1. responsorium prolixum Verbum caro factum est (in nativitate Domini) – A-Wn 1799** 3.26
2. lectio Kiv/Ex 3,13–18   4.16
3. graduale Tecum principium (in nativitate Domini) – GT42 4.23
4. lectio: Kiv/Ex 33,18–23   2.29
5. introitus Ecce advenit (in epiphania Domini) – GT56 2.55
6. lectio: Mt 3,13–17   2.06
7 responsorium In splendenti nube (in transfiguratione Domini) – PrM173 2.28
8. lectio: Mt 17,1–8   3.34
9. Alleluia! Candor est lucis (in transfiguratione Domini) – GT585 2.34
10. lectio: Ter/Gen 28,10–19a   4.57
11. responsorium Ponis nubem (in ascensione Domini) – PrM84 1.50
12. lectio: Kiv/Ex 19,16–19   2.33
13. responsorium Spiritus Sanctus (Dominica Pentecostes) – PrM87 3.16
14. lectio: ApCsel/Ac 2,1–13   5.01
15. graduale Qui operatus est (in conversione S. Pauli ap.) – GT536 3.24
16. communio Modicum (temp. Pasch., hebdomada VI. feria 5.) – GT234 3.13
  Total timing   52.33

Theophany – the appearance of the divine in human form. Jews, Christians and Muslims equally believe and profess that God is spirit and invisible, consequently indefinable through imagery.  In exceptional moments, however, God seems to “open a window” for self-manifestation. The core teaching of Judaism and of its younger sibling, Christianity, is that God’s self-revelation should be considered the greatest divine act toward humankind.  The duality of Deus absconditus and Deus revelatus determines the cosmic field of our religiosity: the anxious awe before the all-powerful but also the unconditional trust in God; the instinct to shield ourselves from God and yet the irresistible attraction to God.

On this recording we make an attempt to present the Biblical marks of self-revelation of the eternally concealed divine as appears in Western Christian church liturgical music.  Latin chants of the holy office and mass alternate with Hungarian Biblical readings. The great Gregorian parts preserve the spiritual experience of centuries as they have crystallized in music. The selection of the scriptural readings serve as an additional illustration of how dynamic and flexible Gregorian language is and how applicable it is regardless of the historical era. The two-voice melody that carries the texts on this CD is the recitative tone of the antiphonary preserved in Zagreb and used by Bishop Osvαt Thuz in the 15th century, thus its ornamentation carries a Renaissance style.

The recording was made in Our Lady Roman Catholic Church of Kolozsmonostor in Transylvania (Cluj, Romania) in the spring of 2008. On the site of this church a thousand years ago a renowned Benedictine abbey and a chancellery was founded.

Published by Allegro-Thaler (Budapest, 2008).