Ash Wednesday Services at the Cathedral

‘Ashes to Go’ — 6:30am-7:30am; 2:30pm-3:30pm: Stop by the front steps of the Cathedral to receive ashes from members of the Cathedral clergy.

12:15 Ash Wednesday Service: At this midday service, the Cathedral’s choir joins with music from the Renaissance era and a traditional spiritual. William Dawson’s arrangement of the spiritual, “There is a balm in Gilead” with soprano Jamet Pittman combines with Gregoria Allegri’s famed “Miserere mei, Deus.” The latter was fabled to have been heard and transcribed from memory afterwards by a young Wolfgang Mozart. The haunting soprano high C’s with chant and fauxbourdons by the choir has been a traditional hallmark of Ash Wednesday at the Sistene Chapel in Rome for hundreds of years.

7:00pm Ash Wednesday Service and Vigil for Ukraine: The Right Reverend Andrew ML Dietsche, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, will preside and preach, joined by the Right Reverend Clifton Daniel, Dean of the Cathedral. In addition to Dawson’s beloved “Balm in Gilead” and Allegri’s haunting “Miserere,” the Cathedral Choir and Chorale will sing Daniel Ficcari’s “The peace of God,” Moses Hogan’s “We shall walk through the valley in peace,” and the Prayer for Ukraine, a spiritual anthem from 19th century Ukraine. We will lament the world’s hunger for power, repent of the part we individually and corporately play, and pray for healing and peace.

Both the 12:15pm and 7:00pm services will be streamed on www.stjohndivine.org, Facebook and YouTube.