www.maronitemusic.org
by Fr. Geoffrey Abdallah,
Director
This new website is provided by the Inter-Eparchial Music Commission as an official resource for the Maronite Catholic Church. The Commission was established in March 2008 by the four Maronite
Bishops of the English speaking eparchies (dioceses) - Bishops
Gregory Mansour and Robert Shaheen (USA), Bishop Ad Abikaram (Australia) and Bishop Joseph Khoury (Canada) - in
response to the decision at the annual Maronite Bishops'
Synod at Bkerke (Lebanon) to establish an
inter-eparchial committee to work on one English translation of the Maronite
Liturgical texts.
The demanding task of accurately translating and adapting over 250 Maronite Chants of the Qorbono (Mass) into singable English, while remaining faithful to
the original Syriac melody, is now omplete. The Entrance Hymns, Qoleh, and Mazmooreh for the
whole Liturgical year are available on this website. The hymns for the Proper
of the Mass, such as Glory to God, Pre-Anaphora Hymns,
Peace Hymns, Fraction Hymns, Communion Hymns, etc., have
also been placed on this website. This will allow parish
choirs time to begin learning the new texts/hymns prior to
the arrival of the new Mass Books.
The new English translation of the Book of Offering (Mass Book) has been approved by the Maronite
Bishops of the English speaking eparchies and has been
promulgated by the Maronite Patriarch, His Beatitude Bechara Peter
Rai. It is in the process of publication. Since the work of any Music commission is always a "work in progress," this website will be
constantly updated. It will provide Maronite Hymns in English, articles
about Maronite Music, recordings and other resources to
make the richness of our authentic Antiochian Syriac Maronite tradition
available to future generations in the English speaking world.