The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom ( uk, Літургія Івана Златоустого, tr. ''Liturhiya Ivana Zlatoustoho'') is the musical setting of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by

Mykola Leontovych Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych (23 January 1921; ua, Микола Дмитрович Леонтович, link=no (); also Leontovich) was a Ukrainian composer, conductor, ethnomusicologist and teacher. His music was inspired by the Ukrainian ...

. Consistent with Orthodox tradition, in which service is sung exclusively

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

, the piece is set for unaccompanied choir and soloist. It was first performed in the Mykolaiv Cathedral at the

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra or Kyivo-Pechers’ka Lavra ( uk, Києво-Печерська лавра, translit=Kyievo-Pecherska lavra, russian: Киево-Печерская лавра), also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Ea ...

on May 22, 1919, with Leontovych himself conducting.Section 2 of History of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

History

2005-08-15 Pechersk Lavra seen from river Dnepr Kiev 311

The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is the most commonly performed

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

in the

Eastern Church Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and ...

.Our Liturgy Explained
Presentation of the Ukrainian Catholic Church website. Retrieved 2012-11-1 The liturgy was developed into a distinct musical genre in the eastern tradition, as the

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

was in western traditions. Some composers with well-known liturgies, besides Leontovych himself, include Mykola Dyletsky,

Artem Vedel Artemy Lukyanovich Vedel (russian: Артемий Лукьянович Ведель, uk, Артем Лук'янович Ведель, translit=Artem Lukianovych Vedel; ), born Artemy Lukyanovich Vedelsky, was a Ukrainian-born Russian composer ...

, Dmytro Bortnianskiy, Maksym Berezovsky,

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

Peter Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

Pavel Chesnokov Pavel Grigorievich Chesnokov (Russian: Пáвел Григóрьевич Чеснокóв) (24 October 1877, Voskresensk, Zvenigorodsky Uyezd, Moscow Governorate – 14 March 1944, Moscow, also transliterated ''Tschesnokoff'', ''Tchesnokov'', ...

, among others.Що таке ЛІТУРГІЯ (What is a Liturgy)
slovopedia.org.ua online Ukrainian dictionary database Mykola Leontovych had a professional theological education from the

theological seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

in Kamianets-Podilskiy, and spent a portion of his career as a priest. When the

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC; uk, Українська автокефальна православна церква (УАПЦ), Ukrayinska avtokefalna pravoslavna tserkva (UAPC)) was one of the three major Eastern Orthod ...

was established and recognized in 1918, Leontovych joined in the movement. His musical output began to reflect this as he started to publish works of a religious nature such as "" (''On the Resurrection of Christ''), "" (''Praise ye the name of the Lord''), and "" (''Oh quiet light''). Leontovych completed the liturgy in February 1919 and conducted the debut performance of the work on May 19 of the same year in the Mykolaiv Cathedral in the

, (a cathedral dedicated to the founding of the first parish of the

). The Mykolaiv Cathedral no longer exists, having been destroyed by the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

Popularity

Unlike his compositions based on poetry and folk themes, which were constantly performed throughout the twentieth century, Leontovych's sacred music, and that of his predecessors, was banned in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. For this reason, the sacred music of Mykola Leontovych, including his liturgy, are not well known.

Composition

Composed in the early twentieth century, Leontovych's liturgy was an entirely new phenomenon in Ukrainian

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...

, in which the composer synthesized religious and folk styles. Leontovych composed in his style, essentially synthesizing a folklore foundation with the models of the liturgy used in the

Lavra A lavra or laura ( el, Λαύρα; Cyrillic: Ла́вра) is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. It is erected within the Orthodox and other Eastern Chr ...

. He incorporated the chant native to the Lavra, preserving its intonational uniformity and adding his personal interpretation. The piece is considered a milestone in the development of Ukrainian spiritual music. It is distinguished with its new style, which incorporated the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...

, as opposed to

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzeg ...

, and Leontovych's incorporation of Ukrainian folk themes.«Щедрик» Леонтовича лунає по всьому світу ("Shchedryk" of Leontovych sounds around the entire world)
pravda.if.ua Leontovych continued the traditions of Maksym Berezovsky and

, bringing a lyricism to the genre. Nataliya Kostyuk, Ph.D. describes the piece to have a feeling of warmth and sincerity from the beginning to the end of all 24 sections of the cycle. She also notes the many forms of sound: the clear chamberness ("Bless the Lord oh my soul"), the sacral simplicity of a sermon ("In Thy kingdom", "Creed"), mystical contemplation ("Cherubic hymn"), and festive calls ("Only begotten Son", "It is worthy"). In almost all sections of the piece predominate clear, light tones and follow the manner of monastic men's singing consistent with that of a church service.Микола Дмитрович Леонтович (Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych)
article on parafia.org.ua by Nataliya Kostyuk

Structure

The liturgy consists of the following movements:Микола Леонтович. Духовні твори, 2005 р. (Mykola Leontovych. Sacred Music, 2005)
movements and liner notes from track listing of recording of the liturgy
translation
;

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Велика єктенія
Благослови, душе моя; Мала єктенія
Єдинородний Сину; Мала єктенія
У Царстві Твоїм
Прийдіть, поклонімось
Святий Боже
Читання Апостола; Алилуя
Читання Євангелія
Потрійна єктенія
Херувимська пісня
Благальна єктенія
Отця і Сина
Вірую
Милість миру; Тобі співаємо
Достойно є
Отче наш
Єдин Свят
Хваліте Господа
Благословен
Ми бачили Світ істинний
Нехай повні будуть
Єктенія подяки
Нехай буде благословенне
Слава Отцю і Сину ;

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

'' The Great Litany''
'' Bless the Lord, oh my soul; Short Litany''
''Only begotten Son; Short Litany''
'' In Thy kingdom''
''Come let us worship''
''Oh holy God''
''Epistle, Alleluia''
''Reading of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

''
''

Trisagion The ''Trisagion'' ( el, Τρισάγιον; 'Thrice Holy'), sometimes called by its opening line ''Agios O Theos'', is a standard hymn of the Divine Liturgy in most of the Eastern Orthodox, Western Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholi ...

: Lord, We Pray That You May Be Merciful''
''

Cherubic Hymn The Cherubikon (Greek: χερουβικόν) is the usual Cherubic Hymn (Greek: χερουβικὸς ὕμνος, Church Slavonic ) sung at the Great Entrance of the Byzantine liturgy. History Origin The cherubikon was added as a tropar ...

''
''The Litany of Supplication''
''Father, Son and Holy Spirit''
''

Creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...

''
''The

Eucharistic Prayer The Anaphora is the most solemn part of the Divine Liturgy, or the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, a thanksgiving prayer by virtue of which the offerings of bread and wine are believed to be consecrated as the body and blood of Christ. This is the us ...

: A Mercy Of Peace; We sing for Thee''
''Hymn to the Mother of God: It is worthy''
''

The Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

: Our Father''
''One is holy''
''Communion Hymn:Praise the Lord''
'' Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord''
''We have seen the True Light''
''Hymn of Praise: Let our mouths be filled with praise''
''Litany of thanksgiving''
''Blessed be the name of the Lord''
''Glory to the Father and to the Son''

Recordings

* The Revival Spiritual Choir recorded an album titled ''Mykola Leontovych. Spiritual Works.'' in 2004. * The Kyiv Chamber Choir recorded the liturgy in 2005 in an album titled ''Mykola Leontovych. Spiritual Works''. * The Dumka National Academic Choir of Ukraine conducted by Dr. Yevhen Savchuk recorded the liturgy with soprano E. Voroshylova, tenor K.Kleyn, baritone I.Babyuk, bass V.Hryshchuk as a soloists. Many other groups have recorded albums about Ukrainian choral music that simply contain excerpts of the liturgy by Mykola Leontovych along with the choral music of many other composers.Український хор «Дзвіночок» — 2004 (Ukrainian choir "Dzvinochok" -2004))
album parafia.org.ua

References