Family Evening Prayers

In preparation for a recent family vacation, I put together a set of evening prayers [PDF], plucking some of my favorite pieces out of the Vespers book from the Metropolitan Cantor Institute. I hesistate to share this for two reasons:

1. I did not obtain permission to use any of this (not necessary, I believe, for limited private use).
2. This is really quite a hack job, not up to my usual standards.

To obtain the pieces that comprise this 8-page booklet [PDF], I used the camera tool in Adobe Reader, set at a high resolution, and then edited each image with Corel PhotoPaint and laid it all out with CorelDRAW, from which I generated the PDF. So you’ll see all kinds of different type size and such.

Anyway, it’s just a draft. I found in practice that it’s a bit too long, especially with the First Kathisma, which I included because it’s my favorite part of Vespers. But I offer these prayers[PDF] here for others to try out and comment on, with a view to producing a tidier version in the future.

Note: This prayer booklet is “booked,” meaning that the pages are laid out for back-to back printing on standard letter paper, to be stapled down the center. So you’ll see pages 8 and 1 on the first PDF page, 2 and 7 on the next, etc. If you’re not up to printing them as a booklet, you could just cut the printed pages in half, put them in the right order, and staple them. I had a few copies made and stapled for cheap at a local copy shop.

See also: Evening Prayers at ByzFaith.