www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Sept 25: A Roman Catholic Mass for a Russian Orthodox Saint

Today, I attended a Roman Catholic Mass celebrated for the memorial of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. His feastday is officially listed in the Roman Martyrology. I suggested it to the celebrating priest a few days ago.

Since today is an "ordinary weekday" on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, a priest may offer a Mass for any saint listed today in the Roman Martyrology.

I would not be surprised if this happened to be the first ever Roman Catholic Mass celebrated for Saint Sergius . The majority of Roman Catholic priests in the US probably do not know who Saint Sergius is.

Does anyone know if Saint Sergius' feastday is an "obligatory" or "optional" memorial on the Roman Catholic calendar in Russia?

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Tomb of Saint Sergius

Saint Sergius, pray for us!

Wait, wait, wait.

How is St. Sergius in the Roman martyrology is he's only an Orthodox saint?

And if he isn't a Catholic saint, how can a Mass be offered in honor of him?

Logos Teen

It's simple.

Although Saint Sergius was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, Rome did approve of his veneration among Catholics.

As to how a Roman-rite Mass can be celebrated in his honor, here's how...

First, Saint Sergius is included in the official martrology of the Roman Catholic Church, the Martyrologium Romanum. I consulted a copy of it at a Roman Catholic seminary library. (The Roman Martyrologies on-line are incomplete.)

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A brief bio of Saint Sergius (in Latin) is found for Sept 25, the day of his passing into eternal life.

On a side note, Saint Sergius is also listed in the four volume Butler's Lives of the Saints.

Second, Article 316-C of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal states:

"On the weekdays in Ordinary Time, the priest may choose the weekday Mass, the Mass of an optional memorial, the Mass of a saint inscribed in the martryology for that day, a Mass for various needs or a votive Mass."

Sept 25th falls in Ordinary Time in the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. In the US, there is no obligatory memorial for that day, so the priest has the option of celebrating a Mass for any saint listed on Sept. 25th.

St Sergius is listed on Sept. 25th, so therefore a priest has the option of celebrating Mass in his honor.

I hope this answers your questions.

That does answer some! ...But leads to more.

So, St. Sergius is not a Catholic saint? If his veneration is allowed and he is inscribed in the Matyrology and called "saint" therein, it would seem he would be viewed as a Catholic saint.

This is, of course, presupposing that when the Martyrology speaks of "saints" it obviously means Catholic saints, just as when EO liturgical books speak of saints one would assume they don't mean the likes of the Little Flower and other post-Schism Catholic saints.

I'm just trying to understand!

Logos Teen

Why are you so worried about this?

First, a small correction: Mass is not offered "for" a Saint, but in honor of that Saint.

In general, the Holy See does not dispute the authority of Local Orthodox Churches to celebrate the glorification of ( = to canonize) Saints. In addition, the Holy See does not consider that the schism became "formal", so to speak, until the collapse of the Union of Florence.

Thus, when the Russian Greek-Catholic service-books were prepared in the nineteen-thirties, forties and fifties, a considerable number of Saints whose glorification had originally been done in Kyiv and Moscow were included - such as Saint Serge of Radonezh. This was done with the Imprimatur of Pope Pius XII.

The same question arose with regard to Saint Gregory Palamas; after a thorough discussion of the matter involving the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Saint Gregory is included in the Greek edition of the Anthologion published by the Holy See.

Pope John Paul II had a keen awareness of Saint Seraphim of Sarov and a strong devotion to him.

And so on. In more recent years, it is not unusual for Rome to send a delegation to be present at Orthodox canonizations - this of course would not be done in the case of someone who was being "canonized" as a sort of palladium of anti-Catholicism [Father Alexis Toth is an example of that sort of thing - I refer to the canonization, not to Father Alexis himself].

Since Protestant communities do not constitute full Churches in the Orthodox / Catholic understanding of the term, it is unlikely that such a principle could be extended to include Protestants - except in clear cases of martyrdom for the sake of Christ, as in the relatively recent case of Anglican martyrs in Africa.

When the Holy See was asked, 25 or 30 years ago, why the process of canonization is only applied for Catholics, the answer was that there is nothing in principle to prevent applying this process to other Christians as well, but the Holy See is reluctant to do this unless the relevant ecclesial community requests it - which has never happened.

Fr. Serge

Dear Father Serge,

It has been posted previously on this Forum that Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky petitioned Rome to ask for permission to allow Russian Byzantine Catholics to venerate Orthodox Saints, which was approved in 1904.

Could you provide further details about this? Is there any reference I can consult?

Thank you.

God bless you.

griego

I would assume Eastern Catholics could privately venerate St. Alexis of Wilkes-Barre if they wished. He is a recognized Orthodox saint.

Andrew

I am unaware of any action having been taken on this matter in 1904. If you can track down the previous posting, it might be best to ask the contributor for a source.

Fr Serge

Next year, Serbian orthodox church will canonize father Justin Popovich of Celije. I wonder if Rome would accept to do it if Serbian Orhodox make a request?

I find it difficult to reconcile devotion to Alexis Toth while being Eastern Catholic.

It was unjust the treatment that he was given by the U.S. Roman Catholic hieararchy, but is that reason enough to leave the fullness of the Christian faith found only in the Catholic Church?

Yes, I know that the Orthodox Church has the apostolic faith and that there is holiness found within Her. I even have devotion to Orthodox Saints (especially Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr), but as a Catholic I believe that the fullness of the Christian faith is found in Catholicism, no matter to which liturgical traditon one belongs.

It is one thing for Catholics to venerate an Orthodox saint, but it is quite another to venerate an Orthodox saint who was originally Catholic.

I have a strong devotion to the Greek Catholic martyrs (Pratulin martyrs, Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky and Companions, Theodore Romzha, etc.). They suffered horrendous things for their loyalty to the Catholic faith. They were given opportunities to become Orthodox, but they chose not to leave the Catholic faith.

I do not think of Alexis Toth in a negative light, but for me to accept him as a saint is a "slap-in-the-face" to Byzantine Catholics who gave up their lives for their faith.

To those who have a private devotion to Alexis Toth, how do you reconcile that with being Eastern Catholic?

Father Frank Chrysostom, a Russian Byzantine Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Denver, has some good comments regarding the glorifcation of Alexis Toth by the OCA. The link is: http://www.unitypublishing.com/Newsletter/OrthodoxCatholic.htm

So Orthodoxy lacks the fullness of faith?

I'm sorry to hear that. I believe my church maintains the fullness of faith and lacks nothing.

I don't see why.

Both sides have their martyrs.

He is a canonized saint though, and personally I think it would be respectful to refer to him that way instead of by his secular name.

Andrew

woah! both catholic and Orthodox have the fullness of the Faith. lets' be straight on that. that was settled beginning in 1965 when the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope of Rome got over them selves and said as much. Father Toth was treeated wrongly. maybe his leaving the Catholic Church wasn't the best move, but, we all know how he and other ECs were treated in the bad old days by the Catholic hierarchy.there is enough blame to go around, let's make sure everyone gets' their rightful share.
Much Love,
Jonn

Well here we go 'round and 'round again, but let's just say that it is not a consensus between either the Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Churches that the other has the fullness of faith.

Logos Teen

aaaaaaah, yes! but I did say BEGINNING, there is much to be done, but attitudes are changing, kid, and high time.
Much Love,
Jonn