"Easter on Mount Athos" and "Byzantine Chant: The Unbroken Chain": two videos

Gratis post for Easter

This is the last gratis post before I resume my regular/irregular posting schedule next week. In it, I offer for viewing two videos, one directly related to Easter, and the other tangentially related to the first.

First up is a thoroughly engaging Greek documentary from 2008, with English subtitles, which takes us through the celebration of Easter on Mount Athos. It is described in the YouTube introduction this way:

Greek documentary film directed by Angelos Papastefanou, and narrated by Kostas Kastanas.

This 60-minute documentary film depicts the Holy Week and Easter as it is celebrated in Karyes (Protaton) and the Monastery of Simonopetra.

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Original Title: Πάσχα στο Άγιον Όρος

1. The film was produced by the Holy Monastery of Simonopetra in 2008. it was subsequently translated into English, Russian, and Arabian.

2. Simonopetra Monastery (Greek: Σιμωνόπετρα, literally: "Simon's Rock"), also Monastery of Simonos Petra, is an Eastern Orthodox monastery in the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece. The monastery was founded during the 13th century by Simon the Athonite, who was later sanctified by the Eastern Orthodox Church as Saint Simon the Myrrh-bearer. Tradition holds that Simon, while dwelling in a nearby cave, saw a dream in which the Theotokos instructed him to build a monastery on top of the rock, promising him that she would protect and provide for him and the monastery. While the southern coast of Athos is quite rugged in general, the particular site upon which the monastery is built is exceptionally harsh. It is built on top of a single huge rock, practically hanging from a cliff 330 meters over the sea. The monastery currently houses 54 monks, and the hegumen is Archimandrite Eliseus.

3. Mount Athos (Greek: Ἄθως) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and the site of an important center of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peninsula has been governed as the monastic community of Mount Athos, an autonomous region within the Hellenic Republic, ecclesiastically under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Mount Athos is known for its long Christian presence and historical monastic traditions, which date back to at least 800 AD during the Byzantine era. Because of its long history of religious importance, the well-preserved agrarian architecture within the monasteries, and the preservation of the flora and fauna around the mountain, Mount Athos was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988.

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The second video is a 37-minute documentary on Byzantine Chant (also called Hellenic Ecclesiastical Chant) that I found informative and time well-spent. If I have one criticism, the narration would be improved with more volume — but that’s easily remedied. Otherwise, I like it enough to recommend it. It’s my firmly held belief that the best liturgical music — meaning that certain principles are appreciated and regulated accordingly — conveys to the receptive soul a revelation of mystery and truth through the vehicle of aural beauty. Byzantine Chant is one of the finest — and oldest — examples of that in the Western world, and the foundation on which the tradition of Western music has been erected.

Here is the description of the video on YouTube, written by the presenter:

Byzantine music is recognized as the oldest extant music system that has remained continuously in use, and the foundation of all European/Classical music. Despite this, it is still very little known outside of its cultural habitat, even in the foremost academic institutions specializing in early music and historical performance practice.

I offer this video as a concise historical overview of Byzantine music, from its early beginnings to current practice and performance. For this video I traveled to Greece, and the Middle East, visiting bustling modern cities, churches and ancient monasteries, while speaking with leading exponents in the field. I hope that this video will in some small way fill the historical gap between Byzantine music and its development into the western common practice.