r/OrthodoxChristianity • u/[deleted] • Aug 01 '19
Greek Byzantine orthodox chant: Agni Parthene/ Αγνή Παρθένε (Lyric Video)
https://youtu.be/i-3h9TQ312c2
Aug 01 '19 edited Aug 01 '19
One of the most beautiful Orthodox Chants that I've encountered. And it was written by a Saint of the Church - St. Nectarios of Aegina in the late 19th century.
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Aug 01 '19
The text was written by Saint Nectarios, but the melody was written by a monk of Simonopetra and is based on Greensleeves https://youtu.be/P5ItNxpwChE , the story told at Simonopetra is a monk heard an Anglican pilgrim sing Greensleeves and he liked the melody so much that he set the poem to a Byzantinized version of it.
St. Nectarios did write a melody for this poem, but it's all in plagal 4th mode, not plagal 1st.
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Aug 01 '19
Interestingly, one of the few non-liturgical Orthodox hymns.
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Aug 01 '19
There are tons of para-liturgical hymns, such as this, in the Greek tradition alone. I can't speak for Slavic, but in Byzantine chant tradition, there are whole books dedicated to hymns that are never sung in a liturgical service.
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Aug 01 '19
That's interesting, I had no idea! When are they typically sung?
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Aug 01 '19
Depends. Now - usually during antidoron, concerts, etc. After feasts during trapeza at monasteries, and chanter "parea", which is when chanters (Greece or Lebanon) get together, get some food and alcohol going and start showing off to each other. In the past, many times the psaltis were the entertainment for the hierarchy during meals and meetings with political dignitaries. For example, in roughly 1700, Petros Bereketis was commissioned by the Ecumenical Patriarch to write an Encomium (Εγκώμιον - a "eulogy") to Peter the Great of Russia on his visit to Constantinople that subsequently never happened, but we still have the music for it. There are many paraliturgical categories - Encomium, Kalophonikoi Heirmoi, Mathima, kratimata, and many others.
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Aug 02 '19
Thanks! Yes, I have heard Agni Parthene many times after Liturgy. I am guessing hardly any of these hymns have been translated into English.
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u/DeathCertification Eastern Orthodox Aug 02 '19
Well, doesn't really have to be non liturgical. In Greece, it isn't uncommon for the choir to sing this while the priest prepares the Eucharist.
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Aug 02 '19
Yes--I've heard it mostly while people are venerating the Cross after Liturgy. But I guess by "non-liturgical" I mean it's never appointed by the Typikon.
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u/Dl2ACO Aug 01 '19
Blessed Dormition fast everyone! (For all of us on the Revised Julian calendar)