Christian Music

In these difficult days, we too want to join our voices to those of all people of good will who pray for the Christians of Iraq. Here we present a selection of psalms and hymns from the Chaldean tradition – the ancient Christian tradition of Iraq.

"Sister Act", a Hollywood movie starred Whoopi Goldberg as a fugitive call girl, tells the story of the transformation of a grey convent into a place of joy and worship. Here are some YouTube clips of the music from the film.

A friend of our communities translated the anthem of the World Youth Days in Madrid into Hebrew. Our young people can join the chorus in our own language.

Two friends of the site have sent more carols for Christmas.

In the Catholic tradition, this prayer is sung on feast days and even on Sundays. Our friend, Sharon, from the United States, sent us this link together with her warmest best wishes for 2012.

Sharon, our friend across the Atlantic, sent us some songs from MercyMe, songs to pray with and worship Him.

L. and S. from the Haifa community sent us a beautiful hymn in honor of Mary, mother of Jesus from the Russian tradition, in Slavonic. The hymn, originally from the Byzantine liturgy in Greek, is accompanied here with images of Mary from the West and from the East.

The last psalm of the Book of Psalms is a final and eschatological song of praise. The musicians and dancers of the Temple lead all of creation – every breathing being – in a splendid and all-encompassing song of hallelu-jah (Praise Yah). The psalm has inspired generations of composers and singers and we have gathered a few of these compositions from a variety of traditions.

Miriam from the Haifa community has sent us a piece of music to help us enter the spirit of Good Friday.

V. from the Haifa community has prayed for many years the traditional Catholic prayer, "Anima Christi" - "Soul of Christ" - and he proposes it to us as a prayer for this time and all times.

Sharon from the Haifa community sent us a beautiful rendition of the classical English hymn, "Be Still for the Presence of the Lord" which can guide us into a new year as we continue our prayers for peace and our intercession for all those suffering in the south.

As we continue to pray for the situation in our country and for all those suffering, let us say together: "Lord have mercy", an ancient prayer, used as a confession and an intercession in the Church since time immemorial.

Some of the Eastern Churches still use in their liturgies the Syriac language, a language very close to Jesus's own Aramaic. We have gathered a few versions of "The Lord's Prayer" in Syriac and we post them here with the request that as we listen we pray for the Christians of Iraq in their moment of great suffering. Many of them pray the Lord's Prayer in Syriac too.

L.S. from the Haifa community sent us this beautiful rendition of the words of the Sanctus (Holy) from the Catholic liturgy in Latin. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Holy, holy, holy, God of hosts, heaven and earth are filled with your glory!".

We post here a beautiful, contemporary version of the Lord's Prayer in Arabic. It too can serve as prayer for unity, for peace and for the Christian communities in the Middle East.

Some time ago, we posted religious songs sung by the Serbian singer, Divna Ljubojevic. A Jewish friend has sent us a clip of Divna singing a text from the Song of Songs in Hebrew.

The 2005 movie, "Karol: A man who became Pope", presented the life of Karol Wojtyla, later known as Pope John Paul II. The film is particular notable for the central role of the suffering of the Jews in Poland during the Shoah in the vocation of Karol Wojtyla to the priesthood. 

A student of film making at the Sapir Academy, Ofir Raul-Graizer, has produced a short film of the Benedictine Monastery in Abu Ghosh.

There have been many great Christian Arab singers who have also sung songs that are religious in nature and bear witness to faith in Jesus Christ in the midst of the Arab world. We have collected some of these songs here. On a separate page you can hear the songs of the most famous of Christian Arab singers, the Lebanese Feirouz.

A member of the Haifa kehilla sent us a link to the beautiful Christian Orthodox hymns of Divna Ljubojevic, a Serbian Orthodox singer.