrate a solemn Mass for this occasion. Our parish was additionally honored by the attendance of several descendants of Blessed Nicholas Konrad, a Ukrainian Catholic priest martyred during World War II.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Ukrainian Christmas Customs: A Documentary From 1942

For those who follow the Julian Calendar, today is the feast of the Theophany in the Byzantine Rite. This is as good an occasion as any to share this delightful documentary made in 1942 about the various customs of what many still call “Ukrainian Christmas,” customs brought to the New World by immigrants to Canada, both Catholic and Orthodox. Although it doesn’t show much of the liturgy, it covers a lot of religious and folk traditions associated with the liturgical season. (My thanks to an old and dear friend, Fr Athanasius McVay, a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic priest of the Eparchy of Edmonton, Canada, for bringing this to my attention.)

There is also a second film in the same vein, from a year later, which covers many different aspects of the life of these communities. The first half is about pioneer life and farming, but starting from about 6:50, it talks about the various religious institutions founded by the Ukrainians in Canada.

A Dominican Missa Cantata in L’viv, Ukraine

For the last year, there has been a regular weekly celebration of the Dominican Mass in L’viv, Ukraine; hitherto, always a low Mass, but this past Sunday, it was celebrated as a Missa cantata for the first time. Of course, we are always glad to report on the continued restoration of the traditional rites per se, but I also wanted to share these in particular because of the very particular decoration of the chapel where it was celebrated. As you can see in several of the photos, the frescoes on the walls are imitated from illuminated medieval liturgical manuscripts, a very clever idea! Our thanks to the photographer, Vita Jakubowska, for permission to reproduce these. (They go as far as the genuflection during the Creed.)

Continue Reading this Article. . .

A Concert of Ukrainian Sacred Music for the Easter Season

The Axios Men’s Ensemble, a choir which specializes in performing both sacred and secular music of the Ukrainian tradition, has recently published on their YouTube channel a video of a concert which they gave in New York City in 2017. This was the final in a series of concerts in various places on the East coast of the United States, featuring over 50 singers from Canada, the United States, and Ukraine, from several different ensembles (listed below). It was conducted by Michael Zaugg, the principle conductor and artistic director of Pro Coro Canada; the concert also showcased a brand-new liturgical composition by an American-Ukrainian priest, Fr John Sembrat OSBM, and other liturgical music from the Ukrainian tradition. The full program is given below.

Part I: Music composed by Fr. John Sembrat OSBM
Христос Воскрес II (Christ is Risen)
Слава: Єдинородний (Glory be: Only-begotten Son)
Третій Антифон (The Third Antiphon, first verse; Volodymyr Kudovba, tenor, Vasyl Pudchenko, bass)
Херувимська Пісня (The Cherubic Hymn)
Вірую (Nicene Creed)
Милiсть Mиру (Anaphora)
Ангел Звістив (The Angel Proclaimed)
Отче Наш (The Lord’s Prayer)
Єдин Свят: Тіло Христове (One is Holy: Body of Christ)
Христос Воскрес (Christ is Risen)

Part II

– Воскресіння Твоє, Христе Спасe (Your Resurrection, O Christ, traditional Kyivan chant. Arrangement by Mykola Hobdych (b. 1961); solo: Serhiy Bortnyk)
– Христос Воскрес (Christ is Risen; Composer: Fr. John Sembrat OSBM (b. 1943); Solo: Fr. Taras Koberynko)
– Канон Пасхи, пісня 1-ша (Paschal Canon, Ode 1; Composer: Artem Vedel, 1767-1808)
– Благослови, душе моя, Господa (Bless the Lord, O My Soul; Kyivan chant)
– Be still and Know that I Am God (Composer: Roman Hurko, b. 1962)
– Плоттю (In Your Death, O King and Lord; traditional Galician chant arrangement: Boris Derow; Soloists: Evhen Zamorsky, baritone, and Vasyl Pudchenko, bass)
– Канон Пасхи: пісня 4-та (Paschal Canon, Ode 4; Composer: Artem Vedel)
– Тобою Радується (All Creation Rejoices in Thee; Composer: Fr. John Sembrat OSBM)
– Стихири Пасхи (Paschal Stichera; traditional Kyivan chant arrangement: Mykola Hobdych)
– Ангел Bопіяще (The Angel Proclaimed; Composer: Roman Hurko)
– Да Воскресне Бог (Let God Arise, Psalm 67, 2-5, 35, 36; Composer: Dmytro Bortniansky, 1751-1825)
– Христос Воскрес (Christ is Risen; Composer: Artem Vedel; Arrangement: Hryhory Kytasty. 1907-84)
– Молитва за Україну (Prayer for Ukraine; Composer: Mykola Lysenko)

Encore: Христос Воскрес (Christ is Risen; Composer: Artem Vedel; Arrangement: Hryhory Kytasty)

The members of the choir come from the following ensembles:
Boyan Ensemble of Kyiv
Chorus of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
National Philharmonic of Ukraine
Homin Municipal Choir of Lviv
Vydubychi Church Choir of Kyiv
Pro Coro Canada
Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus of Detroit
Axios Men’s Ensemble
Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus of Winnipeg
Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton.

The Holy Passion-Bearers Ss Boris and Gleb

The Italians have a proverb that “Great sinners by repentance become great Saints”; one of the greatest examples of this was St Vladimir, in whose reign the people then known as the Rus’ began to be Christianized. The Primary Chronicle, an essential source for the history of Kyivan Rus’, records many acts of cruelty and violence before his conversion, and calls him “insatiable in vice”, comparing his desire for women to that of Solomon. (But where the latter “was wise, and yet came to ruin, … Vladimir, though at first deluded, eventually found salvation.”) Among his many children, his dearest were Boris and Gleb, whom the Chronicle says were born from a wife of Bulgarian origin; they are sometimes referred to by their baptismal names Roman and David. (It is disputed by modern historians whether Boris and Gleb were in fact sons of the same mother; many believe they were not, and that Boris was much older than Gleb.) Another son, Sviatopolk, was Vladimir’s son by a Greek woman who had formerly been the mistress of his brother Yaropolk, but before that, a nun; the Chronicle says of him “from a sinful root an evil fruit is produced”, and he is now distinguished from a later king of the same name by the epithet “the Accursed.”

A Russian icon of St Vladimir, and his sons, Ss Boris and Gleb. (ca. 1560.)

Already as a young prince, this Sviatopolk had been imprisoned by St Vladimir for plotting against him; released shortly before his father’s death, he would ultimately kill three of his brothers to secure his place on the throne, before being defeated in battle and overthrown by a fourth brother, Yaroslav I, called “the Wise.” Boris was popular as the former chief of his father’s bodyguards, and might have opposed his brother, but was unwilling to take the throne by violence, saying, “Be it not for me to raise my hand against my elder brother. Now that my father has passed away, let him take the place of my father in my heart.” He dismissed his supporters, and was soon killed by Sviatopolk’s men, along with several of his servants, as he prayed by the banks of the river Alta. The Chronicle records his prayer before he was set upon: “Lord Jesus Christ, who in this image hast appeared on earth for our salvation, and who, having voluntarily suffered thy hands to be nailed to the cross, didst endure thy passion for our sins, so help me now to endure my passion. For I accept it not from those who are my enemies, but from the hand of my own brother. Hold it not against him as a sin, O Lord!”

Sviatopolk then tricked Gleb into coming to him by sending a messenger that their father was dying, but Gleb was warned by Yaroslav that Vladimir was already dead and Boris murdered. He then prayed, again according to the Primary Chronicle, “Woe is me, O Lord! It were better for me to die with my brother than to live on in this world. O my brother, had I but seen thy angelic countenance, I should have died with thee. Why am I now left alone? Where are thy words that thou didst say to me, my brother? No longer do I hear thy sweet counsel. If thou hast received affliction from God, pray for me that I may endure the same passion. For it were better for me to dwell with thee than in this deceitful world.” He was attacked while on a boat, and slain by his own cook, who was forced to the murder by Sviatopolk’s men, “offered up as a sacrifice to God like an innocent lamb, a glorious offering amid the perfume of incense, and he received the crown of glory.”

Ss Boris and Gleb, depicted in a famous icon painted about 1340, now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The deaths of the two princes took place very shortly after their father’s death in 1015. When Yaroslav had secured the throne five years later, Sviatpolk being now defeated and dead, he had the incorrupt bodies of his slain brothers brought to the church of St Basil in the town of Vyshgorod, the royal residence close to Kiev. The tomb at once became a place of pilgrimage, and the site of many miracles, such that Yaroslav asked the Church to formally recognize them as Saints. The metropolitan of Kiev (a Greek, since the hierarchy had only just been established out of Constantinople) was skeptical; Boris and Gleb were not martyrs, since they had not died for the Faith, nor were they ascetics, or bishops, or great teachers. But popular devotion would not be denied, and the brothers were officially recognized as the first of a new category of Saint, called “Passion-bearers” (страстотéрпецъ in Old Church Slavonic, ‘strastoterpets’); that is, Saints who, in imitation of Christ’s humility, have accepted suffering and death, even where they might have resisted it justly, for the sake of His name. By the end of the eleventh century, devotion to them had reached even to Constantinople itself, and an icon of them was exposed in Hagia Sophia.

Prince Igor of Kiev and Chernigov, a great-grandson of Yaroslav the Wise who was murdered in another round of dynastic struggles in the following century, is also called a Passion-bearer. More recently, the title has been accorded by the Russian Orthodox Church to the seven members of the Imperial family who were murdered by the Bolsheviks on July 17, 1918, exactly one week before the feast of Ss Boris and Gleb. A church has been built in the city of Yekaterinburg over the site of their murder, called “the Church on the Blood”, but their relics are interred in the cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in St Petersburg. Sadly, the relics of Ss Boris and Gleb were lost when the church of St Basil in Vyshgorod was destroyed by Mongol invaders in 1240.

The Church on the Blood, completed in 2003 

The Troparion of Ss Boris and Gleb

O Passion-bearers and fulfillers of the Gospel of Christ, chaste Boris and guileless Gleb: you did not oppose the attacks of the enemy, your brother, when he killed your bodies, but could not touch your souls. Let him therefore mourn, while you rejoice with the Angels, standing before the Holy Trinity. Pray that those who honor your memory may find grace with God, and that all orthodox people may be saved.

The Kontakion

Today your glorious memory shines forth, o noble-born Passion-bearers of Christ, Roman and David, and summons us to glorify Christ our God. Those who come to the shrine of your relics receive healing through your prayers, for you are holy physicians.

The Holy Passion-Bearers Ss Boris and Gleb

Since we mentioned the 1000th anniversary of the death of St Vladimir last week, it seems fitting to say a bit about his sons Ss Boris and Gleb, whose feast day is today.

The Italians have a proverb that “Great sinners by repentance become great Saints,” and of this St Vladimir was an outstanding example. The Primary Chronicle, an essential source for the history of Kievan Rus’, records many acts of cruelty and violence before his conversion, and calls him “insatiable in vice”, comparing his desire for women to that of Solomon. (But where the latter “was wise, and yet came to ruin, … Vladimir, though at first deluded, eventually found salvation.”) Among his many children, his dearest were Boris and Gleb, whom the Chronicle says were born from a wife of Bulgarian origin. (It is disputed by modern historians whether Boris and Gleb were in fact sons of the same mother; many believe they were not, and that Boris was much older than Gleb.) Another son, Sviatopolk, was Vladimir’s son by a Greek woman who had formerly been the mistress of his brother Yaropolk, but before that, a nun; the Chronicle says of him “from a sinful root an evil fruit is produced”, and he is now distinguished from a later king of the same name by the epithet “the Accursed.”

A Russian icon of St Vladimir, and his sons, Ss Boris and Gleb. (ca. 1560.)

Already as a young prince, this Sviatopolk had been imprisoned by St Vladimir for plotting against him; released shortly before his father’s death, he would ultimately kill three of his brothers to secure his place on the throne, before being defeated in battle and overthrown by a fourth brother, Yaroslav I, called “the Wise.” Boris was popular as the former chief of his father’s bodyguards, and might have opposed his brother, but was unwilling to take the throne by violence, saying, “Be it not for me to raise my hand against my elder brother. Now that my father has passed away, let him take the place of my father in my heart.” He dismissed his supporters, and was soon killed by Sviatopolk’s men, along with several of his servants, as he prayed by the banks of the river Alta. The Chronicle records his prayer before he was set upon: “Lord Jesus Christ, who in this image hast appeared on earth for our salvation, and who, having voluntarily suffered thy hands to be nailed to the cross, didst endure thy passion for our sins, so help me now to endure my passion. For I accept it not from those who are my enemies, but from the hand of my own brother. Hold it not against him as a sin, O Lord!”

Sviatopolk then tricked Gleb into coming to him by sending a messenger that their father was dying, but Gleb was warned by Yaroslav that Vladimir was already dead and Boris murdered. He then prayed, again according to the Primary Chronicle, “Woe is me, O Lord! It were better for me to die with my brother than to live on in this world. O my brother, had I but seen thy angelic countenance, I should have died with thee. Why am I now left alone? Where are thy words that thou didst say to me, my brother? No longer do I hear thy sweet counsel. If thou hast received affliction from God, pray for me that I may endure the same passion. For it were better for me to dwell with thee than in this deceitful world.” He was attacked while on a boat, and slain by his own cook, who was forced to the murder by Sviatopolk’s men, “offered up as a sacrifice to God like an innocent lamb, a glorious offering amid the perfume of incense, and he received the crown of glory.”

Ss Boris and Gleb, depicted in a famous icon painted about 1340, now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The deaths of the two princes took place very shortly after their father’s death in 1015. When Yaroslav had secured the throne five years later, Sviatpolk being now defeated and dead, he had the incorrupt bodies of his slain brothers brought to the church of St Basil in the town of Vyshgorod, the royal residence close to Kiev. The tomb at once became a place of pilgrimage, and the site of many miracles, such that Yaroslav asked the Church to formally recognize them as Saints. The metropolitan of Kiev (a Greek, since the hierarchy had only just been established out of Constantinople) was skeptical; Boris and Gleb were not martyrs, since they had not died for the Faith, nor were they ascetics, or bishops, or great teachers. But popular devotion would not be denied, and the brothers were officially recognized as the first of a new category of Saint, called “Passion-bearers” (страстотéрпецъ in Old Church Slavonic, ‘strastoterpets’); that is, Saints who, in imitation of Christ’s humility, have accepted suffering and death, even where they might have resisted it justly, for the sake of His name. By the end of the eleventh century, devotion to them had reached even to Constantinople itself, and an icon of them was exposed in Hagia Sophia.

Prince Igor of Kiev and Chernigov, a great-grandson of Yaroslav the Wise who was murdered in another round of dynastic struggles in the following century, is also called a Passion-bearer. More recently, the title has been accorded by the Russian Orthodox Church to the seven members of the Imperial family who were murdered by the Bolsheviks on July 17, 1918, exactly one week before the feast of Ss Boris and Gleb. A church has been built in the city of Yekaterinburg over the site of their murder, called “the Church on the Blood”, but their relics are interred in the cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in St Petersburg. Sadly, the relics of Ss Boris and Gleb were lost when the church of St Basil in Vyshgorod was destroyed by Mongol invaders in 1240.

The Church on the Blood, completed in 2003 

The Troparion of Ss. Boris and Gleb

O Passion-bearers and fulfillers of the Gospel of Christ, chaste Boris and guileless Gleb: you did not oppose the attacks of the enemy, your brother, when he killed your bodies, but could not touch your souls. Let him therefore mourn, while you rejoice with the Angels, standing before the Holy Trinity. Pray that those who honor your memory may find grace with God, and that all orthodox people may be saved.

The Kontakion

Today your memory shines forth, noble sufferers, and summons us to glorify Christ our God. Those who come to the shrine of your relics receive healing through your prayers, for you are holy physicians.

The Byzantine Liturgy in the Basilicas of Rome

Last week, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kiev-Halych, led an “ad limina” visit of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic hierarchy, of which he has been the head since March 2011. In the course of their stay in Rome, he and the other bishops celebrated the Divine Liturgy in a number of churches, including Saint John in the Lateran, the Pope’s own cathedral, St Paul’s outside-the-Walls, and St Mary Major. The Pontifical Ukrainian Institute of the Protection of the Holy Mother of God, (Папський Український Iнститут Покрова Пресвятої Богородиці) has posted a large number of photographs of these liturgies to their facebook page; you can see the complete albums at the following links. (first; second; third.) We are grateful for their kind permission to repost some of them here on NLM.

At Saint John in the Lateran

At Saint Paul’s outside-the-Walls

Continue Reading this Article. . .

EF from Ukraine

A reader recently sent in these lovely pictures from a pilgrimage in the Ukraine. For those who read Polish, there is more information here.