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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
It is rather disconcerting to hear the chairman say that you are coming “to sit at my feet”; especially so as my own interest in this subject only dates back to last year, when, in my professional capacity, it was necessary for me to be responsible for the music of an entire—I will not say Greek Mass : we all use that expression, but it is quite incorrect. After all is said and done, the term “Mass” is peculiar to the Roman liturgy. The Greeks never called their liturgy a Mass, and in dealing with any question of this kind we should always use the name which the people engaged in a particular form of service give to it themselves. Therefore we speak of the Byzantine liturgy, not the Greek Mass. Indeed it is not strictly correct to call it even Greek; we have to remember that it exists in about fourteen different tongues, of which Greek, Old Slavonic, Arabic and Roumanian are the chief. True, it was composed in the Greek language, but of course this applies equally to all Eastern rites, especially those of the Armenians and the Slavonians.