The Holy Mountain, a millennium-old ark of Orthodoxy, is undoubtedly a womb that gives birth to and cultivates Byzantine musicology and the art of chanting.

In the spirit of revitalizing the Athonite monasteries after a period of crisis and decline, the "Musical School" of the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi has reopened, 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 music study being conducted, which combines the knowledge of written tradition and the experience of the oral chanting tradition, forms the basis of the current joint effort of the University Press of Crete and the Vatopedi Monastery to fill a gap in the discography, by creating a CD for each day of Holy Week.

These releases contain all the classic compositions of the great melographers for the Holy Passions, chanted in the old Athonite manner (with melodic frameworks, responses, antiphons, etc.). The recordings were made on-site, as the chanting in its natural environment gains a different weight: The long hours of daily musical interpretation of the hymns intersect with the ceaseless prayer, forming an inherent element of monastic life, leading to its deeper experience.

There, the articulation and glorification of the Divine Passion from the mouths of the monks creates a sobering atmosphere and signifies a profoundly shocking truth.