National Church Music Sunday to be Commemorated on October 3rd
Parishes across the Archdiocese will be observing National Church Music Sunday on Sunday, October 3rd this year. This day is an annual Archdiocese-wide commemoration occurring on the first Sunday in October following the Feast of St. Romanos the Melodist, the patron saint of church musicians.
On National Church Music Sunday, we honor the contributions that clergy, choir directors, choir members, organists, psaltai, and Church School/Greek School music educators make to their parishes. In addition, it is a day when the work of the eight Metropolitan Church Music Federations and the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians are recognized. Many local parishes hold special recognition events on National Church Music Sunday for their church musicians.
As a gift to each parish, the National Forum recently mailed a custom-designed poster to commemorate National Church Music Sunday 2021 to each parish priest and choirmaster in the Archdiocese. The full-color poster was designed by George Theodossiou of Annunciation Church in Brockton, MA. This year’s poster is the beautiful icon of the Theotokos of the Akathist Hymn.
Nick Chimitris, National Chairman of the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians, in his comments regarding this annual celebration, is encouraging all parishes to recognize their local church musicians for their dedicated service to their parishes even though we find ourselves still in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Indeed, our celebrations this year may take on new and innovative ways in honoring our church musicians. I’m confident that our parishes will find creative ways to pay special tribute to their church musicians - choir directors and singers, organists, chanters, youth choir leaders, and church school music teachers. All play vital roles in the liturgical life of our Holy Orthodox Church, deepening the worship and participation of its congregations.”
He also encourages parishes to consider National Church Music Sunday as an opportunity "to support the work of the Church Musicians Federations of their Metropolis and to be generous in their contributions to the National Forum so it may continue its work in developing and supporting much-needed national liturgical music training programs and educational materials. All these commemorative activities during the month of October enhance and support further development of the liturgical music ministry of our Archdiocese." Ideas for ways local parishes can observe this day, even during the pandemic, can be found at http://churchmusic.goarch.org/events/churchmusicsunday.
