Track Listing:
WESTERN CHURCHES
Bells of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. The Church is in the Muristan area of the Old City of Jerusalem, close to the Holy Sepulchre.
Good Christian Men Rejoice (Mixed choirs in St. Georg's Cathedral, Jerusalem, seat of the Anglican Archbishop.)
Noel Nouvelet (sung by the nuns of the Convent of the Sisters of Sion)
Christmas Lullaby (in Arabic) (The full choir of the Adele Dafeesh school for blind girls)
Jesus Is All the World to Me (The soloist is Loucend Kouyounian, an American girl, pupil of this Bethlehem blind girls' school)
Un Petit Enfant Nous Est Ne Unto Us a Little Child is Born) (Sung by the Nuns of the Convent of the Sisters of Sion)
Organ Voluntary (from the Chapel of the Sisters of Sion)
The Midnight Mass at Bethlehem (in St Catherine's Basilica, adjoining the Church of the Nativity)
EASTERN CHURCHES
Bells of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. These bells serve always as a reminder that Western ceremonies are but one aspect of Christmas in the Holy Land. Most of the Orthodox Churches, including the Greeks -- custodians of many shrines -- celebrate it on January 6.
Come Ye Faithful (Choir of priests and boys of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, Jerusalem)
The Gospel Story. For many Arab Christians among Greek Orthodox congregations, the liturgy is, of course, in Arabic. From St. George's Church, Bethlehem.)
Christmas Hymn (Mixed choir of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Gethsemane)
The Holy Family. Part of the Grande Doxologie. Priests of the White Fathers' Seminary, at St. Anne's Crusader Church, by the Pool of Bethesda. They are Greek Catholics, but follow the Orthodox liturgy.
Holy, Holy, God Almighty. From the Christmas Mass, sung by the Coptic Patriarchate Choir, Jerusalem. In the indigenous churches of the Middle East, ritual and liturgy have changed but little from the early centuries of Christianity.
Bells of the Russian Convent on the Mount of Olives. The convent's gothic belltower dominates the skyline on top of the Mount, near the Place of the Ascension. The bells are rung by the nuns.
A Christian Hymn (Sung in Old Slavonic by the Buns of the Russian Convent.
The Gospel. in Syriac (Peshitta Translation). Choir of the Syrian Church of St. Mark, in Jerusalem. Syriac is akin to Aramaic, the language of Jesus and the Disciples.
Saviour of the World, Born Today (Monks of the Deir el Habashi, the Abyssinian Monastery, in Jerusalem. Their small, African-type huts nestle in close to the Holy Sepulchre. Their music, too, in its rhythm, reveals its African origin. Their sixth-century chant is in Gheez, classical language of the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia.
The Magnificat and Today Is Christmas. Combined choirs of the 12th-century Armenian Cathedral of St. James and the Armenian Semniary. Thechurch stands on the site where, according to tradition, Herod Agrippa "killed James, the brother of John, with the sword." St. James's preserves the splendor of Byzantium; incense, silver lamps suspended from the soaring dome, rich carpets covering the glagstones. The Aremenians in Jerusalem celebrate Christmas last of all, on January 18.
Click for Track Listing. You will choose your shipping options at check-out.
Click for Track Listing. You will choose your shipping options at check-out.
Also available as 320kbps MP3 download. See our "MP3s Available" section. Click for Track Listing. You will choose your shipping options at check-out.
Also available as 320kbps MP3 download. See our "MP3s Available" section. Click for Track Listing. You will choose your shipping options at check-out.
Click for Track Listing. You will choose your shipping options at check-out.
Is your purchase a gift? We'll wrap it for you for just 5.00.