tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22329487.post8097809255519290657..comments2023-03-25T01:34:58.479-07:00Comments on Vechernaja Zorja <p>The Evening Star</p>: More byzcath frustration.Steve Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00557815668393206564noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22329487.post-11244679237730653042009-02-09T16:58:00.000-08:002009-02-09T16:58:00.000-08:00For his part, J. Michael Thompson was a rather arr...For his part, J. Michael Thompson was a rather arrogant man who interpreted all criticism of his work as a personal attack. The manner in which he treated John Vernoski was scandalous. The impact of his musical settings upon the Ruthenian Metropolitan Church have been little short of catastrophic, and furthermore, ran counter the the very spirit of the Prostopinje he supposedly wished to preserve.<BR/><BR/>As to the reasons behind his departure, if half of what I heard from highly reliable sources is at all true, he should never have been present at the Seminary at all, let alone entrusted with the musical patrimony of the Church.<BR/><BR/>So, climb down off your high horse. I, too, am very glad that J. Michael Thompson is no longer associated with the Ruthenian Church. <BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, neither am I. I and my family are precisely the kind of people the liturgical renewal of the Church was supposed to entice--we are among the very few people who were baptized directly into the Ruthenian Church, as opposed to those converting from Protestantism, Orthodoxy or the Latin Church. We take our liturgy seriously. Though not Slavs, we know Slavonic, and we know liturgical music, and were repelled by the third rate translation of the Divine Liturgy, the awkwardness of the musical settings, and the insensitivity with which it was all crammed down our throats. Our parish, which once boasted several hundred people on Sundays, and which sang with gusto, has shrunk by half, and no longer sings.<BR/><BR/>But we are not there, having found an excellent Melkite parish which offers a fuller liturgical life, which is growing and dynamic, and at which everybody sings--without any books whatsoever.<BR/><BR/>You could have had so much. Now you will have nothing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com