The Triodion began this year on February 25, and before you know it, Lent and then Holy Week will be upon us. Patmos Press announced that its new book, the long-awaited Holy Week-Easter Hymnal has been published to serve as the companion to the ever-popular Greek-English Holy Week-Easter book by Fr. George L. Papadeas just in time to order ahead of this year’s Holy Week services.

According to Patmos Press, the most widespread Holy Week Easter book for the Greek Orthodox faithful around the world was first published 60 years ago by Fr. George L. Papadeas and still remains the gold standard to this day. The new hymnal published by Patmos Press has a music score to enlighten and assist choirs and chanters, as well as parishioners.

The hymnal includes all the music of the Holy Week Easter services in Greek and English, as sung by the chanters and the choir. It has the markings for the corresponding pages in the coveted small black Holy Week Easter service book by Fr. Papadeas, referencing the beginning and ending of each hymn and the order of the services.

The music is in staff notation and follows the traditions, rules, and rubrics of Byzantine chant for both languages, and a complete description can be found on the Patmos Press website: www.patmospress.com/shop/hymnal-hardcover/.

This Holy Week Hymnal is a true blessing for the Psalti (cantor or chanter), by eliminating the need to improvise melodies, which has often been done in the past, but always resulting in an inferior performance in both languages.

Although this hymnal is primarily for the use of chanters and choirs, any person in the congregation wishing to sing with them could use the hymnal along with the service book.

The Holy Week Hymnal is available in a hardcover edition and has the original Greek on the left page with the corresponding English translation on the right page.

The book has 512 pages, Quantity discounts on all books and international shipping are available.

More information is available by phone 386-290-6528 and online: www.patmospress.com.

The Institute of Historical Studies (Ίδρυμα Ιστορικών Μελετών (ΙΔ.ΙΣ.ΜΕ.) in Athens announced a new book and historical documentary about the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922.

The documentary is based on the book ‘Patrida Aksehasti’ by Vasiliki Ralli who sadly passed away this month at the age of 100. The passing of Ralli is indeed unfortunate since it coincided with the publication of her book and the documentary made possible through the magnanimous Greek spirit and generosity of Tom Stephanopoulos, a Greek-American from California, who donated 65,000 euro.

Both the book and the documentary have been well-received. In January, they were presented at the Benaki Museum in Athens to about 500 people. The ERT orchestra, composer George Papachristoudis, and famous singer Foteini Darra participated in the presentation. Darra sang a song composed by Papachristoudis based on a poem written by Ralli at a young age; this song constitutes the central theme of the documentary.

The book and the documentary on DVD are available online through the Hellenic Historical Foundation’s website: https://www.idisme.gr. The video has English subtitles.  All rights go to the Foundation for the next five years. The great efforts of Dr. Irini Sarioglou from the Institute of Historical Studies were gratefully acknowledged for the production of these publications: https://www.isarioglou.gr/en/.

The book recounts that upon the Turkish military invasion of their homeland, Aivali, the author’s parents had packed all their belongings in their boat to escape to Mytilene, Greece. The father told the mother (then pregnant with her daughter, the author) to depart on a friend’s boat and he will soon follow when he rescues his koumbaro. The father’s boat was captured by the Turks, however, and the father was interned in a Turkish labor camp for 26 years.

The mother arrived in Mytilene with only the clothes she was wearing as her only possessions. A Turkish woman who was leaving Mytilene to go to Turkey told her about a bakery that she was abandoning; she undertook to run the bakery successfully and also gave birth to her daughter. She heard no more about her husband and assumed he was dead; she vowed that if she survived that she would make a small chapel to Panagia in thanks. Years later, after her daughter was born, she donated a piece of property to build the chapel she had promised. Reportedly, a crowd of local people all claimed to have the same dream and reported to the building site where holy relics of saints were found and later Thermi Monastery was established. The granddaughter Dr. Angeliki Ralli, PhD, became Professor and Chairman of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Athens.

In 1948, the father had escaped from the labor camp deep in Turkey and made his way south to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean; an Italian sea captain took him aboard his ship saying his ship was on the way to New York but would return to Athens. While working on the ship during a storm he fell fracturing his hip and ended up in a hospital in Albany, NY. He contacted the Greek Orthodox church in Albany; they contacted a Greek church in Mytilene and located the lost wife. While arrangements were being made for a reunion, the father died at the hospital in Albany. Years later, Dr. Ralli and her mother were able to locate the burial site tombstone in Albany, NY.