Mount Athos, a millennium-old ark of Orthodoxy, is undoubtedly a womb that births and cultivates Byzantine musical composition and the art of chanting. In the spirit of revitalizing the Athonite monasteries after a period of crisis and decline, the Music School of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi has resumed operations, which for centuries has musically educated the monks.

This has bequeathed to the monastery significant composers, a rich sound archive, books, manuscripts, and, above all, a rich tradition of chanting, which is continued by today's Choir of the Monastery. The systematic musical study that combines the knowledge of written music and the experience of the oral chanting tradition forms the basis of the current joint effort by the University Press of Crete and the Monastery of Vatopedi to fill a gap in the discography by creating a CD for each day of Holy Week.

These publications contain all the classic compositions of the great composers for the Holy Passion, chanted according to the old Athonite manner (with notation, echoes, antiphons, etc.). The recordings were made on-site, as the chant in its natural environment acquires a different gravity: The lengthy daily musical interpretation of the hymns intertwines with the never-ending prayer, becoming an inherent element of monastic life, leading to a deeper experience of it.

There, the utterance and glorification of the Divine Passion by the mouths of the monks creates a profound atmosphere of reverence and signifies a shocking truth.