www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Parish Life & Evangelization ByzanTEEN Totally Old Church Slavonic Liturgies?

Post your thoughts! Let the debate begin! *evil laughter*

Yes i think there should be. maybe not on Sundays when everyone would be there but maybe on a weekday evening every so often.like every once and awhile if a liturgy is being said for a member of my family and my whole family shows up and not many others Father Tom will celebrate most of the liturgy in Old Slavonic. i think it should be allowed in those cases.
-Katie

Christos Voskrese! Christ is Risen!

Dear ByzanTeens;

I am glad you brought this up. I can't understand why some people to get "all up in arms" about this.

I think that if you want Slavonic liturgy to continue now and again it is important to make you desires known now. And more importantly: The clergy would do well to respect and comply with the request of youth who care enough to ask. It shows their dedication to our church. Also, a kid who is smart enough to ask for it, is also smart enough to learn some. Why not have the occasional seminar on Church Slavonic??

My point is that even though we have good translations in English, (and Slavonic must never replace English in North America now;) praying the "same" prayers in different languages can show the different nuances in the respective languages which in turn deepens the understanding and faith of the one praying.

So have at it guys: it will give your grandkids something extra to do when they start arguing over the elimination of English or Slavonic in the Liturgy in favor of Spanish!!!

Love and Greetings to All!
Stefan-Ivan

Yes, but only of Russian pronunciation of Church-Slavonic is used

Speaking as a guy who is considerably past his Byzanteen years, I think that the Eastern Church should take a lesson from their Western brothers and sisters. We see many in the West who truly miss the Latin Mass, as is evident by their Uno Voce societies and the like. The West, just because of the immensity of its membership when compared to the East, can afford splinter groups within its ranks - The East cannot.

There are those in the East who truly miss the Old Slavonic Liturgy, and I believe that they should be accommodated - not as in separate Old Slavonic parishes (which smacks of division and "splinter-ism,") but within their existing, home parishes, on a somewhat regular basis.

I can understand folks my age (early 50's), who grew up with Old Slavonic, wanting to see it reinstated to our worship with more regularity - I'm somewhat surprised (and thrilled!) to see many Eastern youth wanting the same thing!

The Holy Father did mandate that measures should be taken to maintain and promote the beautiful traditions of the Eastern Churches. Well, one of those traditions is The Old Slavonic Divine Liturgy.

Christos Voskrese!

a pilgrim

BTW - Katie g - I grew up in the same parish in Joliet that your family comes from!

Christos Voskrese!

You will never know unless you ask. When the priest agrees, advertise, and see what comes. You might be very surprised at the response. Hospodu pomolimsya.

Voistynu Voskrese!

Actually, the archaic Ukrainian that is used in the UGCC more than adequately satisfies any lingering nostalgia for Church Slavonic . . .

Alex

I think all churches should have a liturgy in Church Slavonic at least once a year. How the feast of Sts. Kyril and Mefodie?
Paki,Paki,
Lauro

Dear Lauro,

There is an old joke about a Roman Catholic priest and a Greek Catholic priest making fun of certain aspects of each other's liturgical languages . . .

The Roman Catholic priest made fun of Church Slavonic by saying: Paki i Paki - daj Pope, tabaki!

The Greek Catholic priest thought about it and then said: "Sursum Corda - na tobi svenyacha mordo!"



Alex

And what's the deal with Ukrainians always praying about "pork chop sauce" huh? :p

(Повсякчас, get it?)

Dave

Dear Dave,

The last time my family and I were in a Chinese restaurant, we learned that "Sheh-sheh" meant "thank you."

In Ukrainian, it sounds like "more-more."

After listening to me say "sheh-sheh" after almost every time we were served food, my father-in-law turned to me and said, "Haven't you eaten today at all, Alex?"

And your point about the pork chop sauce isn't far off the mark.

My father HATED the Ukrainian rendering of the Our Father and the three "nekhaj's" or "May there be" for "May Your Name be hallowed" etc.

So he stuck to Slavonic . . .

And he often referred to a saying when he heard the Ukrainian version and said, "Nekhaj, Nekhaj, Nekhaj bude hretchka" ("Let there be (sown) oats").

The Old Believers are famous for attacking the three-fingers for the Sign of the Cross as the position the hand takes when one plucks tobacco . . .

Do you get the feeling people take their traditions and rites a bit too seriously at times?

God bless, Reader!

Alex

I totally agree with the Old Slavonic liturgy at least once a year,especially if it is what members of the church want. i know that some members at our parish would object but that is why i think it should be done on a weekday so it would be optional. does one liturgy a year really hurt anything?i think not.
-Katie

I am far from being a ByzanTEEN, but when I was, and still attended the church I was raised in, most of the cantors did parts of the mass in both English and Old Slavonic.

Certain parts of the mass would be sung once in English, then in Slavonic. For example, when I was married (right after Easter) the cantor sang "Christ is Risen" in English. Then he did it in Slovanic. (Really threw my in-laws and work friends for a loop not to hear English. It was quite the topic for them at the reception.)

Doing this may be a way to gain interest in having an occaisional mass said totally in Slavonic.

Just a thought.

I think that totally or even partly slavonic masses are great!! I love hearing the songs and liturgy sung in slavonic! But being out in Arizona, I am as far away from our eastern roots as i can get. We have asked our cantors to sing one or two songs during communion in salvonic but not too many people now the language so it is hard. Being out in Arizona though, we have "snowbirds", older people that stay in Arizona during th winter and leave to go back east during the summer- so they are originally from the east and they know it, but they can't be bothered. But i love going back east and singing in church slavonic!
Alyssa Hvasta

I wonder what happened to the person who started this thread. He said "let the debate begin" and yet no one is debating. Where's the fun in that?
-Katie