FOREWORD OF THE ABBOT OF THE HOLY MONASTERY OF TRANSFIGURATION OF THE SAVIOUR, HOLY & GREAT METEORON

The monasticism of our Eastern Christendom has been characterized throughout its history by a spirit of love for beauty; as such, artistic production, in all the manifestations that we encounter in the places of asceticism, namely in the monasteries, was and is most extensive. However, we must note that Art is a sideline in the life of the monk. But this is at the beginning of his monastic struggle. As is known, the monk abandons the world, those in the world and things in the world, fervently seeking the one, which is needed. Having abandoned, as an unnecessary burden, every kind of self-referentiality, he expends his strength in a continuous reference of his life, but also of the entire universe, to the Divine All-Love. Being faithful to such a life, the monk’s senses and dispositions are sanctified, and he acquires a “new” aesthetic, harmonized with the material world, the nature and the being. The artist monk, in a way surrendering his gift to God and descending into the one which is needed, receives in return the grace of God and through it a higher sense of art. Thus art ceases to be a sideline and gradually becomes a ministerial instrument of the prayerful and crucified life in Christ. As a result, Abbot Parthenios the musician, is a typical case of an artist monk, who practiced his art not as a sideline, but as an instrument of praise to God.

The hieromonk Parthenios “Orphidis”, the Melodist (†1807), Abbot of the holy royal monastery of the Holy and Great Meteoron (Transfiguration of the Savior), is one of the most important figures of the local Church and Hellenism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. During his abbotship, monastic life in the monastery of Meteoron experienced a spiritual flourishing, despite the adverse social and economic conditions. This spiritual peak is demonstrated, among other things, by the formation of a special liturgical and chanting tradition in the monastery, given that Parthenios, a student of the famous Protopsaltes of the Metropolis of Larissa, Anastasios Rapsaniotes, left behind a brilliant and original musical work. Parthenios’ chanting work, written in the old notation of his time, remained “fossilized” in musical manuscripts, unknown to the present day cantors. Early musicological observations and transcriptions were given on the occasion of the celebrations of 600 years of uninterrupted monastic presence in Meteora, but they were few and did not present the work in its full scope.

This edition presents the Complete Works of kyr Parthenios the cantor in three axes: a. The original musical compositions in the old script from manuscripts Met 329 and 340 of our Monastery as well as samples from other manuscripts that contain few Parthenios’ compositions, b. their transcription into the modern New Method chanting notation, the one read by today’s chanters, and c. the musical performance of Parthenios All Works digitally recorded in eight hours of music, the content of which is also given in digital form. This publication is the beginning of a wider publishing goal for the presentation of the liturgical and musical treasures of Great Meteoron monastery. It is a spiritual treasure priceless and in many ways beneficial to the eternal glorification of the Triune God, as expressed in the Eastern Church.

In order to achieve this goal, we enlisted the expertise of musicologists Mr. Ioannis Arvanitis and Yorgos Bilalis, who worked diligently to scientifically exploit the surviving musical material of Parthenios. Mr. Arvanitis, musicologist and professor at the Ionian University, undertook the main task of exegesis and transcription of Parthenios’ works from the old notation to the New Method, as well as the musicological commentary, transcribing the entire work and improving the work of previous transcriptional efforts. And Mr. Bilalis, having the general direction and production supervision of the present edition, trained and performed the Ἅπαντα of kyr Parthenios with the distinguished cantors of the professional Ensemble Romeiko. We thank both of them from the bottom of our hearts, for their hard work and zeal in the realization of the publication of Abbot Parthenios’ Complete Works (Ἅπαντα).

We hope that this edition will contribute to the establishment of the musical tradition of our Monastery and thereby to the spiritual elevation of those who venerate the Holy Meteora, through our Savior Jesus Christ, through the intercessions of Panagia of Meteora and the holy founders of Great Meteoron, Athanasios and Joasaph.

 

The abbot
Archimandrite Nephon
and my brothers in Christ