| I performed my lecture recital Liszt
and the Cross: Music as Sacrament in the B Minor Sonata in
Jerusalem
at the Ruben Academy of Music on June 3, 1999. After the
performance,
I spent eight of the most remarkable days of my life exploring
Israel.
I was especially interested in seeing Orthodox monasteries and
churches.
Below are the two monasteries where I stayed for most of my trip.
Holy Apostles is on the Sea of Galilee in the ancient city of
Capernaum.
There I met two of the most remarkable men, Fr. Arinachos and Fr.
Aristovoulos,
the head chanter at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Another
monastery
I visited was the famous Mar Sabba, founded in 485 by Fr.
Sabba.
No electricity or running water and the silence is breathtaking.
I met monks from Greece, Russia, and even San Francisco.
The
monastery contains the cave churches of St. Sabba and St. John of
Damascus,
a Syrian musician and theologian. I was privileged to sing St.
John's
Paschal Canon in the very cave where these blessed words were
written: |
Today is the Day of Resurrection! O nations let us
shine forth;
for the passover is the Passover of the Lord, in that Christ did make
us
pass from death to life, and from earth to heaven , how now sing the
song
of victory and triumph.
Pantocrator (Christ the Almighty) in the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jeruslaem
|
