Fr Shenouda Maher's version of O Kirios

edited December 1969 in Hymns Discussion
Does anyone have the text and recording of this hymn? It is much better than O Kirios (which is very heretical by the way).

Comments

  • [quote author=coptic_deacon link=topic=10035.msg122658#msg122658 date=1290577904]
    Does anyone have the text and recording of this hymn? It is much better than O Kirios (which is very heretical by the way).

    NOOOOO, it's not heretical....it's just understood wrong.
    and as i have heard.....he doesn't have another version of o kirios but rather a whole new hymn with different text in the same tune of o kirios.
  • NOt at all heretical but take it as you would this song "me first bearing leaves in Africa". Some syntactical and grammatical errors that may have been prevalent in slang Coptic at the time of composing. Better to preserve and have better insight than to replace the whole hymn or specific words within.
  • Why is "o kirios" heretical?
  • [quote author=Severian link=topic=10035.msg159688#msg159688 date=1347234573]
    Why is "o kirios" heretical?


    It is not. There is a little confusion over the phrase "he who took for of our humility." http://www.suscopts.org/q&a/index.php?qid=1084&catid=200 It also contains many linguistic errors.
  • Regardless of whether it is heretical or not. No one can decipher the words. It is like singing in tongues :)
  • The Greek hymn itself, as has been told by some scholars around here, has linguistic and embarrassing errors.  Can you imagine that the "who took our humility" referred to the Father?  No matter how enjoyable the musicality of this hymn is, this is one of the many reasons why deacons when they pray in Coptic, they know not what they say, but simply babble nice music in front of an altar.  One can give them Coptic cuss words and they think they're doing something nice before God.  God gave us an intellect to pray with too, not just vocal cords.
  • Abouna Shenouda Maher authored another hymn called Ajios beyatshob. Here are the words in English. If anyone wants to hear the recording, pm me.


    Holy is the Being : Who was and Who is to come : the Ever-present : the Everlasting, the Eternal : O Holy Trinity have mercy on us.

    Holy is the Being : God the Father : the Pantocrator : Who created everything : O Holy Trinity have mercy on us.

    Holy is the Being : God the Son : Jesus the Lover of mankind : Who took flesh and saved us O Holy Trinity have mercy on us.

    Holy is the Being : the Holy Spirit : the Paraclete : the heavely King : O Holy Trinity have mercy on us.

    Holy Holy : Holy O Lord : the Lord of Sabaot heaven and earth are full : of Your glory and honor.

    Worthy Worthy : Worthy O Lord Jesus : for Yours is the majesty : and the glory and the blessing : forever amen.

    Holy God : Holy Mighty : Holy Immortal : O Who was born of the virgin : have mercy on us.

    Holy God : Holy Mighty : Holy Immortal : O Who was crucified on the cross : have mercy on us.

    Holy God : Holy Mighty : Holy Immortal : O Who rose from the tomb : have mercy on us.
  • Has anyone checked out Rem's research regarding this hymn? It was published at the back of Deacon Albeir Mikhail's glorification rite book. It may shed some light on the matter.

    ReturnOrthodoxy
  • I have updated the research since it was published in Albeir's book. It is published in Coptica volume 10 by St Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society.
  • [quote author=minasoliman link=topic=10035.msg159711#msg159711 date=1347340883]
    The Greek hymn itself, as has been told by some scholars around here, has linguistic and embarrassing errors.  Can you imagine that the "who took our humility" referred to the Father?  No matter how enjoyable the musicality of this hymn is, this is one of the many reasons why deacons when they pray in Coptic, they know not what they say, but simply babble nice music in front of an altar.  One can give them Coptic cuss words and they think they're doing something nice before God.  God gave us an intellect to pray with too, not just vocal cords.

    Mina, I'm not picking on you. If God really gave us an intellect to pray with, would that not require us to intellectually examine the prayer text instead of assuming heresy?  Just for clarification. The original hymn itself, if understood as Bohairicized Greek/Sahidic bilingualism, makes perfect sense. There are no errors. The only error or heresy is in the Arabic translation who failed to recognize the bilingualism. The Greek says nothing about the Father taking our humility.  The other problem lies in the reluctance of people to accept something different or non-standard. This leads to rumors and false accusations.
  • [quote author=Remnkemi link=topic=10035.msg159722#msg159722 date=1347373255]
    [quote author=minasoliman link=topic=10035.msg159711#msg159711 date=1347340883]
    The Greek hymn itself, as has been told by some scholars around here, has linguistic and embarrassing errors.  Can you imagine that the "who took our humility" referred to the Father?  No matter how enjoyable the musicality of this hymn is, this is one of the many reasons why deacons when they pray in Coptic, they know not what they say, but simply babble nice music in front of an altar.  One can give them Coptic cuss words and they think they're doing something nice before God.  God gave us an intellect to pray with too, not just vocal cords.

    Mina, I'm not picking on you. If God really gave us an intellect to pray with, would that not require us to intellectually examine the prayer text instead of assuming heresy?  Just for clarification. The original hymn itself, if understood as Bohairicized Greek/Sahidic bilingualism, makes perfect sense. There are no errors. The only error or heresy is in the Arabic translation who failed to recognize the bilingualism. The Greek says nothing about the Father taking our humility.  The other problem lies in the reluctance of people to accept something different or non-standard. This leads to rumors and false accusations.


    Dear Rem,

    I agree with you.  That is why I'm basing my judgement on the non-modified version of this hymn.  As I understand it, last time we had a discussion about this in CopticHymns, you proposed some modifications to it.  But churches still chant the original version which is strange and filled with errors.  Unless recent research proves me wrong, then I retract what I said.  At the very least, I believe we as chanters should not be chantin something without understand it.  Otherwise, What we do is ta7reeg, nonsense. 

    I think one can agree with me that the behavior that some chanters exhibit shows that if the whole church was ignorant and we were presented with a hymn with cuss words, chanters will still chant it it it's nice and catchy and "in Coptic".
  • [quote author=minasoliman link=topic=10035.msg159724#msg159724 date=1347377473]

    Dear Rem,

    I agree with you.  That is why I'm basing my judgement on the non-modified version of this hymn.  As I understand it, last time we had a discussion about this in CopticHymns, you proposed some modifications to it.  But churches still chant the original version which is strange and filled with errors.  Unless recent research proves me wrong, then I retract what I said.  At the very least, I believe we as chanters should not be chantin something without understand it.  Otherwise, What we do is ta7reeg, nonsense. 

    I think one can agree with me that the behavior that some chanters exhibit shows that if the whole church was ignorant and we were presented with a hymn with cuss words, chanters will still chant it it it's nice and catchy and "in Coptic".

    Not exactly Mina. The non-modified Greek/Coptic version of the hymn was at one point not strange. It was never filled with errors. Anthropologically, it was perfectly normal to pray with non-standard Greek. After all, Greek became standardized in the early 19th century. Bilingualism has been used since ancient Egypt. The problem lies in modern interpretation and the social norm to follow standardized linguistic rules even though all linguists will tell you there is no such thing as standardized rules. So what is ta7reeg is the shift from praying and communicating in perfectly acceptable non-standard modern linguistics to standardizing something that is inherently dynamic like bilingualism. What's my point? The non-modified version is legitimate. The Arabic translation was the culprit filled with errors.

    What I did was make it easier to conceptualize the author's method and context using modern standardized Greek/Coptic. I can only do this if the original non-modified hymn was actually legitimate. The Arabic translators did not conceptualize the hymn-writer's intention and methodology and ended up with something that ended up being heretical. Later generations, even to this day, simply dismiss the hymn with false accusation without using God's given intellect to examine the original text.

    The take home message is that the original non-modified version intellectually and syntactically is valid if you understand the mechanisms of Egyptian lexical bilingualism. If not, I proposed a modified text with a modified translation for modern 21st century readers to conceptualize what the author possibly meant. But this does not mean the modified text should be sung. The original is perfectly fine for liturgical services. 

    I will agree that there is a paradigm shift to sing songs (and some are distinctly Protestant) simply because of musical esthetics and not intellect. But this has nothing to do with Coptic or Greek, since nearly everyone does this with modern English and Arabic songs in liturgical services. For example, the massive majority (even English speaking youth) will be reluctant to sing Rejoice O Mary because Ifrahi ya Mariam is more musically appealing. Singing onoof emmo Maria is unoffically forbidden. There is no attempt to use God's given intellect anymore.
  • [quote author=Remnkemi link=topic=10035.msg159731#msg159731 date=1347384385]
    Singing onoof emmo Maria is unoffically forbidden.

    Not here it isn't!  :)

    Thanks for an edifying post once more Remnkimi  :)
  • As long as Fr. Shenouda Maher is mentioned, I have a question:

    Did any of you pray a liturgy or a vesper raising of incense with Fr. Shenouda Maher?

    If so, do you guys understand his Coptic "dialect"?

    He prayed a liturgy a while back in our local church, all in Coptic, but no one was able to follow anything because of his "accent" or "dialect". 

  • [quote author=Stavro link=topic=10035.msg159741#msg159741 date=1347393723]
    As long as Fr. Shenouda Maher is mentioned, I have a question:

    Did any of you pray a liturgy or a vesper raising of incense with Fr. Shenouda Maher?

    If so, do you guys understand his Coptic "dialect"?

    He prayed a liturgy a while back in our local church, all in Coptic, but no one was able to follow anything because of his "accent" or "dialect".


    Definitely
  • [quote author=Stavro link=topic=10035.msg159741#msg159741 date=1347393723]
    As long as Fr. Shenouda Maher is mentioned, I have a question:

    Did any of you pray a liturgy or a vesper raising of incense with Fr. Shenouda Maher?

    If so, do you guys understand his Coptic "dialect"?

    He prayed a liturgy a while back in our local church, all in Coptic, but no one was able to follow anything because of his "accent" or "dialect".


    He came and visited our church four or five years ago here in the UK and prayed the Raising of Vespers Incense, but I don't recall any problems understanding his Coptic. I think he may well have prayed in "GB" (since I had no trouble understanding him - either that or his OB wasn't that difficult to understand).
  • I love the OB. I dont get to use it in church, but for personal prayers, I love it.

    It just flows lol

    RO
  • [quote author=ReturnOrthodoxy link=topic=10035.msg159747#msg159747 date=1347394744]
    I love the OB. I dont get to use it in church, but for personal prayers, I love it.

    It just flows lol

    RO


    That's awesome man!

    I love using Coptic when praying - it's the only language that I purely associate with worship, since I only ever hear it in a liturgical setting!  :)
  • What do "OB" and "GB" stand for?
  • [quote author=Remnkemi link=topic=10035.msg159731#msg159731 date=1347384385]
    [quote author=minasoliman link=topic=10035.msg159724#msg159724 date=1347377473]

    Dear Rem,

    I agree with you.  That is why I'm basing my judgement on the non-modified version of this hymn.  As I understand it, last time we had a discussion about this in CopticHymns, you proposed some modifications to it.  But churches still chant the original version which is strange and filled with errors.  Unless recent research proves me wrong, then I retract what I said.  At the very least, I believe we as chanters should not be chantin something without understand it.  Otherwise, What we do is ta7reeg, nonsense. 

    I think one can agree with me that the behavior that some chanters exhibit shows that if the whole church was ignorant and we were presented with a hymn with cuss words, chanters will still chant it it it's nice and catchy and "in Coptic".

    Not exactly Mina. The non-modified Greek/Coptic version of the hymn was at one point not strange. It was never filled with errors. Anthropologically, it was perfectly normal to pray with non-standard Greek. After all, Greek became standardized in the early 19th century. Bilingualism has been used since ancient Egypt. The problem lies in modern interpretation and the social norm to follow standardized linguistic rules even though all linguists will tell you there is no such thing as standardized rules. So what is ta7reeg is the shift from praying and communicating in perfectly acceptable non-standard modern linguistics to standardizing something that is inherently dynamic like bilingualism. What's my point? The non-modified version is legitimate. The Arabic translation was the culprit filled with errors.

    What I did was make it easier to conceptualize the author's method and context using modern standardized Greek/Coptic. I can only do this if the original non-modified hymn was actually legitimate. The Arabic translators did not conceptualize the hymn-writer's intention and methodology and ended up with something that ended up being heretical. Later generations, even to this day, simply dismiss the hymn with false accusation without using God's given intellect to examine the original text.

    The take home message is that the original non-modified version intellectually and syntactically is valid if you understand the mechanisms of Egyptian lexical bilingualism. If not, I proposed a modified text with a modified translation for modern 21st century readers to conceptualize what the author possibly meant. But this does not mean the modified text should be sung. The original is perfectly fine for liturgical services. 

    I will agree that there is a paradigm shift to sing songs (and some are distinctly Protestant) simply because of musical esthetics and not intellect. But this has nothing to do with Coptic or Greek, since nearly everyone does this with modern English and Arabic songs in liturgical services. For example, the massive majority (even English speaking youth) will be reluctant to sing Rejoice O Mary because Ifrahi ya Mariam is more musically appealing. Singing onoof emmo Maria is unoffically forbidden. There is no attempt to use God's given intellect anymore.


    Then in that case, I need to go back and reread your research.  I've clearly misunderstood the intent.  Thank you for that Rem.  God bless!
  • [quote author=JG link=topic=10035.msg159748#msg159748 date=1347395179]
    That's awesome man!

    I love using Coptic when praying - it's the only language that I purely associate with worship, since I only ever hear it in a liturgical setting!  :)


    Once I prayed the Sunday Midnight psalmody with a Sahidic Coptic pronunciation scheme, instead of OB and GB. That was fun.

    Severian, OB=Old Bohairic. GB=Greco-Bohairic. S=Sahidic, F=Fayummic, A=Akhmimic, A2 (used by Crum)=Sub akmimic, L=Lycopolation, P=Proto-Sahidic, G=Greek dialect of Coptic, V=Subdialect of Fayumic. M (Used by Crum)=Mesokhemic.  And many dialects have subdialects (B5 and B7, where B7 is the common Bohairic dialect and B5 has different spelling and morposyntax). Then there is an abandoned category called Bashmuric found in the old grammarian text book (also known as Scala or scales/ladder) by Athanasius of Qus which no one longer believes is an actual dialect. Yes, that's more information than you ever wanted to know.
  • [quote author=ReturnOrthodoxy link=topic=10035.msg159747#msg159747 date=1347394744]
    I love the OB. I dont get to use it in church, but for personal prayers, I love it.

    It just flows lol

    RO


    I am impressed. To be fluent in Coptic is an achievement. To easily switch between dialects is beyond my  imagination.
  • LOL, nono I'm not fluent, but I can read and understand things so I like to pray the litanies in Coptic. I cant do the whole thing.
  • Dear Stavro,
    The fact that people didn't understand what he was saying is because of the spread of the wrong teaching. I heard one of his liturgies a while back, and all I can say is that I need to cleanse my ears to take in the right way of pronunciation of Coptic as our forefathers used to pronounce.

    Edit: sorry, wrote this before going onto page 2 of the thread...

    Oujai qen `P[C
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