www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Vespers, Matins & the Divine Liturgy The Revised Divine Liturgy Ruthenian Rescension

In another thread, Deacon Lance said the following

What are some of the things that differentiate the Ruthenian Rescension from the practice that came out of the Nikonian reforms?

Andrew

Andrew,

Most notably,

1. The use of the paschal antiphons from Pslams 65 and 66 every Sunday.

2. The commerations at the Great Entrance are done differntly. The deacon says "May God remember in His Kingdom all you Chritians of the true faith, now and ever, and forever." The priest then does the whole commeration after him.

3. Before the Epiclesis there is no Lenten Troparia of the Third Hour.

4. After Communion there is no Resurrection Hymn, "Having beheld...." or other hymns recited by the priest or deacon.

Fr. Deacon Lance

Dear Andrew,
I am definitely not an expert, but, in general, the Carpatho-Rusyn and Ukrainian Greek Catholics (who comprise what Rome considers to be "Ruthenian")tend to follow Greek usages in many areas more than one would find in the Russian Nikonian reforms; i.e., Greek-style iconostases are more frequent (with a smattering of Russian-style icon screens in some places), the vestments are Greek-style, the Royal Doors, in the Rusyn usage, are open throughout the entire Liturgy (although this was a permission granted, to deviate from the norm-the Ukrainians are more prone to open and close the doors more frequently-that is on a case-by-case basis); it is rare to find the use of a curtain behind the Royal Doors, in either jurisdiction. These are just a few things I can think of.

Dn. Robert

Perhaps one obvious example is the Carpatho-Plain chant!

Oh, that goes without saying. Do you mean just Prostopinije though?

Also, I have noticed similar things in the ACROD church near me to what Deacon Robert is saying. The vestments, the royal doors being open, etc.

Andrew

Glory to Jesus Christ!

In addition to the things Deacon Lance has correctly stated, you would also find things such as:

(1) Proper dismissals for certain feasts;

(2) the post-communion hymn in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, peculiar to the Ruthenian Recension;

(3) the Entrance Prayer at Vespers, which differs from the Nikonian recension.

The other differences are not, in fact, intrinsic to the rite (i.e., vestment forms, shape of iconostasis, etc) because none of them are, in fact, dictated by the texts of the Ruthenian Recension.

In terms of music, there are in fact three completely distinct chant families using the texts of the Ruthenian recension: (1) PROSTOPINIJE, in the Eparchies of Mukachevo; Preshov and the other Slovak eparchies; Hajdudurog in Hungary; the Serbian eparchy; the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Province; and the Slovak Greek-Catholic eparchy of Toronto;
(2) SAMOILKA, in the eparchies of the Ukrainian Catholic Church both in Europe and the diaspora; and (3) the Zumberchan' chant, which is sung among the Croatized Serbs in the Krizhevcij eparchy and in the parish of St. Nicholas in Cleveland, OH.

Prof. J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Professor J. Michael Thompson:
[QB] Glory to Jesus Christ!

In addition to the things Deacon Lance has correctly stated, you would also find things such as:

(1) Proper dismissals for certain feasts;

Fascinating thread!
Esteemed Prof Thompson:
By "dismissals," do you mean the ambon prayers at the end of Divine Liturgy?
Just wanted to clarify.

Is that synonomous with Galician Chant?

Andrew

Glory to Jesus Christ!

In response to Durak:

No, sir. I was not referring to Ambon Prayers, but to the actual texts of Dismissals (i.e., those beginning with the phrase "Christ our true God...).

In response to Rillian:

Yes, sir; Samoilka is also known as Galician Chant.

Prof. J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

What about the Communion prayer, it does differ. The Oh Lord I believe and confess.....
Prof. Thomspon, by the post-communion hymn during Pre-Sanctified, do you mean, "Having Suffered?"

Just to clarify what Fr. Deacon Lance mentioned, the use of the "paschal antiphons" (Psalms 65, 66 and 94 on Sundays) or Psalms 91, 92 and 94 on weekdays instead of the Psalms of Typika and the Beatitudes by itself does not necessarily constitute a difference between Old Rite and Nikonian usage.

The Psalms of Typika (102/145)and Beatitudes are present and are standard usage in the Old Rite, as they are (usually in an abbreviated form) in the New (Nikonian).

In the Old Rite the entire Psalm is usually taken by a single reader, and troparia are intercalated on the Beatitudes.

The Psalms of Typika and Beatitudes are included in several Ruthenian sluzhebnyky both before and after the Nikonian reforms, as are the other Antiphon Psalms.

The question of Psalms of Typika vs. "paschal Antiphons" (Psalms 65, 66, 94 etc.) may be actually more germaine to a Greek vs. Kyivan/Russian influence than an Old Rite/New Rite distinction.
FDD

[B][/B]
Diak,
I have heard before that the chanting or non-chanting of the Typika and Beatitudes represent
a distiction between Greek and Russian practice. It is interesting to note however that the Athonite practice favors the Typika on Sundays.
This is also the common practice in the OCA.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

The post-communion hymn (also called the "Hymn of Thanksgiving" in the Divine Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts is (in the IELC translation):

"We give you thanks, O Christ our God, that you have made us sharers of the mystery of your redemption--your pure Body and precious Blood--poured forth for the world, unto the forgiveness of sins. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

The shape of the Communion Prayer (Viruju, Hospodi)is the same for all churches who utilize the Ruthenian Recension. This would be the same form that Byzantine Catholics are currently familiar with.

Prof. J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

Mark - The OCA for the most part makes use of the Nikonian (New Rite) Russian liturgy that I described above with the abbreviated Psalms of Typika, as it is originally descended from the Russian Church.

While the entire text for the Psalms of Typika are given in the 1984 OCA pew books, I have not seen anything other than the abbreviated forms taken in the OCA and the MP Patriarchal parishes I have visited, at least in the last 20+ years. That is the standard New Rite (Nikonian) Russian practice both in the US and in Russia.

At Erie and other Old Rite churches, on the other hand, you will generally find a single reader reading the entire Psalms of Typika during a Liturgy and you will not find an abbreviated form of the Psalms of Typika as you would in the MP, the OCA, etc.

There are exceptions to exceptions in all of this business, no doubt. More recently within the OCA there are exceptions such as with the Albanian diocese, which takes more of a Greek-style liturgy. There are also variations on Athos, as each monastery has its own Typikon. Any general historical observation is surely prey to individual historic exceptions and distinctions of degree. The distinctions between Greek vs. Kyivan/Russian usage when discussing Antiphons vs. Psalms of Typika, while perhaps providing a very general distinction for present use, indeed do not get at the entire history by any means.

This development goes even farther into distinctions between parochial ("cathedral") and monastic usage. Monastic Typika (such as the Studion and the Evergetis) mention the Psalms of Typika already in the 9th century, so it is most certainly not a post-Nikonian development. It thus seems there is no doubt the Psalms of Typika in general reflect a more monastic vs. "cathedral" usage.

So on Athos and other Greek monasteries, you may still see the Psalms of Typika used, but this is likely reflective more of monastic vs. cathedral distinction instead of a Greek vs. Kyivan/Russian distinction.
FDD

Do any of you learned men know how PRESOV is spelled by the world community