What is Divine Liturgy Slide Show?

As you notice, Zmirotho.org posts a different slide show for every Sunday of the Year. So what is the purpose of the slide show?

Well, if you go to a Syriac Church, you probably have noticed that the main language that is used during the Divine Liturgy is Aramaic. Some Churches in the Middle East use also the Arabic Language besides the Aramaic. Those churches have realized that it is important to the people who attend church to understand the prayers that are being said by either the priest or the deacons in their own languages. Therefore they have started saying some prayers in Arabic language so it is easier for the people who don’t speak Aramaic to fully understand the events of the Divine Liturgy. After that some churches started providing written Divine Liturgy in Arabic so people can use them during the mass. But when it comes to the other churches in the world, where other languages are spoken, it is hard to provide a written Divine Liturgy for each language. Even if a church provides a written Divine Liturgy, it is still hard for the people to follow up with the priest. Indeed, it was difficult for our people specially our young generation who grow up in the USA and Europe to understand the Divine Liturgy.

His Eminence Mor Clemis Eugene Kaplan did not hesitate to provide an immediate solution to this problem. His Eminence came to the conclusion that using slide show presentation during the Divine Liturgy is the ideal way to solve the language problem. His Eminence prepared a slide show presentation that included the whole Divine Liturgy a passage by a passage. It provided immediate translation to what was being prayed by the priest, the deacon, or the choir. Every page was divided in two columns: one column for the English translation, the other for the pronunciation of the Syriac in English. The slide show was presented on two big screens in St. Ephraim Cathedral in Burbank, California. A deacon advances the slide every time a new prayer is prayed so people can follow up during the Divine Liturgy. The people liked the idea of providing a slide show and they were encouraged to bring their kids to the church. Later on, the slide show was developed to include the Arabic Language as well.

           The slide show for every Sunday is posted on Zmirotho.org every week so anybody can download it and benefit from the valuable information that it has.