Tag: music

Chicago Greeks oppose choral music in 1908

Several years ago, I began writing about the "Americanization" of Orthodoxy -- things like pews, organs, mixed choirs, the cassocks vs. collars debate, clean shaven priests, etc. (Click here to read my article on organs in Greek churches.) Recently, I found a great historical source -- an open letter from...

This week in American Orthodox history (February 27-March 4)

March 2, 1865: Fr. Agapius Honcharenko served the first public Orthodox Divine Liturgy in New York. Way back in 2009, I wrote a pair of articles about that liturgy; click here and here to read them. What I wasn't aware of at the time was that Honcharenko had celebrated the...

Friday Links

I'm testing out a possible new feature here at OH.org -- links to recent articles that might be of interest to readers of our website. Please let me know what you think of this feature, and if you have any suggestions for links to include in future "Friday Links" posts....

Gelsinger on Sunday Schools, Part 2: The Sunday School Session

Editor’s note: In 1938, Fr. Michael Gelsinger, with his wife Mary, published a Handbook for Orthodox Sunday Schools. Gelsinger was one of the most influential convert clergymen in American Orthodox history. He served in the Antiochian Archdiocese, and this book was published with the blessing of Metropolitan Antony Bashir. Last...

Protestant hymns in Orthodox churches

I've been looking through a borrowed copy of Fr. Michael Gelsinger's Orthodox Hymns in English, published by the Antiochian Archdiocese in 1939. This is a significant work, and Gelsinger's hymns are still used to this day. I'll write more about this book in the future, but I found the following...

The Apostle of Organ Music

Last week, I wrote about the introduction of organs into Greek churches in America, but I didn't really know why they were introduced. Thanks to David Mastroberte, we now have a plausible explanation: someone specifically set out to popularize organ music. That man was George Anastassiou. Courtesy of Mr. Mastroberte,...

Organs in Greek Orthodox churches

As regular readers of this website know, I am particularly interested in the "Americanization" of Orthodoxy in the New World -- things like clergy appearance (beards vs. shaved faces, cassocks vs. collars), pews, church music (organs and mixed choirs), early converts, the use of English, and so forth. Today, I'm...

In Defense of Fr. Irvine

"Self righteousness. Self assuredness. Emphasising unity of administration. Not understanding the importance of Church music. The Freemason Conspiracy Theory. Aggressiveness....." The other day, I happened upon an online discussion of Fr. Ingram Nathaniel Irvine and his dislike of Isabel Hapgood. One commentator, whom I would credit if I knew his/her...

Irvine’s responds to Hapgood’s “Musical heresy”

Last week, I posted Isabel Hapgood's 1915 article in which she begged Archbishop Evdokim, "Please let us have a splendid choir!" She said, in part, "The Cathedral Choir, propertly constituted large enough, is immensely more important to your Church and Mission in this country than twenty little new parishes." The...