Liturgical terminology

~Anastasia~ said:

Haha nothing except I've never heard them and would have to learn a whole new set of words.

It's no big deal though. At first the Greek Church was one huge mystery but I've learned so many words that concerning Church, my mind thinks many of them in Greek.

I still can't carry on a conversation though.

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Unless that conversation is about food? Then, we're ALL Greek! Its not GY-ro, it's yeero! And don't get me started about span-ee-kop-ita

All4Christ - was responsible for that link - I'd not come across it before - but then I'm in the UK !

The problem, for me, is that each Church - Greek , Romanian, Russian etc etc has its own language for terminology - and the problem is realising that the Greeks / Russians/ etc etc do have a word for it - but it may not be in the language with which you are familiar.

The breakthrough really comes when you see that

Vespers (sunset) – Greek: Εσπερινού, (Esperinoú); Church Slavonic: Вече́рня, (Vechernia); Latin: Vesper

All these words are names for the same Service - and the italicised word is a hint for pronunciation

GreekOrthodox said:

Unless that conversation is about food? Then, we're ALL Greek! Its not GY-ro, it's yeero! And don't get me started about span-ee-kop-ita

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Haha I think I learned more FOOD words than Theology words the first year. At least it seems that way sometimes. I never thought I'd know what all that stuff was, but I actually learned pretty quickly. How to make most of them too. I actually enjoy rolling dolmathes. But pastitsio is my FAVORITE to eat.

Anhelyna said:

All4Christ - was responsible for that link - I'd not come across it before - but then I'm in the UK !

The problem, for me, is that each Church - Greek , Romanian, Russian etc etc has its own language for terminology - and the problem is realising that the Greeks / Russians/ etc etc do have a word for it - but it may not be in the language with which you are familiar.

The breakthrough really comes when you see that

Vespers (sunset) – Greek: Εσπερινού, (Esperinoú); Church Slavonic: Вече́рня, (Vechernia); Latin: Vesper

All these words are names for the same Service - and the italicised word is a hint for pronunciation

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Agreed.

@Rosie Q It is helpful for me to just think of the services as Matins, Compline, Vespers, Midnight Hours, etc. If you learn what the terminology from the parish you choose to attend, it makes it a lot easier. When I am on a forum with cross-jurisdictions, a dictionary like the one in archangels is very helpful. For me, with music, it’s just a chanter, reader, troparion, kontakion, praises, antiphon, etc. Antiphon makes sense musically, alternating verses from Psalms (antiphonal singing / chanting). Troparion is a fairly standard adopted term used in the English speaking world for hymn of a short stanza. Kontakion is a thematic hymn, which originally was essentially a “sermon” set to music. Today it is typically shortened significantly. We called the first Antiphon “Bless the Lord”, the second “Praise the Lord” and the third, the “Beatitudes”. Why do we call them that? The first two are based on Psalms that start with Bless the Lord and Praise the Lord The third literally is the sermon of the beatitudes sung.

Experiencing the liturgical services is one of the best ways to learn.

Andrei D said:

Well I use my Slavonic based Romanian names, but for public use, I say, when in doubt use the Greek. There is no denying Greek is "our" shared language. What's the problem with Orthros/(H)Esperinos/Apodipnon/Mesonyktikon? I fail to see the controversy.

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Honestly, the only word I know from that is Orthros...if you try to explain something to me with those terms, I will be looking them up! The standard terms in the English speaking world are Vespers, Matins, Compline, etc. Note that my experience is from America though



Regarding these being “Latin” words: these are actually the English words for evening service, morning service, etc. They are derived from Latin, but they are standard English. This is the same as using the word vigil, which is also used in the secular world (a family member may stand vigil in a hospital). As a Pentecostal, I didn’t use those words, but we didn’t have those services based on the hours.

The traditional liturgical world actually has a common background both west and east, which is why we have a similar cycle of hours. You actually will find some similar structures between the liturgies as well.