St. Paisios the Athonite on Chanting

– Geronda, oftentimes I go to the lectern to chant because I feel that it is my duty. Is it appropriate?

– Yes, chanting is also a diakonia. That is why the priest also prays “for those who are chanting.” See the Augmented Litany of petitions. The chanter represents all the laity who are in church. However, that does not mean that the laity do not need to say “Lord have mercy” with their own mind yet expect to advance [spiritually] with only one “Lord have mercy” of the chanter.

In the past all the faithful chanted together, and canonically that is the correct thing to do. Because gaps and confusion occurred, however, the Church, which is the totality of the faithful, selects those who know how to chant and have a good voice and a little reverence, and assigns only them to do the chanting. The congregation follows along and chants noetically and rejoices in having provided a few of their fellow human beings to glorify God.

– Geronda, what does one who simply follows along offer to God?

– Since he follows the Service and is pleased with the glorification of God, is God not pleased with him? What he does is also an offering to God.

– Geronda, during the course of a vigil that is dedicated to a specific issue, how can I pray for that issue at the same time that I am chanting?

– Before the vigil you can pray for the specific matter, and later, whan you chant, you can say the Jesus Prayer between the chants. Nonetheless, even throughout the vigil, if your mind, together with your heart, is constantly on the purpose of the vigil, then, whether you chant or read the Psalms, or the canons, and so forth, all of it becomes prayer for the specific petition. You see, when we have a vigil for a specific matter, only two or three petitions make reference to that. All the rest are determined by the typikon; the vigil itself, however, is dedicated to that issue.

– Geronda, the manner of my chanting is rough. I have the impression that it is due to my accent being heavy.

– I have seen you … heavy and … light! When you are heavy-hearted, then your chanting is also heavy. It all begins with your inner spiritual condition, which is what you must oversee. If one who has a light, thin voice is in a good spiritual condition, she will sound like a nightingale; otherwise, she will sound like she is screeching. If one who has a thick voice is not in a good spiritual condition, she will sound like an old man who is arguing. If each of you chants one at a time, you will understand the spiritual condition in which you find yourself at that particular time.

– Geronda, when we are chanting in church, we are diligent in avoiding dissonance.

– Naturally, you have to be careful, because all thing have to “be done decently and in order.”1 Cor 14:40 Above all we must attend to applying the “decently” aspect to our soul, so that there is order in our soul and that we are all right with God. When one chants without having a good spiritual condition, it is worse than musical dissonance. For, just as what is good brings about a good transformation, so, too, will what is bad bring about a bad transformation, and the congregation will not be able to pray. If one is not in good order within, if he has negative thoughts, a pettiness about him, and so on, what kind of chanting will he do? How will he sense the paradisiacal sweetness within so as to chant with his heart? That is why it is written, “Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.”Jas 5:13 All who chant, as a rule, should have the most tender heart and the sweetest and most joyful of inner conditions. How can one chant “O gladsome light…” if he has no gladness?

On the Holy Mountain I see that the new monks also usually chant in a worldly manner. Since they have not yet lived a monastic life, how can their chanting be monastic? However, in the past, when the chanters on the Holy Mountain had had no communication with worldly chanters, even they had a more monastic style of chanting. Now that they have come into contact with them, the monks have become a little confused, like melons that lose their tastiness when they grow too close to a pumpkin.

Reverence is everything. Without reverence, chanting goes flat; it is like an instrument that is out of tune; it just makes noise. Nor does it matter whether one chants loudly or softly; what matters is that he chants with reverence. Then the soft chanting is humble, sweet; it is not lethargic. And the loud chanting is intense and heartfelt; it is not fierce. Father Makarios Bouzikas had a thunderous voice, but he chanted naturally, with reverence and spiritual yearning; you felt that his heart was being broken, and that caused your own to also be broken. One elderly monk used to put it this way: “He makes your insides turn upside down.” He lived alone in Kapsala in a Kelli associated with the Monastery of Stavronikita. Further down, there lived a Romanian who was not a chanter, but who had reverence. At night Father Makarios would go out onto the balcony of his Kelli and start chanting, “When Thou openest Thy hand…”Ps 103:28 The next verse was then chanted by the Romanian from below! It was magnificent!

It is of great importance for a chanter to have reverence. Do you know how much it helps? He himself is transformed within, and because that inner transformation becomes outwardly manifest as well, it transforms others who listen to him and helps them in a positive way. That is how the prayer of everyone is acceptable to God.

– Geronda, I like the second mode.

– The second mode is clearly Anatolian, that is, Byzantine. It cannot be matched by any instrument, except the violin.The Elder is obviously referring to European (Western) musical instruments, among which the violin is also included. The second tone is a timbre that is entirely foreign to European (Western) music and can be rendered by only the violin [and similar instruments] and Anatolian musical instruments, such as the Kanun (similar to a zither) and the oud (similar to a lute). You see, the Turks took the music from Byzantium, and oh, how yearningly they sing! And what do they say in their songs? “If I had fifty drams of cognac and fifty drams of cured meat, Oh…!”Turkish folk song called “Konyali”. For a small amount of cognac and a little cured meat they get carried away! And we who chant about Christ, Who was crucified, Who sacrificed Himself, should we not get shaken up?