wfn.org | [GOAA] NATIONAL CHURCH MUSIC SUNDAY ON OCTOBER 3, 2004

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
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Email: communications@goarch.org

PRESS RELEASE
Vicki Pappas
Phone:	812-855-8248
E-mail:   pappas@indiana.edu

NATIONAL  CHURCH  MUSIC  SUNDAY COMMEMORATED  ON  OCTOBER 3rd

Three Greek Orthodox Choir Directors
Receive Archbishop Demetrios' Years of Service Award

Three dedicated church musicians of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of
America will be honored on National Church Music Sunday, October 3, 2004.
This day is designated as an annual Archdiocese-wide commemoration that
occurs on the first Sunday in October, following the Feast of St. Romanos
the Melodist, the patron saint of church musicians.

National Church Music Sunday has been set aside to honor the contributions
that choir directors, choir members, organists, psaltai, and Church
School/Greek School music educators make to their parishes. In addition, it
is a day when the work of the eight Metropolitan Church Music Federations
and the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians is recognized.
Many local parishes hold special recognition events on National Church
Music Sunday for their church musicians.

As a service to the parishes, the National Forum recently mailed a
specially-designed poster to commemorate National Church Music Sunday 2004
to each parish priest and choir director in the Archdiocese. The full-color
poster was created  by renowned artist Rip Kastaris of St, Louis, MO. The
poster depicts the hymnographer, St. John of Damascus, and highlights the
following passage from his writings: "Let us arise at deep dawn, and
instead of fragrant oil, let us offer a hymn to our Lord."

National Church Music Sunday is also the day when church musicians who have
served for more than 25 years as choir directors receive personal
recognition from His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios. These individuals will
be honored in their home parishes with a Years of Service medal depicting
St. Romanos the Melodist, the patron saint of church musicians. They will
also receive a certificate of recognition for their "outstanding musical
and spiritual contributions to the Greek Orthodox Community of America."
The National Forum administers the award for the Archdiocese.

Since the inception of the award in 1988, 271 choir directors have received
the Years of Service medal.

The names, parishes, and years as choir directors who are receiving the
2004 service awards include:

Heidi Mason
Annunciation
Brockton, MA
27 years of service

Constantine Kotulas
Holy Cross
Justice, IL
25 years of service

Anthony Plataniotis
Assumption
Springfield, OH
25 years of service

Dr. Vicki Pappas, National Chairman of the Church Musicians Forum,
commented on National Church Music Sunday. She urged all parishes "to honor
their local church musicians for their dedicated service to their parish
through its hymnography, who give of their time and talents Sunday after
Sunday, year after year." She also encouraged parishes to use National
Church Music Sunday "to support the work of the Church Music Federations of
their Metropolis and to be generous in their contributions to the National
Church Music Ministries Fund in support of much-needed national liturgical
music programs. All these commemorative activities during the month of
October enhance and support further development of the liturgical music
ministry of our Archdiocese."

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