Ecumenicon

Ecumenicon Oratorio

Ecumenicon, by its Greek etymology, (oikoumenikós) means: inhabited land and as an adjective: universal, extended to the whole world. Ecumenism is a movement advocating the ecumenican, referring to the union and harmony of opinions and religious tendencies, especially Christians. Even though this is an ancient ideal it received a new drive in the modern times thanks to the Second Vatican Ecumenican Council.

This piece of music deals with realizing this ancient dream of union and harmony in our modern world.

Bibliography: The texts have been selected from the Sacred Bible, Liber Usualis, documents from the Second Vatican Ecumenican Council and a lesser-known document in Greek: Didache (the Doctrine of the Twelve Apostles), which is the ancient Christian writing, non-canonical, even older then some of the Books of the New Testament. Several versions exist in copt, Arabic, Georgian and Latin. The copt version dates back to the fifth century and is believed to be of Syrian origin and to have been written between the years 70 and 90,.

Ecumenicon is the reappraisal of the texts that are marking the way of humanity until Ecumenism. It includes two Gregorian melodies: Amen, which is taken from the melody of Kyrie from the Mess of Angelis (8th of Kyrial Romano), dating back to the 15th-16th centuries. The other melody is one of the most beautiful hymns of man’s love of God: Ubi caritas et amor, which is part of the 8th Lecture of Maundy Thursday’s Morning Prayer.

This Oratorio is the musical contribution to this yet neither satisfied nor fulfilled yearning of the unity of humans before the challenge of Organisations, States and of all the humans of the 21st century.