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xConcerning AdaptationThe first adaptation we shall analyze is taken from the Divine Liturgy Hymnal, 1 commonlyknown in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America as “the green book.”This example has the advantage of preserving the original melody 2 so well that both theEnglish and the Greek could be used in the same score. It has the disadvantage, though, of unnecessarilyrepeating the phrase “to You.” Another problem with this setting is that the melodyfor the first instance of the word “Lord” breaks the formulaic rules of composition for Byzantinemusic that dictate which melodic lines may be used to match a particular syllabic pattern.The melody for the phrase “me O Lord” is a standard formula in Byzantine music. However,placing the word “O” on the wrong note betrays either an ignorance of or disrespect towardsthe traditional application of this formula. Breaking the formulaic rules is a problem not onlyideologically (in that such compositions cannot be considered a valid continuation of the traditionof Orthodox chant—which, as the musicologist Dimitri Conomos has pointed out, is “theonly music in world history that has a continuous 1500-year unbroken melodic tradition”) but1 The Divine Liturgy Hymnal, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of N. & S. America, Department of Religious Education,Brookline, Mass., second edition, 1982, p. 119.2 This arrangement is actually a transcription of the melody written by John Sakellaridis in his book Ἱερὰ Ὑμνῳδίαpresented below, which differs only slightly from the melody by Ioannis the Protopsaltis on the previous page.