Church Music In The Russian Orthodox Church

While small segments of the Russian Orthodox Church have continued to use only traditional Byzantine chant in their worship, the larger portions of the church have allowed music that is a hybrid between traditional liturgical chants and the popular art music of a given historical period. This music has remained distinctively liturgical and Russian, but has led many to lament the loss of traditional forms. The history of Christianity in Russia began properly with the baptism of Vladimir, Emperor of Kiev, into the Orthodox Christian faith in 988. As did the Roman Emperor Constantine long before him, he proclaimed: "Whosoever he be, who will not come to the river tomorrow to be baptized, be he rich or poor, will fall into disgrace with me" (N. Zernov, Eastern Christendom [London, 1961], 112). In the following year he married the Byzantine emperor's sister, cementing a relationship with the empire at the height of its power. The History For some time the metropolitans of the Russian c…