Hong Kong, August 6, 2019
Photo: orthodoxy.hk
A new liturgical book has been published in the Chinese language for the enrichment of the daily prayer and liturgical life of the Orthodox faithful in China.
The latest text from the China Orthodox Press is a Chinese-language publication of the Sunday Octoechos. “This project is being undertaken to make Divine worship available for Chinese speaking believers both in the parishes where it is used for Divine services and for the home prayer of Chinese lay people who cannot attend church worship on Sundays,” reports the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Hong Kong.
The Orthodox liturgical year is divided into 8-week cycles, with a specific musical tone assigned to each week. The cycle beings anew every year at Pascha. The Sunday Octoechos provides clergy, choirs, and parishioners with the hymns for the Sunday services in all 8 tones.
Photo: orthodoxy.hk
The new edition combines parallel texts of the hymns in both Chinese and English, liturgical instructions, and a short appendix of Chinese chanting. It is based on the text translated by the Beijing Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in the 19th century.
An electronic version of the Octoechos in traditional characters be available for free at www.orthodoxbookshop.asia . A simplified version and paper version also will be available for purchase on the website.
A number of important texts for the Chinese mission have been issued in recent years. A catechism was published in 2017 as well as the life of St. Innocent of Irkutsk, the Book of Hours in May 2018, and a Chinese translation of Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov)’s Everyday Saints earlier this year.
