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Here is the relevant page in Mikita:

http://www.patronagechurch.com/TYPIKON-MIKITA/229.htm

Admin, if you were in charge of rubrics , how would you serve the Divine Liturgy of Annunciation on Great Friday morning? Would you have the Vesperal Liturgy for Annunciation in the morning and then have Vespers with the Bringing Out of the Shroud again in the afternoon/evening?

Dave

Tony,

Thank you for your post and for the links. I had not seen either of them.

The copies of the Dolnytsky Typicon distributed by Father Michael Hayduk simply give directions to �At Liturgy with Vespers�. There is no mention of the time of day or the Procession with the Burial Shroud.

Mikita prescribes this service �at the 10th hour before noon� and does provide rubrics for the Procession with the Burial Shroud. Mikita also allows �a small fast meal after the Liturgy with Vespers, in honor of the feast�. He then prescribes the Small Compline �at the 7th hour of the evening�.

The Winnipeg link notes that �Dolnytsky is silent regarding the procession of the Burial Shroud on this day� and offers the recommendations that Father Petras gives as a possibility without mandating them. It is clear that pastoral discretion regarding what is done at each parish is allowed.

The Stamford link states �in the evening� but it also states that �[t]he celebration of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is permitted on all other weekdays of the Great Fast, with liturgical propers taken from the respective service from the Commons� (which leads me to dismiss it entirely as a source of orthodox usage).

Given that many of the recent mandatory changes in our Holy Week Services (the placement of the Sacramental Anointing into the Presanctified of Holy Wednesday rather then the traditional Service of Holy Anointing; the moving of the Vespers and Basil Divine Liturgy of Holy Saturday from earlier in the day to the evening and the addition of the Pascha Matins immediately following the Basil DL; etc.), I simply do not believe that the Typicon as edited by Father Petras accurately reflects our authentic Ruthenian liturgical tradition. I say this with great respect for Father Petras and with admiration of his love for Christ and our Church.

Tony wrote: What constitutes "received tradition" in this case?

Good question. It seems clear that the Divine Liturgy for Annunciation was in the morning while the Ruthenians moved the Vespers to the evening. One needs to look at the other Churches of the Ruthenian recension (and the other Byzantine Churches, by extension) to get a good snapshot. I mentioned earlier that my former pastor said that when this happened before he celebrated a Divine Liturgy in the morning and the Burial Vespers in the evening.

Tony wrote: The holy week services were all basically anticipated. If it is found that the "received tradition" is in conflict with the Typikon which will prevail?

This, too, is a good question. I honestly don�t have the answer. I think that the possible best answer is to mimic the �received tradition� as used in the parallel Orthodox Churches. The Liturgical Instruction does direct us to look to contemporary Orthodox practices.

Tony wrote: So, how should this Holy and Great Friday falling on March 25th the Annunciation be set up liturgically in your opinion?

There exists a conflict between the Typicon and the �received tradition�. The Typicon seems to expect that all the Divine Services of Holy Week are anticipated. Most Byzantines seem to celebrate the Vespers and Divine Liturgy in the morning (or at 2 PM according to the Russian Typicon you mentioned) and the Procession with the Burial Shroud at Jerusalem Matins in the evening.

But evening Vespers with the Procession with the Burial Shroud is the �received tradition� in Ruthenian parishes. I do not think that there is a solution that will respect both the Typicon and the �received tradition�.

Because of this I would recommend pastoral flexibility:

Option 1) If a parish desires to celebrate the Vespers and Divine Liturgy in the evening and follow it with the Procession with the Burial Shroud they should be allowed to do so.

Option 2) If a parish desires to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the morning and celebrate Vespers and the Procession with the Burial Shroud it should be permitted.

Option 3) If a parish should wish to celebrate the Vespers and Divine Liturgy in the morning and introduce Jerusalem Matins and the Procession with the Shroud in the evening, that should also be allowed.

I recommend the same flexibility with all of the Holy Week services. If parishes wish to continue, for example, celebrating the Vespers and Basil Liturgy of Holy Saturday early in the day and retain the Matins and Chrysostom Liturgy on Saturday night it should be allowed, not prohibited. When the usage changes in the Byzantine Orthodox Churches it will be time to make parallel changes in our Church.

For Annunciation / Good Friday, from a pastoral perspective I recommend option 2. I have seen the crowds in my home parish dwindle from 350+ people at the Pascha Matins / Chrysostom Liturgy when it was celebrated late Saturday night to less than 100 people at the Vespers / Basil Divine Liturgy / Resurrection Matins (and the missing ones are not all at the morning Liturgies). I loathe seeing any change to a service that works, be it in rubrics or translations. Unnecessary changes often succeed only in chasing people away.

Admin

Dave,

See the three options I outlined in my response to Tony.

Admin

Administrator,

Actually Mikita uses the term sukhoiadenie - xerophagy, eating only dry food. That's on page 231 of the link Dave provided. (Thanks Dave!)

As for your choice of your option two, it is certainly not one substantiated in the Typika cited. To cite "received tradition" for something that only happens a few times a century seems at best a stretch and seems to be setting a dangerous precedent for disregarding the prescriptions in the Church's Typika.

Tony

Administrator,

This menaion/Paschalion collision is not something that happens every year. The resurrectional Paschal services do happen every year. To make a comparison of them does not seem just nor helpful.

Tony

Administrator,

The proof you requested is there in the link Dave offers, Mikita. Re-locating the services is something that has been discussed here before and I stated my opinion then and need not do so again. Mikita says vespers is to start at 10am, the Russian Typikon says 2pm.

The more I think about it the more the thought of a "received tradition" for something that happens at most a few times a century seems unreasonable. Anyone would have to consult some authority regarding this.

Tony

Tony,

I disagree. Given the massive revisions to the �received tradition� in recent years I think it is only fair to step back and properly review both the various Typicons and the �received tradition� itself without a bias towards revisionism.

Regarding option 2, please note that I specifically recommended it as possibly the best pastoral option. Option 3 is certainly closer to the �received tradition� in other Byzantine Churches and should not have been prohibited. The forbidding of celebrating the Vespers and Divine Liturgy in the morning seems to flow from the revisionist tendency our Church is undergoing. I sincerely doubt that when Julian Good Friday falls on Annunciation any Orthodox Church will prohibit the celebration of the Vespers/Divine Liturgy in the morning (as has been done in the Ruthenian Church). Therefore, I think my comments are both just and helpful.

Admin

Tony,

Thank you for your comment. Yes, I don�t wish to repeat myself needlessly. I believe the 10 am time given by Mikita should be allowed in the Ruthenian Church. It should not have been prohibited.

I continue to disagree again about the need to consider the �received tradition�. If an uneducated Greek priest who was unfamiliar with the Holy Week services picked up the Typicon of any Orthodox Church and saw �Matins and Chrysostom Liturgy� for Pascha, and then scheduled this service for Easter Sunday morning (since Matins is morning prayer), he would not be in accordance with the �received tradition� of the Greek Orthodox Church. Plus, a lot of people expecting this service at midnight would be really upset. This case here is really no different. In the end, I repeat my suggestion of flexibility for the three options I have outlined. I do realize and respect that the bishops have spoken and two of these three are prohibited.

Admin

Administrator,

The problem with the above hypothesis is that 1) the Typikon says what time to conduct the "Matins and Chrysostom Liturgy" if the uneducated priest can read he can read the time stipulated, and; 2) you continue to pit a regular liturgical event, in this case Pascha, against the irregular collision of Annunciation and Great Friday.

I don't think that the people expect what you are proposing for Great Friday/Annunciation. Why would they? It does not happen over and over every year like Pascha does.

Tony

Tony,

Yes, you are correct that the Typicon prescribes the time in most cases. If we followed the Typicon in all cases I would not be arguing. But that�s not what we are doing. The Typicon does not direct that the Holy Anointing Service of Holy Wednesday be replaced with an anointing within the Presanctified. The Typicon does not prescribe that Pascha Matins be removed from the Chrysostom Liturgy and added immediately after the Vespers and Basil Liturgy of Holy Saturday. Do you see my point? If one disregards our �received tradition� (the liturgical books, the typicons, and the custom) in these other cases it seems senseless to appeal to it and demand exactness here. Appealing to the Typicon in this case and not the others is nothing more than an exercise in personal preference.

Yes, I do continue to compare a regular liturgical event against an irregular one. How can one mandate a rearrangement of the Holy Week services and cite pastoral reasons and personal preference (how it was done in some earlier century), ignore the witness of contemporary Byzantine Orthodoxy, and then insist on the letter of the Typicon for an irregular event?

Admin

Administrator,

Well then, appealing to the Typikon in the other cases but not in this one is the same thing, an exercise in personal preference.

IIRC there is no prescription in the Typikon for the Anointing.

Well, that argument isn't with me. Yet again, I don't see how dispensing with the Tpikon in this case is justified just because it is done by others at other times.

In any event, I wish you a profitable remainder of Holy Week and a bright Pascha.

Tony

Friends,

First a comment on March 26. It is the Synaxis of Gabriel and the post-feast of the Annunciation. March 26 Vespers, that is Vespers for the Evening of March 25 call for 3 Stichera of the Triod, 4 of the Annunciation, 3 of St. Gabriel, and GBN of the Annunciation at both Psalm 140 and the Aposticha. Matins has a special festal Canon, the Praises have 4 Stichera of St. Gabriel and GBN of the Annunciation.

So I don't understand the fuss over celebrating the Liturgy on Liturgical day Mar 26. I also don't understand why some fuss over that fact but don't mind at all celebrating Vespers in the morning. If it bothers someone to sing Annunciation Stichera and Troparia after Liturgical March 25, why does it not bother them to sing O Joyful Light or Psalm 140 in the morning?

From my own experience the faithful, in vast majority, attend only one service on a given day and again in my experience this is the evening service. In my parish the eveing services of Holy Week are Presanctified Mon-Wed, Vesperal St. Basil Liturgy Holy Thur, Vespers with Shroud Burial Good Friday, Paschal Matins Holy Saturday. In general these service are well attended and Good Friday and Holy Saturday are packed. Good Friday Matins and Vesperal St. Basil Liturgy, held in the morning, are attended by a maximum of ten people in my 17 years of attendance. In my opinion having Vesperal St. John Litugry with Shroud Burial was the best pastoral option in that combining the services and having them at night affords the greatest amount of people to participate and celebrate both feasts.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Tony,

Thanks for your post. Yes, my three options are all an exercise in personal preference, but it does have the justification of having a precedent. You might remember that I have not called for a mandate on any of the three options I have recommended. Only that pastoral judgment be allowed for any of them as they all have some precedence in our �received tradition�.

I realize that there is no prescription in the Typikon for the Anointing Service. Yet it is part of the �received tradition� and I see no move within Byzantine Orthodoxy to remove it or prohibit it. If you are aware of such revisionist tendencies please let me know.

I also realize and respect that dispensing with the Tpikon in this case is justified just because it is done by others at other times. I�m sure that you also realize that if you normally dispense with the Typicon in other, regularly occurring cases, that it then becomes difficult to appeal to it for any type of mandate regarding Liturgy.

Thank you for your wishes for Holy Week and Pascha! I enjoyed this past year when we were in sync for the feasts of the Church. I pray that you will have a good Fast and wish you the best with your studies.

Admin

Father Deacon Lance,

I have no problem with someone who desires to celebrate the Annunciation Divine Liturgy on the day after the Annunciation. My problem is that those who wish to celebrate the Annunciation Divine Liturgy on the Feast itself should not be prohibited from doing so.

Because the Holy Services kept developing after they were anticipated by half a day. As I have noted previously, Pascha Matins is a nighttime service, not a daylight service. Moving it to the morning changes the whole context of a service that developed into its present form as a nighttime service. Likewise, the Vesper and Basil Divine Liturgy for Holy Saturday is now musically mournful, full of anticipation and watchfulness. Simply moving it to the evening and making it the main Paschal service maintains the musically mournful, anticipatory context that this service developed AFTER it became a morning service. Furthermore, on a very practical note the Vespers / Basil Liturgy / Pascha Matins just doesn�t work and chases people away. I am not advocating it, but one can make a legitimate case that a development in this area would be to celebrate Vespers / Pascha Matins / Basil Liturgy. It would possibly be a better way to revise the vigil (but I am not advocating this).

As I have stated, I am not averse to the entire Byzantine Church taking a good look at the Holy Week services. I am averse to simply moving them. I am averse to making changes that do not parallel the organic ongoing life with Byzantine Orthodoxy (as we are directed by the Liturgical Instruction).

Admin

Administrator,

Please remind me what the precedent is.

T