The Unfading Light. Burial Service over Lay-Persons

The Unfading Light. Burial Service over Lay Persons, Byzantion Academic Choir's latest album, represents one of the most complex projects of the group. The album includes pieces of musical, liturgical and historical value, among which, certainly, one of the most important is Holy God composed by Manouil Dukas Chrisaphis , which was chanted, in the Byzantine tradition, during the procession from the house of the deceased to the church, and then to the grave.

For the first time in the Romanian psaltic discography, you can listen to pieces such as the complete Canon of the Burial Service, Psalm 118 (fragment), in three stases, the eight sticheras on texts by St. John of Damascus (7^th-8^th centuries), the troparion With the saints give rest or the calophonic irmos I weep and I wail. The project arose from the desire of the members of the Choir to honour the memory of Maestro Lykourgos Angelopoulos (+ May 18, 2014), Archon Protopsaltes of the Archbishropric of Constantinople and founder of the Greek Byzantine Choir (Athens, 1977). He was also the mentor of Byzantion Academic Choir and the founder of the International Masterclass of Byzantine Chant in Iasi, whose special guest and main Daskalos he was during the first six editions, from 2008 to 2014. For this reason, the album has been conceived as a church service and we have included recordings of litanies, prayers and troparias featured  in the funeral rite for lay persons.

The project marked a special experience for Byzantion Choir, both because  of  the personality to whom it was dedicated, and especially because of the complexity and depth of its hymongraphic texts and melodies. These aspects turn the Burial Service over Lay Persons into the most complex and uplifting prayer dedicated to each individual Christian soul that departs from this transient world. This Service gives an account of the human soul’s union with the light of the Resurrection, lifting those attending the service, through chanting and prayer, from the sadness of the loss of a loved person to the joy of their being received in the unfading Light.