The New Chanters Received their Certificates.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, 18 December 2022, the graduation ceremony of the students of the Byzantine Music School of the Orthodox Church of Albania took place at the Resurrection of Christ Cathedral in Tirana and was headed by Archbishop of Tirana, His Beatitude Anastasios.
At first, Mr. Theodhor Peci, the Byzantine School Director, expressed his gratitude to Archbishop Anastasios for his ongoing support towards the School of the Psaltic Art and for the development of Byzantine music during the last three decades. Addressing his Beatitude, he also said that, “Since your appointment as Archbishop of Albania, you have showed great concern for the church arts and especially for the Psaltic art. You wanted the students’ qualification to be professional and realized in modern facilities. For this reason, you built the Byzantine Music School in Tirana at Thavor Spiritual Center in 2012, which is the first school of this type in the history of our church. This school serves as a strategic point for the professional qualification of the chanters. Over fifty chanters have been graduated during the last decade. Some of the most important duties for the pedagogical staff of this school has been to adjust, to compose and publish essential psaltic materials such as Anastasimatari and the Divine Liturgy in two volumes as well as many more which are still to be published….
In addition, an important event which adds to the successes of this school has been the promotion and interpretation of Byzantine Music by St. John Kukuzel Byzantine Choir of Chanters during the church services, at important institutions of the country, in different musical programs and shows organized in Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro. Today, there are five new chanters from different parts of Albania who join this choir.
Archbishop Anastasios thanked Mr. Peci for his exceptional contribution and emphasized the importance of chanters and chanting in the process of the worshipping services. His Beatitude added, “Our Lord’s coming to earth happened inside an atmosphere of humbleness but at the same time of praise and, as we know, our tradition emphasizes the angelic hymn which accompanies this great event, that is “Glory to the God in the highest, and peace to men, and kindness to men”. The chanters, who praise and give praises to the Lord representing the people, are given an important role inside the Church services together with the clergy who have a leading role. It is a duty but also a great privilege to represent the people in this hour of worship. The role of the chanter equals the role of the first rank of clergy.
Following the previous tradition, we added the Mixed Choir or the so-called European Choir in the church which continues to offer a precious contribution to the liturgical life. We are grateful to their work, because both choirs, the Byzantine Choir and the European one have represented the people during all these years in the Divine Liturgy with very much love and dedication. A special effort was made to set up a byzantine choir here in Albania, according to the church tradition by starting first with the course and then with the Byzantine Music School and all the rest that Theodhor, my dear brother and student mentioned beforehand. We owe lots of thanks and gratitude to him because it is through his perseverance that he really achieved a multitude of successes. And it was not only his perseverance but also his zeal for studying, his knowledge and the ongoing improvement which is very obvious in his efforts. Each of us should develop the gifts that has been granted from God and multiple them to benefit the church of God. As our Lord says in the parable of the talents, no matter how many talents we are granted, either five or two or even one, we should try to multiply them and serve everyone inside our Church with love, dedication and compassion.”
At the end of the ceremony, the Archbishop blessed each of the students who graduated and handed them their certificates of accomplishment wishing them further success in their future.
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