Singing the Twelve Apostles
I had to learn the names of the Twelve Apostles: not exactly a part of our Synoptic Gospels class, but also not something that Archbishop Michael was willing to allow us to not know. The grade is easy: if you can name all twelve Apostles, you get a 100 for that grade. If you cannot name all of them, you get a 0.
He actually mentioned that it would be good to know the names of all of The Seventy, that is the 70 Apostles Jesus sent out, as well, but "that was asking too much". It was when he was talking about The Seventy that I first started thinking that it would not be too hard to learn them all if you had a fun song. I saw somebody singing the periodic table once, and if that is possible with all the weird element names, the strange-to-us first-century saints names must be doable.
I mentioned to one of my classmates that we should sing the Apostles' names to some tune. Once they mentioned that Abp. Michael was a Broadway fan, it was a done deal. It had to be done. I scanned a list of popular Broadway tunes, and when I saw "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, I knew it was perfect. It is widely recognized and is itself based on Jewish culture, which fits nicely with a group of first-century Jews.
I threw in St. Paul, just to clarify that he is not one of The Twelve. He is much more well known than many of The Twelve. He is the Apostle to the Gentiles, but not one of the Twelve Apostles. And to make it even more confusing, for Orthodox Christians, he is often seen with The Twelve: in icons for Pentecost, not because we think he was there but more to show the importance of his place among all apostles; and also on many church iconostases (the screen or wall separating the sanctuary) he is placed in such a way to suggest he is "top-ranking" next to St. Peter.
So, if you want to learn the Twelve Apostles along with me, and maybe the rest of my class, if they deign to join my childishness, here it is:
He actually mentioned that it would be good to know the names of all of The Seventy, that is the 70 Apostles Jesus sent out, as well, but "that was asking too much". It was when he was talking about The Seventy that I first started thinking that it would not be too hard to learn them all if you had a fun song. I saw somebody singing the periodic table once, and if that is possible with all the weird element names, the strange-to-us first-century saints names must be doable.
I mentioned to one of my classmates that we should sing the Apostles' names to some tune. Once they mentioned that Abp. Michael was a Broadway fan, it was a done deal. It had to be done. I scanned a list of popular Broadway tunes, and when I saw "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, I knew it was perfect. It is widely recognized and is itself based on Jewish culture, which fits nicely with a group of first-century Jews.
I threw in St. Paul, just to clarify that he is not one of The Twelve. He is much more well known than many of The Twelve. He is the Apostle to the Gentiles, but not one of the Twelve Apostles. And to make it even more confusing, for Orthodox Christians, he is often seen with The Twelve: in icons for Pentecost, not because we think he was there but more to show the importance of his place among all apostles; and also on many church iconostases (the screen or wall separating the sanctuary) he is placed in such a way to suggest he is "top-ranking" next to St. Peter.
So, if you want to learn the Twelve Apostles along with me, and maybe the rest of my class, if they deign to join my childishness, here it is:
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