Between Heaven and Earth

Beauty in Orthodox Sacred Music

Authors

• James Chater Le Mans

DOI: https://doi.org/10.57050/jisocm.138004

Keywords:

Beauty, Creation, Logos, Silence, Breath, frisson, prayer

Abstract

Orthodoxy has always been a theology of beauty. Human creativity is a response to the divine beauty manifested above all in the Creation, which God declared “good”, inspires us with awe and invites a eucharistic response. Creating beauty is part of our imitation of Christ. In liturgical services, the conjunction of music and text form an indissoluble and equal partnership serving the unfolding Logos. The kind of beauty that leads to prayer and transcendence is brought about by (among other things) silence (understood as hesychia or inner tranquility), correct breathing and frisson, understood as a physical reaction triggered by a sense of wonder similar to that experienced by the crowds who heard Christ’s teaching.