The hymns during a church service aren't mere art or adornment, they are much more.

Hymns are some of the “first, deepest and most beautiful theology of the Christian Church,” according to the Rev. Bogdan Bucur, pastor of St. Anthony's Orthodox Church, 400 Sixth Ave.

Bucur will give a public presentation, “Learning Theology from the Ancient Hymns” from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 2 at the church.

“I'll have an audio-visual presentation,” said Bucur. “It's one thing to read the hymns, it's another to hear them in their proper context.”

He hopes to have the Byzantine Chanters from Pittsburgh's St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in attendance.

“These are hymns from the Byzantine tradition. They are from the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth centuries,” he said. “The roots of these hymns stretch back to the second century.”

“The theology of these hymns are very rich. They are carriers of the church's most ancient theology. They are very beautiful and they should be,” he said.

“Yes, we still sing them and still pray with them. And they still have a lot to teach. Not just emotion, not just information, it shows us the pattern of Christian life. They are steeped in the text of the Bible,” Bucur said.

Bucur is an assistant professor of theology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, with a special interest in the history of Christian thought, and the Byzantine tradition.

“Dr. Bucur's expertise includes attention to the artistic expression of faith through music and art,” said the chairman of his department, Dr. Maureen O'Brien.

“I would agree with him,” O'Brien said.

“The church is expressing faith through Scripture, through art and the environment, through preaching. What we don't often think about is that the music we are using expresses faith,” she said.

“You could say it's multidimensional. When we pray in these multidimensional ways, we are expressing the faith we share in the Christian community,” said O'Brien.

Bucur said the hymns are a lens to enter the Bible.

One 9th century hymn, for example, is an Irish composition still heard today, “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel.” “What is not evident is its theological affirmation,” said Bucur.

“It's going to be a very rich and rewarding experience for anyone seeking the living God,” said Bucur. “For anyone who wants to discover or rediscover the Christian faith.”

Bucur said it won't just be two hours of talking about music. He will leave time for questions and answers.

“Small community that we are, this is a Christmas gift that we can share with friends, curious people, people that happen to be here at that time,” said Bucur.

Bucur has been pastor of St. Anthony's for two years. He commutes with his family — his wife, Cristina; daughter Irina, 13; and son Andrei, 2 — every Saturday from Pittsburgh. They stay at the rectory while Bucur conducts Saturday and Sunday services and does “whatever pastoral work needs doing.”

He serves a congregation of 35 people. “It's shrunk because the congregation has aged,” he said.

He said, in the past, while nearby churches catered to Orthodox adherents from Eastern Europe or the Ukraine, St. Anthony's members were from Syria and Lebanon.

“They came to work in the steel mills, too,” he said.

“It used to be the Syrian church, which was called Antiochian from the city of Antioch in Syria,” said Bucur.

He said the last names of the descendants of those immigrants were commonly Isaac, Moses, Abraham, Esper or Thomas.

He said their descendants are in Pittsburgh, New Castle and New Kensington and “trace their roots back to Homs, back to cities we hear about in the news today.”

“At the time, it made sense for there to be a church for the Ukrainians, one for the Russians, one for the Syrians,” said Bucur. “They all spoke different languages.”

“But now 99 percent of the congregation is completely Americanized,” he said.

He added that in the present day, the congregation is split almost evenly between descendants of church members and those who are converts.

Bucur himself is from Romania. He came to the United States with his wife and first child in 2000 to complete his graduate work in theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

“From the first time here, I got ordained and 'parachuted' here, we were overwhelmed by the warmth and kindness of the people at St Anthony's,” he said.

<b>WHAT:</b> “Learning Theology from the Ancient Hymns” free audio-visual presentation<b>WHEN:</b> 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 2<b>WHERE:</b> St. Anthony's Orthodox Church, 400 Sixth Ave.<b>INFO: </b>Visit www.orthodoxbutler.org or e-mail the Rev. Bogdan Bucur at frbogdan@orthodoxbutler.org