half an hour later

I finished Compline Conference Call with Manoli A. and Alicia and was planning on going to bed. I had to go talk to Gabriel for a grand total of ten seconds, so I set out for his room with the intent on coming back minutes later. His room is on the other side of the dorm, and I have to pass by the dorm chapel on the third floor to get to his room. As I came up the stairs and entered the "narthex," I heard powerful chanting...About ten to fifteen students were in the chapel singing their hearts out, nearing the end of Small Paraklesis. I ran to Gabriel's room, told him what I had to tell him, let him know about the Paraklesis (which he could hear from his room and already knew about), and bolted back to the chapel. I stood in the entry-way and practiced holding ison [for those of you not familiar with Byzantine chant, this is the base note - or drone - of the melody, often held on an "ooo", which changes periodically, and is quite tricky to master.]

There are services held very frequently in the dorm chapel, and there is almost never a priest present. The beauty of Orthodox worship is that, aside from the Sacraments, any service can be done without a priest, as a "reader's service." That said, where the last set of petitions would be, at the end of Paraklesis, one of the students read a prayer from a prayer book, asking God to heal Yiannoula. I don't know who that is, but please pray for her. I will find out tomorrow if there is any information that is any of my business.

As the last hymns were being chanted, I went up to venerate the Icon of the Theotokos, along with everyone else. Coming from the back of the chapel and being on the outside of the student choir, to the front of the chapel and being surrounded by chanting in every direction ... I felt so blown away! The chanting was amazing and I could tell it was coming from the heart!

As the last prayer, "Δι ευχών," was said, I prepared to leave. All of a sudden I heard a girl's voice chanting "aaah-naah-nesss," an "επίχυμα" (sp?), or starting pitch, for certain Byzantine hymns. The whole choir then started chanting "O Pure Virgin" in Greek (Αγνή Παρθένε). I moved to the inside of the choir and stood next to a guy holding ison (base note/drone), to help me practice. It was amazing...I had flashbacks of CrossRoad last summer, when we all chanted that together.

As Αγνή Παρθένε finished, people venerated the Icon of the Theotokos once more, and started leaving, while a few took out a cell phone and said "hello, Mary," and proceeded to talk to Mary on speaker. I heard something about just getting back from ICU, and both Mary and the people talking to her were all crying because Paraklesis was so beautiful. I don't know who Mary is, but, again, I will ask tomorrow, if it is any of my business. Please pray for her.

So, after going to talk to Gabriel for two minutes, half an hour later I am back in my dorm room blogging, and now it's been almost an hour since I left. Oh well...I just hope I can manage time when classes start on Thursday. I'll have to be more disciplined then and not just chant and chat whenever I feel like it, as I've been doing.

God bless.

Good night for real! (I hope!)

Pray for me!