Dear brothers and sisters in Christ and dear Psalm singing friends,
My name is Eugen Tamas and I am the founder and coordinator of The Psalms Project Romania, an initiative that aims to restore the singing of the Psalms in the contemporary Evangelical church.
THE VISION OF THE PROJECT
God commands us in His Word to sing the Psalms (see 2 Chronicles 29:30; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19). Why? Because the Psalter is the Hymnbook of the Bible! Here we find a collection of 150 hymns that are inspired by God Himself and centered on the Person and the Work of our Lord Jesus.
Throughout the ages, the Psalter has been the hymnal of not only Israel and Jesus, but also of Christians, including believers in Romania, until 200 years ago.
Nowadays, however, the command to sing the Psalms is neglected and the historical testimony is ignored. Our desire is to contribute to the restoration of this practice !
Nevertheless, in order to carry out this purpose, we realized that we needed to provide Christians with a resource that would help them to that effect. The good news is that we already have such a resource, which is: “THE SONGS OF THE PSALMS – The Metrical Psalter versified and set to music by Traian Dorz and Nicolae Moldoveanu". This is the only Psalter in the history of our country that has been completely versified and set to original songs composed for each Psalm (read below the fascinating story of its origin)!
Regrettably, this book has been out of print for more than 20 years, thus our dream is to republish it in both physical and digital format.
For this dream to come true, we lack 3.000$ and we are writing to ask for your support in raising this sum of money, so that together we can bring this book of divine songs back to the Romanian people!
SOME FEATURES THAT RECOMMEND IT
- it contains the complete text of the 150 Psalms in a versified/metrical version
- literary and also poetical versification (taking into account the specifics of Romanian poetry)
- the biblical text is taken from the Dumitru Cornilescu Version, the most beloved translation of the Bible in the Romanian Protestant Church
- the tunes are extremely suitable (chosen according to the tone and message of each Psalm)
- it was made by two great men of faith who are among the most respected Christian composers and poets of the Protestant Church in Romania
Another series of qualities has to do with the special historical circumstances it was born in. I will leave these below, precisely how brother Moldoveanu himself wrote them in the Introduction of the original Psalter:
How did the first thought of creating a Romanian Metrical Psalter occur?
It was back in 1947, during a conversation I had with Richard Wurmbrand, when he shared with me the thought of him writing a book that would comprise meditations on the Song of Songs, containing not only prose, but also poetry and music – Traian Dorz would versify some ideas from the Song of Songs, while I would write the music. I found the suggestion both beautiful and interesting. I accepted the proposition at once and talked to T. Dorz, too. He also liked the idea, but in the meantime, R. Wurmbrand was arrested and we no longer started the project. Nonetheless, I told Dorz we could work together on creating a Romanian Metrical Psalter. Dorz welcomed the proposal and started working right away. However, not long after our discussion, he was arrested as well (on Christmas, in 1947, and he was released in spring 1948, close to Easter). When we met after his release, he gave me the first versified Psalms and I started composing the music for them. The whole project took almost three years. In 1950, all the Psalms were ready and later on, they were organized in four-part harmony, which is the current format in the book.
These Psalms (beside other songs) born during the most desperate times of suffering and persecution (when there was no other means of communication to help strengthen the brotherhood) were – for more than fifty years during Communism – the means provided by God to refresh our faith and sustain our brotherly bond. Due to this ministry on the field of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, we endured great suffering caused by the state’s secret police, as we were sentenced to many years of prison; moreover, after our release, we were constantly harassed through the frequent "house hunts", during which they would confiscate manuscripts, books, Bibles and magnetic tapes on which we recorded songs. Despite everything, by the grace of the Lord we moved forward.
I lift all my praise, worship and thanksgiving up to God, from whom we receive every good gift through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour!
Praise the Lord!
NICOLAE MOLDOVEANU (Sibiu, 2000)
"THE TREASURES OF GRACE" PUBLISHING HOUSE
The first and only publication of the initial Metrical Psalter took place in year 2000, under the emblem of “Editura Comorile Harului" (=The Treasures of Grace Publishing House), lead by brother Iosif Lazar, one of the closest disciples of brother Moldoveanu (to this day, this publishing house takes care of all the published inheritance of brother Moldoveanu). Under the emblem of the same publishing house, and with sister Daniela’s blessing (brother Moldoveanu’s only daughter), this New Revised Psalter will also come to light.
NOT ONLY REPRINTING, BUT ALSO REVISING
After analysing the text and the scores closely, we realized that the book needed not only an orthographic revision of the texts, but a revisal of the musical notation in the scores, as well. Consequently, we had to invole a whole team of skilled linguists and musicians who put a lot of effort into this project. Apart from that, the chords for piano/organ/guitar were added above the music scores.
THE REVISED VERSION WILL CONTAIN
- The text and the scores of the 150 Psalms
- Introduction by Nicolae Moldoveanu
- Thematic Index with 400 themes and subjects
- Index with 500 quotes/references to the Psalms found in the New Testament
- A brief Christological comment for each Psalm (?)
- A larger format than the initial edition which allows us to display the music sheets and texts in a higher quality
- High quality paper
- Hard cover
- Sustainable binding
- A digital format will also be available (App for smartphone and a website)
Download the first 10 Psalms that have been already revised:
THE TEAM BEHIND THE PROJECT
Eugen Tămaș, coordinator of "The Psalms Project Romania"
Eugen is the one who initiated and coordinated this project.
Iosif Lazar, editor “The Treasures of Grace Publishing House”.
Brother Iosif is the closest disciple of brother Nicolae Moldoveanu, and the one who takes care of all the published work of brother Moldoveanu. Right from the start, he has been the key man of this project.
Emanuel Bălăceanu, lect. univ dr. at Emanuel University of Oradea, conductor and composer.
Emanuel Bălăceanu will transcribe and edit the music scores, review the musical text and the notation of the chords for guitar, and he will also coordinate the text revision.
Ortansa Stângă (expert in orthography)
Sister Ortansa deals with the orthographic revision of the texts.
Adrian Abrudan, from the "Romanian Missionary Society"
Adrian Abrudan will do the final editing, the cover, and pre-press operations.
A group of over 30 volunteers from the Romania and from abroad.
FREE DISTRIBUTION
As noted above, for such a task we lack $ 3,000. Given our economic situation it is not possible to raise such an amount without the help of our International Psalm Singing Community. Besides this, there is little interest in Psalm singing in our country mainly due to lack of resources. So, we want to stir up this interest by distributing for free the 2,000 copies of this newly revised Psalter to pastors, music leaders and regular Christians who want to start singing the Psalms.
So, would you please consider helping us?
FINANCIAL DETAILS
We can provide an invoice for every donation!
DONORBOX, an easy and safe platform to make worldwide donations. Follow the link:
https://donorbox.org/revising-and-reprinting-of-the-romanian-metrical-psalter
International Wire Transfer
Beneficiary/receiving bank name: Banca Transilvania
Beneficiary/receiving bank address:
Calea Clujului no. 207A
410553 Oradea
Jud. Bihor
Romania
Phone: +40 259 400 232
Beneficiary/receiving Account Number:
(USD) RO58BTRLUSDCRT0624990901
(EUR) RO54BTRLEURCRT0624990901
(GBP) RO12BTRLGBPCRT0624990901
Banca Transilvania SWIFT code: BTRLRO022
Beneficiary name and address:
ASOCIATIA PSALMII CANTATI
Calea Clujului nr. 285
410553 Oradea
Jud. Bihor
Romania
PayPal: eugen.tamas85@gmail.com
Revolut: +40 744 252 573
I would be happy to provide any other information you would need in order to build trust.
I thank you in advance, and may God receive “your gifts – a fragrant aroma, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will fully supply your every need according to His glorious riches in the Messiah Jesus”. (Philippians 4:18-19)
In Christ's love that unites us,
Eugen Tamas
The Psalms Project Romania
I invite you to watch this video to find a presentation of our work:
For further details or any other information, feel free to contact me:
eugen.tamas85@gmail.com or +40 744 252 573