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This past weekend the Orthodox Easter fell on the same day as the Catholic one. Once every four years we are in sync. Despite the serious head cold and sore throat I was sporting, I made it to church with the family.
However, this year I brought my iRiver and recorded the entire ceremony, plus the ride to and from church. It’s bound to be hysterical, especially as we were trying to park near the church.
What I’m most interested in is the audio of the Τροπάριον (troparion). It’s the song that everyone sings during the point in the ceremony when we all celebrate the rising of Christ. It’s pretty intense and it’s sung in a really eerie tone by the entire congregation. I like the translation found on Wikipedia.
The Greek is as follows:
Χριστός ανέστη εκ νεκρών
θανάτω θάνατον πατήσας
και τοις εν τοις μνήμασι
ζωὴν χαρισάμενος!
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed that song and the ritual associated with it. Somehow it makes me feel both Greek and spiritual at the same time.
Once I’ve processed the audio and have some usable I’ll post it as a podcast. It’ll prolly be boring for most folks, but I want to put it out there.