Beautiful Free App from Eikona

One day after co-op, I stopped my children's Greek teacher in the parking lot as she was driving away.

She rolled her window down and smiled as I asked, "do you have sheet music for that song they are learning? I wanna practice it at home with them."

"Do you have the Eikona app? It's on there."

She drove away and I marveled. Stacy knows everything.

I found it on the apple App Store and it's also on Google Play.

Now I have the Eikona app!

The screen shot above explains that it provides Orthodox Daily Hymns, both audio and sheet music. And the voices of these sisters are so prayerful and beautiful.

I already knew about Eikona because I had purchased their Great Parakelsis to the Mother of God and listened to it many, many times. If you are going through a difficult struggle, you might find consolation in this Prayer Service. Eikona sings the words so they are easy to understand - not always true in Byzantine chant. And the words are balm, taking our human experiences, putting words to them, and offering the pain up to God.

But this post is about the app! I downloaded it and quickly swiped back to the appropriate day and found the hymn I was looking for. I printed the sheet music - which is in English - and added in the Greek words we were learning in co-op. 

I am super thankful to see the music in English! I'm often searching for a piece of church music and can only find it in Greek or Slavonic, so this is a blessing.

How might you use this app?

DAILY MORNING PRAYERS - before the song for each day, you can choose to listen to the Morning Prayers. 

I know, I know. I have an ideal in my head of me and all my little flock standing together at the family icon corner with the candle lit, saying morning prayers together. And we did that for years. 

We also spent a year doing morning prayers in the car on the way to school and work. We had one car and my husband dropped me off, then each kid at their school. We just couldn't get up any earlier to do them at home, so we did them in the car. This app could be helpful for someone who missed their prayers and home and still wants a sacred 10 minutes in the car on the way to work.

Or if I were a nursing mom, and could hardly make it out of bed to the icon corner? I might use this app.

Let me tell you, this past week when I had Covid and could barely speak in the mornings, this app came to my rescue. I stood before the icon corner, pressed play, and prayed along silently (as much as I could) while Eikona led me in Morning Prayers. 

LEARNING HYMNS

We often read the Prologue as part of our school. It would be nice to hear the troparion for one of the saints each day. 

Also, if you are trying to learn your own saint's troparion - St. Monica for example - you could find help. Even if Eikona hasn't recorded St. Monica, they probably have sung a troparion to another saint in Tone 4 (Mode 4). At that point, I can just listen to the Tone 4 troparion over and over until it feels familiar, and then insert the words for the other saint. 

We attend a Russian parish, and if you are looking for Russian melodies, this will not be a helpful resource for you. But don't worry - you can find these elsewhere. 

Of course, the hymns for the main Feasts are included!

SUNDAY SCHOOL or VBS/VCS

If you would like to teach your students a hymn, it would be very easy to let Eikona lead it for you instead of having to sing it yourself. Sure, many of us are in the choir and could lead the hymn for the little ones, but not everybody can pull that out of their back pocket. If your phone is hooked to a speaker, you could teacher quite a large group a hymn this way.

A little Sunday School class could begin every class with the same hymn for a semester or even a year. If the main teacher had to be away, a substitute could still lead the song using the app. Also, parents could use the app to reinforce the hymn at home.

If you want to hear more from Eikona, the Akathist Hymn is available here. You can purchase their many cds at the Ancient Faith Store or from Amazon or Apple Music.

I'm very thankful Stacey stopped her car in the parking lot that day and pointed me to this app!