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Bethlehem, Pa.  — The Lehigh Valley Orthodox Clergy Brotherhood will host a benefit concert by the St. Tikhon’s Seminary Choir at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 1607 W Union Blvd, Bethlehem, PA, on Sunday, February 19 at 6:30 p.m.

The performance, titled “Psalms and Hymns,” features Orthodox sacred music in English that highlights the Biblical foundations of Orthodox Christian worship. 

“In November, we performed this program at Eastern University in Philadelphia, and it was very well received,” Benedict Sheehan, director of music at St. Tikhon’s Seminary and Monastery, said. “We look forward to performing it again for people in the Lehigh Valley in a sacred space that complements the music’s beauty and spiritual depth.”

The Clergy Brotherhood is looking forward to hosting its membership, which includes 13 Orthodox Christian churches throughout the region, as well as the general public.

“This concert is a perfect way to experience the beauty and scriptural depth of Orthodox Christian worship,” Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, president of the clergy brotherhood, said. 

Drawing especially on the thousand-year-old tradition of monastic singing in Russia, the program will include examples of Znamenny Chant as well as more recent arrangements by composers from the Moscow Synodal School and the Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra.  Also included on the program will be arrangements by the late Deacon Sergei Trubachev [1919-1995], an original work by Mr. Sheehan, based on Znamenny chant, and a Byzantine-style psalm popular on Mt. Athos, a peninsula in Greece which is one of the holiest Orthodox monastic sites in the world. All selections will be sung in English.

Joining the choir as canonarch once again will be Hierodeacon Herman [Majkrzak] of Saint Tikhon’s Monastery brotherhood and teacher of liturgics at the seminary.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the seminarians of Saint Tikhon’s Seminary.  Tickets will be available at the door and are $10.00. 

Direct donations above that level are most welcome, and will go directly to pay the tuition of the seminarians who are singing in the concert. 

A reception in the church hall will follow the performance.