Hearing & Hymns

OBJECTIVE

We hope to teach children that the church is heaven on earth. If heaven is where God is and the church is the house of God, then, when we are in church, we are in heaven with God. Throughout the year, we follow different occasions in the life of Christ and the saints. The church changes the hymns and rites of the liturgy to reflect each season. When we learn the hymns of the church, we are praising God as the angels and saints do in heaven.

We hope to engage children in this lesson by helping them:

  • Recognize the various tunes of the church used throughout the year
  • Develop an appreciation for hymns and their rich history
  • Encourage them to use hymns in personal prayers
  • Develop a system for learning hymns throughout their life as part of their spiritual work.

REVIEW- 5 Minutes

We use all of our senses when we are in Church - we see the shape of the Church, we see and touch icons, we hear and sing hymns and prayers, we smell the incense, we eat the body and drink the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of our senses is used to help us feel as if we are in heaven. Last week, we talked about the things we see in the Church - that the Church can be in the shape of a cross, a circle, or a ship; that the Church has different parts - the narthex, the nave, the iconostasis, and the sanctuary, which has the Bosom of the Father. Our eyes see the church full of icons of Christ, St. Mary and the saints and it is like if we are with them in heaven.

HOOK/INTRODUCTION - 5 Minutes

Imagine you are standing in the church for liturgy. What do you hear (or don't hear)? Is everyone saying everything together or do the deacons or priests say different things? Give children a chance to answer, then transition to the importance of hymns.

Hymns are an integral part of the Coptic church and they teach us about our faith through song and prayer. Just like seeing the icons of Christ and the other saints in church is important, the church also uses our sense of hearing and the hymns that we sing to help us feel like we are in heaven.

HOLY SCRIPTURE - 5 Minutes

Memory Verse

"Serve the Lord with gladness Come before His presence with singing"

Psalm 100:2

Memory Verse

"Praise the LORD Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament"

Psalm 150:1

CONTENT (Key Points) - 20 Minutes

The hymns of the Coptic Orthodox Church are one of the oldest traditions in liturgical music. Some of the melodies are believed to have been adaptations from ancient Pharaonic tunes, praises said in the temple, and some which were developed over the years by its faithful chanters and clergy. The Coptic liturgy is almost entirely composed of hymns and chants, with only the readings, the creed, the absolutions, and the dismissal are read without tune.

There are six main tunes used in the church throughout the year.

  1. Annual - This basic tune of the church used for all days throughout the year that are not discussed below.
  2. Joyful - This tune is reserved for:
    1. The Seven Major Feasts of the Lord - The Annunciation, The Nativity, the Epiphany, Palm Sunday (which is prayed in the Palm Sunday tune), Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost
    2. The Seven Minor Feasts (the circumcision, the entrance of the Lord into the temple, the escape of the Holy Family to Egypt, the wedding of Cana, Holy Thursday (which is prayed in annual tune), and Thomas Sunday
    3. The Holy 50 Days - each day is considered to be the Feast of Resurrection
    4. Nayrouz (Coptic New Year)
    5. Sacrament of Holy Matrimony
  3. Palm Sunday (Hosanna Tune) - This tune is used on Palm Sunday and on the two celebrations of the Feast of the Cross on 17 Toot and 10 Baramhat. This is a tune that makes us feel of the joy of welcoming our Lord and king.
  4. Sorrowful/Mournful - This is the tune used during Holy Week and funerals. It is very sad and melismatic.
  5. Kiahk Tune - This tune is used during the advent season, which is Kiahk 1 - Kiahk 29, when we celebrate the Feast of Nativity. Having a specific tune for advent shows us the importance the church places on the preparation of our souls for the birth of Christ.
  6. Lenten Tune - This tune is used during the Great Lent and during the Fast and Feast of Jonah. There are two different tunes that are used, one said during weekdays and the other on weekends. The lenten hymns help us focus on fasting and prayer to prepare our souls for the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

The angels praise God through singing and chanting. When we sing in church, we are doing the same work of the angels. It is a gift from God that we are able to praise Him with the angels while we are on earth. All those who are in heaven praise God so we prepare our souls for heaven by learning to praise God on earth.

The hymns of the church also educate us and teach us about church traditions. The hymns of the church not only are a way of worship, but also preaches to us church beliefs and teachings. Through chanting the hymns, we are able to absorb the theology that is being chanted.

Coptic music is entirely vocal and chanted without harmony. This is because the motivation and joy of the music is from the Holy Spirit, not from the sounds that the instruments make. Coptic hymns are never accompanied by instruments, with the exception of the cymbals and the triangle. These are percussion instruments to maintain the rhythm and tempo, but they are not intended to be accompaniment.

Many Coptic hymns are melismatic, meaning that there is a prolongation of a single vowel or syllable of text for many notes. The tune can ascend or descend to create a feeling or emotion in the listener to inspire the feeling of joy or sadness, according to the church season and celebration. The melismatic component of hymns can sometimes seem needlessly prolonged, but if the musical composition is broken down, we can see patterns that serve to invoke great feelings within us. By just listening to a hymn, we can tell if the church is celebrating a feast or mourning the crucifixion or living a period of ascetic fasting.

A hymn can have various forms, like "Agios O Theos." There is the regular (or annual) tune that we sing every Sunday during the Divine Liturgy, but there is also a long tune that we sing on feast days with a melismatic tune, and there is a sorrowful tune for "Agios O Theos" that we say in Holy Week and in funerals.

In its wisdom, the Church has assigned Midnight Praises called "Tasbeha". The Midnight Praises recount the journey of the Israelites being delivered from Egypt and crossing the Red Sea, the Three Holy Youth being delivered from the burning, fiery furnace, and includes many praises that glorify God through the saints. We praise God for His great glory and we feel like we are in heaven, joined to the saints and angels. This helps us clean our souls and prepare our hearts for Holy Communion. It also teaches us about the beliefs of the church.

LIFE APPLICATION - 5 Minutes

Can we sing anything when we are in church, like Happy Birthday? Why or why not?

Why don't we use a guitar or drums to play along? The hymns we sing are a form of prayer and another way we are able to communicate with God. It keeps us connected to the history of the church across generations.

If you have an iPod or iPad, have your parents put the hymns of the church on it and listen to it during car rides or when you are doing your homework, or even while you are sitting in your room quietly. Listening to these songs will give you peace and give you a strong defense against any evil.

DISCUSSION (Challenge) - 1 Minute

Encourage all the deacons and deaconesses to dress and encourage all those who are not consecrated to go through the process of learning hymns and have the enthusiasm to chant hymns during liturgy to become deacons and deaconesses. Remind them that they will wear white like the angels and praise God like the angels do. Encourage them to participate in all the congregation responses as much as they can. Also, encourage the children to attend any hymn classes your church holds for their age.

CONCLUSION - 1 Minute

When we praise God with hymns, we are like the angels, who always stand before God, praising him and glorifying Him. The Church has such beautiful hymns that not only move our hearts with their melismatic tunes, but also that teach us deep truths about our God and our faith.

APPLICATION ACTIVITY - 10 Minutes

You can pick one hymn from the liturgy, like "Agios O Theos", "The Cherubim Worship You", "Amen, Amen, Amen" and work on teaching it to the children, or have the children guess which one is which. How do they feel when they hear each one? Explain why we feel this way for each season in the church.

Annual Agios

Mournful Agios

Joyful Agios

Quiz the children on the content they learned

  1. How many major feasts of the Lord are there?
  2. How many minor feasts of the Lord are there?
  3. How many different tunes do we have in the church?
    1. Which tune is used during Holy Week or during funerals?
    2. Which tune is used when the church is fasting before Easter?
    3. Which tune is used in the month before the Nativity?
    4. Which tune is used on Palm Sunday?
    5. Which tune is used on feast days?
    6. WHich tune is used on all other non-fasting days?
  4. When we sing praises to God, we are doing the work of which other beings?
  5. How do church hymns teach us?
  6. Do we use instruments in church for accompaniment?
  7. What main events do we remember in the midnight praises?

COPTUNES+ VIDEO

RESOURCES

  • YouTube Channel, Coptichymnsclass

PARENTS CORNER/HOMEWORK

Encourage parents to:

  • Add a hymn to their prayer routine, maybe singing a few verses of the morning doxology with morning prayers or maybe singing a few verses from the midnight praises with evening prayers
  • Add hymns and liturgies on their children's iPods or iPads and to play these hymns in the car and in the home so that children can get used to church melodies and learn about God from the words of the hymns