Sound in Eastern Christianity: Function, Meaning, Agency
The research group examines sound and voices in the context of Eastern Christianity through historical and contemporary phenomena. What is the function of sound(s) in Orthodox worship whose musical expression is traditionally vocal? Why do religious rituals, such as worship or death rites, involve singing? What meanings have been given to sounds and vocality in the past and contemporarily? Who makes sounds and whose voice is heard? What kind of views there are about singing and music in a liturgical context and how does one become a professional in that field?
The research combines historical, ritual, and performance studies, the analysis of soundscapes and musical sources, as well as the investigation into liturgical musical content, including hymnography, and the study of views, expectations, and experiences of church music.
News
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Doctoral Defense on 27 November 2026, Riikka Patrikainen, Church MusicDoctoral Defense on 27 November 2026, Riikka Patrikainen, Church Music
"A Singer Between Two Worlds: Ritual Lamenting and Singing as Performance of Passage and Change in Orthodox Death Rites in Karelia, Greece, and…
Publications
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Takala-Roszczenko, Maria (2026). Seurakunnallinen laulu Suomen ortodoksisessa kirkossa 1920–1930-luvuilla [Congregational Singing in the Orthodox Church of Finland in the 1920s–1930s]. Muuttuvissa maisemissa: Hymnos 2026. Toim. Leena Lampinen, Samuli Korkalainen, Anna Pulli-Huomo. Hymnos: Hymnologian ja liturgiikan vuosikirja. 2026, 190–132.
Patrikainen, Riikka (2026). Pimeydestä valoon – ortodoksiset hautajaiset kanttorin kokemana ja välittämänä siirtymäriittinä [From Darkness to Light – Orthodox Funeral as a Rite of Passage Experienced and Performed by the Cantor]. Thanatos 14(1).
Korkalainen, Samuli; Lukkala, Tuuli; Neitsov-Mauer, Kristel, Aschim, Per Kristian; Hellberg, Jan (2024). Heritage of the Tower of Babel? Language Policies in Multilingual Contexts of Liturgical Singing. Korkalainen, Samuli & Lampinen, Leena (ed.), Encounters at Borders and Across Borders: Hymnos 2024, 52–76.
Takala-Roszczenko, Maria (2024). Transnational Sounds of a National Church: Musical Creativity in the Orthodox Church of Finland in the First Half of the Twentieth Century. Apintiliesei, Ciprian Costin & Dobre, Emanuel (ed.), In Singing Dialogue with God: Rediscovering the Masters of Orthodox Liturgical Chant of the Last Two Centuries. Éditions du Cerf, 83–114.
Moilanen, Annamari & Takala-Roszczenko, Maria (2023). “Ihminen hakeutuu töihin sinne, missä kokee, että hänen ammattitaitoaan ja osaamistaan tarvitaan”: Raportti kyselytutkimuksesta Kanttorin työn vetovoima Suomen ortodoksisessa kirkossa. [A Report of the Survey “Factors Drawing to the Cantor’s Work in the Orthodox Church of Finland”]
Takala-Roszczenko, Maria (2023). Between Privilege and Exclusion: Orthodox Church Singers Coping with the Covid-19 Lockdown. Archive for the Psychology of Religion 45(2), 210–226.
Patrikainen, Riikka (2023). “Laments Are Made by Life and Pain”: Ethnographic Interviews as a Contex for Performing Greek Death Laments. Traditiones. Slovenian Journal of Ethnography and Folklore 52(3), 129–153.
Takala-Roszczenko, Maria (2023). Papin käskyläisistä ammattimuusikoiksi? Ortodoksisen kanttorin työ ja koulutus sotienvälisessä Suomessa [From the Clergy’s Servants to Professional Musicians? The Work and Education of an Orthodox Cantor in Interwar Finland]. Kasvatus ja koulutus 60(1).
Takala-Roszczenko, Maria (2023). Musical Instruments in Interwar Finnish Orthodox Worship: Localization Interrupted? Acta musicologica 95(2), 113–130.
Takala-Roszczenko, Maria (2020). Kirkkolaulupäivät Valamossa vuonna 1929 taitekohtana suomenkielisen ortodoksisen musiikkitoiminnan kehittämisessä [Church Music Festival in Valaam Monastery in 1929 as a Turning Point in the Developing of the Finnish Orthodox Music Activities].Musiikki 49(4), 54–82.
Patrikainen, Riikka (2019). “Antavat anteeksi ovenvieret”. Matjoi Plattosen kuolinriittikuvaukset siirtymäriittiteorian valossa [The Depictions of Death Rites by Matjoi Plattonen in Light of the Rites of Passage Theory]. J@rgonia, 17(34), 159-183.
Keywords
Senior Researchers
Doctoral Researchers
Other group members
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Riikka Patrikainen PhD researcher